2020_Leap_Day SLAGA_at_Ted_Drewes_2021 2022_NYD_Hike summer_picnic_2022 rich-Charolette-2014 Grilling_Meat 2022_Fall_Picnic_Group 2022_Fall_Picnic_2 SLAGA_Bellefontaine_CITO_Fall_2022 SLAGA_Christmas_Party_2022 Cachemas_2022_Final SLAGA_at_GeoWoodstock_2023 geo-101-class-maplewood-4 IMG_7656
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2020 Leap Day Flash Mob

SLAGA at Ted Drewes - 2021

2022 New Years Day Hike

Summer Picnic 2022

Rich & Charlotte - a couple of the founding members

Grilling Meat for the 2022 Fall Picnic

2022 Fall Picnic

Checking for new cache notifications

Bellefontaine CITO November 2022

2022 SLAGA Christmas Party

Cachemas 2022 Bonus Day

SLAGA at GeoWoodstock 2023

Geocaching 101 Class at Maplewood Library

GeoGolf 2023

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Cache in Cold Scene Cache_in_Cold_Container.jpg

    
There is nothing like bundling up head to toe for a hike in the crisp winter air, through a forest blanketed with snow. The beautiful scenery, lack of bugs, spotting animal tracks, and uncovering nearly frozen geocache containers, hidden under a foot of snow, makes caching in the cold a worthwhile and fun adventure. But being prepared for winter caching is a must, because you leave behind the  warmth, shelter, food, water and other comforts of home. 

 
Cache in Cold Gusteroids Cache in Cold 3 men Cmas Cache in Cold nand MrsS

Before you head out for a hike and geocache find, in this beautiful cold world, keep in mind several winter hiking and geocaching tips and essentials.  Obviously the longer the adventure and more intense the winter bushwhack, the more of the following information will apply, but it's good information regardless.

Begin at home by checking the weather conditions during your trip outdoors. Then see if the geocaches you're interested in finding are actually available and able to be found. Check the cache page attributes and recent logs.  Remember too that some trails are closed in winter, or not marked and maintained. so route-finding skills are important.  Plan and know your route because snow-covered landscapes look very different than in those warm dry months.  If creek crossings are required, remember thin layers of ice on water can be decieving and dangerous, so don't count on walking across unless you know the freeze is over a long period of time and the ice is indeed thick. 

Cache in Cold rogbane TerriBikes Cache_in_cold_bridge_creek.jpg Cache in Cold Cmas group 

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OCTOBER 2023 WINNER - ROUSEABOUTS

Adventure Awaits

 
Congratulations to the Rouseabouts, Lee and Dawn Rouse. They won the first ever SLAGA Adventure Awaits Monthly Challenge, which includes a $10 Gift Card for finding and submitting five traditional geocaches and one event cache.  Their October 2023 geocaching entries were:
 GC8P22X  Oak Hill
GCA8CRZ  Block Head
GC48XMT  Metcalf Park #2
GC6HNDM  #14 Angrybird Series
GC31ZBG  Well, what did you expect
* GCABE7B  2023 SLAGA Fall Picnic *
 
Roustabouts.jpg
 
The Rouseabouts enjoyed the October challenge, nearly qualify for November already, and look forward to what the following months' challenges will bring.  They have fun trying to complete the challenges and enjoy meeting other geocachers at the events. In October, they actually found 56 geocaches and attended two events.  Surprisingly, these were the very first events they had ever attended in their geocaching career! 
 
They started caching in late 2006 when Lee's sister and brother-in-law piqued their interest in the game. From 2006 to 2011 they were midly active, until their kids kept them busy with a variety of activites and functions.  But after twelve busy family years, the Rouseabouts, who are empty nesters now, are back in the gecocaching game. They love to do Adventure Labs and find new parks to take walks and find geocaches. They have gotten almost as many smileys in the last few months as they did in all the years prior to their hiatus. Currently they have found a total of 350 geocaches and are working on a 100-day streak (73 days and counting) in order to log their first 'challenge' cache. 
 
The Adventure Awaits for the Rouseabouts, as they once again enjoy this fun, outdoor, high-tech recreation fondly known as geocaching.  

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Hits: 93

Here are the current standings in the SLAGA Travel Bug Race:

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Hits: 247

Fall picnic 23 CCP

Fall brings beautiful shades of reds, oranges, yellows, and browns into the fading greens of nature. SLAGA was blessed with hints of color at our Fall Picnic at Cliff Cave Park on Sunday, October 15, 2023. While the day started a bit damp and chilly, it changed quickly as the sun started peeking through the dynamic cloudy sky. Everyone in attendance enjoyed the gorgeous afternoon, the delicious shared food, the fun and games, and good conversation with fellow geocachers. The new SLAGA board members and game winners were announced, and geocaching milestone winners congratulated!  

Hosts StormRider22 ( Laura) and jray131 (Jim) did a terrific job organizing this fun afternoon gathering.  Lunch was a feast to behold, indeed.  SLAGA provided the buns, hamburgers, brats, and hotdogs, which were perfectly grilled by volunteers Turtleladi1020nHubbs (Lynette and Mark), and the rest of the food was brought and shared by all the attendees.  

 Fall pic 23 hosts    Fall pic 23 tutleladinhubbs   

Fall pic 23 buffet landscape

The new SLAGA board looked a lot like our past with President Michael Smith (cootie_man) still at the helm, assisted by our vice presidents Robert Klemme (GeoKid12) and John Layman (vorlon40), and our treasurer Nan Dabler (nan-d1955).  We bid farewell, with tremendous thanks, to our outgoing secretary Melissa Pierce (socibutte), and a big welcome to our newly appointed secretary Susan Adams (Treasure Isle).   

Fall pic 23 board

Susan has been caching since 2012 and has over 5000 finds in 12 countries and 32 states.  She's not adverse to trying all kinds of terrains and enjoys finding Interesting caches.  In a brief interview, Susan stated that her one sister (from Virginia) introduced her to geocaching while on vacation in 2012.  She said, "Initially I cached only when I was with her, so I picked up maybe 4-6 caches per year.  After I retired, the 'Mystery at the Museum' game by Geocaching HQ in 2019 caught my eye.  I had so much fun doing it, that I’ve upped my game since then.  I enjoy hiking with my local muggle sister, and she lets me pick up a cache or two when we’re on the trails.  I’ve also enjoyed the friendships that I’ve made through geocaching."  We are thankful and lucky to have Susan on the SLAGA board this term.

 Fall pic 23 TreasureIsle Susan

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Here are the current standings in the SLAGA Travel Bug Race:

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Adventure Awaits

The long awaited Adventure Awaits monthly challenge is now live! Here in October we're starting things off with a simple challenge. You must find 5 traditional caches and attend an event (any kind of event). Once you have accomplished this you may enter your name, caching name, and the GC codes of the corresponding caches & event into the form which can be found on the home page.

  1. ADVENTURE AWAITS - A New Monthly Challenge
  2. SLAGA 2023 Travel Bug Race September Update
  3. Bike ‘Across America’ - PaulGracie’s Adventure
  4. SLAGA Featured on Geocache Adventures
  5. SLAGA 2023 Travel Bug Race Update
  6. IT'S TICK CHECK TIME!
  7. A Busy Spring in SLAGA-Land
  8. 20th Anniversary MOGA
  9. Best of SLAGA 2022
  10. "GeoBirding"