Year: 2014

/ Guest Writer /

Allegany State Park Geobash IX Mega-Event

Signal, Amy and the whole ASPGB IX crew
Signal, Amy and the whole ASPGB IX crew

Geocaching is Better with Friends… Lots and Lots of Friends.

Editor’s note: Geocaching HQ staff are  attending dozens of Mega-Events around the world, shaking hands, sharing stories of adventure, and of course, geocaching. Each person at Geocaching HQ brings their own unique talent to advancing the adventure. Some write code for the website, others design images for the apps, and some shoot videos explaining it all. Amy Faulkner is the Geocaching HQ staff member behind the Geocaching Block Party and other awesome events. She recently traveled to her home state of New York to join nearly a thousand people  in celebrating geocaching and the geocaching community at the ASPGB IX. Here’s her story. 

A Return Trip Home with Geocaching

Here at Geocaching HQ, we often hear glorious stories of geocaching taking people to places they never knew existed. And we’ve even experienced this phenomenon ourselves – stumbling upon EarthCaches that reveal large geological events that we never knew happened, or finding the Little Library around the corner that just so happens to contain a geocache.

As excited as I was to attend the ASPGB Mega-Event again this year, returning to the place where I grew up to attend an event I had previously attended seemed a bit anticlimactic. But I was wrong. Not kind of wrong, I was so wrong – out of the ballpark wrong- that I’m actually embarrassed that I had that thought in the first place.

To begin, the ASPGB was spectacular this year. It was great to see familiar faces from last year and meet all of the new attendees this year. The event was packed full of fun activities,  from Lab Caches to a creative cache contest to a raffle dripping with anticipation. I met so many great people including these lovely ladies (below) that were celebrating their 100th find. They presented me with the awesome smiley which now permanently resides at my desk.

100 finds
100 finds and a smiley

In addition to attending the event, I had the opportunity to spend a day geocaching with my mom in the town where I grew up. We found an amazing EarthCache at one of my favorite childhood spots, Rock City Park. My mother has become quite the geocacher over the last year.

GC14E7K: Rock City Park
GC14E7K: Rock City Park
amys mom
Amy’s mom, geocaching pro.

 

A Hometown Still Full of Surprises

The biggest element of surprise happened on my drive back to the airport. About 30 minutes into my drive, I stopped at a rest area in a place called Friendship, New York. While there, I decided to peek at the Geocaching app to see if there were any nearby geocaches. To my surprise, there was one right at that rest area. I left the car and wandered to GZ and quickly made the find. As I was re-hiding the container, a car drove up behind me. From the window I hear, “Can we sign the log before you put that back?”

As I turned around, I saw a car full of geocachers. They pulled over and we shared stories, trackables and even had an impromptu photo shoot.

All in all, I realized that geocaching is so much more than finding new places. It’s about the randomness of the things that happen along the way, the people you meet, the experiences you have and the community that you belong to as a geocacher.

unnamed (3)
Random encounters: Teamajk, theworldisfun, cheryyll, & Tiki tour

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Introduce Friends to Geocaching with this 1 Free App

MailerImage_06302014_IntroAppsForEveryone_vFINAL_BLOG

Geocaching has never been easier to share or take along on a spontaneous adventure.

The official Geocaching Intro apps for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone serve up beginner geocaches. The app is loaded with helpful advice, tips and videos to turn muggles into geocachers in just a few clicks. The apps offer your friends everything they need to launch on a geocaching adventure. Use the app to search for Traditional geocaches, navigate to their locations and log finds. Now when friends ask about geocaching, you can say, “download the official Geocaching intro app, and I’ll show you all about it.” Or say something even wittier, maybe even add a joke. Your friends like jokes.

If you’re a Geocaching Premium Member the intro app offers even more features, like access to all Traditional geocaches regardless of terrain or difficulty, including Premium Member Only Traditional caches. Download the app for your phone now, and begin a geocaching adventure anywhere.

