Geocaching is delightful because of the people who play it — adventure-seekers, makers, parents, astronauts and (sometimes) celebrities. Read their stories.
There’s a magnetism to Geocaching Geocoins: the weight, the metallic shimmer and how each Geocoin is a message forged in metal. Some celebrate milestones like First to Find or 100 Finds, and some are just cool, like an eagle whose wings actually flap (fly eagle, fly!).
12 years ago on September 30, 2001, Geocoins came into existence with a solid clunk in a geocache. Today more than 3 million Geocoins are proudly displayed in collections and found in geocaches around the world. There are even Geocoinfest Mega-Events held in Europe and the United States each year.
If you’re entering the realm of Geocoins, here are a few quick tips:
And if you’re just not into reading anymore right now, check out this vintage Geocaching video about the history of the Geocoin. Happy Birthday, Geocoins!
The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin (sun flare optional)
The geocaching community took note of three amazing geocachers from three different parts of the globe this month. Each contributes to the geocaching with world famous hides, nearly unparalleled finding ability and championing the geocaching adventure on social media. It was an incredibly difficult decision to name the Geocacher of the Month. Each of the other nominees deserves special recognition for their contribution.
Before naming the Geocacher of the Month, Geocaching HQ reviews community input and blog comments. After tallying the sentiment and reading the comments, Dr Evil. has been officially named the Geocacher of the Month for August 2013.
One comment shows Dr Evil.’s dedication to all aspects of geocaching, “His caches are fantastic for kids and getting them interested in caching but also in the great outdoors again. His vlogs on YouTube are always informative, upbeat but above all that you can see his dedication and his passion for finding caches and placing them. He’s organised some great events some for the family, some for the extreme cacher but he is always friendly, polite and always willing to help out a beginner.”
Dr Evil. will receive the earned, never for sale, collector’s edition Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and a certificate acknowledging his contribution, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. See a list of all the Geocachers of the Month here.
Dr Evil. – Geocacher of the Month
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@geocaching.com. Every nomination must include the following items and abide by the following guidelines:
Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month
Please inform your nominee that you have submitted them for the award. Nominations for Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.
Congratulations again to Dr Evil for being recognized as the Geocacher of the Month for August.
The journey be treacherous, tis not fer the faint o’ heart! Photo by geocachers TEAM DESERT EAGLE
Ahoy mateys, today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so all of ya landlubbers best be arrggghhh-ing, knockin’ back some grog, an’ searchin’ for me treasure—lest ye walk the plank and be stowed away in Davey Jones’ locker. For those of you who don’t speak Pirate, here’s that translated into normal English: Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. It’s a great day to search for geocaches, especially the Geocache of the Week.
Geocachers doing their best ARRRRGGGGG faces. Photo by geocacher northwing65
Endlessly searching for “treasure,” a vocabulary of strange words, wooden legs—there are numerous similarities between geocachers and pirates. Well, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea. Pirate’s Quest Stolen Treasure (GC28T4Y) takes you on an epic, 10-stage, pirate-themed multi-cache adventure through Michigan’s Newaygo State Park. At each stage, geocachers will find an artifact like those in the photos, as well as a clue to where the next stage is located. The time, effort and craftsmanship that the geocache owners, photobug2, put into each stage is incredible and a great example of top-notch geocache placement.
So far, nearly 160 geocachers have earned their smiley and 90 of them added a Favorite Point. After making the find, geocacher potterteam said, “We planned a camping weekend at Newaygo to tackle more of the amazing caches here and this one was first on our list. WOW – what an amazing multi-cache. We were astounded at the creativity, planning and work that was put into every stage. We had so much fun doing this cache and are giving it a well earned favorite point, wish we could give it more than one!!!”
Another geocacher who made their way through the forest to earn their smiley is 2xArcher, who said, “This is the best multi that I have ever done. I can’t believe the amount of time and work that went into making and placing this cache. Awesome!!! I will be talking about this one for a long time. This is a favorite for us.”
