Geocaches come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Cache ‘o Mat (GC1A11C) on the other hand, a one of a kind geocache vending machine, has set a new standard for unique geocaches.

It’s easy to spot, easy to get stickers and easy to see why this is a favorite geocache. Sometimes, however, it’s not as simple to log the difficulty 3.5, terrain 1 geocache as it appears. In order to do so, geocachers will need to use their geo-sense.

While the geocache sits in plain sight, it is not highly muggle-sensitive. With some creativity from the geocache owner and help from the German geocaching musical act Dosenfischer, geocachers can enjoy a one of a kind geocaching anthem (in German) at the vending machine. Now, how often do you get that kind of entertainment when you find a geocache?

Thanks to JoFrie, this clever and creative geocache has been part of the Niedersachsen, Germany community since March, 2008. Over 1,800 geocachers have claimed their smiley and awarded it 849 Favorite Points. Among those who logged the geocache is Geocaching CEO and Co-Founder, Jeremy Irish.

The extensive and elaborate logs describe a lot of fun and entertaining experiences – exactly what this geocache is all about!

One geocacher writes, “Natürlich habe auch ich schon oft von diesem Schmuckstück gehört. Zu finden ist die Lokation ja nicht unbedingt schwer. Aber das sieht man auch schon auf den ersten Blick ins Listing. Das Auffinden der eigentlichen Dose war dann schon schwieriger, hat aber Spaß gemacht. Einfach mal alles ausprobiert, überall gedrückt und gezogen, bis nach einiger Zeit tatsächlich etwas ruckte. Klasse gemacht, wirklich. Vielen Dank für diesen tollen Cache!”

This translates to, “Of course, I have often heard of this gem. Finding the location isn’t exactly difficult. But, you can see that at the first glance of the listing. Finding the actual box was then more difficult, but it has been fun. Just tried everything – pushed everywhere and pulled everything. After some time, something snapped. Well done, really. Thanks for this great cache!”

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

If you would 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.

Southshore Park, also known as Dragon Park, is a popular community park in The Woodlands, Texas. Fishing is one attraction. The park is also a great place for romantic picnics and for soaking in a beautiful sunset. For geocachers, it is popular for all those reasons and more. That’s because Southshore Park is home to Beyond Here, Lay Dragons (GCH52C), a difficulty 5, terrain 5 geocache whose size has not been revealed.

According to the cache page, “On old marine charts, they would record what they knew, and on the edges of the known world, they would write ‘beyond here, lay dragons.'” In this case, just beyond Southshore Park is a lake with a famous dragon sculpture.

And what a dragon sculpture it is. While the geocache’s size has not been identified, the sculpture is sure to be noticed, even from a distance. It is normal to see birds on the head of the dragon or kayaks floating alongside the long, green creature. The dragon is so popular that a three-day long Dragon Boat Challenge is held each year at the park. One of the events includes a “best dragon-like” boat competition.

To log a smiley, geocachers have to paddle their way to the dragon and follow the directions outlined on the geocache page. Over 125 geocachers have done exactly that. They also awarded this geocache 41 Favorite Points since it was hidden in October of 2003.

A group of geocachers who logged this find wrote, “LOVE THIS CACHE! It was just fun all around for us! We purchased an inflatable boat and borrowed some paddles instead of renting a kayak on the lake… We took 2 trips to the dragon: sureman & mr turdhustler were trip 1, and myself & mrs turdhustler were trip 2.

We grabbed the dragon by the tail, stared him in the face and battled him in an effort to get this cache!  We did not want to leave defeated! We felt like we were in the stone-age! We made a special tool from various items we had in our vehicle.  As my caching group knows, I am a picture freak, so this one was worthy of lots of pictures. Sureman (my dad) and me completed our first 5/5 cache! Turdhustlers completed another 5/5 cache to add to their list! Thank you for the milestone! What a fun cache for a Texas summer day!!!”

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

If you would 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.