25th Geocaching B-Day Bash and 23rd TX Challenge!
Friday (Pi-Day) Schedule
- 7:00am -11:00am -- Setup at the Event Center (Volunteers Only)
- 7:30am - 9:30am -- Community Celebration Happy Pi Day, Texas Style GCATNBP (Not at the Event Center)
- 10:00am -12:00pm -- Meetups & Greetings in Floresville GCB13WF (Not at the Event Center)
- 11:00am - 4:30pm -- GPS Adventure Maze-Texas Style GCB16WC
- 11:00am - 5:00pm -- Event Center Open (Vendors, Registration, SWAG PIckup/Purchase, TXGA Membership and FUN)
- 11:00pm - 5:00pm -- Last Minute Challenge Registrations (NO DAY OF REGISTRATIONS)
- 4:00pm - 7:00pm -- Mobile Escape Room at the Event Center
- 5:00pm - 7:00pm -- Come eat and dance the evening asway with Food Trucks and a DJ! (BBQ/Taco and a Third Option)
- 5:00pm - 7:00pm -- Signal to the Rescue Community Celebration GCATP13
- 7:30pm - 8:30pm -- TXGA Board Meeting on the patio of the event center (Open to all that are interested)
Saturday Activity Schedule (All Activities at the Event Center)
- 7:00am - 7:30am -- Team Challenge Gathering (All Team Challenge Participants must be in the event center before 7:30am)
- 7:30am - 8:00am -- Team Challenge Debrief (Announcements, Review of the Rules, Safety Briefing, Handout Scorecards)
- 8:00am - 11:00am -- Team Challenge
- 9:00am - 9:30am -- Let the Festivities Begin! (Announcements, Event Schedule, Raffles, Silent Auction, Challenge within a Challenge)
- 9:00am - 3:00pm -- GPS Adventure Maze-Texas Style GCB16WC
- 9:00am - 6:00pm -- Event Center Open (Vendors, SWAG Pickup/Purchase, Membership)
- 10:30 - 1:00 am -- Team Challenge Finish Line
- 10:30am - 11:30am -- Earth Cache Presentation by Earth Cache Reviewer - geowareUSA9
- 11:00 - 3:00pm -- Snack Bar Open
- 11:45am - 1:00pm -- Group Photo and Birthday Cake
- 1:00pm - 2:00pm -- County Caching Presentations by captainmath and MrsCM
- 1:30pm - 4:00pm -- Individual Challenge (Location to be announced at Group Photo - 11:45am)
- 3:00pm - 4:00pm -- Caching Apps Q&A Panel facilitated by The Outlaw
- 3:00pm - 5:30pm -- Maze Teardown
- 4:00pm - 5:30pm -- Silent Auction Winners Drawn, 2025 TXGA Board Member Introductions, Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
- 5:30pm - 6:00pm -- Finish Cleanup
- 6:00pm - 8pm -- TCC/2-Step Finishers Event GCAYMP3 (Not at the Event Center)
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On May 2nd of 2000 the U.S. Government flipped the "Blue Switch" and made high-accuracy GPS available to everyone. As all cachers know - the very next day Dave Ulmer hid a bucket in the woods near Portland, OR and posted the coordinates online becoming the first ever Cache Owner (CO). Three days later Mike Teague found the bucket and scored the first - FTF and geocaching was created. For 25 years the game has grown and changed and so it only seems fair to celebrate 25 years of Geocaching! This year's version of the Texas Challenge will be EXTRA special.
We are going to pull out all of the stops and create a multi-day extravaganza of caching events that combine the elements that you all love around Texas Challenge (The friendship, the fellowship, the caching, and competition) and fold in elements of what we hope to be Geocaching's biggest birthday party ever!
