I was in Kansas City for a family wedding during the Thanksgiving 2013 holiday, and like all good geocachers, I checked to see which caches were closest to the hotel. The closest cache, at 0.5 miles away, was P.H.D. in Geocaching Degree Challenge created by Papa, Mama & Buglet Wood. At first, I was not going to attempt a 5/5 cache with limited time and no extra caching tools/equipment with me 1,000 miles from home. Then I read the listing and discovered that after 9 years of geocaching, I had earned my P.H.D. in Geocaching! I had a blast reminiscing about all of the geocaching “courses” I had taken over the years and then nabbing this cache bright and early Saturday morning before the wedding. I was thrilled when Papa, Mama, & Buglet Wood graciously gave their permission for me to replicate their cache here in Maryland.
This is a challenge cache. You must complete the qualifications described below before you may sign the logbook and register this cache as found on the listing page. The 5/5 rating is for the requirements to meet the challenge; the actual placement is a 2/2. This challenge may only be logged once regardless of how many different ways you can rack up 80 points.
All logs will need to be submitted with proof of component completion to the Registrar attached. (Here is the SeeKPeeKRs' log showing their completed course work for GC441J5-P.H.D. in Geocaching Degree Challenge; I made heavy use of mygeocachingprofile.com and my computer's screen capture tool.) Logs not meeting requirements will be deleted and your tuition forfeited. There is a FTF prize; it's a zipper bracelet with a crown charm! And, 10 Star Cards for the next 10 finders can be found in the cache. All finders will be emailed a PDF version of their P.H.D. degree certificate.
The P.H.D. (Placed, Hidden, Distance) Degree in Geocaching is only conferred on an elite group of cachers who have exerted a sustained effort to achieve completion of the components of the curriculum listed below. In order to claim this find and complete the challenge, you must achieve eighty (80) points using any of the combinations below with the following exception:
You may use either the full or half version of qualifications, but not both. For example, if claiming 20 points for a 10-year Jasmer grid, then you cannot also use the 10 points for the 5-year Jasmer option.
DISTANCE LEARNING ONE (20 points towards degree) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have logged at least one find in each of the 48 contiguous United States since you began caching.
HALFWAY USA ONE (10 points towards degree) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have logged at least one find in 24 of the contiguous 48 United States.
SEMESTER ABROAD ONE (10 points towards degree) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have logged at least thirty (30) caches of any type outside of the contiguous 48 lower states.
MUNICIPAL CODE ONE (10 points towards degree) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have logged finds in at least four hundred (400) counties.
DELORME CHALLENGES (10 points towards degree; capped at two states maximum) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have fulfilled the requirements and logged a DeLorme challenge in a state.
ALL COUNTIES IN STATE CHALLENGES (10 points towards degree; capped at two states maximum) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have logged a find in each of the counties within a state.
PLACED DATE ONE (20 points towards degree) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have logged at least one find by placed date for each day of the year. You may straddle across multiple years to fulfill this requirement to fill your grid.
A CACHE A DAY ONE (20 points towards degree)-- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have logged at least one find on each day of the year of any cache type. You may straddle across multiple years to fulfill this requirement and complete your grid.
FIZZY GRID ONE (20 points towards degree) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you have filled a D/T grid in entirety.
HIDDEN JASMER ONE (20 points towards degree) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have logged at least one find per month/year combination on a Jasmer Grid for a period of not less than ten years.
HALF JASMER ONE (10 points towards degree) -- in order to complete this segment of the curriculum, you must have logged at least one find per month/year combination for a period of not less than five years.
This cache is located in Hallowing Point Park along Rt. 231 in Calvert County, MD. The park, along with some geocaching, has a lot to offer; take a look at the park map.
The park's hours change depending on the season; please plan accordingly.
Mid-March to Mid-November:
8:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Winter Hours:
8:00 a.m. (website says 8:30 a.m.; be flexible here) to 3:50 p.m.
One last note: with snow on the ground, this one will be a more challenging find.