July 10, 2013 / Derek H /

le Tour de Geocaching — arc de triomphe (GC18TKN) — Geocache of the Week

The Arc de Triomphe. Photo by geocacher H20 de Mer.

As this is being written, cyclists are pedaling their way through France, racing through 2115 miles (3404 km) of countryside. Racers travel from all over the world to take part in this race. Despite recent controversies, the Tour de France is still one of the top physical challenges faced by cyclists. This year’s race ends with a loop around the Arc de Triomphe, right by this week’s Geocache of the Week.

Finally found it! Photo by geocacher Stillroaming.

While the full Tour de France is an extreme mental and physical challenge, this geocache is only a difficulty 1.5, terrain 1, so training anything but your geosense and stealth skills won’t be necessary. The geocache, aptly named Arc de Triomphe (GC18TKN), brings you to a spot with breathtaking views of the Champs-Élysées, the Tour de France (if you’re there on the right day), and of course, the Arc de Triomph.

The geocache creator, pacuso, made sure to meet two criteria for this geocache, “interesting location and/or great camouflage.” This geocache was placed in 2008. During that time, pacuso says, “Paris was lacking of stashes on touristic places, so I decided to fix that! Apparently 3518 visitors agreed.” Of the many visitors to earn their smiley for this geocache, geocacher Stone Raiders had this to say, “First find in France! Great location and excellent hiding place.”

The geocacher/Tour de France cyclist, Jens Voigt. Photo from his Twitter account.

If you’re near GZ when the Tour de France is there, there are two things to keep in mind. One, a wish from the geocache owner, “I just hope that geocachers won’t try to run in front of the “peloton” (the group of cyclists) to go log it!!” And two, keep an eye out for Jens Voigt, a cyclist competing in the race who also happens to be an avid geocacher. Maybe after the race, you can find this geocache with him.

Some cyclists competing in the Tour de France may find that the mental challenge is more difficult, while others may think it’s all about the physical challenge. When you’re out geocaching, which challenge (mental or physical) is harder to overcome? Tell us why in the comments.

Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching 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@geocaching.com.

July 10, 2013 / Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching Geocoins Help Crack a Theft Ring

Heather, aka "Craftea", with her recovered Geocoins still in the police evidence bag — Heather, aka “Craftea”, with her recovered Geocoins still in the police evidence bag

There’s something special about a Trackable at Geocaching.com—it’s actually trackable. You know who owns it. You know where it’s been, and ideally, where it wants to go next.

Now imagine you’re a police detective. You serve a search warrant on a storage locker. You find evidence you believe is stolen. But how do you prove that evidence actually belongs to someone else? Then, you see a glistening Geocoin, with a tracking number.

Heather, aka Craftea, from Washington state in the U.S. was the beneficiary for just such a series of events and some real crafty police work.

She says her story began in November of 2012. “My home was burglarized and I lost a great many items, including a three-ring binder with baseball-card pockets where I kept my geocoin collection, and a bag of geopins along with more standard stuff like laptops and other electronics.”

Her day to day geocaching wasn’t completely interrupted thanks to a lucky break, “Thankfully my GPS was in the car with me when my home was being broken into so I didn’t lose that. The responding cop didn’t give me much hope that any of my things will ever be recovered but it still took me several months before I finally went online to mark each of my coins as missing, feeling that made it more final, like I was giving up hope.”

Months passed, life continued. And Heather began to move on. “I did, really, give up hope, and while I feel the loss of my things just about every day, I am slowly replacing things as I can afford to.”

The whole experience came back to her after it was nearly forgotten. “It was with a bit of a shock when I got an e-mail from a detective from Seattle’s West Precinct with front-and-back pictures of one of my geocoins with a note saying that it and ‘several others’ were recovered during a search warrant issued on a storage unit. He said he recognized it as a Geocoin and logged on Geocaching.com and did a search with the coin’s code and saw my profile and that I had marked it missing and wanted to know why.”

