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Geocaching and #IheartGCHQ

Good morning everyone.  Normally I start off each blog with some random fun fact about geocaching.  This week will be a little different.  I'm going to include some fun facts within this blog about Geocaching HQ and geocaching in general.
(the official geocaching logo)

This past week was Geocaching HQ appreciation week.  It was the first year to show our appreciation and say thank you to the people at HQ for all the work they do that allows us to enjoy this amazing hobby.  Joshua the Geocaching Vlogger took the initiative to start this project.  I wasn't aware of this until after I had published my blog last week.  Last week's blog did fit in as it was an adventure that I went on with Auntie Mo to Manitoba's oldest active geocache.  We never would have gone to these places and experienced what we did if it wasn't for geocaching.  The idea behind the GCHQ appreciation week was to flood HQ with all sorts of thank you, we love geocaching notes, letters, pictures, and cards.  There was also the hashtag for the various social media.  Use the tag #IheartGCHQ with your posts so everyone can follow and see why you love geocaching.

So why do I like geocaching so much?  I like it for a number of reasons.  Geocaching is something that everyone can enjoy.  There are no age limits.  It doesn't matter what your income is, what your body shape is, what your political views are, ethnic background or profession.  We all become one.  A geocaching community.  When you're in a crowd of people and you discover there's another geocacher there, even if you've never met them before, you become instant friends, swapping tales and tips.  With geocaching, you can go at your own pace and find the geocaches that you want to find.  You can ignore the higher terrain caches if you're physically unable to go after them.  You can ignore the micros in the trees if you really detest searching for something that's the size of your pinky nail.  Not everyone likes working on puzzle caches, while others love solving the puzzles, even if they never get a chance to find them.  Geocaching is what you make of it.
(my youngest, MewTwo with a cache in his right hand)

I love the adventures and travelling to places I wouldn't have thought to travel to because of geocaching.  Seeing the different landscapes, discovering small towns, and learning something new about this planet we live on.  Anyone who knows me knows I like finding roadside attractions.  Those monuments/statues that commemorates the town's history, or something that the area claims to be.  I like to do both when on a road trip.  Just like in last week's blog, myself and Auntie Mo discovered roadside attractions and geocaches.  It was all part of the plan for the day.

(the glass bottle bathroom in Treherne, Maniotba.  It does work)

There's the people who geocache.  When you get out there and attend events, or get on to social media, you will discover an endless number of awesome, creative people who play this game.  The creativeness can come in the form of the geocaches they hide, videos they put out on YouTube, the words they type in the form of a blog, the events they host, or host a podcast show, or create and sell merchandise for us to purchase so we can show the world that we are geocachers and proud of it.
(a calling card I got from I.B.Geocaching Supplies)

For this blog, I have to admit that this was a last minute idea.  While doing my work on Friday, I was formulating the idea of this blog entry and how I wanted it to come across.  I was up late Saturday, completing this for my publishing deadline (this is what happens when you watch the NHL All-Star game instead LOL).  I also like finding fun and interesting facts and information.  I did a quick bit of research (Google is your best friend when trying to solve some puzzle caches) and came up with some fun facts about geocaching.  They maybe a little outdated or inaccurate as I scramble to put this blog together.  Here are some things I found about Geocaching HQ and geocaching that you may or may not know.

We all know that the first geocache was hidden near Beaverton, Oregon on May 3, 2000 by computer consultant Dave Ulmer.  In September of that year, Jeremy Irish launches Geocaching.com, a listing site for geocaches.  There was 75 known geocaches worldwide when Geocaching.com started up.  A month later, Jeremy Irish, along with Elias Alvord, and Bryan Roth founded Groundspeak Inc to support the game of geocaching.  The initial funding came from the sales of 144 geocaching t-shirts.  

CITO (Cache in Trash out) was launched in 2002.  This is an environmental initiative that sees geocachers and community groups work together to pick up trash, preserve parks and green space, and make the planet we live on a better place.  More than 333,000 geocachers have volunteered at more than 16,000 CITO events where more than 8 million litres of garbage has been collected so far.
(Manitoba geocachers doing their part to CITO in 2018)

Depending on the source, Groundspeak has approximately 80 people (lackeys) working at it's headquarters.  That doesn't include the over 400 volunteer reviewers around the globe.  Did you know there are four types of reviewers?  The typical reviewer that we all come to know is the one who publishes the geocaches after making sure the new listing has passed all the guidelines.  There are moderators who monitor and guide the discussions in the geocaching forums.  The translators that do just that, translate geocaching into other languages since this is a global game.  Geowares are the ones who publish the EarthCaches.  They use their expertise in geology to review each submission.

Early in 2017 saw the 3 millionth active geocache worldwide.  When you crunch the numbers, there is a geocache being hidden every minute of everyday.  Over 360,000 geocachers are also cache owners, and over 35% of those owners have been geocaching for more than five years.  There are geocaches on every continent (even Antarctica).  North America and Europe lead the way with more than one million active geocaches each.

Since the game started, over six hundred million "found it" and "attended" logs have been recorded.  On average, a cache will be found 25 times per year.  Want to find all 3 million caches?  It will take you 822 years at 10 geocaches per day.  Since the introduction of favorite points in December, 2009 over 22 million favorite points have been awarded to various geocaches around the world.
(what geocacher does not like an ammo can hide?)

(a view from a trail in Pembina Valley Provincial Park that's on the Manitoba side of the Canada/U.S. border)

To wrap things up, I want to say a huge thank you to Geocaching HQ for all they do.  Without them, I wouldn't be exploring the land around me in search of bison tubes tucked away in places that I wouldn't suspect, finding a use for ammo cans, or using multi million dollar satellite systems to find plastic containers in the woods.
(the lackeys at Geocaching HQ)

That's all for this week.  I want to give an additional thank you to Joshua, the Geocaching Vlogger for spearheading this movement.  I'm looking forward to next year, the second annual Geocaching HQ appreciation week.  Until then, have fun, be safe, be happy and enjoy.  Peace out.

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