Author: Eric Schudiske

/ Eric Schudiske /

15 Countries in 24 Hours – One Big Day of Geocaching

Click on the image to see the geocaching team's official site

Nine geocachers invested months of planning and preparing for a single day this weekend. The group based in the Netherlands included Team Mac Bean Stash, The Heuv, Ellino, Mr. Loggy, Demostar, The Axe Factor, and Fine-Line. They all launched on their mission on October 9, 2011. (That day can also be read as 9/10/11 – if written day/month/year.) Their goal was simple and extraordinarily complex.

Every geocacher enjoys the game their own way. Some enjoy spending months on one puzzle cache or hiking for days to find a dozen caches in the wilderness. This group wanted to challenge their wits, endurance and planning abilities to claim a world record in the geocaching community. The geocachers researched the most countries any group logged within 24 hours. Geocaching.com does not keep nor endorse official records.

Latitude 47 posted this article in August about a group of three geocachers who logged geocaches in ten countries in 24 hours. A reaction came back that a group of geocachers from Sweden accomplished 14 countries in 24 hours.

The geocaching group from the Netherlands set out to break the record. They say on their official website that they beat 14 countries in 24 hours. The group says they geocached in 15 countries in 24 hours. They countries, in no particular order include, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland in 24 hours.

They also promise more details will be available soon. After a cache run like that, there must be time to re-coup. Check back for updates in the story as they occur.

/ Eric Schudiske

“The British Library” GC2M0AF GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – October 10, 2011

From the cache page with the caption, "It's not just books that can be found here!"

The husband and wife geocaching team of Nickie! & Brian~! hid the Multi-Cache “The British Library” (GC2M0AF) back in January of this year. Bryan writes, “I’ve been given co-credit for the cache, but it was really all Nickie’s work, I just tested out some of the maths involved. ” 

The difficulty three, terrain one geocache was placed with the permission of the library.

The geocache is one of the largest caches in Central London and quickly tallying up Favorite Points.  “The British Library” takes geocachers on a tour of the famed institution. Geocachers are directed around the library to gather clues. The answers to questions like, “Outside in the piazza, there is a statue of Newton. The last number on the plaque will give you A.”

Geocachers then explore several more stops in the library to discover clues in paintings, plaques and signs. They even discover the visual illusion of Paradoxymoron to help lead them to the geocache.

Once geocachers accumulate the answers to all of the clues, they plug the information into a formula found on the cache page to locate the geocache. The cache page reads, “Once at that location, you will find a small keysafe with directions back into the Library to find the final cache. Leave enough time to enter the building before it closes to sign the final log book! The final container is quite large (5 gallon) and can hold many swaps and Travel Bugs.”

The statue of Newton at the British Library holds one of the clues

Geocachers who logged the cache wrote, “Wow – excellent and worthwhile cache.. loved the challenge on this one… and what a contatiner / location.. brilliant – 10 stars from us.”

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 Vlogs and Online Videos – The New Horizon of Caching Media Part II

[Editor’s Note: Make sure to obtain cache owner permission when featuring a specific cache and spoilers. Include a spoiler warning if a spoiler is absolutely necessary.]

Geocaching video blogs (vlogs), as well as YouTube-based video series, have become hugely popular in the geocaching community. The Geocaching.com YouTube channel receives thousands of viewers each day and the Geocaching.com videos have been viewed nearly three million times so far. Vlogs and other videos created by the community showcase the diversity, creativity and intelligence found in the geocaching world.

Vlogging has become an exciting way to share geocaching experiences. We now invite you to enjoy Part II of the “Geocaching Vlogs and Online Videos” blog post. This post introduces you to three popular English-language geocaching vlogs and their vloggers. Part I, which featured geocaching vlogs from around the world, can be found here.

Vlogger Joshua Johnson

Mayberryman, or Joshua Johnson, is an American geocaching vlogger out of Minnesota, USA. With more than 40,000 views on his site, Joshua is capturing the attention of geocachers and non-geocachers around the world. According to the vlogger, “the beauty of online video is that it is global, so I think it is fun for people to see geocaching in different places of the world.”

Joshua spends much of his free time recording his caching adventures and posting them on his vlog for all to see. He says his vlog has enabled him to “connect with cachers all over the world through this medium.  An example of this is a video collaboration video where a cacher named Captain Hardy from Norway shot a video of him sending the Travel Bug my way.”

Joshua says one of the goals of his is videos, “is to make the viewer feel like they are caching along with us.” Joshua also hopes to use his vlog to “share with the world the incredible hobby/sport that is geocaching… to introduce others to the hobby through the videos.”

