Looking back on 2016
Geocaching gave our 2016 travels an extra set of possibilities. There were road trips built around interesting caches, family sightseeing days with finds worked in along the way, and a summer outing that put a whole group of us on the river.
There was also a milestone I had been looking forward to: five digits on the find counter. That deserved a day with good friends and a cache I would enjoy remembering. As it turned out, it also involved a change of plans and a little Star Trek.
Adventure Journal highlights
Winter outings and an extra day to cache
January got the year moving quickly. January 9 became my busiest day of 2016, with 103 credited finds and event attendances during the Blustery Burbs outing. Flash Mob in the Blustery Burbs (again!) (GC68C1A) was part of that day, along with plenty of searching in the company of other cachers.
Then the calendar supplied a February 29. I spent Leap Day with CanisMinor and djpd1023, working through Michigan’s TIE Fighter geoart, including Tie Fighter Geoart—A Galaxy Far, Far Away #4 (GC651HJ). My original log described us as “leaping from cache to cache.” Apparently, I wasn’t going to let the date pass without making that joke. The day contributed 39 finds and attendances.
Sixteen states, starting with a flat tire
Our March Southern Swing: 16 States in Three Days was an ambitious way to spend a long weekend. CanisMinor, mjholley, pandababy427, and I set out on a trip that would take us through sixteen states. The very first night brought a flat tire, but pandababy427 came to the rescue and had it patched in no time.
After that, the photographs take us through welcome signs, historic caches, roadside stops, and a New Orleans evening. The trip added eight new caching states for me. I particularly enjoy those stops where an old GC code gives us a reason to pull off the highway and explore somewhere we might otherwise drive past.
Family sightseeing, with a few smileys along the way
June’s Monuments, Museums, and Smiley Faces took bapierson, LEGOexplorer, and me through Gettysburg, Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Geocaching fitted around a vacation that already had plenty on the itinerary. We had friends to visit, history to explore, and a bucket-list climb into the Statue of Liberty’s crown.
The stairs are what I remember most about getting up there. The photograph of the three of us inside the crown preserves the reward at the top. It was one of those family experiences that needed no extra geocaching justification.
LEGOexplorer’s Philadelphia Zoo run supplied a different kind of memory. The timing worked out because we were going to be in the area, but the organizers accidentally gave him the wrong bib. He ended up running under the name Nichole. He got his medal, and we got something to tease him about. Everybody brought home a souvenir.
Good company on the water
On July 17, CanisMinor and I hosted Cacheyaking - The Floatella (GC6KW96) on the DuPage River. The day began with weather concerns and eventually gave us sunshine, paddling, cache searches, and plenty of company. Our full account is in The Floatella: From Thunderstorms to Sunshine.
The group spread out along the river in colorful kayaks, coming together again around the stops. Looking at those photographs, I’m reminded how much the company adds to a day like that. We were all following the river and the same general collection of coordinates, with time to enjoy being out there together.
The summer also included Midwest Geobash 2016 (GC66A5W). Across the year I logged 23 event attendances: twenty-one regular events, one Mega-Event, and one CITO. The chance to catch up with people was a substantial part of the year, whether the setting was a large gathering, a lunch, or a river.
Plan B, boldly executed
August 20 was supposed to follow a different caching plan. When rain threatened that outing, CanisMinor, djpd1023, and I changed venues and went after geoart instead. Team Plan B was an appropriate name for the day.
We worked around the sporadic showers and found plenty to keep us entertained. I chose Star Trek: USS Enterprise (GC53VWC) as my honorary 10,000th milestone. It is the cache selected in my official milestone table, and my original log explains why: a fun geoart day with good friends was a fitting way to mark the occasion. I also happen to love Star Trek.
The companion logs make it sound as though we had a reasonably complete crew. CanisMinor cast me as Spock, plotting our course, while he supplied the comic relief. djpd1023 recorded the change of plans and the milestone celebrations. We had found a good way to salvage the day. There are worse assignments than navigating a cache-mobile full of friends toward another smiley.
Back on the road in autumn
October brought Seventeen States in Four Days: A Road Trip to Maine and Back with CanisMinor and mjholley. The trip included The Spot (GC39), where our photograph with the ammo can captures one of the things I particularly enjoy about these trips: getting somewhere interesting with friends and having a good reason to be there.
There were less photogenic parts, too. The traffic into Rhode Island was awful. And I hadn’t expected to return to Washington, D.C., in the same year, but there we were, posing together at the Lincoln Memorial a few months after the family vacation. Twice in one year. Apparently, I still had more to see.
By the Numbers
The official annual total was 1,414 credited finds, including 23 individual Lab Cache finds. That brought my lifetime counter to 10,424 by year’s end. Project-GC records 133 days geocaching, averaging 10.6 credits per active day. The monthly figures show a fairly steady year, with March highest at 178 and September contributing three. September’s bar won’t need much ink.
1,414 credited finds, including 23 Lab finds
Each bar begins at zero on the same 0–200 scale. Green: regular cache, event and webcam credits. Gold: Lab finds.
Traditional caches supplied most of the activity, but the variety mattered: Mysteries and geoart, Virtuals at sightseeing stops, EarthCaches, Wherigos, Multis, events, and even two Webcam finds. The event and Lab totals happen to be the same, but they are separate categories, both already included in the annual total.
1,414 credited records
Events combine 21 regular events, one Mega-Event and one CITO. Lab finds are their own category. These are credited records, not a count of physical containers.
My regular cache records cover 28 states and the District of Columbia. Nineteen states were new to my caching map, along with my first D.C. finds. The long trips expanded the map considerably, while Illinois and nearby Indiana still supplied the largest shares of the year’s activity.
1,391 regular cache, event and webcam credits
Top eight jurisdictions plus the other twenty-one combined. The 23 Lab finds are separate; this geographical breakdown does not assign them locations.
What stays with me
I’m pleased to have reached 10,000, and the expanding map gives me plenty to look back on. But the photographs I keep coming back to put people in the frame: family inside the crown, friends with an ammo can, and a flotilla making its way down the DuPage.
Those experiences give the numbers something to point back to. The find counter keeps moving. The stories are what make me glad I was there.
Field Notes
- Review period: January 1–December 31, 2016
- Annual total: 1,414 credited finds: 1,391 regular cache, event and webcam records plus 23 individual Lab finds
- Caching days: 133, from Project-GC’s reconciled annual table
- Chosen 10,000th milestone: Star Trek: USS Enterprise (GC53VWC), August 20, 2016
- Geography: Regular finds in 28 states plus D.C.; 19 new caching states and my first D.C. finds
- Sources: Original logs, Geocaching.com statistics and selected milestones, Project-GC, contemporary companion logs and original photographs. Lab figures count individual finds, not entire Adventures.
- Photographs: Steven Pierson
No comments:
Post a Comment