Geocaching is delightful because of the people who play it — adventure-seekers, makers, parents, astronauts and (sometimes) celebrities. Read their stories.
This week, we’re going to stay on the theme of amazing EarthCaches. And just like last week, this EarthCache is a volcano, but this volcano is a little different…
Volcan de Lodo El Totumo
Go Play in the Mud at Volcan de Lodo El Totumo (GC1KKQC) takes you to one of the rare mud volcanoes located in South America. This particular mud volcano is near Cartagena, Colombia. Instead of the red-hot molten lava that most volcanoes spew, here you’ll find harmless warm mud.
The top of the mud volcano. Photo by geocacher Team Bear-Cat.
Mud volcanoes are thought to be formed when the heat generated by tectonic movement moves up through the soft, sedimentary soil and bubbles to the surface. The mud-mountain itself is formed after sediment builds up over the years. Volcan de Lodo El Totumois has a mud-depth of about 60 feet (18 meters), but mud-bathers are so buoyant in the mud that there’s no risk of sinking.
To complete this EarthCache, you must take a photo of yourself and your GPS next to the volcano and answer a few questions. And while it’s not required to log the find, no visit to Volcan de Lodo El Totumois would be complete without a mud bath and massage from one of the locals. “We have gotten wet and/or dirty while geocaching in the past, but NEVER like THIS,” said geocachers Team Bear-Cat in their log.
Geocachers becoming mud-people. Photo by geocacher Veet Voojagig.
For those of you that haven’t had a chance to join the ranks of mud-people in Colombia, what’s the dirtiest you’ve ever gotten while geocaching?
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.
As we approach the 2 millionth active geocache, the February Geocacher of the Month nominees help celebrate the geocache creators. This month’s nominees have collected hundreds of Favorite Points for their amazing hides in America, Africa, South America, Europe and beyond. Each is already a winner and will receive a prize package from Geocaching HQ.
January 2013 Featured Geocachers of the Month
Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for February.
Write a comment at the bottom of this blog about which of these geocachers you feel should be awarded the featured Geocacher of the Month title.
In January, Tim a.k.a. The Weasel, was recognized for organizing Cache In Trash Out (CITO) events, helping guide local geocachers as a board member of the Iowa Geocacher Organization and spreading the word about proper geocaching etiquette by conducting and assisting with over 50 geocaching classes throughout the State of Iowa and abroad.
Here are your nominees for the February featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.
louwtjievdw nominee for featured Geocacher of the Month
louise_gerhard and Henzz write, ” Uncle Louwtjie van der Watt AKA louwtjievdw… is a legend and cachers are travelling vast distances to find his unique and challenging caches. Uncle Louwtjie has at the time of writing 1178 finds. He also has 269 caches that he maintains vigorously. If a cache is gone then it will be replaced as quickly as possible. More important is his techniques of hiding caches. He does not use the normal conventional Tupperware or other commercial containers as a rule, but rather manufacture caches from household items found in the home. This technique is unique in South Africa and it creates a different feel for geocaches. His caches are high quality and it will challenge even the hardiest cache finder. Due to his unconventional technique of hiding these customised items cachers from all over the country at one stage or another does a sort of a pilgrimage trip to Bloemfontein. His logs, friendly advice, the cup of coffee at his home to anyone that wants to share some time with him and the willingness to contribute his time towards all of us is something that must be recognized.”
CAMOURA and ankhesenamon nominees for the featured Geocachers of the Month
VICTOREMM writes, “I would like to suggest Mr. Carlos (CAMOURA) and his wife Carla Moura (ankhesenamon) to the Geocachers of the month. They are the greater ambassadors of Geocaching in Brazil. They hid together about 196 caches, about 23% of the caches in our state SAO PAULO, and 18% in all Brazil. In addition to several meetings and interviews that they gave to magazines and newspapers. CAMOURA’s last work was to create a Power Trail to help everyone from leaving Sao Paulo to Intervales Park, where you will find the Project APE. They hide caches in a separate to be possible to one get the cache of the other because of few geocachers in Brazil. We have a very different reality here in Brazil, geocaching is not very popular, and their effort is enormous to keep this great adventure alive.
du duintoppers nominees for featured Geocachers of the Month
Team Bever.vw says, “In the Netherlands we have ‘De Duintoppers’ who are making very nice caches with for everybody, easy traditional geocaches, walking, biking and even boating Multi-Caches, mysteries and so on and so on. All this caches are in perfect condition. They are always helpful as well as for beginning Geocachers as long with experienced Geocachers. This team De Duintoppers adopted a lot of Geocachers and it always feels like coming home when we met Dick eand Ineke the De Duintoppers. They are the best promoters of Geocaching in The Netherlands. They have very good contacts with authorities in the area to place the Geocaches and it happens that they contacting them with the question to place something in a new nature part. They are an alternative tourist-information due to the good description in each Geocache.
