What was your favorite cache find in 2023?

[+TheLimeCat]

Given that 2023 is quickly coming to a close, I think it would be nice to give thanks for another year of excellent caches and to hear about everyone's favorite finds from 2023. Partly to give myself some ideas for next year, and partly to give everyone an opportunity to brag about a difficult accomplishment, proud moment, or fun travel story. So, what was your favorite find from 2023 and what made it so great?

[+Smitherington]

My favorite this year was GC93, Indiana’s First.  Placed Oct 2000 so it is an old one so it filled a spot on my ‘placed date’ calendar.  I attended an event there put on by 3 British cachers so I got to meet cachers while there. And it was my 9000th cache. Loved it.

[+The Leprechauns]

I can't narrow it down to one cache, so here's my top three favorite finds from 2023:

 

Deer Bait is Ontario's oldest cache, and it's racked up 431 favorite points since 2001.  Finding it with a large group of friends was a highlight of our fall vacation to Ontario, and hiking on the Bruce Trail crossed an item off my bucket list.

 

MarioKart is a representative example of the handcrafted caches hidden by TeamPhoenix421 at the Fulton County Fairgrounds, home of Midwest GeoBash.  This one collected 186 favorite points so far.  Each cache in the series featured a different classic video game, complete with dioramas and interactive elements.  If you didn't get to GeoBash, find this series before it's replaced in July for next year's Mega Event!

 

Ghostcam Cache, at the Willard Library in Evansville Indiana, is the best Webcam cache I've ever found.  Others agree, as evidenced by the 730 favorite points this classic cache has accumulated.  Our visit there as part of GeoWoodstock was with two carloads of friends, and the local history provided by the friendly library staff made this spooky story even more fun.

[+barefootjeff]

I gave FPs to 43 caches this year out of 219 finds (those bonus FPs early in the year really came in handy!) so picking just one favourite is hard. The two Blue Mountains EarthCaches I did recently (GCA9FJ2 and GC9Q2EZ) are right up there, as is GCA8WQY at Sandy Hollow in the upper Hunter Valley, GC6HR8E in Sydney, GCA48A1 at Bulahdelah and the spooky night cache GCA3XPH. All quite different experiences but all great fun.

 

Also great fun were the group caching trips with lee737, his sons Samuel737 and Oliver737, Banj5150, Mighty Minions and GeoIan, and I'm looking forward to going out with them on more adventures in 2024.

 

[+MNTA]

Love this thread. After reviewing my 2023 finds this one stood out as my favorite in Alberta Canada.

 

Amethyst School 3459 Traditional Geocache GC9H8RC 

 This was my favorite mostly for the journey. This is at a sign pointing out the site of a school that used to be here in 1918-1919. Though now it is literally in the middle of nowhere no buildings or people anywhere.  A couple of years ago saw a bbc travel article on the First Nation Majorville Medicine Wheel and had wanted to visit ever since. The cache is one of the few things out here along the hourish drive from pavement to the medicine wheel. To think that the site has been in use for 4,500 years is humbling and felt very spiritual.  Amazing trip glad I went.

 

Other amazing spots seen on this journey. Buffalo Jump World Heritage site, Rosevelt National Park North Dakota. 

[+TheLimeCat]

On 12/27/2023 at 2:40 PM, Smitherington said:

My favorite this year was GC93, Indiana’s First.  Placed Oct 2000 so it is an old one so it filled a spot on my ‘placed date’ calendar.  I attended an event there put on by 3 British cachers so I got to meet cachers while there. And it was my 9000th cache. Loved it.

I've gotten really into states' oldests this year as well. The few I have done have all had terrific locations, so I like to go out of my way for them as much as possible. I was visiting family in Milwaukee this summer and decided to make the long drive down to the oldest cache in Illinois. Funny enough, after logging it, I realized that you and I were there on the exact same day, probably only a couple hours apart. It's a small world.

 

Anyway, since I started the thread, I should post my own favorite, and I also can't pick between two.

 

The first was GC1W6RW Going to the Preacher, and I think I only appreciate it in hindsight because it was one of the most difficult to reach caches I have ever attempted. At the time I severely underestimated how difficult it would be, and stretched my limits far more than I should've. While rappelling down a cliff, I slammed into a sharp outcrop and punched a nasty gouge into the front of my leg. Now I wear a scar on my shin that will probably be with me forever. The cache taught me something about preparedness for future backcountry exploration and also helped remind me that there are people in my life who will worry if I'm not back at the car before nightfall. So it's a mark of shame, but also one of the most acute memories from the last year, making it one of the most notable caches, if not necessarily a favorite. In short, I am proud to have gotten there, and immensely embarrassed by how I did it.

 

The second was GC64A1F Great Expectations! which was not nearly as difficult thanks to a well-worn and popular trail to carry us to the cache site. It was however far more beautiful. In fact, I think this was one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on. I visited with friends at just the right time of year to see the area in its fall attire. I couldn't think of a more classic place for a cache.

 

 

[+JL_HSTRE]

I logged Finds on 223 geocaches this year, giving Favorites to 46 of them, mostly Virtuals and Earthcaches. I'll limit my top favorites to places I would not have visited if a geocache hadn't brought me there, and excluding anything archived or likely to be archived since they wont be of much use to others now.

 

Blue Heron Earthcache - https://coord.info/GC5A5XN
Coal mining ghost town in Kentucky with NPS interpretation. Utterly fascinating place, especially since I'd never seen a tipple before.

 

Trussville Civitan - https://coord.info/GC126
Alabama's oldest near a veterans memorial, a historic bridge, and some old ruins.

 

Up The Root Hole - https://coord.info/GC2F43
2001 ammo can with original container and lot in a nice nature preserve. The hike there took me by a bench with a nice lake view.

