Author: Eric Schudiske

/ Eric Schudiske /

Announcing the November Featured Geocacher of the Month

Each month, Groundspeak Lackeys have the privilege of awarding one geocacher the title of “Featured Geocacher of the Month.” Deserving candidates are nominated by their fellow geocachers and Lackeys select three of the nominees  to feature on the blog. The community then casts their votes to decide which of the three will be that month’s Featured Geocacher. Each of the November nominees showcased  innovation, creativity, respect for the environment and helpfulness. We continue to be impressed by the number of qualified candidates as well as the number of people who vote for the winner.

November Featured Geocacher of the Month, Rokman4

With more than 100 votes submitted in November, it was a neck and neck competition. A panel of Lackeys, relying on voting and community comments, could ultimately only choose one. It is our honor to announce Rokman4 as November’s Featured Geocacher of the Month.

According to many, his dedication to the game since 2008 and his positive contribution the geocaching community are evident in his time spent assisting new geocachers, speaking at local libraries, and organizing the first ever geocaching training ground.

According to one comment: “Rod is looking into getting the city to donate a meeting room so that once a month new and seasoned cachers can learn how to use the different programs associated with geocaching, how to use Pocket Queries, and just general information about geocaching. Rod is a terrific role model for those of us that are new the the game.”

Rokman4 will receive a collector’s edition Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging his contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. Those nominees not chosen as the Featured Geocacher of the Month receive a gift of appreciation from Groundspeak. See a list of all the Featured Geocachers of the Month here. The geocaching community is encouraged to renominate those not named Featured Geocacher of the Month.

Geocacher of the Month Geocoin

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.

September Featured GOTM winner, SuperGoober, with his GOTM Certificate

Every nomination must meet the following requirements: Please include your name, the name of your nominee, their username, at least one picture of the nominee and description (in 500 or fewer words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month. Please inform your nominee that you’ve submitted them for the award. Nominations for the December Geocacher of the Month must be received by December 7th.

Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the Latitude 47 blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so we might learn from each other.


/ Eric Schudiske /

Teaching Geocaching and a Lackey to Complete a 5/5

Editor’s note: Lackeys often attend geocaching events of special significance and events that help showcase geocaching to new audiences. Jessie Perkins, Foxfire, the Community Relations Lead for Groundspeak traveled to North Carolina to attend a science teachers conference where she spoke to attendees about geocaching. This is her report.

By Jessie Perkins

Groundspeak has been working hard to connect with teachers and find out how we can help bring geocaching into the classroom. As part of this initiative, I had the privilege to join some local cachers for the North Carolina Science Teachers Association Conference (NCSTAC) early this month. This was the first Science Teachers Conference that Groundspeak has attended. I manned the Geocaching.com booth and was able to talk to teachers who are considering developing geocaching-related lesson plans as well as those who have already started using geocaching in the classroom.

Jessie (third from right) with local geocachers

Many teachers in the latter group have placed (unlisted) geocaches on their school grounds and used them to encourage cross-curricular learning. One teacher told me about a lesson that encompasses the Science and Physical Education disciplines. They post clipboards around the school and input the coordinates into GPS devices. Students navigate to each clipboard using a GPS device and answer the question written there. It may be, “What kind of tree is this?” or “What kind of bird made this nest?” Each time the kids go out the destination coordinates and questions on the clipboards change.

The reason I went to North Carolina was because of the efforts of a geocacher and teacher by the username of markcase. Mark is a North Carolina science teacher and avid geocacher. He had quite a weekend between presenting on geocaching at the conference and ensuring that I would have a full day of North Carolina caching.  Once he heard that I enjoy EarthCaches, I had not done a 5/5 and I had never been to North Carolina, he couldn’t wait to show me around.

His post-conference plans started with a meet and greet event, where I got to know a few cachers who were either from the area or there visiting, including _Norah_, _c3_, Check-Cacher, Gizmo’s Keepers and ncbiscuit. The next day started bright and early. I met up with markcase, Ranger fox, Night-Ranger, Diefenbaker and Okie.Bug. I would spend the next 13 hours geocaching with this group around the Greensboro area. We found 18 caches that day including a number of EarthCaches, Traditional Caches, one Multi-Cache and my first difficulty 5, terrain 5.

