The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin
Feel’n down? Feel’n like the world’s missing good people? Check out the comments in the North American Edition of Geocacher of the Month. All three nominees for Geocacher of the Month contribute to their local communities and inspire geocachers around the globe. They’re good-hearted, welcoming folks who are passionate about sharing the joys of geocaching.
Each of the geocachers will receive special recognition and a prize package for their contribution to the adventure of geocaching. Before naming the Geocacher of the Month, Geocaching HQ reviews community input and blog comments. Each comment is read and posts in native languages are encouraged.
hurleyanne – Geocacher of the Month
In a tough decision, the irrepressibly enthusiastic hurleyanne is named the Geocacher of the Month for April 2014. One comment reads, “She’s enthusiastic about teaching others and makes sure no one is excluded. She’s a superb asset to the geocaching community!”
Another read, “She is one of the most generous cachers around, always quick to offer assistance to newbie cachers online and in person, and has the experience to back it up. She has taken it upon herself to compile lists of caches in the area that need maintenance and organize maintenance for those geocaches by those willing to help, and other interesting ‘bucket lists’ of caches, that inspire people to get out of town and explore our beautiful province. Just to show how much she enjoys the friends she has made through geocaching, she made her own wedding into a geocaching event!”
Congratulations again to hurleyanne for earning the Geocacher of the Month for April.
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, simply fill out this webform.
The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin
Sometimes continents must choose. Welcome to an all North American edition of Geocacher of the Month. This month we’re introduced to three geocaching community champs from North America. They’re already winners: recognized by their local communities, placers of inventive and well-loved geocaches and all-around advocates for new geocachers to join the adventure.
Your comments below help decide who takes home the earned, never-for-sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin. Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive the special edition Geocoin, a hat and a profile icon. They’ll also receive a certificate acknowledging their contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.
iPajero was named the Geocacher of the Month for March for helping unite the geocaching community in South Africa. One comment read, “We’d sum them up as a mix of irrepressible energy, indefatigable commitment to finding caches and a clever impish sense of humour when creating their own caches!”
iPajero – Geocachers of the Month
Each of the nominees below is an essential part of the global geocaching community and will receive a prize package from Geocaching HQ in Seattle, but only one will be the next Geocacher of the Month. A panel from Geocaching HQ will use your comments, community input and other data to decide the winner.
Now it’s your turn to help us select the next Geocacher of the Month.
Write a supportive comment for the nominated geocacher you feel should be awarded the title.
Hurleyanne started caching in July 2006 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. She was one of a handful of people who started the Saskatoon and Area Geocaching Association in 2011 and has been on the executive since March 2013. This group hosts a 24 [hour] event each year, which includes a midnight “dine and dash”, a pancake breakfast and finishes with a BBQ. Well over 100 cachers attend this event every year and appreciate all the hard work that Hurleyanne and her fellow executive members put into it. In March of 2013 she traveled to California and Arizona to find a number of Route 66 caches by herself. She had such a great time that she returned in March of 2014 with a couple of other cachers from Saskatoon to do the TS trail in Nevada as well as approximately 400 caches on the ET trail. During the month of March she found 2907 caches with her most successful day being March 18th when she found 717 caches.
zacknmom is a well rounded cacher in the Black Hills of South Dakota. You will find her name in about every logbook and more. She is crazy enough to cache at dusk, dawn, at night, in the cold & heat. Because of her drive to geocache, she has made it fun for those of us who cache with here too.
zacknmom has been active in geocaching events, CITOs and had events of her own. She has some really fun hiking caches. If a person needs help finding a cache she is always there to lend a hand. The stories she tells are so funny about her adventures! zacknmom takes a lot of pictures so we can enjoy her adventure as if we were there with her. One thing I know for sure, if you hide a cache, she is going to find it. With over 6.600 finds, it would be hard to stump her even if you tried.
You can’t help but get caught up in his enthusiasm for geocaching and life itself. He writes the funniest logs in the caches he finds, posts funny pictures of himself, had been known to wear a funny hat, wig, fake teeth, anything that would let people know when Bert is around – things are going to be out of this world fun and surprising.
Bert is real active in his community by organizing and participating in teaching geocaching classes, hosts events including CITOs, mentors geocachers, maintains several web pages not only about geocaching but Baytown as a whole. He meets and works with local community leaders about geocaching and has a set of goals to make geocaching better, safer, more fun, train other geocachers in nearby towns to be able to teach geocaching in their communities “pass it on” if you will.
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the April Geocacher of the Month. Comments accepted through through May 28.
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, simply fill out this webform.