/ Derek H /

The wheels keep turning – A Moagem (GC4QYFG) – Geocache of the Week

The geocache during the creation process. Photo courtesy of fundao365
The geocache during the creation process. Photo courtesy of fundao365

Geocache Name:

A Moagem (GC4QYFG) [translated from Portuguese: The Grind]

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

1.5/1

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

Geocaches take on many forms: some are cool containers, some are in interesting places and some are mind-bending puzzles. This week’s Geocache of the Week is a combination of all three. The geocache itself is an incredibly well-made, large cryptex. Geocachers have to use the clues in the description to decipher the code, then line up the different wheels in the right spot to release the geocache. The place where this geocache resides is also interesting. “A Moagem” in Portuguese translates to “The Grind”, which is appropriate since the geocache is placed inside a grinding mill that has now been transformed into a museum, arts exhibit and meeting place. After you earn your smiley, you can even take a look at some of the original grinding machinery.

What the geocache owner, fundao365, has to say:

With this cache we used the concept of indoor geocaching. After understanding this kind of cache rules with the help of the reviewer btreviewer, we started the developement and prototyping process. We take this opportunity to thank him for the cooperation. The cache is inside a reconstructed milling house, that a long time ago used to collect the rye seeds from the local producers and produce the flour. According to this, we  inspired in the grindstone to build the cache. We also thought that the container opening method should be as original as the design. After thinking about a few possibilities, we came to decide to build a big dimensions cryptex with an opening device that looks like a grindstone.

  • The geocache is inside a museum, how did this partnership come about?

The museum belongs to Fundão city hall. The team fundao365 is composed by some of its employees, that share the passion of geocaching. The partnership was born naturally.

  • Can you talk about how you created this geocache?

The cache was developed and created in Fab Lab Aldeias do Xisto, that is a Digital fabrication laboratory recently created by Fundão city hall, wich main goal is to support open access to entrepreneurship and idea development.

  • What do you think of all the positive logs and favorite points?

It’s rewarding seeing that our work is being recognised by the geocaching community and it is an inspiration to future projects that we are already working on.

  • Is there anything you’d like to say to the geocaching community?

We appreciate the opportunity that Groundspeak gave us to invite all geocaching community to visit Fundão and meet its wonderfull territory, wich has too much to offer to geocachers. We’d also like to promote our nearest Mountain: Serra da Gardunha, that has an unique landscape and offers other activities like mountain bike, hiking, Hang gliding, canoeing etc…

What geocachers are saying:

[all translated from Portuguese]

“Excellent cache that I got to know during the event held on the same day. Cache that deserves a visit from all geocachers.Thanks to the owner for sharing.” – jccms

“I confess that I was very impressed with the work that went into the design of the container and was even more surprised with the logbook cover is genius. Throughout originality gets the deserved FAVORITE!” – scalpelman

“…this is wonderful, very original and well thought out! now here’s a cache to last a few many years! TFTC” – grilo85

Photos and video:

[vsw id=”6hy5zScHFTs” source=”youtube” width=”853″ height=”480″ autoplay=”no”]

The museum where the geocache is located.
The museum where the geocache is located.
The cache in its natural habitat. Photo courtesy of fundao365
The geocache in its natural habitat. Photo courtesy of fundao365
This could be your view—if you decipher the code and open the cache. Photo courtesy of fundao365
This could be your view—if you decipher the code and open the geocache. Photo courtesy of fundao365
An up-close view of the locking mechanism. Photo courtesy of fundao365
An up-close view of the locking mechanism. Photo courtesy of fundao365

What’s the most well-made geocache you’ve ever found? 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.

If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, just fill out this form. Thanks!

/ Alex /

First to Find 4,355 Days Later

Remember that time we wrote about an FTF after 12 years? Maybe we weren’t being specific enough. That was a FTF after 4,337 days.

