Month: January 2012

/ Eric Schudiske /

TNT : Donjons & Mountains GCJPN4 GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – January 23, 2012

Attempting "Donjons & Mountains"

TNT : Donjons & Mountains (GCJPN4) earns its difficulty 5, terrain 5 rating. It also earns a “wow” from the geocaching community. The Multi-Cache has tallied more than 90 Favorite Points so far.

Geocachers spend a day tracking down clues throughout rural Belgium and France. The clues help crack the codes on the cache page.

Once geocachers find the answers they discover coordinates for the final cache. Through it all gecoachers follow their GPS to encounter donjons (fortified towers) seemingly sprouting in the deep forest. They finally finish on a “mountain.”

Cachemier created the cache in 2004.  He crafted a comprehensive cache page that’s worth eyeballing. It lays out all the information a geocachers needs in a clear and playful way.

On the cache hunt
Donjon

The cache page is also clear with a warning. It reads, “If you are afraid or unsure of: heights,depths, darkness, small spaces, various wildlife like spiders, snakes, birds, bats, getting dirty, wet, cold, scratched by briers, bruised, tired, hungry and thirsty — then you should seriously reconsider going on this geocache hunt. One or more of the above elements WILL happen to you on this hunt. However, if you like adventurous hikes and you thrive for the challenge and don’t mind a bit of discomfort then this is the Belgian Geocache hunt for you! If you do decide to take on this challenge, your experience will be one you will remember!”

Car packed to attempt "Donjons & Mountains"

The cache page also lists the items you’ll need to complete the cache which includes dozens of items like a climbing harness, safety rope and carabiners.

News of Donjons & Mountains is spreading from geocacher to geocacher. It’s already on 37 Bookmark Lists.

One geocacher who logged a smiley on Donjons writes, “A while ago, I had a long interesting conversation with a geocacher from Belgium. He highly recommended this cache. Reading the listing, the logs – I decided, yes this cache has to go on my To-Do-List. We really enjoyed our TNT: Donjons & Mountains Trip. Thanks for this adventure and greetings from Germany.”

Continue to explore of some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com. If you’ d like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Presents: CITO – Hamburg to Prague

[Editor’s note: This video is spoken in German and Czech. Click the CC button for English, German or Czech subtitles.]

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Watch the latest Geocaching.com Presents video: CITO: Hamburg to Prague. See how geocachers from two countries unite to cleanup the environment. Dozens of geocachers from Germany and the Czech Republic attended the Hamburg to Prague CITO Event in June of 2011. They cleared trash from a Prague park, including tires, discarded cables, and bags full of litter.

CITO stands for Cache In Trash Out . It’s a Geocaching.com volunteer environmental effort repeated over and over again around the world by groups of geocachers each year. Since 2002, geocachers have been dedicated to improving parks and other cache-friendly location. These volunteer efforts help preserve the natural beauty of our outdoor resources. Find a CITO Event near you by checking out the CITO calendar.

The next Geocaching.com Presents video, “A Czech Geocaching Love Story” is scheduled for released on February 14th. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos. Watch the more than 50 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – January 18, 2012

February 29 – This Day in Geocaching History

In the 11 years and 9 months since the first geocache was placed, there is single date on which only a small fraction of geocachers have ever logged a cache. We suspect that’s because this particular date has only happened twice in geocaching history; it’s February 29, also known as leap day.

Given our penchant for all things that leap (frogs, horses, excited geocachers), we wanted to mark the third leap day in geocaching history — February 29, 2012 — by seeing how many accounts can log a cache that day.

Last February 29, way back in 2008, 36,696 distinct accounts logged an “Attended” or “Found it” on a cache. Given the growth of the geocaching community since then, we think we can double that number this year. But 73,392 distinct accounts logging a cache is a lofty goal; it’s the second highest number of accounts to log a cache in a single day. The current record, 78,313, was set on 10/10/10. Considering that 10/10/10 was a Sunday and February 29 will be a Wednesday, it is going to require a huge push to reach our goal.

