2026 Geocaching Winter Olympics Event Cache

Welcome to Iowa's Winter Geocaching Olympics!

The posted coordinates are for the wind-up event at the Marion, IA, Library Community Room A on Sunday, February 20, 2026 at 2pm. The event marks the end of the Winter Geocaching Olympics. Anyone may log a “will attend” for this event without any participation in the Olympics.

The Winter Geocaching Olympics is a 8 week-long game ending with the event. The Olympics begin on Saturday, December 27, 2025 at 12:00am and end on Friday, February 20, 2026 at 11:59pm. To participate in the Olympics, post a note on the event page before 11:59pm on Friday, January 2, 2026 (this gives everyone one week after competition starts to opt in!)

Scoreboard will be updated periodically throughout the Olympics.

The Winter Geocaching Olympics is a fun competition to get you out and caching during the long cold Midwest winter! Designed for all cachers, the objective is to complete any twelve (12) tasks during the nine weeks of the Geocaching Olympics. This is not a race. Tasks have higher or lower points assigned to them. Read the task requirements carefully and choose wisely. You are seeking points, not completing the Games first. There is danger in waiting too long though! Even if you don’t get the high score, a strategic approach may still result in a prize. Posting a note by 11:59pm on January 2 lets me know that you plan to participate in the Olympics.

In order to claim a smiley for this event, you just need to attend the wind-up event.

RULES

Short Version:

• Claim 12 tasks in 8 weeks (December 27, 2025-February 20, 2026)
• Using the "write note" feature on this event page, report your claims with task number, GC code(s), points claimed, and any task-specific requirements within 7 days of fulfilling (or by 11:59pm on 2/20/26)
• Some tasks have outright points stated while others are dependent on the geocache found. All tasks offer a variety of points that the Olympic participant can choose to claim as positive or negative. Claimed point values must be stated on the note and cannot be edited. (I do get Project-GC edit notifications.)
• Watch for bonuses!
• Photos are encouraged! If required, it will be stated in the task requirement.

Full rules are at the bottom of the event page.

Tasks:

Tasks may only be claimed once per participating geocaching login (single player or multi-player team.) ALL TASKS ARE WORTH POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE POINTS. You must let me know with each note whether you are claiming positive or negative points for each task.

1. National Costumes: 5+D+T points

• Attend an event and dress in a theme that matches the event description. Photo required.
• The event can be published at any time (including after the start of the Olympics) and can be hosted by anyone.

2. Opening and Closing Ceremonies: 5 points

• Log any geocaches at sunrise or sunset three separate times. Picture is required. These must be on three different days. The time of day does not need to be the same; you may mix sunrises and sunsets.
• This task is exempt from any timeline. You can take the entire Olympics to find these three caches but you must claim the task prior to the conclusion of the Olympics and within 7 days of finding the last qualifying geocache.

3. National Flags: (5+D+T) points

• Log any physical cache and post a photo with the flag of any nation nearby. The flag may not be brought to the cache location nor the cache taken to a flag. The flag must be present from the found coordinates of the cache.

4. Team Sports: 5 points

• Go caching with a minimum of 3 other geocachers (minimum group size is 4.) These geocachers must have been registered on www.geocaching.com prior to the beginning of the Olympics and have unique geocaching accounts. All caching logs must reference the other geocachers. The other geocachers do not have to be participating in the Olympics to qualify. Your task note must contain the names of the other geocachers. 

5. Olympic Years: one point for each year of the cache's age

• Find and log any geocache that was published in an Olympic year. If you find a 2018 hide, it would be worth +/- 8 points. If you find a 2024 cache, it would be worth +/-2 points. Please include the host city of the Olympics for the year of your found cache.

6. Post-Olympics Interview: 5 points

• Words matter and all cache owners like to read nice logs. Write an original (not just copy/paste blanket text) of at least 250 words.

7. Olympic Sport Uniforms: (D+T) points

• Log any non-event cache while wearing attire that matches the cache's theme. Photo required.

8. Triple Axel: (highest D + highest T)

• Find, in a single day, three different caches each hidden in different years. 

9. Paralympian: (2+D+T) points

• Log any physical cache that displays the “wheelchair friendly” attribute icon.