Logbook? Nope, logribs. Photo by geocacher northwing65
While searching for a special pirate-themed geocache to feature today, I came across tons of great pirate caches. Which one is your favorite? Tell us in the comments. (Answer in pirate-speak, please.)
Editor’s Note: If Newaygo State Park is sounding a little familiar, it’s because its also home to another Geocache of the Week. This park sounds like a geocacher’s paradise!
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, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@geocaching.com.
Editor’s note: Geocaching HQ staff are joining geocachers at Mega-Events around the world to celebrate and share the adventure of geocaching. Amy Faulkner, attended the 11th Annual Geocaching Hampton Roads Picnic (GC42NJJ). This is Amy’s account of her trip.
Amy (in middle) with the basket logbook
I recently traveled across the country from Geocaching HQ in Seattle, WA to Newport News, VA to attend the 11th Annual Geocaching Hampton Roads Picnic (GC42NJJ). This Mega-Event looked really interesting from the get-go but I certainly had no idea what a trip I was in for.
Upon arrival Friday evening for the event’s Meet & Greet (GC4FDA7), I was barely in the parking lot of the event venue when I was asked by a fellow geocacher to stop my car so they could take a picture of the trackable code I had placed on the window. As weird as this may sound, it was a refreshing welcome to the event and it gave me the comforting feeling that even though I was 3000 miles from home I was right where I belonged. The excitement as I walked in to the event only grew. I met the event organizers (more on them later) and attendees from all over the United States. I listened to some great geocaching stories and received my awesome registration pack that included a lunch tote, a t-shirt, a water bottle, a pen with a stylus, a geocaching hat and so much more. I had so much fun, but this was merely a glimpse of what was in store.
At the end of the event I set out for dinner with some fellow geocachers that are also the worldwide geocaching community reviewers for North Carolina and Tennessee. Although I had not met MonkeyBrad, NCReviewer and Dogwood_Reviewer before, we had exchanged a few emails prior to the event and decided that we would grab some dinner afterward.
Occasionally around Geocaching HQ or out in the game you hear that “geocaching makes the world smaller.” I have heard this in regards to folks getting out and exploring places they normally wouldn’t have and geocachers exchanging stories about similar experiences they have had in finding the same cache, but what happened at the random restaurant we chose for dinner is one of those exemplary stories that you almost can’t believe. Picture this: as the group of us sit down to dinner, our waiter approaches the table in the overly exuberant waiter style and introduces himself. He’s super friendly, he tells us the specials, asks for our drink order, makes a suggestion on a good beer to try and heads off to obtain the drinks. As he returns with the beverages, he inquires as to why so many of us at the table have on geocaching shirts. This was quite observant on his part as we were not sitting there in matching uniforms but in various different geocaching shirts.
We explained that we were in town for the event. We discussed with him where each of us traveled from and then, when the waiter did not ask us what geocaching was we inquired if he was a geocacher. Read carefully, here’s where it gets interesting… Our waiter then tells us nonchalantly that he’s “been a few times” and he continues to tell us that he once found a geocache in Chattanooga, Tennessee that required him to paddle out to it and he was one of only 40 some people to find it since it was placed in 2006.
Photo Op
Around this time I happened to glance across the table at MonkeyBrad to see a perplexed look on his face. He asked the waiter if the name of the cache was Island Booty and the waiter enthusiastically said yes. MonkeyBrad then explained that he was the co-owner of that geocache and the entire table erupted in laughter and cheer and sounds of disbelief that our waiter, who barely identified himself as a geocacher, had such a great and vivid story that he shared with us in the middle of Virginia about an elusive geocache that he found in Tennessee.
After a great dinner and a lot of geocaching stories we turned in for the night with great anticipation of what the next day and the big event would bring.
The morning started off with an event called a Muffin-A-Go-Go II (GC4AF43) right outside the camping area at Newport News Park. As geocachers arrived they would grab a brown bag that included the muffin flavor of their choice. My muffin bag simply included a muffin (it was delicious) but some also included special instructions that challenged the muffin holder to participate in some of the big event’s activities. I did not have the luxury of spending a lot of time at this event as I had to get over to the main area and assist with the setup of the Lab Caches that were going to be tested at this event.
