Missouri Headwaters State Park Joins The Geocaching Community

Print

Park to actively plan geocaching activities within the park. Geocaching?

"We were looking for a family-oriented activity that would increase visitor’s knowledge of the park, get kids outside walking around, and give visitors a reason to return again soon to the park," said Ray Heagney, Missouri Headwaters State Park manager. "Geocaching does all that and more."

Geocaching, or the original term GPS Stash Hunt, is basically a hunt, using a GPS device and GPS coordinates, for a treasure box with trinkets that has been stashed by another player. The sport’s basic rules are find the stash, take something and leave something. The other unique twist is that all communication between players about stashes hidden and found is via the Internet.

This new outdoor activity was virtually born over night in 2000. In May of that year twenty-four satellites around the globe were reprogrammed, upgrading the quality of information that the general public could receive on Global Positioning System receivers. Suddenly, even a non-government GPS device could precisely pinpoint the location of even relatively small objects in remote locations.

American ingenuity kicked in almost immediately. A computer consultant proposed testing the technology with a game dubbed the Great American GPS Stash Hunt.   The idea was simply to hide a container out in the woods and note the coordinates with a GPS unit and then see if others could find it using only GPS receivers. The rules were simple—take some stuff and leave some other stuff for those who follow. That was the beginning of geocaching.

This summer, Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks, debuts its own version of this popular new sport.

Here is how it will work. Visitors can sign up for the Headwaters GeoCache Challenge through Sept. 30 at the park entrance station. Participants will receive a Challenge logbook registered to their name with monthly entry pages, park map, rules and instructions.  

Each Monday new challenge cards will be available from the park entrance station. Challenge cards for those using GPS units will provide GPS coordinates to locate clues at specific sites. For those without GPS units, challenge cards with directions to clue sites will also be available. As clues are collected, participants enter them in the logbook and use them to discover the answer to the monthly challenge. This challenge answer may be submitted to enter a raffle for prizes such as a whitewater raft trip for two, tickets to the Museum of the Rockies, a one-night stay in the Jacuzzi suite at a nearby hotel, GPS units or similar prizes.

For details on the Missouri Headwaters State Park GeoCache Challenge, call the park at 406-994-6934, or visit the FWP web site at fwp.mt.gov on the Parks and Recreation page and search for Missouri Headwaters State Park.