Geocaching is delightful because of the people who play it — adventure-seekers, makers, parents, astronauts and (sometimes) celebrities. Read their stories.
There are two steps to any geocache: 1) it’s hidden and 2) others are challenged to find it. As easy as that is, it’s even easier to make sure you’re keeping your geocaching adventures on the up-and-up. Check out five helpful geocaching etiquette tips below or just watch the geocaching etiquette video.
Bring a Pen – It’s like the first day of school. You need to be prepared. Always pack a pen to make sure you’re ready to sign your Geocaching username and the date.
Leave No Trace – Be kind to the geocaching game board, which happens to be the entire world. Make sure to Cache In Trash Out (CITO) when you geocache: pick up litter along the way and don’t leave anything behind.
Write a Great “Found It” or “Didn’t find It” Log – When you find a geocache, or even when you don’t find a geocache, make sure to share the spirit of adventure with the geocache owner and for other geocachers. Write a log detailing your journey.
Put the Geocache Back Where and How You Found It – The geocache owner placed the geocache at a specific location for a reason. Make sure the owner can find it again later and that other geocachers have the same experience as you.
Move Trackables Along – If you remove a trackable, like a Travel Bug ®, from a geocache make sure to post a “retrieved” log and move it to another geocache as soon as possible.
These five steps will have you rocking the geocaching world in no time. What geocaching tips would you add? Post your thoughts on our Geocaching Facebook page. Oh, and don’t forget the sixth step: repeat steps 1 – 5 often!
For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re in the depths of a cold winter and it can be hard to convince yourself to get out and find a few geocaches. We don’t blame you. Leaving the cozy warmth of your home is a hard thing to do. But maybe instead of thinking of all the things that hold us back during winter, we should think of the new opportunities it provides. In the case of this geocache, during cold winters, geocachers can lace up their ice skates and make the geocaching journey on top of the frozen waterways. Cold? Of course it is. Amazing and only available in winter? Definitely. Worth it? We think so. Take a look at the photos and see for yourself.
“I placed this geocache here because I wanted to show this place to other geocachers. This is close to my summerhouse and one of my favorite places. I love sitting here late in the evening a warm summer night and it is absolutely quiet…When I placed this cache I expected it to be mainly a “summer tourist cache”, a bit of the beaten path to draw any hordes of cachers. There were few local cachers at that time and wintertime not so many visitors. I didn’t expect that anyone would come ice skating here…I like reading the logs and know that geocachers from many countries also enjoy this place. Some of them had time to sit down for a while and some rushed on to the next cache…I hope more geocachers would share their favorite places with fellow cachers by placing a cache there. There is so many more beautiful places to be found.”
What geocachers are saying:
[translated from Swedish] “First time here! Beautiful place. Worth seeing! Thanks for the interesting cache Maxitulpa.” – deciface
“The view was beautiful, and we had it all to ourselves on this snowy Saturday. Finely done cache was soon logged, one more look around to enjoy the view and on with the trip. TFTC!” – mandello
[translated from Swedish] “After a fantastic ice skate on sea ice off [Dånö Island] we took the opportunity to sign this nicely hidden cache before we went on to the hotel in Mariehamn.” – Trang
Views like this make Winter worth it. Photo by geocacher TrangEarn your hot cocoa! Photo by geocacher TrangNothing warms you up more than a skate and a find! Photo by geocacher Trang
Ice skating, skiing, sledding—how do you geocache in winter? Post your stories and photos 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, leave a comment below with the name of the geocache, the GC code, and why you think we should feature it.
A record day for Carol and Kristie (Guwisti and mom) with 52 finds
Crumpled geocaching log sheets record simple, even fragile moments. Laughter, singing to classic country music and victorious thumbs-ups roll into three words for a daughter and her best geocaching partner. They sign logbooks with, “Guwisti and mom”. If you’ve geocached around Arkansas in the United States, you’ve probably read those three words on geocache log sheets for years.
But Kristie Boucheer Moore says all those geocaches are becoming flickers of half-remembered moments from her mom. “Her Alzheimer’s began a couple of years ago and has slowly progressed… She has problems remembering recent events and tends to repeat herself. She’ll ask me a question and say, ‘I’ve probably already asked you that, huh?’ And then she laughs. I don’t mind. She has a childlike exuberance which is infectious.”
Kristie began geocaching in 2010. The librarian happened upon something called, “geocaching” in an article. Soon she and her husband found their first geocache. She said they’ve been hooked on the outdoor adventure ever since.
Carol and Kristie
After her father’s death Kristie searched for ways to spend time with her mom. “My husband and I told her about our new hobby and she thought it sounded silly. We took her to find an ammo can and she found a plastic grasshopper inside as SWAG and has loved it ever since! This was when she was in the very early stages and quite independent. She’d go caching with us every once in awhile, but not as much as she does now.”
The more Alzheimer’s becomes part of their lives, the more they find themselves searching for geocaches, “You really have no idea how much my mom means to me or how much we love geocaching together!! I am so happy my mom and I have found ‘our thing’ to do together.”
“Guwisti and mom” is now appearing on geocaching log sheets at a record pace. They recently broke their record and found 52 geocaches in one day.
“It’s definitely me and her time, my husband will usually go have ‘guy time’ and mom and I go caching. We usually go on weekends, in fact when I call her on Saturday morning she always asks, ‘any new caches?!’ She thinks all caches are a First to Find opportunity.”
