Teeming with creativity, YouTuber Carlo, also known as JustCarlo in the geocaching community, shares his passion for creating new and exciting themed geocaches. He takes inspiration from everyday household objects and well-known icons, like Avatar the Last Airbender, to create geocache containers in his community.

Do you need some geocaching hiding inspiration? Join us as we get to know Carlo and learn from his unique tips and tricks for designing, building, and hiding his favorite geocaches!

Geocaching HQ: How and when did you hear about geocaching?

I first heard about geocaching around 2020. My sister-in-law was the first person I knew who tried it; she bought a used GPS unit from Facebook Marketplace to try geocaching with my niece and nephew. They gave it a few attempts but didn’t really pursue it further.

Of course, later that year, we all dealt with the COVID pandemic. It was in 2021, that we rediscovered geocaching. After living through a lockdown, our family made it a point to visit different parks and playgrounds that we had previously taken for granted. We wanted our kids to see more of the local trails and regional parks around the province. Geocaching became a natural extension of that effort since it allowed us to explore the outdoors while maintaining social distance.

The first cache I ever found with my kids was in a park with a playground that was practically empty. I had downloaded the Official Geocaching® app a few days earlier and was happily surprised to see a cache nearby.

Geocaching HQ: How and where can people find you and your geocaching content?

The best place is on YouTube. That’s where I’m currently focusing most of my time: @JustCarloGeocaching
I’m also on Instagam and TikTok:
TikTok: @justcarlo.gc
Instagram: @justcarlo.gc

Geocaching HQ: What’s your background outside of geocaching? Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Both of my parents are from the Philippines, but they moved to Canada for work, settling in Montreal, where I was born. We relocated to British Columbia when I was still a kid, and I grew up in the suburbs around Vancouver most of my life.

I graduated with a degree in graphic design from Emily Carr University (back when it was Emily Carr Institute). That was before becoming a dad of two awesome kids–a whole lifetime ago now! Throughout that time, I was involved with organizing youth programs in the Filipino community, hosting art exhibits, talent shows, and community theater productions. After a stint working at Apple teaching folks how to make the most of their devices, I went back to school to earn my Masters in Education.

All of that previous experience led me to my current role in a small Vancouver-based company called Classmate. Our team specializes in setting up IT infrastructure for schools. We provide ongoing support and collaborate with teachers to integrate and facilitate creative digital projects in their classrooms.

Geocaching HQ: What’s your username and the story behind it?

My geocaching username is JustCarlo. Does it make it sound like I like geocache alone? Since my videos often feature my family and not just me, I get why some folks are curious about it.

My given name is Carlo, but throughout my life, people have often mistakenly called me Carlos. When I was younger, I sometimes let it slide, but as I got older, I would always correct them by saying, “Actually, it’s just Carlo.” That phrase stuck just with me, I guess, and I’ve used it as a username on other platforms. So, when I needed a geocaching username, JustCarlo was the first thing I tried when I signed up. I’m glad it was available! It’s a simple story that has become a part of my identity.

Geocaching HQ: When did you start documenting your geocache finds on YouTube? What’s your favorite part of sharing your adventures online?

We started documenting our geocache finds from day one, right from the very first geocache we found in March of 2021. I document a lot of things my kids do, and finding our first cache was a fun and unique experience that I wanted to share with our family and friends. So, on a personal note, I love that I can share the adventures my kids and I have with our family members, who are spread out in different cities around the world.

I used to dump unedited videos of our finds in a WhatsApp chat with friends. They can probably tell you how excited I always was to send pics or videos about our latest finds. It was in one of those chats that we joked about starting a YouTube channel. I think I just flooded our chats so much that they eventually encouraged me to post the videos online instead! I posted my first geocaching video in February 2022.

I really love sharing the joy that geocaching has brought me. That might sound a little cliché, but I believe it’s natural for people to want to share their interests and obsessions! I’ve always enjoyed telling stories with video, and there’s always fun stories to share about geocaching: the exploration, the hunt, the discovery!

Videos are also a great medium for education, and sharing my caching experiences lets me offer tips that can hopefully be useful for other cachers, especially ones that are new to the hobby. I had less than 100 finds when I started posting videos about our adventures, so I always thought of it as a way to share what I’m learning as I discover more aspects of our hobby.

I’ve learned a lot from other geocaching videos myself, so in a way, it’s about giving back to the community. I also really appreciate the feedback I get from viewers and other content creators. It’s neat to see the camaraderie and encouragement we can give each other.

Geocaching HQ: Your Craft a Cache series is based on Geocaching HQ’s Hiding Themes blog for 2024. You decided to make a geocache for each new month’s theme. What is the favorite theme you’ve created so far? Which theme are you looking forward to the most?

So far, my favorite has been my birdhouse cache (GCAMAV9 Hatchling Hideaway). I enjoy birdhouse hides, and I had a clear idea of what I wanted to craft. Collecting all the pieces came together easily, so that was nice. On a technical note, there is a design language to that video in terms of animations and music that I experimented with that sets the tone for the rest of the upcoming series.

