On May 26, 2018, GeoWoodstock 2018 (GC5AX15) brought the first Giga-Event in the United States to Coney Island in Cincinnati. That was a big deal, and I was excited to be part of it.
Going Giga gave the trip an extra sense of occasion. We were gathering for a milestone in the U.S. geocaching community, with family, friends and a whole lot of other people who shared the hobby. The letters on the lawn were enormous. The gathering around them was bigger.
The event was the reason for the trip, but we managed to build quite an adventure around it: five days, four states and more than 1,200 miles, according to my original logs. There were donuts, geoart, historic hides and plenty of familiar faces. Apparently, one major geocaching event was only the beginning of the itinerary.
Giga Bound, With a Donut Detour
I headed toward Cincinnati with CanisMinor and djpd1023. In his Donut Trail log, djpd1023 records that we had driven through the night. By Saturday, bapierson and LEGOexplorer were there with us for the main event.
One of my favorite memories from the trip is planning and completing the Donut Trail. We got an early start and worked our way through the stops. There is something very satisfying about a plan coming together, especially when the plan involves donuts.
One of the early ones had a fairly clear theme. At BCDT #1: Out of This World (GC6P6WN), I wrote that we were “hungry for adventure and DONUTS!” I stand by that assessment.
The Butler County Donut Trail GeoTour gave us a collection of caches associated with local donut stops. It was a convenient combination of geocaching and a very defensible reason to visit another bakery. BCDT #12: One More Donut Shop (GC6P6WX) was also among my finds. That title understood the assignment.
My May 24 finds include all fifteen of the GeoTour’s caches. CanisMinor’s log confirms that the Donut Trail and GeoTour were our focus that morning. The early start and planning had paid off, one search—and one very tempting bakery—at a time.
The photographs preserve storefronts, donut-themed signs and the three of us stopping along the way. Getting the trail finished was a highlight of the trip in its own right. A road trip needs fuel; this was a particularly enjoyable way to plan for it.
A City Full of Possibilities
On May 24, the trip brought us to the Cincinnati riverfront and Rounding Third and Headed For Home (GC7G855). Outside Great American Ball Park, a bronze statue depicting Pete Rose's signature headfirst slide supplied a photo opportunity. This picture shows CanisMinor and djpd1023 giving it a little attention. There is always room in a caching itinerary for something like that.
That evening also included GeoWoodstock XVI – We Know Beer (GC7FQQJ). Between the main gathering and its surrounding events, there were plenty of chances to meet people before Saturday arrived.
The cache logs for the trip sometimes use our group name, Team GIGA-T. They also describe the pleasure of being around so many cachers and meeting people along the way. Reading them again, the social side comes through just as clearly as the list of finds.
We Made It
On Saturday morning we were at Coney Island. My attendance log begins its celebration with “GUESS WHAT - We Made It!” That excitement still fits the memory: we were there for the first U.S. Giga, sharing the occasion with family, friends and a very large crowd.
It was a milestone for bapierson too: she logged the Giga as her 3,000th cache. That is a pretty good way to give a round number an occasion of its own. In his attendance log, djpd1023 wrote about being proud to be part of the crowd. I knew exactly what he meant.
The giant GeoWoodstock letters made a particularly good record of the day. By the time we were adding our names, the white surfaces were already covered with signatures. They were a logbook you could stand beside.
The wider photograph of the crowd gives the event its scale. Closer photographs give it faces. Both belong in the story: this was a landmark gathering for the hobby, and it was also a day spent with family, friends and people who understood why we had driven here.
The event weekend offered creative caches, Lab Caches and plenty to explore around the city. We had come for a major gathering of geocachers and found a whole collection of reasons to enjoy the surrounding area too.
A Weekend Bigger Than One Event
There was more geocaching after the Giga, including a May 27 visit to two early caches in Ohio and Kentucky. Those deserve their own account in Oldies but Goodies: Chasing Historic Caches Around Cincinnati. Here, they are part of what made the whole trip feel so full.
My original attendance log thanked the people who brought us together and made the weekend possible. That still feels like the right place to end. Someone had to plan the event, arrange the venue, prepare the activities and keep everything moving so that the rest of us could turn up and enjoy it.
We supplied the road trip, the enthusiasm and a willingness to stop for donuts. They supplied a very good reason to gather in Cincinnati.
Field Notes
- Adventure: May 23–27, 2018; main event May 26.
- Event: GeoWoodstock 2018 (GC5AX15)
- Companions: CanisMinor and djpd1023 in early trip logs; bapierson and LEGOexplorer also documented for the main event and later outings.
- Trip: More than 1,200 miles, five days and four states, as described in my original logs.
- States: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
- Group name: Team GIGA-T.
- Photographs: Steven Pierson.
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