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the February featured Geocacher of the Month. A panel of folks from Geocaching HQ will use your comments to help decide which geocacher is awarded the honor. Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive an exclusive special edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat, a Geocacher of the Month profile icon and a certificate acknowledging their contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching. We will be accepting comments for February’s award through Sunday, March 3rd.
Those whose nominees were not recognized here are encouraged to submit their nominations again next month. If you know an outstanding geocacher you would like to nominate to be a featured Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com and include the following information:
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’ve submitted them for the award.
Nominations for the March Geocacher of the Month must be received by Friday, February 22nd.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so we might learn from each other.
Top countries or territories by active the number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013Top countries and territories by active number of geocaches – data from Geocaching.com from January of 2013
On February 4th, 2013 there were no active geocaches in just 7 of the 193 U.N. recognized member states: North Korea, Liberia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, the Solomon Islands, Central African Republic and Somalia.
A view of Crater Lake and Wizard Island from the Earthcache location. Photo by Geocacher McGeesters.
Nearly 7000 years ago, a massive volcano in southern Oregon, United States exploded leaving behind a collapsed caldera. Over the thousands of years that followed, the empty caldera filled with snowmelt and rainwater to form what is now known as Crater Lake. Geocachers from around the world have come to take in the amazing views, learn about this amazing location and find the Mt. Mazama Earthcache (GC123H6).
A closer view of Wizard Island. Photo by Geocacher lunarmist02.
The explosion that destroyed the stratovolcano is said to have been 42 times more powerful than the Mt. Saint Helens eruption in 1980. In fact, the explosion reduced Mt. Mazama’s original height by about a mile (1.6 km). Now, Mt. Mazama is more well-known for the result of the explosion: Crater Lake and Wizard Island.
“Crater Lake is such a beautiful place. We enjoyed our stay very much and also learned some new aspects about geology. Nature’s forces are really overwhelming. Thanks for the learnings and the cache,” said geocacher netteleut(h)e in a log to earn a smiley for the geocache.
At 1,943 feet (592m), Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, second deepest in North America and ninth deepest in the world. Wizard Island is actually a small cinder cone volcano that was formed by continued volcanic activity after Mt. Mazama’s big eruption.
This Earthcache puts you on the rim of Crater Lake, overlooking Wizard Island—but getting there is only one of the requirements for obtaining your smiley. Be sure to read the instructions and correctly answer the questions on the cache page before you log this geocache as “found.”
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.
Whether you’re geocaching in a park or grabbing a T5 from a rappel, having right tools may be the difference between a smiley and a DNF. In fact, thanks to some clever geocache hiders, some geocaches may require certain tools to be found. The tools in the photo above are some of our favorites that help make geocaching easier and more fun. Here’s a look at 9 essentials for your geocaching pack (smartphone with Geocaching App and/or GPS device not included):
1) Flashlight
2) Spare batteries (occasionally used to power motors that open geocaches)
3) Camera – Don’t forget to post your photos on our Facebook page
4) Utility tool – this also includes a tweezers to remove log books from micro caches
5) Pen – often best to bring more than one
6) A log roller – use this to help re-roll logs for micro caches
7) A magnetic pen – sometimes metal geocaches hide in hard to reach locations
8) Swag – bring this along to place in geocaches after you’ve found them
9) A retractable mirror – a smart geocachers tool for looking under benches
Even more geocaching gear
The funny thing is, when you ask people at Geocaching HQ for essential geocaching gear, sometimes… okay, all the time, there’s always even more gear. So here are four more pieces of gear geocachers at HQ use out on the trail. And if you’re a shorter geocacher or just need to extend your range a little – number 1 might be perfect for you.
1) Grabber thing – it really works!
2) Headlamp – Free up your hands for searching
3) UV light – This is mostly for night caches with special UV reflectors
4) Metal poking device – Sometimes it’s a good idea to poke things before reaching in with your hands
In the comments below, tell us what else people should bring along while geocaching!
