Anfang dieses Jahres folgte das Videoteam des Geocaching-Hauptquartiers einer Gruppe von mutigen Geocachern bei einem bisher einmaligen Unterfangen. Ihr ultimatives Ziel: den schwierigsten EarthCache der Welt zu finden. Das Video ihrer Reise ist jetzt fertig. Schau es Dir hier an.
EarthCaches sind aus einer Partnerschaft zwischen Geocaching.com und der Geologischen Gesellschaft der USA entstanden. Es gibt dabei keinen gegenständlichen Behälter. Dafür vermittelt der EarthCache Dir eine geowissenschaftliche Lektion. An den angegebenen Koordinaten müssen Fragen beantwortet werden, um einen Fund zu loggen.
Schau das Video an und folge diesen begeisterten Geocachern auf ihrer Reise zum Mittelpunkt des EarthCaches.
CITO-Wochenende verlängert
Du hast jetzt zwei weitere Tage Zeit, um das CITO-Souvenir für 2015 zu erhalten. Zwischen Freitag, 24. April, und Montag, 27. April, bekommst Du das Souvenir für die Teilnahme an einem CITO-Event.
Durch CITO (Cache In Trash Out) [Cache rein, Müll raus] erhalten Geocacher ihr Spielfeld, also die Erde, in einem großartigen Zustand. CITO-Events sind Treffen, bei denen Geocacher Müll und eingewanderte Arten entfernen, Wege bauen und Gebiete restaurieren.
The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month Geocoin.
You know you’re a geocacher if…
When you get asked, “Cash or Card?” you hand the teller a lock-n-lock…
You wake up early to be first in line for ammo can sales…
You’ve been to a CITO event (Cache In, Trash Out), and…
You’ve been nominated for Geocacher of the Month!
This month, these three awesome people know for certain that they’re geocachers (in case they had any doubts before).
Here’s your opportunity to help decide who will take home the earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin (at left). Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive the exclusive special edition geocoin, a hat and profile icon. They’ll also receive a certificate acknowledging their contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.
Without further ado, here are the March 2015 nominees for Geocacher of the Month.
Schlurie Schlurie is famous in Rheinland-Pfalz for creating fun and inspiring geocache hides. His particular specialty is birdhouse caches, which have generated a lot of “WOW” moments for geocachers over the years. His nomination comes from Gruet: “Es sind alles selbst gebastelte Vogelhäuschen der Extraklasse. Raffinierte Tricks zum Öffnen, versteckte Mechanismen und integrierte Elektronik. Alles mit Erlaubnis der Gemeinde in einem wunderschönen Waldgebiet installiert. Über 40 Favoritenpunkte in nur einem Monat sind selbst erklärend!” All the caches [in the series] are homemade birdhouses of the highest order. You’ll find clever tricks required to open them, hidden mechanisms, and even integrated electronics. All placed with permission from the land manager of a beautiful area of forest. Over forty favorite points in just one month!
Fivebales Idaho geocaching team Fivebales are all about strengthening their location geocaching community. Their nomination comes from you+me_makes4, who says, “I’d like to nominate Fivebales as Geocacher of the Month because of the amount of work that they put in behind the scenes. One half of Fivebales has been the Event Manager for the Yuma Mega Event for the past two years. It’s a largely thankless job that requires countless hours of work for an amazing annual Mega Event. The second half (and, I’m sure in her words, better half) of Fivebales has served as Secretary for South West Arizona Geocachers (S*W*A*G), the group that organizes the annual Mega. She also organizes a monthly newsletter that is sent out to every member of S*W*A*G to keep up on local happenings and events. The Yuma, Arizona geocaching community would not be where it is without them, and this is our way of thanking of them for all the hard work.”
chuck80196 Missouri-based cacher chuck80196’s nomination comes from Stearman5: “This geocacher has found just about every geocache within the local area and is often traveling to other states to get his daily geocache. Chuck80196 has a current geocache find streak of over 1600 days with a find, and he is motivated to keep that steak going. After he passed 1,000 consecutive days with a find he was surprised at a local ice cream event with a golden ammo can; GC4F08J. He has over 880 first to finds and of late holds back to allow others the chance to get their first FTF; especially if he has already gotten his geocache for the day. He has over 4,900 finds and should pass 5,000 finds by April 5th of this year. He not only gives out favorite points but also receives them. Out of his 181 caches he has received 205 favorite points that is an average of 1.1 points per cache. And out of the caches he has found he has given out 460 of his 491 favorite points available that’s 94% given away. Chuck80196 is ALWAYS willing to help another geocacher out and if you know him he is probably the number one PAF [Phone A Friend] option on your list. And at events he is easily one of the most outgoing social persons at the event. Everyone loves to geocache with him and enjoys chatting it up when you cross paths with him.”
