By: Mackenna Handeland (BirkenstockReport)

On June 15th, five brave south central geocachers visited Sitka for the day with a few short objectives.

• Objective #1: GC68 Centurion Guards
• Objective #2: GC6E Kids’ Cache
• Objective #3: Meet any geocachers active in Sitka 
• Objective #4: Find all the other caches on the island. 

The flight down routed through Juneau and since this was a Monday morning flight during the emergency legislative session, it was packed with familiar faces, including my local senator, who was already deep in a rem cycle by the time I boarded, didn’t wake up when I accidentally spilt iced coffee all over her white vest as I passed by; and our Governor, who made the expanded 737 headspace still look quite cramped. This still beats last month when I introduced myself to Mark Begich, thinking he must have been one of my father-in-law’s fishing buddies since he looked so familiar. Oops.

We landed at 10:30 and grabbed the rental car before heading to Highliner Coffee for our event, GCBQWV1. There, we met three cachers from Minnesota who were in town for three days with the same goal as us for the day. ShadowMedic, nsaj, and dbakel had already claimed FTF on a virtual that had been published the day before and were ready to join us for GC68 (Centurion Guards) and GC6E (Kids’ Cache). We were also joined by Sitka locals LTTB, a husband-wife duo who have been caching in Alaska since 2006, and their sweet dog. They previously lived in Palmer and moved to Oregon and Washington for a few years before coming back to Sitka. We had coffee and bagels, most with smoked salmon, and then hit the road to the Sawmill Campground, the home of GC68. Depending on your outlook, it was either fortunate or unfortunate that the road to the campground remains closed this year. It is managed by the US Forest Service, and is typically open April-October, depending on avalanche conditions. When the road is open, you can drive to within 400 feet of GC68. They chose not to open it this season for unspecified safety reasons, but still encourage hiking and biking in,  resulting in a 3.5-mile round-trip hike from the gate. The walk is generally gently uphill for a mile and then downhill to the campground about a half mile. 

We found GC7RVJZ Slip and Slide on the way there, around the halfway mark. Once at the campground, we crossed the footbridge and turned off the path for the final 200 feet to the cache, which is hidden in some beautiful exposed roots surprisingly high off the ground. 

BirkenstockReport at GC68

We also found GC296Q8, Shocking Cache and GC32FCD, Bridges and Stairs! nearby. Bridge and Stairs offered the promised stairs at a steep elevation gain, but all were fantastic finds. On our way back to town, we grabbed a few more caches and answers for some Earth Caches. Then it was time for GC6E, Kids’ Cache. This cache is also a September 2000 cache, hidden just a few days after Centurion Guards. The drive between the two oldies will take you to the two extremes of Sitka, and is about 30 minutes apart. Kids’ Cache is located at the far end of a 1.5-mile loop around Mosquito Cove. The original hider of both caches, BaronofIsland, hid this cache for his grandchildren, who are likely in their thirties by now. Baronofisland’s real name is Greg Short, and his son, Gary (gsshort), has adopted both GC68 and GC6E and visits annually for maintenance checks, although he does not live in Sitka. Both caches were in great shape with many travel bugs and path tags for trading. 

Overall, the impression I got from both caches was a true reminder of the early days of caching– a beautiful hike to a large container full of fun in a scenic setting. This is a far cry from the urban caching or wild gadgets we’ve come to love, and a great way to appreciate the roots of geocaching. If the dates didn’t matter, Kids’ Cache would be my preference simply because the trail is even more beautiful than the walk to Centurion Guards. I will surely be camping out there on my next visit to Sitka, as the trail system also has some beautiful tent spots along the first ⅓ of the path. 

