Pass It On aims to change that.  By matching caring adults who have a passion for the outdoors with children who don't typically have access to the outdoors, the Pass It On program allows kids to learn about a wide variety of outdoor activities in a safe environment.

Tonight and tomorrow, the group will host its largest fundraiser of the year, Bust-A-Clay for Kids' Sake at Flint Oak Lodge in central Kansas.  You can read more about the event here, and if you feel so compelled, you can donate through the Garmin team's fundraising page.

When is a picture worth more than 1000 words? When you use a Garmin GPS to add

While I haven’t visited any climbing crags lately, the warm winter temps allowed for additional  outdoor adventures. Home for the holidays in Southern Oregon, I mountain biked the steep switchbacks of Roxy Ann Peak, cross-country skied near the rim of Crater Lake, hiked to Pilot Rock, searched for yeti in the redwoods, and took in a sunset on the coast. The 62stc captured it all with detailed track logs, elevation profiles, and geotagged pictures.

The 62stc also did well on a family ski trip to Utah. Multiple drops, snowy crashes, icy gloves, and freezing conditions were no match for this rugged device. It’s a good thing the 62stc is built tough, seeing as my snowboarding skills have not improved!

Now that spring is here I am splitting my time between the roads and the trails. I’m pounding and peddling the pavement in preparation for races like the recent Garmin Marathon (just the ½ for me) and some upcoming triathlons. Trail runs and rides are getting me set for races of the off-road variety. It’s easy to track all my multisport mileage with another Garmin device, the Forerunner 910XT. I still like bringing along the 62stc, with a bike mount accessory, for photo-ops like this teeter-totter on a local trail.

 If you’d like to geotag your own adventures check out all our On the Trail handhelds with built in cameras. To ensure your routing from home to hilltop stays on track check out our road map updates or try an On the Trail Map like our TOPO or BirdsEye series. Tell us about your adventures via our Facebook page and be sure to include pictures. Now get out and EXPLORE!!

I hadn’t given it another thought really until I got home from lunch one day in the summer of 2010. Walking in the house, I pressed the button on the answering machine and there was a message saying, "If this is the guy that lost a Garmin GPS on Knik River, give me a call!" Can you imagine my surprise?  Two years later - REALLY? Of course I picked up the phone and called the guy right away who proceeded to tell me that he and his wife were walking along the river with their dog a couple of weeks previous and he saw my GPS sticking up out of the glacial silt there. He dug it out of the sand-like goop and told his wife that he was sure it wasn’t any good judging by the fact that it was full of water and silt. Being an electronics enthusiast, he took it home and took the back off of it and washed it out with fresh water and spread it all out to dry for a week or so. After that, he screwed the back on it and stuck a few batteries in it, and said that my name and phone number came up on the welcome screen! HOLY SMOKE!! I could attest to the fact that Garmin products are tough because I have been beating them up in the boondocks of Alaska for over a decade but this took things to a whole new level. UNBELIEVABLE is all I can say!

While its appearance is a little rough from two years laying on an Alaskan river, I still use the unit today on that same RZR (although I did invest in a holder for it) and on my river boat, and it still works great.  If ever anyone questions the rugged durability of your products just tell them my story.

"I really enjoyed getting to meet with some of the people at Garmin, and really got the impression that Garmin cares about their customers. I walked around with the temporary caches and spoke with another Garmin employee who was willing to share how much he enjoys his employment and how much Garmin does for the community - it was great. I even ran into a few people that cache around the area and listened to their stories of how Garmin supports the local communities and how supportive they are regardless if it's Opencaching or geocaching. So over all I had a great time. Didn't do a lot of caches in the area but we shot for the stars and got a few nice ones. Thanks again for the great event."

Again, thank you Mike for trekking down to see us! It was a great reminder that the best part of caching events is getting to meet everyone in the community. And that brings us to the second topic of today's post: An awesome opportunity for anyone who loves caching and loves sharing that enthusiasm with others. This week we posted a new job opening for a Geocaching Community Coordinator, and we're looking for someone who is eager to connect with cachers in the community and work with fellow Garmin employees to fuel the growth of geocaching everywhere. If you're interested, visit the OpenCaching.com forum to learn more. We're looking forward to meeting the new member of the team!

