You’ve really done it now. You’ve fallen down the geocaching rabbit hole. Suddenly, you’re speaking another language involving FTF, muggles and TOTT’s. But lo’ and behold, there’s so much more to explore in this wonderland of geocaching. Your one-stop shop is right here. Discover an inspiring Geocache of the Week—oddly enough, posted every week. Stand in awe of selfless contributions to the adventure from the Geocacher of the Month—weirdly named every month (and open for votes right now). There’s more though, as anyone down here in the geocaching rabbit hole will explain. You’ll also travel around the world, checking out Mega-Events in Belgium or the logging the First to Find (FTF) ever recorded in SPACE!
To get to many amazing mountain views, you have to endure a long and arduous hike. For the amazing views you get around the Gelmersee in Switzerland, you just have to hold on and ride the train up a 106% grade. And that’s not it—afterward, you can hike around the lake along narrow pathways carved into the stone walls as you collect clues for the Geocache of the Week. This geocache will take you to multiple stages on a tour around the lake (the name, translated from German, means “Around the Gelmersee”). For the awesome journey and beautiful views, this multi-cache gets this week’s honors.
# of Finds:
86
# of Favorite Points:
28
What geocachers are saying:
“Wow, what an amazing place! My personal Swiss tour guide always takes me to the most amazing places! This one proved to be a fun challenge since we unknowingly passed the first stage. A little brain power made it work with the stages we did have. Thanks for the fun!” – Love
[translated from German] “What a magnificent day. Weather couldn’t be better, and the railroad wasn’t overbooked. We stumbled anti-clockwise around the lake, absorbing the wonderful Nature. We would have done this hike even without the cache there! Of course, the GC was the cherry on top. Thanks!” – Mr.Quady
[translated from German] “The impressive little rail took us to daring heights under incredible summer weather, followed by a circumnavigation of the lake on foot. Those railroad builders sure were inventive. After a successful log we took the train back down into the valley. TFTC.” – Scio
On this geocache’s inspiration: “It is absolutely gorgeous up there. The hike around the lake is pure bliss!…I had been there many times before placing the multi cache.”
When asked about the reaction to all of the favorite points and positive logs: “Joy. Satisfaction. Happyness.”
And to the geocaching community: “My life motto is “carpe diem”. I try to use every day as if it were my last. Nobody knows how many days they have remaining. But everyone can spend the current day in a way to give them as much happyness as possible.”
Photos:
Two geocachers with smiles after earning their smileys. Photo by geocacher Mr.QuadyQuite the precarious hike. Watch your step! Photo by geocacher jokamaBeautiful views of the Gelmersee. Photo by geocacher D’Fenneks
What’s your favorite way to travel to and from geocaches? Tell us 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, leave a comment below with the name of the geocache, the GC code, and why you think we should feature it.
Finally you’ll be able to post “Welcome Back to Earth” on our Facebook page!
After orbiting the Earth nearly 3,000 times over six months (and about 75,000,000 miles), astronaut Rick Mastracchio (Geocacher: AstroRM) and a very popular Travel Bug® will return home from the International Space Station. Thousands of people, at more than 700 Geocaching in Space events around the world, watched as Mastracchio and a Travel Bug rocketed into space.
Mastracchio has been living aboard the International Space Station since November of last year. He even geocached in space. He logged a First to Find on the International Space Station geocache placed by fellow geocacher Richard Garriott. He used the Travel Bug to teach students back on Earth about science and geography, interacting with them on the Travel Bug page about everything and anything to do with space.
May 13, Mastracchio and the Travel Bug will climb into a capsule and return to Earth. The event will be aired live on NASA TV. Celebrate and remember the epic adventure with the Geocaching in Space patch. And do us a favor, say a very special thanks to geocacher Cizzors for leading the charge for Rick Mastracchio to take the Travel Bug into space.
While out geocaching, you can meet some pretty interesting folks. Sometimes it’s another geocacher who joins the hunt. Other times it’s a curious muggle who discovers their new favorite hobby. And then there are the times when you meet a horde of gnomes in Australia. What? That hasn’t happened to you? Well head out to find this geocache and it will. Aside from making new friends, one of the best parts of geocaching is that it takes us to incredible (and sometimes strange) locations throughout the world. Gnomesville is a perfect example of an interesting location filled with interesting (albeit small) people.
