Geocaching is delightful because of the people who play it — adventure-seekers, makers, parents, astronauts and (sometimes) celebrities. Read their stories.
The world is invited to Groundspeak HQ in Seattle, Washington USA to celebrate the global phenomenon of geocaching. Check out the cache page, and log your “Will Attend” to meet geocachers from around the world and talk with the Lackeys and Volunteer Reviewers who help power the Geocaching.com experience.
Each year, Geocaching.com celebrates International Geocaching Day on the third Saturday in August by hosting the Geocaching Block Party. The Geocaching Block Party on August 18 runs from 11am to 3pm at Fremont’s Solstice Plaza by the JP Patches statue. Geocachers can challenge themselves with beginner, intermediate, and advanced geocaching courses. They can also explore the Fremont neighborhood where Groundspeak is based and win prizes with “Fremont Funventures”—all while swapping geocaching stories. The public is invited to explore the family-friendly adventure of geocaching and meet geocachers from around the world. More than 2000 people from a dozen countries attended last year’s Block Party.
Around the world, there will be nearly 200 events in more than a dozen counties. Anyone who logs a cache or an “Attended” for an Event Cache on August 18 this year earns the 2012 International Geocaching Day souvenir for their Geocaching.com profile.
Subscribe to the official Geocaching.com YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos about the evolving world of geocaching. Watch the more than 50 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.
What do the inventor of the Geocoin, one of the oldest cities in the world and a night time cycling tour have in common? They are all aspects of a unique Mega-Event known as Geocoinfest. Geocoinfest Lisboa 2012 (GC3N1YQ) takes place in just about three weeks in the capital of Portugal. It promises to be an exciting event and I’m thrilled to get the opportunity to attend.
This will be my fifth Geocoinfest Mega-Event I’ve attended and yet another opportunity to connect with the amazing community. I enjoy working with geocachers and Geocoins every day as part of my work at Groundspeak. I’m privileged to attend this event with my coworker Jon Stanley (Moun10bike), who plans to bring the very first Geocoin for all to discover.
Geocoins add a fascinating element to the game of geocaching for me and many others. Beautiful designs, unique icons, and the stories and pictures they collect as they move from cache to cache, or as they’re discovered in private collections, provide a fun experience for enthusiasts everywhere. I love walking around Geocoinfest events and seeing geocachers showing off the pride and joy of their personal collections to new friends and old. It always reminds me that the task of generating tracking codes (the unique set of numbers and letters that identify each Geocoin) at Groundspeak HQ has such a greater meaning than I realize on a day-to-day basis.
A dedicated event committee of over 50 Portuguese geocachers came together to organize this amazing event for Geocoin fans and collectors in a short amount of time. The committee is divided into eleven groups that cover the individual pieces that make up the Mega-Event. One of these organizers, António Casimiro (Acasim), explained that “A Geocoinfest event is a special Mega-Event, a themed event related to Geocoins. But in reality it is much more than that. It’s a gathering of people from many different countries, an opportunity to meet some Groundspeak Lackeys, famous Geocoin designers and producers, and many many Geocoin collectors and geocachers in general, who often carry their Geocoin collections to show around or to trade at the event.”
Along with viewing the latest and greatest Geocoin designs, I’m hoping to enjoy some of those other aspects involved with the event. Music, games, a flashmob, tasting local wines, attending an evening bicycle tour of Lisbon to discover the city, and of course finding geocaches! The organizers have done an amazing job putting the event together and I personally can’t wait to see their efforts in person.
Silva provides some great tips for those interested in attending the 2012 European Geocoinfest:
– Book travel and hotel as soon as possible, to get better prices (accommodation pointers are provided on the event website)
– Add your “will attend” log and register for the event, providing the requested information
– Look at the provided program and prepare your own schedule, to make the best possible use of time
– Periodically look at the event web site for news and updates
– Contact the organization in case you have any questions — everyone will do their best to help you!
Find more details for planning on the official event website. If you can’t make it to the European Geocoinfest, the annual US event (GC2XW58) is in the U.S. state of Colorado this October. Geocoinfest U.S. 2012 offers a similar experience in North America. Check out the official Geocoinfest U.S. 2012 website and register here.
The Geocache of the Week is not only rich in history and natural beauty, it is also a part of the Gold Country GeoTour.
Gold Country – The Painted Chasm (GC1TTW8) is rated a difficulty 1 1/2, terrain 2 traditional cache.
Placed in June of 2009, it is one of 72 Gold Country GeoTour geocaches. GeoTour caches are designed to showcase a destination with a tailored series of geocaches hidden at the destination’s points of interest. The Gold Country GeoTour directs adventurers to discover the region’s gold mining legacy.
Located in a remote area of southern British Columbia, Canada, the cache accumulated nearly 225 logged visits and 17 Favorite Points over the last three years. The cache sits along the 8km long painted chasm canyon, whose serene red, orange, pink, and purple colors have been forming for 16 million years.
Geocaching in Gold Country
The page provides detailed information about the history of the area, its natural beauty, and geological importance.
One adventurer logging the cache said, “This was one very special, very beautiful, very scenic, absolutely fantastic, most educational and truly memorable Geocaching trip. Yours to discover….Wish you were here.”
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the world. 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.
June’s featured Geocacher of the Month is known for his kindness and ability to engage the geocaching community through his creative caches.
Congratulations to SniperChicken for pulling in an incredible 108 votes! We greatly appreciate your dedication to geocaching.
June Featured Geocacher of the Month, SniperChicken
SniperChicken is the Board President of the Mississippi Geocachers Association. He owns over 140 caches and is known to go above and beyond to research every hiding location to provide fellow geocachers with a unique cache and story.
According to one geocacher casting a vote, “SniperChicken is a great guy…you won’t find many more dedicated. He does whatever he can to help others, to make a cache different and exciting. He’s a real inspiration to newbies and seasoned cachers alike. All the candidates are great, but SniperChicken stands out above the rest.”
SniperChicken will receiver a collector’s 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 his contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.
Thank you to the fellow June 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.
Every nomination must meet the following requirements: Please include your name, the name of your nominee, their username, at least one picture of the nominee and description (in 500 or fewer 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 July featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by the end of the day on Monday, July 16th.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top 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.
The Geocache of the Week takes us to a country where fewer than 100 geocaches exist.
Stari Most (GC28FXB), or Old Bridge sits in the heart of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is rated a difficulty 1 1/2, terrain 1 1/2 EarthCache.
The bridge spans the Neretva river and connects two parts of the city of Mostar. Built in 1567, it stood for 427 years before it was destroyed in November of 1993 during the Croat-Bosniak conflict.
Jumping off the bridge
Stari Most, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has become quite the tourist attraction since it was rebuilt in 2004. It stands 19 meters (62 feet) tall and spans 28.7 meters (94 feet ) in length.
Much of Stari Most’s charm lies in its tradition of bridge jumping each year in the month of July. Tens of thousands of spectators line adjacent to the bridge and watch the divers of the Mostar Diving Club jump off the highest point (the arch) of the bridge.
This EarthCache is no stranger to geocachers. It has accumulated nearly 250 logged visits, 23 Favorite Points and over 335 images since it was placed in 2010 by Team HeiMat.
One geocacher logged, “I finally made it. I’m so pleased to finally say I’ve stood on the Stari Most despite, or indeed, because of its history TFTC.”
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the world. 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.