Carol has also discovered she’s part of a larger community where she’s welcome to just be herself. Kristie says, “She loves all types of caches and she goes to events with us as well, she might not talk much anymore but she loves being around everyone and hearing their stories.”
The quiet stops when Kristie and Carol start driving to their next geocache, “Caching has given us a way to connect in the outdoors. My mom has never met a stranger, all her neighbors love her and help look after her. Since developing Alzheimer’s she’s quieter in group situations. But she sure talks a bunch while we’re out caching. I’ve heard more about her childhood than I ever have. She loves to sing and we listen to old classic country and sing while we cache.”
It’s the activity of geocaching that Kristie believes builds something stronger than memories. They’re focusing on the moment being lived, not the moments that have been lost, “It’s a great opportunity to spend quality time with a parent who honestly might not even remember your name in another year or so. We’re creating memories out there and while she might not remember exactly what happened, I think she will remember the happy feelings and general good times. I will always treasure the memories made while out caching with my mom. It is also, I suppose, a stress free time for both us. She’s not worried about remembering something she has forgotten and I can step out of the role of caregiver for a few hours. Geocaching has us both looking for something that neither one of us knows where it is. It lets us live in the moment.”
Einen tollen Geocache zu finden, kann sich wie ein richtiges Abenteuer anfühlen. Solche besonderen Geocaches sprießen jedoch nicht von selbst aus dem Boden, sondern gedeihen im brillianten Geist eines Geocaching-Machers oder einer Macherin. Was Geocaching ausmacht, sind ebenjene Geocacher und Geocacherinnen, die ihre Kreativität und ihren Erfindungsgeist in tolle Erlebnisse für andere verwandeln.
Vom 28. März bis zum 7. April können Geocacher aus aller Welt zusammenkommen und diejenigen in der Gemeinschaft feiern, die Geocaching möglich machen. Wir nennen diese Feier “Maker Madness”.
Alle Geocache-Macher, Macherinnen und Leute, die ihre Lieblings-Macher und Macherinnen feiern wollen, können einen Event organisieren und die nächste Generation an Geocache-Machern inspirieren. Jeder, der sein “Attended” bei einem registrierten “Maker Madness” Event loggt, erhält ein “Maker Madness” Souvenir.
Wie kann ich meinen Event registrieren?:
1. Finde Inspirationen und Tipps, wie Du einen erfolgreichen Event organisieren kannst, in diesem Artikel.
2. Reiche Deinen Geocache hier ein. Der Titel und die Beschreibung für Deinen Event sollten mit der zur “Maker Madness” beitragen. Events müssen mindestens 14 Tage vor dem Event-Datum eingereicht werden. Es kann bis zu 10 Tagen dauern, bis Dein Event überprüft wird. Der Event muß zwischen dem 28. März und 7. April stattfinden, um sich für ein Souvenir zu qualifizieren.
3. Sobald Dein Event von Deinem freiwilligen Reviewer freigegeben wurde….
5. Überprüfe in dieser Liste, ob Dein Event erfolgreich registriert ist. (Es kann 3-5 Tage dauern, bis Dein Event hier erscheint.) Anmerkung: Events, die nicht im Geiste der “Maker Madness” organisiert sind, qualifzieren sich möglicherweise nicht für ein Souvenir.
At the beginning of this month, the I <3 Geocaching Lab Cache experiment launched. During the month of February, Geocaching Premium members have the chance to create a temporary, personalized Lab Cache for one special person. This new test is different than normal geocaching and is open to all sorts of creative interpretations. In fact, in the short two weeks that the test has been live, we’ve already seen a number of amazing Lab Caches from the geocaching community. If you’re a Geocaching Premium member and you haven’t created your Lab Cache yet, do it here, then post your ideas in the comments below.
A few comments from FlyingMoose regarding his Lab Cache: “I think what inspired me was that only one person could log the cache and I wanted more to enjoy making the find. As for the responses to the cache? I would say that the responses have been positive, who wouldn’t like the idea of claiming such a unique find? I heard about the Lab Caches last year and thought they were a cool idea, when I heard we could create our own I thought this would be a great chance to do something fun for everyone and I hope to find a bunch of ballots next week when I open it up and pick the winner! “
Staying in Touch from 2300 Miles Away
Jennifer finds her Lab Cache!
This story comes from Geocaching HQ’er, Maria: “I sent a small plastic container to my father in AK [Alaska, USA] via mail to hide for my bestie since 6th grade, Jennifer. I had him hide it on his property in an old CAT grader. This particular location served multiple purposes. First, my dad could see the grader out his window. This meant that when Jennifer came to find it he could watch, I got a play-by-play on my voice-mail of her entire adventure. Second, Jennifer got a huge promotion at her job (a CAT dealership) this year and her co-workers are always grading on her nerves…see what I did there? So punny. Anyway, Jennifer was ecstatic and my dad loved being part of the action. It was a great way to stay connected to people I love who live 2, 300 miles away. “
An I <3 Geocaching Lab Cache is easy to create. You’re only bound by your imagination, a Find Code and, of course, local laws, regulations and just common sense. Need more info? Check out the I <3 Geocaching FAQ.
Tell us your creative ideas in comments below. You might help inspire a once-in-a-lifetime experience for another geocacher.
