The Night Before

The night before your hike , do the following.

1. Check the weather forecast.
   • If the weather does not look good, will you cancel the event?
2. Gather all your "gear" near the front door in a single bag
   • Use the "Hike Day Checklist" available in the Templates or Plan a Hike section of this website
3. Make sure your GPS unit is fully charged
4. Make sure your cell phone is charged
5. Get a good nights sleep dreaming about your Treasure Hike in the morning !

Gathering

Follow these steps once you get to the hike location.

1. Get to the hike location early
2. Turn on your GPS unit
   • Check if you can view Treasure locations and they are close by
   • Create a Waypoint on our GPS representing where you parked. 
   • Reset the tracking log on your GPS
3. Great each family as they arrive
4. Use the Treasure Hike Record Form to check each family
5. Assign an adult to lead the boys on the service project
   • Provide the adult with the large trash bag
   • Boys pick up trash in parking area
   • When finished, have boys place full trash bag in trunk of a car

Once all the boys have arrived and the parking area has been cleaned up, get them together and call them to attention with the scout sign.  Run through the following in a fun manner.

1. Ask if anyone has found Treasure before?
   • Give the boys a chance to tell a couple stories
   • Explain what you will be doing during the hike
2. Ask if anyone knows what the buddy system is? Why is it important?
   • Lead the boys in a discussion on the buddy system
   • Assign buddies and note on Treasure Hike Record Form
3. Ask if anyone knows what Leave No Trace is?
   • Go through the Leave No Trace Guidelines
   • Lead a discussion on why Leave No Trace is important
   • Pass out the Leave No Trace Pledge Cards
   • Lead the boys in reading the pledge
   • Have the boys sign the pledge cards
4. Ask if anyone knows the rules of hiking?
   • Let the boys give their ideas
   • Fill in the rest from the Treasure Hiking Conduct Guidelines
5. Ask if everyone is ready to go Treasure Hiking?

Hiking

At this point, you are now on your way to look for your first Treasure.

As appropriate incorporate the following while you are hiking.

• Rotate the GPS unit
  • Make sure each boy has an opportunity to hold the GPS and "guide" the hike
  • We have found that time based rotation works for the boys
  • You will need to periodically "ask" for the GPS unit to check progress
• Nature
  • On each "leg" of your hike (i.e. between Treasures) find something in your surroundings to point out the boys
  • Gather all the boys and take a minute to let them ask questions
  • Also take this opportunity to reinforce the buddy system by doing a buddy check
  • Don't overdue this - If you stop every 10 feet to point something out, the boys will not continue to come back to you
• Trash
  • If you see trash along the trail, get one of the boys to pick it up and place in the kitchen garbage bag you brought
  • Encourage this behavior in the boys by keeping count and announcing their count each time a boy participates
• Drink water as needed
  • It is important to keep everyone hydrated
• Keep track of where you are on the trail map
  • There may be cases when you will have to back track and try a different trail to reach the Treasure
• Most Treasures will be close to a trail
  • Therefore, stay on the trail !
  • Only those with a higher Terrain Rating will require "bushwhacking"
• Keep track of the boys
  • At the same time let them have fun

Nearing the Treasure

When you get to within 100 feet of the location, the fun really begins.  At this point the boys will be very excited.  Try as best you can to remind them of the Leave No Trace guidelines they have learned.

The golden rule in this phase is to follow your GPS unit until your "icon" is almost completely covering the cache icon on the GPS map.  Once that has occurred you should be within feet of the Treasure.  You should also have the map on your GPS unit zoomed in as much as possible.  A scale of 100 feet should be showing.

 Look around for:

• Fallen trees, large logs, and tree stumps
• "holes" in existing trees
• Look up into the trees overhead
• Have the boys look closely, carefully, and respectfully at all of the objects around them

 You will most likely need to leave the main trail to find the Treasure.  Here are some pointers.

• Stay on the trail as long as possible
• Minimize your impact to the environment
• Go past the Treasure on the main trail first, then assess where to go "off trail"
• A smaller trail may have been created by others visiting the Treasure, try and stick to those.
• Have an adult lead the off trail hike and demonstrate by example for the boys
• Watch our for poison ivy and pricker bushes !

If you are having a problem finding the Treasure, do the following:

• Use the GPS to get back to where the unit thinks the Treasure
• Stand in place for 1 minute to let the GPS signals "settle"
• Check the accuracy reading on your GPS unit
• 8 times out of 10 the GPS unit is right
• Slowly turn in place taking in your surrounds
• Start at ground level and then move to looking upward
• That log in front of you may not look hollow, but it might just be !
• Have each boy fan out and walk up to 20 feet looking around

 The race to find the Treasure can on occasion cause issues with the boys.

• Reinforce that you are a team and the team all helped find the Treasure
• Correct any actions by the boys on pushing or shoving
• If a specific boys feelings are hurt, help him find it on the next Treasure
• Congratulate ALL the boys on finding the Treasure

Treasure Found

Congratulations, you've found the Treasure !

Here are some suggestions on what to do next.

1. Have a boy (rotate this) bring the Treasure container to a suitable place where all can see it that is not too far from its hiding spot
2. Explain that the team is going to open the Treasure and look inside.  You may take an item out of the Treasure and look at it, you must also pass it along for other to look at and place it back in the container when you are done
3. Have the boys try and open it first.  Assist as necessary
4. Ask the boys lots of leading questions
   • Who do you think put this here?
   • Who put all the items in the container?
   • Was that difficult to find?
   • What did we learn?  (Follow the GPS for the adults !)
   • Note any special items and explain them to the boys
5. Sign the logbook
   • If the ziplock bag that contains the logbook has holes, replace it

 Once the boys have had their fill of looking at the Treasure it is time to put it back.

1. Make sure all the items are back in the container
2. Make sure the container is sealed properly
3. Have a boy (rotate this) put the Treasure back where it was found
4. Make sure the Treasure is hidden as it was originally

Go back to the Hiking section and the hunt for your next Treasure !

Wrap It Up

You've been hiking for some time now and hopefully have found a few Treasures along the way.  The Hike back is a great time to talk about what you have learned.  This can also be done in a gathering back at the parking lot before everyone leaves.

 Ask the boys

• What wildlife did you see?
• Did you notice any new plants?
• What did you like about Treasure Hiking?
• What was your favorite Treasure?
• Would you like to do Treasure Hiking again?
• Did we follow the Leave No Trace guidelines?
• Did we complete our Service Project?

Remind the parents that the boys have an activity to complete at home

• Draw a poster of what the boy learned about Leave No Trace guidlines and bring it to the next Pack meeting for display

At Home

Soon after you Treasure Hike has completed, you should do the following.

1. Throw out the trash you collected
   1. Leaving this in your trunk is not a good idea, although you will notice it quickly
2. Log your Treasures
   • Go to the www.geocaching.com website
   • Go to each Treasure page and "log your visit" in the upper right
   • You should do this for all Treasures you tried to find, if you found them or not
   • Share some of the details in your message
3. Complete the Treasure Hiking Record Form
   • Make sure a copy gets to the leaders who are processing awards
4. Get the boys to share their experience at the next Den or Pack meeting 
5. Start planning your next Treasure Hike !
   • Think about what worked this time
   • Think about what you might like to change