Wherigo: Tribute to GCTOP Wherigo Cache

GeoCacheTrioOP

I can't remember exactly when I met Mark, Jamie and Alex, but it must have been at an event, sometime in 2013 (I have a really bad memory),and sometime after January. I got my first 5 FTF's in this my second go around at geocaching on the same day, and all 5 belonged to GeoCacheTrioOP. These caches were part of a series of caches hidden throughout Jacksonville (a geographical area larger than Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, Carmichael, Fair Oaks and Roseville combined) based on the game of Hangman. I remember talking to Mark about those caches and he told me about a couple of puzzles I owned that he wanted to solve. He also told me about the fact that he was on a daily streak that was almost two years long at the time. And we became good friends.

When I started my own streak, I got guidance from them and eventually my streak became second only to theirs. We actually planned several caching excursions to various power runs, night caches and gadget caches. And together with frick_frack, we participated in the 2016 GeoExtreme Race, a local event held during the winter where you are tasked with finding 6 geocaches throughout a massive local park in Glen St. Mary's, Florida while competing in mental and physical challenges and the winner is the first team to finish. The host, local geocaching legend memomls, has prizes for First, Second, Third and last place teams. GCTOP, frick_frack and I formed Team "Scruffy Looking Nerf Herders" and in a surprise finish, we won the event! The lime green buff with our team name is one of my most prized geocaching possessions. 

Eventually, GeoCachingTrioOP shortened their name to GCTOP, which was their long time cache signature. And they voluntarily stopped their daily streak at 2011 consecutive days, leaving me with the longest active streak in the state. But they still get a cache every few days so their longest slump is something like 4 days.

In moving to California, we said goodbye to a lot of our geocaching friends. This is our way of honoring the memories we share. Plus, it guarantees that if they are ever around the area, they'll have at least one cache that they have to come find.

I have chosen a Wherigo style cache since 1) I don't like hiding traditionals, 2) I like hiding wherigos, and 3) it is the favorite style of at least 1/3rd of GCTOP.