Geocachers are born to break records, to test limits, to push boundaries. So when four guys set out in a boat on a journey to an obscure island to find a geocache with impossible odds, we were excited, enthralled, even impressed. But we were not surprised. No, never surprised. The need to seek adventure is in a geocacher’s very DNA.

Team BOSS in action.
First rule of geocaching as a team: find a good team name.

SK Extreme 01 is a virtual geocache on an uninhabited and unnamed island in Brabant Lake, in northern Saskatchewan. Note that Saskatchewan is just about twice the size of Germany—making the island a needle in a big Canadian haystack.

The geocache was published on Geocaching.com in 2002 by geocacher KenJamin, who was staying on the island during a guided canoeing trip. He found a topographical survey benchmark and, realizing that Canadian benchmarks weren’t published online like American benchmarks, thought it would make a good virtual cache.That’s the type of geocache for which one gathers information at a site, rather than finding a physical hidden container.

KenJamin says the virtual would be the start of a series of extreme geocaches. “The kind of caches that drew me to geocaching in the first place.”

Twelve years and zero finds later…

Team BOSS, a group of geocachers consisting of bennykidd, olemaz, scratch1, and sasktravelbugs, planned a trip. Snow and ice would force them to delay their adventure until spring. Their journey would begin with a drive from Saskatoon to Brabant Lake, a route so long and remote even Google Maps doesn’t dare plot it. And they knew the drive itself wouldn’t be a picnic. Says Olemaz, “We had heavy rains in Southern/Central Saskatchewan and if we had the same rain that far North, roads could have been treacherous. ”

Once at the lake, which is shaped more like a trailing globule of drool than a water feature, they’d cross the water in a rented boat to the island—the site of the cache. Rain, fog, and wind were of primary concern on this stretch of the journey.

Of course, these things don’t usually go as planned.

Team BOSS had, “perfect weather, perfect roads, and a perfect landing.” And the benchmark itself? It was “a fairly quick find.”

The real challenge came when the team was forced to wait to return to an area with cell service before making the phone call to KenJamin. The reward, however, was spectacular. “The phone call to the Cache Owner, KenJamin, for his required answers made our day as we knew we’d catch him off-guard and he would be stunned.”

Benchmark Island, SK
Benchmark Island, SK

And he was. “I vividly remember receiving the call from Team BOSS.  I think olemaz said the digits from the benchmark followed by the key digit, and words to the effect of ‘does that mean anything to you?’  I admit I was stunned and didn’t make the connection at first.  I paused and thought; then it suddenly stuck me and I blurted out ‘No Way!'”

Gold, guts, and glory?

Not quite. Despite this, olemaz says there was great deal of excitement and adventure for sure. “The best moment of the trip was seeing the beauty of nature in this world and the camaraderie among geocaching friends having fun.”

What’s next for Team BOSS?

Among other things on a long, long bucket list…

    • Olemaz wants to complete the Jasmer Challenge—to find one geocache hidden in each month since May 2000. He is only four finds away.
    • Scratch1 plans to find a geocache in every province and territory in Canada. When that’s done, he’ll find a geocache in every state in the U.S.
    • Bennykidd is just going to go out and find more geocaches, all over, from one coastline to the other!
    • Sasktravelbugs has the last “APE” geocache in Brazil in his sights. He also needs to find caches on only one more continent to complete the 7-continent challenge.

And KenJamin?

“As I reflect on this, the first cache in the series, I recall and appreciate all the great logs and pictures I have received as a result.  The three caches and the cachers that have visited them have made the distance, hikes and effort to place them repaid ten fold. As far as my future geocaching adventures go I have ambitions for areas in and around Arches and Grand Canyon National Parks.  Cache recommendations would be appreciated.”

Want to read more about this epic adventure? Check out the audio of an interview with Team BOSS on http://www.livingskies2014.ca/ or http://www.podcacher.com/2014/06/show-474-1-pmm-ftf-12-years-later/.