After ensuring that our main targets had been acquired, we traveled back into town, grabbing traditionals and earth caches along the way. There is one multi in Sitka that does get DNF’d often. The original stage one was a GPS chirp that no longer works, so you have to visit the waypoints to see the now visible coordinates for the final stage, which is located over by the Raptor center. Even with it now being a one-stage multi, it was very difficult to find, and we utilized hints from our new friends, the Minnesotans who had found it the day before. We also visited the brand new virtual GCBJ738 and placed a challenge cache GCBRKC2 before leaving town. We had a quick dinner at the airport restaurant, which was awesome, and RB126127 almost missed his flight for the second time today. The restaurant was surprisingly good, and between having changed into dry clothes and having hot and crispy tater tots, the long flight back through Juneau was very pleasant. We landed back in Anchorage around 10:30 pm and did a group high five before filtering back into our “normal lives.” 

You can see a video recap of our trip on instagram here. 

For those planning a trip: 

• Keep an eye out for AlaskaAir deals. I got my flight for 8k miles RT during an early May mileage fare sale. 
• Renting a car is pretty paramount since the two major caches are so far apart– it will likely be cheaper than cabs. There are public buses around Sitka a lot to support the cruise ship passengers, but if you’re on a short trip like us, it’s not feasible. We rented our five-seat Volvo for $145 for the day through Turo. 
• You can rent eBikes downtown and either put them in your rental car or bike the 7 miles out to the gate for GC68 if you don’t want to walk from the gate to the campground. We had folks passing us on eBikes a few times during the walk and they seemed to handle the elevation well. If you’re in a hurry, this may be the fastest way to get to Centurion guards. You’ll still need to walk the last 200 feet. Kids’ Cache’s trail is not eBike-friendly. 
• The road to Sawmill Campground is very pet friendly, but keep in mind that there is a bear sanctuary right next to the road (and a cache there! GC9ZM8D) which could upset your pet. 
• If you like oldies, Harbor Mountain Cache GC886F is from September 2002. There is a hike to it, but there are a few caches around it for those with short attention spans. 
• Peter Pan’s Hideout is another Sitka favorite, but requires a zero or negative tide (not just any low tide) to get to. Plan accordingly. 
• If you’re an FTF and lonely cache chaser, check out GC5HFR2 which was published in 2014 and has not been found yet! 

By Tim Janneck (AlaskaTim)

“But in every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

John Muir

By Wes Skinner (NorthWes)

The AK State Parks 2026 Geocaching Permit Eduvent (GCBT0K9) is scheduled for Thursday July 9th at 7pm at a location out on West Dimond Blvd. Put that event on your calendar! It’s important for all geocachers here in Alaska to learn about the details of the 2026 AK State Parks Geocaching Permit, especially if you’ve placed a geocache on state park lands under terms of prior permits. The new 2026 permit details supersede all prior permits, and there are many new terms which all existing geocaches must meet within the next few months.While working on implementation of the new permit’s details, a series of questions have been collected and sent to AK State Parks for clarification

We’ve held off on the Permit Eduvent until all questions have been answered, but the need to discuss the permit details far outweighs the advantages of having all the questions we’ve submitted to be answered first. It’s to every geocacher’s advantage to understand AK State Parks’ new permit system and the land management details which affect geocaching. The geocaching game has recently been declared a ‘noncompliant’ use of Alaska state park lands, and that determination is driving a series of changes regarding how geocaching is allowed to be played on state park lands.

The GeocacheAlaska! Inc. forums have a very comprehensive explanation of the new permit, which can be accessed here. The most significant three items required under the new permit include a cap of only 500 geocaches total across the entire state, and a special size limitation with in Chugach State Park that allows only micro caches. Compliance with these two conditions is challenging enough. However, the State Park Rangers who are handling enforcement of the permit requirements have indicated that the annual owner maintenance visit (an already-existing requirement, which must be logged BOTH online AND via a physical log entry by the cache owner) is getting serious attention as well. Thus far, rangers are indicating a very low owner-maintenance compliance rate for caches previously placed on state park lands. The rangers are going to be asking for archival of all geocaches which have not had an annual maintenance visit by late this summer. Enforcement of this requirement alone could result in archival of a majority of geocaches within Alaska State Parks!