Editor’s note: Geocaching HQ staff are planning to attend dozens of Mega-Events around the world, shaking hands, sharing stories of adventure, and of course geocaching. Each person at Geocaching HQ brings their own unique talent to advancing the adventure. Some write code for the website, others design images for the apps, and some shoot videos explaining it all. Reid Kuennen is the Geocaching HQ staff member behind the lens. She recently traveled to Belgium to join hundreds in celebrating geocaching and the geocaching community. Here’s her story (which includes a nifty video explaining it all).
Bryan and Reid, “We may or may not have known how to play Kubb”
By Reid:
Last month I was honored to attend the Brugse Beer IV Mega-Event in Bruges, Belgium. My friend Bryan, who also happens to be one of the founders of Geocaching, was there with me and we had an unforgettable time. We played Kubb with skill and precision, we climbed the climbing wall with… a lot of help from the organizers, and we even ate fries with mayonnaise. Best of all, we had countless conversations with fun and inspiring geocachers from near and far.
As a thank you to all who attended and organized this awesome event, I have compiled a short video to capture some of the memories. Enjoy:
The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin
A geocaching couple who can literally say they’ve cached their way through an entire country—and mean it—claim the latest Geocacher of the Month award. Comments and shared stories of two people who have not just found more than 10,000 geocaches, but inspired countless geocachers. Their well-maintained hides deliver instant memories. Oh, they also found a vast majority of the geocaches in South Africa. While there is only one Geocacher of the Month, each of the nominees is already a winner, with a prize package headed their way.
All of the nominees add an important contribution to their local communities and inspire the global geocaching community. Each will receive special recognition for their contribution to the adventure of geocaching. Before naming the Geocacher of the Month, Geocaching HQ reviews community input and blog comments. Each comment is read and posts in native languages are encouraged.
iPajero has been part of the geocaching world since 2011. After cementing hundreds of new relationships and fostering the joy of geocaching, he’s being named Geocacher of the Month for March 2014.
One comment reads, “They have been a huge encouragement to us and have added to our caching experience by posting many challenging caches in our home-town. We’d sum them up as a mix of irrepressible energy, indefatigable commitment to finding caches and a clever impish sense of humour when creating their own caches. We once posted a new cache with the wrong co-ords which took folk about 500m from the cache position. Nonetheless they claimed a FTF by using a canny geocaching sense and pointed out to us our mistake. Now it takes a special geocacher to do that!”
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, simply fill out this webform.
Geocachers of the Month
Every nomination must include the following items and abide by the following guidelines:
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 Geocacher of the Month
Please inform your nominee that you have submitted them for the award. Nominations for Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.
Congratulations again to iPajero for being recognized as the Geocacher of the Month for March.
The world of smileys as seen from geocachers like iPajero
Make your geocache smile… 4 things to avoid when hiding a geocache
(Cough Cough) Hello class, and welcome to a quick installment of the 4 most Common Geocache Hiding Mistakes. Why read on? It’s like knowing the four common routes where there’s a bridge out, or heavy road construction, or a locust migration. These are all mistakes a new hider doesn’t have to make. Let’s learn together and if at any point you’d like to know more, check out the Hiding Overview for all you need to know.
Here are the four guidelines that potential cache owners most commonly overlook:
1) Choose an Appropriate Location
Think like a non-geocacher and ask yourself, “Self, am I placing this geocache somewhere where it could be mistaken for something dangerous?” Also ask yourself if geocache hunting behavior (i.e. looking through bushes) might draw attention in sensitive areas, like schools. And make sure you know whether or not geocaches are allowed in that location. Some areas require a permit, are private property, or don’t allow geocaching altogether. Ask a land manager or owner for permission when needed.
2) Consider Proximity to Other Geocaches
Geocaches must be at least 1/10 mile or 528 feet (161 meters) apart. Check the area for other geocaches before settling on a spot. There’s a great new planning map tool to help you, with red circles showing places that are already blocked by another geocache. It won’t tell you about secret locations, but it will catch a lot of the locations that have already been taken.
3) Avoid Commercialization/Agendas
Geocaches cannot be commercial or used to publicize an agenda. Sometimes people get tripped up by the commercial guideline unintentionally. There are lots of platforms that you can use to get the word out about your important cause or a business that you really (really) like, but geocaches are not an appropriate platform for that.
4) Don’t Damage Property
Telephone poles and stop signs seem like they are public property because they are so familiar, but they are the property of the city or utility company. Don’t damage things in the environment. Screwing or drilling into a live tree creates an pathway for insects and disease. Never bury a geocache, even partway. If you have to make a hole in the ground, it’s not OK.
Follow these four tips and you’ll avoid many of the common hurdles geocache hiders face. And while this is the end of this blog post, it’s not the end of what you need to know. Check out the Hiding Overview before placing a geocache and avoid these pitfalls and create smiles like the one below!