The 5/5 had to have been one of the most rewarding caches that I have found, “bald mnt challenge” (GC15CC2). It was at the top of a large, steep hill. After scrambling over boulders to reach the top, we were able to catch our breath, admire the view, and sign the log. We had fun trying to think of all the firsts from my trip so I could write them in my log. It went a little something like this: “First time in North Carolina, first 5/5, first Multi-Cache, and first time having North Carolina BBQ and first time at an education conference talking about teaching geocaching in the classroom… and the list goes on.”

I was able to meet some wonderful people, make new friends, got to know the real meaning of southern hospitality and add new adventures to my list of firsts. In the end, I can’t wait until I get the chance to go back to North Carolina.

If you are interested in learning how teachers have been incorporating geocaching in the classroom and perhaps borrowing some of their ideas for your own class or youth program, please visit our Education Forums.

/ Eric Schudiske /

“DSOM – Minero las piedras” GC273NE GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – November 21, 2011

Dark Side of Mallorca

The warning is clear: “Never go alone!” This difficulty five, terrain five geocache challenges adventurers as they descend below the surface of the island of Mallorca.

The cache page for “DSOM – Minero las piedras” (GC273NE) weaves a ghostly story of phantom voices and those who did not obey warnings turning to stone. ‘DSOM’ stands for ‘Dark Side of Mallorca.’

Pullermann & Tossiman hid the small size cache in 2010. Some 35 geocachers have logged smileys on the geocache and it has received 23 Favorite Points so far.

The cache page tells the story of Pedro, the ghost of the stones. The cache owners tempt geocachers to hunt for the cache: “Do you want to unveil Pedro’s secret? His ghost may live in an old can which is hidden very well somewhere in the quarry. To locate it, you have to follow Pedro’s traces. But be careful, never walk alone…”

Dark Side of Mallorca

To find the final location of this Multi-Cache, geocachers must use clues collected at several waypoints. When they finally reach the location of Pedro’s ghost they discover artifacts which lead them to the final cache container. Geocachers must also use specialized climbing equipment and are advised to take extreme caution.

One geocacher reports completing this geocache took his group seven hours. He also said “DSOM” was one of his favorite caches. Other logs on the cache page read, “Wow wow wow!” Followed by a string of smileys.

Dark Side of Mallorca

Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from around the globe. Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com. If you’ d like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Co-Founder Celebrates Ten Years of Geo-Love

Bryan, Hydee, Nicolas and Dylan

Some people find much more than just cache containers when they’re introduced to geocaching. Geocachers may discover parks they never knew existed, the hidden history of their community or even the sting of stepping in poison ivy. But some geocachers wander into something else. They’re lucky enough to find the person they’ll marry.

It happens. It happened to one of the founders of Geocaching.com. Bryan Roth attended a geocaching event ten years ago today. Fellow founder Jeremy Irish encouraged Bryan to attend.

Bryan says, “This was the first of 41 total geocaching events that I’ve attended so far. Jeremy had suggested that I attend and I figured it’d be a great opportunity to meet some members of the local geocaching community. I really didn’t know what to expect but, of course, that day has changed my life forever.”

What happened next may have been one of first cases of geo-love.  The event’s name was innocent enough. It was called Washington Geocaching Potluck & Quilting Bee.

Event in 2001 where Bryan and Hydee met (Hydee far left of picture)

Bryan’s “will attend” log read, “I will be there (with chocolates).” Bryan says he wasn’t fishing for love with those chocolates, “Not at all.  At the time, I don’t think I was even looking for a date. I was only thinking about meeting geocachers and getting more involved with the local community.”

But Bryan says he soon met a geocacher named Hydee and her son Dylan. He remembers his first thought, “Yeah [my first thought was] – she looks like trouble.  I was right, of course.  ;)”

She later told Bryan the chocolates helped cement her intuitions that he was the right person for her. She loves chocolate.

Jon Stanley, Moun10Bike, hosted the event where Hydee and Bryan first met. Jon says, “That event is actually where I first met Bryan. I didn’t know that the spark had been lit at that time, but I soon found out. Hydee and her friend CameraThyme kept referring to “AFM,” which stood for “Action Figure Man.” After a while I discovered that this was their code name for Bryan. Then all became clear!”

The Roth's 10 Year Anniversary geocoin

Hydee’s friend CameraThyme also played a key role. Bryan says, “Thanks to CameraThyme for letting me know that Heidi was single.”

Bryan and Hydee would marry. Today they’re co -hosting a “10 Years Since They Met!” event in the Seattle area with Moun10Bike and Avroair. Nearly a hundred people are expected to attend.