# of Finds:
261
# of Favorite Points:
8
What geocachers are saying:
“Heard about this place earlier in the year then noticed some caches here too so couldn’t resist coming to take a look. Kids loved wandering around look at all the gnomes. Had no idea there would be sooo many!!” – SpatialRiq
“Heading down south with my husband who told me about gnomesville. So we made a detour to come and see this amazing place. We parked the car almost right beside the cache. I was so excited. I got to the cute little cache,signed the log book. Took lots of photos then added my little hiker gnome to the geocaching colony. TFTC it was a highlight of my day.” – Ladyjet86
“Great day out gnoming around. What a collection. The geokids dropped some angry little men off to join the clan. Great place!” – polony_5
Photos:
Well, that’s a lot of gnomes. (See what I did there?) Photo by geocacher WandaleyWe’ve heard of TB hotels, but this is a Gnome hotel. Photo by geocacher Luna MayaGnomes EVERYWHERE! Photo by geocacher CassidyFamily
Have you met any interesting people while geocaching? Tell us 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, leave a comment below with the name of the geocache, the GC code, and why you think we should feature it.
Last Year’s GIFF Geocoin. Photos by Suzi-Pratt.com
By Reid,
Around this time last year, my co-HQer and the great Geocaching Block Party organizer, Amy, said something like, “Hey Reid, so it turns out we have access to a very large screen for Block Party. What should we do with it?” After a thoughtful pause I said, “What if we hosted a film festival?” Amy did a giddy dance and the Geocaching International Film Festival (GIFF) was officially born. In true “If you build it they will come” fashion, the ambitious idea was a success. We received over 100 submissions from more than 20 countries! After spending three years of telling the stories of geocachers for Geocaching HQ, I was truly inspired to see how the community chose to tell their own. Our inaugural GIFF was such a hit that we decided to do it again this year.
Crawling around in a cave. Anything for the shot!
It has now been four years that I’ve been running through forests, crouching into caves, and crawling through sewers to tell the stories of people who love to find and hide geocaches. I like to think I’ve learned a thing or two about what makes for good geocaching video, and with the help of the GIFF judges from HQ, I have compiled five tips to up your chances of being one of the finalists for this year’s Geocaching International Film Festival.
1. Less is More
Just because you can submit up to 4 minutes of video doesn’t necessarily mean you should. When I make videos I think, “What is the simplest way I can tell this story?” Then, I add from there if I can’t resist. This will help you focus on what is truly important and keep your audience engaged. Last year’s finalist, Godzilla Goes Geocaching, is a great example of a geocacher who used 1 minute and 32 seconds to tell his story.
2. Global Appeal
How are you going to communicate your love of the game to 9 million geocachers from more than 185 countries? Something that might be amazing for your local community may not speak to the global community. One of last year’s finalists, Geocaching Day, is a story told without dialogue that speaks to the adventurous spirit of geocachers everywhere.
GIFF on the Big Screen. Photos by Suzi-Pratt.com
3. Focus on Quality
We understand if geocaching comes before filmmaking on your hobby list—we’re not looking for Hollywood here. We are, however, looking for videos that will look and sound good on the big screen. If you can, use a tripod and an external mic. If you can’t, have your actors speak close to your on-camera mic and use a natural tripod like a tree or your friend’s shoulder. For inspiration, check out last year’s winner for Best Cinematography: Galaxy Cache. For more technical tips, I highly recommend checking out Vimeo’s Video School.
4. Follow the Rules
For real. We had to deny one of our favorite films last year because they didn’t have permission for the songs they used. If you’re serious about being considered as a finalist, I recommend grabbing a coffee, a snack, a highlighter and reading through the GIFF guidelines.
5. Have Fun!
If you’re not having fun making your film, your audience won’t have fun watching it. Though I know they didn’t get much sleep, I’m pretty sure the creators of My Geocaching Addiction had a pretty good time putting it together. Oh, and they just happened to take home the Audience Award.
We are on the edges of our exercise ball chairs over here at HQ to see what you come up with for GIFF 2014.
