Geeks Gulch: About your geocache find...

Hi. If you're here, it's probably because you picked up one of my DIY geoswags from a geocache I've visited. (But if you're just here randomly, you can learn about geocaching here.)

First, a little history. I've been casually geocaching off and on since 2007. During that time, I've been trading the usual stuff you see in caches - plastic figurines, chochky from trade shows, and those toys that you get in Happy Meals. Then one day in August 2020, during a camping roadtrip in the Texas Panhandle, I saw something wonderful in a cache located in Palo Duro Canyon State Park. What was it that was so life-transforming? It was a rock. Yes, a rock. But not just any rock. It was a rock that someone took the time to paint with the international geocaching symbol and the phrase, "Not all who wander are lost". Affixed to the rock was also her geocaching handle. The whole thing was also carefully sealed with urethane so that it could withstand the abuse that items stored in geocaches normally take. I was charmed that someone would take the time to make something by hand, and it's inspired me to do my own DIY geoswag. But still...I had so many questions. Where did the rock come from? Her own backyard? What inspired her to handpaint it? What did she use to seal it to make it weatherproof? How many rocks did she paint? I was glad that I could at least look up her handle on Geocaching.com, through which Mr. Geek was able to PM her to tell her we picked up her rock. Thus the motivation for this accompanying blog.

In case you were curious about what you picked up, who made it and why, hopefully you will find those answers, and that it inspires you to craft something personal of your own.

The Rock that Started it All

Below, I list the crafts in each series that I have made and have or will drop into caches. If you've picked up one of my crafts, it's labeled with the series and number. Regardless of the craft series, each piece I make will have a bee somewhere on it, which links it back to my previous geocaching handle, Yamabachi (山蜂, "Mountain Bee" in Japanese).

Click on the link related to your series to read more about it. And if you have picked up something I made, I'd love to have feedback in the comments on it so I can improve future crafts. If you picked it up, was it in good condition? Ruined by weather? How much did you like it on a scale of 1-5? Suggestions for improvement or a future craft? Whatever you'd like to say, I am all ears.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Keep Calm and Cache On! --TXGeekette