Geocaching with Woo

Since the "You might be a Geocacher if..." campaign has concluded, I thought I'd give it some thought. Here's how I broke it down: Four new souvenirs: As I've mentioned before, I love souvenirs. They are rewards for completing tasks, and I enjoy having something that says I achieved something. (Positive) Friend League utilization: I think I used the Friend League more on this campaign than any other since the Mary Hyde campaign. In the Planetary Pursuit and Hidden Creature campaigns, all I needed to do was keep track of the number of caches I found, but this time, because of the different ways that points were earned, I would sometimes forget how many I had, and how many more I needed, to earn the next souvenir. I wanted to use the Friend League. (Positive) Point structure: Using a point structure for earning each souvenir made me think about how to earn each one. I had to optimize my caching, and get the most bang for my geocaching buck. I could hav...

It took me two and a half weeks, but I'm a Trackable Lover! For the "You might be a Trackable Lover if..." souvenir, 80 points needed to be acquired. Normally, I'd attempt to get as many points as possible, as soon as possible, but in addition to a local cacher putting out a series of caches, one a day until Christmas, I was also expecting to go visit my parents for Christmas, and that would inevitably mean a couple of days of caching. So, there was only a small chance that I'd miss getting the required amount of points by the deadline. And if either of those things fell through at the last minute, I've got plenty of trackables that need to be activated. That being said, Tom and I attended an event tonight, which gave us the last of the points that we needed to get the souvenir. When the "You might be a Geocacher if..." campaign was announced, I made a few predictions. The first three turned out to be correct - no, I'm not amazing, I just...

Five new country souvenirs have been announced: Chile, Cyprus, Indonesia, Morocco and the United States of America! If you have previously found a cache in any of those countries, you automatically earn the souvenir, and they can be viewed here . I had noticed in the past that both Germany and Canada each a country souvenir as well as souvenirs for each region/province, so as soon as you find your first cache in either of those countries, you get two souvenirs. I had wondered why there wasn't one for the US, but now there is. Woo hoo!

The last challenge in the "You Might Be a Geocacher If..." campaign is "You Might Be a Trackable Lover If..." This Geocaching Personality souvenir can be earned between December 3 and December 31 by earning 80 points. A running tally of your points can be found on your Friend League, they're scored like this: Log a Found It - 5 Find a geocache with 10 or more favorite points - 7 Attend an Event - 5 Activate a Trackable - 10 Drop a Trackable that doesn't belong to you - 5 In order to be a "Trackable Lover," you need to activate trackables and/or drop off trackables that don't belong to you, and earn extra points along the way.

The City Park GeoTrail in Hagerstown, MD was published in 2015. Five mystery caches were placed throughout the Hagerstown City Park, featuring five points of interest: the Railroad Museum, the Mansion House Art Center, the Peter Buys Band Shell, the Hager House and the Washington County Fine Arts Museum. I did a good amount of Internet research prior to arriving in Hagerstown, and aside from one sign that I wasn't able to find, all of my hard work made for quick finds. I thought that the caches were well camouflaged for each of their locations. My parents and I thought that the park was really nice, and my favorite part was the pond area on the eastern side of the park. Redemption of our passports was easy, too. The Hagerstown Welcome Center was only a short drive away, and the staff knew exactly what we were talking about when we came in. For completing the GeoTrail, we each received a Pathtag, and were able to purchase a trackable geocoin. Getting rewarded for geocaching...

After three long weeks, I've finally become a Social Butterfly! In the past two months, when each Geocaching Personality period began, I acquired the required number of points within a few days. By doing that, I wouldn't forget about it or feel the rush to complete by the end of the time period. This time, I actually made plans to attend some events, and since I knew that my parents were visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday, I knew that we'd be geocaching up a storm - so there was no rush this time. My point total finally reached 70 today, now I can breathe easy, until December 3, when the next period begins...

