The plans for a pilgrimage begin

Some of you may not be aware of the fact that this year marks the 10 year anniversary of the sport of geocaching. On May 3rd, 2000, Dave Ulmer hid the very first geocache outside Portland, Oregon. Within a couple of days, it had been found by a few others and very quickly word spread throughout the GPS related newsgroups about this newly created activity. Before you knew it, many people were hiding caches and it has grown since then.

Every year there is a “mega” event for all geocachers worldwide known as GeoWoodstock. It is basically the world’s largest event and it’s location changes every year and this year it is being held just outside of Seattle, Washington. The location was chosen for several reasons. Groundspeak (who runs Geocaching.com) is located in Seattle and organizers thought that for the 10 year anniversary, it should be close to there. More importantly though, the original geocache hiding spot is only a few hours drive from this location and for a 10 year anniversary, it only made sense that the mega should be close to this historic place.

I made the conscious decision last year that I would make the pilgrimage to the location of the original hiding spot. The actual original container is long gone but there is now a plaque in place that commemorates the very first geocache. My plan is to arrive in Seattle on July 1st and spend four days caching.

Along with the original geocache, I’m heading to the mega event, the event put on by Groundspeak at their headquarters, caching in and around Seattle and Portland, and last but not least I plan to do the hike to Mission 9: The Tunnel of Light to snag the only remaining Project Ape cache left in North America. I want that icon!

Although it’s still three months away, I’ve been slowly working on collecting as much information as I can about the area and looking at the various caches that are available. And believe me, there are lots. With only a few days in the area, I need to insure that I maximize both the amount of caches I get, and the quality of caches I go for. It won’t all be about numbers since there are going to be some pretty major caches to pick up. The key though is to make sure that I get the good ones, as well as some others as well.

I’ll be posting a bit more about my plans and progress as the days get closer. If anyone has any bugs or coins that either want to go as far west as Seattle, or would like to make it to GeoWoodstock, then please let me know and get them to me. I’ll be looking to collect as many possible bugs and coins as I can for this trek. If I have the bug/coin for awhile before travelling, I’ll inform the owners of what the plans are to insure that there are no issues. I would LOVE to get some local coins from folks here to take with me.