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What is the most popular state for Geocaching?


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What is the most popular state in the U.S. for Geocaching?

 

How would you measure popular?

 

Density of caches hidden? Most registered cachers? Most logs written? Best locations to visit? Best weather? Most tourists visiting to geocache? Most available space for hiding? Most nature areas for hiding? Largest urban areas for caching?

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Very interesting question!

 

I guess you can't measure the "popularity" by the number of cachers or active caches in the state. The better test would be the percentage of the state population that are cachers. You could refine that based on how many "finds" are logged, etc., but Groundspeak computers at some point will overheat.

 

I predict that the state where geocaching is most popular is a warmer state, because caching activity slows in winter in the colder states, I think. Don't know if there are regional differences separate from climate, though. I'll watch this for more info.

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Just counting caches placed, California is the largest.

 

It would be interesting to divide caches placed by square miles or something to add relevancy to the numbers, but I suspect CA would still be first on the list.

 

I have a list from stats collected a few weeks ago. The top 10 U.S. states in terms of number of actives caches are:

 

California

Texas

Florida

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Michigan

Arizona

Washington

Illinois

Ohio

 

If you were looking a cache density per square mile I would imagine that a few "states" in Germany (this *is* and international game, after all) that would surpass any of the States in the U.S.

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Interesting. I see my state of Illinois on that list of number of caches, which is great. I also think it's funny in that I hear people talk about saturation problems all of the time, and assumed that Illinois must have way fewer caches, because certainly there's a lot of open area. But, as usual, I place all of the entire state's statistics on the shoulders of Chicago, which must be stuffed full.

 

I know that north of us in Wisconsin (near West Bend) is the "Geocaching Capital of the Midwest" with one of the higher density areas around. I haven't cached there, but it looks fun.

 

Where's the largest Mega Event held?

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RI has the highest cache density of the 50 US States.

 

Does anyone still document this? Both you and I have been around a relatively long time, and way back when Buxley's Geocaching Maps were allowed to list Geocaching.com caches, he had a cache density per square mile chart. He counted D.C., so that was always No. 1, followed by New Jersey, and then Rhode Island. This is just from memory, but I'm sure New Jersey, which some may be surprised to know is the 4th smallest State (after R.I. Delaware and Connecticut), was always ahead of you guys.

 

I just paid attention to that back then because I used to travel to both regularly for "business" (Army Reserve training), but I'm long since retired from the Reserve.

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Where's the largest Mega Event held?

There was a geofest a couple years ago that according to the cache page 11,964 people attended it. :rolleyes:

Was that a Mega?

Using the assumption that Megas are being attended more and more each year, I checked all Megas held in 2011, 2012, and so far in 2013. The following are the most attended ones:

Geowoodstock VIII: 2,237

1. GEOCOINFEST 2011 - EUROPA: 2,558

GeoWoodstock IX: 1,983

Lost in MV: 1,509

Dosenfischen im Ruhrtal: 1,956

2012 Geocaching Block Party: 1,131

GeoWoodstock X: 1,847

PROJECT: GeoGames: 3,061

 

Interestingly, even though I was fully expecting to see one or more Megas in the US midwest with wacky logging, I didn't find any for the above years. Is that practice not used on Megas, and only on regular events?

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Where's the largest Mega Event held?

There was a geofest a couple years ago that according to the cache page 11,964 people attended it. :rolleyes:

Was that a Mega?

Using the assumption that Megas are being attended more and more each year, I checked all Megas held in 2011, 2012, and so far in 2013. The following are the most attended ones:

Geowoodstock VIII: 2,237

1. GEOCOINFEST 2011 - EUROPA: 2,558

GeoWoodstock IX: 1,983

Lost in MV: 1,509

Dosenfischen im Ruhrtal: 1,956

2012 Geocaching Block Party: 1,131

GeoWoodstock X: 1,847

PROJECT: GeoGames: 3,061

 

Interestingly, even though I was fully expecting to see one or more Megas in the US midwest with wacky logging, I didn't find any for the above years. Is that practice not used on Megas, and only on regular events?

