Category: Geocachers Care

/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak’s ‘Kitchen of Affirmation’

Letters to Groundspeak

The kitchen at Groundspeak is stocked with pretty much the standard condiments and food you’d find in any kitchen.  The fridge is home to ketchup and mustard and some random unlabeled containers.  The corner coffeemaker generates a little morning rush hour traffic as Lackeys clamor for a cup of morning energy.

But this week, Lackeys walked into the kitchen recently and walked out with more than coffee. It’s what appeared on the cabinets that gave those leaving, coffee mug in hand, with a feeling of affirmation.

Letters taped to the cabinets read, “Once again your donation is making school cool” and “I also want to thank you for donating to our class.  I think it is the sweetest thing anyone did to our class.”

Groundspeak donates money for GPS devices to a cause called DonorsChoose.org.  The donations put GPS devices in the hands of students.

The Lost & Found video crew visited a Texas, USA class that received a donation of GPS devices.  You can watch how a teacher intertwined a lesson plan about science with the outdoor adventure of geocaching.

The students went geocaching.  They solved problems in small groups, learned direction and distance, and engaged with technology.

More than 30 letters from different classrooms have arrived at Groundspeak over the past year and we are committed to putting more GPS unites in the hands of students.


Letter to Groundspeak

A half-dozen thank you letters from students are on display in the kitchen now.  One line from a grade school student reads, “Thank you thank you thank you (1,000,000,000 times) much for donating to our class.”   How the letters are signed may say more.   Some of the chunky grade school writing spells out “thank you” or “your friend” or even “love.”

But students aren’t just thanking Lackeys.  They’re not just affirming that geocaching can be a powerful force for learning.  They’re thanking geocachers for making this donation possible.  You fuel Groundspeak.  Those letters of thanks (a 1,000,000,000 times much) are really written to you as well.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocachers Save Two Women Stranded in Desert

Geocachers Roy Joseph (Rojo464) and Paul Fox (Pauleefox) drove through the rugged desert of Eastern Utah searching for five geocaches on Tuesday the 17th of August.  But they never made it past their second find.  What they encountered instead led to grateful tears and news headlines.

Roy and Paul had finished finding their second geocache and were looping around for a third – called “Bugy Softwear” (GCGMJT). The area of the desert that they searched is referred to as the Dolores Triangle.  It’s one of the most barren regions of the United States. The average temperature in August bakes the cracked ground at nearly 100 degrees F (38 C).    Bumping along in Roy’s jeep the two men stopped.  Just head of them, a mini-van sat wedged into the sandy soil.

Desert rescue

Paul says, “We saw the van in the gully from the road above it. Out here a vehicle in that position is either abandoned or there is somebody in need of help. Either way we needed to check it out.”

Roy adds, “When we first saw the car we could tell it was stuck. But it looked odd with the towels over the sun visors.  We were concerned with who might be in the van.  With it being in such a remote area we knew we had to make sure the occupants could get back to town.”

They drove the jeep next to the stranded vehicle.  Two women looked out. Roy says, “When we stopped beside the van the daughter said ‘Thank God’ and then started crying.”  A mother and daughter had been stranded in the van for two days.

Roy Jospesh (Rojo464) and his wife Linda

Roy says he’s prepared for geocaching in the desert and they were able to offer immediate help: “I have a backpack I carry with water, snacks, SWAG, a first aid kit, a short rope, and batteries.  In the Jeep I carry tools, spare parts, a tow strap, a first aid kit,  a fire extinguisher, extra water and some blankets.”

This wasn’t his first encounter with someone needing help, but never before has the situation been this dire. “We have helped strangers get unstuck, hauled a bicyclist to the hospital, given water to hikers, but this was different – both these two women could have died.” After the rescue, the mother and daughter will be okay.

Paul says the situation is a first for him: “In my 64 years I don’t believe I have ever been in a position to rescue damsels in distress before.”

Paul Fox (Pauleefox)

Both Paul and Roy have been geocaching for at least three years.  As the news broke, the reaction from the geocaching community flooded their email in-boxes. They say comments like Nancy Nagel’s post on the Geocaching.com Facebook page hit home. She said, “I always say that geocachers are the nicest, kindest people! I am so proud!”

Roy says, “We, too, have met some really nice people while geocaching but I am really surprised at the number of e-mails I have received from them.”

Paul explains geocachers this way: “The geocachers I know and have met are not the type of people that I would be afraid to meet in a dark alley. It is always good to have  story to tell that puts geocaching in such a good light. Lots of people just don’t know what it is.”

Both say they’re  ready for more geocaching.  Roy says, “I like being in the great outdoors, the exercise and the places geocaching takes me.”

And no matter who or what they encounter, they’ll be prepared. Roy says he’s glad this unexpected encounter ended with hugs and heartfelt thanks: “We are just thankful that we were able to help the women before it became a more serious situation for them.”

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching: Treasure Hunting Your Way to Happiness

A photo from geocacher Troy Tomita (t-prime), geocaching with his son in Hawaii

Take a moment to think back into the Kodachrome snapshot memories of your childhood.   There’s something there. It’s clutched in your hand in the split-second flashes of family and friends and bursting sounds of laughter.  It’s the one item that helped define your childhood.  For me, it’s a brightly illustrated children’s book.  My mother read the book to me as a toddler. Not long after, I’d read the book to her over and over and over.  The yellowed price tag on the book must have read less than a dollar.

A wonder of the world is that there’s often little relationship between what something costs and its value.

The book was priceless to me, not because of its retail value, but because of the experiences that the book nurtured and bonds it cemented reading after reading after reading.  In your childhood memories, most likely, there’s a snapshot of a similar item. Whether it was a worn doll or a battered soccer ball or a small half-broken toy, it brought more happiness than the price could ever suggest.

Odds are, if you’re a geocacher, your fingers curl around an equally powerful item now.

The New York Times just published an article about the relationship between happiness and spending.  The lessons we’ve pulled from the economic ruin of the recession taught us that more money doesn’t necessarily mean more happiness.  According  to the article, one major finding of recent research is that spending money on experiences, rather than objects, provides longer lasting happiness than just buying stuff like a couch.

Picture taken by geocacher, Kevin Smith (follieus), with his kids in Scotland

Experiences may, in fact, triple your happiness.  You anticipate an experience, live it and then remember it.  The value grows over time as you reminisce.  A couch’s value only declines.

Geocaching offers a life time of experience growing closer with friends and family and requires only a GPS device and a willingness to explore. There are countless stories among the four to five million geocachers around the world about the value that geocaching adds to their lives.

Geocacher Martin Pedersen has lost nearly 30 pounds and now hikes with his three kids more often.  Bruce Alexander began geocaching three years ago, when he was 85. He now geocaches with his son and granddaughter.  Thousands of geocachers visited Seattle one weekend in July to attend GeoWoodstock VIII and Groundspeak’s Lost & Found Celebration, where they shared their own stories about finding a little more happiness by following a GPS device to a geocache.

Thinking back to your childhood provides clarity about value. Now, think about the future. Do you choose to “have” or to “do.”  Few of us get to choose both.  Holding that GPS receiver in your hand might just mean holding years of memories that you haven’t made yet.  If you choose to “do” you could end up finding more than geocaches, but more happiness, at the end of your treasure hunt.

What are your favorite memories from geocaching?