Celebrate Geocaching by Cleaning Up at a CITO Event
Geocachers will demonstrate their commitment to the environment by the bagful in April. Thousands of geocachers will join together in picking up trash and filling garbage bags with litter. They’ll be attending Cache In Trash Out (CITO) events over the 11th Annual International CITO Weekend. It’s scheduled for April 20, 21 and 22. Tons of trash will be removed from geocaching-friendly locations. It’s easy to join the global community by attending one of the many CITO events. With hundreds of CITO Events in dozens of countries, there’s sure to be one near you. If there isn’t a CITO event near you, there’s still time to create your own CITO event.
Those attending CITO Events on April 20, 21 or April 22 (or all three!) will earn a 2013 CITO souvenir for their Geocaching profile. Share International CITO Weekend with your friends by joining the Geocaching Facebook CITO Weekend event page.
The geocache description reads, “No need for screwdrivers, hammers or explosives to open this box,” but after taking a look at this puzzle box, we’re not so sure. Some geocaches show you amazing vistas, others take you on subterranean adventures, and some—like this difficulty 4, terrain 1.5 geocache—put your brain to work. Antron’s Puzzle Box #2 (GC40M7T) may be hidden in plain sight, but actually opening the geocache is where the challenge lies.
“I will not divulge what took longer. The drive from Vereeniging, the cracking of the combination lock code or opening of the Puzzle box, but it was a concerted effort between Mrvan & RumJack working as a tag team to crack this one,” said geocacher Avanclan in their log.
This geocache is guarded by a combination lock, several locking mechanisms, a secret code and a particular series of steps. When asked about creating these puzzle boxes, the geocache creator Antron said, “both Puzzle boxes in Parys (GC3R5ER and GC40M7T) took us about three months each to design and construct. It took about ten prototypes before the final product was ready for placement. Our ‘self-inflicted’ goal is to try and not place a cache if it is not as good or even better than our previous cache.”
This geocache has only been active for a few months, but has already garnered much praise and 11 Favorite Points (as of this writing). One look at the logbook and you can see just how much fun a well-made puzzlebox geocache can be. “Contender for the best cache we’ve done so far. Ever. Definitely the longest one. Took us around 45 minutes to fight a solution out of the thing. So frustrating, and yet such a feeling of achievement when we finally got to sign the logbook! Thanks so much for this cache, amazing experience,” wrote Geogamy & Sheldor, who has 1,341 finds. According to the geocache creator Antron, “the positive logs and e-mails we receive is all the reward that one can ask for.”
Des14, Span Marlin and The Grove Clan trying to figure out the puzzle. Photo by geocacher Span Marlin
Geocache containers come in all shapes, sizes and difficulty. We always enjoy seeing geocaches that have an incredible amount of craftsmanship put into them. What geocache containers have you seen that have blown your mind?
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.
Skip the extreme climates of prospecting and find the gems hidden on weather.com for your chance to win $3,000! Starting March 20, visit The Prospectors Facebook Page to get your daily clue to find the hidden gem and enter in the Find the Gem Sweepstakes.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. U.S. Only. Ends 3/26/13. Official Rules.
The post on the Geocaching Facebook page started with “My 28 yr old son (who has Down Syndrome) is my best geo-buddy!” The post from Peggy Caton, PeGC56, instantly struck the heart of geocaching buddies sharing an adventure. They search for ‘hidden-treasure’ only find the real treasure right next to them the whole way.
Peggy answers a few questions about geocaching, and about her best bud and son Brian who goes by the geocaching name CoolGuy84.
How did you discover geocaching?
I discovered it when a couple of my Facebook friends posted about going geocaching last summer. I Googled it instead of asking! I originally didn’t even think to include Brian (CoolGuy84’s real name—and BTW he made up his own geo-name), my younger son and his gf had heard of it before and had been wanting to try it, so the 3 of us set out one evening and only found 2 of the 5 we looked for, but were hooked none the less.
What attracted you to geocaching as a mother and son activity?
We live in a small Missouri town (suburb of KC) and were surprised to find so many geocaches in Raytown—Brian eventually joined us for a few adventures as the others of us got the hang of caching. My other son and his girlfriend lost the fever somewhat between work and life, but Brian was hooked. Its kind of a long story, but in the previous year and a half my family had quite a few losses. We had evolved into sad depressed lumps. Once we discovered geocaching suddenly we were out almost everyday. We went hiking on the trails; we ran up and down hills; climbed rocks and got fresh air and sunshine! I know it sounds sappy but it was kind of a miracle in our lives.
What’s your advice about geocaching to others with family members who have Down Syndrome?
Brian searching for a geocache
The only advice I have is to not hesitate to include them! Depending on their age there are a variety of ways they can participate. Younger kids can just enjoy the family time and the exercise and fresh air (and eventually become experts). Kids with Down Syndrome tend to be very sedate in nature and would be happy sitting; but then tend to be overweight also. There’s all kinds of therapeutic benefits too—it’s a gross motor activity, fine motor activity (getting to the containers; opening containers; digging through the swag and picking out what you want), it’s a cognitive activity—putting the pieces of the puzzle together to locate the cache. And it also has all the same benefits for them as with typical kids—learning about nature (we saw 2 deer in the woods closeup last weekend and Brian was in awe); traveling, learning geography, history (we’ve done several mystery caches that have taught both of us some interesting history facts). With older kids/adults like Brian it gives them quite a sense of accomplishment, pride and self-confidence. He is SO excited about all of them whether they are quick Park and Grab geocaches (P&Gs) (which he does love and doesn’t usually need my help at all) or if we’re hiking through the woods. Most of all its just plain fun for everyone and can help build a close family bond and hobby.
You describe “CoolGuy84” as a freak for geocaching. What excites him so much about the activity?
He just gets excited when he figures out where the caches are; he actually does better than me at actually finding the containers. I can read the maps/GPS like a champ and I can drive us there, but I find that he doesn’t have preconceived ideas about what a container should look like or where it should be hidden so he just looks everywhere! Even if I say “ehhh no its probably not there, I don’t know how they could hide one there” then BAM he has it found. He’s always so proud of himself and takes ALL the credit for finding it. Here is our caching chant: ME: “I drive the car, I read the map, you find the cache!! What do we call that?” BRIAN: “ TEAMWORK!!!”
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A special thanks to Peggy for sharing the story from all of us at Geocaching HQ. Leave a comment for Peggy and Brian below.
Customize Your Geocaching Experience with your Location
If you’re seeing new nearby geocaches and nearby Event Caches listed in your weekly mailer, you’re already a geocaching mastermind. You know that by pinpointing your location in your profile, the Weekly Mailer becomes your personal geocaching assistant. If you’re not seeing new nearby geocaches or Event Caches, simply go to the Manage Location page and move the arrow to a nearby location or type in your home address. This will enter your “Home Coordinates.”
Each week Geocaching HQ will serve up the newest geocaches around your location. We’ll also tell you about nearby events, where you can put geocaching names to faces and meet the geocachers you’ve only seen on log sheets.
Pro Tip 1: If you’re going on vacation, you can take geocaching with you. Just set your location to your travel destination at least two weeks before you travel. You’ll see the newest nearby geocaches and events for your destination.
Pro Tip 2: Don’t forget to change your location back to your home location when you return.
Celebrate Geocaching by Cleaning Up at a CITO Event
