July 7, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

1 Month Later… A Breakdown of the Record Breaking World Wide Flash Mob 11

WWFM XI – World-Wide Flash Mob

The Fastest 15 minutes in Geocaching

By Sonny and Sandy, of the PodCacher Podcast.

June 7th was another record-breaking experience for flash mob participants. Over 27,000 geocachers gathered at 792 events in 52 countries for this annual event.

WWFM hosts are known for their creativity and quirkiness and this year’s events did not disappoint. Here are some “WWFM snapshots” from around the globe.

Pretoria, South Africa

We had an awesome event blowing bubbles around a giant sculpture of an upside down cow. It was freezing here in Pretoria but geocachers are not put off by a bit of cold weather and we had a super turnout of 35 people. It was great to see some new geocachers attending their first ever event and a Flash Mob at that!

Mikkeli, Finland

During the event the geocachers gathered to the main park of our town to take a football club type of photo – with everyone wearing a red shirt and black pants. All participants were asked to gather to the different parts of the park. When the referee whistled, everyone gathered in front of the main building in the park in three rows and took their places as professional football players in front of the building. After the photos were taken, the referee whistled again and everyone disappeared without saying a word.

Hong Kong

26 geocachers decided to copy Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks at the busiest zebra crossing in Causeway Bay, HK. There were zombies, gymnasts, supermen and women, backwards walkers and couples with their own silly walk. We had to cross 5 times to earn our smiley.

Pennsylvania, United States

Painting it Purple was our theme. Attendees were to dress and accessorize in purple and to bring along a paintbrush with purple ribbon tied to it. When the event began, we started “painting” everything in sight with our paintbrushes. The color purple was chosen because our event was held very near the Relay For Life of Lancaster. After the event, some of the cachers went into the Relay and walked some laps around the track to Celebrate, Remember, and Fight Back against cancer.

Delft, the Netherlands

With pride we would like to report our WWFM XI event, “Applause for Hugo”. Hugo, in this case, is a statue of Hugo the Groot on the central square in Delfs. At 19:00 hours, a lot of people walked up to this statue and gave it a standing ovation.

WWFM NETHERLANDS 1 — Delft, the Netherlands

Oregon, United States

58 people (most on Pool Noodle ponies) rode into the Riverfront Carousel and sang Happy Birthday to the Carousel ponies (who were all wearing party hats for their 13th Birthday party). The Operations Manager was surprised and delighted and really, really wants a geocache there now! He said “it gave him goosebumps seeing us”.

The 10 largest WWFM XI events were all in Germany, each with over 150 participants. The very biggest was in Dortmund with 450 people. The other countries with events over 100 people were Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands, Portugal, France, and Team PodCacher’s San Diego event.

On the other end of the scale, there were actually quite a few with only 2 participants. Events in Poland, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Indonesia and Greenland.

To hear more stories from the amazing WWFM XI, listen to PodCacher show 473 and show 474. To get more information on the WWFM, you can visit gcwwfm.com, and listen to Show 473 and Show 474.

July 4, 2014 / Eric Schudiske

The Newest Geocachers of the Month – A Geocache Series Creator

Sometimes the world is a big place.

It’s a daunting place with crisscrossing borders and politics, and for many it’s often isolating. Then there’s geocaching. The Geocacher of the Month taught us a lesson. The world of geocaching is small, connected and ready to celebrate the contributions of other geocachers.

We met three geocachers from different countries. Each delivers serious geocaching joy to their local geocaching communities, whether it’s gadget geocaches, inspiration and encouragement or a groundbreaking series of geocaches, or even all three.

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.

It was a difficult decision.

A geocache series creator and geocaching ambassador to new players takes home the title, “Geocacher of the Month”.

sadexploration has called himself a geocacher for nearly a decade, added to the adventure by orchestrating a series of geocaches through the United Kingdom, and those who know him best do not stop there.

One geocacher writes, “I’d like to vote for Steve, Sadexploration. Not only did he create the fabulous Church Micro series, but he has set hundreds of amazing caches, His Devils Dyke Circular series remains one of my most memorable caching expeditions. It’s full of handmade and lovingly crafted containers many of which have ingenious gadgets attached and it’s not surprising that each cache on the series garners so many favourite points – well in to the hundreds. His caches are pretty special and as well as being a conscientious CO who maintains them all to a high standard, he’s a very friendly bloke who made me feel especially welcome at an caching event when I met him for the first time.”

he earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin

The other nominees for Geocacher of the Month also made huge contributions to geocaching. If you haven’t already, read Mr. Gadget #2’s comment about Geocacher of the Month.