Please make your best effort to attend this eduvent to learn about how we’ve worked in an advocacy role to continue the opportunity to geocache on Alaska State Park lands, as well as learning how to comply with terms of the 2026 permit. State Park staff isn’t trying to eliminate geocaching – rather, they’re trying to ensure geocaches comply with good land management practices regarding private property which is  licensed to be left on public lands.

By: Mackenna Handeland (BirkenstockReport)

The Golden Ammo Cans: A GeocacheAlaska! Tradition

How an idea from the East Coast, with the help of a few sourdoughs,
became Alaska’s most beloved geocaching tradition

AN ORAL HISTORY WITH BLAZINGPATHWAYS, TOMANOBLE & VALERIESEAKER  ·  INTERVIEWED SPRING 2026

It started with a story someone heard from back east. Famous Alaskan Cacher Douglas Leiser (Cohofive) had a daughter, IDAKrew, who was living out there and building up her find count, and when she hit one hundred caches, the local community gathered together in a café to celebrate. They gave her an ammo can. Simple as that. Victoria heard about it, told Tom, and the two of them took the idea to the Geocache Alaska board.

“The board said, well, we don’t want to do it for a hundred [finds],” Victoria recalls, “but why don’t we do it based on an Alaska theme?” And that’s exactly what happened. The milestone numbers were anchored to Alaska’s identity: 1959, the year of statehood, and 49, for the 49th state. A committee- the Celebrating Alaskan Caching Hallmark Experiences, or C.A.C.H.E for short– was formed, and the Golden Ammo Can Awards were born.

A Surprise in the Beginning

The very first Golden Ammo Can ceremony wasn’t advertised as an award night. Guests arrived not knowing what they were walking into. “It was a surprise,” Victoria says, laughing. “Uncle Joe’s.” The recipients didn’t know they were about to receive anything, just that there was an event worth showing up to. By the second gathering, word had gotten around, and the tradition began to take its recognizable shape.

At each event, the committee would research recipients in advance — counting hides, noting milestones, finding something genuinely specific to say about each person’s geocaching history. They’d read clues aloud to the crowd and let attendees guess who was being described before the can was presented. “We would look up what they’d done,” Victoria explains, “talk about their badges, where they’d placed, name a couple of things that were special about their finds.” It turned a simple handoff into something closer to a roast and celebration: warm, community-centered, personal.

Over the years, the program expanded to include multiple can sizes. The standard large ammo can covered the baseline milestones; a bigger one came at 100 hides; and for those reaching truly remarkable numbers — 10,000 caches — there’s the Project-A.P.E.-sized can, roughly the dimensions of a small carry-on bag. Victoria has one of those in her shed. Tom counted at least four between them. Past recipients of the 10,000 find can include Karma!, Lilgray, and Cavyguy. 

“We said, if somebody has a can, then what else are we gonna do? And we said, we could keep the activity going by having badges they could earn.”

— Victoria (BlazingPathways)

Earning Badges Keeps the Cans Fresh

The badges were developed shortly after the first Golden Ammo Can awards. Cachers wanted more ways to display their achievements, so the board added stickers that could be earned and put on the cans. Nowadays, recipients can earn badges by hosting events, hosting CITOs, planning  EDUEvents, serving on the board, passing 10,000 finds, and advocating for Geocaching statewide, such as negotiating the state parks permit biannually. The C.A.C.H.E. committee is currently reviewing new ideas for badges to be earned. Eaccippi (Emily Stewart) can be contacted via geocaching.com if you have ideas on good badges to be earned. 

Over the years, the committee has also modified requirements for earning the golden ammo can, including requiring two years of Sourdough level membership with GCAK, to help offset the costs of the cans. 

Keeping the Can Alive Through COVID

Like most community traditions, the Golden Ammo Can program had to adapt during the pandemic years. Indoor events gave way to outdoor gatherings, and some cans were handed out in quieter, more improvised ways — the Taco King near the Midtown library, at scattered outdoor meetups, shipped to recipients in Juneau and Fairbanks. Valerie mentioned Eaccipi, Emily Stewart packing some in her carry-on to deliver to Kodiak.  The geography of Alaska, always a logistical challenge, made individualized delivery feel oddly fitting. “I think we got them different ways,” Tom says simply.

