Geocaching is delightful because of the people who play it — adventure-seekers, makers, parents, astronauts and (sometimes) celebrities. Read their stories.
Whoever said that good things are hard to come by, hasn’t searched for the Sounds of the Bay (GC30CB) geocache on a jetty in the San Francisco Bay.
Listen closely, because this difficulty 2.5, terrain 1 traditional cache is surrounded by a wave-activated acoustic sculpture, called the Wave Organ, and it’s calling out to geocachers.
The small size cache container found somewhere on the jetty was placed by Surfcal in January of 2002. Over the last ten years, more than 1950 geocachers have logged this cache and helped make it one of geocaching’s most visited sites.
Wave Organ Pipes
The jetty itself was constructed with used building materials. There are 25 organ pipes made of PVC and concrete located at various elevations within the jetty, which stretches into the water. The rise and fall of the tide creates a wave-powered symphony as water moves in and out of the pipes.
With more than 180 Favorite Points, this cache is just as easy on the eyes as it is on the ears. With views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Exploratorium – an arts and science center, and Alcatraz – a notorious prison island, it’s easy to see why geocachers are in for a treat.
As one logger put it, “Way cool! Music to my ears and then some, primitive yet spiritual in nature and soothing to the soul. Thanks for bring us here, we may never had known about it otherwise. This is what makes caching a great hobby.”
The cache at Sounds of the Bay
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’d 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.
Geocachers from Foundation Fitness competing in the Wild Canyon Games Geocaching Event. The circle highlights a helicopter
Four geocachers finally stood atop the rock covered peak of a desert vista. The geocachers could see the horizon stretch out before them for miles. Geocaching.com Lackeys Colin Williams (Colin) and Jenn Seva (MissJenn), accompanied by two other geocachers, climbed high enough to look down on the flight path of an observation helicopter.
Logging a geocache near the Wild Canyon Games venueLackey Troy Kaser running in the Triathlon
There were no homes to be seen. They squinted to even find a road. But hidden on the largest geocaching course in the world – 55 square miles – 450 geocaches waited in crevasses and cracks, bushes and trees, to be discovered. Colin and Jenn were part of one of two Geocaching.com teams competing in the Wild Canyon Games. The Wild Canyon Games is a team-based adventure race competition.
Colin and Jenn’s GPS coordinates told them a geocache was somewhere on that peak. They teamed up with other geocachers to find it. Geocaching is just one event in two days worth of adventure games.
In the geocaching event hundreds of competitors had four hours to accumulate the most points – by logging geocaches and recording the unique codes inside. Each geocache carried a point value based on its difficulty, terrain, and distance from the start.
Lackeys Annie Love and Nicole Bliss ready to download waypoints for the Geocaching Event
The course crawled with more than 600 geocachers. Teams plotted strategy to unlock the geocaching route they believe would deliver them the most points. They raced the clock.
Nearly 130 teams from the Pacific Northwest of the United States competed in the games.
Lackey Ernesto Ricks after riding the bike course
Colin says they had to take the long detour to try to find just one cache – to help even the playing field, “Sure, we climbed the highest mountain in the area. If we spent the whole time geocaching it would have been unfair to the rest of the field.”
Lackeys helped the rest of the field prepare for the event. The Lackey teams assisted competitors by downloading the waypoints on GPS devices and offering GPS device training before the geocaching event began. Groundspeak’s two teams of seven also competed in an Olympic length relay triathlon and a seven stage relay which included, among other obstacles, a 50 foot canyon swing, an elevated ropes course, and a zip-line.
Lackeys MissJenn and Colin pointing the mountain they climbed
Lackey Annie Love (Love) completed the zip line safely. But she says, her fate seemed a little unsure at the top of the tower, “As I was about to step off the Zip Line platform, I had a quick thought of ‘OMG, I am going to die!!’ and then I thought to myself ‘My team needs me.’ and I leaped off.”
The weekend wrapped up with a team relay race called Creek to Peak that features Cyclo-Cross, an obstacle course, a lake sprint swim, two mountain sprints, and much more.
But for Lackeys like Constance Baldwin, it was the geocaching that defined the weekend. She says, “Geocaching brought us together in sometimes adverse terrain and we cared for each other. It was extremely profound for me personally and made me love the game and Groundspeak and what we do even more.”
Wild Canyon Games 2013 is already being planned for next year. When asked by the emcee of the event, “Are you coming back next year?” Lackey Bethany Buer simply said, “Duh!” And we hope to see you there.
A special thanks to the Wild Canyon Games organizers and Paul Tannahill (Pablo Mac) and his team for preparing the geocaching course.
