The party will begin with a 9 a.m.
ribbon-cut. Tom Hankins of the Central Illinois Geocaching
Association will be available to explain more about the sport.
Lincoln resident Marge Ott, who
drew the designs for the cache cards, will be on hand to sign
autographs. Children ages 10 and younger can participate in a free
old-fashioned pumpkin hunt for door prizes. Refreshments will be
served.
Geocaching is a modern-day treasure
hunt that relies on global positioning system units or GPS-empowered
phones to find containers known as "caches." The six caches on the
new trail will contain cards that can be redeemed for souvenir
postcards.
The new Logan County trail has
caches hidden at sites that relate to Abraham Lincoln and his
relationship to communities throughout the county.
Typically, a cache is a waterproof
container with a logbook where the geocacher can enter the date the
cache was found and their established code name. Then the cache must
be replaced exactly as it was found.
Hunters can also register their finds
at an official geocaching website,
www.groundspeak.com.
Groundspeak offers free membership, although users have the option
of purchasing premium memberships.
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Groundspeak's website claims
millions of caches and members in more than 200 countries. The
international sport even extends into outer space, with a cache
aboard the International Space Station.
The Abraham Lincoln Geocaching
Trail in Logan County was made possible through funding from the
Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition with support of the Abraham
Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, dedicated to perpetuating and
expanding Lincoln's vision for America and completing America's
unfinished work. Matching funds were made available by the Abraham
Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County. |