Current at 11/6/2011 (Online waypoint URL) You have already found this cache! Master Index    Nearest Caches GeoVenture 2010: The Homecoming by MBGA (1/1) (Archived) N50° 01.375  W96° 54.467 (WGS84) UTM  14U   E 649866  N 5543276 Use waypoint: GC2A28M Size: Not chosen    Hidden on 8/20/2010 In Manitoba, Canada Difficulty:     Terrain:                           Welcome to GeoVenture 2010: The Homecoming! This year, the MBGA will be celebrating their 5th Anniversary, the game of Geocaching will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary and we plan to make this our biggest and best GeoVenture yet! Woo-hoo! GeoVenture 2010 will be held in beautiful Birds Hill Park hosted by the Manitoba Geocaching Association. The event weekend runs from Friday, August 20 until Sunday, August 22 and takes place in Group Use Area #1, Site #6. The Group Use area includes a picnic shelter with running water, electricity and wood fired grills for our exclusive use. There are modern, heated washrooms nearby. Showers are available in the main campground area. The MBGA will collect $15 per night in camping fees from campers. If you plan on camping, please post as indicated below so we can keep track of attendance numbers to ensure we have enough space booked. The group use site only accommodates tents, but camper trailers are welcome to set up in the parking area. There are no facilities for electrical or sewage hookup in the parking area. There are; however, electrical and full service sites nearby at the Birds Hill Park Provincial Campground that may be reserved by calling 1-888-482-2267. Once you arrive, please check in at the GeoVenture 2010 Registration (the coordinates above) at the group camp site shelter Friday evening or Saturday morning. This event is open to everyone. Whether you've been caching for a long time, are relatively new at it, or are just thinking about trying it some time, we are looking forward to meeting you! The main event happens on Saturday, but feel free to drop by any time. You can come for the day, or stay for the weekend. Be sure to add this event to your watchlist, as more details will be added as the event date approaches. Also, to help us plan ahead, please post a note if you plan to attend. Please list: the number of people in your party whether you'll be camping if you plan to attend the Pancake Breakfast if you plan to attend the Potluck BBQ what food item you plan to contribute to the potluck CachyShack GeoGolf Challenge by the MBGA (glacier_ice, crackerackie, dani_carriere and tuppergurl) Another great cache challenge will take place this year for those that are interested in participating. This year's cache challenge will be family friendly, but you can expect to spend two or three hours to complete all the stages. The front 9 will be family friendly, while the back 9 will be for those who are looking for something a little more challenging. Please note: Long pants are highly recommended (lots of poison ivy and thorny bushes Bring bug spray. You will likely encounter some water, so please wear appropriate footwear. It's the nature of the terrain in this area. Enjoy the challenge. It should be a lot of fun. GeoAssassin Game The GeoAssassin Game will run throughout the day on Saturday (see the schedule below). This game should not interfere with the ability to partipate in the Cache Challenge. The aim of the game is for players to track down and eliminate (or assassinate) their targets until only one player remains. Complete rules for the game will be given out at, and not in advance of, the event. Note: No Geocachers will really be assassinated as part of this game Participants in the GeoAssassin game must be old enough to read, and tall enough to reach a tall person's shoulder with their hand. Players must also be on hand at the start of the game according to the schedule below, and still be available at the end of the game. If you are only attending GeoVenture for a few hours, you cannot participate. Weekend Schedule Friday, August 20th: 11:00 AM Friday Camping Check-in time. Campers may setup any time after 11:00AM. 8:00 PM Bonfire - BYO lawn chair 9:00 PM Group night cache outing Note: Meals on Friday are up to the individual to provide Saturday, August 21st: 10:00 AM Pancake Breakfast provided and prepared by the MBGA 11:30 AM GeoAssassin Game starts 12:00 noon GeoVenture 2010 cache challenge starts 12:00 noon Group Caching for those not participating in the cache challenge 5:30 PM GeoVenture 2010 cache challenge and group caching ends 6:00 PM Group Photo 6:15 PM Potluck BBQ – Including Pork on a Bun from the Manitoba Pork Producers 7:45 PM GeoAssassin Game Ends 8:00 PM Cache Challenge Awards Ceremony 8:30 PM GeoVenture Travel Bug and Geocoin Homecoming 9:00 PM Bonfire - BYO lawn chair Note: The mid-day meal on Saturday is up to the individual to provide Sunday, August 22nd 10:00 AM Cache In Trash Out (CITO) Group Site. Cache In Trash Out is an activity intimately tied to geocaching. While out on a cache hunt, we collect litter along the trails and properly dispose of it. As part of GeoVenture, we want to make sure we leave the site as we found it. 11:00 PM Check-out time. The Group Use area is available for our use until 11:00 PM Note: Meals on Sunday are up to the individual to provide. However, if there are any leftovers from the Saturday pancake breakfast, they will be available for breakfast on Sunday on a first come, first served basis. Note: All cache outings start at the Group Use Area #1, Site #6 Picnic Shelter (the coordinates above). Birds Hill Park - Location and Activities Located along PTH 59 approximately 24 km (15 mi) north of Winnipeg. As well as the many geocaches currently hidden in the park you can enjoy the park's great features: White sand beach Horseback riding Rollerblading Biking Hiking trails If you're interested in Horseback Riding, please contact the riding stable at 204-222-1137 for further information. The group use area has plenty of room so feel free to bring your frisbee, kite, bocce balls, baseball and mitt - whatever sport or game you enjoy. Birds Hill Park Maps Birds Hill Provincial Park Location Detailed Birds Hill Park Map Group Use Area 1 Campground Office Park Use Fees Entry into Provincial Parks is free this year Sponsors We would like to thank the following sponsors:

