April 4, 2014 / Paige Edmiston

Makers’ Secrets Revealed: Blueprints for 3 Amazing Geocache Hides

3 Amazing DIY Geocache Hides Revealed

Geocachers who attended one (or more!) of the 900+ events held around the world during Maker Madness, gained a glimpse into the inner-workings of the crazy-creative minds of geocache makers. They learned how to make clever hides, like camouflaging a container to look like a rock or tree or set up the ultimate Multi-Cache.

A few of these great geocaching minds agreed to share the secret sauce behind their coolest creations with us. So yeah, please DO try these at home.

Fogg working on "Geocache on the Rocks" — Fogg working on “Geocache on the Rocks”

Geocache on the Rocks by Fogg

fogg is a geocacher from Schallstadt, Germany known for his ingenious hides. To make Geocache on the Rocks, Fogg utilized a little thing called “physical computing.” Take a look at what geocachers have to say about this geocache:

rabbitredux: TFTC! What a truly amazing cache. I have never seen anything like it before!

BiblioMo: I thought I’d seen it all in Geocaching until today. WP1 was extremely cool and ingenious.

Check out these step-by-step instructions to recreate your own Geocache on the Rocks.

Click for a PDF of Geocache on the Rocks

A SHOCKING Cache by WVTim

WVTim is a geocacher from West Virginia who has racked up an impressive 5100 Favorite Points. He’s known for his gadget style hides, like a SHOCKING Cache. Here’s what geocachers are saying:

smitfam4: Another clever cache, my kids don’t understand how you come up with these ideas.

Steve105: Thanks for the shocking experience.

Check out these step-by-step instructions to recreate your own SHOCKING Cache.

screenshotPDFinstructions — Click to see a PDF on how to build A SHOCKING Geocache

Schrader’s Ode to Dayspring by Herr Potter

Herr Potter is the local, Seattle geocacher featured in Geocaching’s video Thank You to the Geocache Hiders. As its name implies, his geocache Schrader’s Ode to Dayspring was inspired by another awesome Seattle hider, Dayspring, and his Totally Tubular geocache series. Read what geocachers are saying:

wants to fly: Very nicely done. Impressive workmanship.

benandjayme: What a fantastically fun idea for a cache! We had a great time retrieving the cache with our co-workers. There was dancing, singing, worm admiring, and log signing! Thanks for bringing us here and sharing your creativity!

Check out these step-by-step instructions to recreate your own Schrader’s Ode to Dayspring.

Click to see a PDF of "Schrader's Ode to Dayspring" — Click to see a PDF of “Schrader’s Ode to Dayspring

Share your ideas for inspirational geocaches in comments below!

April 2, 2014 / Derek H /

Don’t be afraid of the snake. — GeoSnake (GC4YDPC) — Geocache of the Week

[vsw id=”JMYJn9hanHc” source=”youtube” width=”853″ height=”480″ autoplay=”no”]

Geocache Name:

GeoSnake (GC4YDPC)

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

2.5/2

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

This week we’re continuing our theme of games in geocaches with this amazing creation that resides in Hong Kong. While last week required you to play a game before you left home, this multi-cache integrates the game right into the middle of the find. In order to get the coordinates for the final stage, geocachers have to play a few rounds of the classic Snake game. The time, effort and technical ability that went into creating this geocache is a perfect example of what geocaches can be when a geocache maker puts their mind to it.

# of Finds:

11 (hidden in February 2014)

# of Favorite Points:

What the geocache owner, CX15, has to say:

“My favourite part of Geocaching is to read the logs of people finding my contraptions…I have been trying to push the limits of cache making right from the start. I guess I was inspired by some really cool caches in Hong Kong and wanted to see how far I can go with some ideas (and believe me, I have so many more ideas – the only limit is time…)”

What geocachers are saying:

“Wish I could unload all my favorite points on a brilliant cache like this! This is truly a world-class grade cache! Thanks for making this one-of-a-kind cache! You really are the maker master. Therefore decided to find this cache on the Maker Madness event day in order to pay my respect to owner!”– samshlau

“Yay!!! This cache is def going to my fav list!!! Such an interesting journey leading to the final cache. Much impressed by the craftsmenship n system integration ability. The theme was carried out thru-out the whole hunt. We spent much time with the game but it’s all worth it for the final gz.” – monki322

“We screamed loud as we reached final GZ. It’s terrible but terrific!! Such an amazing cache with careful planning and meticulous preparation! Million thanks to cache owner for giving me such pleasure!…It’s definitely my favourite cache so far!!!” – chungtao

Photos:

Get ready to play GeoSnake! Photo courtesy of geocacher CX15

GeoSnake in its beta testing phase. Photo courtesy of geocacher CX15

Think you can beat it? Only one way to find out... Photo by geocacher samshlau — Think you can beat it? Only one way to find out… Photo by geocacher samshlau

See More Photos

What game would you like to see integrated into a geocache? 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, leave a comment below with the name of the geocache, the GC code, and why you think we should feature it.

