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 /

Announcing the January Featured Geocacher of the Month

January’s featured Geocacher of the Month comes from a US state that’s known for its contributions to American history. The first hot dog hails from this state, as do America’s first ambulances and traffic lights. Now our congratulations to SerenityNow for being named Ohio’s first featured Geocacher of the Month.

A panel of Groundspeak Lackeys had a difficult time choosing a final winner. More than 150 votes were received. Lackey’s were greatly impressed with the three amazing final candidates. SerenityNow was named featured Geocacher of the Month for the couple’s innovation, creativity, stewardship, and helpfulness.

January Featured Geocacher(s) of the Month, SerenityNow

One geocacher casting a vote for the geocaching team mentioned, “SerenityNow is such a great caching couple and is loved by cachers all over Northeast Ohio.   They continue to share their love of caching with old and new cachers alike.”

SerenityNow are popular for organizing annual geocaching events in Ohio. They are also known to hide many puzzling and creative geocaches. According to TeamDotOne, “Not only do they go way out of their way to host the best events ever, but they seem to come up with something new each and every year to make people want to keep coming back. We have spent countless hours enjoying their company, enjoying their events, enjoying their caches and most importantly, enjoying their friendship.”

SerenityNow will receive a collector’s edition Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with Geocacher of the Month hats and certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. Those nominees not chosen as the featured Geocacher of the Month receive a gift of appreciation from Groundspeak. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here. The geocaching community is encouraged to renominate those who have yet to be honored as featured Geocacher of the Month.

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.

Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin

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 the February featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by February 2oth.

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.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Discovering a Vanishing Geocaching Series – The Last A.P.E. Cache

Geocachers otco, gsilberbestlife, kulhal

Geocachers kulhal and otco  recently embarked on a journey to locate the last cache in a vanishing series. The duo traveled half way around the world to claim a “found it” on the final active cache in the Project A.P.E. cache series. To many geocachers, the Project A.P.E. caches ring a nostalgic bell.

The A.P.E. cache series was established in May of 2001. The promotion was for the film Planet of the Apes. Thirteen different A.P.E. caches, each with props from the movie and a story that tied into the movie, were hidden all over the world. Those who found the caches received a unique icon.

All that is left of the highly sought series is a single, active cache hidden deep in the tropical jungles of Brazil. Mission 4: Southern Bowl  is now the last obtainable A.P.E. cache. The remainder of the geocaches in the series have been archived. The final cache has been logged less than 40 times.

Project A.P.E. Cache Icon

kulhal and otco met up with Brazilian cacher, gsilberbestlife, when they arrived. According to kulhal, the excitement of discovering the last of the vanishing series only heightened the caching crew’s sense of adventure.

Early one morning, otco, gsilberbestlife, and kulhal piled into their rental car and drove 300 km outside of Sao Paulo, Brazil. They arrived at Intervales State Park, the supposed location of the lone standing A.P.E. cache. Along the way, the cachers were surprised to find that many locals were unaware of the park’s existence. This further motivated them to discover the rarely visited cache.

According to kulhal, experiencing the beauty of the park was just as much of an adventure as discovering the cache, “I equally appreciated the fact that the cache brought me to a place that I would have never visited otherwise. I experienced a wonderful part of the world and saw nature so different from what I know from home.”

The roads through Intervales

Using a sketchy GPS signal to navigate windy, unmarked dirt roads, the cachers were able to drive within 100 meters of the cache. Now only a few minor obstacles stood between the cachers and the final A.P.E. cache. Wild animals, jungle-like terrain, and a lack of a trail map couldn’t stop these cachers.

Otco, gsilberbestlife, and kulhal discovered the cache successfully, noting that, “The beauty of this cache is something else.”  Kulhal stated, “I had a feeling that I was touching a piece of geocaching history and for that it was a special moment.”

It’s a special moment geocachers may continue to share. There have been more logs in the past 2 years than in the nine years after the cache was placed. And because this is the final A.P.E. cache, it is likely that an increasing number of geocachers will be traveling to Brazil. Located in a new exotic setting, the Mission 4: Southern Bowl is an opportunity for geocachers to discover a significant cache.

Waterfall in Intervales State Park

The story doesn’t end here. For more information on kulhal, otco, and gsilberbestlife’s adventure, check out their Czech language blog.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Sea Shells – TB Stop & Go GCNWBC GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – February 6, 2012

Sea Shells - TB Stop & Go

Some Geocaching.com Trackables get lucky enough to log a stop at Sea Shells – TB Stop & Go (GCNWBC). The Arizona, USA Travel Bug hotel has been checking Travel Bugs in and out for nearly seven years. It’s a huge geocache that Jeep’en Jumpers placed to add some variety to local geocaches.

Jeep’en Jumpers is the owner of 20 Travel Bugs. He  wanted a safe stop for other Travel Bugs and says, “There were very few caches back in Yuma in 2005. Most of them were in the desert and I thought a friendly easy-to-get-to-cache would be nice for folks to find in the city. I had a wild idea and since I run the company that owns this property, I didn’t have any problem getting permission.”

Jeep’en Jumpers “wild idea” turned into a geocache that’s a regional favorite. Sea Shells – TB Stop & Go has racked up more than 70 Favorite Points. The cache page encourages geocachers who are on the move to visit the cache before traveling. It reads, “Going on a trip? Please check back to this page and see who needs a lift.” And people have checked back. Jeep’en Jumpers says more than 1300 Travel Bugs have passed through the hotel.

