Category: Community

Geocaching is delightful because of the people who play it — adventure-seekers, makers, parents, astronauts and (sometimes) celebrities. Read their stories.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Texas Challenge XI: A Taste of Southern Hospitality

adela and de
Adela (left) and Texas Geocaching Association President, De

Editor’s note: Geocaching HQ staff are joining geocachers at Mega-Events around the world to celebrate and share the adventure of geocaching. Adela Bahtijaragic, a.k.a. DellaBell, attended Texas Challenge XI (GCW8GT) in Port Aransas, Texas, USA in April. Adela has been on Geocaching HQ’s marketing team since 2012. This is Adela’s account of her trip.

By Adela Bahtijaragic, a.k.a. DellaBell

They say that half the geocaching journey is getting there. This much was true when I traveled to Port Aransas, Texas – home to Texas Challenge XI. Located deep in the heart of Texas, “Port A” was the place to be during the weekend of April 5. Geocachers in the great state of Texas, and beyond, gathered to celebrate what they love – geocaching.

Over the course of 11 years, the challenge has grown into a fun-filled weekend comprised of activities for people who wish to compete in the contest or those simply looking to socialize and geocache around town. With plenty to see and do, I was lucky enough to have had my very own tour guide for the day. I got to hang out with the 2011 – 2013 Texas Geocaching Association (TXGA) President, De (of Team-DnD), who went above and beyond to make this an unforgettable day for me.

Human log book
Human log book

De and I spent the day exploring the city, the beach, and local geocaches. She introduced me to members of the TXGA, seasoned and new geocachers, and a number of geocachers who attended from places as far away as Australia (firesafe). Of course, I took part in some of the creative Mega-Event challenges, including a joust with a knight from Monty Python’s Holy Grail.

Adela and knight square off
Adela and knight square off

A bonfire gathering at the beach (GC454VH), which included a jalapeno eating contest, potluck, and limbo was the perfect way to end a busy day. We quickly figured out that the lack of a logbook was no problem. Thanks to Travis (SKnight579) and his Hawaiian shirt, turned geocaching “logbook,” we had a conversation piece and possibly even a new tradition for future after-challenge-events.

I felt welcome and a part of a community I had never celebrated with before. The weekend of April 5 was only my very first trip to Texas, but also my very first Mega-Event. I could not have asked for a better group of people to embrace geocaching with. Their hospitality and love for geocaching goes beyond everything I expected.

TXCXI Group Photo
Texas Challenge XI Group Photo

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Fastest 15 Minutes in Geocaching – WWFM X

WWFM
WWFM

By: The Podcachers

Your geocaching schedule should be packed as we enter the busy season, but everyone has 15 minutes to create an amazing Geocaching memory. The WWFM X (World Wide Flash Mob #10) is coming to a location near you. Nearly 400 events in more than 30 countries will take place on May 4, 2013.

Thousands of geocachers are anticipating the 15 minutes of fun from this global event. It’s coming up quick, but there’s still time for you to plan your own WWFM event. The WWFM events are 15 minutes of fun and excitement, packed with “typical” geocaching event activities like group photos, tiny event meals, prize giveaways and trackable trading.

The World Wide Flash Mob was born back in May 2007 when Sonny and Sandy of the PodCacher podcast hosted the PodCacher Flash Mob Cache Event, coordinated with 20 other events on the same day and time. From that small beginning, the WWFM has grown astronomically spreading around the globe to include more geocachers and more events every year. The previous WWFM IX held in June, 2012 brought together 15,487 geocachers at 312 events in 31 countries. This year is the milestone 10th WWFM and it is expected to be even bigger. With about three weeks left to go before May 4th, there are already 396 events posted in 31 countries.

WWFM events have come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny to enormous. And they’ve been held in all sorts of locations, from the cold of Alaska to the desert of Iraq and from downtown Zürich, Switzerland to a small town in Peru. WWFM events have been held in 50 countries and almost every single US state and Canadian province. It’s hard to say what is so appealing about a worldwide geocaching flash mob. Maybe its the sense of community and knowing that geocachers all around the world are having the same fun and hilarity at the same time. Maybe it’s having a lightning fast, organized-chaos event that happens in public and shows the muggle bystanders the fun and creative people who count themselves as geocachers.