It was an email she quickly responded to, “I contacted him and was able to either describe the coins or give him the code after he described them to me. He had “4 or 5″ of them and he was satisfied they were mine. After more search warrants were issued on a different storage unit and a house associated with the same people as were for the original unit where my coins were found, the detective contacted me again and invited me to his office to pick up my coins and look at the pictures of the suspects as well as go through photos of evidence they’d recovered.”

One of the Geocoin lost in the burglary — One of the Geocoins lost in the burglary

“When I got to his office, he handed me 5 coins…” But for Heather the Geocoins are more than pieces of metal imprinted with a custom tracking code. They were reminders of adventures past and friends who offered the Geocoins as presents, “Two were gifts from FrodoB, one was a gift from Rey del Roble, one I earned at The Dalles Dash geocoin challenge and the 5th was an unactivated geoachievement coin given to me by my friend, MacCrew, from New York. Precious memories!” Check out the Trackable Details page from one of the lost and recovered Geocoins.

Heather also received a few of the other items that were lost to the thieves who broke into her home. Among them, she has recovered a sense of justice, “There is still a great deal of loss but it was exciting to get back a few pieces, and knowing that a handful of geocoins connected the burglars to their crime against me (and many other homes…) and was instrumental in their arrest.”

July 7, 2013 / Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching Plans for July 13 and All of August? You Do Now…

Earn More Than 30 Souvenirs in August

Start plotting your crafty strategy, rally your friends and prepare for a month of geocaching like no other. August is being celebrated by geocachers around the world as the “31 Days of Geocaching.” Find a geocache, log a “Found it” (or an “Attended” for an Event Cache) and earn a unique calendar-style Geocaching souvenir for each day in August. That’s 31 souvenirs up for grabs.

Warming up for this month-long geocache fest will take more than planning. It’ll take practice. You can get ready for the 31 Days of Geocaching by earning the Geocaching Get Outdoors Day souvenir. You’ll only be able to earn it on this Saturday, July 13. The same rules apply. If you log a “Found it” or an “Attended” on July 13 you earn the souvenir seen in this newsletter for your Geocaching profile.

To prepare for this epic challenge, you should tap into some expert advice. Check out the Top 8 Tips for Maintaining Your Geocaching Streak post on The Geocaching Blog about planning for your geocaching streak. Spread the word about the 31 Days of Geocaching to your friends by attending the event on the Geocaching Facebook page. And keep watching the Geocaching Weekly Newsletter for more details about the August adventure, 31 Days of Geocaching.

July 6, 2013 / Derek H /

Top 8 Tips for Maintaining Your Geocaching Streak

The month of August has a new name: the 31 Days of Geocaching. You’ll have the opportunity to earn a calendar-style souvenir for every day you find a geocache—that’s 31 new souvenirs just waiting for you. Plus, find a geocache on July 13 and you’ll get the special Geocaching Get Outdoors Day souvenir as well.

Here’s your challenge: complete a full, month-long geocaching streak during August and earn all 31 souvenirs. It might sound easy, but maintaining a geocaching streak takes hard work, dedication and—above all else—motivation. Here are a few tips from geocaching experts to make your 31 Days of Geocaching streak a success:

1. Plan ahead

This tip is #1 for a reason. Having a geocaching plan makes keeping a streak alive much easier. Spend a few days before you begin your streak to draw up your plan. Try to think about if there will be any days where snagging a ‘cache will be more difficult than others. Having a plan will help eliminate surprises and keeps you on top of your streak.

2. Work Geocaching into Your Day

Going to work, picking up groceries, walking the dog—these are all great times to earn a smiley. If there are places you visit on a semi-regular basis, varying the route may open up possibilities for quick finds. Simple geocaches can take a little as 10–15 minutes to find, so taking a short detour during your day won’t take up too much time and will knock out one more find.