The difficulty two, terrain one geocache has even been the starting geocache for a major Travel Bug race.

But Jeep’en Jumpers admits, one of the best parts of owning a giant Travel Bug hotel, are the logs. One cacher wrote, “SEA SHELLS is a destination cache, one for the TOP OF THE LIST!… Thanks for the super-fun and all you do!”

Sea Shells - TB Stop & Go

Another geocacher who logged Sea Shells  writes, “Found it with the entire extended family this morning…. what an amazing cache! And to think it even houses an ammo can…. inside it!! Kids spent almost 15 minutes exploring all the different TBs and trying to decide which would accompany us back to Alberta later this week. Thanks for the creative find!”

Jeep’en Jeepers has another creative hide. Check out his other Travel Bug hotel hiding in plain sight.

Continue to explore of some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Explore 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.

 

 

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundhog Day? Try GroundFrog Day – Geocaching Mascot Signal Attends

Signal with Snohomish Slew

By: Annie Love, Groundspeak Lackey

Why wait until February to get a weather prediction from Punxsutawney Phil when you can get one from Snohomish Slew in January? Snohomish Slew is a real frog billed as “the Meteorologist Frognosticator extraordinaire and mighty small hero to all the weather weary.” Last Saturday, he forecast what type of weather the Northwest United States might expect in the next six weeks: more winter or an early spring.

Every year the quaint little town of Snohomish, Washington (located about 30 miles northeast of Seattle) welcomes Slew for a frog-filled celebration to predict the end of winter. It’s known as GroundFrog Day.

We here at Groundspeak think that you can trust frogs over groundhogs any day, so we took our beloved mascot Signal to witness Slew’s prediction. Signal is a life-sized frog, with GPS capabilities (of course). Fellow Lackey Nicole (Louie Bliss) and I had the pleasure of escorting Signal to the event. Lots of high-fives and hugs were to be had with the kids in attendance. Kids weren’t the only one who stopped to get their picture taken with Signal – in most cases it was the parent who really wanted the photo with our own geocaching legend.

Signal watching Slew predict the forecast

The event included lots of dancing to frog remix versions of songs, hula-hooping, the GroundFrog royalty arriving via fire truck, and various booths to visit. After Slew took the stage to make his prediction, Signal was fortunate enough to shake webbed toes with the weather-casting celebrity.

What was Slew’s final prediction, you may be wondering? The final answer, as posted on the official website, was a bit vague: a Spring/Winter mix of weather is ahead.

Signal and Lackey Annie Love

“’Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We’ll weather the weather, Whatever the weather, Whether we like it or not’ interpretation – neither 6 weeks of winter or spring, spring will come and sunny days, there’ll be a few, but still some cold days ahead, too.”

Either way, the current extended forecast for Seattle shows a lot of sunshine in our near future.  We think Signal may have had a little help with that.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Motorcycle Geocaching – Two Wheels, One Mission to Explore

Jeff geocaching along the Atlantic ocean in Africa

The purr of his motorcycle engine, the crunch of a long-neglected gravel road, his GPS device flickering a reading ever closer to a remote geocache; geocacher Jeff Hower, ADVTraveler, lives for these moments. He’s combined his love for adventure motorcycling with the GPS-powered treasure hunt of geocaching.

Jeff says his motorcycling journeys preceded the creation of geocaching by about three decades, “I started riding dirt bikes back in the 1970s. Trips into the mountains in Colorado, deserts in the west and Baja, and in 1988 a trip deep into the Copper Canyon region of Mexico pretty much set my urge to travel to other regions.  Back then there was no GPS or geocaching.  It was all travel using maps and compass.”

His little brother introduced Jeff to geocaching in 2005, but it wasn’t until Jeff retired four years later that the hunt for geocaches kicked into high gear. He says, “For me, geocaching and motorcycling are a natural pair.  Riding the bike is fun in itself, but geocaching gives you a destination and purpose. The motorcycle allows you to quickly pull up and get to areas that sometimes are not accessible by other means. Geocaching also is an incentive to get off the beaten path and explore areas that you would never experience.”

Geocaching by motorcycle in North America

Jeff has taken his love of exploration to different continents. He’s traveled from his home in Missouri, USA to the southern tips of South America and Africa. He geocached along the way, finding new vistas and unimaginable new locations. But Jeff hasn’t geocached without DNF (did not find) regrets for caches that eluded him – especially one particular geocache in Africa.

Jeff geocaching in Africa

He says, “One of my disappointing DNFs was in Swaziland. The cache was hidden somewhere on the bank of a small river with the notes cautioning to watch out for crocodiles. I never did find a cache in that country.”

If you’re tempted to climb on a motorcycle and start a geocaching adventure, Jeff has some advice. “My advice to someone caching via motorcycle is “Be Careful.” Don’t focus on the GPS. Get a good idea about where you are going and how to get there while you are stopped. Beyond that it’s just an awesome reason to go riding and exploring.” He adds, “I’m still in awe at the creative methods people come up with to hide caches.”

Jeff says one the best part of motorcycle geocaching is when you step of the bike, “…whenever you stop, people will stop and talk to you.  There is always someone interested in where you’re from and where you’re going.” And with geocaching you’ll always have stories.