Purple Shirt Club
Newport News Park is a park rich with history. Many Civil War battles took place in the park including the Battle of Big Bethel and the Battle or Burnt Chimneys. The organizers of the event set up the Lab Caches to take geocachers on a journey through the park while learning about its history. In addition to the Lab Caches, there was a plethora of activities from an Ammo Can Toss, a GeoSurvivor competition for teams of two and an egg hunt that tested a participants’ pure luck in choosing an egg that contained the coordinates for a cache that could possibly contain a prize. There were also a few works of art and pure craftsmanship that blew me away. The event’s photo wall and the handmade giant picnic basket event log simply cannot go without mention.
The community volunteer reviewers and I sat on a panel discussion in the afternoon which really started some great conversation about the game that continued on throughout the day with everyone I chatted with. I had so many great conversations and met so many amazing people it truly made the event memorable, but the real heroes in creating such an awesome event were the “purple shirts” that organized the event and ensured that everyone had a good time and felt like part of their geocaching family. I’m excited to go back next year.
I admit it, I really dislike clowns. For instance, if there’s one on the street handing balloons to children, I’ll cross to the other side of the street so I don’t have to get within a few feet of him/her. While I know I’m not alone, I think I’d definitely get over my dislike of clowns for a chance to find this week’s Geocache of the Week.
One of the geocache creators trying his luck. Photo courtesy of geocacher Paladium_
Pennywise the Clown (GC3XB2Z), hidden in western Germany, ranks pretty high when it comes to geocache innovation, fun, and skill. When asked about the time and commitment that went into creating this geocache, the creators, Paladium and Paulicacher, said “We think that we needed around three month’s from the scratch and around 150€. We think that the cache-building is only one part of the project. After a while you have to rethink parts of the cache according to experiences from loggers and update the cache. Also after some destructions you have to rethink the cache again and repair and rearrange parts of the cache. So it is a ongoing process.” When asked about the theme, it was a simple answer,”We think that every more sophisticated cache should have a story. So shooting a clown… hmmm… Stephen King’s IT??? :)”
At first glance, this geocache is pretty terrifying. However, once you get over the fear, you’re ready to have a great time—so long as you bring the right tools for the job. According to the geocache details page, geocachers wishing to earn their smiley for this geocache will have to come prepared with at least 10L of water, some sort of water-gun, six AA batteries and at least four people. Luckily, you won’t have to carry these items through any tough trails—the terrain rating is only 1.5. However, using them might prove to be a little harder—the difficulty is 3.5. Once you’re at the cache, it’s time to have some fun.
A brave geocacher next to the terrifying clown. Photo by geocacher -geosil-
So far, over 600 geocachers have followed the instructions, aimed their water-guns and defeated Pennywise. Of those, 463 have awarded this geocache a favorite point. One such geocacher is jumuyou, who said (translated from German), “Since we do not have the necessary equipment, we hired our 8 year-old nephew to accompany us on our mission to protect the world from evil. He was very enthusiastic and provided us with everything that was needed. Together we set out to search for Pennywise and eventually tracked him to his hiding place. Although he resisted and ridiculed us, we did not give in and, finally overwhelmed him even faster than I thought. It was great fun. Thank you for this great cache!”
More geocachers trying to defeat Pennywise. Photo by geocacher Team Ehreshoven
In response to all of the positive logs and favorite points, the geocache creators said, “We are really overwhelmed by all the positive logs and personal statements from other cachers. More overwhelming is the fact that a lot of cachers come from far away only to play this cache.”
This geocache requires you to perform a special task before you’re able to open the container. What’s your favorite geocache that also requires a special skill or task to open? 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, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@geocaching.com.
There’s a magnetism to Geocaching Geocoins: the weight, the metallic shimmer and how each Geocoin is a message forged in metal. Some celebrate milestones like First to Find or 100 Finds, and some are just cool, like an eagle whose wings actually flap (fly eagle, fly!).
