by Jim Gast

– by Jim Gast

In order to increase awareness of the Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary (CANS) by the public, I placed a geocache near the trail.  Geocaching is a popular outdoor activity in which people use various navigational skills to find hidden containers of various sizes. Participants find the latitude/longitude coordinates at geocaching.com, then use a GPS-enabled device to try to locate the geocache.  Even though participants know the  general location, finding the actual geocache depends on how well it is hidden and how accurate the GPS  is (most public devices are accurate within 30 to 100 feet).

Geocaching containers can be of various sizes.  In this case, it is a small food container named CANS U Find It. After finding it, participants log their visits online and on a piece of paper inside the geocache. CAS has already received nice comments including “Lovely place for a hike. Thanks for placing this cache in this beautiful area” and “Beautiful nature sanctuary”.

Thanks to Bill Mees and Donna Brunet for helping find a location for the geocache and to the CAS board for approving this project. If you would like more information about how to geocache, including setting up an account and getting the coordinates on your phone or other GPS device, please contact Jim Gast.