Intro:

Time to do it again!

In August 2021 I held a similar event (GC8M9QR) which, by popular demand, I intended to make an annual event. Unfortunately, my travel plans for the festivities for the 20th anniversary of geocaching interfered. Now the fun is back!

Schedule:

• 9:30 am – 9:55 am Arrive and check-in
• 9:55 am – Instructions, Q & A
• 10 am – Open envelopes and go!
• 10 am – 12 pm Hunt, snap, send
• 12 pm - Head back to posted coordinates
• 12:30 pm – Winners announced (Announcement will happen as soon as scoring is finished and everyone returns)

The Event:

It's a photo scavenger hunt! Your team will earn points by hunting for the items on the list, snapping a picture of your team with the item, and sending the picture with the list item number to me, HikingSeal, to collect your points. The top three teams will get a prize!

Your Team:

Your team may consist of as many people as you can legally fit in one vehicle. Your team can be you and your spouse and kids, you and some geo-buddies, you and your geo-pup, just you (but you’ll have more fun with more people on your team), etc. You get the idea. Just remember all your team members need to be in the pictures, so if you want to rent a tour bus for the event, good luck with the pictures.

In your “Will Attend”, please list the caching name(s) of your team members. Don’t worry if it changes by event time. I’m just trying to get an idea of the teams. When you check-in, you can provide your final team roster. Pick one person on your team to be the photographer/contact (details on this role below).

If you're a solo cacher, don't have a car, don't know other cachers, just generally looking for a team, please post a note to that effect below. Please get your teams organized BEFORE the event. I don't want folks in awkward situations during the event because they want to help someone without a team, yet they don't want to spend two hours in a car with someone they don't know well. Feel free to use the cache page to find teams, then use the message center to communicate any private information.

Feel free to come up with a creative name for your team. While the "Will Attends" are coming in, if it's a family team, I'm using the caching name. For teams composed of multiple unrelated cachers, I'm using the name of the first team member I heard from for the name until I hear differently.

The List:

List items will vary in point value depending on difficulty to find. The items I found while constructing the list are within approximately 72nd to 106th and 13th W to 9th E. They will not be inside nor on a trail like the JRPW. Of course, you may find items similar to the ones I had in mind that are at different locations. Some list items are not location-based. 

Each team will be provided with multiple copies of the list in a sealed envelope at event check-in. DO NOT OPEN the envelope until instructed.

Pictures:

To earn points for an item, you must snap a picture of your team with one member wearing the celebratory hat. At minimum, all your team members must be in the picture minus one, the photographer. Selfies (Usies) are certainly welcome or feel free to accost a passerby to take the picture.

Designate one member of your team to be the photographer, or at least, it’s that person’s phone that is used for all the pictures. Send that picture to me, HikingSeal, via geocaching messenger WITH THE ITEM #. Tell me the item # so I don’t have to guess. Your team’s score will likely benefit from me not guessing.

Be sure when you check in that I know your team contact person (photographer) so I can credit the points to the appropriate team.

For those of you who cache with different apps or a GPS, it will be easier for you to use the message center if you download the Official Geocaching app. You don't have to cache with it. Just open the message center and start a thread with me. You don't even have to leave it to take the pictures. Please practice before the event. I don't want anyone to not win because they couldn't figure out how to send pictures.

Scoring:

The toughest part of this kind of event is everyone standing around while the pictures are scored. This is why you are sending them in with item #’s as you take them. I hope to have everything scored by the time everyone returns to the posted coordinates. 

There will be a bonus this year for teams that take no indoor pictures.

The top three teams will receive swag!

Only pictures in messages time-stamped by the geocaching messaging center between 10 am and 12 pm will count toward your score. (If we start a few minutes after 10, we will end a few minutes after 12. You will get a full two hours.)

Spectators:

If you don't want to participate on a team, you are welcome to come 9:30-10 or 12-12:30 to cheer the teams on. I will be at the posted coordinates for the duration of the event if someone wants to swing by to sign the log for an easy smiley. More fun will be had if the visit happens when others are there. The Night Fox had to bow out because of another obligation. n8bing is stepping into the role of scoring assistant. If anyone else wants to help score the pictures as they come in, let me know. 

Summary:

• Find an item on the list
• Take a picture of your team with the item. One person should be wearing the celebratory hat.
• Message the picture with the item # to HikingSeal
• Repeat for two hours
• HAVE FUN!

Final Standings