10 Geocaching Resolutions to Keep

The New Year is upon us, which means new Geocaching Resolutions.  As Geocachers, we love setting goals for ourselves and improving our stats.  So we’ve put together some ideas for Geocaching Resolutions to keep for the upcoming year.  If you have already accomplished some of these, then maybe you want to achieve them again, or go for new ones.  Overall, there is always something else to go for as a Geocacher!

1.  Introduce Geocaching to a Friend

Once you have a good understanding of geocaching and how it can bring excitement and adventure to you and your family, share this great experience with others. You may think of Geocaching as a peaceful hike along trails alone, but it can also be a fun activity to do with others. And it’s a great way to bond with new friends!

We love introducing others to geocaching while we travel and explore the world. Liz and I have found a new appreciation of our geocaching hobby by introducing it to others.

2.  Attend a Mega Event

Mega Events are great and worth the extra driving effort to get there. It is a big celebration of our hobby, and it’s wonderful to meet other cachers from all over the world. Mega Events are also a great place to pick up geocaching trackables, swag, shirts, and other fun geocaching items you may otherwise not see.

Mega Events can also have fun themes that make the Mega Event that much more fun. In fact, our friends in Georgia put on an amazingly themed Mega Event every year. This past year they had a Roman theme event. Going Caching in Georgia has figured out the way Geocaching Mega Events should be.

3.  Visit Geocaching HQ in Seattle, WA

All geocachers need to go and see the home of geocaching in the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. By setting up an appointment with Head Quarters in advance, you can sign the log and you may even get to see some of the behind-the-scenes work at Geocaching HQ.  You can also trade trackables in the magic treasure chest in the lobby as well as take funny photos in the Photo Booth.

Visiting HQ is a lot of fun and it’s something that every geocacher should try and go after. You can also go on the Geocaching HQ Geo-Tour in Seattle and experience some of the most famous geocaches in the world.

4.  Find a 5/5 Geocache

For some of us, the ultimate achievement for a geocacher is to log a 5/5 geocache. All geocaches have a set number for difficulty and terrain, and 5/5 Geocaches are the toughest geocaches to go for. For some of these caches, you may need some special equipment (such as diving gear), while others will simply take you on a hiking adventure that not many other people get to experience.

We experienced this first hand on the island of Maui in Hawaii, when we went for our first 5/5 cache ever.  We went on a 4 hour geocaching adventure that took us up and over 3 waterfalls, a 300 meter swim to crawl up and over another waterfall, and we were eventually led to a secluded waterfall and the geocache. (5/5 Geocaches can be tough and dangerous, so make sure you do your research and prepare correctly before attempting.)

5.  Go to Neighborhood Geocaching Community Events

We love the geocaching community.  Nearly everywhere in the world there are local communities of cachers that get together to talk about geocaching or plan geocaching adventures together. When we first started getting into geocaching, we discovered that there was a local geocaching Facebook Group that held monthly meetings to discuss geocaching. We started to go to a few and before we knew it, we had a whole network of geocaching buddies. Some of our best geocaching friends we met through local community groups.

We recommend searching on Facebook for your local community by city, and then by state.  A majority of states have a geocaching group who has monthly meetings. We feel fortunate to have been a part of the GGA (Georgia Geocachers Association). In working together with our local state parks, the GGA would host events every month in a different state park all around the state so everyone would have an opportunity to get the latest news and go geocaching together in the state park.

6.  Hide a Geocache

Be creative and come up with fun and unique geocaches for others to experience. The Lackey’s at HQ recommend that you have at least 100 finds before trying to place your first geocache.  Liz and I have yet to be able to hide a geocache because we are on the road so much, and our travels it make it difficult to maintain a cache.

You can get some great ideas of creative geocaches by going to YouTube.

We highly recommend WVTim and his YouTube channel (Gadget Caches). Because of him, West Virginia is high on our geocaching list for all of his creative geocaches placed all around the state of West Virginia.

7.  Watch more Geocaching Videos and listen to more Geocaching Podcasts

Make sure to check out some great geocachers out there on the web. When Liz and I first started geocaching, we listened to all the podcasts about geocaching. Some of them included PodCacher, The Geocaching Podcast, and GeoGearHeads. This helped us understand geocaching lingo, strategies, tips and tricks, as well as hearing other geocaching stories from cachers all over the world.

You can also listen to the hilarious, The Oh Beep Geocaching Podcast based in the UK. This father and son duo will entertain you and give you some funny geocaching stories from across the pond.

You can also get lost watching all the different geocaching stories on YouTube. This is another way to better your geocaching skills. When we first started we watched several of Joshua, The Geocaching Vlogger’s videos. Other great vloggers out there to watch as well include The GCDoc, GeoDave, LAN Monkey, and several more all with their own geocaching style. So make sure you subscribe to these channels to make sure to stay up on all the geocaching goodness.

8.  Find a Geocache Underwater

This is high on Mine and Liz’s list for geocaches to discover this year. We would love to put on the scuba gear and head under the water to find a geocache. We have found a couple of caches hidden in water before, including a couple of tricky ones underwater at the Going Caching A.C.E. Challenge in Pine Mountain, GA.

If you decide to go after an underwater cache, take the time to do some research to be sure you are prepared, and bookmark the geocaches that you want to go after. Or just decide to make your own.

9.  Complete a Geo-Trail or Geo-Tour

The feeling of accomplishment is what us geocachers love.  And there is no better feeling of accomplishment than when you have just completed a Geo-Tour or Geo-Trail. We love Geo-Tours and Geo-Trails because this is a great way to promote a small town, or special site by giving people a reason to come and explore places we didn’t know existed before.

Keep an eye out for new Geo-Trails and new Geo-Tours this coming year by staying up to date in your Geocaching community.  Check out our most recent completion of the Geocaching HQ Geo-Tour in the Fremont Neighborhood of Seattle.

Some Geo-Tours or Geo-Trails will be just for special occasions; but others are more permanent.  If it’s a new trail, there will more than likely be a kick off event, similar to the one we had at the Jackson County Heritage Geo-Tour in Georgia. Or other tours may have an event each year.  There is nothing better than thousands of geocachers taking over a small town for the weekend!

10.  Find a Geocache in Another State or Country

Get outside your boundaries and find geocaches in other states…and other countries!  This is what excites Liz and I the most when traveling.  We want to find a cache everywhere we go, and keep track with our souvenirs!  Every state in the U.S. has an icon, and some countries do too. Geocaching is starting to brach out and make more icons for different countries around the world.  Check out our recent Geocaching Adventures around the South Island of New Zealand.

Geocaching can bring more excitement to your vacations / holidays by giving you the adventure of searching for caches. Also, we have discovered that geocaching while on vacation is a budget friendly way to sightsee! We have saved so much money while traveling through geocaching. Instead of paying for a tour to take us around, we simply pull up geocaches in the area and head out for those. Yes geocaches can take you on a tour.

Happy New Year and Set You Geocaching Resolutions for 2015!!!

** Do you have any other Geocaching resolutions that aren’t on this list?  Please share in the comments below!

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