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the March 2015 Geocacher of the Month.
If your nominee wasn’t recognized here, please submit your nominations again next month. We’re always looking for the next Geocacher of the Month. To nominate a geocacher,
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, simply fill out this webform. You’ll need to include the following information:
Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Featured Geocacher of the Month
Please inform your nominee that you have submitted them for the award. Once Geocaching HQ has received the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so that we might learn from each other.
Each month, geocachers around the world nominate members of their community for the prestigious title of Geocacher of the Month. The people who earn this title are not superheroes in the traditional sense: instead of the power of flight, they possess the power to transform a park bench into a treasure chest; instead of teaching the baddies how to be good, they teache newbies good geocaching etiquette; instead of stopping monsters from tearing down the city, they stop decaying geocaches from being archived.
There is no doubt in our minds that the folks nominated for February 2015 Geocacher of the Month are our geocaching heroes. Here are the three nominees.
TexasWriter This geocacher from — you guessed it — Texas, is always rushing out the door to be the FTF, but won’t hestitate to help out a fellow ‘cacher along the way. If you live within 50 miles of him, he’s probably at the top of your Phone-A-Friend list.
TexasWriter and CornDoll
Ramgab This geocacher has found just about 58% of the geocaches in his country. That’s quite a feat when the total number of geocaches in Hungary around is over 6000. Aside from placing stellar kayaking cache series, Ramgab has also helped organize multiple geocaching Mega events in Hungary. As a result, the Hungarian geocaching community has grown significantly over the last few years.
Ramgab on the hunt
TeamPommes
This German geocaching Team has amassed hundreds of favorite points for their creative gadget caches, tricky Mystery caches, and stunning cache locations like this one, which has been featured on the geocaching Instagram page. You’ll recognize a TeamPommes cache by their signature pommes frites (french fries) page background.
TeamPommes
All three nominees are outstanding members of their geocaching communities, and every comment that came in to us about them was full of praise. They will each receive a prize package from Geocaching HQ. But there can only be one winner.
A panel from Geocaching HQ has collected and reviewed your comments.
The February 2015 Geocacher of the Month is:
After we opened our blog post on the nominees for comments from the geocaching community, stories of TexasWriter’s generosity and leadership flowed in.
Mike tells of the second time he met TexasWriter: I was with a group of cachers and we were caching his (locally famous) “Warrior Series” of caches. TexasWriter called me to ask about a cache that we had DNF’ed. (He knew we were getting his caches because I was uploading finds from the field). I told him I couldn’t talk to him right now because my phone battery was about to die and suggested that he should call one of the others in the group I was with. He surprised us when a half hour later he showed up on the trail and handed out water bottles. He then handed me a battery that plugged into my phones charging port and extended my phones battery life.”
TXDinoTrax says: “He’s also one of the nicest cachers I’ve ever met. My kids love that he’s shared his pathtags and helped build their collections. He’s always available for a PAF (Phone-A-Friend), and he and his wife have graciously opened their home to host educational geocaching events. And if that weren’t enough, he has had some truly epic adventures (think night caching in a Louisiana bayou surrounded by hundreds of shiny gator eyes at kayak level).”
Kind words from OMA&OPAof5: “We vote for TexasWriter. If there were such a thing as an International Geocache Goodwill Ambassador, he would be the perfect choice to fill the position. He has a passion for geocaching that is contagious. He uses his love of geocaching to mentor newbies like us and is always willing to answer any questions we might have.”
So says Swagglepuss: “My vote is for TexasWriter. His numbers are impressive enough to win based on those alone, but they don’t even begin to tell the story about the tremendous positive impact he has had on the geocaching community. I appreciate the time he puts into writing meaningful, thoughtful, helpful, encouraging, and at times, extremely entertaining logs on every cache he finds. I love the time, effort, thought, and craftsmanship he puts into placing and maintaining his numerous hides.”
The outpouring of praise we received for TexasWriter goes on. The impact he has made on the Texas geocaching community (and elsewhere!) is clearly significant. We’re happy to award him with the Geocacher of the Month geocoin.
The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin.
Schalte Deine Geocaching-Mission 2015 für den 2. und 3. Mai frei.
Feiere den Anfang von Geocaching am 2. und 3. Mai, indem Du Deine Mission für 2015 freischaltest. Der 2. und 3. Mai stehen für den Beginn von Geocaching vor 15 Jahren. Am 2. Mai 2000 wurde die künstliche Abweichung bei GPS-Signalen aufgehoben, womit GPS-Geräte auf der ganzen Welt 10 Mal genauer wurden. Am nächsten Tag wurde der erste Geocache versteckt.
