Eagle Scout trek: Program Uses GPS To Highlight Past Projects

By TED POTTS – The Tribune-Democrat

Penn’s Woods Council of the Boy Scouts of America will be participating in a national Scouting geo-caching program kicking off this year, the 100th anniversary of the start of the Boy Scouts in this country.

The outdoor treasure-hunting game will showcase how Scouts use Global Positioning System receivers and other orienteering techniques.

Jason McKinley, Scoutmaster of Ebensburg Troop 22, is putting the council’s program together.

It will focus on projects of the council’s Eagle Scouts.

McKinley has been getting the word out to as many living Eagle Scouts as he can, asking them to provide information about their projects that qualified them for the Eagle rank.

Approximately 2,000 boys from the council have attained Scouting’s highest rank.

What he wants those Scouts to do is provide information about their projects and the locations of those projects.

That information will form the basis of the council’s geo-cache hunt.

When that information is received, those participating in the hunt will be given the longitude and latitude coordinates of the locations of the various projects. Participants also will be given a general idea of where to park. It will be the participants’ task to find the actual locations, said McKinley.

Participants can proceed at their own paces and time schedules, he said.

McKinley is hoping to get the project up and running in March.

Generally, items in the caches will be trinkets having a $1 or $2 value, information about the value of Scouting and nationally registered travel bugs that can be logged into the “Get in the Game Site” when the cache is found.

More information will be made available at www.pwcbsa.org, McKinley said.

It is important for Scouts to get permission for the council to place the sites on its Web site, he added.

By focusing on Eagle Scout projects, he said that information will showcase how Scouting benefits communities.

He said the geo-caching project has three main goals – to get people to utilize GPS, to enhance their map skills and get them outdoors.

Cletus J. McConville Jr., council executive, said the project will be a fun activity and an opportunity for non-Scouts interested in geo-caching to learn about Scouting.

He said the council is introducing a geo-cache Scouting badge as a way to promote the project.

“We’re asking Eagle Scouts of all ages to place a cache at their project sites,” McConville said.

They should notify the council of their intentions, McKinley said.

The telephone number of the council’s Ebensburg office is 471-1090.

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