Caching in on geocaching
Free geocaching clinic to introduce people to outdoor hobby
A free clinic being held next week is hoping to introduce the people of Bible Hill to a new outdoor hobby.
Bible Hill Recreation, in partnership with the Association of Nova Scotia Geocaching, is holding a geocaching clinic at the Bible Hill Village Hall about the world of geocaching.
“It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a while now,” said Mark Mcgarrigle, a director with the association who will be running the clinic. “Part of what we do as the Association of Nova Scotia Geocachers is promote geocaching in our communities. It can be tricky to get people out to do activities in the winter, so this clinic will teach them about a good activity they can do pretty much year-round.”
Geocaching is an activity in which participants use GPS coordinates on a GPS or smartphone to find hidden containers, usually filled with a logbook or trinket, called a cache.
The clinic will start off with a discussion on the history of geocaching, and will go over the use of handheld GPS devices and smartphones for geocaching, as well as the different types of geocaches, containers and techniques people use to hide caches.
“It’ll give them an overview of all the possible things they could run in to while geocaching,” said Mcgarrigle.
“For the last part of the clinic, we are going out on the trails near the village hall to look for a few geocaches I recently put out last week. It’ll give them a chance to put the stuff I taught them to use, and geocache with someone who’s been doing it for quite a while.”
The clinic, the first of its kind in the Truro/bible Hill area, is free to anyone who is interested, and only requires either a GPS or smartphone and a pair of walking or hiking shoes.
“Feedback on the clinic so far has been quite positive,” said McGarrigle.
“The director for recreation in Stewiacke had contacted me recently asking if I could help out with a geocaching clinic down there. I guess there is some interest in it in their town.”
Geocaching isn’t new to the area. Colchester County is home to quite a few geocachers, including a retired couple who have found more than 60,000 geocaches and are third highest ranked geocachers in Canada.
“There is actually quite a big scene for geocaching in Bible Hill and Truro,” said Mcgarrigle.
“We recently held our Maritime Mega event in Truro, where we bring in a large amount of geocachers for a big one day event, and had over 800 people show up to participate. The scene here is continually growing, especially with the use of smartphone apps over traditional GPS.”
The clinic will be held on Saturday, Jan. 20 at the Bible Hill Vil-
lage Hall on Pictou Road, and will run from 2-4 p.m.
Mcgarrigle is hoping it will bring in a few new faces to the geocaching community, one he’s been part of for over 10 years, and provide people with a new way to be physical and enjoy the outdoors.
“It’s an excellent way to get outside and burn an hour or two away,” he said.
“I’m a wildlife biologist by profession, so I’m already outside most of the time, and I like being outside. To me, geocaching was just a natural extension of what I already liked to do, such as hiking and bird watching. It’s just a great opportunity to get outside.”