10. Repeat Olympic Athlete: 5 points

• Locate a cache again that you first found at least a year ago. Write a note on the cache listing. In your note, describe how this experience was different than your previous visit and/or how your geocaching has changed since you logged the find. Post picture of the log sheet. (Your original signature is not required to be shown but if it is still readable, please include it.)

11. Skating on Thin Ice: 2(D+T) points

• Find a geocache with either the "swimming" or "wading" attribute icon. 

12. Long Program Artistic Skating: (2+D+T) points

• Log any physical cache that displays either the "medium hike (1-10km)" or the "long hike (10km+)" icon attribute. Please note rule #16 for any multi-person geocaching teams.

13. Skijoring!: 2(D+T) points

• Never heard of this sport? That’s okay, neither had I until I was researching for this event! Log any cache and include a picture of a dog (or other four-legged animal) with the cache.

14. Relay Race: (highest D+highest T)

• Find 3 caches on the same day with a total of at least 10 attributes listed in total. None of the attributes may be repeated on any of those three caches.
• Example: 1st cache has 3 attributes, 2nd cache has 6 attributes, 3rd cache has 1 attribute, and none of those attributes appear on more than one of the geocaches.

15. Multi-Event Athlete: (4+highest D+highest T) 

• Find exactly 12 caches in a calendar day (midnight to midnight.)
• Scoring example: Find 10 caches of 1.5/1.5, 1 cache of 5.0/1.0 and 1 cache of 1.0/5.0; therefore 4+5+5=14 

16. Seven-time Olympians: 10 points

• To honor 7-time Winter Olympians Albert Demchenko (luge), Serge Dolidovich (cross-country skiing), and Janne Ahonen (ski jumping), log any type of cache where the sum of the difficulty and terrain totals exactly 7.
• Qualifying examples: 2/5, 2.5/4.5, 3/4, 3.5/3.5, 4/3, 4.5/2.5, 5/2

17. Crowd Favorite: (highest D + highest T)

• Find six geocaches hidden by the same cache owner. Caches must be found in a single day.

18. Medalist: 3(D+T) points

• Earn a Geocaching Treasure by finding a cache. Any treasure qualifies but the qualifying cache cannot be used for any other challenge.
• Post a picture of the earned Treasure that includes the description of what cache you used and on what date.

19. Complete an Olympic Adventure (Lab): 5 points

• As proof of completing an Adventure Lab, post a screen shot of the Adventure Lab showing your geocaching name at the top and the completed icon with with check mark on the page. This task may not be used in the spelling bee task.

20. Unloved (aka Tonya Harding): 5/10/15/20 points

• Log any physical cache that has not been found in the preceeding time period:
  • 180 days = 5 points
  • 365 days = 10 points
  • 2 years = 15 points
  • 3+ years = 20 points

21. Comeback Kid: 5 points

• Log a find on a physical geocache that you have previously logged a DNF on. Your DNF must have been logged and dated before the start of the Olympics. Your task note must include the date of your earlier DNF.

22. 50km Cross-Country Skiing: 0.5 points per day with a maximum of 10 points 

• Find a minimum of 1 cache per day to create a streak of consecutive days. Maximum streak that will qualify for this task is 20 days (10 points.) Minimum streak is 1 day (0.5 points.)
• This task is exempt from rule #9; streak caches can be claimed for other tasks.

23. Become an Olympian, Host an Event: 4 points

• Your event must be listed on www.geocaching.com and must be published before the Olympics end. Your event can take place after the Olympics end.
• Note: According to geocache guidelines, event caches should be submitted no less than two weeks before the date of the event so plan accordingly! Also, please ensure you give adequate time for the cache reviewer to publish your hide.

24. Large Olympic Goals: 5 points

• Hide a large cache. A large container is described by Groundspeak as a "minimum of 20L (around 5 imperial gallons.)"

25. Olympic Coach: 6 points

• Hide a minimum of 3 caches with the attribute of "recommended for kids." These caches should be easily found by children regardless of location. They do not have to be related to each other.
• Your geocaches must be listed at www.geocaching.com and must be published before the end of the Olympics. Points cannot be claimed until the caches are published. Please ensure you give adequate time for the cache review to publish your hides.

