On August 20, 2022, thousands of geocachers and explorers gathered in Seattle, Washington, to celebrate over 20 years of geocaching. In the works since 2019, we could hardly contain our excitement to meet everyone and host this Event.
We’re immeasurably thankful to the global geocaching community for making this possible. For those who couldn’t attend, here’s how the day’s activities unfolded:
We welcomed geocachers from around the world to the Geocaching HQ Visitor Center where they could find and log the Geocaching Headquarters Cache (GCK25B). The cache accumulated over 1,000 logs and hundreds of Favorite points in the week leading up to the Event.
When August 20 finally rolled around, the Geocaching HQ Celebration officially began at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. However, this Event’s locale, the Seattle Center lawn underneath the Space Needle, was full of activity well beforehand. Trackables exchanged hands, old friends crossed paths, and new friendships formed before the main festivities even began. Truly a joyous sight!
Before long, Seattle Center bristled with geocachers and the party was underway. Laughter filled the air with the enticing smell of food trucks wafting throughout. As the morning clouds parted, we found ourselves in the midst of a radiant summer day; what more could we ask for?
In the middle of the lawn, basking in the sunlight, towered an inflatable “2022” to commemorate the moment. This giant structure doubled as the Event Cache’s logbook, decorated by countless signatures. For all in attendance, it was a thrilling moment to go up and add their name to this expansive list.
On the main stage, geocachers heard from a wide range of speakers discussing a variety of topics. Geocaching HQ co-founders Bryan Roth and Jeremy Irish, numerous community volunteers, our friend Marcellus Cadd from Geocaching While Black, and gadget cache experts like Bouncebounce, Trycacheus, and Team Noltex among others all had the opportunity to interact with geocachers worldwide. Legendary geocaching bands “The Travel Bugs” and “Bugsy Travels & The Ammo Boxes” even performed! We are still glowing with joy!
As the day marched on, the fun only grew. Some other games and activities at the Event included an ammo can toss, a spectacular show from the International Fountain, and several new Adventure Lab® Caches. Of course our favorite Lackey, Signal the Frog®, also made the rounds to take pictures. Those seeking refreshment found themselves at either the beer garden or the indoor pavilion lined with geocaching vendors. All in all, there was something for everyone to enjoy.
In the late afternoon, the Celebration began to wind down as cachers departed to log their experience online. The cache page is filled with many heartwarming logs. We’re still reading them! Each log on this Event had an additional special meaning; on August 20, the global community attempted to set a new world record for most explorers logging a find in a single day. The tough news is we didn’t break this record. The good news is that almost 115,000 geocachers still came together on International Geocaching Day to work toward the record!
Geocaching HQ wants to extend an enormous thank you to all who came to celebrate. We had an absolute blast, and we hope you did as well. With such anticipation building up to the event, it was a glorious day to finally experience. Whether you’ve just started geocaching or you’ve been at it for years, thank you for making 20 years of this wonderful hobby possible. Here’s to another 20!
Source: Geocaching