Geocachers largest gathering in the world!

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16 years ago

In approximately 1 month, geocachers from far and yon will begin to converge on a little town called Wheatland in Northern California. They will be there to take part in the largest annual gathering of geocachers in the world!

GEOWOODSTOCK IV

Saturday, May 24, 2008 in Wheatland, CA (just north of Sacramento)

Just what is the this big hoop-tee-doo about?

First a little history…

Geowoodstock began as a suggestion made by one of the top geocaching finders to a volunteer reviewer. The suggestion was, wouldn’t it be nice to get all the top geocachers together for an informal meet and greet.

At the time, geocaching was still in its infancy and large gatherings of cachers were not common practice. Sure, there were smaller, neighborhood “meet and greet’s” and one or two regional events, but no one had yet put together anything where cacher would come from all over the world to have “fun and fellowship”.

From those humble beginnings, GeoWoodstock has evolved into an annual Mega Event for geocachers from all over the world. In five short years GeoWoodstock has become the world’s largest geocaching-related event. It is a relaxed, friendly, and free gathering.

Typical activities at past GeoWoodstock events have included meeting people, prize giveaways, geocoin sales and trading, travel bug swaps, and of course, caching like crazy. There have been large and small cache runs, and records have been made for the most caches found in a 24-hour period.

In 2008, GeoWoodstock is going to be all that and much more. GeoWoodstock VI will take place on …

… a farm, echoing the setting of a Woodstock of another era. Attendees can hang out, find caches, take a train or hay ride, climb a tree house, slide down a couple of giant slides, go panning for marbles, or play with the animals in the petting zoo. And that’s just the stuff that the farm has to offer.

In addition, there will be lots of geocaching related things to do. The details are still being worked out, but some of the ideas being thrown around are Geocacher Bingo, an ammo can packing contest, and …

For the kids, a gold panning demonstration, a treasure hunt, a magic show, an ammo can painting contest, and possibly some outdoor safety classes to be put on by REI.

There will also be dozens of geoswag and geocoin vendors showing off and selling their wares.

Towards the end of the day, you’ll have the opportunity to gather with your friends and sit down for an enjoyable meal.

The main GeoWoodstock event is on Saturday. On the days leading up to it, there will likely be smaller “Meet & Greet” events for those that arrive in town early. On Sunday, there will be organized cache runs, possibly including a kayaking trip in Lake Natoma to find a bunch of geocaches that are on islands in the lake.

The River City Geocaching & Dining Society (RCGDS) and the Northstate Unusual Treasure Seekers (NUTS) are proud and honored to have been selected as the hosts of GeoWoodstock VI. They are working hard to plan a great, relaxing and fun event.

If you’re coming in to town early, make sure to come down to the Friday Night Meet & Greet at Royer Park in Roseville, CA.

There will be hot dogs and hamburgers on the BBQ, event registration, and of course a chance to meet & greet other cachers who are in town.

Northern California is rich in history, caches and culture. Like the 49’ers who came seeking treasure 150 years ago, we invite you to come seek some of the 21st century treasure hidden throughout the area. Start making plans to be here. In doing so, note that San Francisco, the Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe and Yosemite are all within a few hours drive. For the adventurous with some extra time, it would be fun to fly into San Francisco airport, spend a day in that city, then drive to the Sacramento area for GeoWoodstock. After the event, you might want to take a drive to Lake Tahoe or Yosemite and spend a day there before heading home.

Please note: Attendance at the event is FREE for all. However, there will be a FREE meal and in order to determine how much food to have on hand, you will to sign up over at the GW6 website and fill out the Event Registration form. There will be pre-printed name tags and lanyards for all who register and free T-shirts and geocoins for those that sign up at the Silver or Gold levels. Registering for the event will also tell the organizer’s how many people of various age groups are attending so they can plan activities.

If you merely want to attend and have fun, you don’t need to sign up. But you’ll miss out on the free name tag and lanyard and there’s no guarantee enough free food will be available. It’s going to be a fantastic meal that you won’t want to miss, so head on over and sign up for the world’s largest geocaching event ever!

Here are links to the past Geowoodstock Events:

GeoWoodstock I – Louisville, Kentucky