It is hard to imagine that it has been 11 years since our first Hide-&-Go Cache event. We had no idea it would become so popular, and if you read the old forum posts, you will discover that we called the inaugural event the “1st Annual” in jest.

We (cyberchasers and jrav) handed over the organization of the Hide-&-Go a few years ago. We felt it needed fresh faces and new energy to continue it’s upward projection in popularity. The new organizers have done a fantastic job, and this year, the HAG, as it is now called, has its own website. Information on the 11th event is available at hagcaching.wordpress.com

Bye-bye Hide-&-Go. We will miss you.

IT’S HIDE AND GO CACHE TIME

and this is the 10th annual HAG; (we’ll have to start calling it the Old Hag)
All through January we’ll hide wonderful caches, and all through February we’ll hunt wonderful caches, and kiss the Winter Blues good-bye.
The wrap-up Bash begins at 5:30 on Saturday, March 1st, and you don’t need to have hidden or found any HAG caches to join us for the fun… you just need to be old enough to be in the 6 Mile Pub.

This is how the HAG plays out:-

HAG hides may be submitted for review any time AFTER January 2nd (not more than 60 days before the event) and BEFORE Friday, January 31st. You can hide HAG caches anywhere on Vancouver Island, or on any of our lovely Gulf Islands. The Reviewers have asked that we submit the hides as early as possible; they need plenty of time to make sure all the caches abide by the rules, and also that will improve your chances of getting the spots you want. POST YOUR HIDES ON THE VIGPS SITE AS SOON AS YOU HAVE PUT THEM IN THE REVIEWER LINE-UP. YOU WILL ONLY HEAR BACK FROM THE REVIEWER IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, SO DON’T WAIT FOR AN OKAY FROM THEM.

All the qualified caches that have been presented for publication in time will be published by our Fantastic, Volunteer Reviewers on Saturday, February 1st; if you’ve never experienced 100+ caches suddenly appearing in your In Box, welcome to the HAG.

March 1st is the date for the wind-up Bash. That’s our chance to swap stories, share puzzle hints, compare caching wounds, meet new friends and have a natter with old ones. It is also, of course, when we distribute the Ten Tasteful Trophies (check the Gallery). If you can make it to the Bash, it’s important that you log a “will attend” note, and say how many will be in your party. Thus, our Genial Host (thank you, David) can ensure that we’re well looked after.

GUIDELINES

PLEASE PUT HAG10 at the END of your cache name. Including it in the name makes life easier for the Reviewers, but having it at the beginning makes for confusion on the GPS.

DO REMEMBER to include a “note to Reviewer” (bottom of your Hide a Cache form) saying “This is a HAG10 cache. Please publish on Saturday, February 1st

DO POST your hides on the VIGPS forum. Forum topic: http://vigps.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2110

ATTENTION TROPHY HUNTERS

The cut-off for your finds to count towards a trophy is February 28th at midnight. Don’t worry; the caches will be available for finding for years; the cut-off is just for trophy hunters.

No FTFs will be recognised that are found prior to publication; don’t jump the gun.
If you decide to hunt in a group (for example if Cache Crop and Amandazon were to join forces for the HAG hunt as Cropazon) be aware that only ONE caching account is entitled to the FTF. Please be clear in your logs exactly who found the cache first.

AND if you’re caching as a team and going for, say, the Most Finds Trophy, you must stay together and ALL go to each cache; no scatter-caching.

HAVE A WONDERFUL HAG, ONE AND ALL.

Here it is! – The 8th Annual Vancouver Island Hide & Go! “Weird and Wonderful”
There are 3 steps to this event. The Hide, The Go, The Event.

The Hide
The hide dates this year are starting today – January 1st until February 3rd at midnight– so what are you waiting for go hide some caches!!!!

This years’ theme is “Weird and Wonderful” – have fun and be creative.

As with previous years, micros are allowed as part of this event.

We would like to see the same type of caches hidden that you like to find – mind-bending puzzles, ingeniously camouflaged urban micros, Lock & Locks in the woods, caches large enough for your trade items, etc.

There are elegant and tasteful trophies for Most Hides, Most Finds, Most FTFs, Greatest Log, Best Puzzle or Multi, and the Pyramid trophy, AKA the HAG Committee’s Outstanding-in-the-field Award and a new surprise award!

You must abide by the geocaching.com cache placement guidelines when hiding your cache. Keep in mind that your hide must be at least 161 meters from another cache. When submitting a multi or puzzle cache, include the waypoints to speed up the approval process. Be nice to Scootch and The Wizard of Ooze!

After submitting your caches, please post a note in the vigps.com forums to indicate the name of the cache. On the cache page, please state that this cache was hidden as part of the Hide & Go or HAG. Please also include a reviewer note reminding Scootch or The Wizard of Ooze not to publish it until Feb 4th.

Once you have hidden your caches please list them on VIGPS.com

The Go
As the caches start to appear on geocaching.com, go out and find them! The new caches will be listed on VIGPS.com as they are hidden. Even if a name might give the location away you can not claim FTF unless you find and log it AFTER it has been published.

To qualify for the Most FTFs trophy, you must hide at least one cache. A couple years ago we had a few cases where a group wanted to be listed as FTF. To avoid confusion and squabbles, only one recognized cacher will be listed as the First finder.

But it’s not all about FTFs – just think about all the fresh air and exercise you will be getting by going out and finding all these new caches!

The Event
The Hide & Go event will be held at 5:30pm on Saturday March 3rd (At the Six Mile Pub). The event is to hand out prizes and chat about our hides and finds. You are welcome to attend the event even if you haven’t hidden any caches. The event is listed at geocaching.com – GC380T1

Questions? We’ll be chatting in the forums. Join us!