So in the two weeks since the KC Cache Dash, I've been trying to quantify what happened that day. But upon reflection, the stats would be empty without the smiles on the faces of those affected. So here's my best shot at explaining both the math and the meaning behind a day that connected many within our local community:

Success is helping dozens of children in Kansas City get a bed of their own, which Sleepyhead Beds can do with their share of the prize money. Success is hearing that Project Uplift's mission of bringing food and essentials to the homeless in our community just took a huge leap forward through the efficent route planning of a donated Garmin nuvi. Success is seeing so many of the kids I spoke with the previous week at the YMCA's after-school camps show up with their parents, all of them eager to learn more about how OpenCaching.com can fuel a healthy lifestyle. Success is being told by KidsTLC that "well over a thousand homeless, teenagers and kids will benefit from this event." Success is seeing Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts canvassing Garmin's campus with their parents looking for caches. And success is seeing these great nonprofits all in one place sharing their stories and their objectives with each other and the community - and everyone talking about working together even more.

As for the "competition" angle of the day, it was easy to understand the feel-good sentiment that everyone felt they came out a winner. When four avid geocachers from the area started teaching several of my social media friends about geocaching, the highlights came too quickly to count as they scoured the city in tricked-out Land Rovers to find caches, tweet about the action and raise awareness for their respective charities. The action heated up immediately when my social media counterpart at Kansas City International Airport personally offered up a $100 donation to the charity of whichever team made it up north and found the airport's cache first.

Then as they got a little muddy and sweaty, the teams learned a bit about the varying degrees of difficulty, terrain and awesomeness displayed for each cache at OpenCaching.com. And because we wanted to keep everyone on their toes, our "social media commentary desk" egged them on through "flash cache" challenges and smack talk, making the #KCCacheDash hashtag the top locally trending topic all day (impressively topping #KUBBall for one day during the Jayhawks' stellar tournament run). And with the final score of our scavenger hunt all but decided, we watched on the GTU live tracking as one team took a final shot at glory and a big payday, knowing that being even a minute late to the finish line would cost half their points. Check out the recap video embedded here and see whether their hail mary paid off.

Making it clear that this great day was a group effort, about a hundred Garmin colleagues volunteered at the event, all of them eager to teach newcomers about geocaching and how to use our outdoor handhelds to find adventure at OpenCaching.com. We had product designers illustrating the many stages of how a device goes from an idea into production. Engineers answered questions, many of which came from an 8-year-old that I'd met days before at a YMCA Camp who had countless queries about how the satellites see us from space and exactly what materials go inside the devices to make them all work. Not sure what our minimum age is for an internship, but I've added his name to the can't-miss list. Bringing all of those answers full circle, our product support experts - the same great folks who are so helpful when you call on the phone - came out to teach visitors how to build caches and begin geocaching on our on-site course that stretched for more than a mile. And many of my friends in communications took part by lending their creative talents or attending with their families.

I guess the best sign of success is that everyone - from the nonprofits and scouts to the cachers and volunteers - immediately afterward began talking about how we can make the event bigger and better, teaching more people about OpenCaching.com and improving more lives through charitable donations. Any time the first comments about Year One are focused on looking forward to Year Two, I'll take it as a win.

Oh, and a young Superman was there. That could be tough to top next year. But we'll try.

“With its new features, like the innovative Green View, digital scoring and design of the glove-friendly touchscreen, the Approach S3 creates a new advantage for golfers all over the world,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “It’s light-weight, it includes a round timer to keep track of time played and the color options will make it a talking point on and off the course.”

Weighing a mere two ounces, the Approach S3’s high-resolution sunlight readable touchscreen display provides large, bright numbering so that it does not slow down the game. The Approach S3 even offers layup distances. Golfers can add custom points on the watch that they want to measure or zero in on hazards or obstacles that may affect their shot, and zoom in for a closer look at the green. With eight hours of playing time on one charge and lasting up to four weeks as a day to day timepiece the S3 makes it easy to charge its internal battery. Its custom charging cradle is a small magnetic clip that fastens to the S3 with ease and can be set down with the peace of mind that it will be ready, with a full charge, to take to the course the following morning.