WWFM 2012 Crazy Hair Themedf
WWFM 2012 Crazy Hair Themedf

The unique and creative twists that WWFM event hosts have added are endless. There have been water gun fights, bubble blowing, kazoo bands, banana-phones, a prom theme, chicken dances, umbrellas, frozen-turkey bowling and more!

This year for WWFM X, many events are planning Star Wars themed activities, based on the date of May 4th (“May the Fourth be with you!”). It’s a good fit, since many geocachers know that using their Geo-Jedi sense is the best way to find those tricky geocaches!

WWFM events are a fun, friendly and creative way to promote geocaching around the world. If you want to attend a WWFM X event near you, you can browse the bookmark list or check out the Geocaching.com event calendar for the date of May 4th.

If you would like to host a WWFM X event, you can find all the information you need at the Official WWFM Website. But you’ll need to hurry! Events must be published 2 weeks prior to the event date and you’ll need to make sure your local geocaching community volunteer reviewer has enough time to review and publish your event. 

Come and FLASH (mob) with us—and May the Fourth be with you in all your geocaching endeavors.

WWFM 2012
WWFM 2012
/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching with Seals

Pauline underwater seal geocache 1
Used with permission

They”re the muggles you never thought you”d have to worry about: seals. And for Pauline Driessen (Nekozoeki) placing a geocache near one of her favorite places on earth, the habitat for hundreds of seals, provided an experience she never expected. She says, “I”m a Dutch Flight attendant and I”ve stumbled upon the fun of geocaching a little under two years ago. I”m now 1097 caches in 41 countries further and it”s become a huge part of my (flying) life.”

Pauline aka Nekozoeki
Pauline aka Nekozoeki

The seals” swooping underwater ballet inspired Pauline. “One of my favorite spots in the world is the Cape Fur Seal Colony of Duiker Island, near Houtbay in South Africa. Every time my airline sends me there, I go down to dive with them. During one of these dives I met my dive master friend (and now cachebuddy) “Tomdog707.” Together we hatched a plan for a super cool underwater cache to show the rest of the (geocaching) world this awesome place!”

Weeks of planning, working with a marine biologist and exchanging emails with geocaching community volunteer reviewer ROTSIP paid off on one day.

Used withpermission
Used withpermission

Pauline says, “It was finally time to head back to South Africa for all the fun: First we As a consumer you have a right to dispute any item that you feel is incorrect on your free-credits-report.com report through that particular free-credits-report.com bureaus dispute process. constructed a seal proof container with dive slate logbook in the tool shed of my friend. Then we hiked up a mountain to hide evil seal bonus cache GC2Z8C9 “Gotta dive deep to reach the top!” and then the grand finale: time to install GC47Y71 “Cape Fur Seals and the Great White Mystery” below the waves.”

Placing the geocache
Placing the geocache

Pauline”s friend and photographer Olivia Anderson captured the geocache placement. So far everything had gone to plan. Then Pauline says crafting and brain storming the geocache sparked something with her new dive master friend, “So I met dive master Tom. Nice guy, had a fun diving, nothing more. Tom had never heard of geocaching but thought it was cool. Like old buddies, (we were) working on the geocache in the tool shed, hiking up a mountain to place the bonus cache, crawling in T5 caves and finally diving down to place the cache.”

Geocachers diving in to log the FTF
Geocachers diving in to log the FTF

Then she blurted something out, “Is it strange that I”m starting to realize I”m kinda missing you?” He blurted something back. Now the two watch the geocache listing together and plan time in South Africa for even more diving.

The good luck keeps rolling. A team of geocaching divers logged the FTF shortly after the geocache was published. They rewarded Pauline and Tom with great logs.

Geocacher paddawon writes, “I was feeling a bit rusty but followed AndyT1 overboard and down we went. The great white mystery was soon to reveal itself. We opened the fantastic container and signed the logbook… The seals were beginning to awaken from their slumber and get out of bed. Soon they were whizzing all around us…  All too soon we surfaced and gracefully clambering back on board the board. I think some of the seals acquabatics must have rubbed off. What a fantastic cache! A huge amount of time and effort has gone into the container and makes it all the more worth while. Thanks to Nekozoeki and Tomdog707 for placing the cache and getting me out here.”

 

The geocache is right about there... if you have scuba gear.
The geocache is right about there… if you have scuba gear.
/ Eric Schudiske /

Announcing the March 2013 Geocacher of the Month

WVTime - Featured Geocacher of the Month
WVTim – Featured Geocacher of the Month

All three nominees for the March Geocacher of the Month contribute to the global geocaching communityby creating quality geocaches and being an inspiration to geocachers.

