Author: Eric Schudiske

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com and Geocaching App Downtime on Tuesday, April 8

MailerImage_040714_Maintainence_vFINAL_mailerGeocaching.com and the Geocaching apps will be temporarily offline on April 8. We’re adding horsepower and beefing-up* Geocaching.com and our apps. They’ll both be much more stable after the upgrade. The site outage is expected to run about six hours starting at about 2pm PDT (convert to your local time here).

Yeah, you read that right. Apologies, six hours is a little bit of time right? So, during that time you have a two-part assignment, if you choose to accept it. Step 1: Load up your Pocket Queries and offline lists so you can still go geocaching. Step 2: Use that time to get inspired to “make” an amazing geocache. Check out this blog post with all you need to know.

*technical jargon

/ Eric Schudiske /

A Texas Sized Mega-Event (and Squirrel)… in Texas

Editor’s Note: Staff from Geocaching HQ in Seattle are visiting more than 30 Mega-Events around the globe this year to shake hands, share stories and hear what you think is next for geocaching.

katie 2
Geocacher “Dark Star” and Katie meet a new friend at the Mega-Event (okay, it’s a squirrel)

By: Katie Barker

It was my first time traveling to Texas and it definitely lived up to my expectations! Known as the “friendship state”, Texans showed me that geocaching friendship we all know and love the moment I arrived at the Friday Night Meet & Greet in the small town of Bastrop. Geocachers from near and far traveled many miles to attend the weekend’s festivities and I was feeling lucky to spend my time with such a great group of people. Here’s a little re-cap about my weekend in Texas. If you’ve never attended a Mega-Event, here’s what you can expect.

I was up bright and early on Saturday on a mission to complete the Lab Caches. Jana Fite, (cybercat) a long time geocacher and event organizer, created a series of 7 Lab Cache locations from the historic district of Bastrop to Smithville highlighting the most interesting businesses in the area. Each location had a unique experience like exploring the largest bronze foundry in the state of Texas or sampling bottled Texas rainwater at Texas Rain. I couldn’t help but giggle when we ended up at Berdoll Pecan Farms where we found a giant squirrel! A big special thanks to TxDiva and Dark Star for showing me around.  

Halfway through the Lab Caches I made a quick stop at the Bridge Spittin’ Ceremony! Who knew that spitting over a bridge was a long time tradition in Bastrop? I do now! The kayakers in the river below had to stay back a little ways as the 200+ geocachers leaned over to spit all at the same time. It was an experience I will never forget to say the least.

PPanther and grumpoldtexan at the CITO
PPanther and grumpoldtexan at the CITO

 

I headed back to the 12th Annual Texas Challenge after lunch to watch the challengers come racing in with their completed score cards. The competition was fierce and I must congratulate North Texas on taking home the win! I also got to meet Jenny Mills, the host of the Birthplace of Texas GeoTour. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try any Blue Bell ice-cream, next time!) I was overwhelmed with joy from all the compliments and positive feedback geocachers gave about the GeoTour. Keep up the good work in Washington County.

The weekend was packed with fun activities, but it wouldn’t be complete without a quick Texas Challenge CITO on Sunday along the Colorado River before heading to the airport (with a stop at Buc-ee’s, of course). Thanks to all the organizers for hosting a great fun-filled geocaching experience.

My favorite part of the weekend was hearing everyone’s stories, from PPanther’s prank (check out her profile page, it’s quite impressive) to the 254 county challenge. Thanks for making me feel at home Texas geocachers!

12th Annual Texas Challenge
12th Annual Texas Challenge

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocacher Honored for Historic DNF Stats

DNF’s Earns Geocacher Coveted Award

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJRZnhq3v0Q]

If this DNF Pride video you’re about to watch was located at a set of exact coordinates, and disguised in a geocache container, it’s unlikely the man being honored would ever discover it. This April 1, we honor a geocacher who sets a proud example for other adventurers to follow. It’s a simple, easy-to-follow, statement: DNF Pride. Chosen as a Geocacher of the Month, Dean F, logged more Did Not Finds than anyone in history. He further logged exactly zero finds. His partner, Eftie F, and their geocaching friends created a special event to honor Dean F’s accomplishment. Watch this new video to find out what happened next.

Proudly celebrate your DNF Pride or a friend’s DNF accomplishments with DNF gear from Shop Geocaching.

/ Eric Schudiske /

And Now… A Geocaching Limerick Contest

Podcacher Podcast

It’s not often you’re able to combine your love of prose and geocaching… until now. And really how do you express your love for geocaching? Do you pour your creativity into an awesomely crafted hide? Are you the first one out the door in the race to be first to find? Do you spend hours crafting a blog post about your latest geocaching adventures? How about poetry? That’s right – geocaching poetry!

Geocaching HQ staff will be judging the lyrical stylings of the PodCacher Podcast Limerick Contest. You have until April 11 to enter for a chance to win geocaching gear provided by Shop Geocaching. There’s a few things you need to know. Ready for a limerick that explains it all (almost)?

To win a cool coin that is slick

you’ll need to know this little trick

All you need to begin

with a good chance to win

is write up the best limerick

The Geocaching Limerick Contest is sponsored by the PodCacher podcast. Here are some important guidelines. Your limerick must have a geocaching-related theme and it must be family friendly! It must follow the standard Limerick format (3 long and 2 short lines rhyming aabba)

A geocaching Limerick might look something like this:

An urban family went caching

To locate what ranchers were stashing;

They disturbed many crickets

And found a few trinkets

Though the steers kept them constantly dashing.

And here’s a non-geocaching example:

Writing a Limerick’s absurd,

Line one and line five rhyme in word,

And just as you’ve reckoned

They rhyme with the second;

The fourth line must rhyme with the third.

Interested in competing? Check out the contest and details. The winner will be selected by a panel from Geocaching HQ. You have until Friday, April 11 to enter. Good luck! Listen to the PodCacher Podcast for the winner announcement!

Podcacher Podcast 1

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocache Hider: Tips to Level Up Your Geocache

MailerImage_03242014_OkToArchive_vFINAL_Blog

 

Revisit Your Geocaches, Leave Them Feeling New

 

Let’s paint a mental picture: on cold, dark, rainy, frost-bitten, locust-infested nights—and all other nights—your geocache waits, hoping for intrepid explorers to sign the logbook. But if your geocache is lonelier than you expected, it might ultimately be waiting for a very special someone: you. Geocaches don’t just require maintenance; some may need some more tender loving care. If your geocache isn’t getting the “Found it!” after “Found it!” logs you think it deserves, there are options to help up the find count.

  • Rewrite the description: Be creative, add some humor, local insight and upload a few pictures to the geocache page.
  • If you’re not fundamentally changing the experience, choosing a sturdier container or adding a splash of personality to your geocache will help cultivate Favorite Points and lead more people to your adventure.
  • Double-check your coordinates. People might be trying to find your geocache, but are led astray.
  • Did you choose a container size on your geocache page? If the container is listed as “size not chosen” it might discourage people from searching for your geocache.
  • Get advice from a notable geocache maker in your neighborhood, attend a Maker Madness event to up-level your geocaching hiding game.
  • And if you’re not interested in maintaining the geocache anymore, it’s okay to archive your geocache and open up the location to other hiders, or even adopt it out to another geocacher.  ​

What advice would you offer to new geocache hiders? Share your maker advice in comments below or on the Geocaching Facebook page.