Year: 2018

/ Carly

What is Geocaching?

 

 

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Join the world’s largest treasure hunting community!

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor adventure that is happening all the time, all around the world. To play, participants use the Geocaching app and/or a GPS device to navigate to cleverly hidden containers called geocaches. There are millions of geocaches in 190 countries waiting to be discovered—there are probably even some near you right now.

 

Geocaching started in early 2000. When the website launched, only 75 geocaches had been hidden. Today, there are over 3 million geocaches and millions of active geocachers playing the game. Geocaches come in all different shapes, sizes, and difficulties and are hidden in both rural and urban settings.

Geocaching offers something for everyone, from families with children to retirees. Some geocachers play the game to see how many total “finds” they can get, while others play to see how many new states or countries they can visit. Geocaching is a great way to find remarkable destinations that you would not have otherwise discovered. It is also an excellent education tool and an excuse to get off the couch.

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Go play. To get started, create a free basic account and use Geocaching.com or the free Geocaching® app to search for geocaches near your location. Whether you are off to find your first geocache or your ten-thousandth, the Geocaching® app is your ultimate geocaching toolbox.

Once you find a geocache, open it up and sign the logbook. You may discover some trade or swag items (small toys, keychains, trinkets) inside the geocache. The general rule of thumb is if you take something, leave something of equal or greater value. Then, place the container back exactly how you found it and share your experience online with the rest of the geocaching community. 

Connect. You can learn more about geocaching through the Geocaching Blog, The Geocaching Channel on YouTube, or the Geocaching Help Center. Educators can share ideas and lesson plans in the Geocaching.com Forum section for education. You can also connect with the geocaching community on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest.

Happy hunting!

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/ Andrew Baldwin

How to earn almost 5,000 Favorite points: Interview with cache owner goblindust

Creative caches are memorable. You hear about them from your friends, at events, or from our blog/social media. But what goes into them? Who is behind them? In Washington state, a name you hear often synonymous with innovative geocaches is “goblindust.” He has an array of caches unique from each other.  

Goblindust, also known as Scott Meyers, has been a member of geocaching for 15 years and hid his first cache on December 20, 2003. Since then his active caches have accumulated over 4,700 Favorite points. With that statistic in mind, it sounded like he might know a thing or two about cache hiding, so I sat down with goblindust to discuss who he is, where he finds his inspiration, and what tips he has for the rest of us.

Continue reading →

/ Andrew Baldwin

Johnny Island’s Throne Room — Geocache of the Week

Traditional
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by goblindust
Difficulty:
3
Terrain:
1.5
Location:
Washington, United States
N 46° 43.411′ W 122° 57.110′

Every now and then you come across a geocache that is so amazing that you have to sit down. You hear that it’s great but it still exceeds your expectations. Johnny Island’s Throne Room offers a surprise when you enter his room. But before you get inside you may question its mundane outer shell.

Continue reading →

/ Annika

Planetary Pursuit Starthilfe (aka FAQ)

Become part of Planetary Pursuit to discover the undiscovered

It’s the year 2650. You’re invited to join the Geocaching Discovery Club and be among the first geocachers to visit every planet in our solar system and earn souvenirs along the way.

This is how it is played

Find different types of geocache between the 19th of March and the 15th of April and individually earn points in the Friends League. Get up to ten planetary souvenirs to become an official space explorer.

Visit the Friends League to activate your scorecard and be ready for the launch on March 19th.

souvenirs Needed points in the Friends League
Planetary Pursuit: Earth 5 points
Planetary Pursuit: Venus 10 points
Planetary Pursuit: Mercury 20 points
Planetary Pursuit: Mars 40 points
Planetary Pursuit: Jupiter 65 points
Planetary Pursuit: Saturn 100 points
Planetary Pursuit: Uranus 200 points
Planetary Pursuit: Neptune 300 points
Planetary Pursuit: Pluto 500 points
Official Space Explorer Collect all planetary souvenirs (500 points) and earn this meta-souvenir.

 

 

action point value
Sign an Found  for a geocache (Traditional, virtual, Wherigo or webcam) 5
Sign an Found  for a multi-cache or a letterbox hybrid 10
Sign an Found  a mystery cache or a Earthcache 15
Sign an Found  for a geocache with 10 or more points favorites 15
Take part in an event 15
Put down a trackable 4

What is the Friends League?

