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GeoWoodStock XI Prediction


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Santa Cruz would be pretty neat as I could ride my bicycle to wherever we set up... ^_^

 

Alas, we don't have the strong core of geocachers we once had. Downturn in the economy, plus some relocations have thinned us a bit. Still able to pull together an event, now and then, but even so...

 

I've thought about it .. where could we host an event with thousands? Harvey West Park would be one possibility. As for lodging and camping, people would be hitting peak of the tourist season, so rates would be up. I'd have to think about this for a bit more and then see who in the area is glutton for punishment enough to get involved.

 

We've truly got an awesome location. B)

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Santa Cruz would be pretty neat as I could ride my bicycle to wherever we set up... ^_^

 

Alas, we don't have the strong core of geocachers we once had. Downturn in the economy, plus some relocations have thinned us a bit. Still able to pull together an event, now and then, but even so...

 

I've thought about it .. where could we host an event with thousands? Harvey West Park would be one possibility. As for lodging and camping, people would be hitting peak of the tourist season, so rates would be up. I'd have to think about this for a bit more and then see who in the area is glutton for punishment enough to get involved.

 

We've truly got an awesome location. B)

Dibs on your couch! :anibad:

 

J/K I wouldn't miss a chance to camp on the beach again.

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I'd like to see GW come back to California, but I'm not hosting it again. That was a lot of work :blink:

 

However if someone else wants to host, I'll be happy to give advise.

 

Maybe in Redding, Ca. :anibad:

 

I'd love to see it someplace on the Pacific coast. Santa Cruz maybe.... :unsure: Really, anywhere on the Pacific coast would make me happy.

 

However, the town of Mammoth Lakes is nearly broke from a nearly snowless winter. They could use the business and ya gotta admit that the scenery is awesome and they have enough rooms to handle 5 GW events at the same time. :anibad:

 

I have nothing against Santa Cruz (I used to live with 20 minutes or so from it) but if it's going to be there for GW XI, then GW XII should be someplace like Bar Harbor, ME so that west coaster would have to travel as far as east coasters would to Santa Cruz.

 

Mammoth Lakes would be a good spot but it's not real accessible. I know there's a small airport there (I once flew there with a co-worker that is a private pilot from San Jose) but it's 3.5 hours from the nearest major airport (Reno). On the other hand, the drive from Reno to Mammoth is pretty nice.

Mammoth Yosemite Airport has been expanded so larger jets can land there.

 

United & Alaska Air have a partnership that regularly lands there. I think Horizon Air is based there now. I may be wrong.

 

You can log my Hidden Dragon virtual as you fly in if you look toward Convict Lake, or you can't miss it from the road intersection with 395. It would be a cool way to start your event fun.

 

There are over 5,000 rooms and literally hundreds of square miles in which you can freely camp with a forest service permit.

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Spokane, Wa.

mmm Spokane has possibilities... airport, fairgrounds, close to Idaho, Montana, Canada and Oregon and usually decent weather

 

Geowoodstock X was in Washington. For the next GW I'd rather see it almost anywhere other than in the PNW.

 

GW VIII was in Washington. GW X is this year, in Indiana.

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GW I Louisville KY

GW II Nashville TN

GW III Jax FL

GW IV Duncanville Texas - this was first mega event, type invented at that time, and awarded retroactively

GW V Raleigh NC

GW VI Sacramento CA

GW VII Bell Buckle TN

GW VIII Seattle WA

GW IX Warren PA

GW X Sellersbury IN

GW XI Snoogansville TX

GW XII Pocket Lint IA

GW XIII Peachie Keen GA

GW XIV Wumpus MO

 

http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=1b310688-c419-4ea4-adb9-17454eda978c

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I'd like to see GW come back to California, but I'm not hosting it again. That was a lot of work :blink:

 

However if someone else wants to host, I'll be happy to give advise.

 

Maybe in Redding, Ca. :anibad:

 

I'd love to see it someplace on the Pacific coast. Santa Cruz maybe.... :unsure: Really, anywhere on the Pacific coast would make me happy.

 

However, the town of Mammoth Lakes is nearly broke from a nearly snowless winter. They could use the business and ya gotta admit that the scenery is awesome and they have enough rooms to handle 5 GW events at the same time. :anibad:

 

I have nothing against Santa Cruz (I used to live with 20 minutes or so from it) but if it's going to be there for GW XI, then GW XII should be someplace like Bar Harbor, ME so that west coaster would have to travel as far as east coasters would to Santa Cruz.

