Dating back to the game’s origins, the core of geocaching has always been community. Cache owners spend hours crafting caches for others to find; players share their adventures through logs and photos; and behind the scenes, a group of volunteers keeps the game going.

Whether you found a new geocache today, found one on a far-away vacation, have hidden a geocache, used Geocaching.com or the Geocaching® mobile app in a language other than English, or visited the Geocaching Forums, you have a geocaching community volunteer to thank! There are several types of volunteers in the geocaching world who deserve our appreciation.

There are nearly 400 worldwide geocaching community volunteers, including reviewers, EarthCache reviewers (Geoawares), translators, and forum moderators. They dedicate their time to help keep the game in motion as they review geocaches to meet the geocaching and regional guidelines, translate the website and app, and keep the forums positive and helpful.

Other members of the community also volunteer their time. Cache owners use their creativity to create fun caches while also taking the time to maintain them. Event hosts and Mega- and Giga-Event organizing teams also volunteer their time and put in tremendous effort to provide amazing social experiences and huge amounts of fun for the community.

Interested in joining us to thank your local volunteers? Here are a few ideas:

• Recognize your local geocaching community volunteer by nominating them via this form. You may just see your shout-out in a future blog post!
• Send a note to your local volunteer reviewers to show your appreciation.
• Contact your regional geocaching organization to thank them for their work.
• Get in touch with geocachers who regularly host CITOs and say “Thanks!”
• Award a Favorite point along with your gratitude to a high-quality cache.
• Mention how much you enjoyed an event in your log.
• Post a thank you note on your local geocaching Facebook page.
• Create a video sharing your gratitude and post it on social media (tag us on Instagram at @geocaching—we’d love to see it!).
• Visit the Geocaching Forums and give a shout-out to the forum moderators.

Want to learn more about current geocaching community volunteers? Check out our community volunteer features.

Curious about what it’s like to be a geocaching community reviewer? Check out HQ’s reviewer podcast series to hear their experiences in their own words.

Geocaching community volunteers have an incredibly positive impact on the game and the geocaching community. On Friday, May 22, go to the official Geocaching Facebook page and join us in saying a big ‘Thank You’ to the community’s volunteers.