“My goal was to try to make it easier on people who didn’t know other people — how to start something, if it wasn’t easy to just say hi.”

— Victoria (BlazingPathways)

What the Can Means

Ask any of the three where their ammo can lives, and you get a window into their relationship with the hobby. Tom and Victoria’s cans are in the shed now — a recent house reorganization moved everything into boxes — but Victoria says hers used to live next to her shoes, ready to grab for events. Valerie’s can has made public appearances at the community Trackable gatherings, stuffed with trackables and geocoins. You might find other notorious Alaskan cachers with theirs if you ask nicely. Recent awardees include Eaccipi, RSPace, and GeoFootstomper. To find a golden Ammo Can in the wild, you’ll need to visit ilikebuttermilk’s in Wasilla. It is featured in the hide at New Haven Little Free Library GCA26T0. Bring something gold to add to the swag! 

The most recent awardee was PenTrek, who received one at his goodbye event in April, GCBMN0C. He plans to move “home” to Michigan this summer. He was honored at the most recent Ammo Can Awards event, but couldn’t make it, and the CACHE committee didn’t want to send him off with the can still in GCAK storage. 

The program, at its heart, was never just about numbers. It was about finding a reason to gather, to look someone in the eye and say: we see what you’ve done out there, in the rain and the dark, on the side of a mountain or in a grocery store parking lot, and it matters. “The goal was to try to bring as many people into the club,” Victoria says. “To foster membership, and to give back to those members who had been around for a while.”

As the 2026 Golden Ammo Can Awards approach, the tradition enters its latest chapter — one still rooted in those original values. If you see a beat-up, gold-painted ammo can sitting on someone’s shelf at the next event, now you know the story of where it came from: a café, somewhere back east, a family celebrating their daughter’s hundredth find, and two Alaskans who thought, why don’t we do something like that?

The Golden Ammo Can Awards have been held across at least five major events since the program’s founding, with additional cans distributed individually during the COVID years. Recipients have been recognized across Alaska, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and Kodiak. The CASH Committee — Celebrating Alaskan Geocachers with Heightened Recognition — continues to coordinate the awards program through GeocacheAlaska! Contact CACHE Committee Chair Emily Stewart at eaccipi@geocacheAlaska.com for more information and keep your eyes peeled for the next event announcement! 

by Wes Skinner (NorthWes)

A springtime visit to Homer gave me some time to get out and perform owner maintenance visits on geocaches I’ve hidden around the community.  As usual, the most common need was  or a new logsheet in the cache. However, one cache site a few miles out on East End Road towards the head of Kachemak Bay gave me an opportunity to perform a CITO site cleanup that recovered 16 glass & plastic bottles and 27 aluminum cans, as well as a slew of other garbage. The trash was all collected within 50 feet of ground zero, at the edge of a small pullout alongside the road. It appears some travelers stop here to slam down a drink (or two)  long with cannabis products and then throw the evidence out their vehicle window, based on  he trash I collected. After crushing aluminum cans I was able to fit all the debris inside a single paper sack I had along with me. The CITO activity took me only 20 minutes to perform,  with very little physical effort required.  Leaving the outdoors in better shape than how we found  it is perhaps one of the most positive impacts we can make on our community through the get-outside game of geocaching.  Sharing that CITO effort helps underscore our  ommitment to the “Leave No Trace” ethic we support in our game.

This particular cache is located on the paved East End Road at 1,400 feet of elevation above Kachemak Bay, and the dramatic view here of the head of the bay to the east and Halibut Cove and the bay to the  est are simply incredible. It’s especially lovely when fireweed is in full bloom, as they carpet the hillside descending down to Kachemak Bay. If you’re headed to Homer this summer, be sure to come out to GCA57GC East End View for this easy to find micro cache as well as the incredible view!

by Wes Skinner (NorthWes)

This spring, GeocacheAlaska! Inc. (GCAK) was again able to complete negotiations for a new permit from Alaska State Parks (ASP) allowing geocaches to be placed in state parks. In past years, the ASP permit was fairly simple and very inexpensive, with the only major requirements being that containers were labeled as geocaches in compliance with the ASP permit, and that the cache owner would perform an annual cache maintenance visit and log that visit both in the physical logsheet and in the online cache page.

