The month of August has a new name: the 31 Days of Geocaching. You’ll have the opportunity to earn a calendar-style souvenir for every day you find a geocache—that’s 31 new souvenirs just waiting for you. Plus, find a geocache on July 13 and you’ll get the special Geocaching Get Outdoors Day souvenir as well.

Here’s your challenge: complete a full, month-long geocaching streak during August and earn all 31 souvenirs. It might sound easy, but maintaining a geocaching streak takes hard work, dedication and—above all else—motivation. Here are a few tips from geocaching experts to make your 31 Days of Geocaching streak a success:

1. Plan ahead

This tip is #1 for a reason. Having a geocaching plan makes keeping a streak alive much easier. Spend a few days before you begin your streak to draw up your plan. Try to think about if there will be any days where snagging a ‘cache will be more difficult than others. Having a plan will help eliminate surprises and keeps you on top of your streak.

2. Work Geocaching into Your Day

Going to work, picking up groceries, walking the dog—these are all great times to earn a smiley. If there are places you visit on a semi-regular basis, varying the route may open up possibilities for quick finds. Simple geocaches can take a little as 10–15 minutes to find, so taking a short detour during your day won’t take up too much time and will knock out one more find.

3. Learn to Love the Easy Stuff

D1/T1 geocaches aren’t always crowd favorites, but when you’re working on a streak, the simple geocaches are your best friends. Save the multis and epic puzzles for non-streaking days, unless you just like the extra challenge.

4. The 11:30pm, 12:00am trick

This one is simple: find a geocache at 11:30pm, wait a half hour, then find another geocache. Boom. That’s two days down in less than an hour. Warning: Before you use this method, double check the recent activity to make sure your 11:30 geocache is there. If it’s missing or you can’t find it, you could accidentally end your streak.

5. Save the Easy Finds for Last

Your first impulse might be to find all the easy, nearby geocaches first. But wait! Saving the easy, nearby geocaches allows you to have alternatives just in case something comes up or you don’t have a lot of time to travel.

6. Skip the FTFs

If you receive notifications for new geocaches, you’re going to have to fight the urge to nab the FTF, especially if it’s nearby. Just like in tip #5, leaving several easy, nearby geocaches unfound gives you some backup options.

7. Find a Partner

Just like geocaching any other day, it’s always more fun with a friend. With geocaching streaks, having someone to go with will help maintain motivation and give you both some accountability.

8. Plan Your Final Geocache

Make the final geocache of your streak something awesome. It will give you something to look forward to and give your geocaching streak an epic send-off.

 

Tell Us Your Tips

Have you ever done a geocaching streak? If so, leave your tips for maintaining a streak in the comments below. Happy geocaching!

Watch The Geocaching Blog for more details on Geocaching Get Outdoors Day on July 13 and the 31 Days of Geocaching in August. To earn a souvenir in both promotions you must log a “Found it” or an “Attended” on specific days, July 13 and each day in August.