Vlogger Headhardhat

Headhardhat, or Andrew Smith, another popular English language vlogger. Andrew has posted videos on YouTube for years. He has more than 60 videos online and has had more than 370,000 hits to his YouTube site. He sees his vlog as a “teaching tool to educate geocachers from all levels of expertise.” Andrew has found that creating a vlog has been beneficial to his personal geocaching experiences as well as the community’s.

He says, “I have heard everything from thanks for planting the seed to go out geocaching, to making things smoother for others as they ventured out, to saving several marriages and bringing families together.” Andrew’s vlog has connected him to people all over the world. According to the vlogger, these connections make geocaching “that much more fun because I get to share my experiences with others.”

Joshua and Andrew all showcase geocaching in the English language. They are among a more and more geocachers flipping on the video camera and sharing their adventures, tips and geocaching tricks online.

You can start sharing your experiences right now. Share your videos, pics and geocaching expertise (or geocaching questions) on the Geocaching.com Facebook page.

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Presents: “First to Find”

[Editor’s note: This video contains spoilers and was filmed with cache-owner permission. The video is in Czech. For English subtitles, play the video then click on the CC button.]

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Geocaching.com Presents: “First to Find.” Watch this video and be part of the hunt to claim a FTF on a newly published cache (GC2X6AW). The Geocaching.com  video team perched at ground zero as a Groundspeak Reviewer published the cache listing. The cache is located in the rural countryside of the Czech Republic. The crew counted the minutes until the first cacher arrived, but being FTF on this cache would take more than being first to the coordinates. Watch to find out why. The video mentions “instant notification” which is a Premium Member feature. Find out more about instant notifications and Premium Memberships here.

The next Geocaching.com Presents video showcases some of the most exciting geocaches with Favorite Points. It’s scheduled for release on October 20th. See a preview of all the Czech videos to come by clicking here.  Geocaching.com will  continue to release English, Czech and German language geocaching videos in the coming months. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos. Watch the more than 40 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.

Geocaching.com uvádí: “First to Find.” Podívejte se na toto video a zúčastněte se lovu a závodu o FTF nově uveřejněné keše (GC2X6AW). Video posádka z Geocaching.com číhala u cíle, když kontrolor společnosti Groundspeak zveřejnil podrobnosti keše. Keš se nachází ve venkovské krajině České republiky. Posádka počítala minuty, než dorazil první kačer, ale získat FTF této kešky nebude tak snadné. Dívejte se a zjistíte proč. Video obsahuje spojlery a bylo natočeno s povolením majitele keše.

Další video Geocaching.com uvádí se soustředí na geokeše s nejvyšším počtem příznivých bodů. Plánujeme jeho zveřejnění na 20. října. Podívejte se na ukázky všech českých video záznamů kliknutím zde. V příštích měsících bude Geocaching.com také dále zveřejňovat geokešingová videa v angličtině, češtině a němčině. Podívejte se na více než 40 video záznamů, které vyrobil Geocaching.com na naší video stránce.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – October 5, 2011

Trackable Glossary

Geocaching Trackables add another level of fun to the game, but they also add a few terms that you may be unfamiliar with. Here is a guide to the key Trackable terms so that you know what to do the next time you come across a Trackable in a cache.

Retrieve or Grab — When you have picked up a Trackable to move it to another geocache, you must log its movement on Geocaching.com. The two logging options that you have in this situation are “Retrieve it from [cache name]” and “Grab it.” If you took the Trackable from the cache in which it is listed, choose to retrieve it. If you took the item from elsewhere, choose to grab it.

Discovered — This is a logging option for Trackables that indicates you have seen the Trackable, but have not moved it. At geocaching events, geocachers often “discover” the Trackables in others’ collections.

Missing — If a Trackable has been missing for some time, the Trackable owner or the owner of the cache in which the Trackable is listed can mark the item “missing.” This will remove it from the cache inventory and place the Trackable in an “unknown location” so that others will know it is no longer in the cache. More info.

Collectible — Trackable owners can choose to set their Trackables as “Collectible” or “Not Collectible.” “Collectible” may mean that the owner has decided to keep it in their personal collection or, if you find it in a cache, that they are okay with you keeping the item and placing it in your own collection. “Not collectible” indicates that the item should continue to travel. The Trackable’s page will state the owner’s preference. If the page indicates that the owner has not set their collectible preference, you should assume that the item is not collectible. Learn more about Collectibles, including how Trackable owners benefit from setting their preference.