Welcome to a celebration!

There will be Pizza and (root) Beer. There will be games. There will be bubbles! 

Please bring yourself a chair and bring any of your geocaching history you'd like to share with others. 

Geocaching History

Geocaching, a modern-day treasure hunting game, began in May 2000, shortly after the removal of Selective Availability from GPS technology. Dave Ulmer, a computer consultant, hid a bucket containing various items near Beavercreek, Oregon, and posted the coordinates online, marking the birth of geocaching. The activity was initially called the "GPS Stash Hunt" or "gpsstashing". The name "geocaching" was coined later by Matt Stum. 

Here's a more detailed look at the history:

• May 2, 2000: "Blue Switch Day":

  Selective Availability, which intentionally degraded the accuracy of GPS signals, was turned off. This allowed for more precise location data, making the concept of hiding and finding containers with GPS coordinates feasible. 

• May 3, 2000: The first geocache:

  Dave Ulmer hid a black bucket containing items like software, videos, books, food, and a slingshot, and posted its coordinates online. 

• Early development:

  The activity quickly gained traction, with people sharing coordinates and discussing the hobby on online forums. Mike Teague, the first finder, created a page to track the growing number of caches. 

• The name "geocaching":

  Matt Stum officially named the activity "geocaching" on May 30, 2000, combining the terms "geo" (earth) and "cache" (a storage place). 

• Geocaching.com:

  Jeremy Irish, a web developer, created a website, Geocaching.com, to improve the experience of finding and managing geocaches. It was launched on September 2, 2000. 

• Growth and evolution:

  Geocaching has grown into a global hobby with millions of active caches and participants worldwide. The activity has expanded to include various types of caches and challenges, and it continues to evolve with new technologies and community initiatives. 

One Bad Ant History

In December 2005 Mr Bad Ant read about geocaching on a Bulletin Board (before the web!). He thought it looked interesting and bought a Garmin GPS at London Drugs on a Boxing Day Sale. (2 years later he crushed the screen with his thumb when he jumped down from a tree after a signing a cache.) 

Signing onto Geocaching.com he needed a cacher name. He had made a picnic basket for our anniversary gift the summer before and had a package of little plastic ants on his desk. That's how One Bad Ant came to be. We added a plastic ant to our first few hundred find log books. We enjoyed reading logs from people that had them fall out of the logbook when they found the cache later  

Mr Bad Ant found the first few caches while I was in Virginia picking up our Keeshond puppy Shadowfax. When I returned Mr Bad Ant suggested that since I had to walk the new puppy, I should take the GPS and find geocaches. I started with papermaps and cache page printouts. And an obsession began. 

Highlights

- 1,000 find with friends at GCR06W Cold Cache

- 10,000 find at GCGV0P Original Stash Tribute Plaque

- finding caches in 46 different provinces and states

- finding the crookedest street in San Francisco (it's not Lombard) ... local cachers have taken us to so many amazing places we wouldn't have seen without geocaching. 

- all the friends we've met along the way.

Pizza and Beer History

One Bad Ant started Geocaching in January 2006. We started attending the Beer 'n' Ribs monthly events shortly after. After 14 events, we attended the final Beer 'n' Ribs in April 2007. 

We missed the monthly events and started hosting Pizza and Beer events in September 2007. We've hosted events in Boston Pizza, Denny's, Ricky's, in a parking lot and in the park. We've hosted 11 events a year, excluding December, only taking a break during the pandemic. One of my favourite PnB was the multi-event, when our event restaurant was closed for renovations when we arrived and we had to find a new location on the spot. 

This is PnB number 187 since we started almost 18 years ago in September 2007. It's been fantastic! We've enjoyed meeting new cachers who have become friends. It's fun being the hub of puzzle hint and cache clue exchange. But this will be OUR LAST PnB event. It's time to pass the torch onto others. 

Community Celebration Events - 2025

This Event is part of a limited release of Community Celebration Events to celebrate 25 years of geocaching. Geocachers hosted events between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. Learn more about Community Celebration Events on the Geocaching Blog.