Geocaching is more than an adventure that takes you to new locations. It’s a growing record of specific locations. Currently geocachers can navigate to more than 2 million active geocaches around the globe. Every time you find a geocache it’s like making an entry into the diary of a specific location. You record the weather, the view, who joined the adventure, even what animals you encounter (hopefully safe, fluffy, friendly animals). Here’s a look at a recent Geocaching Forums post that asked a simple question… “Does anyone know of any other caches that have been in the same spot, same container over 10 years?”
New York State geocache hidden in 2002, still active with original container
Some geocaches like”da dog ‘yaks‘ were hidden in 2001. Geocachers have captured images of floating the Juniper Creek in Ocala National Forest for 12 years. They’ve even cataloged wildlife, flowers, and the water level. The geocache owner says the veteran geocache, “… is coming up on 12 years, survived the hurricane flooding, because the tree it was tucked up against fell on it.” Although the container on that geocache was changed after the flood, the original log book remains.
There are thousands of active geocaches that are more than ten years old, but there numbers are fading and their geocache containers are (often for good reason) replaced. Hiding and maintaining a geocache is a labor or love that has its rewards.
Racoon at “da dog ‘yaks” geocache.
One geocacher posting in the forum said it perfectly, “WOW, [geocache owners] thank you for doing everything you do for the sport of geocaching, and keeping these older caches active.”
For more details check out the Geocaching Forums. What’s the oldest geocache you’ve ever logged? Did it have its original container?
The post on the Geocaching Facebook page started with “My 28 yr old son (who has Down Syndrome) is my best geo-buddy!” The post from Peggy Caton, PeGC56, instantly struck the heart of geocaching buddies sharing an adventure. They search for ‘hidden-treasure’ only find the real treasure right next to them the whole way.
Peggy answers a few questions about geocaching, and about her best bud and son Brian who goes by the geocaching name CoolGuy84.
How did you discover geocaching?
I discovered it when a couple of my Facebook friends posted about going geocaching last summer. I Googled it instead of asking! I originally didn’t even think to include Brian (CoolGuy84’s real name—and BTW he made up his own geo-name), my younger son and his gf had heard of it before and had been wanting to try it, so the 3 of us set out one evening and only found 2 of the 5 we looked for, but were hooked none the less.
What attracted you to geocaching as a mother and son activity?
We live in a small Missouri town (suburb of KC) and were surprised to find so many geocaches in Raytown—Brian eventually joined us for a few adventures as the others of us got the hang of caching. My other son and his girlfriend lost the fever somewhat between work and life, but Brian was hooked. Its kind of a long story, but in the previous year and a half my family had quite a few losses. We had evolved into sad depressed lumps. Once we discovered geocaching suddenly we were out almost everyday. We went hiking on the trails; we ran up and down hills; climbed rocks and got fresh air and sunshine! I know it sounds sappy but it was kind of a miracle in our lives.
What’s your advice about geocaching to others with family members who have Down Syndrome?
Brian searching for a geocache
The only advice I have is to not hesitate to include them! Depending on their age there are a variety of ways they can participate. Younger kids can just enjoy the family time and the exercise and fresh air (and eventually become experts). Kids with Down Syndrome tend to be very sedate in nature and would be happy sitting; but then tend to be overweight also. There’s all kinds of therapeutic benefits too—it’s a gross motor activity, fine motor activity (getting to the containers; opening containers; digging through the swag and picking out what you want), it’s a cognitive activity—putting the pieces of the puzzle together to locate the cache. And it also has all the same benefits for them as with typical kids—learning about nature (we saw 2 deer in the woods closeup last weekend and Brian was in awe); traveling, learning geography, history (we’ve done several mystery caches that have taught both of us some interesting history facts). With older kids/adults like Brian it gives them quite a sense of accomplishment, pride and self-confidence. He is SO excited about all of them whether they are quick Park and Grab geocaches (P&Gs) (which he does love and doesn’t usually need my help at all) or if we’re hiking through the woods. Most of all its just plain fun for everyone and can help build a close family bond and hobby.
You describe “CoolGuy84” as a freak for geocaching. What excites him so much about the activity?
He just gets excited when he figures out where the caches are; he actually does better than me at actually finding the containers. I can read the maps/GPS like a champ and I can drive us there, but I find that he doesn’t have preconceived ideas about what a container should look like or where it should be hidden so he just looks everywhere! Even if I say “ehhh no its probably not there, I don’t know how they could hide one there” then BAM he has it found. He’s always so proud of himself and takes ALL the credit for finding it. Here is our caching chant: ME: “I drive the car, I read the map, you find the cache!! What do we call that?” BRIAN: “ TEAMWORK!!!”
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A special thanks to Peggy for sharing the story from all of us at Geocaching HQ. Leave a comment for Peggy and Brian below.
louwtjievdw: Featured Geocacher of the Month for February
All three nominees for the February Geocacher of the Month show us the meaning of geocaching ambassadors. They welcome new community members, hide and maintain clever geocaches, and are rewarded with hundreds of Favorite Points.