So, talk to your fellow geocachers, your friends, and your co-workers about going geocaching (and logging their find) on February 29. In order to count toward the goal, people only have to log a single cache.

Everyone who logs a “Found it” or “Attended” this February 29 will receive the Leap Day Souvenir on their profile. As an added bonus, Premium Members who love to look at their “finds by date” statistics most likely see a blank square on the calendar on February 29. This is your chance to fill in the square —the 366th day of geocaching!

Outdoor Adventures with Geocaching.com and Tomb Raider®

 

Geocaching.com is teaming up with Crystal Dynamics™, a Square Enix™ studio to promote the 2012 launch of the new Tomb Raider® video game. Read more about the partnership on the Geocaching.com blog, Latitude 47.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Share Your Waymarking Adventures

Scenic Railroads waymark

Reveal the hidden world around you with Waymarking.com. Unlock unique locations in more than 1000 categories like Scenic Railroads, Last of its Kind or even Ginormous Every Objects. Anyone with a Geocaching.com profile automatically has a free Waymarking.com profile. Simply use your Geocaching.com username and password on Waymarking.com. Often times players combine both activities when they’re exploring another country or just down the block.

Waymarking, like geocaching, offers a sense of discovery that’s waiting just outside your front door. Waymarking.com provides tools for players to catalog, mark, and visit interesting landmarks and locations. Adventures around the world use waymarking to explore hundreds of thousands of exciting, whimsical and useful sites. Read about the eye-opening experience from those who see the world through waymarking lens.

N!tr0 writes, “[Waymarking]… makes me look far deeper than I ever would normally, check around corners, look for dates, read signs, whereas I just used to stroll on by. And I have taken more pictures every month than I ever did before.”

Ginormous Everyday Object waymark

Dragontree says, “The most satisfying elements of waymarking are that it combines all of my talents and interests. I can use my writing skills, photography skills, art and design interest to create a waymark online and we can visit the places in person where we have always wanted to go. It gives a sense of purpose to our life and creates an ongoing memory of the world where our footsteps have fallen.”

Last of its Kind waymark

Fi67 writes, “Waymarking combines so many different things: Going outside, taking pictures, search the web or books and finally digest all that and create your own waymark. Another way to play the game is visiting. You can go to the location of existing waymarks, take a picture and upload it with a comment about your visit. The exact visiting requirements are also defined by the category managers and can vary.”

Waymarking.com now offers more adventures than ever before. Explore the site. Add your own waymarking stories below and click the “Post Comment” button.

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Lowest Cache on Earth GC1EHNZ GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – January 16, 2011

View of The Dead Sea from new the geocache location

The sunbaked rocks near the shore of The Dead Sea hide a geocaching adventure. Treasure-hunters trek to a location unlike any other on earth. Geocachers descend 111 meters (364 feet) below sea level  to search for what’s billed as the “Lowest Cache on Earth” (GC1EHNZ).

The journey, as geocachers’ GPS devices track closer to the cache coordinates, reveals a scorching desert of shepherd tending flocks, palm trees and wiry brush.

The cache is hidden on the Jordan side of  The Dead Sea. The cache owner Limbo placed the small tradition cache in 2008 at an ideal vantage point. Limbo writes on the cache page, “After you find it, find a place to sit and enjoy the great view of the Dead Sea.”

Geocachers from around the world have logged smileys on the cache. One writes, “Given the altitude of this one, I really wanted to pick it up. My driver was pretty interested in the idea and accompanied me across from the parking spot to GZ, and was suitably impressed when I walked straight to the cache and voila! I signed the log while he sorted through the stash, and then it was back to the car to escape the ridiculous heat. They both reckon it was about 50 degrees Celsius [122 F] out here today.”

Geocachers log smileys on the cache

If you’re in the neighborhood in March, and can stand the heat, you could also log an Event Cache. “Meet & Greet @ the Lowest Point on Earth” (GC3AC47) is scheduled for March 3, 2012. It’s within a few kilometers of the “Lowest Cache on Earth.”

Cache container for "Lowest Cache on Earth"

Continue to explore of some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com. If you’ d like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.