2014 Northern New York Geobash

[NYAG]

Can't post it as a cache yet because it's more than 90 days away. So I'll post this as a teaser here for now instead.

 

2014 NORTHERN NEW YORK GEOBASH

 

INDEPENDENCE RIVER STATE FOREST / OTTER CREEK HORSE TRAILS

 

SEPTEMBER 20-21, 2014

 

43.7466106, -75.3111457

 

 

Liability Insurance and a Temporary Revocable Permit (TRP) for use of NY State Forest Lands have been applied for and planning has begun for the 2014 NNY Geobash. If you haven’t already had the chance to visit the 107 geocaches within a 15-mile radius of this site then the Geobash is your chance to do so! We’re hoping this will be an annual event in a different state forest in the NNY area each year.

 

THE BASICS

RV camping is allowed on-site and there are four very large graveled areas for RV parking. There are also locations suitable for tent camping. There is running water and flush-toilet facilities on-site. If you wish to come out a day or two early to ensure you get one of the best spots you are more than welcome to do so. Several of the event organizers will be present on the nights of September 18 & 19. We will use one tent site per person on these nights leading up to the event and will consolidate onto one site during the event to free the sites up for attendees.

 

Dogs are allowed. They must be leashed at all times. If they are at your campsite they must be leashed so that they cannot stray into adjacent campsites. When walking, the leash must be less than 6 feet in length. There are numerous horse trails present throughout the event area; please ensure your dogs do not chase after or unduly startle any horses that might be present. Alternatively, if you own horses you are more than welcome to bring them. Many of the geocaches in the area are accessible on horseback.

 

Fires are allowed in pre-determined locations only. Do NOT start campfires at backcountry (non-designated) campsites within the state forest. Propane stoves and a large (4 foot) gas grill will be available for cooking use if you do not wish to start a campfire.

 

Quiet hours are enforced between the hours of 10:00PM and 07:00AM. No generators may be run except from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m

 

Those wishing to camp overnight must fill out a self-issued camping permit. One copy of the permit gets dropped into the DEC dropbox on-site and the other copy must be displayed on the dashboard of your vehicle. There is no cost and the permit is available here: http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/regions_pdf/otterper.pdf. Copies of the permit will also be available upon arrival.

 

Those not camping must vacate the forest by 10:00PM. Staying after 10:00PM is considered camping. If you plan to stay after 10:00PM, just fill out the permit above and keep it on the dash of your vehicle and park in the general camping area. You need not set up a tent or anything else and you are welcome to leave after 10:00PM instead of staying overnight.

 

THE GOOD STUFF

Although there is currently no guarantee that we will have a custom geocoin for the event we are attempting to do so. This will depend largely upon the number of people saying they ‘will attend’ and the interest shown. As it currently stands, the event organizers (mostly a group of three people) have already expended significant personal funds to start planning this event.

 

A geocoin trading tent will be present (volunteers wanted!). An email service, reminding users to log trackables picked up at the event, will be available to those that provide their email addresses and the tracking numbers of the items they picked up to the tent staff during the event..

 

Two new night caches will be placed prior to this event and will, of course, remain after the event is archived. One is planned as a D/T 2.5/2.5 and the other will be closer to 4/3 or 4/3.5. At least one of them will be a multi. Sundown is at 7:05PM and we should expect a waning crescent moon, only two days from new moon, so it should be dark fairly early for the night caching.

 

Two new higher difficulty day caches will be placed prior to the event (D/T = or > than 4/4) that again will stay as permanent caches after the event is archived.

 

A general map of the forest, detailing the horse / foot trails, scenic areas, waterways and facilities (camping, etc) will be available at the event site. This map will also be available online prior to the start of the event.

 

There will be silent auctions of geocaching and camping gear as well as some really great FTF prizes for caches during the event. If others in the local area had planned on placing caches this summer this weekend would be a great deadline to get your caches out by!

