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 /

Pigeon Island GCWBYC GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – January 2, 2012

A view of the fortress on Pigeon Island

Pigeon Island (GCWBYC) reveals pirate lore on the Turkish shore of the Mediterranean. Geocachers cross over to Pigeon Island to discover an ancient fortress. It was used to defend against pirates in the 16th century.

The difficulty 2, terrain 2.5 geocache has collected the most Favorite Points in Turkey so far. More than 470 geocachers have logged a smiley by finding the small size geocache.

The cache owner, GB-Team, has some advice for avoiding muggles for those searching for the geocache. The cache page reads, “The location is not hard to find, I’ve posted some spoiler picts to help you. Search INSIDE the castle grounds. When attempting to retrieve this cache, make sure to look ALL around and check so NO ONE sees you, even the people ABOVE!”

The city is a stop for many tourists from around the world, including those traveling by ship. One geocacher who logged a smiley on the cache writes, “Our ship is in port for only a few hours today so went for an easy walk over to your GZ and found it no problems. This is our first cache here in Turkey and hope to find some more when we get to Istanbul tomorrow. Retrieved the Geocoin and will take it back to Canada. Thanks for placing a cache here. And Greetings from Canada.”

Cache contents with a view from Pigeon Island

Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from 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 /

Geocaching.com Caption Contest 30 – Win a Barely Coveted Prize

WINNING CAPTION: "You must be at least this tall to find this geocache." Vyp’s wife

Geocaching can often be a search for what’s hidden in plain sight. Share your gift for clever captions in the 30th installment of our Geocaching.com Caption Contest. You could earn a barely coveted prize. What caption would you write for the picture above? The image was originally posted on our Geocaching.com Facebook page by Thorsten Skibba.

Submit your caption by clicking on “Comments” below. Please include your geocaching username in all entries. Then, explore the captions other geocachers have posted.

Barely Coveted Prize

You’re encouraged to ‘influence’ the voting process (*nudge*nudge*). “Like” the caption that you think should win. If you think your caption should win, convince your fellow geocachers, your friends, and family to “like” your caption. Lackeys vote from the top finalists to decide the winner of the contest.

The winner receives the ‘barely coveted prize’ you see to the left, which may actually be quite coveted. It’s is a vintage ‘100 Years of Scouting’ Trackable.

Click the image to see the winner of this caption contest

More than a two dozen Lackeys voted to award the winner of the 29th Geocaching.com Caption Contest a barely coveted prize. Click on the image at right to discover the winning caption from the last Geocaching.com Caption Contest.

Explore all the past winning captions by checking out all the Geocaching.com Caption Contests. If you have suggestions for Geocaching.com Caption Contest photos, send a message and the image to pr@groundspeak.com.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Weekly Mailer – December 28, 2011

2011: Geocaching Year in Review

The final geocaching hours in 2011 are ticking away. But the year won’t be forgotten. The geocaching adventure grew like never before in 2011.

Just a few fun things that happened this year:

After Lackey transforms into a hamster

-More than 400,000 new active geocaches were listed on Geocaching.com. That’s quite a bit geocaching for your “to do” list in 2012.

-New maps, statistics and Favorite Points were added to enrich the geocaching experience.

–Geocaching Challenges were launched, helping bring adventure to every location.

-The community celebrated the first International Geocaching Day!

Check out the 2011 Geocaching Year in Review video for a fun overview of these events and all the other geocaching happenings in 2011. (SPOILER ALERT: You’ll also see a Lackey transform into a Groundspeak Hamster. It’s magical.)

[vsw id=”tGBkOpKF_KM” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]

Share your favorite geocaching experiences from 2011 on the official Geocaching.com Facebook page. Happy geocaching in 2012 from all the Lackeys at Groundspeak!

/ Eric Schudiske

Salar de Uyuni GC2M6GC GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK December 26, 2011

Salar de Uyuni - EarthCache

Geocachers hoping to log a smiley for  Salar de Uyuni (GC2M6GC) encounter one of the world’s largest salt lakes. Werwolfi created the difficulty 3, terrain 4 EarthCache at the beginning of 2011.

The cache page reads, “Driving across it [Salar de Uyuni] is one of the weirdest and most fantastic experiences anywhere on the continent, especially during June and July, when the bright blue skies contrast with the blinding white salt crust and in the rainy season they turn into a gigantic mirror.”

To log the cache, adventurers must explore the geological site and answer two questions on the cache page. The answers must then be emailed to the cache owner. A photo must also be taken at specific coordinates.

Travel to the salt lake region will take geocachers to an altitude of 3650m (11,970ft). As one geocacher noted, not all equipment can endure the harsh environment, “We had a great day on the Salar de Uyuni and the Islands, but the engine of one of our Land Cruisers gave up.” So far, at least six geocachers have made the voyage and logged the EarthCache.

Geocachers logging 'Salar de Uyuni"

Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from 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 /

Table Top Trove GCMYYZ GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – December 19, 2011

The top of Table Top Trove

A cable car delivers geocachers to one of the most visited geocaches in Africa. Table Top Trove (GCMYYZ) was hidden in 2005 by Richter Family. Geocachers with more time and a thirst for mountain climbing adventure have made the 500 meter (1640 foot) ascent by foot.

The cache owner recently posted this note on the cache page, “Out and about on the mountain with my dog. Wow! Fantastic memories! I placed this cache over 6 years ago and it has been ticking over on it’s own ever since with no maintenance visits required. Cache doing well. The memories of spending every weekend up here climbing in a by-gone era came flooding back with a smile.”

The cache location shares those smiles. The difficulty two, terrain two geocache has been logged by more than 500 geocachers. The geocachers have arrived from more than a dozen countries. They share their thanks for the geocache in their logs. One writes, “A wonderful winter’s day up on table mountain. No wind, no rain, and no clouds! I had a fantastic time exploring. Many thanks from Sweden!”

View from the Table Top Trove cable car

Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from 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.