Wendy Morrell’s life is marked by achievement. The active geocacher, Dorsetgal & GeoDog, just logged her 2000th find. The milestone marked another major life event. Wendy’s 2000th smiley came at a Flash Mob Event Cache. The event was organized to cheer Wendy on as she carried the Olympic Torch with her service dog Udo.

She wrote a note on the event page that helped explain a bystander who rushed through security to hug her, “Honestly, no matter how much I write I cannot explain how I felt today, it was truly emotional. So pleased that Udo took it in his stride, and seeing so many friends and family was amazing… The lady who managed to breech the security bubble and give me a hug was my 79-year-old Mum!”

Wendy’s journey to carry the torch for the 2012 Olympic Games in London began with a friend’s recommendation. The recommendation read, “An inspirational person who’s turned full circle, overcoming disability to become a math teacher, lecturer, pilot and a national standard archer, held two national records and was training to represent GB when a training accident caused a severe brain injury, when struck with a discus… She’s internationally known as an advisor on assistance dog matters. Wendy plummeted [into] the depths of despair following her brain injury, but now is the woman about town, tirelessly representing the needs of others.”

Wendy was chosen as an Olympic Torchbearer during the 55th day of the torch relay route. Wendy and her service dog, Udo carried the flame part way through the southern England city of Upton.

Wendy says incorporating geocaching as part of her journey as a Torchbearer seemed natural, since geocaching has been such a significant part of her life, “As a brain injury survivor, I sometimes struggle with motivation and organisation, geocaching has helped me cope at times when life has been pretty hairy, and I’ve met some really fantastic people, and made lots of great friends. I may not be the fastest, or be any good at climbing mountains but I enjoy the diversity geocaching has to offer, I’ve found geocaches in 19 countries, including Russia and China and at the moment am joint first in the UK for US states visited.”

Wendy held a Geocaching event the day after she carried the torch. Geocaching friends from the US state of Minnesota traveled to the UK to be with Wendy on that day. She says the event was organized to, “give them (the US geocachers) the opportunity to meet some local geocachers and for folks to get to see the Olympic Torch up close!”

This is Wendy’s second opportunity to carry the Olympic Torch, admitting sometimes lightning strikes twice. She says, “My first experience of carrying the Olympic Torch was for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, I carried the Olympic Flame across London Bridge. I’d been nominated then as an ‘everyday hero’  in a contest run by a national newspaper, for campaigning for equality for disabled people. ”

You can watch a BBC story on Wendy’s journey to be honored as an Olympic Torchbearer twice. While lightning may not strike a third time, this cacher isn’t done with accomplishing geocaching feats.

Wendy helped organize the Geolympix Mega-Event in Oxford, England. You can visit with her at the event this weekend. She says, “I’ll be giving a presentation on accessible geocaching and holding one of the side events for GeoDogs!”

There’s more achievement ahead for Wendy. She says, “I’m due to complete my 366 day grid on July 24th and my 7th cachiversary is on August 15th!”

Leave a message here for Wendy, and if you’re at the Geolympix Mega-Event say hi!

In the last 30 days 6.9 million logs were submitted on Geocaching.com. Most of the logs claimed a “Found it,” followed by details of a caching adventure. Or the logs gave a story about the cache that got away under the banner of a “DNF” (Did Not Find).

But Mark Case’s (markcase) June 19 log gives “Found it” a new, more powerful, meaning. Mark was searching for the North Carolina, USA EarthCache “The Sauratown Mountains” (GC1G4Py).

His “Found it” log entry began with, “Wow. How do I start this log? This cache has to be one that I will always remember.”

Mark not only found the information to claim a smiley on the EarthCache – he also found a lost girl.

His log reads, “I passed a very nice stream bed on the way up to the summit. On the way down, as I got closer and closer to the stream, I heard a child crying. When I got to the stream, I found an 8 year-old girl alone and crying. She was lost and had no idea where she was.”

Mark quickly devised a plan. He had been involved with scouting for nearly 40 years. He says he discovered geocaching in 2010 at the Boy Scout National Jamboree. He got hooked. Mark learned plenty about geocaching with nearly 4,500 finds in two years. Mark sets memorable locations in his GPS device as waypoints. Following a waypoint he’d just set, Mark was able to lead the girl to a nearby campsite with a pay phone. There had been no cell phone coverage.

He wrote, “She was tired and scared. I wound up giving her a ride on my shoulders most of the way. When I offered to let her wear my hat, she stopped crying. When I got to the pay phone, I dialed 911 and told them I had a lost girl and where I found her. A ranger showed up within about 15 minutes.” It turned out the girl had been missing for three hours. She’d followed the stream collecting rocks, until she was far past her parents. She was reunited with her parents shortly after. Mark says he never ever got the family’s name.

Mark finished his log with this, “Does Geocaching make a difference? It did today. I’ll always remember this hike and cache.”

Mark says one of his other memorable caching experience was topping a peak with his wife as she was rehabilitating after knee surgery. He says he likes sharing his caching experiences with fellow cachers, like reaching that peak, or finding a lost girl.

Mark says geocachers also share a common trait, “Most cachers operate on the “Do Right” philosophy.  Do what is right.  I like that in my fellow cachers.”

Talking about geocaching doesn’t often result in a whirlwind trip and a chance for national recognition, unless perhaps you’re Jim Bishop. Jim is known in the geocaching world as jcacher15. He’s a High School student in Washington State, USA.

Jim won competitions with a presentation on geocaching at the local and state levels to compete this weekend in a national DECA competition. DECA is a student organization for emerging leaders in business, marketing, finance, and hospitality. Jim will travel hundreds of miles to stand in front of judges and talk about a business plan for Geocaching.com.

Jim’s knows his topic well. He’s accumulated more than 3500 finds across three countries since he started geocaching in 2009.

He says, “I first learned about geocaching when I saw a TV advertisement for the GPS Adventures Maze exhibit at the Pacific Science Center [in Seattle, Washington] in early 2009.  A few months later I was surfing the web and ended up on Geocaching.com.  I got a membership and my first GPS device and was instantly hooked.”

Other geocaching experiences helped Jim choose his topic for the DECA presentation, including one of the more memorable trips of this life, ” I went with a few geocaching friends up to Canada for the weekend to do a 200 cache trail. It was a great weekend, we hiked many miles through the forests and hills of British Columbia and slept in a cabin each night.  The trip was like nothing I had ever done before.”

Jim not only had to talk about geocaching to make it to DECA Nationals, he has to write about it. Jim developed a 30-page Geocaching.com customer loyalty plan. Presenting his plan for geocaching at DECA nationals requires Jim to step into a business setting. He says, “I will be discussing the implementation of a new customer loyalty plan addressing a situation related to the geocaching membership program.  The presentation is 15 minutes and takes place in an office type environment.  The presenter sits on one side of a table across from one or more judges.”

Whether Jim wins first place or not, he’ll will walk away with a powerful experience. He says, ” I hope to learn how to present effectively as well as how to make good business decisions.  I also hope that this competition will help prepare me for the business world after I finish college.”

Leave Jim a message below to wish him good luck this weekend talking about geocaching for a grade.