February 13, 2015 / Alex /

It’s the Same Old Story: Romancing the Geocacher

It’s the same old story.

Boy meets Girl. Boy takes Girl geocaching. Boy falls in love with Girl. Girl falls in love with geocaching. Eventually also warms up to Boy. Here are the 13 dates that made up this imaginary geocaching love story. This is a fictional account, so, basically steal any tips you find here to make your own moves on your potential geo-crush.

THE FIRST DATE

GC274GK

TamsinTugboat and I found this one on our walk through Discovery Park. I got us to GZ, but she
made the find (her first). Had a really great time, hope she did as well.
(Haven’t read her log yet…here’s crossing my fingers).

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THE SECOND DATE

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Cheers to making this incredibly tricky D3 cache my fifteenth! RusselltheSpaceman and I
spent the good portion of Sunday afternoon looking for this one. We gave up several times
and decided to re-energize with fresh pears from Pike’s Place Market. He convinced me
to try this really odd looking peanut butter drink. After that feat, finding this cache among all the
red-herrings was a piece of…gum!

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THE THIRD DATE

GCPD31

Time to spice things up with some good ‘ole EarthCaches. Thanks for bringing
TamsinTugboat and I to this part of the world. Despite living across the water from it,
neither of us have made it out to Bainbridge Island very often. We had a heck of a time
figuring out whether this was glacial till, outwash, or silts and clays…but
guess who’s taken at least one geology course in college? (Hint, of the
two of us, it’s the prettier one.)

THE FOURTH DATE

GCWTP1

Let’s get one thing straight—I was not the one to suggest this 4am hike up Sun Top Mountain.
RusselltheSpaceman thought it would be “appropriate” to get to the top at sunrise, given
the name of the mountain. I thought it would be appropriate to sleep in.
Guess who thought wrong?
‘Twas a beautiful hike, I’ll admit, and this geocache was a worthy reward. TFTC.

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THE FIFTH, SIXTH, AND SEVENTH DATES

GCPWDY (among others)

If a 4am hike to a geocache on top of a mountain to reach a ‘cache didn’t discourage
TamsinTugboat, I think it’s safe to say she’s hooked on geocaching. She came on this
three-day camping trip in the Cascades with me, so things must be going well. This cache
our fourth find of the trip, and the first island cache for both of us. The swim
was frigid, but there was no getting around that. Thanks for the T4 ‘cache!

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THE EIGHTH DATE

GCK25B

Geocaching Headquarters on the eighth date?! Smooth move, my friend. Smooth move.

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THE NINTH DATE

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I reached GZ with TamsinTugboat. We weren’t sure what to expect from a
Terrain 4 cache in the middle of a residential neighborhood. If we’d known we’d be
climbing this pine, we probably wouldn’t have worn flip-flops. Okay, so shoes off, and
up the tree we went, barefoot as Mowgli. Due to technical restrictions, we each
went up separately, but I caught this shot of TamsinTugboat waiting patiently for me to
get over my vertigo and climb down.

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THE TENTH DATE

DNF

It was bound to happen eventually — the dreaded DNF. According to RusselltheSpaceman,
the streak of 45 finds and 0 DNFs we had going was unusual. Even when you know
you’ll have to DNF eventually, it’s hard to accept. But it’s a bit easier to accept when you’re
with a friend.

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THE ELEVENTH & TWELFTH DATES

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First Geocaching Mega event! TamsinTugboat and I took a road trip up to Saskatchewan
to attend this awesome event. Met so many other nice folks and found over twenty geocaches.
She’s almost caught up to me (has someone been geocaching alone on the side?!).

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THE THIRTEENTH DATE

GC2WVHP

We came back to the park where we found our first cache to celebrate our 100th find together!
(Actually, this was my 140th find and RusselltheSpaceman’s 132nd find, but who’s
counting? Well, I am of course.) This EarthCache took us to the stunning sea bluffs at the edge
of Discovery Park, and as luck would have it the weather was gorgeous. From GZ we could
see the little lighthouse at West Point. I’d love to someday restore that old lighthouse to
live in. Beautiful buildings like that deserve loving inhabitants. Answers to the required
questions have been sent off to the cache owner. We’re both crossing our fingers on this one.

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February 12, 2015 / Derek H /

Take a 32-Stage Journey Through Central Park — Bridges & Arches of Central Park (GC17MX1) — Geocache of the Week Video Edition

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Geocache Name:

Bridges & Arches of Central Park (GC17MX1)

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

3/2

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

If you haven’t yet, watch the video above. This geocache is an epic, 32-stage multi-cache that takes you on a journey through Central Park in New York City, NY, USA. The stages of this multi-cache focus on the park’s bridges and arches, which are beautifully crafted but often overlooked. Waiting at the final stage for the intrepid geocachers who make it there is a custom-designed geocoin to commemorate their journey.

