Year: 2013

/ Eric Schudiske /

Announcing the May 2013 Geocacher of the Month

OHMIC - Geocacher of the Month
OHMIC – Geocacher of the Month

Thanks to all those geocachers around the world who added their comments to help name the May Featured Geocacher of the Month.  Each of the nominees receive a prize package from Geocaching HQ for their contribution to the worldwide community.

The three nominees for the May Featured Geocacher of the Month all contribute amazing geocaching experiences, through events, their stewardship and creative hides.

The Featured Geocacher of the Month is named by Geocaching HQ after reviewing community input and blog comments. After tallying the sentiment, OHMIC has been named the Featured Geocachers of the Month for May 2013.

Congratulations to OHMIC. One comment shows how OHMIC commitment to the environment is showcased in his geocaching, “My vote is for OHMIC. He has hosted many training sessions for new cachers and he has also organized numerous caching events. OHMIC’s annual Cache the Marsh event is a favourite of new and seasoned cachers alike, and is renowned around Manitoba. Not only is OHMIC knowledgeable about wildlife, ecosystems, waterfowl and the environment, he also puts forth a huge effort to incorporate opportunities for learning into his caches and the events that he organizes and hosts.”

The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin (sun flare optional)
The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month Geocoin (sun flare optional)

OHMIC has been geocaching since 2003. OHMIC will receive the earned, never for sale, collector’s edition Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with Featured Geocacher of the Month hat and a certificate acknowledging his contribution, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. See a list of all the Featured Geocachers of the Month here.

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@geocaching.com. Every nomination must follow these requirements. Please include:

  • Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
  • A picture of the nominee
  • Description (200 or more words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Featured Geocacher of the Month

Please inform your nominee that you have submitted them for the award. Nominations for Featured Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.

Congratulations again to OHMIC for being recognized as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for April.

 

Meet some of previous Featured Geocachers of the Month

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cGOns2eBMQ]

/ Eric Schudiske /

Stats: Unleash Your Geocaching Geek

Maps, Charts & Graphs: Your Geocaching Stats Revealed

stats

It’s a Geocaching Premium member perk you may not know about and a Basic member feature that’s fun to explore. Here’s the link you need: My Geocaching Statistics. We can talk about the cool graphs, the charts and the milestones, but you just have to see it. If you haven’t clicked on the link yet, here’s what you’ll get: Basic Members see “Your Caching Chronology” – a breakdown of your geocache finds with a look at the month you’ve found your most geocaches and the day of the week you’re most likely to geocache.

Geocaching Premium members unlock detailed statistics. It’s three pages of bar graphs, charts with rising zigzags and number breakdowns sliced and diced in nearly a dozen ways. You can track your milestones from your first find through your 10,000th find and beyond. Geocaching Premium members can follow their geocaching progress on custom maps and more.You can also edit which statistics you see and whether or not they’re available to the rest of the geocaching community. When you’re planning your next geocaching goal, your statistics are a great place to start.

What statistic do you track the most? Tell us in comments below.

 

 

/ Paige Edmiston /

4 Tips to Avoid Getting ‘Hangry’: Snacks for the Geocaching Trail

IMG_5429
Reid’s Personalized Nut Jumble (Note: Clearly snacks do not belong in geocaches unless you’re actually using them as Tupperware.) 

Geocachers are always prepared. GPS? Check. Pen? Check. But wait! What should you bring to combat the growling stomach that inevitably follows a finding frenzy on the geocaching trail? To answer this most important of questions, we decided to ask our fellow geocachers here at Geocaching HQ for their top remedies for an empty belly. Here are their top tricks and tips for a great geocaching adventure!

Tip #1: Avoid getting ‘hangry’ (hungry + angry)

Family and friends can take the geocaching fun-o-meter to a whole new level, but hungry people can sometimes be cranky people. Geocaching videographer Reid Kuennen (Username: reidsomething) advises always keeping snacks on hand. She says, “One thing you should know about me before we go geocaching together is that I have a tendency to get hangry (hungry + angry) if I don’t bring snacks. Over the years I’ve learned never to navigate too far from home without my trusty bag of trail mix.”

Geoacching HQ User Experience lead Nick Botner (Username: Whiskey Bones) suggests a similar tactic to maximize your find potential and reduce the need to exhaust your carefully honed geosense scrounging for food in the forest. “If you’re going out into the wild, make sure you bring a little more than you might need. I know I can tend to get a little carried away with the whole ‘just one more cache’ so it’s nice to have the extra food and more importantly water to enable me to enjoy my time out there and not be reduced to eating the surrounding vegetation.”

Tip #2: Stay hydrated

Nickinrustycar
Nick in his must-find-one-more-geocache mode. Good thing he’s prepared with apples and beef jerky!

Staying hydrated is key to keeping in tip-top geocaching shape. While drinking water is great (we highly recommend it!), there are other ways to keep hydrated as well. Nick likes to eat apples while out on the trail: “This not only stops the hunger but also helps hydrate me. Plus, the natural sugar gives me a little pick me up.” Power geocaching couple Jayme (Geocaching Community Manager) and Ben Hewitt (benandjayme) always make sure to have a good day pack with a hydration reservoir. “Sometimes we even add lemonade powder to one of our water bladders.”

Packing in snacks is useless if nature gets to them first! Nick says, “It’s not often I go into bear country. But when I make my way into the swamps I make sure I bring a backpack that has a compartment on the top so in case I get too deep. Food and electronics can stay dry in their respective compartments.” Reid also reminds us that weather can be important when packing and snacking: “I recommend sealable plastic bags or light-weight Tupperware, both can be washed and used many times! You probably already know this, but chocolate melts, and it’s something to think about on hot days.”