So, I was checking the Geocaching blog after attending a GIFF event last night, and learned about two new souvenirs that can be earned pretty soon - "Thanks 2018" and "Hello 2019." As in previous years (2015/16 and 2017/18), in order to earn both souvenirs you will need to find a geocache or attend an event on December 31 and January 1. Pretty simple. Check out the blog post for more information.

The 2018 Geocaching International Film Festival (GIFF) begins today, November 8, and runs through November 12. Sixteen short films were chosen as finalists for the GIFF, and community volunteers will vote to see which one wins the Signal Award! There will even be a People's Choice Award, where anyone with a Geocaching account can vote. I plan to attend my first GIFF event tonight, and I'm excited to see what geocaching filmmakers around the world have put together. If you attend one of the 655 GIFF events held worldwide, you'll receive a souvenir for your profile page and earn 15 points towards your "You Might Be a Social Butterfly if..." souvenir!

The next challenge in the "You Might Be a Geocacher If..." campaign is "You Might Be a Social Butterfly If..." This Geocaching Personality souvenir can be earned between October 29 and December 3 by earning 70 points. Check the Friend League to keep track of your points, here's how they're earned: Log a Found It - 5 Find a geocache with 10 or more favorite points - 10 Attend an Event - 15 Drop a Trackable - 1 Being a "Social Butterfly" is easy, just attend events for extra points. Luckily, GIFF weekend falls in this time period, so for 15 points and an extra souvenir, I might find a way to attend my first one! Don't forget to keep track of your progress on your Friend League.

Today, after two years, we have completed the final three remaining caches that we needed in the Spring Grove Area GeoTour, and hopefully earned the associated souvenir. This GeoTour brought us to the area of Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, and was our first exposure to gadget caches. Despite the fact that the GeoTour was several years old and many of the caches had not aged well, we were still able to get enough of the required codes to qualify for the geocoins for each of the three years. The geocoins were nice prizes and did not have tracking codes. The one for 2013 was a typical coin, but the coins for 2014 and 2015 were part of a four piece puzzle, which, when put together with the geocoins for 2016 and 2017 (maybe?), would form a "mega" coin. Unfortunately, new caches weren't put out for 2016 or 2017, so our puzzle is incomplete. After we finished finding the GeoTour's final three remaining caches, we stopped by the Visitor's Center to enquire about the o...

Every year, the second Sunday in October is International EarthCache Day. This year, if we log an EarthCache on either October 13 or 14, we'll earn a souvenir from Geocaching. Would you like to add a little more pizzazz to your profile page? Visit the EarthCache web page and apply for a Masters or Discovery award. Masters awards are dependent upon the number of EarthCaches that have been found and logged, the number of states/provinces/countries that they've been found in and the number of EarthCaches that have been developed. Discovery awards are for finding and logging large numbers of EarthCaches: 50+, 100+, 250+, 500+ and 1000+. Me? I have a Bronze Master and a Quartz Discovery Award.    So, go on, learn a lesson about the Earth, and log your EarthCache today!

Today, Tom and I went to Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD and worked on the Antietam Adventure - a ten stage lab cache put out by the Maryland Geocaching Society . Unlike most lab caches that I've completed, which only last the few days surrounding a Mega event, this one began in 2016 and has a duration of about five years. At the first stage, we got a Master Key, which preceded the answers for each subsequent stage. At stages two through seven, information for a word puzzle was gathered and after the puzzle had been solved, we learned what information needed to be gathered at stages eight and nine to solve a second puzzle, and the tenth stage. Videos accompanied the completion of each stage and were a nice touch, as well as educational. The route we took around the battlefield followed the driving tour, so we were able to work on a Wherigo ( Antietam - The Bloodiest Day ) at the same time. Even though I had gathered the answers for six of the stages before a...

Woo hoo, I'm a Caching Connoisseur! We started this journey yesterday, and ended up only scoring 55 points (three caches with ten or more favorite points and two other caches). I needed a cache for this calendar day anyway, so in getting that cache, we achieved our goal. I can barely wait for the next personality!

