A Mother’s Heartfelt Geo-Project

If you find one of these travel tags in a geocache, stop to remember the young player they honour …

Fourteen-year-old Kadian Harding died on July 25 while on a family bike ride in the British countryside.

As he pedalled through Wiltshire, the avid geocacher (GC handle: TheSteepPirates) was accidentally struck by a van; becoming one of 11 young cyclists killed on the country’s roads so far this year.

To keep his memory alive, his family – parents Thomas and Debora, younger sister Sam and pet dog Duke – have ordered 100 custom travel tags from Australian-based webstore My Geo Gear which they hope will travel the world, one cache at a time.

Players across the globe are now rallying to help the Hardings’ project, moved by their grief at the loss of this popular dual US/British citizen or – as was the case for kjwx – simply the story of his too-short life.

Here, his mother Debora tells It’s Not About The Numbers what made her teenage son so special:

“Kadian spirit was nurtured by the wilderness and great outdoors in the foothills of West Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

“He’d navigate the limbs of trees intuitively, measuring their strength through his embrace, rather than by the weight of his feet and then sway with them in the wind from their very tops. You couldn’t keep him out of a swimming hole. Rope swings were a magic means of flying through thin air. Shoes were unnatural.  

The Hardings: Mum Debora, Kadian, his sister Sam and dad Thomas.

“Walking adventures through woods and fields were daily food for his soul – especially with his dog Duke. Freshly fallen snow took a hundred different forms. Streams were made for hopping; rain puddles for skipping; blackberries for instant gratification, not collecting. Hidden forts in the woods were as exciting to share as Christmas presents.

“As he neared his teens, one of his greatest loves was his bicycle – largely because of the freedom it gave him to venture further into the countryside with companions or on his own.

“It wasn’t the fitness challenge or the adrenaline rush of an off-road ride that he loved, but a gentle ride through back country lanes where he could drink in the beautiful views. Any quality ride had to end, of course, at an ice-cream store or with a chocolate bar.

“Despite all his passion for the outdoors, Kadian was a creative and serious student. At age 13, he moved to the United Kingdom to attend school at Bedales, in the Hampshire village of Steep. 

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