Ruins, lost to all but a few for centuries, hide deep in the jungles of Cambodia for geocachers chasing a smiley on the EarthCache “Phnom Kulen National Park” (GC21N8D). Geocachers must navigate their way toward the holiest mountain in Cambodia. GPS coordinates lead adventurers to an elegantly carved stream bed known as the Kbal Spean site. The site was rediscovered in 1969 after centuries of obscurity.
Near the EarthCache "Phnom Kulen National Park"
Aucoin.J created the EarthCache in 2009. The location is just 30 kilometers from Angkor Wat. One geocacher writes, “One of the most beautiful caches and locations I ever did. The jungle was really impressive. We were impressed by the carvings, the butterflies, the water and the whole scenery…”
Carved riverbed of "Phnom Kulen National Park"
Geocachers must answers question found only the cache page and email the owner of the cache in order to claim a smiley.
Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from around the world. Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on our blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
The cache page for the first ever Event Cache starts with the modest quote, “Come have a beer and meet the people whose names you’ve been seeing in the log books. Austin seems to have enough people interested in geocaching to pull this off.” The date was March 24, 2001. The name of the event was “Austin Geocachers Happy Hour (GC389).”
As it is defined today, an Event Cache is where local geocachers and geocaching organizations meet and discuss geocaching.
Rich Carlson, Eoghan, along with Rachel Benavidez, Pumpkin Princess, hosted the first event. Rich and Rachel married in 2003.
First geocaching event March 24, 2001
Rich’s instructions for finding the group of geocachers at the coordinates were simple (and still work at Event Caches today): “Look for GPS units on the tables or someone wearing one of the Geocaching.com t-shirts.”
Rich recently spoke to Geocaching.com about that first event one decade ago. He says: “In early 2001, interest in geocaching was really taking off. Lots of creative new cache types were being hidden. Austin went from one cache on January 1st to a couple dozen by early March, including micros, multis, letterbox and themed caches. As Pumpkin Princess and I sought out each new cache listed we saw a similar set of names showing up in the logbooks and started to get curious about what these other people were like. So I posted the coordinates to my favorite pub, offered the enticement of a free beer to the first finder, and hoped that someone would show.”
More than a dozen people logged a smiley for the event. Rich knows why: “We’re social, story-telling animals. We love to tell tales of the hunt and feel a sense of community.” And there’s one more reason he says people love Event Caches: “Swag, of course.”
As far as being the first to host a geocaching event Rich says, “That I was the one to host the first event is more a matter of luck than anything else. Using coordinates and posting the event as a cache was the obvious approach for a geo-get-together. I happened to be in the right place and find out about geocaching at the right time. Just like being FTF a new cache – if I hadn’t done it someone else certainly would have.”
It wasn’t long before Event Caches wove themselves into geocaching culture. Rich says it all happened fast: “…that event has merged somewhat in my memory with the other events hosted and attended shortly after by TresOkies, 3Lanes, AustinExplorer & Coppertone, RoxBob & Martha, DamnYankee, TxHiPowr, GoHorns, and others.”
Rich says Event Caches fill a need in the geocaching community, by building community: “I can’t speak for what others get out of them, but I like that I get a chance to meet people who I know up front share a common interest. I also like getting to see the variety of interesting people drawn to geocaching.”
Rich and Rachel are still active geocachers. They’re attending the Event Cache, ‘10th Anniversary of the First Ever Event‘ in Austin, Texas this weekend. More than a hundred geocachers are expected to attend the event.
Join in the fun of swapping geocaching stories and meeting your fellow geocachers face-to-face. Find an event near you, explore our Geocaching Event Calendar.
Within the geocaching community, the responsibilities of a courteous geocacher include respecting fellow geocachers, taking care of the environment and maintaining your caches, among other things. And you can be an extra courteous geocacher by helping to maintain others’ caches! The next time you go geocaching, bring additional supplies such as an extra geocache container, SWAG, logbooks and pencils. This way, you will be prepared to help out another geocacher by fixing a cache that needs maintenance on the spot.
If you go geocaching on the spur of the moment and don’t have supplies to fix up a cache that needs maintenance, please make sure to visit Geocaching.com and report a ‘Needs Maintenance‘ log on the cache page.
If you are a geocache owner, we recommend following these simple steps for cache maintenance:
1. Place a cache that is durable and requires little or no upkeep
2. Periodically check on your cache both in person and via the cache page to see if there are any issues
3. If you see a ‘Needs Maintenance’ log on the cache page, fix the cache and post an ‘Owner Maintenance‘ log
Thanks for playing your part as a supportive community member to keep geocaches well-maintained!
Since 2002 geocachers in Washington, D.C. have explored the solar system on foot. “Solar Sailing” (GC908D), a Multi-Cache, transforms geocachers into interstellar explorers. RobAGD writes on the cache page: “This cache will walk you from our Sun to the furthermost reaches of our solar system. The walk is scaled so that everything is within scale of the real solar system.”
The solar system is so reduced in size the walk is less than half a mile through the Washington, D.C. Mall. Earning a smiley on this cache requires uncovering information from your scaled down journey through the solar system. You must email answers to the cache owner.
The Sun at one 10-billionth actual size
More than 1200 geocachers have logged a find on the Multi-Cache to date. “Solar Sailing” has earned 53 Favorite points, making it one of the top ten favorite caches in the U.S. capitol. Geocaching Favorites is a new feature on Geocaching.com.
Geocachers often use their log as a chance to thank the cache owner. One geocacher writes: “It’s nice to see that you can learn a bunch just walking the streets. Very nice walk, and it took us to a few other caches along the way which is always nice! TFTC.”
Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from around the world. Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on our blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
Sendai Airport before and after (courtesy: "Smell the Roses")
Worldwide well wishes pour in for Japanese geocachers caught in the chain reaction tragedy: a 9.0 earthquake, followed by a tsunami and then a nuclear disaster.
A Japanese geocaching family, tmiya, is located near the flood ravaged epicenter of the deadly March 11th earthquake. Tmiya, a married couple with two daughters, live in Miyagi, Japan. The geocachers placed GC2173Z “Underbody of a jet plane” in 2009.
The traditional geocache was hidden in the port city of Sendai. Eleven geocachers logged a smiley on the difficulty 1.5, terrain 1 geocache before a wall of blackened water scoured the coastal landscape.
Location of GC2173Z
The cache page for GC2173Z now has more than 130 notes. Most are well wishes from the global geocaching community. The notes read: “May you and your family have much strength during these tough times for you” and “Our thoughts and prayers are with you in this terrible time. I have found a lot to admire about the Japanese people.”
They are posted from countries around the world such as Germany, the U.K., Canada, France, the United States of America, the Czech Republic and from inside Japan itself. One note from a French geocacher is simply signed, “Fraternité Geocaching” or the “Fraternity of Geocaching.”
This fraternity united in their compassion for a family most will never meet. Perhaps the most endearing post came just three days ago. Japanese geocacher strikeeagl wrote: “We were Tokyo geocaching community confirmed a cache owner tmiya and his family both alive in safe.” Another note posted more recently reads, “We could confirm that he is fine 5 days after the earthquake… I would appreciate you if you could encourage him.”
Join the geocaching fraternity and post your own note of encouragement to tmiya and the Japanese geocaching community on the cache page.
