/ Eric Schudiske

The Theory of Caching is Found in Canada

COG Fling 10 – The COG Cache Theory

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Editor’s note: Geocaching HQ staff are  attending dozens of Mega-Events around the world, shaking hands, sharing stories of adventure, and of course, geocaching. Each person at Geocaching HQ brings their own unique talent to advancing the adventure. Some write code for the website, others design images for the apps, and some shoot videos explaining it all. Cathy or Prying Pandora works supporting geocaching community volunteers .  This is her Mega-Event experience.

 

Canada Day with reviewers CacheViewer, GeoawareCA, and CacheShadow
Cathy (center) – Canada Day with reviewers CacheViewer, GeoawareCA, and CacheShadow

When I found out I had been selected to attend COG Fling 10 – The COG Cache Theory in Ontario, Canada, I was very excited.  I knew that the Central Ontario geocaching community was super creative and fun, and they would turn this year’s science theme into a weekend full of laughter and crazy surprises.  The chosen location for the 10th Fling was Tottenham Conservation Area, a beautiful 41-acre park about 40 minutes away from Toronto.

The kickoff event on Friday evening was COG Spring Fling, a nod to the COG Fling’s traditional springtime date.  This year the event took place during the long hot days of summer, so how do you make a Spring Fling out of that?  By flinging springs, of course! That was just one of a crazy hodge podge of activities, including racing to fill pipes by squeezing water into them with sponges, and performing an interpretive dance with shock absorbers before tossing them at a target.  The prize?  A fine trophy made of springs!

Elf and Fababoo doing their shock absorber interpretive dance. She has a bubble on her finger.
Elf and Fababoo doing their shock absorber interpretive dance. She has a bubble on her finger.
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Swifteroo’s shock absorber interpretive dance
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Filling pipes with sponges

I had a blast at the Mega-Event on Saturday, meeting and chatting with 800 geocachers. Some of them came all the way from Australia and Germany! Keeping with the science theme, the event log was a lab coat, there were 8 super creative science lab caches, and a mad scientist too! Games, workshops and a bunch of new caches in the area kept people busy all day.

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Fababoo the Mad Scientist
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Potato Experiment Lab Cache
Light Bending Prism Lab Cache
Light Bending Prism Lab Cache
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Two of the COG volunteers helping with the event, Juicepig and Elf
Me with one of the cachers I met, luvvinbird
Me with one of the cachers I met, luvvinbird

 

The weekend wrapped up on Sunday with the COG’s Anti Trash Theory CITO event.  Lots of trash was collected from the area surrounding the park, and a few unusual items too.

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Tromelin heaves in an old satellite dish

I completed my Canadian adventure after the event weekend by visiting the nation’s capital in Ottawa with some of Ontario’s volunteer reviewers to celebrate Canada Day. It was the perfect end to a wonderful trip!

 

Eric Schudiske