Category: Community

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

/ Adela B /

Dracula’s Castle – GC5D8 – GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – November 29, 2012

Inside Dracula’s Castle

The Geocache of the Week takes us to a place with beautiful views of  the countryside, the Carpathian Mountains, and Dracula’s Castle. That’s right, Dracula’s Castle (GC5D8).

The castle is not only a national monument and landmark in Romania, but home to the country’s oldest published geocache.

Over the centuries, Dracula’s Castle, a.k.a. Bran Castle has been used in defense against the Ottoman Empire, served as a customs point, and has housed a number of residents, including Queen Marie (and let’s not forget Bram Stoker’s Dracula). It is now a museum, displaying art and furniture collected by the queen.

Hand-made cross

Since 2001, nearly 230 geocachers have logged a smiley and awarded the difficulty 3, terrain 3.5 traditional cache over 30 Favorite Points.

The cache owner, Team Romania (now maintained by DJ Storm) was kind enough to include a few essentials, such as a large pencil that could be used as a wooden stake to ward off vampires. Over the years, geocachers have created their own weapons against Dracula when setting out to find this cache. Recently, a hand-made cross was spotted at a “grave” site near the cache.

A very curious local

Locals and cachers from a number of nearby countries and across the seas have traveled far and wide to visit the castle and log the cache.

A geocacher from the UK writes, “What a climb! Totally worth the effort though… Not only did I escape the crowds for half an hour, but I was rewarded with the most spectacular view to the mountains and beyond. Nice, clean, and well maintained cache. Great to bag Romania’s first geocache as well. Over 10 years old and long may it live. I was a bit skeptical about the ‘grave’ nearby, marked with a cross. But now I understand!  …Brilliant. TNLNSL [Took Nothing Left Nothing Signed Log]. Thanks for hiding and greetings from the UK.”

Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 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.

 

Signing the logbook
/ Adela B /

Announcing the November Featured Geocacher of the Month

The November Geocacher of the Month is known as the Elvis of the geocaching world, and over 130 geocachers agree. Congratulations to Ted, a.k.a. balkamper13 for being named November’s Featured Geocacher of the Month!

November Featured Geocacher of the Month, balkamper13

Balkamper13 is recognized for introducing and helping countless novice geocachers become caching addicts. He has donated quality homemade swag, time, and money to geocaching events. Ted has spent numerous hours teaching his secrets, and always invites new geocachers on geocaching adventures and events. He also shares his geocaching adventures and tips on this blog, LiveLoveCache.com.

A geocacher who cast a vote says, “balkamper13 helped get us started. We love finding his caches and his swag.  The first CSI series cache find had us hooked. I have never seen such creativity! The events he hosts are first class. I have known balkamper13 for about a year and I have never met a fellow cacher who puts his time, money, heart, and soul into this great hobby to make his fellow cachers’ experiences the best.”

Balkamper13 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.

Thank you to the fellow November nominees and all those who supported them. The nominees not chosen as Featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Groundspeak. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.

Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon

The geocaching community is encouraged to re-nominate those who have yet to be honored as featured Geocacher of the Month. If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must meet the following requirements:

  • 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 December Featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by the end of the day on Friday, December 7th.

Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top three candidates and post them on the Latitude 47 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.

/ Adela B /

Cova Tancada – GC1ZW11 – GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – November 15, 2012

A cliff, a cave, and a cache

Picture this: Clear blue water, a dark cave, and a treasure. It’s a geocacher’s dream. Well, dream no more, because the geocache really exists and it’s called Cova Tancada (GC1ZW11).

The difficulty 3, terrain 4 traditional geocache is located on the largest island of the Balearic Islands, Mallorca. Mallorca is not only home to beautiful beaches and rich history, but a very popular cache. Nearly 260 geocachers have logged a smiley and awarded it 129 Favorite Points since it was published by chrismaxx in October of 2009.

Anyone who loves to go for a long, scenic hike when geocaching will appreciate the beauty and reward when logging this cache off the coast of Spain.

Inside the cave

According to the bilingual cache page (German and English), the cave “Sa Cova Tancada del Cap de Menorca” was once used by smugglers who built the entrance to the cave to hide their goods. Those smuggled goods were then transported to the neighboring island, Menorca.

The island of Menorca is just 33 kilometers (21 miles) from Mallorca. If the weather permits, geocachers can often catch a glimpse of the nearby island on their way to discover the treasure.

To embark on this adventure cachers generally set aside 1.5 hours to get to the cache from the parking location. But, once they reach the cache, time loses all meaning. Even though the cave can be intimidating at times, geocachers have reported that “the view from the end location will have you feeling peaceful and serene.”

One geocacher who logged this find writes, “You will sweat, you will be full of joy, and most of all, you will feel so calm when you get to this special place. We were surrounded by a great view and a wonderful group of people. The hike up and down the cliff side was somewhat strenuous, but so worth it. I’m so glad there’s a cache here. Thank you for showing us this great place.”

Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 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.

The path to the cave