 

Henry Clay Iron Furnace - https://coord.info/GC596GQ
A less visited part of Cooper's Rock State Forest in a nice creek valley with a historic furnace.

[+schmittfamily]

We are currently at 182 finds (23 of those being adventure labs) for the year with 26 favorite points awarded.
Those 159 non-lab finds are currently sitting with a combined 8892 favorite points for an average of 55.9 favorite points per cache 

That is below our overall average of 64.7.  

 

I think the top one for the year would have to be  Koufonissis 1st 
We were on a bucket list vacation to Greece and it was probably our best story from the vacation.

 

Also very notable was Water Works
It was a fun gadget cache that we didn't have the tools to do.   Fortunately we ran into a father and son who were fishing right next to it with the correct supplies and who also happened to be geocachers.  We were able to team up and get the cache.   The cache also happened to be the cache that gave us enough points for the teamwork souvenir.

 

We also got 3 thank you notes from trackable owners this year which was also kind of nice.   
 

Edited December 29, 2023 by schmittfamily

[+CAVinoGal]

On 12/27/2023 at 12:55 PM, TheLimeCat said:

... an opportunity to brag about a difficult accomplishment, proud moment, or fun travel story. So, what was your favorite find from 2023 and what made it so great?

 

A relatively slow geocaching year for me, with 358 finds so far in 2023, and 110 of those being Adventure labs (33 Ad Labs while traveling to the East Coast, 20 while traveling on the West Coast, the rest pretty local to me).  The Adventure Labs were fun, and in most cases the bonus (if there was one) was pretty routine, so I didn't count those in my top favorites.

 

I came up with three geocaches that really stand out for me, for various reasons. All were awarded favorite points by me. Two are from my East Coast trip (an Earthcache and a Traditional), one is pretty local, an old Virtual that I had never done.

 

GC4140 - Don't Panic - A Virtual from 2002 that you have to see to believe; photos in logs give away some of it, but seeing it in person makes this one a definite favorite!

 

GC3V9AA - Ausable Chasm (Earthcache) - An awesome place to visit; we hiked, we did the rafting trip, and the Earthcache was a bonus to add to our day as we played tourists in NY on a visit to family in the area.

 

GCGD9N - Kane Mountain Fire Tower (Traditional, an ammo can) - A fun, steep, challenging hike with two non-geocaching friends that enjoy hiking and indulge my "habit" - the day happened to be my 43rd wedding anniversary, hubby was still back in CA and would join me later (we found the Ausable Chasm EC together), and I made the hike with my Maid of Honor and her husband on this day.  My log tells the story....  https://www.geocaching.com/live/log/GL19Q3GTX

 

Thanks @TheLimeCat for taking me back through 2023 and many, many geocaching memories!!

[+RecipeForDisaster]

This is a great way to sum up the year and revisit some of the best caches of 2023… we had 421 finds. 

Our favorites are a diverse group, both in type of caches and why we liked them. Obviously, this isn’t all of them, but the ones that stand out in my mind at the moment - I hope I didn’t miss any that should be on this list!

 

https://coord.info/GC1HV5P . A cow tunnel under an active road, but in a conservation area, so there is legitimate access. It was just a great spot to visit, and scenic as well.

 

https://coord.info/GCA9ERG A very well constructed, themed, fun gadget. The CO went above and beyond with this one, although most of their caches have been super.

https://coord.info/GC58E2V High point of an odd little island we had never visited. The cache was hidden in a clever way, and was in a historical spot with beautiful views. This was also the last MA town we needed that was not on the mainland, so the remaining few will be a cinch to get.

 

https://coord.info/GC8C7AQ and https://coord.info/GC98XHK Two very well thought out, satisfying, and thoroughly enjoyable hiking multis. The interactive stages all made sense and were super creative. Plus, both were resurrections. We will definitely add the rest of this CO's hides to our to-do list the next time we visit VT. 

 

https://coord.info/GC9P5ZG . A virtual challenge where you visit 18+ of 64 lighthouses in MA. We got to 21 of them over many months, some by foot, some by boat, and some by car. This challenge brought us to some very interesting places and showed us really unique lighthouses that we were not aware of. One is in the steeple of a church! 

[RuideAlmeida]

https://coord.info/GC8910V

 

[+FunnyNose]

Found a virtual in Antarctica 

[+Goldenwattle]

This was one of my favourites. GC372. It filled in a find for February 2001; plus the drive there was pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 1 by Goldenwattle

[+Smitherington]

WOW!! Nice photos!!

[+TheLimeCat]

On 1/1/2024 at 4:29 AM, Goldenwattle said:

This was one of my favourites. GC372. It filled in a find for February 2001; plus the drive there was pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing photos. That would've been a fav for me as well.

 

On 12/31/2023 at 11:59 AM, RuideAlmeida said:

https://coord.info/GC8910V

 

Well, I've had a nice long cry now, but that is a great place for a virtual.

Edited January 3 by TheLimeCat

[+Goldenwattle]

5 hours ago, TheLimeCat said:

Amazing photos. That would've been a fav for me as well.

Cloud zones can be so pretty. Literally seeing a cloud ahead and driving into it.

 

As a teenager I lived in a cloud zone. Some clouds would touch the ground and 'crawl' across the landscape.

Edited January 3 by Goldenwattle

[+geodarts]

Caching is about the location, and it was a special year for that since our travels took us to Africa, the Yukon and Alaska, and the Southwest.  So . ..

 

Okavango in Botswana probably takes it.  The Delta was amazing.  
 

But honorable mention to caches we found at rock art sites in Zimbabwe and Arizona.  
 

 

Edited January 4 by geodarts