 

Mammoth Lakes would be a good spot but it's not real accessible. I know there's a small airport there (I once flew there with a co-worker that is a private pilot from San Jose) but it's 3.5 hours from the nearest major airport (Reno). On the other hand, the drive from Reno to Mammoth is pretty nice.

Mammoth Yosemite Airport has been expanded so larger jets can land there.

 

United & Alaska Air have a partnership that regularly lands there. I think Horizon Air is based there now. I may be wrong.

 

You can log my Hidden Dragon virtual as you fly in if you look toward Convict Lake, or you can't miss it from the road intersection with 395. It would be a cool way to start your event fun.

 

There are over 5,000 rooms and literally hundreds of square miles in which you can freely camp with a forest service permit.

 

Mammoth would actually be pretty darn cool. Santa Cruz would be fun as well, it's one of the most beautiful spots on our Left Coast here, but it's a bit pricey to stay there (as mentioned by DW) if you're not camping.

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Mammoth would actually be pretty darn cool. Santa Cruz would be fun as well, it's one of the most beautiful spots on our Left Coast here, but it's a bit pricey to stay there (as mentioned by DW) if you're not camping.

 

The good thing about camping is we've got a LOT of places you can go camping. Many state parks nearby, which are just crammed with trails and caches and great views n' stuff.

 

Plus for the RV crowd there are places up and down the coast as well.

 

Perhaps, just as an exercise, I could start looking at these and cataloging them .. maybe with a view to GW XII or something.

 

I've already spent time considering settings for such an event, from a logistical point of view and the easy thing about this is the number of "Festivals" which are held annually which attract similar, if not larger crowds. Any Santa Cruz vicinity event that large may not actually be held in Santa Cruz, but Watsonville or some place in between.

 

It's all very dangerous thinking as I keep thinking about it. :blink:

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What about like a Tuscon,

 

Where is that???

 

Please, not Sedona. It's a tourist trap.

 

There's a nice canyon with a large part north of there, Oak Canyon(?) which would be pretty good, but may not have the capacity for a Mega.

I agree, sedona sucks. The area around it is nice though, including oak canyon. There are some wonderful waterfront parks in Florida that would make great settings for megas. One is in Sebastian. I saw Arlo Guthrie there with about 10000 of my closest friends so I'm sure it would be big enough. Stephen foster state park, in north Florida is home to the Florida folk festival every year (about 20000/day) that would be a fun spot too.

 

I'm glad to find that out. I always wanted to go to Sedona, but I never made time for it.

 

Sedona most definitely does not suck.

Oak Creek Canyon would have a hard time accomidating that many people.

 

 

So, when do we find out where it is? I'd actually like to attend one someday.

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What about like a Tuscon,

 

Where is that???

 

Please, not Sedona. It's a tourist trap.

 

There's a nice canyon with a large part north of there, Oak Canyon(?) which would be pretty good, but may not have the capacity for a Mega.

I agree, sedona sucks. The area around it is nice though, including oak canyon. There are some wonderful waterfront parks in Florida that would make great settings for megas. One is in Sebastian. I saw Arlo Guthrie there with about 10000 of my closest friends so I'm sure it would be big enough. Stephen foster state park, in north Florida is home to the Florida folk festival every year (about 20000/day) that would be a fun spot too.

 

I'm glad to find that out. I always wanted to go to Sedona, but I never made time for it.

 

Sedona most definitely does not suck.

Oak Creek Canyon would have a hard time accomidating that many people.

 

 

So, when do we find out where it is? I'd actually like to attend one someday.

 

They announce the next year's venue at this year's event. Locations for 2014 and 2015 have also already been selected (but won't get announced until 2013 and 2014 respectively).

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Pleased as punch we're getting GW in FL! I'm biased since I live here, but there are some good statistical reasons: Florida and southern Georgia combined for 3 Mega-Events in the last year (FL Finders Fest, Cacheapalooza, & Going Coastal) plus Florida has the 3rd most geocaches of any US state (nearly 37k, trailing only California's 100k+ and Texas' 53k+).

 

I graduate FAU in early May 2013 so I hope no post-college plans screw up my ability to attend GW in late May!

 

I also hope the GPS Adventures Maze comes to Florida too because of GW. (So far the closest it's been is Tennessee.)