What geocachers are saying:

“This cache was incredible. It took my son and I three trips starting from September to hit all the points. Finding the rock and coin gave us a great memory of a fun adventure. Thank you very much for this.” – teamtrimble13

“Yay! WooHoo! What a cache, what an adventure! This probably is my biggest personal geocaching achievement. Loved it! I really enjoyed discovering Central Park and the many many ‘hidden’ trails. There is so much to see, I had no idea. Favorite point for sure!!!!” – wanderlusta

“Fantastic, must-do, classic cache! Having placed nothing but the final on this prime real estate, the CO has created a wonderfully researched experience that will delight any explorer, young and old. This cache, unlike any other cache visited, convinced my muggle friend, Tinstaafl2, to create an account and finally join the game.” – Baxter929

What the geocache owner, addisonbr, has to say:

“…At some point while roaming around the park I stumbled across the fact that no two bridges in the original design are alike. We had just started hiding our first caches a few months earlier, and I thought that maybe the bridges and arches could form the backbone of a pretty interesting tour. I started paying more attention to them while in the park, reading up on them, etc. I found some out-of-print books that had a lot of background information and details about Olmsted and Vaux’s original designs and started making some trips out to scout them, sketching out some descriptions, looking for information that cachers could retrieve from each site (and that could combine to form coordinates). After coming up with a route, I play-tested it a few times to see how long it would take (and make sure that I hadn’t made any errors). It seemed like it was going to take most people 4-6 hours or so, which is on the long side, but I hoped that if I gave people something interesting to read between waypoints it might not seem so bad.

…My biggest concern was that the cache would take too long for people to really enjoy it. Whenever I play-tested it, I was pretty wiped out by the time I got to the end, so I wasn’t sure how it was going to play out for other people. When you publish a cache you’re kind of asking people to trust you with their time, and if your cache takes several hours – it just felt like a lot of responsibility. I was mostly hoping that when people got to the end they wouldn’t feel irritated about all the time they invested writing down numbers and making calculations and otherwise jumping through all of the hoops they’d been jumping through all day. Then after it was published and the logs finally started coming in… a tremendous sense of relief. I always read every word of every log that hits my inbox and it’s heartening that people will take so much time to write as much as they do about their experiences.

Especially for people who attempt this cache while visiting New York – thank you for trusting me with so much of your vacation!”

Photos:

Bridges, arches and geocaching, #2. Photo by geocachers mcjeeper and stukboy

Bridges, arches and geocaching, #1. Photo by geocachers mcjeeper and stukboy

One of the parks many cool bridges. Photo by geocacher guinea gal

Two happy geocachers on their way. Photo by geocacher ChrisAtLarge

What’s the best Multi-Cache you’ve ever found? Tell us and post photos 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!

February 11, 2015 / Eric Schudiske /

Your Path to Platinum EarthCaching

earthcache platinum

Written by: Gary Lewis, Senior Director of Education and Outreach, The Geological Society of America

EarthCaching is different – while part of your geocaching experience, it involves a lot more than finding, logging and replacing a physical geocache. A visit to an EarthCache involves a lesson, a opportunity to think, discuss and ponder and a chance to be rewarded with achievements beyond your number of finds.

gardenofthegods-jamieric-02 — Garden of the Gods Earthcache GCND0E

EarthCaching started in January 2004 when I placed the first EarthCache with my daughter on a headland in southern Australia. My goal was to teach geocachers more about the wonderful geology of our planet. So Earthcaches involve you visiting a site and undertaking a logging task that teaches you some aspect of geology related to what you see. There are now over 18,000 active EarthCaches around the globe – and at least one on every continent!

Can you name this EarthCache? Do so in comments below!

I realized early on that the effort required to place an EarthCache needed to be rewarded. On top of the normal geocache needs, an EarthCaches require some research and planning to meet the guidelines. Out of that realization was born the EarthCache Masters Program – which rewards caters for visiting and placing EarthCaches.

The genius of the EarthCache Masters Program is that it’s quite simple.

The first level, Bronze, requires you to visit and log three EarthCaches. The trick is, those three EarthCaches cannot be in the same state/province/country. We want you to travel to experience the geology away from your home location.
The next level, Silver, requires you to visit and log six EarthCaches and develop and have published one EarthCache. So after you have visited a handful of EarthCaches you get rewarded for the effort you put into having your very own EarthCache published by the Geoaware team.

Can you name this EarthCache? Do so in comment below!

Beyond this the levels are Gold (visit 12, create 2)
Platinum (visit 20, create 3).

You record your efforts via the EarthCache website here and are rewarded by an icon you can place on the profile page. You can even buy Masters coins.

Being an EarthCache Master shows the community that you are not only committed to learning about our Earth, but committed to having even more fun geocaching!

Here’s my challenge. Lets see if we can’t double the number of people who are at each of the EarthCache Masters levels by International EarthCache Day (Sunday 11 October) this year. You have more than 18,000 EarthCaches to choose from to start!

Current Number of EarthCache Masters by Level

Bronze = 14122

Silver = 3731

Gold = 2086

Platinum = 1678

TOTAL = 21617

Can you guess this EarthCache location? Do so in comments below.