 

I'm going to guess FunnyNose was just making a crack about those events in Ohio, hosted by an unnamed "Geo Club" where the participants go to town and log them up to 125 times for finding "temporary caches" 200-300 feet apart. I just linked to one last week in another thread though, and it had "only" 8,000 finds. :P

 

Here's your obscure, little known fact o' the day though. Multiple logging is in fact banned for Mega events, and was a stipulation put in place when that cache type was created, which was late 2007 or early 2008. Written documentation from Groundspeak I don't have, but I have first hand knowledge from people who are/have been on the committee of the Allegheny State Park Geobash in NY on the Pa. border. Once they went Mega (and they were one of the first to do so) they were told no more multiple logs.

 

People multi-logging the 2007 Non-Mega ASP Geobash and People NOT multi-logging the 2008 MEGA ASP Geobash Does Groundspeak actually lock you out from logging a Mega more than once? I don't know, who wants to try it? :lol:

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Once they went Mega (and they were one of the first to do so) they were told no more multiple logs.

 

 

Yet another case of a double-standard from Groundspeak. :blink:

 

Since the logs are used (at least in part) to determine the 'mega' status, I can see why.

 

Perhaps one is free to post the 230 extra logs once the MEGA status is confirmed? :unsure:

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Once they went Mega (and they were one of the first to do so) they were told no more multiple logs.

 

 

Yet another case of a double-standard from Groundspeak. :blink:

 

Since the logs are used (at least in part) to determine the 'mega' status, I can see why.

 

Perhaps one is free to post the 230 extra logs once the MEGA status is confirmed? :unsure:

 

You know, I don't want to bash my "local" Mega (it's about 90 miles from me), but in the early days of Mega status, they actually had well under 300 attended logs, but were allowed to tout actual people in attendance. Like you know, I could show up with my wife and two kids, who don't have accounts. They're OK now, they've received over 400 actual attended logs for the last two years, which are the only ones I just looked at.

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RI has the highest cache density of the 50 US States.

 

We live about an hour from the bridge to the province of Prince Edward Island (PEI). We take a few mini caching vacations (3 or 4 day trips) to PEI a few times a year. I have always been amazed at the number of caches there, considering the small size of the island. My search for info about cache density brought me to this thread. I decided to compare the cache density of PEI and RI.

 

Rhode Island

 

2703 caches

1214 square miles

2.22 caches per square miles

 

Prince Edward Island

 

7405 caches

2170 square miles

3.41 caches per square mile

 

BTW we will be heading to the Appalachian Trail in PA next month and will be stopping in Rhode Island on the way as it is the only east coast state in which we have not yet found a cache.

 

PAul

Edited by Ma & Pa
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RI has the highest cache density of the 50 US States.

 

We live about an hour from the bridge to the province of Prince Edward Island (PEI). We take a few caching trips (3 or 4 day trips) a few times a year. I have always been amazed at the number of caches there, considering the small size of the island. My search for info about cache density brought me to this thread. I decided to compare the cache density of PEI and RI.

 

Rhode Island

 

2703 caches

1214 square miles

2.22 caches per square miles

 

Prince Edward Island

 

7405 caches

2170 square miles

3.41 caches per square mile

 

BTW we will be heading to the Appalachian Trail in PA next month and will be stopping in Rhode Island on the way as it is the only east coast state in which we have not found a cache.

 

PAul

 

Of course Rhode Island is much more densely populated. All you have to do is watch Family Guy to see this. :unsure:

 

Here you go, The first cache in Rhode Island (placed December 2000) and owned, but not placed, by the guy you quoted. It is admittedly a good 15-20 miles off of I-95. But who doesn't want to visit Newport?

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RI has the highest cache density of the 50 US States.

 

We live about an hour from the bridge to the province of Prince Edward Island (PEI). We take a few caching trips (3 or 4 day trips) a few times a year. I have always been amazed at the number of caches there, considering the small size of the island. My search for info about cache density brought me to this thread. I decided to compare the cache density of PEI and RI.

 

Rhode Island

 

2703 caches

1214 square miles

2.22 caches per square miles

 

Prince Edward Island

 

7405 caches

2170 square miles

3.41 caches per square mile

 

BTW we will be heading to the Appalachian Trail in PA next month and will be stopping in Rhode Island on the way as it is the only east coast state in which we have not found a cache.

