By Mike Malvick (Greatland Reviewer/LadybugKids)

In prior Reviewer columns, I have discussed the “sweeping” process of looking at long disabled caches and caches with a growing list of “didn’t find it” logs. My curiosity was piqued about the archival rates (Cache Owner plus Reviewer generated) for various regions of the Alaska, so using Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK) and a database of all caches ever published in Alaska, I generated the following statistics after dividing the state with an east/west line drawn roughly through Cantwell.

Looking at my more than fifteen-year tenure as a Community Volunteer Reviewer beginning in July 2010, reveals the following:

• North of the line, 783 caches out of 2242 caches were archived, or 34.9%.
• South of the line, 5187 caches out of 11358 caches were archived, or 45.6%.
• TOTAL: 5970 caches out of 13600 caches were archived, or 43.8%.

Looking at geocaching statistics dating back to the beginning of geocaching in Alaska in year 2000, including caches published and archived by my predecessors erik88l-r and Crow T Robot, the numbers look like this:

• North of the line, 794 caches out of 2250 caches were archived, or 35.3%.
• South of the line, 5955 caches out of 12089 caches were archived, or 49.3%.
• TOTAL: 6749 caches out of 14339 caches were archived, or 47.1%.

So, overall archival rates across Alaska have slightly decreased during the past fifteen years. Of the caches logged by my player account, which has been active for 21 years and 53.7% of the finds are outside of Alaska, 52.6% have been archived, indicating that Alaska has a lower archival rate than many areas where I have cached.

I do my best to be impartial when sweeping caches, even eliciting comments from cachers that are amused about my player account’s (Ladybug Kids) caches receiving Reviewer Notes. Players may e-mail or message me through my profile if they have a question about something I did as a Reviewer. I may or may not be able to directly answer the question depending upon the need to comply with Geocaching HQ confidentiality policy. If you are unsatisfied with the response I provide, you may contact Geocaching HQ via the Help Center’s Contact Us link.

As 2025 comes to a very busy, and VERY chilly close, and as both the outgoing and incoming Presidents of GeocacheAlaska! have escaped the state in search of warmer weather, I have taken the opportunity to seize the microphone to talk a bit about the Caching Around the State Newsletter. 

As most of us have noticed, the old .pdf newsletter has moved to a blog-style format this past year, making it easier to share long-form stories, pictures, cache links, and more. But one of the biggest benefits is that it’s easier than ever for our newsletter to be a collaborative effort among our Alaskan caching community, meaning it can be bigger and better than ever! The Board of Directors has lots of ideas on how to make that happen, but for now, here are a few ways that you can help out:

• Have you been on caching trip recently? Tell us about it! Maybe it was somewhere in Alaska. Maybe you visited another continent! Or had the privilege to attend a mega or giga event. Write a brief story to share your adventures with us!
• Found a really cool or unique cache that begs being shared? What about a truly amazing view or landscape? Doesn’t matter where it is, just give us the scoop (and some pictures)! 
• Did a recent caching outing come with a story to tell? A funny moment, mishap, epic adventure, wildlife near miss, or milestone? Write it down and share the fun with us! 
• Do you have pictures from a recent event? Please share a few with us! 
• Other newsletter ideas in the works involve featuring an Alaskan cacher profile each month, highlighting a Alaskan cache-of-the-month, and re-introducing monthly statistics and Top 10 lists. All of these features will need the GeocacheAlaska! community’s help in order to work. 

Newsletter stories can be full stories, brief snippets, or even just a few pictures with a quick description. And definitely don’t worry if it’s not “professional” or you don’t think you’re a good writer- hearing each other’s unique voices is part of the joy of reading the newsletter! 

If you have something to share in Caching Around the State, please send it to Sarah Pace (RSPace) at rspace.ak@gmail.com

Happy Caching in 2026!
Sarah Pace (team RSPace)
Secretary, GeocacheAlaska!