The 2026 permit has many new requirements. The most significant changes require that no more than 500 geocaches total be placed on parklands statewide, that geocaches within Chugach State Park would have containers no larger than micros (preforms allowed), and that no caches may be placed in ASP campgrounds. The permit emphasizes the requirement for an annual owner maintenance visit, and requires immediate archival at year end for any cache without an owner maintenance visit. The permit cost came to a total of $1,350 in order to allow geocaching on ASP lands in all five regions across the entire state of Alaska. Initially, the permit was only for 2026, but our Advocacy Committee was successful in negotiating extension of the permit to 3 years (to the end of 2028) for the same cost. However, hundreds of caches must be archived to meet the new limits.

We’re engaged now in efforts to comply with the new 500 cache limit statewide, and the new size restriction on caches located within Chugach State Park. Please take time to visit our GCAK website’s Advocacy section to learn more about the new permit and its requirements. It is imperative for cache owners with caches on ASP lands to come into compliance by the end of August 2026, in order to help us with reports due to ASP by year end! We are working very very hard at keeping our geocaching game alive on state park lands, and need everyone’s help in bringing their cache placements into compliance.

As president, I’m calling on cache owners to archive immediately those caches which are outside of the current permit’s size requirements for Chugach State Park, and/or which haven’t had an owner maintenance visit in the past year.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the tremendous workload the terms of this new permit has placed on our Groundspeak Community Volunteer Greatland Reviewer. Mike Malvick is striving to help cache owners achieve compliance with the new permit, at a cost of countless hours of communication with cache owners. Additionally, GCAK’s webmaster Scott Aleckson has poured dozens of hours and tons of creativity into establishing our information pages on our website regarding the new permit.

Watch notifications for upcoming Eduvents which will walk attendees through the permit requirements, and how we can meet them effectively by the end of August 2026.

Via The Geocaching Blog

When geocachers step outside with a GPS-enabled device, they’re tapping into decades of brilliant science and mathematics that make those coordinates possible. Behind every successful find stands a brilliant mathematician whose work helped make modern GPS possible: Dr. Gladys West.

Gladys West’s groundbreaking work focused on solving a deceptively complex problem: determining the Earth’s precise shape.

In the 1960s and 1970s, West helped process vast amounts of satellite data to model Earth’s geoid. Because satellites orbit based on Earth’s gravitational field, understanding this shape was essential for calculating accurate positions on the planet’s surface. West programmed early supercomputers to analyze oceanographic and satellite measurements, producing increasingly precise models that became foundational to the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS). When GPS satellites were later deployed, they relied on these accurate Earth models to translate satellite signals into the exact coordinates we use today for navigation, mapping, and location-based technologies.

Geocaching is built on a beautifully simple idea: use GPS coordinates to find hidden treasures around the world, but the magic behind those coordinates depends on an incredibly sophisticated system of satellites, timing signals, and Earth models.

Thank you, Gladys West, for advancing geodesy and satellite modeling, making the precision of geocaching possible!

Celebrate Blue Switch Day 2026 by hiding a geocache, and earn your Blue Switch Day 2026 hider souvenir.

Blue Switch Day 2026 hider:

• To earn this souvenir, geocachers must have a non-Event geocache published between May 1 and 31, 2026.
  • Any non-Event geocache type (excluding Adventure Lab®) counts, as long as it is published between May 1 and May 31.
  • Remember that review times may vary! A geocaching community volunteer will typically begin reviewing your geocache within 7 days. We recommend submitting your cache for publication at least a week before the deadline. Learn more about the cache review process in our Help Center.

How will you celebrate Blue Switch Day this year?

Via The Geocaching Blog