Last month we ran a survey to ask the opinion of the geocaching community about the role of Power Aeries in geocaching. Thank you to everyone that took time out to complete the survey. This is a summary of the feedback received and based on the respondents’ comments I have also included a few personal observations.

One hundred and four people responded to the survey. The respondents by province is as follows:

4 respondents are shy about their home province or take privacy very seriously, because they elected not to disclose where they are from.

The 100 geocachers that disclosed their total number of caches found have between them amassed more than 235 000 smileys (on average 2 350). The geocaching experience of the respondents ranges from newbie right up to the top 1% of geocachers by total number of finds: 10 respondents have less than 100 finds; 24 have between 100 and 1000 finds; 56 have between 1000 and 5000 finds and 9 respondents each have more than 5000 smileys to their name; 3 of them have more than 10 000 finds.

Have the respondents found any geocaches that are part of Power Series?
A Geocaching Power Series is generally defined “as a string of caches specifically designed to provide lots of smileys in quick time - that's its overarching purpose and anything else is secondary”.  Such a series of geocaches normally has more than 20 caches placed as close as possible to the minimum allowed distance between caches, namely 0.1 mile or 161 metres.
 
We asked whether respondents have found any of the caches in South Africa’s largest Power Series, the GPS series that runs from Pretoria through Centurion all the way south past the Lion Park and into the Cradle of Humankind. 13.5% of the respondents did not know what a Power Series is or that there is a GPS Power Series in Gauteng.  20% of the respondents have not found any of the caches in the GPS Power Series. 22% of the responding geocachers only dabbled in the GPS by finding 1 – 50 of the caches in the series. There are 13.5% of the respondents that found 50-101 and 11.6% that have found up to 400 of them. Then we get to the serious power series cachers: 20.3% of the respondents have logged 400 or more of the caches in the GPS series – of them there is the elite 2.9% that have found all of the caches in the GPS series.

When asked about finding geocaches in other Power Series the majority (58.6%) of respondents indicated that they have found geocaches in other Power Series.  These included Power Series in the USA, Germany, Austria, Australia, UAE, and France.  When it comes to South Africa, the BPS in Brakpan (now archived), the Swartland Power Series in the Western Cape and the N2-11 Series in the Eastern Cape are some of the large series that were mentioned.  Amongst others, smaller series like Oom Louwtjie’s series in Bloemfontein, the DMDPT in KwaZulu-Natal and the Breakfast Run Series in Johannesburg were also mentioned.
 
For me it was noteworthy that series of geocaches that form part of GeoArt were also mentioned by respondents as “essentially being a Power Series”.  In this regard, the Black Eagle series outside Krugersdorp in Gauteng and the ABC series outside Pietermaritzburg in KZN were mentioned.
 
Is a Power Series viewed as an attraction and should energy be invested in establishing and maintaining Power Series?
It is clear that historically a significant number of geocachers have found treasures in a Power Series.  I wondered whether a Power Series would move respondents to pack their bags and travel to rush down a Power Series. The respondents indicated that 31% of them would do so. 29% will not be moved by a Power Series and 40% will have another cup of coffee, glass of wine or cold beer while thinking about maybe travelling for a Power Series.  23% of the respondents are unsure whether a Power Series enhances an area as a geocaching destination.  37% are of the opinion that it does in fact improve an area’s attractiveness as a geocaching destination while 40% don’t think so.
 
The question about whether the community should spend energy on establishing a Power Series measured the views of the respondents on a scale from 0 to 100 and the average response of 61 was on the positive side. By indicating a score of 30 or lower, 15% of the respondents think the community’s energy is best spent elsewhere. 44% of the respondents think that creating a Power Series warrants attention (scores of 70 or higher) while the remaining 41% are indifferent.  All communities are made up of individuals and 43.6% of the individual respondents are willing to get their hands dirty in building some more Power Series around the country. I plan to put these individuals into contact with fellow geocachers in their area to develop their ideas further.
 
OK, figures are one thing, but what were the comments about Power Series?
Firstly, there are respondents who very strongly hold the view that Power Series favours numbers over quality of caches. This view is accompanied by an approach that geocaching is intended to attract the treasure hunter to an interesting site and should provide for a particular experience associated with the cache hide rather than chasing numbers.  Previously some geocachers actually hung their GPSr up and waved the game good bye due to the creation of Power Series: this style of number chasing dilutes the value of numbers achieved over time with blood sweat and tears as opposed to one night of crazy Red Bull infused geocaching frenzy.
 
Secondly there are respondents who equally strongly hold the view that an opportunity for high numbers and lots of finds in the fun-filled company of geocaching friends during those geocaching frenzy adventures are wonderful experiences, which forms a legitimate part of our hobby.
 
Thirdly there are the respondents who say: “each to its own”: If you don’t like to chase numbers it is totally fine if the opportunity does exist for those who want to do it.
 
One of the most important comments that came up repeatedly, irrespective whether the respondent was for or against Power Series, is the importance of the maintenance of geocaches and that the preference should always be for quality geocache hides and containers.
 
So, what do you think the geocaching community should be spending its energy on?
Recently the state of our favourite game has come up in various discussions. If you look at the statistics posted on the discussion forums it would appear that the game may be in a downward phase. Unfortunately, the COVID19 impact compounded this effect in 2020.
 
I therefore think it is important to ask what should the geocaching community spend its energy on to take the hobby into the future.  We asked respondents to rank 10 possible focus areas in order of priority. The responses appear to indicate that a “back to basics” approach should be followed.
 
In my view the game exists of two essential elements – the caches and the cachers.  The foundation of the game is the geocaches that are already in existence. These geocaches are the first impression that a newbie gets of the game after they downloaded an app and set out to find a first smiley.  Ensuring that the existing game pieces on the board is in good condition is essential for the survival of the game.  Any new game pieces that are added, irrespective of whether it is placed at special individual locations or placed as part of a GeoArt or Power Series, should also aim to uplift the game.

When it comes to the geocachers, there is an experienced group who are already part of a network of geocaching acquaintances and the newbie group who have seen a possible hobby and are starting to explore the game.  From the comments of the respondents there is also a need for engagement by the community with newbies to educate them on the rules, tips, and etiquette of the game.
 In conclusion
When it comes to the question of Power Series, there is a section of the geocaching community that is interested in finding such caches and there are also geocachers that are willing to develop Power Series and GeoArt.  The community demands that if you create geocaches in this way, please carefully plan, and manage the maintenance of the geocaches. 
However, maintenance of geocaches is not only an issue for Power Series and GeoArt. It is important to log a Did Not Find (DNF) log to alert Cache Owners to any issue relating to their caches, but it so much more preferable to be able to log a find that adds a smiley to our lists – cache maintenance makes this possible.  As a Cache Owner, the hiding of geocaches is part of the fun of this wonderful game, but it comes with the responsibility of maintaining the game pieces in a good condition.
 
The following is a comment that was made by a newbie survey respondent with 7 finds at the time:
 
“We are really enjoying geocaching. We would love to place new ones, as we can see how much our kids enjoy your treasure hunt, and many of the ones we have found are a bit neglected.”
 
This comment really hit home for me: what is the game of geocaching all about and how we can each make a difference in the experience of the next geocacher that goes out to find a hidden treasure? – make sure that they find a TREASURE.
Happy Geocaching!
JPMZA