NEPAG 10th Anniversary Geocaching Event

The Official 10th Anniversary NEPAG GeoEvent Photo

Which we aren't in, because we were, as usual, late.  Because we were finding a geocache.  LOL!

I am not sure we are really cut out for most geocaching events.

First, we are almost always late.  When we travel an hour or more (and almost all the events we attend are 1.5-3 hours away) we geocache on our way there. That's kind of the point for us.

But inevitably, that takes longer than we expect.  Especially when we run into REALLY AWESOME caches like the one at Black Forest library.  It took us longer than expected, but it was so worth it!  After way too many guardrail caches on our way to this event, this super well thought out, mildly challenging, creative cache was especially appreciated.

LOVE these smiley rocks for paperweights - what a great idea!

So as usual, we were about 20 minutes late to the NEPAG event.  Which means we probably missed all the information that would have been helpful, and made this event more enjoyable for us.

We signed in, and there was a great table of activities.  This is another part of geocaching events that I struggle with.  How do you choose which to do?  There are always more activities than you can possibly accomplish in the time frame... so how do you choose?

I picked up a paper for the photo scavenger hunt, and we did find several of the locations while in the park, but we quit when  we couldn't find the "colored markers" at the locations, to fill in on the paper.  There were probably instructions we missed, because, you know, we were late.  As usual.  :-)  Not a big disappointment, we were more interested in geocaching than a scavenger hunt.

We grabbed some lunch (pot luck, awesome selection! )  and decided to find a few of the nearby caches.  

Now normally  I make pretty detailed lists of the caches I want to tackle in an area, but at events, Datruck usually ends up chatting with someone, and we typically then end up caching with a group, so I didn't bother, assuming this event would be the same.

I was wrong.  This group appears to have pretty set caching friendships and groups already established, and although everyone was polite, this was not an event where we really knew anyone, and we didn't really meet anyone either.  For us, this ended up being a drop in, get the smiley, move on, event.   So we moved on to caching.

There were two geocaches listed in the park - one right near the pavilion, and one a very short hike away.  We hiked first.  

Then we decided to head to the nearby cemetery caches, where there were such beautiful stones and statues - it was fun to walk around and great locations for caches!

So, once again, we were late getting back.    We missed the group photo, missed the announcements for who won the different activities (which is why I still don't understand what some of the activities were...  was Signal actually at the park somewhere?  Or was it just a signal container?  I never did figure that out - but I don't see Signal in the group photo, so it probably wasn't the Signal costume? ) and generally were still lost as to what was going on.  

We did win a couple of the chinese auction items, and I had fun taking photos of all the dogs who attended the event.  

   

The schedule said they would announce who won the most creative cache contest at 2:25, so we were anxiously awaiting that - wanting to see the containers... but either we missed that too, or no one entered?  Again, I just don't know.

The event ended with lists of the new unpublished caches being handed out. 

 We headed to the already published cache near the pavilion (the second of the two that were listed in the park) and there was already a group at that cache, making it a quick find.  

The raffle was very large, there was PLENTY of food, and lots of activities.  I can't fault the event organizers here at all, it appears they did everything they could to make this an awesome event. 

But I had a lot more fun at the CITO in NY the next morning.  :-)