Congratulations again to sadexploration for earning the May 2014 title of Geocacher of the Month.

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, simply fill out this webform.

July 2, 2014 / Alex

How to DNF a DNF

Sometimes, expectations don’t match reality. Sometimes, geocachers are absolutely fine with that.

The team of intrepid Geocaching HQ’ers who left Seattle on Friday, June 27th were expecting their weekend culminate in a hike halfway up Mount Rainier. At 10,080 feet in elevation, the Camp Muir hike wasn’t one to scoff at. For five hours, the team would slog straight up rock, ice, and snow. Virtual caches GCA69 and GC1192 would be waiting for them at the top (hopefully holding a sign, flowers, and hand warmers). Logging these, one very old T5 and another very old T4.5, would be the ultimate payoff.

Alas, despite fervent pleas and several bouts of sun-dancing, the team of geocachers was not able to ward off the mantle of clouds that hung over the mountain. When the big day came, Mt. Rainier was to reveal itself for only a few seconds before vanishing shyly again.

2014-06-28 14.33.37

At that point, the team found itself on the cusp of failure.

A triple DNF hung across their shoulders—two for the caches, one for the mountain itself. They had no back-up plan, for the hike up to Camp Muir had consumer their very beings. It was the only ascent they’d considered, the only slope they’d trained for. The team was inconsolable.

Inspiration hit them like a bison charging down a mountain. What do geocachers do when they DNF? They break into song of course.

Explorers, sleuths, adventurers,

finders, keepers, hey!

We the brave, the geocachers,

three dozen finds per day!

The song, which was sung to the tune of “Ronda Alla Turca”, rallied the team immensely. They realized what they had to do to cancel out their DNF: find some more geocaches! Unsurprisingly, the surrounding cliffs, valleys, trails, rivers, and lakes were dotted with geocaches of every type. In little time, the team was hiking merrily along a thin, winding trail rimmed with wildflowers. The prospect of two more caches at the end of the trail lifted their spirits immensely.

2014-06-29 12.36.17

The team thought about all the reasons they loved geocaching, and added one more to the pile: A DNF isn’t synonymous with failure. Lots of things can get in the way of a find. Weather turns south. Batteries die. The dog eats all the snacks. Does that mean the adventure is over? Nope!

Three tips to DNF a DNF

1) Bring a friend. Someone with Pollyanna-style enthusiasm will do nicely.

2) Look around. Are there other caches nearby? Go find ’em.

3) Plan for a return trip. A DNF isn’t a permanent status.

4) Try singing the song mentioned above. Try singing anything to the tune of Ronda Alla Turca. It will cheer you up, we promise.

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June 30, 2014 / Guest Writer /

Allegany State Park Geobash IX Mega-Event

Geocaching is Better with Friends… Lots and Lots of Friends.

Editor’s note: Geocaching HQ staff are attending 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. Amy Faulkner is the Geocaching HQ staff member behind the Geocaching Block Party and other awesome events. She recently traveled to her home state of New York to join nearly a thousand people in celebrating geocaching and the geocaching community at the ASPGB IX. Here’s her story.

A Return Trip Home with Geocaching

Here at Geocaching HQ, we often hear glorious stories of geocaching taking people to places they never knew existed. And we’ve even experienced this phenomenon ourselves – stumbling upon EarthCaches that reveal large geological events that we never knew happened, or finding the Little Library around the corner that just so happens to contain a geocache.

As excited as I was to attend the ASPGB Mega-Event again this year, returning to the place where I grew up to attend an event I had previously attended seemed a bit anticlimactic. But I was wrong. Not kind of wrong, I was so wrong – out of the ballpark wrong- that I’m actually embarrassed that I had that thought in the first place.

To begin, the ASPGB was spectacular this year. It was great to see familiar faces from last year and meet all of the new attendees this year. The event was packed full of fun activities, from Lab Caches to a creative cache contest to a raffle dripping with anticipation. I met so many great people including these lovely ladies (below) that were celebrating their 100th find. They presented me with the awesome smiley which now permanently resides at my desk.

In addition to attending the event, I had the opportunity to spend a day geocaching with my mom in the town where I grew up. We found an amazing EarthCache at one of my favorite childhood spots, Rock City Park. My mother has become quite the geocacher over the last year.