Now, a few more people in the geocaching world know what's behind the black box.
Now, a few more people in the geocaching world know what’s behind the black box.

 

/ Paige Edmiston /

Time to Phone-a-Friend: Sometimes hiding a geocache takes two

FTFers in action
RandolphAgarn and I camped out to (sneakily) watch the FTF in action.

2 x 2 Makers and Hiders Unite

It takes all kinds to make geocaching the quirky, wonderful, interesting hobby/game/community that it is right now. Some like to solve puzzles, others like to trek across mountains; some are serial geocache finders, and others are serial geocache hiders. Altogether, these different types make for a healthy (and fun!) geocaching ecosystem.

Within this geocaching ecosystem, I’ve always considered myself your everyday, traditional finder—like moss (a little bit boring), but surely important for some unknown, ecological reason. That is, I used to think of myself like moss. Then, a few months ago, I attended a Maker Madness event hosted by Geocaching HQ. I walked out of the event knowing that I too wanted to create great geocaching experiences for others to enjoy… But I didn’t want to hide just any old geocache. I wanted to hide the Mona Lisa of geocaches.

There was, however, one small problem. When it comes to any and all geocache making skills…well, I don’t have any. I never took woodshop. I don’t know anything about Arduino computers. And (much to my puzzle-loving grandfather’s disappointment), I cannot solve the Monday crossword puzzle, let alone design a worthwhile puzzle of my own.

Hiding without Making

So how does one hide a masterpiece geocache without having any relevant Maker skills?

Luckily, I discovered that geocache hiding, like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, has a built-in Phone-a-Friend option. You see, like the broader geocaching community, geocache hiders come in all shapes and sizes. There are the Makers, who imagine (and implement) the future of geocaching containers; then you have the location hiders, who have a knack for finding breathtaking hiding spots; and finally, there are folks like me.  I am nothing if not reliable, which as it turns out, is a key ingredient to a great geocache. (Ahem, you’ve heard of a little thing called geocache maintenance? No one likes a soggy log.)

RandolphAgarn
RandolphAgarn makes final adjustments to our geocache.

So, I used my Phone-a-Friend card to call up my friend and Geocaching HQ mobile developer Arne Moen (Username: RandolphAgarn). He is everything that a Maker should be: creative and innovative with more than a few DIY tricks up his sleeve. And fortunately for me, he enjoys making geocaches more than maintaining them, so we formed a geocache hiding partnership. He built the container and I will be in charge of maintaining his creation going forward.

RandolphAgarn and I were so excited/nervous about putting our geocache out in the wild that we decided to sneakily camp out on a nearby bench to watch the FTF (first-to-find) in action. Given our geocache’s proximity to Geocaching HQ (home to 70 plus geocachers with instant notifications set up), we weren’t shocked to see the FTF go to a couple of HQ staffers within 20 minutes of publication. ScatterMyCaches and ReidSomething were pumped to earn their first FTF (but less excited to FTF the giant spider that had been quick to make the geocache its home).  A big congrats also to MedicineManOfSeattle and TrailGourmet for the STF (second-to-find).

Okay, so our geocache may not be the Mona Lisa of geocaches, but it sure feels good to have played a part in creating a quality experience that many will be able to enjoy.  And, unlike moss, it’s nice to know that we all have the ability to choose what role we’d like to play in our geocaching ecosystem.

3 reasons to hide a geocache with a friend

  1. It’s more fun. ‘Nuff said.

  2. You can share the workload. From building a container to maintaining it, hiding a geocache can be a lot of work! Splitting up or sharing responsibilities makes it a whole lot easier.

  3. Collaboration inspires creativity. The brain is a wonderful thing. Two brains are even better.
FTFers
The FTF team!
FTFsandCOs
RandolphAgarn and I talked the FTF’ers into taking a celebratory selfie with us!
Earlyfinders
Early finders Jwlatona and COOP.

 What’s the story behind your first geocache hide?