Geocache alert: The Wisconsin Department of Tourism today announced a $14,700 marketing grant to Boulder Junction's Chamber of Commerce to help underwrite a geocaching promotional campaign for the area.
Participants in the popular activity -- many of whom, in self-deprecation, refer to themselves as geeks in the woods -- use Global Positioning System receivers to pinpoint hidden caches. Some contain small items: A geocacher who finds the cache can choose to take one of the items in exchange for leaving another item in its place, and note the exchange of items in the cache logbook, or take nothing and leave nothing but note the cache find in the logbook. Variations include "virtual" caches, with geocachers invited to note their find by logging on to geocaching.com and answering a question related to the cache.
Scheduled for March 1 through May 31, the "Great Northwoods Treasure Hunt" promotion will hype the Boulder Junction and Rhinelander area as a geocaching destination. With almost 200 caches established within 50 miles of Boulder Junction and more than 200 others falling within a 50-mile radius of Rhinelander, Vilas and Oneida counties could be overrun by geeks in the woods next summer.