An easy lampost geocache, perfect for geocaching streaks.

3. Learn to Love the Easy Stuff

D1/T1 geocaches aren’t always crowd favorites, but when you’re working on a streak, the simple geocaches are your best friends. Save the multis and epic puzzles for non-streaking days, unless you just like the extra challenge.

4. The 11:30pm, 12:00am trick

This one is simple: find a geocache at 11:30pm, wait a half hour, then find another geocache. Boom. That’s two days down in less than an hour. Warning: Before you use this method, double check the recent activity to make sure your 11:30 geocache is there. If it’s missing or you can’t find it, you could accidentally end your streak.

5. Save the Easy Finds for Last

Your first impulse might be to find all the easy, nearby geocaches first. But wait! Saving the easy, nearby geocaches allows you to have alternatives just in case something comes up or you don’t have a lot of time to travel.

6. Skip the FTFs

If you receive notifications for new geocaches, you’re going to have to fight the urge to nab the FTF, especially if it’s nearby. Just like in tip #5, leaving several easy, nearby geocaches unfound gives you some backup options.

Geocachers benandjayme on the final find of their 500-day geocaching streak at the summit of Mailbox Peak, WA.

7. Find a Partner

Just like geocaching any other day, it’s always more fun with a friend. With geocaching streaks, having someone to go with will help maintain motivation and give you both some accountability.

8. Plan Your Final Geocache

Make the final geocache of your streak something awesome. It will give you something to look forward to and give your geocaching streak an epic send-off.

Tell Us Your Tips

Have you ever done a geocaching streak? If so, leave your tips for maintaining a streak in the comments below. Happy geocaching!

Watch The Geocaching Blog for more details on Geocaching Get Outdoors Day on July 13 and the 31 Days of Geocaching in August. To earn a souvenir in both promotions you must log a “Found it” or an “Attended” on specific days, July 13 and each day in August.

July 3, 2013 / Derek H /

Happy Independence Day! – Granite Rushmore (GC33JW4) – Geocache of the Week

Posing with the four men in the mountain. Photo by geocacher FrogJoey

On this day in 1776, the United States of America formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, which declared independence from Great Britain. While this holiday is most often celebrated with barbecues, fireworks and get-togethers, we think finding this week’s Geocache of the Week would make a great addition to any Independence Day celebration. Granite Rushmore (GC33JW4) is an Earthcache placed by geocacher csr212 located at Mount Rushmore, where the faces of four United States Presidents have been carved into the side of a granite mountain.

The four presidents included in the Mount Rushmore sculpture are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington are two of the four Founding Fathers of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt is noted for his progressive ideologies, conservation efforts and unique personality. Abraham Lincoln was President during the American Civil War and is credited with abolishing slavery.

Earning your smiley for this difficulty 1.5, terrain 1.5 geocache isn’t as simple as just visiting this national monument. Those wanting to find this geocache will have the option to post a photo of yourself at the location and are required to answer a few questions about the history of the sculpture, as well as the rock it’s carved into. So far, this Earthcache has earned numerous Favorite Points and plenty of positive logs. Geocacher DevoeAM4 wrote, “On our way to Alaska from DC and this was an obvious stop. First time here and we went for both the lighting ceremony during the night and during the next day and we’ll be back for sure. Pictures just don’t do it justice. Thanks for the great cache!”

Maybe the next addition to the monument? Probably not, but a GPS enthusiast can dream. Photo by geocacher goodguys101

Another positive log comes from geocacher elvira_crew, who says, “On our way from the Badlands to Yellowstone we had to make a little detour to visit this famous monument. We had seen it in films and in pictures, but in reality it is much more impressive. It was interesting to read some facts about its history in the visitor center. Thank you for this interesting earth cache.”

Historical places and monuments make for incredible and interesting geocaches. What’s your favorite geocache that’s placed near a monument in your country? Tell us about it in the comments.