This event is intended to be FUN! Please be considerate of your fellow cachers.

Here it is! – The 7th Annual Vancouver Island Hide-&-Go Cache!

There are 3 steps to this event. The Hide, The Go, The Event.

The Hide

The hide dates this year are starting today – January 1st until February 4th at midnight – so what are you waiting for go hide some caches!!!!

This years’ theme is … well we thought we would leave it up to you – it is the 7th Hide-&-Go – have fun and be creative.

As with previous years, micros are allowed as part of this event only if they are ingeniously disguised in high traffic urban areas, but you can hide as many as you want.

We would like to see the same type of caches hidden that you like to find – mind-bending puzzles, ingeniously camouflaged urban micros, Lock & Locks in the woods, caches large enough for your trade items, etc.

There are elegant and tasteful trophies for Most Hides, Most Finds, Most FTFs, Greatest Log, Best Puzzle or Multi, and the Pyramid trophy, AKA the HAG Committee’s Outstanding-in-the-field Award.

You must abide by the geocaching.com cache placement guidelines when hiding your cache. Keep in mind that your hide must be at least 161 meters from another cache. When submitting a multi or puzzle cache, include the waypoints to speed up the approval process. Be nice to Mtn-man and The Wizard of Ooze!

After submitting your caches, please post a note in the vigps.com forums to indicate the name of the cache. On the cache page, please state that this cache was hidden as part of the Hide-&-Go or HAG. Please also include a reviewer note reminding Mtn-man or The Wizard of Ooze not to publish it until Feb 5th.

The Go

As the caches start to appear on geocaching.com, go out and find them!

To qualify for the Most FTFs trophy, you must hide at least one cache. A couple years ago we had a few cases where a group wanted to be listed as FTF. To avoid confusion and squabbles, only one recognized cacher will be listed as the First finder.

But it’s not all about FTFs – just think about all the fresh air and exercise you will be getting by going out and finding all these new caches!

Waymarking

Sorry folks but last year only 3 people participated in Waymarking so we decided to eliminate the WayMarking trophy (Draglings and CASM, who richly deserve them, will retain the trophies they won last year)

The Event

The Hide-&-Go Cache Bash event will be held at 5:30pm on March 5th (At the Six Mile Pub). The event is to hand out prizes and chat about our hides and finds. You are welcome to attend the event even if you haven’t hidden any caches. The event is listed at geocaching.com – http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC2KWM7

Questions? We’ll be chatting in the forums. Join us!

Other Important Notes

This event is intended to be FUN! Please be considerate of your fellow cachers.

Here it is! – The 6th Annual Vancouver Island Hide-&-Go Cache!

There are 3 steps to this event. The Hide, The Go, The Event.

The Hide

The hide dates this year are Friday February 5th AND Saturday February 6th. Yes, 2 days!! (We’ve moved the hide days to a Friday and Saturday to give mtn-man more time to publish the caches during the weekend. Mtn-man knows about the event and will publish the caches as soon as he is able. There have been changes to www.geocaching.com and this is making reviewing slower.

The hide and event dates are earlier this year so as not to conflict with the Olympics.

This years’ theme is
“Hide-&-Go VI…”

This years’ Hide-&-Go is the 6th Annual event thus “VI” which is also “Vancouver Island”, and the “…” use your imagination, have fun and be creative! How many ways can you incorporate “6” into a cache???

As with previous years, micros are allowed as part of this event only if they are ingeniously disguised in high traffic urban areas, and, each cacher can count only one micro in their total hides. Multi caches that have micros as the intermediate steps and a final container that is larger then a micro will not be counted as your micro hide.

We would like to see the same type of caches hidden that you like to find – mind-bending puzzles, ingeniously camouflaged urban micros, Lock&Locks in the woods, caches large enough for your trade items, etc.

There is a trophy for the cacher with the most hides.

Your caches must be hidden on Friday February 5th AND Saturday February 6th. No pre-hiding (or post-hiding) allowed.

You must abide by the geocaching.com cache placement guidelines when hiding your cache. Keep in mind that your hide must be at least 161 meters from another cache. When submitting a multi or puzzle cache, include the intermediate steps to speed up the approval process. Be nice to mtn-man!
(Victoria is getting saturated with caches and if there is a conflict with your cache you have 24 hours to move the cache and resubmit the page to mtn-man for your cache to be included in the event.)

After submitting your caches, please post a note in the vigps.com forums to indicate the name of the cache. On the cache page, please state that this cache was hidden as part of the Hide-&-Go VI…

The Go

As the caches start to appear on geocaching.com, go out and find them!

To qualify for the Most FTFs trophy, you must hide at least one cache. A couple years ago we had a few cases where a group wanted to be listed as FTF. To avoid confusion and squabbles, only one recognized cacher will be listed as the First finder.

But it’s not all about FTFs – just think about all the fresh air and exercise you will be getting by going out and finding all these new caches!

Waymarking

Last year Waymarking was an overwhelming success! If you would like to have a trophy in your home for a year, but don’t feel you can maintain any more caches, then this is the event for you!

There is a Trophy for the most Waymarks posted, and the most FTL (First to Log). To qualify for this portion of the event you must include a photo of the Waymarked object when you post the Waymark and when you log, even if photos are not a requirement for that category. We are including this rule so you cannot simply go through the phonebook and post all the McDonalds locations on the Island.

The Event

As in previous years the Hide-&-Go Cache Bash event will be held at 6:30pm on March 6th (Location to be confirmed). The event is to hand out prizes and chat about our hides and finds. You are welcome to attend the event even if you haven’t hidden any caches. The event will be listed shortly on geocaching.com.

Questions? We’ll be chatting in the forums. Join us!

Other Important Notes
This event is intended to be FUN! Please be considerate of your fellow cachers.