New caches are not "enabled" by default

In case you missed the recent change to the online cache submittal form, when you submit a new cache, it is no longer enabled by default. In the past, when you submitted a new cache, there was a check box at the top of the form to enable the submission. By default it was checked. Now the same check box is farther down on the page below the coordinate entry box and it is NOT checked by default. Until you check this box, your new cache submittal will not show up in the reviewer's list of new caches to review. So far, I have seen postings or received emails from a handful of geocachers who were wondering why their new caches were not reviewed after several days. But I don't think this has been a big problem for Iowa geocachers (probably because the average Iowa geocacher is better at reading instructions than the average non-Iowa geocacher). However, it is apparently a bigger problem for some geocachers elsewhere, as evidenced by a recent string of postings in the geocaching.com forums.

IGO's annual Hike N Seek event

I’m a little late in blogging about it, but I wanted to report on the great time I had at the annual IGO Hike N Seek event, which was held Sept. 23-25 in Elkader. I drove to Elkader after work that Friday evening and arrived in time to set up my tent in the city park before heading over to the local movie theater, where the IGO organizers had arranged a special screen of “GPS: The Movie.” I have to admit I wasn’t impressed with the production values, the plot, the acting or the writing. But other than those deficiencies, I thought it was an OK flick. What I did enjoy was gathering at the theater with fellow geocachers, some of whom I haven’t seen for awhile and some of whom I had not previously met. It was a nice, homey little theater and the popcorn and wine were quite tasty. Saturday I joined the rest of the Iowa geocachers at the city park shelter for the instructions for the competition (which I did not enter) and the downloading of coordinates into my GPS for the approximately 100 new geocaches that had been hidden by several area geocachers. The new caches were well-placed and I appreciated the cache owners’ cooperation to submit them throughout the summer to give me plenty of time to review them and resolve any issues before the prescheduled mass publishing that Saturday during the event.  After caching during the day, we reconvened Saturday evening at the park for grilling, potluck picnic food, and door prizes. Mary (my wife) was scheduled to leave town on Sunday for business travel, so Saturday night after the potluck dinner I decided to pack up my tent and head home so I could spend the remainder of the weekend with her. My thanks to all the organizers, cache hiders, donators and geocachers who attended this great event.

River Action launches geocaching program

I've been working with organizers of the Geocaching on the RiverWay program to publish their series of geocaches. Some are also listed on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. You can find a list of these new caches at their website for River Action, and read a news release about the program. As an avid kayaker and part-time kayaking instructor, I'm happy to see efforts like this to get people better acquanted with the Mississippi River.