Wayne Moore (alias Katarn1977) hails from Bakersfield, California. He arrived in Port Elizabeth (PE) on a student exchange program in January as a relatively new cacher with 282 caches under the belt, and didn’t know a soul in PE.  Caching soon changed that.

Wayne attended the annual caching weekend away that is held near PE and was absorbed into the active PE caching group. More accurately, he just fit in and became one of us. In fact he became the motivating force behind a number of caching trips to difficult and lonely caches. His trademark “Let’s Do It” became synonymous with a caching adventure.

After being in “a dark place” about three years ago and managing to turn his life around Wayne’s story was motivating to many people that he came into contact with.

Wayne did not only have an impact on the caching community. He acted as a volunteer in a project where young children in the Walmer location are mentored. He became an active member of the AA groups in Port Elizabeth and is involved in a fund raising effort for an orphanage in Lesotho.

Wayne attended the Mega held in Cape Town and was soon part of a very active caching group from Pretoria. He did in excess of 120 caches over the Mega weekend. Needless to say the Pretoria cachers invited Wayne to visit and took him on an exhausting caching trip in Pretoria.

While in Southern Africa Wayne found 1 276 caches.  A remarkable achievement. In the process he lost about 45 kg and increased his fitness levels enormously. His first find in SA was on 28 of January, and his last attempt at a cache, unfortunately a DNF, nearly had him miss his connecting flight out of Durban on his way back to the USA.  But that’s just Wayne – “doing it!” to the last minute.

The more memorable trips that Wayne was involved in was a climb to the top of Kompasberg (GC3T6TP), the chase for the FTF on Secret Chamber (GC6PG3Z) on the Harkerville trail and then the epic hike to get the FTF on 9 Peaks – Kwa Duma (GC4RGYK), a cache that was placed in November 2013. While on that trip he also did the FTF on Pulane View (GC4W5FJ) where he met up with the CO that runs an orphanage he is now raising funds for. It is these exploits that have earned him the nickname “Captain America”.

To gauge the character of Katarn1977 one should read his logs on Masked Weaver (GC552QH), Red Haartebeest (GC6Q27Y - a cache placed in his honour in the NMU reserve) and Table Mountain TB Hotel (GC31WXR). To see what an impact he had on the caching community one should read the logs of his fellow cachers who attended his farewell event, Wayne’s World (GC6W3V9).

Awesome Wayne. You have made an impact on the lives of many. We will see you again. Either here or in Bakersfield. You arrived knowing no-one, and left a family.
ZA-US. Captain America - Uniting two worlds.

Article submitted by ChrisDen


Katarn1977, King James VII and roadrunred on the way to KwaDuma



L to R Katarn1977, PipiBibi and Shefetswe. Spesbona at the back in the Secret Chamber


L to R Katarn1977, roadrunred, ChrisDen and plainoldgraham after conquering Kompasberg (in the background)