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Pleased as punch we're getting GW in FL! I'm biased since I live here, but there are some good statistical reasons: Florida and southern Georgia combined for 3 Mega-Events in the last year (FL Finders Fest, Cacheapalooza, & Going Coastal) plus Florida has the 3rd most geocaches of any US state (nearly 37k, trailing only California's 100k+ and Texas' 53k+).

 

I think it's great that the next Geowoodstock is going to be in Florida and given it's proximity to Orlando it might even entice a lot of geocaching families to combine a Disney vacation with Geowoodstock. I bet that I would have an easier time convincing my wife (and especially my son) to take a trip to Florida to attend Geowoodstock if it included a visit to Disneyworld.

 

However, I hope that GS didn't use the fact Florida has the 2rd most caches of any state as a criteria for choosing the location. If someone chooses to attend GW in Florida because they can find a lot of caches I think they're really missing the point of attending a mega event.

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Pleased as punch we're getting GW in FL! I'm biased since I live here, but there are some good statistical reasons: Florida and southern Georgia combined for 3 Mega-Events in the last year (FL Finders Fest, Cacheapalooza, & Going Coastal) plus Florida has the 3rd most geocaches of any US state (nearly 37k, trailing only California's 100k+ and Texas' 53k+).

 

I think it's great that the next Geowoodstock is going to be in Florida and given it's proximity to Orlando it might even entice a lot of geocaching families to combine a Disney vacation with Geowoodstock. I bet that I would have an easier time convincing my wife (and especially my son) to take a trip to Florida to attend Geowoodstock if it included a visit to Disneyworld.

 

However, I hope that GS didn't use the fact Florida has the 2rd most caches of any state as a criteria for choosing the location. If someone chooses to attend GW in Florida because they can find a lot of caches I think they're really missing the point of attending a mega event.

 

FYI.... GS didn't even know where it was being held until last week. Also the number of caches in the state was irrelevent in the decision.

The location for GW is decided by the GW committee. ( group of original and previous hosts) The future locations of GW are closely guarded secrets among the GW committee.

If you ever get a chance to attend GW, you will have to be present at the closing ceremonies for the unveiling of the next years event and you will understand what I mean and why it is such a closely guarded secret.

 

BTW, as a member of the GW XI host committee next year, we hope you can attend and look forward to seeing everyone there!

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Pleased as punch we're getting GW in FL! I'm biased since I live here, but there are some good statistical reasons: Florida and southern Georgia combined for 3 Mega-Events in the last year (FL Finders Fest, Cacheapalooza, & Going Coastal) plus Florida has the 3rd most geocaches of any US state (nearly 37k, trailing only California's 100k+ and Texas' 53k+).

 

I think it's great that the next Geowoodstock is going to be in Florida and given it's proximity to Orlando it might even entice a lot of geocaching families to combine a Disney vacation with Geowoodstock. I bet that I would have an easier time convincing my wife (and especially my son) to take a trip to Florida to attend Geowoodstock if it included a visit to Disneyworld.

 

However, I hope that GS didn't use the fact Florida has the 2rd most caches of any state as a criteria for choosing the location. If someone chooses to attend GW in Florida because they can find a lot of caches I think they're really missing the point of attending a mega event.

 

FYI.... GS didn't even know where it was being held until last week. Also the number of caches in the state was irrelevent in the decision.

The location for GW is decided by the GW committee. ( group of original and previous hosts) The future locations of GW are closely guarded secrets among the GW committee.

If you ever get a chance to attend GW, you will have to be present at the closing ceremonies for the unveiling of the next years event and you will understand what I mean and why it is such a closely guarded secret.

 

BTW, as a member of the GW XI host committee next year, we hope you can attend and look forward to seeing everyone there!

 

Do the big box stores sell OFF in the gallon size, down there?

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<snip>

However, I hope that GS didn't use the fact Florida has the 2rd most caches of any state as a criteria for choosing the location. If someone chooses to attend GW in Florida because they can find a lot of caches I think they're really missing the point of attending a mega event.

 

Sorry, number 3.

 

CA 106,441

TX 53,615

FL 36,864

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<snip>

However, I hope that GS didn't use the fact Florida has the 2rd most caches of any state as a criteria for choosing the location. If someone chooses to attend GW in Florida because they can find a lot of caches I think they're really missing the point of attending a mega event.

 

Sorry, number 3.

