Geocache Name:

Yangshuo – GE9 (GC32N82) by Golem team

Location:

Yangshuo, China
N 24° 46.665 E 110° 29.127

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

D1.5/T2.5

Why this is Geocache of the Week:

It’ll take a bit of a climb—and maybe an international flight—to reach this EarthCache, but rare is the geocacher who regrets it. This EarthCache takes you on a short hike above the city of Yangshuo in northern China. The area is known for its dramatic karst mountains, which are the focus of this cache’s earth science lesson. Karst mountains are striking and easily recognizable. The isolated, steep-sided limestone hills are typically surrounded by flat plains. They’re formed when mildly acidic water begins to dissolve weak, soluble bedrock, creating fractures and openings in the rock which deepened over time.

Or, as the Cache Owner puts it in words we can all understand:

“In the beginning there was a huge limestone plate. Like a chocolate table on the desk. There are movements of tectonic plares in the earth’s crust and the table was broken to pieces. Imagine the table of chocolate divided to pieces as if you want to eat it.
Next the water from rain and rivers come. If you put water on chocolate it will start to dissolve it and flow parts of it away. The holes and openings become bigger and after some time most chocolate is out. The same as here. The rests of limstone’s plate are karst hills and mogules of different shapes.
You can ask why the water did not make a deep canyon – the bedrock is too hard. The water took the chocolate, but the desk remained the same. The end of the story is sad – after some time there will be no chocolate at all. But here in Yangshou it is a question of many million years.” -Golem team

What geocachers have to say:

“During our China trip we also visited Yangshuo. A beautiful place with lovely mountains which are lighted during the evening. Together with CaliburnNL we found this earthcache it was a challenge to climb this mountain. Not the climbing was the problem, but finding the start of the climbing. After climbing we had a beautiful view and were able to answer the questions. Team Golem TFTC. mnmjwe from the Netherlands.” –mnmjwe

“We spent two weeks in China. The landscape around Yangshuo is fantastic. My family wasn’t glad that I left them alone in the park while climbing up the hill (especially because they didn’t know that I had to go up). But it was worth. The answers I sent to the owner. And I would like to leave a favorite point. Thanks!” –alpinpoet

“Today we (my youngest son AO99) ans I decided to climb the hill instead of shopping together with the others in our tourist group. A good choice to my mind. The climbing was a bit sweaty (36 degrees C and moisture about 90%) but worth every step. A gegorgeousiew was our salary for this exercise. Unfortunately was my GPS unreadable because of the chineese text in the description, but I think I have managed to answer all the questions, even if there was a small misunderstanding. This cache is a clear favourite to me and FP added! Thank´s for all the work you have done to create this cache! And greetings from Sweden.” –benke.olsson

Photos:

Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world. Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.

Geocache Name:

Marios Stoneworld (GC3HCC3) by Sauerteam

Location:

Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
N 49° 44.030 E 006° 30.400

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

D4/T4

Why this is Geocache of the Week:

You don’t need to have loved Super Mario games as a kid to enjoy this cache. It’ll inspire anybody who has a taste for adventure. This is an eight-stage multi-cache, which takes place in a quiet, light forest with the autobahn roaring far above.

We don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but here’s what we can tell you. At the first stage of this cache you learn your mission: rescue the princess. The next few stages are different “levels” of the game, sometimes literally. The stages have you wading through streams, edging your way along cliffs, finding eerie lost places, solving cleverly set up physical puzzles, and eventually finding and rescuing the princess. The final location is filled to the brim with wonderful swag for kids.

If you speak German, check out the logs on the cache page. It’s covered with people raving about how amazing the experience was. And don’t be fooled by the difficulty and terrain rating — this cache is frequented by geocachers both young and old.

What geocachers have to say:

“Wow, wow, wow! Once in a while you’re doing a geocache which will let you really appreciate this nice hobby. However the more geocaches you do, the harder it seems to get to really be suprised on a cache. Well, this one, this multi raised the bar for us big time. I actually dont know what to say about this’, a bit lost for words. Every single waypoint was worked out really well, and there must be taken a lot of effort to create this multi. Very, very amazing, this was more than just a geocache, a real experience. You definitively earned the blue medal, too bad we can only give you one…” –pleb06

“Gemeinsam mit FRP-O hatten wir einen super Ausflug! Groß und Klein kamen auf ihre Kosten. Wir hatten super viel Spaß und Freude beim Lösen der Aufgaben. Für unseren Hund und Teamleader (Marlon) war dieser Cache ein Paradies!!!Die Kids waren total stolz sich eine Überraschung aus der “Finaldose” aussuchen zu können. Zu Hause hatten sie noch viel Spaß und beschäftigten sich noch ein Weilchen mit ihrem Geschenk! Vielen Dank für dieses wunderschöne Abenteuer, es wird noch lange in unseren Köpfen bleiben!!!
Viele Grüsse von der Mosel!!!” –Marlonebär

(This was an awesome outing with FRP-O. Both young and old got their money’s worth. Lots of fun and joy was had while solving the puzzles. For our dog and our teamleader (Marlon) this cache was a paradise. The kids were incredibly proud of the fact that they were able to select a prize from the final. At home they continued to play with their presents. Thank you so much for this amazing adventure…we won’t forget it soon. Greetings from Mosel!)

“Gleich mal vorweg: Nebst all den coolen Lostplaces und unzähligen Bunkern, die wir in diesen Tagen gesehen haben, ist dieser Multi hier für mich mein persönliches Highlight an Gestaltung!! Sehr geile, aufwändige, liebevoll und teils ganz frech gestaltete Stages trifft man hier an! Sowas gefällt Hasen im Wald ganz besonders gut, und ich würde zu gerne an jeder Station ein blaues Schleifli hängen….Chapeau!!! Huhuuuuu ;-D Vielmehr kann und will ich gar nicht mehr sagen, da muss man selber durch! ;-)…Spannung, Spass und Action im Wald! Kurz: genial perkfekt für mein Cacherherz!!!! Wärs ein Hotel, gäbs 5 Sterne! 😉 Riesen Dank ans Sauerteam für diese sensationelle Runde!!!” –Häsi7

(First off: Compared to all of the cool lost places and numerous bunkers that we saw in the last few days, this multi-cache is absolutely a highlight. We encountered stages that were carefully put-together, incredibly cool, and sometimes downright tricky. I would have loved to give a favorite point for every stage of the cache. I can’t say too much more…you’ll have to experience it all yourself! It’s all about excitement, tension, and fun in the forest. Absolutely perfect for my ‘caching soul. If this were a hotel, I would have given it five stars. A huge thank you to the CO Sauerteam for this amazing adventure!!!)

Photos:

Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world. Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.