Be like all the cool kids and order your SWAG - (The store is closed for pre-orders. Additional SWAG will be available for sale at the event)
Side Event Schedule
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Flash Mob Link to Event
Flash Mob at the Alamo (10:30am - 11am) - We will met at the famed Alamo in San Antonio. At 10:45 we will take a group picture. We will hang out a bit and chat about the activites for the week and reminisce about all of our grand geocaching advntures celebrating 25 years of geocaching. This will be the first opportunity to get your Challenge within a Challenge scorecard and start accumulating points.
Community Celebration Event link
Community Celebration Event at Mi Tierra's Restaurant (1pm - 3pm) - Let's gather at one of San Antonio's iconic cultural restaurants. We can share stories, swap travel bugs and enjoy some great food. We will have a fun game planned and a prize drawing.
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Early Bird event link
The Early Bird Gets the Worm (Cache) (6am - 10am) - Gather at one of Texas iconic BBQ and Tea joints. We will gather and talk about upcomng activities and enjoy breakfast, games and prizes. Come and go as you wish. No purchase required. This will be one of the early opportunities to get your Challenge within a Challenge scorecard and start accumulating points. This will be a great meeting spot for groups to plan their approach to fnding some of the numerous Geo Art Installations put out for the Callenge/Block Party event.
Memoriam Event link
1st Annual TXGA Memoriam (4pm - 7pm) - Let's gather for our first annual memorial event celebrating and rememberng all of our geocaching friends who are no longer with us.
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Longhorn Museum event link
Longhorn Museum (11am - 1pm) - Join us at the Longhorn Museum where there is never an entry fee. The Longhorn Museum is dedicated to preserving the history of Altacosa County and surrounding areas. The museum hosts an eclectic collection reflectng different eras in time, and the rich heritage of South Texas and the many people that have lived here.
We will be gathered in the back room for a snake presentation by our very own Moosiegirl. You can also wander the grounds and check out the various exhibits including an Adventure Lab for everyone to enjoy and also a prize drawing.
Circle the Wagons event link
Circle the Wagons after Caching (5pm - 8pm) - After a long day of caching the trails and geoarts in the area, wind down here with some local food and culture. Swap tails and not spit and relax with your comrades in caching. There will also be games and prize drawings. No purchase necessary. Stay as long as you lke. Currently the geoart is not on the map but its coming and its kinda big.
Friday, March 14, 2025
Happy Pi Day, Texas Style Event Link
Would you like to be part of the longest continuously running series of Pi day events in the world! Join us at this event hosted by CaptainMath (7:30am - 9:30am).
GPS Adventure Maze
Join us as we share this traveling educational exhibit about all things geocaching. This event will run both Friday and Saturday to fit in with your geocaching aspirations for the week. Please check out the above link to the event page and let us know you would like to tour through this fun exhibit.
Meetups & Greetings Event Link
Meetups & Greetings from Floresville (10am - 12pm) - Have you wondered who was behind the artwork that is being used to showcase the event? Local artist Claudio who's mural artwork is on our event coin and t-shirt. This is a great opportunity to celebrate the mural and learn some local history. No purchase necessary, come and stay as long as you would like.
Signal to the Rescue Event Link
Community Celebration Signal to the Rescue! (5pm - 7pm) - Celebrate with TXGA and all your caching friends as we host the communty of Floreseville as we welcome Signal to our 23rd Texas Challenge and 25th Geocaching Birthday Party. We are pulling out all of the stops and throwing a huge Texas style bash. Be prepared to have lots of fun with games, prizes and surprises. This will also be an opportunity to pickup your SWAG purchases.
As part of this event we have hired a Mobile Escape Room. The room will be available from 4pm - 7pm. Here is the link to purchase your spots.
Purchase Escape Room Tickets Here!
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Community Celebration Finishers Reunion event link
Finishers Reunion (6pm - 8pm) - Meet up and celebrate county caching across Texas at this local venue (no shootouts included). We wll not only celebrate the original "Finishers" of the Texas Challenge but also introduce the new Texas Two Step county challenge finishers. If you are a finisher come out and put some ink on the unique Texas log for both the original challenge and if you are one of the lucky finishers of the Texas Two Step there will be a unique log for you to sign as well. You do not have to be a finisher to attend this event.