February 10, 2015 / Janelle /

4 Legendary Trackables Every Geocacher Should Find

Article written by Katie DiJulio

In the last 12 years, over four million geocachers have participated in one of dozens of geocaching-based Trackable promotions in partnership with adventurous brands around the globe. From John Grisham fans seeking gold ingot Geocoins to Jeep enthusiasts on the hunt for toy Jeeps, there are unique experiences for every type of geocacher.

Trackable promotions give geocachers a unique opportunity to engage with some of their favorite brands on a digital and physical level while spending time enjoying their hobby. Partnerships have included free Trackable giveaways, pre-release sneak peeks, and photo contests with prizes ranging from a set of new tires for your vehicle (road trip anyone?) to all expense paid trips. Each branded trackable builds a unique story as it travels. Trackables continue to generate engagement for years as geocachers discover and display these pieces of history at events, on social media, and online via their collection of unique digital icons (who wouldn’t want to collect a fancy little achievement for your profile page?) How many of these promotional Trackables have you spotted?

Jeep
1. Jeep 4×4 sweepstakes

This was one of the first branded Geocaching promotions and the first time digital icons were introduced on geocaching profile pages. Over 24,000 Trackables were attached to Matchbox Jeeps and released in different color batches from 2004-2007. Jeep trackables have traveled over 16 million miles to date and have become a staple within the geocaching community. The first Yellow Jeep in the promotion was even inspired by the Yellow Jeep Fever, locationless cache, which was a life size jeep! Throughout the promotion Geocachers submitted photos and essays about the Trackables for a chance to win the top prize: a full size Jeep vehicle.

Jeep2 — “As small as those TBs were in the grand scheme of life, participating in those promotions brought me an immense amount of joy.” – Brian – Team A.I., 2007 photo contest winner

Want to discover a jeep for yourself? Follow their latest movements or stop by Geocaching HQ’s museum!

gold 2. John Grisham Hunt for the Gold –

Doubleday publishing group’s 2012 Geocaching partnership focused on John Grisham’s new book “The Racketeer.” 5,000 custom gold ingot trackable geocoins were distributed to geocachers who then placed and moved them from geocache to geocache to mirror the book’s plot, in which ill-gained gold bars are moved around the United States. In addition to moving the ingot trackables over 17 million miles, geocachers showed off their photography skills for a chance to win the grand prize of a real gold ingot! The trackable program was paired with Facebook ads and geocachers flooded the John Grisham Facebook page, which gained 72,000 new Facebook fans and an increase in reach of 220% (according to Marketing Sherpa.)

The winning picture was of a young boy who posed with the "Grisham Geocoin" as a character, Theodore Boon, from Grisham's series of young adult novels. — The winning picture was of a young boy who posed with the “Grisham Geocoin” as a character, Theodore Boon, from Grisham’s series of young adult novels.

The story continues two years later: “Big score at Goodwill lol. Figured I had the trackable, might as well read the book. Both books for only $2. Might need to use for another library cache” - Jason Winder / animjason, Facebook, 12/2/2014. — The story continues two years later: “Big score at Goodwill lol. Figured I had the trackable, might as well read the book. Both books for only $2. Might need to use for another library cache” – Jason Winder / animjason, Facebook, 12/2/2014.

Geico

3. Geico Find the Gecko

GEICO’s 2011 Geocaching promotion released 9,000 Trackable tags designed in the shape of the iconic gecko mascot into the hands of geocachers across the United States. The tags were sent on their way while spreading awareness for the “Find the Gecko” sweepstakes in which one Magellan Explorist GC GPS unit was given away to a lucky geocacher winner each week of the 20 week promotion! The gecko trackables were moved by geocachers over 73,000 times and remain one of the most popular trackables being discovered around the world, averaging 29 touchpoints a day years later.

SHC’s Danger Ranger Geico Trackable has traveled the world collecting more miles traveled than any other Geico Trackable with a total of 326,315 miles (mapped above) since it was released into the game on June 11th, 2011.

Michlelin

4. Michelin Quest for Adventure

In 2014, Michelin celebrated their 125th Anniversary by launching a geocaching campaign to promote tire safety via a social media based photo contest. With 2,000 Trackable tags designed in the shape of a tire and attached to actual Michelin Man tire pressure gauges, geocachers were destined for success on the road. Geocachers across the United States tapped into their inner photography talent by submitting over 1,000 photos portraying a sense of adventure to the official photo contest by using the hashtag #MichelinQuest on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. The Michelin Trackables have traveled almost 1.3 million miles in just 4 months and have saved many tricycle tires from getting too low on air.

Geocachers submitted 1000+ photos over 4 months to the #MichelinQuest contest by adding the hashtag #MichelinQuest on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

These are just a few of the many examples of promotional trackable history. You can locate these promotional trackable types by looking up their latest movements on each of their home pages. Keep an eye on the Geocaching Facebook page and join 3.9 million other people who have subscribed to the geocaching weekly newsletter to learn when new contests and new free trackable series are available.

Official Blog

Year: 2015