Record Breaking Year

Had a record breaking geo-year in 2011. A year that had me find caches in new states and a district: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. for a total of 23 US souvenirs. The biggest highlight was completion of the Well Rounded Cacher and finding two Fizzy Challenge caches related to the WRC. Completion of the WRC placed me in elite company, where around 14 cachers in Tennessee have completed the 81 category grid.

Had 738 finds, out doing what I did in 2006, which was 640. Found 738 finds over 167 cache days, marking 13 consecutive months with double-digit cache days. With the high number of finds, I also increased my terrain rating from 1.64 to 1.71. Increased my regular (ammo can) find rate from 24% to 26%.

Hiked many miles of trails over the year to include over 50 finds on a trail outside of Ashland City, TN. Also visited a new area for me, the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois where some extreme hiking was conducted. Completed a few kayak adventures, one in Clarksville, TN and another in Mississippi.

Another recent completion was the Finds by Each Day of the Year. I set a goal to complete 95% of the grid by the end of 2011. Thankfully, caches were placed near my home area. I was able to complete the challenge despite some stressful days in May.

What will geo-year 2012 bring? What are some goals?

With completion of the WRC and other challenges, I want to keep the game interesting for me. Numbers are nice, but I feel numbers bring burn out, which I believe resulted with some friends giving up the game. Therefore, to keep the game interesting for me, I have the below.

I plan to revisit the Shawnee National Forest.

Make an attempt for the Mississippi Fizzy Challenge cache.

Hit the north end of the Land Between the Lakes.

Attend Geo-Woodstock X in Sellersburg, Indiana.

Uphold the above 25% find rate of regular (ammo can) size caches.

Attempt to make more kayak runs.