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Schmoozing with Signal Event Link
RX Baked Goods and Bistro (7am - 8am) - We will meet to consume some tasty treats and schmooze with Signal before we head to the park and wrap up the week. No purchase necessary.
CITO - Games & Awards Event Link
CITO and Goober Game Olympics (8:30am - 10am) - Well we made it through the week. We hope you had an awesome time, found lots of caches, made new friends and plans for future geocaching adventures. We will wrap up our time together here with our Goober Olympics, team and indivdual awards, and take an opportunity to give back to our host city by cleaning up the park. We will also announce next year's challenge location.
Saturday's Main Event
The Texas Challenge - The cornerstone of Texas Challenge has always been the team competition. This event is a competition to see which team can find the most caches in the allotted time and win the coveted "Golden Ammo Can". This year we are looking to expand the competition to include teams from outside of Texas. (Texans - you will continue to compete by region).
Non-Texans - start getting your teams together. We will have the link up for registration in the coming weeks. You don't need anything special, just a team that can work together (minimum of 10 people). The organizing team will help put people together in teams if you want to compete but can't get a team together.
Pre-Regisatration to Participate in the Challenge Activity has closed. If you want to participate in the Team or Individual Challenge please send and email to bevikingtex@gmail.com or register at the Friday evening event. NO DAY OF REGISTRATIONS ARE ALLOWED!
Geocaching 25th Birthday Party - We are planning a huge Birthday Party to celebrate the 25th birthday of geocaching. We will share more details in the coming weeks/months but you can expect something big and Texas style including cake and all of the traditional birthday elements.
Challenge within a Challenge - If competition is not your thing - no worries. One of the newest additions to the Texas Challenge Lineup is an activity we call Challenge within a Challenge. Each participant gets a scorecard and earns points for completing caching related activities (e.g., finding caches, attending events, etc.). The first 200 to complete and turn in their scorecard receives a free trackable coin.
GPS Goober Games – Floresville is the "Peanut Capitol of Texas". We are planning a series of caching themed games and activities that will let cachers test their skills and earn prizes and raffle tickets for our raffle.
Night Cache Trail - El Camino Real de los Tejas is a national historic trail that was a major thoroughfare from the 18th century Spanish colonial era in Spanish Texas. The trail was instrumental in the settlement, development and history of Texas. Our team will be utilizing this trail to create a special night cache trail.
GeoArt Installations - The host team is actively putting together multiple geocaching art installations on the country roads near Floresville TX our host city. These Art Installations will celebrate local Texas history and our theme - 25th Geocaching Birthday Bash.
Gadget Caches - At this year’s Challenge we will have a series of Gadget caches deployed in the area showcasing the talents of multiple builders throughout the State.
Exhibits/Presentations – We will have presentations by local cachers - we will exploere topics such as - How to create an Earthcache, Snakes in Texas. We will also have a number of special geocaching exhibits including our mini Barney Smith Toilet Seat Museum, the Texas Challenge Quilt
Photo Competition - Do you have a great picture from your geocaching adventures? Why not enter it in the photo contest?
Vendors – We have several vendors lined up to attend our event - Space Coast Geocaching and Arted and Crafted will be present and sharing their wares.
Food Trucks – We will have several different food trucks available to keep everyone fueled and ready to go.
Trackable Trading Table – Bring your trackables and trade them and help them along on their journey.
SWAG and Raffle Table - Come check out all of the TXGA branded SWAG that we will be selling and the different items available for raffle at our Raflle Table.
In addition to these events we will have a series of side events starting on Tuesday and going through Sunday. Including the Famous Texas County Challenge Finisher Event where all of the cachers that have completed the Original Texas County Challenge and the brand-new Texas Two Step County Challenge.
We have an incredible line up of swag coins/pathtags & tees available - (The store is closed for pre-orders. Additional SWAG will be available for sale at the event)