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8/21/2010 by Kabuthunk
Awesome. This event was kinda all over the place for me. Mostly on the side of awesome, but allow me to elaborate. So, due to family having been over last night, and me leaving for Toronto early morning Sunday, today was my only possible chance to make it to this GeoVenture event. In fact, this is the FIRST GeoVenture event I've managed to make it to. I can't recall why I was unable to make previous ones, but that's besides the point.

In either case, despite having not even begun packing for tomorrow's trip, I was determined to swing out to this event for several hours to see what it's all about. Having no clue how to drive to the group area, I parked at the parking lot near hole 6 I believe of the GeoGolf (more on that later) and hiked on over. I happened to have showed up just as the rules to this golf activity was being announced, so most of the people at the event were listening in. Not recognizing absolutely anyone, I signed my name in the Party Animal logbook TB, and left a chainmail ball beside it (no clue if anyone even noticed it before me posting this ). That done, I circled around the various tables, watching what was going on. It was at THIS time when the event saw me at my lowest. Nobody I recognized nearby, things happening that I had no clue what was going on about, and a general feeling of being "lost", so to speak.

Eventually, after the announcements I ran into a few familiar faces such as Dani, OHMIC, Glacier_Ice, and a few others. Chatting it up for a bit, I began to feel a bit more "accepted". Not long after this, Dani was looking for an experienced geocacher to show a trio of new geocachers the ropes with the first 9 holes of this GeoGolf. Checking my watch, I estimated I would just have enough time to help out. After all, I REALLY didn't want to be unable to help some new cachers, since I quite enjoy getting new people into the swing of things.

Thus began arguably one of the most enjoyable geocaching experience I've had in my over 4 years of caching . Sadly, I'm terrible with remembering names, so I apologize in advance. I was grouped with Maurice, and two women... one started with "L", and... yeah, my memory of names eludes me past that . Again, sorry... nothing personal, I'm just terrible with names, and Maurice had his name on clothespins clipped to him, so it stuck in my mind .

In either case, we hiked down the path to the 9 temporary caches for this golf event, and had some nice, friendly chatting going on. I showed them tips with the GPS, set a few things up for them, and generally helped out by giving searching tips and examples of the ways geocaches can be found. All in all, a very enjoyable walk with the trio . After the first several 'holes', we ended up at around hole 5 or 6, which ended up taking me right to where I had parked my car! Taking the opportunity, I grabbed my hiking stick from the truck and onwards we continued. Several holes later, and we quickly found our way back to the event. I wish I could elaborate more, but the log length here limits me. Long story short, it was absolutely wonderful to have met you guys (despite my not remembering most of your names... perhaps we'll meet at another event and the names will get more solidified in my mind), and I loved the nice long walk and chatting that we had. And thanks for the peanuts Maurice... that really hit the spot . Aside from that, it was nice to see that I was able to give you guys some tips on caching. Maurice, that honestly meant a lot to me that you thanked me for having done this .

All in all, I'm extremely glad I came out, and will definitely have to come back next time . Today, I've found a new appreciation and enjoyment in spending time with geocachers that I've never met before. I must make a habit of doing this more often . I only wish I had been able to come back tomorrow.

Took: Terracotta Solder TB to take to Toronto
Left: Logbook entry and chainmail ball

8/8/2010 by Kabuthunk
Bit of a grey area here. This takes place on the weekend that I'll be flying out to Toronto for my brother's wedding... but dang, I'd still want to show up and see who's going to be here. Safe bet I won't be staying over any of the nights, but depending on how much packing and preparation needing to be done, I'll try to swing by for a few hours either on Friday or early Saturday... we'll see what happens.