Geocaching.com Teams at the Wild Canyon Games (not pictured Lackey Volunteers Cathy Hornback and Tom Phillips )
Explore geocaching at new heights! Watch “This is My Hobby – Rock Climbing and Geocaching.” Rock climbing offers a vertical dimension to an extreme geocaching adventure. Geocaches which require specialized equipment, like ropes and harnesses, are rated a difficulty five. It’s the highest difficulty rating. Rock climbing takes geocaching to the physical extremes. Have you ever logged a smiley on geocache which required rock climbing? Share your story in a comment below.
This is My Hobby - Geocaching and Rock Climbing
Premium Members of Geocaching.com can sort geocaches by difficulty and locate rocking climbing caches with ease. Explore membership options here.
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Be prepared to break a sweat to get to Green Lotus Peak (GCE866) in the off-the-beaten-path town of Yangshuo, China. This difficulty 3, terrain 4 1/2 traditional cache requires a hike and a climb to the top of a jagged peak.
The regular size cache container was hidden in 2003 by ooga booga / 10th_coq_scouts / meryl. Since then, more than 120 geocachers have dared to make the climb and log a “Found It.” This cache has earned a number of Favorite Points over the last nine years and it’s easy to see why.
The cache brings visitors to a striking scene, composed of numerous peaks, rosy clouds, villages and the Li River.
The trail to the peak
As one cacher logged, “WOW man! That’s one of the best caches! That’s how I like caching ;-)! The way up is some kind of a jungle trail with some ropes and bamboo in which are very helpful! And then you arrive on the top, totally wet from your sweat and you feel like you’re reborn! The view is just amazing! If you ever come to Yangshuo, you just have to do this cache!”
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’d 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.
Editor’s note: Groundspeak Lackeys are traveling thousands of miles from H.Q. throughout the year to share smiles, shake hands, and make geocaching memories at nearly 20 Mega-Events worldwide. Cathy Hornback aka, Prying Pandora, attended the Mega-Event GeoWoodstock X (GC2X6ZV). It took place in Indiana, USA. Cathy has been a Lackey since 2009 and works in Customer Relations. Here’s Cathy’s account of her trip.
Cathy aka Prying Pandora
Written By: Cathy Hornback
On Memorial Day weekend 2012, I had the honor of representing Groundspeak with our CEO and co-founder Jeremy Irish at GeoWoodstock X in the small town of Sellersburg, IN. Sellersburg is about 10 miles north of the much larger city of Louisville, Kentucky.
GeoWoodstock is not just any event, and this was not just any GeoWoodstock. The event is held annually at different locations in the US, and for its 10th anniversary, GeoWoodstock returned to its roots in the Louisville area where the first GeoWoodstock took place. The event has grown from 75 attendees at GeoWoodstock I, to 1500 attendees at GeoWoodstock X!
I was eager to begin my Mega-Event adventure so I booked the first flight out of Seattle on Thursday morning, which meant I needed to be at the airport at 4 AM. I hoped to attend an event in Louisville on Thursday evening after I arrived, but my layover in Houston was extended due to a delayed flight so I did not get there in time. One of the nice things about a big Mega-Event is that there are many opportunities to interact with the community spread out over the weekend, so I settled in my hotel for the night looking forward to Friday’s events.
Belle of Louisville
Friday began with a delightful event, a cruise aboard the Belle of Louisville with 650 fellow geocachers. The Belle of Louisville is the oldest river steamboat still in operation, and it’s a National Historic Landmark. We boarded to the merry sound of the boat’s calliope and spent several hours cruising the Ohio River, socializing, and viewing the massive steam engine and boilers that power the boat’s paddle wheel. An afternoon of geocaching with new friends followed along with a visit to Churchill Downs, the location of the Kentucky Derby. Soon it was time for the evening event, the Miles of Smiles Meet & Greet. Set up like a geocaching street fair, it was a chance to meet more of the community. The evening air was a relief from the powerful heat wave that had settled over the area for the weekend.
Saturday was the big day – GeoWoodstock X. I met up with Jeremy for breakfast, who was back in town after spending that Friday attending the opening of the Geocaching Adventures Maze Exhibit in Dayton, Ohio. When he and I arrived at the event, we were greeted by a crowd of geocachers and a traffic jam of more cachers arriving.
GeoWoodstock Wedding - Signal gives away the bride
A big hot air balloon was being inflated on the hillside where a huge Hollywood-style event sign had been set up. The temperature was even hotter than the day before – 93°F and humid – but cachers are an intrepid bunch and there was a smile on every face. A full day of activities awaited all of the attendees – a group photo, silent auction, educational sessions, caches in the park to find, a vendor expo, catered lunch, a reviewer panel for Q&A, and more. There was also something you rarely get to see – a geo-wedding!
Two cachers from Texas, Crossmage and Phoenix Lady, were married on the GeoWoodstock stage, with Signal giving away the bride! I had a wonderful day meeting more new geocachers than I can count and putting faces to names I had only seen online. I love our friendly, helpful, and clever community. All too soon, it was time for the closing ceremony and announcement of GeoWoodstock XI’s location. It will all happen again next year in Lakeland, FL!
