Heading off to the Ozarks? Remember to Pack Your GPS Unit
Written by Glenn Letham (GISuser editor)
Sunday, 14 January 2007
Arkansas Parks and Tourism is encouraging tourists to think Spatially and to Get your Geocaching Coordinates by taking part in the 'Cache in with The Natural State' Program. Kicking off in January 2007, the first prize-laden cache is hidden in northwest Arkansas at the coordinates N36 19.108, W093 58.128.
Get your Geocaching Coordinates: Join the Treasure Hunt. New caches in locations throughout the state will be unveiled each month. Examples of some prizes are certificates for overnight lodging, free meals at restaurants, posters, toys, and more! Even if you can't take part, you can visit Arkansas virtually and take an amazing tour using the Arkansas Virtual Tool offered online.
New Geocaching Clues Each Month
Through the "Cache in with The Natural State" program, new caches in locations throughout the state will be unveiled each month. Coordinates for the caches will be released on http://www.arkansas.com/ .
The treasures in the caches will reflect the offerings of Arkansas - from lodging to restaurants to businesses and manufacturers. Each will contain a different range of items, most of which will represent the region in which the cache is located.
A Trove of Treasures
Examples of some prizes are certificates for overnight lodging, free meals at restaurants, posters of beautiful Arkansas landscapes, savings bonds from banks, kid's toys and promotional items from tourist spots such as Daisy Airgun Museum. Arkansas Tour Guide books, state maps and other tourist information brochures will be included for geocachers to take along with a treasure.
Caches will be monitored and restocked with prizes throughout the year. Geocachers are asked to observe standard protocol - taking only one item and leaving an item in trade, and signing the log book.
"Our geocaching program is a fun way to entice people to discover the great outdoors of The Natural State," said Jana Greenbaum, communications director for Arkansas Parks and Tourism. "Additionally, it provides a unique way to highlight the tourism offerings of Arkansas. We want people to travel the state in search of the caches and see areas they may not have visited before." For coordinates and geocaching details, download an official vacation kit with more coordinates at http://www.arkansas.com/helpful-info/free-vacation-kit .
What is Geocaching?
A cache is simply a hiding place for treasure and geo means earth. Geocaching is a global game in which people use Global Positioning Systems to pinpoint spots on the earth where treasures are hidden. The location of each one is marked with GPS coordinates which are shared via the Internet.
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Get your Geocaching Coordinates: Join the Treasure Hunt. New caches in locations throughout the state will be unveiled each month. Examples of some prizes are certificates for overnight lodging, free meals at restaurants, posters, toys, and more! Even if you can't take part, you can visit Arkansas virtually and take an amazing tour using the Arkansas Virtual Tool offered online. 
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