 

Some food will be provided. Lunch on the 20th is bring-your-own. There is a Price Chopper as well as a Walmart approximately 15 miles away which will be on the route most attendees take to reach the event. Dinner the night of the 20th will be around 6:00PM and will be cook-out / pot-luck. The event organizers will bring some hot dogs, hamburgers and 4-5 large salads. If you plan on being around for dinner and eating please bring a meat, dish for the buffet or something to prepare on-site. We are planning a “continental” style breakfast for the morning of the 21st. Some of the food for the dinner and most of the food for the breakfast is being donated by area merchants or food brands. As we get closer to the event we can take food signups here via message to the NYAG account and I'll transcribe them over to a spreadsheet so everyone can keep track of who's bringing what.

 

The average temperature in this area during the days of this event is a High of 70, Low of 50 and Mean of 60. Mean precipitation for September 20-21 historically is 0.15 inches/day. The odds are in our favor that we’ll have fair weather but not so hot that the bugs get bad. Regardless, bring insect repellant just in case. As the likelihood of inclement weather is low we’re going to plan on this being a rain-or-shine event. If we get rain we’ll wait for it to clear and socialize until it does.

 

THE BAD STUFF

 

Only SOME locations within the event area have cell phone service. This coverage is mostly Verizon Wireless 3G/4G LTE. VERY little T-Mobile / AT&T / Sprint coverage is available in this area. If you use your cellular device as a GPS please research the available applications that allow for offline map storage and GPX file support prior to the event and update your maps / caches a day or two in advance to ensure you have the newest additions.

 

NEEDED STUFF

 

We need 3 or 4 large tents or 10’x10’ canopies for the geocoin trading tent, signature item / token trading area and for general shelter. If someone that is coming for the duration could loan them that would be GREAT. Contact event organizers via email / message here on geocaching.com.

 

Volunteers! Volunteers for an event such as this are always needed.

 

Vendor invitations have gone out but we currently don’t have a list of the vendors that will be present. If you know of vendors that might be free this weekend, especially if they’re headquartered in NY please pass that along via email / message.

 

 

Hope to see everyone there and remember trade even or trade up! Lets make this a great event with good quality swag.

[+KC2WI]

I have often thought that the OC horse trails / Confusion Flats area would make a great place for a geocaching get-together. It is a great place for geocaching.

 

I have been thinking of planning a spring/summer meet and greet event in Glenfield or somewhere in the area for awhile but haven't gotten around to it.

 

Glad to see this event being planned. Fortunately for me the date doesn't conflict with the annual fall K2P ham radio camping/picnic at Kring Point on Sept. 13 this year.

 

By the way, the grocery store in Lowville is Tops, not Price Chopper. Also the besides WalMart there is the usual Family Dollar and Dollar General for cheap supplies and geocaching trinkets. If you are coming fromthe south, there is a Tops and Great American in Boonville. Also the dollar stores and one in Lyons Falls as well.

 

If you want to go out for a meal or a drink, the Central restaurant in Glenfield is the closest place and the food is very good.

 

Ham radio operators will be interested to know the Black River Valley Amateur Radio Club's repeater frequency is 146.955 (no pl) and the coverage is good in this area. We will also probably have a 440 repeater up by the fall.

 

Otter Creek Horse Trails info and map on the DEC web site.

Edited May 26, 2014 by KC2WI

[Dannyx.Daley]

Hi everyone,

 

Saw the post regarding this proposed Geo event and as a new geocacher I would love to attend if this goes forward. I recently started geocaching when I went to Chicago to spend some time with my friend and his wife, who both loved the concept after I introduced them to what I had learnt about the game. That aside we were both always a bit of camping enthusiasts and this would afford us the opportunity to get together again if nothing else. Please continue planning with the possibility in mind that you may end up with a few out of state geocachers in attendance (primarily from Toronto and Chicago). Thank you for providing such concise information thus far and I truly hope this goes ahead so we can come and enjoy the experience.

[+KC2WI]

Is this event going to happen?

 

(I'm guessing it's not because as of Aug 31 there is no v=event listed. 3 weeks is probably not enough time to generate enough interest for something planned to be a big event.)