Tip #3: Cache in, Trash out

Anything that you pack in should also be packed out (unless it’s in your belly of course!). Jayme and Ben warn that this is often easier said than done and can sometimes require a bit of hunting: “After we are done eating we always check the area to make sure we’ve gathered any rogue baggies that the wind has picked up.”

Tip #4: DIY Snacks with Reid

Personalized Nut Jumble:

reidpcc3
Reid hunting for the perfect trail mix ingredients.
  • Roasted almonds (a little salty)
  • Roasted cashews (also salty)
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Dried cranberries (preferably not sweetened… nature has sweetened them plenty)
  • Dark chocolate chunks 

How to: The fun thing is that you get to put whatever you like in it! Above are some of my favorite ingredients.

Surprise Dates:

  • Dates
  • Chocolate
  • Almonds

How to: Putting these together is simple and sticky – pit the dates & shove (gently) an almond and hunk of chocolate inside.

Now it’s your turn! What are your favorite snacks to bring out on the geocaching trail? Tell us about them in comments below!

 

/ Derek H /

350 miles, all for a smiley. — Munich – Venice (GC1FPN1) — Geocache of the Week

We all love earning smileys. Seeing that bright yellow face on your Geocaching profile page smiling back at you is the reward you get for a job well done. But how far are you willing to go for it? Would you spend days on the hunt for just one geocache? Would you commit to a 350-mile journey? If the answer is yes, then this week’s Geocache of the Week, Munich – Venice (GC1FPN1),  is for you.

The trail.

The first step to finding this difficulty 2, terrain 4 geocache is to find a pair of comfortable, broken-in hiking boots. Step two is to get to the beginning stage of this multi-cache at Marienplatz in Munich. After you’re finished taking in the sights, it’s time to start putting one foot in front of the other. As you make your way through the 28 stages, you’ll have to answer questions in order to obtain the coordinates of the final stage. This may sound like a lot of work, but the stunning views along the way make the journey well worth it.

Yay for geocaching! Photo by geocacher wanderlust2000

While only 36 geocachers have made the journey from Munich to Venice and earned their smiley, their logs are sure to inspire more geocachers to attempt this multi-cache. Geocacher Benjo5 said, “What an awesome experience! …Thanks for the cache, I am really happy to turn this into a smiley icon, as it was quite exceptional and challenging. And at the end, I recommend this trek to everyone. It’s really worth it. Thanks, I will not forget.”

Another geocacher who earner a smiley for this epic journey is voduska, who said, “It is difficult to express all the feelings I had and have now, but to everybody who is thinking to do this trek, I would say don‘t hesitate and go. It is such a great experience. It is extremely demanding, but extremely rewarding. And when you finally reach the beach after nearly a month and you can put down the bag and take off that terribly heavy shoes and go for a swim in the sea, you feel like … actually you feel like you’ve just crossed the Alps.”

Typical Path before Olperer Hut. Photo by geocache owner DerPate
Typical Path before Olperer Hut. Photo by geocache owner DerPate

When asked about planning and placing this geocache, DerPate said that the real planning came after he initially completed the journey. From there it was organizing all the places he had been into a great multi-cache. In regards to all of the positive feedback, DerPate said, “Even more impressive for me is the feedback of the people having done the cache: There are find logs with a length of more than 40,000 characters (almost 3 log entries are needed in average of all finds) or even more than 150 pictures were uploaded for one log.” For all geocachers aiming to earn this smiley, DerPate had one piece of advice, “To all those cachers out there: Have fun on making your own memorable experiences on your personal interpretation of such a tour :-)”

So the question is: how far are you willing to go for a find? Would you complete a 350-mile trek through the mountains? Tell us 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.

Just one of the many scenic views you’ll get during the journey. Photo by geocacher Turbo9

 

Probably the most rewarding part of the journey: dipping your feet into the water on the beach in Venice.

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

28 Upcoming Mega-Events. 28 Reasons to Go. Coincidence? No.

block party mega event blog picMega-Events, or any Geocaching Event, are a way to decode all the unanswered mystery surrounding geocaching. You’ll discover geocaching experts who love to share their love of geocaching. It might be as easy as asking, “What’s it mean when the clue says you should tie your shoe?” (It typically means to bend down and look under a bench). You might also connect with new friends to help power your geocaching exploration. And that’s just the beginning. Here are 28 reasons, in no particular order, about what you could experience at a Mega-Event:

Earn a smiley. Meet local volunteers. Discover new friendships. Geocache before and after. Sign the official log book. Meet vendors.Buy sweet swag. Trade trackables. Ask questions. Ask more questions.Eat good food. Try something new. Discover a new city. Rediscover an old city. Connect geocaching names with faces. Take a picture with Geocaching mascot Signal. Be in-the-know on the latest trends. Discover trackables. Rekindle friendships. Introduce your kids to a new adventure. Log a new geocache type. Pinpoint a destination for your next trip. Compare epic geocaching stories! Find love (it’s happened before). Talk with someone who works at Geocaching HQ. Get inspired for your next hide. Brush up on your GPS tech skills. Get tips to finally find unfound geocaches. 

If you’re searching for a great Mega-Event, check out the Geocaching Block Party in Seattle onAugust 17. The worldwide community will be attending and celebrating geocaching right outside Geocaching HQ. Do you know of a few more reasons to attend a Mega-Event? Share them with the geocaching community on comments below, or on our Facebook page.