26. Area Code: (2+D+T) points

• Not an actual Olympic event, but a longstanding geocaching Olympics event!
• Log any cache (see exceptions below) where the numbers of your area code appear in the given order anywhere in the published coordinates (not puzzle solutions or intermediate steps in multicaches) to claim the task. The numbers can run across the latitude and longitude. The numbers do not need to appear consecutively, but they need to appear in sequence.
• Example: N 41° 51.821 W 090° 16.257 would qualify for me as the numbers 815 appear in order, even though they are not consecutive.
• Your geocache must be listed at www.geocaching.com and must be published before the end of the Olympics. Points cannot be claimed until the cache is published. Please ensure you give adequate time for the cache reviewer to publish your hide.

27. Spelling Bee: (4+highest D+highest T)

• Also not a traditional Olympic event, but another longstanding geocaching Olympics event!
• Find a total of 8 caches, using the first letter of the cache name to spell "OLYMPIAN."
• Caches that start with numbers or symbols do not count.
• This task is exempt from any timeline. You can take the entire Olympics to spell "OLYMPIAN," but you must claim the task prior to the conclusion of the Olympics and within 7 days of finding the last qualifying geocache.

Bonuses:

There will be both weekly and monthly bonuses. Any bonuses will be posted prior to the start of the active time period. Each participating geocaching ID may claim each bonus once. 

Weekly bonuses will be Saturday to Friday. This means you must find the bonus within the posted dates of the bonus (weekly or monthly.) Bonuses must be claimed by 11:59pm of the last day of the bonus window.

• Week 1 (12/27-1/2) - 5 points, find a holiday-themed cache while dressed for that holiday (any holiday at all!)
• Week 2 (1/3-1/9) - 2 points, log any cache (this will tie into next week's challenge but I'm not telling you how to plan ahead!)
• Week 3 (1/10-1/16) - 4/8/15 points - Meet your judges: find and log up to three caches hidden by different reviewers but none of them can be published by the same reviewer you used for your week 2 bonus cache. The first log is worth 4 points, the second is worth 8, and having three logs is worth 15 points total. (this is based on the fact that Iowa has 4 currently active reviewers but any reviewer is eligible for this bonus)
• Week 4 (1/17-1/23) - 10 points - Olympic Colors: find a cache with one of the Olympic Ring color names in its title (red, yellow, green, blue, black)
• Week 5 (1/24-1/30) - D+T+2 points - Opposite Day! Log any cache and post a picture of you with the cache that is somehow opposite of the cache itself. Opposite colors, opposite location, opposite terrain, opposite theme, have fun with your opposites!
• Week 6 (1/31-2/6) - 2 pts each, can claim up to five times (10 pts) - send a message to a cacher to express gratitude for a specific cache they hid, a log the wrote, or something else for which you are thankful. Documentation does not require you send me the entire messages, just enough of a screen grab to show me you completed the task.
• Week 7 (2/7-2/13) - Triple Bonus! (9 points) - In honor of the three countries participating in the Winter Olympics for the first time Benin, Guinea-Bissau, and the UAE), complete one of these two options: find THREE ICONS in one day *or* find caches in THREE DIFFERENT COUNTIES in one day. 
• Week 8 (2/14-2/20) - Judging Review (4/8/15 points) - in weeks 2 & 3, you found caches from 4 different reviewers. This week, you are looking for up to three MORE reviewers and again, they can't be any of the reviewers you used in weeks 2 or 3! One additional reviewer is worth 4 points, two additional reviewers nets you 8 points, and logging caches from three additional reviewers gets you all 15 points.

Monthly bonuses will be for January and February. (Worth +/- 15 points)

• January - Holiday Scavenger Hunt! The holidays are behind us, so you might want to get on this one sooner rather than later! This is a non-caching scavenger hunt (well, unless you get lucky with a fun hide!) Post a note with your attached pictures of:
  • 5 different snowmen
  • 4 different yard inflatables (inflated, not lying flat on the ground)
  • 3 different houses with lights ON
  • 2  different snowflakes
  • 1 gingerbread man
  • please include something (your face, a thumbs-up, a paper with your geocaching name, a signature item, etc.) in each picture
• February - Is BINGO an Olympic sport?
  • Complete a line of 5 in your D/T (Fizzy) loop.
  • All 5 of the caches must have been published before the start of the Olympics. None of the caches can have been previously found by you.
  • The BINGO line can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal BUT you may not use the rows/columns of 1s or 1.5s.
  • You do not need to find these caches in D/T but if you would list them in your note in order along with the dates you found them, the scorekeeper would be grateful!