As for upcoming themes, I’m looking forward to the outer space theme. I think there’s a lot to explore there (get it?). I have some ideas for that, some of which are dependent on specific locations. Sneaky camouflage is another theme I’m looking forward to. I mean, who doesn’t love the satisfaction of finding a devious hide?

Geocaching HQ: You love making geocaches with a theme, including Avatar the Last Airbender; tell us a little about your thought process and how you created each geocache.

I do love themed geocaches! Many geocachers I know are nerds and geeks like myself, so it’s cool that we can include our other fandoms in this hobby.

My Avatar the Last Airbender (ATLA) series of caches were our first hides. The caches were created and submitted as part of an annual event near my local area called the Fraser Valley Cache Bash. There’s a different theme every year, and in 2022, it happened to be “Elements.” Anyone familiar with ATLA knows that the fantasy television series takes place in a world where people from different nations can control certain elements like Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, and so it fit the theme of the Cache Bash perfectly.

My kids and I set out to make four caches, each one based on a different nation in the series. I wanted to create a representation of each world as a diorama that could fit inside a lock-n-lock container. The original animated series was so good at establishing the fantasy world, and there were distinct locations the characters visited that I wanted to recreate.

The pieces of the diorama were mostly cut out from EVA foam, which I heat-treated and painted. Some pieces, like the hanging stone temples, I found online. The pieces were glued together and then adhered to the inside of the containers.

I was really excited about these hides–but I only ever managed to hide three of the four and two of them got lost to the elements. That stung a little, knowing how much time went into each one. But I’m over it now. LOL, on to the next hide!

Geocaching HQ: What theme or pop culture geocache will you create next?

I enjoyed making a pixelated Super Mario mushroom and fire flower plant from March’s plants and mushroom theme. I might revisit a whole retro game series of similar caches with a Mario Power Star, a Pacman Cherry, and other power-ups.

I’m working on something featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Stay tuned for that!

Geocaching HQ: How do you choose a location to hide your geocaches? Do you have any tips to help other geocachers find a location to hide their geocaches?

I’ve shared with other cachers before that choosing a good location to hide a cache can be more challenging than finding a geocache! Some advice I’ve received is that you just have to get out there. It might sound simplistic, but the more you get out exploring, the greater your chances of landing a unique spot. And if you go out and find more caches, you’ll have a better idea of how you might hide one yourself. I’m sure many geocachers have gone out somewhere and thought, “Hey, that would be a great location for a geocache!” If there isn’t a cache there yet, see if you can place one. If I find a potential location, I’ll save the coordinates either in Google Maps or Cachly.

It’s always good to think about why you want to bring someone to that particular location. What’s there that is interesting besides the geocache? I’ve hidden caches in locations I’m not thrilled about, but I’m learning as I go. Each hide informs the next.

But if you are just starting out, try to find a location close to home if you can. That way, if you need to perform maintenance on your cache, it won’t feel like a huge task. Of course, each municipality or province/state will have its own rules around geocaching that you want to be aware of. Check with your reviewers, or your local geocaching organization if you have one.

Geocaching HQ: Crafting geocaches can require a lot of preparation; how do you prepare for each new geocache you create?

I carry a notebook and pen with me to capture ideas. That’s always the first step. I’ll write down ideas or make a sketch and jot down possible materials I’ll need. I like to try to have all the materials before I start putting something together; that helps save time.

In terms of production, preparing our space is important. Living in a condo apartment means that our dining table is a do-it-all table. If we’re not eating there, then there’s usually some kind of creative project going on. It could be school work, costumes, or maybe the next geocache.

As I mentioned, I don’t have a permanent workshop space to build in, so I have to factor that into my planning. Sometimes, those limitations can lead to creative solutions.

Geocaching HQ: Where do you like to source your tools or geocache crafting items to create your geocaches? Do you have any tips for making geocache hides on a budget?

I’m also a bit of a scrounger, and I tend to find materials in all sorts of places. I’ve raided our apartment’s recycling bins on more than a couple of occasions, to my wife’s dismay. But it’s a great place to find possible cache containers, and it definitely works on a tight budget! If my kids let me, I might repurpose some of their old toys. Basically, I’ll look at anything around the house that has the potential to be used in a geocache.

Geocaching HQ: You often like to take your kids on your adventures; what are your tips for geocaching with kids?

We want geocaching to be a fun experience, not a frustrating one. Check the terrain and difficulty ratings, and check for the “recommended for kids” attribute. Those are good places to start. Also go for regular to large size caches. They’ll usually be easier for younger kids to find, plus they will typically have swag in them, which many kids love. Oh yeah–also bring swag.

Try to target themed caches that feature a franchise or characters they like. My kids love Pokémon, so any caches that feature Pokémon are a good bet.

Give them a job to do, like taking turns holding the phone or GPS so they can take the lead with directions.

I started geocaching because of my kids, and it very quickly became my hobby instead of theirs. Because of that, I’ve learned to reset my own expectations–knowing that they won’t have as much patience to search for a cache as I do. You might not find all the caches you intended to find in a day, and that’s okay.

Oh, and pack snacks. That’s always a good idea.