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Hernando Today

Youths Learn Their Way Around With Compass

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: May 25, 2008

LAKE LINDSEY - Who better to teach people the basics of reading a compass than someone who spent thousands of hours in a plane?

Former aviator Bernie Bathauer took over the quarterly Map and Compass Class at Chinsegut Nature Center three years ago.

He realized from day one he needed to make the class shorter and more fun. He didn't want to lose the interest of the younger members. On Saturday, the lecture room at Chinsegut was filled with Boy Scouts.

Even still, kids will get restless.

"Can we go outside now?" one boy whispered.

"We're going to go outside and do some fun stuff soon," Bathauer assured him.

But first, he had to share the stage with Christie Anderberg, a local geocaching enthusiast and volunteer at Chinsegut.

Geocaching is a lot like going treasure hunting, only with a handheld global-positioning system. Instead of finding gold, people generally find small boxes of pocket-sized items. It's really more about the thrill of the hunt.

Geocaching is a growing craze across the country. People leave "caches" lying throughout public places - such as parks, shopping centers, suburban areas and wildlife centers.

"There are hundreds of caches here," Anderberg said. "The Withlacoochee State Forest is covered with them. You can go for a five-mile hike there easily."

Eventually, after more than an hour of lessons about GPS devices, compasses and maps, the group of 40 kids and adults went outside and did their own land navigation.

Bathauer talked them through it. Anderberg showed one group the nearest cache, which was located down the trail and along the side of a trash bin.

"It's increasing all the time," she said of geocaching. "In the south, it's a bigger deal because up north it snows. It's cold and no one wants to go out."

The Boy Scouts came from Troop 459 in Brooksville. Scout Master Bill Balderson said he learned about Saturday's class by seeing it online. He wanted his scouts to learn how to navigate before their five-mile hike at Starkey Park in Pasco County next month.

"This is a very good course," he said. "You walk away from here learning how to use a map and compass."

The course is well-suited for families, too.

Chinsegut regular Diane Rigsby, of Brooksville, brought her four children and a family friend to the class Saturday. She attends mostly all of the expos and big events held at the nature center during the year.

"I think I did this for the knowledge of how not to get lost," she said.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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