Bryan says, “I feel so fortunate to have met Hydee and adopted Dylan. Our youngest son Nicholas is almost six and I can’t believe what a wonderful ten years it has been for all of us. A really cool aspect of it is that many of the people at the event ten years ago will be there today, so it’s really an anniversary for all of us. We’ve built some wonderful friendships along the way and we have geocaching to thank for it.”

Jon says Bryan and Hydee are lucky, geo-love can be a rare commodity, “I attend a fair amount of events, though, and while I’ve heard of people meeting through them, Bryan and Hydee are the only ones I personally can name who linked up as the result of an event, let alone stayed together happily for ten years!”

Still want more love? Watch this video about others who met through geocaching.

[vsw id=”aqFJvj22WBU” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching Alter Egos: TheVillains!

TheVillains

Some people pack a GPS device or smartphone, a pen and some gear to hit the geocaching trail. Mr. and Mrs. Mysterious who geocache under the team name TheVillains also pack mustaches, sunglasses, and comic books. Their geocaching alter ego is all about spreading the joy of evil geocaching. Their logs and cache pages are populated with quotes like this, “Horrible Hunting…. Muhahahahahahaha!!!!”

When asked by Geocaching.com “How evil is your evil geocaching?” Mr. and Mrs. Mysterious simply replied, “Very.”

TheVillains humble beginnings

TheVillains beginnings are humble enough. They started geocaching in February of this year. Mr. and Mrs. Mysterious write, “Well it all started with comic books. We wanted to leave a trademark item and we decided that comic books were awesome and so were the villains in them. So we decided to become villains ourselves with awesome disguises and take over the world of geocaching.”

Like all great comic book villains, the geocaching team has a simple, yet universal villain goal. They say, “Our goal is to dominate the world of geocaching by finding every single geocache in the world!!!! So one day your own geocache will be dominated by TheVillains!!!!! BEWARE!!!!! We also leave every geocache with our calling card and a villainous comic book (if it fits).”

They’ve definitely left a mustachioed mark on their geocaching community. They write, “We get a few emails from other geocachers after finding their ‘difficult’ geocaches, challenging us to find others. We also have quite a fan base, and get photos of people who have found our own geocaches… or not… posing as if they had a cool mustache like our own.”

TheVillains cache page log photos

With their alter egos TheVillains injected some… well… theatrical, villainous flare into the Southern California geocaching scene. They even square off against arch enemies.

Mr. and Mrs. Mysterious write, “We published our most well know geocache Mrs. Mysterious’s Mustaches (GC316RZ) where there is a series of false geocaches that when you find them, they have similar logos to our own, but the wrong mustache! We got a message from a fellow geocacher saying that she recently published a cache nearby and it was just found by our arch nemesis’s BBsquared and Spoons1 and that they are probably on their way to ours to be the FTF right now!”

It’s at this point where the evil geocaching duo sprang into action. They say, “So we put on our disguises and jumped in the car and drove over. Sure enough, there they were crawling under bushes and looking in trees trying to find our cache. We rolled down the window, they recognized us obviously, and we gave them a few foreboding hints leading them in the wrong direction and drove off with a Muhahahahahaha!!! It took them over an hour to find it.”

TheVillains, the next generation

BBsquared logged the cache and wrote, “We hopped like bunnies, searched in trees, TheVillains stopped by and laughed at me. We searched and looked and laughed, our clothes are pretty dirty but Spoons1 and I weren’t leaving until we logged a smiley. T4T [thanks for the] very devious and horrible $ – Muhahahahahahahahahahahahaha.” He finished by saying, “Happy – errrr I mean Horrible hunting.”

TheVillains are still in their first year of geocaching, they’re gaining notoriety and a following. The photo to the left was fresh crops of villains was recently uploaded on their Facebook page.

Even TheVillains mustaches are open to change. “We have been through a plethora of mustaches we recently grew these new handle bar ones, what do think? But we are always looking for new styles. But as far as costume changes go, we are sticking with the glasses and ‘stashes as our trademark logo shows.”

TheVillains at a night-cache

If you’re thinking about a career in evil geocaching, or creating an alter ego in your geocaching community, TheVillians have advice. “We can always use more henchmen…. But really, just be creative. No one likes finding lame geocaches, try to make everything you do interesting and create a theme, maybe one day you can be as cool as us….. not…..”

Then they signed their email with their trademark sign off, “Horrible Hunting,- TheVillains”