Tom and I decided to take the few good weather days this past weekend and head across Maryland to work on the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area GeoTrail . The GeoTrail consists of 16 caches, and everyone who finds and records thirteen of the code words found in each cache will receive a free prize, a geocoin is also available for purchase. We were able to find thirteen the first day, so first thing this morning we went to the Frederick Visitor Center to pick up our free prize (a Pathtag) and purchase the geocoin. Overall, I felt like the GeoTrail was well done. There were a nice variety of cache types (one multiple, five mysteries and ten traditionals), and aside from a few wet logbooks and one illegible code word (which I was fortunate enough to figure out from the cache description), they were pretty well maintained. The coordinates for the multiple and mystery caches were easy to solve - I was even able to figure them out before we left on the trip, partly thanks to a web...

The second challenge in the "You Might Be a Geocacher If..." campaign is "You Might Be a Caching Connoisseur If..." This Geocaching Personality souvenir can be earned between October 1 and October 29 by earning 60 points. These points can be earned in the following manner: Log a Found It - 5 Log a found it on a geocache with 10 or more favorite points - 15 Attend an Event - 5 Drop a Trackable - 1 As a "Caching Connoisseur," extra points are earned for finding caches with 10 or more favorite points. Don't forget to keep track of your points on the Friend League.

2018's Fall CITO Week begins today - are you excited? In addition to doing good for the areas that we geocache in, we can also earn a souvenir by attending a CITO event between September 15 and September 23. Even though CITO is heavily promoted two times a year, in April and September, CITO (Cache In-Trash Out) is good to practice any time of year. Picking up trash on our way to, or around, geocaches leaves the area cleaner, and even possibly safer, for the next geocacher that comes along. Trails that are blazed or bridges that are built could eventually lead us to new areas to geocache in. Trees that are planted could grow up to be new hiding places. The possibilities are limitless. Help make this world a better place and attend a CITO event this week!

Well, we did it. My parents and I now qualify as "Adrenaline Junkies." Altogether, I scored 146 points, 91 of them from difficulty/terrain points. I guess I could have waited, and spread everything out over the course of the month, but my parents were visiting for the Labor Day weekend, and, as is our way, we cached over the weekend. Now, I don't have to feel the pressure of getting the required number of points by October 1.

The first challenge in the "You Might Be a Geocacher If..." campaign is "You Might Be an Adrenaline Junkie If..." This Geocaching Personality souvenir can be earned between September 3 and October 1 by earning 50 points. Keeping track of points is easy, just check the Friend League, but here's how they're earned: Log a Found It - 5 Difficulty Rating - x2 Terrain Rating - x2 Find a geocache with 10 or more favorite points - 10 Difficulty Rating - x2 Terrain Rating - x2 Attend an Event - 5 Drop a Trackable - 3 In true "Adrenaline Junkie" style, double the points are earned for difficulty and terrain ratings. So far, it appears that most of my predictions about the campaign are correct: the first souvenir is related to the difficulty/terrain of caches, a certain number of points needs to be earned, only one of the souvenirs is being offered this month and the Friend League is being used to keep track of how many points are scored.

Woohoo! Geocaching has announced it's latest campaign, "You Might Be a Geocacher If..." Here's what's known: We will receive "Geocaching Personality Souvenirs" - examples given were Adrenaline Junkie, Social Butterfly, Trackable Lover and Caching Connoisseur It takes place from September through December It utilizes the Friend League If you collect them all, you're the ultimate geocacher This is my speculation: The souvenirs will be related to the difficulty/terrain of caches found (Adrenaline Junkie), attending events (Social Butterfly), dropping off trackables (Trackable Lover) and number of caches found with ten or more favorite points (Caching Connoisseur). A certain number of points will have to be earned in relation to each of these in order to receive the souvenir. Each month, a different souvenir will be offered. The announcement implies this by saying that September's challenge will be announced next week. The Friend League is be...