Keeping track of a player’s score throughout the round is made simple with the Approach S3. Golfers can review their scores right on the device, or download and access a printable version of their own round on their computer. Scoring options include Stroke Play and Stableford.

Tomorrow's KC Cache Dash and geocaching expos provide a unique way for Garmin's greater Kansas City community to come together - through the family fun of geocaching, through the connectivity of social media, and through the civic pride in supporting local nonprofit groups that work tirelessly to improve the lives of others. We asked our good friends at KidsTLC to share their story: 

Transforming Lives in Crisis is our passion at KidsTLC.  That passion brings our staff to work every day and drives us to work hard for the kids we serve. That passion means we never give up on any child, no matter how difficult or complicated their situation may seem.

At KidsTLC we believe that traumatized children given stability, safety, and hope can heal. We believe that the least we can do for children who have been abandoned, abused, neglected and thrown away, is to offer the opportunity to forge a healthy life for them. Through our unique and highly respected residential Phoenix Program for kids who have been termed "treatment resistant," to Foster Care, Street Outreach Services to homeless teens, and our Family Case Management for domestic abuse, KidsTLC never stops looking for innovative ways to motivate kids to believe in themselves and their ability to overcome. We have expanded to working with kids who have complex mental illness, and soon will offer autism services and outpatient behavioral health. We invite you to join us in transforming lives in crisis. See how this investment in lives brings incredible rewards.

Our rich 40 year history and our future are devoted to children and families in need of care. In these tough economic times when governmental spending cuts are decreasing services, we look to our donors and friends to help us to continue to serve those at risk. Won't you take a moment today to visit our website and make a donation? You won't regret it! Thanks!

Picture this: A community where everyone has the opportunity to become a healthy, successful adult. 

Is this possible? Yes, and the YMCA of Greater Kansas City is prepared to make this a reality through our commitment to youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.

But we can only achieve this vision if we work together. One way we’re working with the community is through the KC Cache Dash. The Y is excited to be the charity of choice for Team RRSport during the KC Cache Dash on Saturday, March 24.

The Y relies on the support of fundraising events like the KC Cache Dash and donations from individuals like you to help our community be the best place for all to learn, play and reach their fullest potential.

What inspires our Y to lead this movement?

Simple everyday experiences that the Y is part of and that WAY too many people don’t get to enjoy.

We’re inspired by more kids learning how to swim...because that means more kids have the life-saving skills and confidence to avoid drowning, which remains the second-leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1-14.

We’re inspired by more families breaking a sweat...because that means they are on their way to making healthy choices and reducing childhood obesity, a growing epidemic in which one in three children is overweight or obese.

We’re inspired by more kids going out in their neighborhoods for a pickup game of ball...because that means they have a safe place to play, they are physically able to play and they are friends with their neighbors. And for the Y, that means all kids—even those with special needs—having the opportunity to play.

If you join us to inspire others, we can build a better tomorrow for our communities.

Fundraising events and donations support the YMCA of Greater Kansas City’s Inspire [TOGETHER] fund. The fund provides financial assistance to give all in the community the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive at the Y, regardless of their financial resources.

To make an investment in a stronger community, visit http://bit.ly/DonateYMCA. Or sign up to make a difference as a volunteer at http://www.kansascityymca.org/social-responsibility/volunteer/apply-volunteer.

The light was designed with hound hunters in mind, who normally take to the woods in the pitch-black night.  Without a doubt, it'll fit that bill.  But it's equally useful for hunters who need help finding their way to and from their blind in the dark -- something we experienced during a recent Oklahoma wild hog hunt.

Compared to other spotlights on the trip, the NIGHTRAZOR won hands-down when considering beam diameter, beam distance, size, weight, and battery life.  That's got us thinking that campers, hikers, long distance endurance runners, or cyclists will appreciate the NIGHTRAZOR -- anyone who's looking for a powerful, yet lightweight way to illuminate their way.

The NIGHTRAZOR features four beam intensities and has a battery life of 2.7 hours to 40 hours, depending on intensity.  At the end of the day (er, night), the NIGHTRAZOR can be recharged through the included USB cradle and wall charger.  The NIGHTRAZOR can be easily mounted on any standard bump cap, and an elastic headband accessory will be available later this spring.