Maryland Geocaching Society

mrkablooey wrote: Does that mean you're accepting this appointment that we have so graciously bestowed upon you? Might give it longer before diving into it... maybe the end of December? That gives us 3 weeks to get through the holidays, come up with more ideas, and allow new people to come in. I'll try to keep the gc.com forum thread "live" by bumping it from time to time as well as providing brief updates.

We can make the decision for a time/place before then if you'd like, but having it too soon may leave some potentially helpful people out

Yeah, I wasn't thinking about meeting before the holidays. We could set the date for a meeting to take place after Dec 25th.

We (MAJELLIN and I) are too busy in the next few weeks anyway. Glad its only once a year!

One thing I thought of.. If you wanted to do a competition was, and you could incorporate placed caches or new ones.. Was you could assign a points value of each cache dependant on the ratings.. Like 5 points for a super hard caches and 1 for an easy cache. To prove you went to the cache you could either have a code word, or token or punch card, whatever.. You could also divide the state up into smaller regions, and then limit the number of caches you could find in each region.. Like you could find 5 total in each region (example only) then if there were lots of caches to choose from (this is where exisiting caches would fit in) people could pick to do five easy ones, or five super hard ones or mix and match. Of course which caches you picked would determine how many points you earned. Then everyone could hit their skill level, as not everyone cares to do "make you think" or "make you work out" type caches.. so more people might be encouraged to participate, and people could only do the caches in their area if they so chose, or if they couldn't do a state-wide type thing. You could also, of course, set a time limit.. ie.. 1 weekend to complete everything, or 1 week, or 1 month... Depending how long you want to give people.

Then if you are planning prizes (not sure but I think I read that somewhere in this thread) you could award raffle tickets, the more points you had the more tickets you get. You could also give out out certificates to people for achieiving a certain points levels. There could also be one (or more) grand prize winner who recieves a trophy or something like that. (You could do a dash for the cache or something in the event of a tie.) I think more people would be encouraged to participate if they didnt neccesarily HAVE to do every single part. As some people are limited in their ability they may be inadvertently excluded if they had to do something really really hard to "complete" the event. The great thing about geocaching is so many different types of people can do it.

Anyway, I really like the idea of a state-wide type event/contest. With enough notice (and good weather) I may come down from Rochester, NY to participate. (Sorry for being so long winded)

Thanks for the tips, OurWoods!

I remember when you came down for our fall picnic from NY. It was a highlight, having your team come from NY and another from CT--coming so far for our event was a true honor.

We're keeping ALL of the tips we've gotten and will definitely consider all of them.

Thanks again.

I havent been checking this post out lately, but all these idea people have posted are fantastic! I would love to be a part of hiding a cache in my area for the event! Let me know!

I'll be happy to help, too. Let me know how.

Yep the Last Lappers can help out in whatever role you need us.

The ideas sound great! I'm in!
Happy to help anyway I can.

Mike
Team Shadyside

Thanks, Mike.

You can count on your friends in Western Maryland to help out. I go to school in Frostburg and I can set up caches in the Allegheny and Garrett County areas for a statewide event. I haven't been too up to date with the forums, but let me know what I can do....

Thanks for the offer, Adam. I'm sure we could use your help out that way!

Official thread has been created here.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and those who volunteered to help. We'll be in touch soon!