Thank you to all those who supported the nominees. Those not chosen as the featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Geocaching HQ.

The choice was difficult. Ultimately, only one nominee can become the featured Geocacher of the Month based on a combination of community input, blog comments and voting. We all won seeing such examples of how the geocaching community works together.

After tallying the sentiment, WVTim is named the Featured Geocacher of the Month for March 2013.

WVTim is known for contributing one-on-one and through social media to improve geocaching for others. One geocacher who left a comment for WVTim wrote, “I  see “paragraphs” of supporting statements about WVTim and the many things he has accomplished for geocaching. I am familiar with WVTim due to his YouTube videos. His gadgetcaches channel, in only 3 months, has nearly 11K views. He does instructional videos on how to build his gadget caches. So, he not only has amazing caches, he is giving ideas and instructions to cachers everywhere on how to build them. Cachers everywhere are benefiting from this guy whose caches have over 2K favorite votes. Plus, he just doesn’t do great caches. I’ve learned from this blog he has seminars, educational events, he teaches geocaching in schools, and to the Boy Scouts. He assists his state and local government in placing geocaching trails.”

WVTim will receive a collector’s edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging his contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsZ50JjRnJE]

Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must follow these requirements. Please include:

  • 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 Featured Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.

Congratulations again to Uncle Louwtjie on being recognized at the Featured Geocacher of the Month for February.

/ Derek H /

Become a U.S. National Park Ranger for a Day – Park Employee for a Day Geocaches (GC42GX2) – Geocache of the Week

 

Counting some of the Everglades' natural residents. Photo by geocacher lilyfly.
Counting some of the Everglades’ natural residents. Photo by geocacher lilyfly.

Getting plenty of fresh air, enjoying beautiful scenery, exploring wondrous destinations—United States National Park Rangers have a job that many of us dream about. However, it’s not all fun and games. Park rangers work tirelessly to help preserve natural areas, protect endangered species and ensure visitors enjoy their experience. This week’s Geocache of the Week is the Park Employee for a Day Geocache series (beginning with GC42GX2), which  put you in the well-worn boots of a Park Ranger in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA.

This geocache series is relatively new and ranges from 1.5–2.5 in difficulty and terrain. Most of the geocaches were placed in January 2013. However, just because these geocaches haven’t had a whole lot of time to rack up Favorite Points, we can tell that this series will be loved by the community. “So far, the caches have been wildly popular with visitors…we’re getting good qualitative feedback from visitors about the real-world issues we’re asking them to consider. Visitors are chiming in on how we should respond to climate change, protect imperiled species, and manage risks from wildlife. This sort of back-and-forth conversation is an exciting new departure from traditional ranger programs found at most national parks,” said Larry Perez, the U.S. Park Ranger in charge of the series.

A nice view of the Everglades. Photo by geocacher JunglePete.
A nice view of the Everglades. Photo by geocacher JunglePete.

The Park Ranger for a Day geocaches are some of the very few geocaches that are placed within a US National Park.  Geocachers will be able to experience more than just another find—they’ll be able to see the park through the eyes of a ranger. The series begins with a simple park and grab geocache that contains information about the other geocaches, as well as their coordinates. Each geocache then presents a different, real-world scenario that Park Rangers could face. “The issues we ask our visitors to consider are ongoing, real-world challenges for our park personnel. The series helps expose visitors to the “behind-the-scenes” work–both past and present–that has been undertaken by many of our rangers. These include dealing with invasive exotics, managing large wildfires, and planning for the future in light of sea level rise,” said Larry Perez.

Geocachers share how they would handle the situation in their logs. So far, the geocachers that have made the trip to southern Florida have enjoyed the series. Geocache lilyfly had this to say, “Thanks to the NPS for being willing to take chance on us geocachers. These caches were all placed in excellent locations where minimal impact will be made. The challenges presented really helped give a glimpse to the different issues facing the NPS. We loved it! THANK YOU!”

A beautiful Everglades sunset. Photo by geocacher auyantepuy.
A beautiful Everglades sunset. Photo by geocacher auyantepuy.

We’re excited about having a series of geocaches in a U.S. National Park. Which U.S. National Park would you like to see geocaches in next? Let us know 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 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@geocaching.com.