 

PAul

 

Of course Rhode Island is much more densely populated. All you have to do is watch Family Guy to see this. :unsure:

 

Here you go, The first cache in Rhode Island (placed December 2000) and owned, but not placed, by the guy you quoted. It is admittedly a good 15-20 miles off of I-95. But who doesn't want to visit Newport?

 

That was a destination cache for me when I visited Rhode Island a couple of years ago. I was at a conference in Providence (very close to the state capital building) and then had another smaller one in Darian, Connecticut a couple days after the first ended. On the drive to CT I went to Newport to find that cache and have lunch. On the way home from the second conference I found the oldest cache in CT. If I recall, it's closer to I-95 than the one in Rhode Island.

 

I'm much more interested in geocaching in places that are sparsely populated than places where there is a cache on every corner. I think it's kind of cool to find a cache that is the only one within 100 miles.

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Of course Rhode Island is much more densely populated. All you have to do is watch Family Guy to see this. :unsure:

 

Here you go, The first cache in Rhode Island (placed December 2000) and owned, but not placed, by the guy you quoted. It is admittedly a good 15-20 miles off of I-95. But who doesn't want to visit Newport?

 

And April is a good time to visit Newport - less people and traffic.

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This guy has put together some pretty comprehensive state statistics, including caches per square mile. Some of the stats were updated recently while others haven't been updated in a while, but either way it's some interesting reading for stats nuts. It should answer the OP question (which I just noticed is nearly a year old)

 

http://kaynmike.com/geocaching/stats/

Edited by briansnat
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Of course Rhode Island is much more densely populated. All you have to do is watch Family Guy to see this. :unsure:

 

Here you go, The first cache in Rhode Island (placed December 2000) and owned, but not placed, by the guy you quoted. It is admittedly a good 15-20 miles off of I-95. But who doesn't want to visit Newport?

 

And April is a good time to visit Newport - less people and traffic.

 

I was hoping to get a Rhode Island cache the same way we got an Alabama cache. For Alabama, we drove on the interstate from Houston Texas and grabbed caches at the first rest area in Alabama and then immediately turned around and headed back to Texas for our flight home.

 

As I said, I wanted to do something similar for Rhode Island, but unfortunately I mentioned the above cache to MA and showed her the GC map and she got all excited and made notes in her caching book. I think there will be a major stop in Rhode Island at the end of April.

 

PAul

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Of course Rhode Island is much more densely populated. All you have to do is watch Family Guy to see this. :unsure:

 

Here you go, The first cache in Rhode Island (placed December 2000) and owned, but not placed, by the guy you quoted. It is admittedly a good 15-20 miles off of I-95. But who doesn't want to visit Newport?

 

And April is a good time to visit Newport - less people and traffic.

 

I was hoping to get a Rhode Island cache the same way we got an Alabama cache. For Alabama, we drove on the interstate from Houston Texas and grabbed caches at the first rest area in Alabama and then immediately turned around and headed back to Texas for our flight home.

 

As I said, I wanted to do something similar for Rhode Island, but unfortunately I mentioned the above cache to MA and showed her the GC map and she got all excited and made notes in her caching book. I think there will be a major stop in Rhode Island at the end of April.

 

PAul

 

I sort of did the same thing for Kentucky, where I have 1 find, a virtual, after driving across the River from Cincinnati. Except I walked around, and stayed for Dinner. A Waterfront Hooters, as a matter of fact, it was awesome. :)

 

I'm sure there are many people with similar "popped into a State for a cache" stories.

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Of course Rhode Island is much more densely populated. All you have to do is watch Family Guy to see this. :unsure:

 

Here you go, The first cache in Rhode Island (placed December 2000) and owned, but not placed, by the guy you quoted. It is admittedly a good 15-20 miles off of I-95. But who doesn't want to visit Newport?

 

And April is a good time to visit Newport - less people and traffic.

 

I was hoping to get a Rhode Island cache the same way we got an Alabama cache. For Alabama, we drove on the interstate from Houston Texas and grabbed caches at the first rest area in Alabama and then immediately turned around and headed back to Texas for our flight home.

