The Geocache of the Week is sure to lift geocachers up – literally!
Vytah (GC3A6Y9), or “elevator” is a difficulty 2, terrain 1.5 traditional cache located in Jihomoravsky kraj, Czech Republic.
The small cache container has been sitting on private property, with the land owner’s permission, since January 2012. Over the last 8 months, 625 geocachers have taken the time to log this cache and award it 227 Favorite Points.
berx.cz placed the geocache to showcase how the design of an elevator influences the retrieval of the cache container. The cache page provides significant insight to the purpose of an elevator, what it consists of, and how it works. Each of these factors provide small clues that could aid geocachers in their search for and retrieval of the cache.
The Vytah logbook
Berx.cz explains, “I love technical toys and I like a challenge. I wanted an urban cache that you’d have to put a little bit of thought into in order to find it. I was highly inspired by elevators when I came up with the idea for this cache.”
In order to avoid spoilers, berx.cz encourages geocachers not to take pictures exactly at the cache location.
One geocacher logging the visit says, “This is really the best, very creative, and very well executed cache! If I could, I would award this clever hide 10 points! Hesitation to visit this cache is a mistake.”
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
If you would 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
Join the race to the 2013 Geocaching Block Party in Seattle, Washington. Enter a Travel Bug® meeting the requirements below into the “The Great Geocaching Block Party 2013 Travel Bug Race” bin by the Geocaching Museum at the 2012 Geocaching Block Party.
One new Travel Bug entry per Geocaching.com username
Name your TB: GBP2013 (Your TB Name)
Race Limit: 200 Travel Bugs
On your Travel Bug page include the text:
“This Travel Bug (insert name of TB) is racing in the The Great Geocaching Block Party 2013 Travel Bug Race. This TB must travel at least 2013 miles before returning to Geocaching.com HQ.Please move to another geocache to meet its goal of (insert specific goal). Thank you!”
Travel Bugs will be simultaneously released into the Geocaching.com HQ cache following the Geocaching Block Party. Updates on The Great Geocaching Block Party 2013 Travel Bug Race will be updated on the official Geocaching.com Blog “Latitude 47”
All Travel Bugs must travel a minimum of 2013 miles before being eligible for prizes
All Travel Bugs must return to the HQ prior to the 2013 Geocaching Block Party to be eligible for prizes
Categories:
Fastest TB back to HQ (after traveling the minimum mileage)
TB with the most mileage
TB to travel to the most countries
TB with the best picture*
TB with the best log entry*
TB with the most geocachers who moved the TB
TB with the most creative Hitchhiker (item the TB is attached to)
Prizes: Each winner receives a great grab bag of Geocaching.com swag and merchandise
The August Featured Geocacher of the Month nominees are all about giving back to their communities. Whether it’s through hiding creative caches, organizing events, or glorifying the game, they all inspire other geocachers in their own ways.
De Wijngemachtigde – July 2012 Geocacher of the Month
Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as August’s featured Geocacher of the Month.
Write a comment on this blog post about which of these three geocachers you feel should be crowned.
Last month, Guus, a.k.a. De Wijngemachtigde took the title of July Featured Geocacher of the Month. De Wijngemachtigde was recognized for encouraging a record number of geocachers across the Netherlands to participate in Geocoin races. His creative approach to get the community to put their Trackables in circulation, instead of keeping them at home, allowed the coins to travel across all 415 municipalities of the Netherlands.
Here are your nominees for the August Featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.
Nominated by ZAMEROSKI, Doug, a.k.a. bubbabeernut is “a geocacher who puts a lot of time and artistry into all of his hides. His caches are a joy to find. While many cachers are only concerned about finds, Doug is equally concerned about every one of his hides. He has put a lot of thought and care into each of his 125 caches. Many of them are themed and take days to prepare. It is not surprising that almost all of his hides have a number of Favorite Points. Our community truly appreciates his creative hides.”