 

CA 106,441

TX 53,615

FL 36,864

 

Sorry, brain fart. I meant to type 3rd.

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I think it's great that the next Geowoodstock is going to be in Florida and given it's proximity to Orlando it might even entice a lot of geocaching families to combine a Disney vacation with Geowoodstock. I bet that I would have an easier time convincing my wife (and especially my son) to take a trip to Florida to attend Geowoodstock if it included a visit to Disneyworld.

 

I thought about that angle since we usually vacation in Florida in late June/early July. But my kids are still in school at the end of May, which is why we wait.

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Central Florida. In the summer. Woo hoo. Bugs and humidity for everyone.

 

Isn't GW supposed to switch between East and West? Or do the people in the western half of the US no longer count?

Well we could stretch a bit and say since it was in the Mid-West going back east would work. Well we can hope for a more westerly venue in 2014. Utah would be cool, as would Idaho. Of course Washington, Oregon or California, as long is it not south of Monterey, would be peachy keen.

Edited by jholly
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Central Florida. In the summer. Woo hoo. Bugs and humidity for everyone.

 

Isn't GW supposed to switch between East and West? Or do the people in the western half of the US no longer count?

Yep! I been in Florida plenty of time and I am not sure I wanna go there in may. :ph34r: I got family over there and my sister used to live there as well.

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Central Florida. In the summer. Woo hoo. Bugs and humidity for everyone.

 

Isn't GW supposed to switch between East and West? Or do the people in the western half of the US no longer count?

 

How many Geocaching Block Parties have there been on the east coast?

Apples and Oranges. GW is a traveling event and Block Party isnt.

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I'm thinking the east coast would be nice... :rolleyes: ... and possibly affordable for me. :laughing: How about MAINE?

 

Ooooooops! *note to self* Read ALL entries before responding!

 

Florida? IN MAY??? I'll pass...

Edited by ohmelli
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Central Florida. In the summer. Woo hoo. Bugs and humidity for everyone.

 

Isn't GW supposed to switch between East and West? Or do the people in the western half of the US no longer count?

 

How many Geocaching Block Parties have there been on the east coast?

Apples and Oranges. GW is a traveling event and Block Party isnt.

 

You missed the point. Both are events that unless you lived close to where it's being held one has to travel to attend. The PNW has the block party, groundspeadk HQ, the lost and found celebration, all locations where one can visit to obtain a unique icon and a souvenir. For the "special" category of souvenirs, 9 out of the 11 souvenirs available require (or required) one to go to the PNY to obtain them. For the small fraction of geocachers that happen to live in the PNY all of those "awards" are easy to obtain. Everyone else has to travel and potentially spend thousands of dollars to get them. It seems only fair that those living in the PNY might have to travel more than every other year if they want to attend a GW.

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What part of 'whoever makes the best bid gets it' do y'all not understand?

 

Want it near you? Put together a group that is capable and make a winning proposal.

 

If you aren't willing to even try, don't whine.

 

LoL.

 

It's an all volunteer effort and a huge drain on personal time (for a year or longer) for the hosts. I would shrink away from that like a spider on a hot stove. I picked the trackables station for GW4 because I KNEW I could fix the perceived problems with the truck bed-o-trackables at GW3. The rest I left to the TXGA. That was a monster I didn't wanna wrestle.

 

Joe's vision that it would be free to all will probably die (or mostly die) at some point when it gets too big to be supported by voluntary donations alone.

 

Honestly, I think that is the point where the event will take a leap foreward. Make the volunteer effort a sideline and put the event in the hands of a professional event coordinator. Charge a minimum $25 to $35 per adult for basic registration and maybe relax the admission to $0 at 3pm and then have the group photo at 3:30.

 

I have been to 7 GWs and they have all been great volunteer efforts, and successful events but the growth seems to be leveling out. But I could be very wrong in that perception.

 

I honestly couldn't tell how many folks were at GWX. Everyone was hunting for shade and the event was really spread out. I know of quite a few folks who left because of the heat. It would be interesting to see just how many were there compared to all of the other years.

 

It would be interesting to see how the event would fare indoors in a convention center. Houston has the Goerge R. Brown Convention Center and right in front of it is Discovery Green. We also have Have the Houston Museum of Natural Science and I have been slowly (very slowly) angling to get the GPS Adventure Maze there. How cool would it be to have both a GW and the Adventure Maze at the same time? But is there enough money in it to get a section of the convention center and a real honest to goodness details included, PAID event planner to get most of it done??? :unsure:

 

Would an indoor setting, help or hurt the event?