Feiere am 2. und 3. Mai 15 Jahre Geocaching, indem Du einen Geocache findest oder an einem Geochaching-Event teilnimmst. Damit wirst Du ein neues digitales Souvenir für Dein Geocaching-Profil bekommen.
Nachdem Du den Souvenir verdient hast, lies die Souvenir-Beschreibung, um die Details für Deine Geocaching-Mission 2015 freizuschalten. Steige auf den Sozialen Netzwerken in die Unterhaltung mit anderen Geocachern ein, indem Du Deine Postings mit dem Hashtag “#Geocaching15” versiehst.
Danke für einen weiteren erfolgreichen und leckeren Pi-Day!
Am 14. März 2015, in der amerikanischen Schreibweise “3/14/15”, haben Geocacher auf der ganzen Welt den Pi-Day gefeiert, indem sie einen Mystery-Geocache fanden bzw. an einem Pi-Day-Event teilnahmen und zwei Souvenirs verdienten. Für den Fall, dass es Dir entgangen ist: In den Souvenirs ist ein weiteres Rätsel vesteckt.
Sieh Dir die zwei Pi-Day-Souvenirs an. Siehst Du die Zahlen und Buchstaben rund um den Rand? Kombiniere sie, um die Seite für GC31415 zu finden, auf der Du eine besondere Nachricht von einem der Mitbegründer von Geocaching.com und ein paar leckere Pi(e)-Rezepte findest.
Save the Earth & geocache? Yes please! We call it CITO (Cache in Trash Out).
In 2016, geocachers around the globe will gather together during the weeks of April 22-30 and September 17 – 25 to pick up trash, remove invasive species, repair trails and more—plus earn a pretty sweet new souvenir. If you’ve never hosted a CITO before and you don’t know where to begin, read on! Here are 6 steps to get you started.
1. Choose a location and a date
Since your CITO event will result in an improvement to a public space, pick an area that’s important to you and/or that needs special attention. Make sure you have permission to host the CITO from the local land manager. If you are unsure about which location is best, call a local park manager or geocaching organization. They can provide assistance and support in selecting the best location.
2. Pick an activity
At it’s very basic, a CITO event should involve geocachers taking part in an activity that produces an environmental improvement to a park or another cache-friendly place. CITO activities have ranged from trash pickups, to tree plantings, to invasive species removals, to trail maintenance. Need inspiration and direction? Talk to the land manager to find out where volunteers are most needed. See if there are any local environmental organizations already doing volunteer work, with whom you can partner. Call your city’s Parks and Recreation department to find out if any city volunteer initiatives are planned.
Your CITO event will need to be submitted online at least two weeks before the date of the event. Give yourself a bit more time than that to square away any details.
Type & Location: Select Cache In, Trash Out as the event type, and enter the coordinates where your event will take place.
Waypoints (Optional): Is there parking near your event? A trailhead you need to find to get to the right spot? Let folks know.
Description & Summary: Where is the event, what time does it start and end, and what will folks be doing? Is any special type of clothing or gear required? Will there be activities suitable for young children, or do you have to be a spring chicken to partake? Will there be a lunch break? Any safety concerns? The more details you can supply, the better.
4. Wait for the event to be published.
Once you’ve reviewed and submitted your event listing, your local Reviewer will likely publish the event or request changes to it within a week. If you don’t hear from your Reviewer, check to make sure the event listing is actually submitted and enabled. Check to see if the Reviewer has posted any Reviewer notes in the cache logs section. Once you’ve made any necessary changes, review and submit the listing once more. Feel free to ask your Reviewer for advice if you’re struggling with the event listing.
5. Once the event is published, let people know about it!
Is there a local geocaching organization you can reach out to, to let them know about your CITO? Maybe there are even some non-geocacher volunteer organizations you could recruit…the more the merrier!
6. On the day of the event…
Show up early.
Watch the cache page and your e-mail for last minute questions.
See to it that every person knows what the activity is, and how to do it.
Agree on a time and location to meet up and debrief at the close of the event.
After the event is over, keep the event listed long enough to allow people to log the event. Then write a thank you note, and archive it. Voila!
That’s all, folks! Remember: the CITO 2016 souvenir will be available for events during the weeks of April 22-30 and September 17 – 25, so if you’re planning to host an event that weekend make sure you submit the cache listing at least two weeks in advance, preferably more.
Schlurie
Mike tells of the second time he met TexasWriter: I was with a group of cachers and we were caching his (locally famous) “Warrior Series” of caches. TexasWriter called me to ask about a cache that we had DNF’ed. (He knew we were getting his caches because I was uploading finds from the field). I told him I couldn’t talk to him right now because my phone battery was about to die and suggested that he should call one of the others in the group I was with. He surprised us when a half hour later he showed up on the trail and handed out water bottles. He then handed me a battery that plugged into my phones charging port and extended my phones battery life.”