Thank you to all those who supported the nominees. Those not chosen as featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Geocaching HQ.
After counting the votes and registering the sentiment a man known as Uncle Louwtjie,louwtjievdw, is named the Featured Geocacher of the Month for February 2013.
Louwtjievdw is known in the South African geocaching community as a creative geocache hider. He’s built a reputation as a geocacher who’s as quick to maintain his geocache hides as he is to make friends with new geocachers. He’s also known for friendly advice, leaving great logs on geocaches he’s found and having a cup of coffee ready for geocachers at his home.
One voter writes, “Oom Louwtjie, also called the “Flame of Bloemfontein”, gets our vote. His contribution towards geocaching can not go unnoticed. He accelerated this hobby and made it extremely pleasurable and challenging. His unique cache hides and above all his comments, his friendly nature, made him a legend in our country. He has the ability to find caches even in the toughest places with no complaints and he will always look for that something good in every cache hide…”
Uncle Louwtjievdw will receive a collector’s edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging his contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.
Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must follow these requirements. Please include:
Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month
Please inform your nominee that you have submitted them for the award. Nominations for Featured Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.
Congratulations again to Uncle Louwtjie on being recognized at the Featured Geocacher of the Month for February.
Two million active geocaches is a big deal. But at the end of the day, two million active geocaches is a number. It’s hard to even imagine. Here’s a little perspective on the magnitude of two million. It takes you more than four months to blink two million times. About two million babies will be born around the world this week. And students spend two million minutes to complete four years of high school classes in the United States.
Two million active geocaches though, means adventure is closer than ever. Active geocaches can be found in more than 180 countries. Those at Geocaching HQ in Seattle weigh in on the significance. Cathy Hornback at Geocaching HQ has more than 11,000 finds. She’s been geocaching under the username Prying Pandora since 2003. She says two million active geocaches takes Geocaching into the mainstream, “It means we’re no longer the biggest game that no one has heard about.”
Jenn Seva, MissJenn, at Geocaching HQ says congratulations goes to geocache hiders, “Thank you so much for those quirky gems and amazing locations. Thank you also to those who take the time to award Favorite Points so that it’s slightly easier to choose my destinations.” (You can thank a geocache hider by sharing this video)
Recent “Corporate Day” at Geocaching HQ (no one really dresses like this at HQ)
MissJenn also helped power the worldwide geocaching volunteer community. Each of the two million active geocaches has volunteer reviewer fingerprints on them. Each geocache was individually reviewed. She says volunteers should take a moment to enjoy the milestone, “Being a steward of the game takes a lot of time and dedicated effort. Please take a moment to bask in a bit of the glory: beam with pride! Take a look at this awesome community that you have helped to create: one geocache at time, one forum thread at a time, and one translation at a time.”
Geocaching is now more than 12-years-old. Jon Stanley, Moun10Bike, has been geocaching since its infancy. He works at Geocaching HQ and says, “At the outset, I had no idea that this great game would ever get this big. When I placed Idaho’s first geocache back in 2000, there were less than 40 geocaches in existence, and I naively placed a hitchhiker in the geocache with the idea that it might someday visit every geocache in the world. Now we’re at two million. My hitchhiker, poor little Stash Hopper never had a chance!”
But Jon reminds us, “Remember, it’s not about the numbers! For this game to continue to thrive, we all need to become stewards of the game and push forward to new heights of creativity, cooperation, and commitment!” Well said.
Share your comments below. What does reaching two million active geocaches mean to you?
Reward Favorite Points to the geocaches that make you cheer with joy!
Your pulse-quickens. Your jaw drops. And you think, “No way!” It’s the “Aha!” reward of finding a geocache that’s a unique container, cleverly hidden or reveals an amazing location. Maybe it’s even all three of those elements rolled into one geocache.
Now you have nearly two million active geocaches to choose from for your adventure. You can celebrate the best of those geocaches by rewarding that geocache a shiny new Favorite Point.
Some geocaches have tallied hundreds of Favorite Points, some have even earned more than a thousand Favorite Points. And your Favorite Point matters.
A Favorite Point is a blue ribbon award that makes a geocache owner’s day. Favorite Points are your way of saying Thank You to the geocacher who hid and maintains the geocache. It’s also a way to let other geocachers know that geocache is well worth the journey.
Here’s the story of how Favorite Points work. Premium Members earn one Favorite Point for every ten geocaches they find. They can reward their points to any geocache where they logged, “Found it.” Basic Members who upgrade to Premium Membership receive Favorite Points accordingly to their past finds.
Searching by Favorite Points also offers a big time-saving advantage, since you won’t have to sort through page after page of search results to find the best geocaches in an area. The one-click solution is an easy way to instantly see which geocaches leave your fellow geocachers in awe.
You can help out new geocache hiders. Add a comment below and tell us what makes a geocache worthy of a Favorite Point?
