Looking back on June 25, 2012 · Ten years since our shared milestone
Two thousand geocaches.
That’s a pretty respectable number, especially considering that just over three years earlier, I hadn’t even found my first one.
But on June 25, 2012, reaching my 2,000th find wasn’t the biggest reason to celebrate.
Because I wasn’t the only one hitting a milestone that day.
LEGOexplorer was reaching his 1,000th geocache find.
And we were going to do it together.
Two geocachers. Two milestones. One very special ammo can.
Like Father, Like Son
When I first started geocaching in May 2009, I had no idea how much the hobby would become part of our family adventures.
What began with a lamp-post cache had grown into weekends spent exploring parks, hiking trails, discovering interesting places, and occasionally wondering why we were crawling around looking for something that somebody had hidden in the woods.
And much of that time had been spent caching alongside LEGOexplorer.
As our find counts continued to climb, we found ourselves approaching two rather convenient numbers. I was nearing 2,000, and LEGOexplorer was nearing 1,000.
Celebrating those milestones with the same cache seemed just right.
Double Trouble
KINGEVO and family helped make the milestone memorable with a commemorative cache in Plainfield, Illinois.
Appropriately named LEGOexplorer and spierson82 — Double Trouble (GC3P36F), it celebrated two milestones at once: LEGOexplorer's first thousand and my second.
The ammunition can had a custom-painted design showing each achievement separately: a silver side labeled LEGOexplorer 1K and a gold side labeled SPIERSON82 2K.
I'm a fan of a good old-fashioned ammo can even on an ordinary day. Finding one customized for both of us was something else altogether.
A Hike, Some Ticks, and an FTF
On June 25, 2012, we headed out to claim the milestone find. The photos show the sunny trail and the trees around the cache location, and my original log remembers both the hike and the ticks.
We found the commemorative container, admired the paint job, and signed the log. First to Find!
KINGEVO and family were there for the occasion, making it a celebration we could share instead of just another update to our online statistics.
The occasion had the right ingredients: a thoughtfully prepared cache, family and friends, a little hiking, and—because it was geocaching—a reminder to check for ticks afterward.
Three Thousand Finds Between Us
Two thousand for me. One thousand for LEGOexplorer. Three thousand finds represented by one commemorative geocache.
But the numbers weren’t really what made the day important. It was everything they represented: the walks, the searches, the places we'd explored and the time we’d spent geocaching together.
We didn't find every one of those caches together, but we'd shared enough adventures that celebrating our milestones together felt especially fitting.
My original log looked back on the adventures we'd had, the places geocaching had taken us and the people we'd met. It also looked ahead to the next thousand.
That’s what I like about milestones. They mark how far you’ve come, but they don't stop you from wondering where the next set of coordinates might lead.
The Best Part of the Journey
Looking back ten years later, I appreciate the thought that went into creating the cache, the milestone ammo-can tradition and the people who came along to celebrate.
But what stays with me most is sharing the occasion with LEGOexplorer.
My 2,000th. His 1,000th. One special day in Plainfield.
I enjoy seeing those numbers climb, but sometimes the most important part isn't how many you've found.
It's who you've been finding them with.
Field Notes
- Adventure: June 25, 2012, in Plainfield, Illinois
- LEGOexplorer and spierson82 — Double Trouble (GC3P36F)
- Milestones: my 2,000th and LEGOexplorer’s 1,000th, with a shared first-to-find
- Cache owner: KINGEVO. KINGEVO and family joined the celebration.
- One commemorative can with a silver 1K side and a gold 2K side.
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