Geocaching HQ Says Geocaching without Speaking a Word

Editor’s Note: What you’re seeing above is a word that sparks the imagination and inspires exploration. The ingredients a person must possess to go geocaching include only a spirit for adventure. It’s not bound by any particular facilities and especially not bound by hearing. The blog post you’re about to read is from Holly Walker. She’s the guest experience coordinator at Geocaching HQ who hosted our first visit with an American Sign Language interpreter for deaf geocachers. 

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Geocaching HQ Lobby
Geocaching For All!
At Geocaching Headquarters (HQ), our goal is to make everyone an explorer and make every location an adventure. One of the most fun adventures for us is hosting guests from around the world here in our awesome lobby! Each week, Geocaching HQ schedules a limited number of Hosted Visits for the Geocaching community. It’s a great way to see a behind-the-scenes look at what happens here at HQ, meet the lackeys and hear about new things we are working on, and get the opportunity to log the official Geocaching HQ geocache. We literally get people from all over the world who travel to our headquarters here in Seattle, WA. Recently we realized that we might be missing an important opportunity to meet and engage with a large number of our worldwide geocachers, in particular, our deaf community!
 
On March 25th, it was our pleasure to invite two ASL interpreters to our Geocaching HQ Hosted Visit for the first time! The hour long visit provided the opportunity for deaf geocachers to come to HQ and get the same experience as any of our other guests. It was an awesome experience for guests and staff. We covered Geocaching history and the growth of our company from 3 employees to now just under 80, swapped geocaching stories from back home, and traded a few trackables, too. The hour flew by too quickly but we already have plans to invite the interpreters back another time! 
 
Moving forward, we hope to offer more Hosted Visits with ASL Interpretation as well as find ways to improve and increase accessibility to the sport of Geocaching for all people. We’d love to know your thoughts, ideas and stories below.
How can we make Geocaching available to everyone who wants to play? What great ideas have you seen to ensure there are variety in geocaches and accessibility for all? 
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Geocaching HQ Hosted Visit