Girl Scouts Junior Geocacher

Hi, everyone.

It is Ranger Korean here with the U S.

Army Corps of Engineers, ST Louis District at the river's

project office today.

We're going to go through your Girl Scout Geo cache

or badge for juniors.

With that, we're going to do a preparation for your

adventure. Kind of talked to you a little bit about

what is geo cashing?

How can you do it?

What is a GPS?

What are some of the science behind GPS and how

they work?

And then also specifically, how you'll make a trade item

for when you come out to the river lands Migratory

bird sanctuary on your geo cashing adventure.

So let's go ahead and get started.

First off, I always like to give a little introduction

to the Army Corps of Engineers, because what is the

corps of Engineers?

So we essentially build and operate locks and dams on

our rivers.

So those locks and dams, they provide something called waterway

navigation. You can think of it as like a highway,

but for boats, so we make sure that the river

is deep enough for our boats to go up and

downstream, and we help to kind of maintain the traffic

of both the boats and the people that are traveling

up and down the river with that.

That also means that we are engineering for flood protection

to help kind of decrease the effects of flooding.

And we also help to restore ecosystems and environmental areas

for our native species.

So for our habitat are in our wildlife with the

core, there are lots of different jobs that maybe one

day you might be interested in having.

So I myself am a park ranger.

But then we also have lots of other positions, like

biologist, a chemist or something like a lock master who

actually operates those locks and dams.

So very cool.

Now about the river lands Migratory bird sanctuary, That is

specifically where you are going to be coming out to

go on your geocache adventure.

That is right where that yellow arrow is on our

map. So we're in a really, like special location because

we are in kind of this area where all of

these major rivers are coming together.

So that means that we have a lot of really

unique habitat for a variety of different species, specifically for

lots of birds.

Now when you are at River Alliance.

We are, of course, owned and operated by the Army

Corps of Engineers.

It's over 4000 acres in size, which is a pretty

significant amount of space.

There is also over eight miles of hiking trails, so

if you're visiting any time before April 15th, not all

the trails are open yet.

But that's a good date to have on your calendar,

because all of the trails will open up in the

sanctuary on April 15th.

We also have a big variety of habitat here, from

wetlands, marshes, prairies.

So all of this different diverse habitat provides a really

good home for a variety of different birds and other

animals, too.

So we've been designated as an important birding area, as

there have been over 300 different species of birds that

have been seen here at river lends, which is really

cool now about geo cashing.

What really is that Geo cashing itself is kind of

like going on a scavenger hunt or like a treasure

hunt. So you're using a GPS system of some sort

to help you navigate to wear a special clue or

a special prize called the Cache is located.

So before we get into the basics of geo cashing,

what is a GPS?

How does that really work?

So you guys are going to be learning how to

use a GPS receiver so GPS that stands for Global

Positioning System.

And that simply refers to a bunch of navigation satellites

that are constantly circling the Earth out in our orbit.

So these 30 plus navigation satellites are constantly going around

and around, and they're sending signals down to Earth about

where they're at in space.

And then we have ground receivers on Earth.

Those are if you think of what you imagine as

like a satellite dish.

So those ground receivers, they are going to pick up

those signals from the satellites and they pick up all

of those pings from the satellites.

And then they can send them to receivers, which are

going to be people like us people that are using

a GPS to help them figure out where they are

or where something is near them.

And we use GPS all the time.

So whether you're on a smartphone or if you're at

navigating with GPS system in your car, we use them.

I know I use mine pretty much daily.

If you are Googling something that's good to eat nearby

or if you need gas nearby or if you're even

playing a game, something like Pokemon Go.

You're using a GPS system built into your phone whenever

you are trying to navigate to something nearby.

So we're constantly getting all of this information from those

30 plus satellites that are orbiting around the Earth.

It's going to usually use at least four satellites will

talk to your phone to help you figure out where

you are in space, which is just really cool the

way that they do.

This is through a system, which you probably have learned

about before using geographic coordinates.

So those coordinates are essentially our latitude in our longitude

lines. So you might be familiar with art Equator that

is going to be our main kind of point for

our latitude lines.

Each line above and below the equator are our latitude.

I remember the A N latitude kind of helps me

remember that they go across the earth and those are

going to be degrees from 0 to 90 of north

and south from our equator.

Now our longitude lines.

They are based off of something called the prime Meridian,

which is basically like the equator.

But instead it's going from north to south and those

longitude lines, you can remember long longitude.

They're going to be the ones that go up and

down across their surface as well.

And they are more in a spherical kind of measurement.

So they can be they're going to be east and

west, but they can also be up to 100 and

80 degrees.