 

What about a paid admission for the greatest portion of the event and then swing the doors wide in the last few hours to get more folks in for a picture...?

 

I'll make another sideline prediction. When GW increases to a 15K plus (attendance) event, and possibly as low as 12K, it's gonna move indoors to a convention center setting, due to logistics and weather considerations for a crowd of that size. This will swing the door of possibilities wide when it comes to bid proposals.

 

And if it ever does go there, I'll make a bid to have it in the George R. Brown convention center in Houston. (If I can get some other crazy cachers to do most of the work.) Seriously though, a paid event planner will need to go into the money factoring. At some point an all volunteer effort isn't going to fly.

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Snoogans our group talked about some of those same things. We've only been to 3 Mega's and only 1 GW so it's good to see someone who has been to 7 GWs have similar thoughts.

 

Our idea was for Groundspeak to hire a small team (2-5) people to work as Mega coordinators. Basically the GW team would pick who has the best bid. Then once the bid is announced a coordinator works with the local volunteers to help them plan and avoid pitfalls.

 

Groundspeaks recent decision to remove the cost of trackable numbers for Megas should help the organizers raise more money, but I imagine there's a huge initial cost that's not covered until the event is completed.

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Snoogans our group talked about some of those same things. We've only been to 3 Mega's and only 1 GW so it's good to see someone who has been to 7 GWs have similar thoughts.

 

Our idea was for Groundspeak to hire a small team (2-5) people to work as Mega coordinators. Basically the GW team would pick who has the best bid. Then once the bid is announced a coordinator works with the local volunteers to help them plan and avoid pitfalls.

 

Groundspeaks recent decision to remove the cost of trackable numbers for Megas should help the organizers raise more money, but I imagine there's a huge initial cost that's not covered until the event is completed.

 

Sorry I missed you there. I would have liked to meet you... And if I met you at the event I hosted, I plead event host amnesia. I talked to WCNUT's wife and a few others and I have no recollection of it. Probably because Howl at the Moon served alcohol literally by the bucket.

 

As for putting the MEGA planning burdon on Groundspeak... It would be nice to further their brand, but might as well raise premium memberships to cover the cost of a value added service like that. Don't count on it. I think it's extremely nice that they send Lackey representation and sometimes an extension of the Groundspeak store, but I wouldn't expect much more.

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What about twin cities area? Oh yes, over east of there in wis. :)

 

knowschad, u know anything?

 

If they are having it in that area, I am going. I got a few personal friend over there. One is a cacher now, not sure if I got her hooked or what! :blink: I knew her for close to 10 years now and when I found out she's a cacher too, my jaw just about hit the floor.

 

Plenty of caches to find here, no doubt about that! Although I think somewhere up north on or near Lake Superior would be a much nicer spot for an event like that.

 

I wonder if I know your cacher friend?

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We got 12 more days to find out where GeoWoodstock XI is going to be hosted. So let have fun predicting of where the new location for the year of 2013 is going to be at.

 

I been thinking NV.

 

Anyone else?

 

How about Williamsburg, VA! Great location! Lots of history in the area, a mother load of geocaches, great groups of Geocachers throughout the Old Dominion to make it happen!

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What about twin cities area? Oh yes, over east of there in wis. :)

 

knowschad, u know anything?

 

If they are having it in that area, I am going. I got a few personal friend over there. One is a cacher now, not sure if I got her hooked or what! :blink: I knew her for close to 10 years now and when I found out she's a cacher too, my jaw just about hit the floor.

 

Plenty of caches to find here, no doubt about that! Although I think somewhere up north on or near Lake Superior would be a much nicer spot for an event like that.

 

I wonder if I know your cacher friend?

 

Dang. I was going to drop that it's Chad, but the whole female thing ruined that. Yeah, the Twin Cities should submit a proposal. Have they ever? I think it would be a fine place for GW. Definitely would have to go for July 4th weekend, not Memorial day though. Is the snow gone by then? :ph34r:

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Um, how about the state that gave you geocaching??

 

Oregon

 

I don't think in Portland, but maybe somewhere nearby.

 

Naahhh!

The USA has had the limelight far too long, and it's turning into an ugly, pointless trade-show.

We need this to be in a place where REAL adventurers go...like Brasil.

 

You know where. ;)

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