The Friends League is an overview showing the geocaching activity of you and your friends. Earn points by logging a cache, attending an event, or completing another geocaching activity. The number of points varies with the completed task.

The Friends League shows the total number of points you collect during the promotion. You can also see how many points your friends collected during the action. The Friends League will be reset to zero on Monday, April 16, at 12:00 (UTC time).

How do I participate?

Visit the Friends League to activate your scorecard and be ready for the start. From March 19 to April 15, you can earn points by logging caches, attending events, or doing other geocaching activities. Earn up to 10 new souvenirs by earning 500 points in the Friends League alone during the promotion period.

Can I join the Planetary Pursuit at any time?

Naturally! If you start late, you still have the chance to earn all 10 souvenirs as long as you collect enough points by April 15th.

Which 10 souvenirs can I get?

Individually

How can I get points?

If you log a geocache, visit an event, or perform other geocaching actions, you earn points.

Where can I see my souvenirs?

Once you have collected a certain number of points, the respective souvenir will automatically appear on your profile. The souvenirs appear on your profile under the tab Souvenirs.

Is the friend league in the Geocaching® app?

The friend league is not in the Geocaching® app , but can be viewed in the browser of your mobile phone.

Help! My friend league points are not correct.

  1. Make sure that the friends League is enabled for you, by you been to see the page before you loggst your finds.
  2. Logging a note, DNF, or other log type as found is not recognized in the Friends League.
  3. Maybe you found and logged a lab cache. At the moment, no points are awarded for finding a Lab Cache in the Friends League.
  4. You logged in on Monday, March 19, before 1:00 pm ( equivalent to 12:00 pm UTC time) . We suggest that you wait with your log until 12 o’clock UTC – in some places like New Zealand it’s midnight Tuesday – to log your geocaches. Otherwise your points do not count for the first week.
  5. You saved a draft on Monday, March 19, before 12:00 UTC.

If you have already published your logs, select “View Log / Review / Photos”, then click on the pencil icon and “Submit Entry” on the website. Your logs should now be added to the total.

What does UTC stand for?

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is today’s world time. It is the time standard (no time zone) that is commonly used throughout the world. You can convert the UTC here to your local time .

I’ve logged a lab cache, why can not I score points in the friend league?

At the moment you do not get any points for finding Lab Caches in the Friend League.

Do I need friends in my friend league to participate in the Planetary Pursuit?

You do not need geocaching friends to get points and souvenirs for the Planetary Pursuit. But it’s still fun to have many friends in your friend league so you can cheer them on during your space exploration! Here are some tips on how to make friends in the geocaching community:

  1. Visit a geocaching event. Visiting Geocaching Events is the easiest way to make new friends in the real world. Write down your usernames and invite them to become your friends on Geocaching.com . Bonus: If you visit an event, you earn extra points. Find an event near you.
  2. Looking for a geocaching organization on site. One of the best ways to learn about geocaching and make friends is to join a geocaching organization. Find a geocaching organization near you .
  3. Search for Facebook groups in your area. There are many geocachers on Facebook who have formed local groups. Search for “Geocaching + Your Place” on Facebook and find out if there is a group of like-minded treasure hunters in your area.
  4. Share your username in the comment section of this blog entry. If others do, you can add each other as friends on Geocaching.com and find friends from around the world!

How do I add friends to my friend league?

  1. On the left side of your new dashboard or in the old version on the right
  2. Page under the “Community” section, select “Your friends”.
  3. Under “Add friend” you enter the username of a friend.
  4. Select “Send invitation”.
  5. Write a message to your friend.
  6. Select “Send friend request”.

Why is the Friendship League only showing a few of my friends?

The friend league will show you ten of your geocaching friends – always inclusive of yourself. If you want to see all your friends, then scroll down the list with your mouse and select “Show more”.

Will the points in the friend league be added up?

No, points are not added. You receive a maximum of 15 points per log entry. For example, if you find a traditional geocache with more than 10 favorite points, you will receive a total of 15 points. If you find a puzzle cache with more than 10 favorite points, you will receive a total of 15 points.

Will I receive points in the Friends League when participating in a CITO, Mega or Giga event?

Yes. Participating in each event will earn you 15 points in the friend league during the Planetary Pursuit promotion.