April 2, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

A Texas Sized Mega-Event (and Squirrel)… in Texas

Editor’s Note: Staff from Geocaching HQ in Seattle are visiting more than 30 Mega-Events around the globe this year to shake hands, share stories and hear what you think is next for geocaching.

katie 2 — Geocacher “Dark Star” and Katie meet a new friend at the Mega-Event (okay, it’s a squirrel)

By: Katie Barker

It was my first time traveling to Texas and it definitely lived up to my expectations! Known as the “friendship state”, Texans showed me that geocaching friendship we all know and love the moment I arrived at the Friday Night Meet & Greet in the small town of Bastrop. Geocachers from near and far traveled many miles to attend the weekend’s festivities and I was feeling lucky to spend my time with such a great group of people. Here’s a little re-cap about my weekend in Texas. If you’ve never attended a Mega-Event, here’s what you can expect.

I was up bright and early on Saturday on a mission to complete the Lab Caches. Jana Fite, (cybercat) a long time geocacher and event organizer, created a series of 7 Lab Cache locations from the historic district of Bastrop to Smithville highlighting the most interesting businesses in the area. Each location had a unique experience like exploring the largest bronze foundry in the state of Texas or sampling bottled Texas rainwater at Texas Rain. I couldn’t help but giggle when we ended up at Berdoll Pecan Farms where we found a giant squirrel! A big special thanks to TxDiva and Dark Star for showing me around.

Halfway through the Lab Caches I made a quick stop at the Bridge Spittin’ Ceremony! Who knew that spitting over a bridge was a long time tradition in Bastrop? I do now! The kayakers in the river below had to stay back a little ways as the 200+ geocachers leaned over to spit all at the same time. It was an experience I will never forget to say the least.

I headed back to the 12^th Annual Texas Challenge after lunch to watch the challengers come racing in with their completed score cards. The competition was fierce and I must congratulate North Texas on taking home the win! I also got to meet Jenny Mills, the host of the Birthplace of Texas GeoTour. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try any Blue Bell ice-cream, next time!) I was overwhelmed with joy from all the compliments and positive feedback geocachers gave about the GeoTour. Keep up the good work in Washington County.

The weekend was packed with fun activities, but it wouldn’t be complete without a quick Texas Challenge CITO on Sunday along the Colorado River before heading to the airport (with a stop at Buc-ee’s, of course). Thanks to all the organizers for hosting a great fun-filled geocaching experience.

My favorite part of the weekend was hearing everyone’s stories, from PPanther’s prank (check out her profile page, it’s quite impressive) to the 254 county challenge. Thanks for making me feel at home Texas geocachers!

April 1, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

Geocacher Honored for Historic DNF Stats

DNF’s Earns Geocacher Coveted Award

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJRZnhq3v0Q]

If this DNF Pride video you’re about to watch was located at a set of exact coordinates, and disguised in a geocache container, it’s unlikely the man being honored would ever discover it. This April 1, we honor a geocacher who sets a proud example for other adventurers to follow. It’s a simple, easy-to-follow, statement: DNF Pride. Chosen as a Geocacher of the Month, Dean F, logged more Did Not Finds than anyone in history. He further logged exactly zero finds. His partner, Eftie F, and their geocaching friends created a special event to honor Dean F’s accomplishment. Watch this new video to find out what happened next.

Proudly celebrate your DNF Pride or a friend’s DNF accomplishments with DNF gear from Shop Geocaching.

March 28, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

And Now… A Geocaching Limerick Contest

It’s not often you’re able to combine your love of prose and geocaching… until now. And really how do you express your love for geocaching? Do you pour your creativity into an awesomely crafted hide? Are you the first one out the door in the race to be first to find? Do you spend hours crafting a blog post about your latest geocaching adventures? How about poetry? That’s right – geocaching poetry!

Geocaching HQ staff will be judging the lyrical stylings of the PodCacher Podcast Limerick Contest. You have until April 11 to enter for a chance to win geocaching gear provided by Shop Geocaching. There’s a few things you need to know. Ready for a limerick that explains it all (almost)?

To win a cool coin that is slick

you’ll need to know this little trick

All you need to begin

with a good chance to win

is write up the best limerick

The Geocaching Limerick Contest is sponsored by the PodCacher podcast. Here are some important guidelines. Your limerick must have a geocaching-related theme and it must be family friendly! It must follow the standard Limerick format (3 long and 2 short lines rhyming aabba)

A geocaching Limerick might look something like this:

An urban family went caching

To locate what ranchers were stashing;

They disturbed many crickets

And found a few trinkets

Though the steers kept them constantly dashing.

And here’s a non-geocaching example:

Writing a Limerick’s absurd,

Line one and line five rhyme in word,

And just as you’ve reckoned

They rhyme with the second;

The fourth line must rhyme with the third.

Interested in competing? Check out the contest and details. The winner will be selected by a panel from Geocaching HQ. You have until Friday, April 11 to enter. Good luck! Listen to the PodCacher Podcast for the winner announcement!

Official Blog

Year: 2014