Geocaching: Less Of A Challenge?

Like many things in life, certain concepts and ideas don’t last. Some are, perhaps, before their time and needed to come out at a later time when everyone was ready for it. Take Tablet PCs, for example. They came out years ago, long before Apple made them a cultural icon. They didn’t sell, however, and quickly faded into oblivion. Now, tablets are popular. Even Tablet PCs are becoming popular under the new name of Touch Notebooks. The same might now be said for Geocaching.com’s new idea of Geocache Challenges.

Great idea but didn’t catch on! Perhaps ahead of its time. (click to enlarge)

According to the Geocaching.com website, challenges require you to "Go somewhere, do something. You might be challenged to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, sing a song in the middle of Times Square, or take a picture of yourself walking through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin." Challenges came out over a year ago and were pretty exciting when they first came out. It was something new and, most times, the challenge could be completed while on your way to retrieve a cache. The possibilities were endless into how zany one could make their challenge.

Well, challenges are no more! Geocaching.com issued an email to all users which stated:

"Occasionally, during this process, we are faced with the reality that certain ideas don’t catch on as we had hoped…Sometimes as a result, cool features must become casualties. In this spirit, we have decided to retire Geocaching Challenges."

And it is just as well. Challenges were a great idea but, like the early tablet PCs, failed to catch on and not many geocachers actually used them. We managed to find four challenges in the beginning but our interest in them quickly faded away. We even created two of our own challenges. The first, called Cruisin’, required you to get your picture taken in front of a cruiseship. Our second, called Monumental Statue, required you to get your picture taken in front of as many monuments and statues as possible. I must say that, in the beginning, I enjoyed looking at all of the pictures that were sent in. It was great! But, again, our interest quickly faded as our insatiable appetite for the cache hunt reasserted itself. While some of you might be disappointed that challenges are gone, don’t get too sad. Maybe they are like those early Tablet PCs, simply ahead of their time. Time will tell if, in the future, they might return.

How about you? What are your thoughts on the demise of challenges? Please let us know in the comment section below. Also, please take a moment to complete our poll.

Until next time, Happy Caching!!!

Frank (Jewel)