SaltyPirate writes, “If you look at what Wendy, a.k.a. whbaisden has done not only since she has started caching in 2010 (over 6800 caches found), but just in the last month putting together the Hatfield and McCoy GeoTrail Event that is scheduled for September 1st. She only expected a few people to come, 30 to 40 at the most, but this event has quickley become an event that could reach MEGA status with over 300 people logging “Will Attend.” Her dedication to making this a great event for everyone should speak for her dedication to the sport of geocaching.”
Nominated by viagression, Mike, a.k.a. UglyGoblin, “has worked tirelessly to teach me, and indeed show me and others the glories of caching, including a fairly disabled mother and sister who has been ill. He’s visited the same caches several times to help others with them. He has driven miles upon miles to get together with new geocachers to teach them all about this great hobby. He has sought out buoys, solved ciphers, multis, and puzzle caches in his efforts to assist new geocachers. He is all about helping others.”
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured August Geocacher of the Month. A panel of Lackeys will use your comments to help decide which geocacher is awarded the honor. Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive an exclusive special edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat, a Geocacher of the Month profile icon, and a certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. We will be accepting comments for August’s award through Sunday, August 26th.
Those whose nominees were not recognized here are encouraged to submit their nominations again next month.If you know an outstanding geocacher you would like to nominate to be a featured Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.
Every nomination must meet the following requirements:
Please include your name, the name of your nominee, their username, at least one picture of the nominee and a description (500 or fewer words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month. Please inform your nominee that you’ve submitted them for the award. Nominations for the September Geocacher of the Month must be received by September 10th.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so we might learn from each other.
Geocachers are known for being prepared — from bug spray to backup batteries. Now you can be prepared to go geocaching almost anywhere, anytime (even if you forget to download geocaches to your handheld GPS device).
Take the power of Geocaching.com on the go with the official Geocaching.com smartphone app. The app makes the journey to log your next smiley as simple as clicking, “Find Nearby Geocaches.” You’re also able to hone your spontaneous quest for geocaches with an advanced search and sort geocaches by Favorite Points, cache type, and more. Geocaching.com offers apps for the iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7. Do you have a different type of phone? See if one of our third-party developers makes an app for you.
International Geocaching Day — August 18
Earn a souvenir as geocachers unite on August 18 to celebrate International Geocaching Day. It’s a day devoted enjoying what you love — geocaching. Geocachers who log an “Attended” at an Event Cache or a “Found it” for another cache type on International Geocaching Day earn a souvenir for their Geocaching.com profile page.
Thousands of adventurers will attend one of more than 250 International Geocaching Day events around the globe. Check out the Geocaching.com Event Calendar to find an International Geocaching Day event near you. Don’t forget to share pictures and stories from your International Geocaching Day adventures on the official Geocaching.com Facebook page.
Something Sinister … (Staffordshire) (GCNA9Z) is as intriguing as it is scary. Legend has it that a spell was cast on an old oak tree near the cache.
According to locals in the West Midlands, UK, a hungry, homeless woman approached Charles, the Earl of Shrewsbury, as he was returning to his castle one winter’s night in 1821. She asked for some money and the Earl angrily rejected her request. She then cursed him and told him that for every branch on the old oak tree that falls, a member of his family will die. The Earl dismissed the curse and carried on his way.
That evening a violent storm broke out and a branch fell from the tree. Later the same night a member of the family became ill and mysteriously died. The Earl ordered his servants to chain up the tree so that no more branches would fall. The tree remains chained up to this day.
A young geocacher visits the spooky tree
The difficulty 2, terrain 2.5 traditional cache was placed near the tree by MarcB in 2005 and adopted by The Bolas Heathens and Dibbler. The cache and the tree have attracted nearly 400 curious geocachers over the last 7 years.
It was the number of Favorite Points that brought the cache to Spanner15‘s attention. After a visit to the spooky location, she awarded it a favorite point and decided to nominate it for the Geocache of the Week.
She writes, “Walking through the woods was pretty creepy. As we got closer, you could hear screams, from the tree maybe? When we arrived it was very thrilling and a sight to see. A HUGE tree, draped in chains. Sadly, we left our camera in the car, so we only had a rubbish photo from our phone. However, the memory has remained in my head ever since. The cache was pretty cool – my first ammo can!!! Definitely a favourite point!”
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
If you would 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