     

Challenge:

This challenge may only be claimed once per participating geocaching login and no substitutions/replacements will be allowed once claimed.

This challenge is exempt from rule #9 - your challenge cache can be claimed for another task.

Overview:

• Log a physical geocache and receive challenge bonus points based on specific air temperature ranges in degrees Fahrenheit. Challenge bonus point values can be your choice of positive or negative:
  • 50°F and above: 1 point
  • 35-49°: 3 points
  • 20-34°: 7 points
  • 5-19°: 13 points
  • 4° and below: 25 points
• This is a WINTER Geocaching Olympics - the biggest bonuses go to the heartiest of cachers... or are they the craziest?!?
• Please note that the temperature ranges are referencing air temperature, not wind chill.
• Your challenge note must include a screenshot of the temperature (weather app, website, thermometer, etc.) plus a photo of you at the cache (at least pretending to look happy!) Please include a way to verify the time of your find in relation to the temperature outside (cache with a clock, time in the weather app.) Car thermometers will not be accepted.
• This challenge must be claimed within 48 hours of logging the find. No going out when it's below zero in January and then waiting until February 20th to claim the find - there is a calculated risk with this challenge.
• This challenge can only be claimed once.
• This challenge may only be claimed on caches within Iowa or Illinois.

Full Rules:

1. The Olympics run from 12am Saturday, December 27, 2025, through 11:59pm Friday, February 20, 2026. 
2. Register on this event page by posting a "note" to let me know you will be participating. Event attendees can register up to the day of the wrap-up event.
3. Fulfill any 12 of the tasks listed above after the start of the Olympics. To complete the Olympics, exactly 12 tasks must be logged.
4. Caches you claim for the game must be logged on www.geocaching.com during the time frame of the game. No previous or late finds will be allowed.
5. Tasks must be claimed within 7 days of finding the cache and before the conclusion of the Olympics (tasks 2, 22, and, 27 are exempt from being claimed within 7 days, but must be claimed prior to the conclusion of the Olympics and within 7 days of finding the last qualifying cache.) The post must clearly state which task is being claimed, the GC code(s) of the geocache(s), the points being claimed, and how the cache meets the requirement (if necessary.) Post your claims as notes on this event page.
6. Geocaches found as part of these games must be published before December 20, 2025. Any task that requires new cache(s) to be placed (physical or event) does not fall under this rule.
7. Task that require caches to be hidden must be published prior to 11:59pm on February 20, 2026. Please plan accordingly and do not leave this to the last minute. By placing a geocache as part of these Olympics, you agree to follow all the guidelines set out by www.geocaching.com in owning a geocache.
8. Each task must be claimed on a geocache previously unfound by you (task 6 is exempt from this rule.)
9. Each task must be claimed against a different cache unless the requirement states otherwise.
10. Tasks, bonuses, and the challenge can only be claimed once per geocaching login (single person or teams.) Multiple claims against the same task, bonus, or challenge by the same geocacher will be rejected. *Exception: if your first claim of a task was rejected, it can be attempted again.
11. Once tasks, bonuses, and challenges are claimed, you may not substitute another.
12. Points vary by task, bonus, and challenge. These are clearly defined above. Some give participants a choice in point value, therefore you must clearly state the point value, positive or negative, when claiming a task. Once claimed, your point values cannot be changed.
13. There are multiple prizes for the players who compete in the Olympics. For those who complete 12 tasks, prizes will go for the HIGHEST, the LOWEST, and the CLOSEST TO AVERAGE. Other prizes could be possible.
14. In the event of a tie score, the earliest score will be used as the tiebreaker.
15. No "armchair" caching is permitted. You can only use geocaches that you found, signed, and logged on www.geocaching.com. Claiming a cache that you found months ago and just got around to logging is not permitted in these Olympics.
16. Multi-player teams would be more than 1 person using the same name. All members of multi-person teams must meet the qualification of the task and must be present when claiming the geocache. Spouses/family members that occasionally cache with the primary cacher are exempt from this rule. However, they will not be considered muggles either. If there is confusion, please ask.
17. All time stamps will be based on when I receive emails about posted notes.
18. Tasks will be accepted in the order they are submitted. No substitutions may be made once a task has been claimed. 
19. I, cneumann98, will administer the game and my decisions are final. I reserve the right to provide any clarifications of the rules at any point in the game.
20. Most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!