In order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Trails System Act and showcase what America's trails have to offer, Geocaching HQ is partnering up with the U.S. Forest Service and the Ad Council in their Discover the Forest campaign for their latest trackable promotion. 1,500 randomly chosen people from the United States will receive a Discover the Forest trackable. The U.S. Trails System Act established a national network of trails, and this year celebrates their 50th anniversary. The "Discover the Forest" campaign encourages people to explore nearby trails and parks, and all they have to offer. Visit their website to learn more. They recommend activities, give advice on how to plan your trip and will even help you find parks in your area. Personally, I'm interested in trying out the "Agents of Discovery" mobile game, which seems to incorporate some augmented reality challenges. After experiencing the augmented reality lab caches at GeoWood...

Every year, the third Saturday in August is International Geocaching Day. In order to commemorate this special day, Geocaching Headquarters is awarding a souvenir for finding a geocache or attending an event on that date. So, hurry up and don't delay, this only lasts for a day! Log your "Found It" or "Attended" on August 18, 2018.

Tom and I had planned on going to the Outer Banks for a vacation this year, and as is my way, while planning the trip, I looked for geocaches that were available in the area. As I scanned up and down the coast, I found the shape of a duck in Duck, the Duck-Walk Geo-Art. In comparison to other geo-arts I've worked on, this one was easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy. How much do you need to know? One word: Duck. No, you don't need to know anything about the quaint little town of Duck, you just need to know the word. Really. Each of the geo-art's cache pages has a Certitude link where you enter the word "Duck" and it will tell you the cache coordinates. Oops, did I forget to mention "Spoiler Alert!"? Never mind, you would have figured it out anyway. The Duck-Walk covered about 4½ miles, and went all through town, so we rented bicycles from an establishment in town that offered day rentals. The terrain was mostly flat, with some hills here and there, and ...

Now that the dust has settled, and the Hidden Creatures campaign has officially come to an end, I've been thinking about the whole thing. Overall, I think that the pros outweighed the cons - here's my breakdown: Thirteen new souvenirs. I love souvenirs. I'm the kind of person who likes small measurable tasks, and completing each one gives me a sense of accomplishment. Souvenirs are the rewards for completing those tasks. They give me something to look forward to and something to strive for. Definite pro. One hundred caches. That's a lot of caches. If you're like me, and I'm only three years in to this hobby, my general area is almost cached out. Finding one hundred caches that are a reasonable distance from my home and/or work is difficult, to say the least. In the end, slight con. Four weeks. Let's do the math. One hundred caches in four weeks. That's twenty-five caches a week, or 3.57 caches per day. It's twelve and a half caches a...

Over the course of the evening, I had noticed Tom looking to the skies - he does that when he's near airports. So, since he'd been kind enough to take me geocaching, I thought I'd treat him to something that he'd enjoy - a trip to Gravelly Point, an observation point for arrivals and departures at Reagan National Airport. Of course, I wasn't being totally selfless, there's a virtual cache there. Gravelly Point was surprisingly easy to get to, there was plenty of parking and I was impressed to see port-a-potties set up there. I was also surprised to see so many people there, many more than I expected. There was plenty of open, green space and even a few picnic tables. It looked like a great place for families to spend time together. After taking the required selfie to claim a find, we stayed for a couple more hours, watching the planes taking off and landing.

Today, while in Alexandria, VA, Tom and I enjoyed several virtual caches. I'll tell you about the others in later posts, but this one was cool, not only because of the historical item that was the focus of the cache, but because of the area surrounding it. Of course, I can't divulge what the item was, but the surrounding area was full of amazing history. While trying to figure out what I was looking for, I came across several historical markers. I don't know what they signified, but they were pretty interesting, nonetheless. In my continued search for the item, I ended up walking around the block. The cobblestone alley was a treat to walk down. To was mind-boggling to think about the age of those stones. Then as I came back up and around the block, I came across two plaques, marking the homes of the doctors who tended to George Washington at the time of his death. Eventually, I encountered a man walking his dog that was able to tell me what to look for, so I was...