A Hometown Still Full of Surprises

The biggest element of surprise happened on my drive back to the airport. About 30 minutes into my drive, I stopped at a rest area in a place called Friendship, New York. While there, I decided to peek at the Geocaching app to see if there were any nearby geocaches. To my surprise, there was one right at that rest area. I left the car and wandered to GZ and quickly made the find. As I was re-hiding the container, a car drove up behind me. From the window I hear, “Can we sign the log before you put that back?”

As I turned around, I saw a car full of geocachers. They pulled over and we shared stories, trackables and even had an impromptu photo shoot.

All in all, I realized that geocaching is so much more than finding new places. It’s about the randomness of the things that happen along the way, the people you meet, the experiences you have and the community that you belong to as a geocacher.

unnamed (3) — Random encounters: Teamajk, theworldisfun, cheryyll, & Tiki tour

June 25, 2014 / Derek H /

The wheels keep turning – A Moagem (GC4QYFG) – Geocache of the Week

The geocache during the creation process. Photo courtesy of fundao365

Geocache Name:

A Moagem (GC4QYFG) [translated from Portuguese: The Grind]

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

1.5/1

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

Geocaches take on many forms: some are cool containers, some are in interesting places and some are mind-bending puzzles. This week’s Geocache of the Week is a combination of all three. The geocache itself is an incredibly well-made, large cryptex. Geocachers have to use the clues in the description to decipher the code, then line up the different wheels in the right spot to release the geocache. The place where this geocache resides is also interesting. “A Moagem” in Portuguese translates to “The Grind”, which is appropriate since the geocache is placed inside a grinding mill that has now been transformed into a museum, arts exhibit and meeting place. After you earn your smiley, you can even take a look at some of the original grinding machinery.

What the geocache owner, fundao365, has to say:

With this cache we used the concept of indoor geocaching. After understanding this kind of cache rules with the help of the reviewer btreviewer, we started the developement and prototyping process. We take this opportunity to thank him for the cooperation. The cache is inside a reconstructed milling house, that a long time ago used to collect the rye seeds from the local producers and produce the flour. According to this, we inspired in the grindstone to build the cache. We also thought that the container opening method should be as original as the design. After thinking about a few possibilities, we came to decide to build a big dimensions cryptex with an opening device that looks like a grindstone.

The geocache is inside a museum, how did this partnership come about?

The museum belongs to Fundão city hall. The team fundao365 is composed by some of its employees, that share the passion of geocaching. The partnership was born naturally.

Can you talk about how you created this geocache?

The cache was developed and created in Fab Lab Aldeias do Xisto, that is a Digital fabrication laboratory recently created by Fundão city hall, wich main goal is to support open access to entrepreneurship and idea development.

What do you think of all the positive logs and favorite points?

It’s rewarding seeing that our work is being recognised by the geocaching community and it is an inspiration to future projects that we are already working on.

Is there anything you’d like to say to the geocaching community?

We appreciate the opportunity that Groundspeak gave us to invite all geocaching community to visit Fundão and meet its wonderfull territory, wich has too much to offer to geocachers. We’d also like to promote our nearest Mountain: Serra da Gardunha, that has an unique landscape and offers other activities like mountain bike, hiking, Hang gliding, canoeing etc…

What geocachers are saying:

[all translated from Portuguese]

“Excellent cache that I got to know during the event held on the same day. Cache that deserves a visit from all geocachers.Thanks to the owner for sharing.” – jccms

“I confess that I was very impressed with the work that went into the design of the container and was even more surprised with the logbook cover is genius. Throughout originality gets the deserved FAVORITE!” – scalpelman

“…this is wonderful, very original and well thought out! now here’s a cache to last a few many years! TFTC” – grilo85

Photos and video:

[vsw id=”6hy5zScHFTs” source=”youtube” width=”853″ height=”480″ autoplay=”no”]

The museum where the geocache is located.

The cache in its natural habitat. Photo courtesy of fundao365 — The geocache in its natural habitat. Photo courtesy of fundao365

This could be your view—if you decipher the code and open the cache. Photo courtesy of fundao365 — This could be your view—if you decipher the code and open the geocache. Photo courtesy of fundao365

An up-close view of the locking mechanism. Photo courtesy of fundao365

What’s the most well-made geocache you’ve ever found? Tell us in the comments.

Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog.

If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, just fill out this form. Thanks!

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