Now, once you start kind of using those coordinates to

help you locate something, they're written with these degrees and

then a bunch of numbers behind the degrees.

So if you look at our numbers that we have

here, we've got 40 degrees, 41 0.21 point four.

So those kind of other numbers refer to the minutes

and seconds past that degree Mark.

So the way this would read would be 40 degrees,

41 minutes, 21.4 seconds north.

So that essentially just gives you a really exact location

of where you would be at that 40 degree mark

because it's actually a pretty big area.

The earth is pretty big, and we can only make

it up into so many little grid boxes.

So those actual hours and seconds are going to be

really important in determining that specific location on our planet

that actual coordinate that refers to the Statue of Liberty

in New York City.

Now, for Geo cashing, we're going to be using your

coordinates. But in hopefully a really fun and exciting way,

we're specifically going to be using the GPS system that

is built into an application called What, three words.

That is something that you will need your smartphone for.

Whenever you guys come out to the river and migratory

bird sanctuary, you're also going to need to make a

trade item or make a cash for someone else to

find. So the way that this works when Ugo Cash

is typically you're trying to go to a place using

your GPS and you will find something called the cash,

and you'll typically take that cash as a kind of

a reward for finding it.

But you'll also leave something there for somebody else to

find after you.

So I always like to make something that's kind of

special or to leave something that's special behind.

So that can be anything that is like a little

message you could do, like almost a small little note

or a drawing a piece of art if you'd like.

If you're going to get really creative, you can paint

a little rock or some kind of little trinket and

leave it behind as well.

And that just kind of helps to bring joy to

the person after you that navigates to that same location.

Now these caches, they do have to be small enough

to fit into a little sandwich bag.

So thanks small, but also think creative and think personal.

You want to leave something behind that is going to

make someone happy to find it as well.

All right, so when you guys go geo cashing, you're

going to be on the Ellis Island, which is it's

not an island.

It's more like a peninsula because it's surrounded by the

river on three different sites, but is a really cool

trail or system of trails that you'll be able to

navigate. But before you come out, you'll need to pack

a backpack or make a list of what you'll need

to break so with you.

You should have a map of River Linz and of

Ellis Island, which I will link in your Google classroom.

You'll also need either a smartphone or an actual GPS

unit so you can use either.

I'll provide both the coordinates if you want to kind

of do it the old fashioned way.

It's a little bit harder that way.

Or you can also bring a smartphone and then use

the what three words Epp, which I'll talk more about

in a minute.

You'll also need because you'll be visiting in spring.

You might need some bug spray because we might be

in mosquito season.

You also might need some sunscreen or maybe a hat

or sunglasses, and I always like to have a big

container of water and some trail snacks to help keep

me fully hydrated and energized, went on my hike.

You also should make sure that you can bring a

first aid kit in your pack to just to be

prepared. I personally like to bring a field guide, which

is a typically it's a little book that helps me

to determine new species of plants or animals.

If I come across one that I have never seen

before. That's optional, though.

And then, very importantly, make sure that you bring the

right type of clothing.

So in March and April, it could be really hot,

or it could be really cold.

So make sure that you check the weather before you

come in, that you're fully prepared so that you're comfortable

when you are hiking with that.

Also, it might have be a little rainy here, so

you should be prepared for mud.

So make sure that you bring a pair of shoes

that you're okay with getting muddy or maybe even an

extra pair of shoes or an extra pair of socks.

All right, and then for what?

Three words.

So this system is super cool.

It is a smartphone application that you can download and

essentially what it has done.

It has basically taken the entire world and kind of

like our latitude and longitude.

It is set it up on a grid system, but

each grid not only does it have its latitude and

longitudes inside of the grid as well inside of each

little box, but it also each box has its own

name. Of these three different words.

There just three random words put together for the entire

surface of the planet, which is just really cool.

So I'm going to also give you guys some directions

of how you can access what, three words and how

you can best use it to navigate to your geo

cashing locations on Ellis Island.

The way this will work is that I'll give you

three different combinations of your your words.

So I'll give you 33 word coats and you will

have to navigate to each one of the three locations

at that location.

I will give you a one word code that can

then be combined to tell you your final location where

you are geo cache or where your prize will be

so good luck.

It's going to be really fun.

It's going to be, I think, a really good way

for you to practice using a GPS system in also

learning how to use your coordinates because you can also

navigate straight with your smartphone or just put the coordinates

into a GPS system itself.

And I think you guys are going to have a

lot of fun with this.

So when you guys come out, please feel free.

If you have any further questions, you can put them

in the Google classroom and please send me pictures.

Please let me know how you enjoy your hike.

And I hope that I will get to see you

guys soon in person.

Take care.

Girl Scouts Junior Geocacher

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