In Geocaching's latest trackable promotion, they are partnering with Moose Toys to promote "Treasure X, a multi-layered treasure hunting toy with the ultimate surprise reveal." 3,000 randomly chosen people from select regions will receive trackables, and 300 random people from the United States will receive a Treasure X toy. The toy starts out as a lump of packed sand. Using the included "X-Cavator" plastic tool, you dig through the sand to find pieces of a cartoon skeleton action figure dressed in one of twenty-four different themes, which are to be assembled. A treasure chest is also buried in each toy, which may or may not contain one of thirty-two different gold-plated treasure pieces. I think they sound like fun and I'll keep an eye out for them in the store. Request your free trackable and/or toy here , and share your trackables adventures using #TreasureXgeo. Edit 08/02/18: I just received e-mail notification that I was randomly chosen t...

This weekend, Tom and I went in pursuit of the World Turtle. After I told him about the Hidden Creatures campaign, and my thoughts on how to get all of the souvenirs within the required time frame, Tom asked me to figure out how we could knock it all out in one or two days. The ideas I came up with were hiking trails and biking trails, but he insisted on something that was more like a power trail, that we could drive along. That's when I proposed trying the TAD (Trails Across Delmarva) caches. Most of the TAD segments were about twenty caches long, but there was one segment that started close to Sharptown, MD with thirty caches leading up to Laurel, DE. Forty caches after Laurel, the road intersects Route 113, and depending on which direction you chose, you would encounter twenty to twenty-five more caches. We had a good start, we found our first creature, Bigfoot, on the day the campaign started, since we needed to fill that day in on our cache calendar. Then yesterday, th...

The Hidden Creatures campaign begins today, June 27, and runs through July 25, 2018. For four weeks, we have the opportunity to earn thirteen mythical creature souvenirs for our profiles by doing what we enjoy doing - finding geocaches. In order to earn all thirteen souvenirs, we must find one hundred geocaches. Each cache found or event attended will earn a point, each souvenir has a point value, and the cumulative number of finds and/or events attended will earn us the souvenirs. The souvenirs and associated point values are as follows: I'm excited about the campaign, I love earning souvenirs. Tom's idea was to get this done in one fell swoop - so we're going to attempt it this weekend in Delaware. Learn more about the campaign here or follow your progress here .

The "Find Your Chesapeake" GeoTour launched June 9, 2018 with an kick-off event at the Zimmerman Center for Heritage in Pennsylvania. In order to receive the "Find Your Chesapeake" geocoin, you must find twenty of the 61 caches scattered throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, record the code word in the cache and send the GeoTour passport in. The only catch is that you must be within the first 350 (according to the passport) or 400 (according to the cache descriptions) cachers to fulfill the requirements. There is also a GeoTour souvenir available if you find all 61 caches. We live in northern Maryland, so over the course of the week after the GeoTour launched, we were able to find the four caches in our area and around Baltimore. Then we split up the remaining sixteen caches for the following weekend. Saturday, we went north and found the eight caches in Pennsylvania, Sunday, we started with the five caches on Kent Island, then headed s...

Groundspeak had announced last month that souvenirs were being awarded for GeoTours, as long as all of the caches in the GeoTour were found (minus any archived ones), not just the number required to complete the GeoTour. At that time, they were unsure about archived GeoTours. Imagine my surprise when the souvenir for the archived Smithsonian NMNH GeoTour popped up on my profile page. The Smithsonian NMNH GeoTour was filled with unexpected, yet pleasant, surprises from the very beginning. When I started geocaching in 2015, I came across the Smithsonian NMNH GeoTour. It seemed like something I could do, being a new cacher with two jobs - one full-time, the other almost full-time, and one other really time consuming hobby. It consisted of nine caches, six of which were in Washington, D.C., and the other three were each a reasonable drive away. The reward for completion of the GeoTour would be a badge for my profile page. So, in September 2015, after doing some Internet researc...