 

As I said, I wanted to do something similar for Rhode Island, but unfortunately I mentioned the above cache to MA and showed her the GC map and she got all excited and made notes in her caching book. I think there will be a major stop in Rhode Island at the end of April.

 

PAul

 

I sort of did the same thing for Kentucky, where I have 1 find, a virtual, after driving across the River from Cincinnati. Except I walked around, and stayed for Dinner. A Waterfront Hooters, as a matter of fact, it was awesome. :)

 

I'm sure there are many people with similar "popped into a State for a cache" stories.

 

Our one cache in New Jersey was a variation on this. We were heading to Virginia with our grandsons for a week of hiking on the Appalachian trail. We would be heading south on I-95 and then west on I-84 and then South on I-81. These interstates do not go into NJ but we noticed that I-84 went along the NJ border for a short distance and there was an exit that would bring us to the north most cache in NJ, Top of New Jersey http://coord.info/GC1TY48 .

 

The cache page states

Welcome to the top cache in all of New Jersey!

 

It's not the highest cache in the state, or the most difficult hide or the toughest terrain. But it's the top cache in the Garden State.

 

Some people hide caches for the intellectual or physical challenge, or to show others an interesting location. This one? It's sole raison d'etre is that it's the Northernmost cache in all of New Jersey.

 

 

.

 

.

Edited by Ma & Pa
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Of course Rhode Island is much more densely populated. All you have to do is watch Family Guy to see this. :unsure:

 

Here you go, The first cache in Rhode Island (placed December 2000) and owned, but not placed, by the guy you quoted. It is admittedly a good 15-20 miles off of I-95. But who doesn't want to visit Newport?

 

And April is a good time to visit Newport - less people and traffic.

 

I was hoping to get a Rhode Island cache the same way we got an Alabama cache. For Alabama, we drove on the interstate from Houston Texas and grabbed caches at the first rest area in Alabama and then immediately turned around and headed back to Texas for our flight home.

 

As I said, I wanted to do something similar for Rhode Island, but unfortunately I mentioned the above cache to MA and showed her the GC map and she got all excited and made notes in her caching book. I think there will be a major stop in Rhode Island at the end of April.

 

PAul

 

I sort of did the same thing for Kentucky, where I have 1 find, a virtual, after driving across the River from Cincinnati. Except I walked around, and stayed for Dinner. A Waterfront Hooters, as a matter of fact, it was awesome. :)

 

I'm sure there are many people with similar "popped into a State for a cache" stories.

 

I've got several states and countries in which I've only found 1 cache, but the only one where I crossed a border just to find a cache was in Nevada. The first one I found was about 4 feet from a fence that separated a casino parking lot (in Nevada) from other parking lot in California. After that I went to another area to find a different cache buy there were a couple of children that started to have a melt down so the search was cut short. I probably spent no more than a half hour in the state for that one. The next minimum amount of time spent in a state/country to find a cache was the Victoria Falls cache in Zimbabwe. In that case, I was in Zimbabwe for about 2 hours, but I didn't go there just to find a cache.

 

I've had other opportunities to cross a border to find a cache in a new state/country but haven't done so.

 

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Where's the largest Mega Event held?

There was a geofest a couple years ago that according to the cache page 11,964 people attended it. :rolleyes:

Was that a Mega?

Using the assumption that Megas are being attended more and more each year, I checked all Megas held in 2011, 2012, and so far in 2013. The following are the most attended ones:

Geowoodstock VIII: 2,237

1. GEOCOINFEST 2011 - EUROPA: 2,558

GeoWoodstock IX: 1,983

Lost in MV: 1,509

Dosenfischen im Ruhrtal: 1,956

2012 Geocaching Block Party: 1,131

GeoWoodstock X: 1,847

PROJECT: GeoGames: 3,061

 

Interestingly, even though I was fully expecting to see one or more Megas in the US midwest with wacky logging, I didn't find any for the above years. Is that practice not used on Megas, and only on regular events?

 

GC3VECK - Project Eck 2013 - Meet & Greet am Eck had 1885 attends

GC3TECK - Project Eck 2013 had 3176 attends

and

GC3WECK - Project Eck 2013 - Eine Schifffahrt die... had 1188 attends - we needed 3 ships for this Event.

 

We do like our Mega-Events :D

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