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 /

Geocaching.com Hamsters Go Big Time

Geocaching.com Hamsters

Rumor has it Geocaching.com internet servers are run by cute, hard-working, squeaky-voiced hamsters. Now you can have a Geocaching.com hamster of your own. Your hamster could either be a Trackable or commemorated on clothing. The hamsters just launched  their own products today. You know you’re kind of a big deal when you have your own merchandise line. But the humble hamsters weren’t always big time.

The hamsters toiled running Geocaching.com (Groundspeak) servers in obscurity for years. All that changed six months ago. Thousands of geocachers watched this first Geocaching.com hamster video as the site received a server upgrade in May. Instantly the hamsters were a hit.

Hamster Trackable Tag

Two lucky geocachers even adopted retired Geocaching.com hamsters used in the video. You can follow the adventures of one the hamsters in Germany on the blog, “Karlson the little hamster from Groundspeak.”

Now Shop Geocaching is introducing hamster themed merchandise. Customers outside the United States can ask their local Official Groundspeak Distributor for hamster merchandise. You can buy Trackable Groundspeak Hamster Tags.  You can also purchase hamster shirts.

Detail on Hamster Shirt

If you’re interested in watching the hamsters in their natural habitat, you can watch all three Geocaching.com hamster videos at the end of this blog post.

As far as what’s next for the Geocaching.com hamster, a lot of folks are asking. The answer may just rhyme with “bleacher tankth smoothie” (feature length movie) … or could that just be another rumor?

Hamster Shirt

 

 

 

GEOCACHING.COM HAMSTER VIDEOS

This is the first Geocaching.com Hamster video launched in May of this year. Geocachers discovered the history of the hamster rumor and learned more about the server upgrade.

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Geocachers in Europe sent hamster food to Groundspeak Headquarters when the servers were slow during one week in the summer. We thought it was hilarious and wanted to thank them, including a cameo by Geocaching.com Co-Founder and CEO Jeremy Irish. This is the response video from Geocaching.com posted on German blogs. Ironically since the hamster food arrived the servers have been faster than ever. Hmmmm…  (Please do not send any more hamster food)

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The video you see below is the “Down for Maintenance” hamster video which will appear when the site is briefly down for performance upgrades.

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/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Presents: “The Rock”

[This video contains spoilers with express permission from cache owners. The video is in German. For English subtitles, play the video then click on the CC button.]

 

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A war-torn bridge along the banks for the Rhine River serves as the imposing destination for geocachers attempting, “The Rock” (GC1EJ43). Watch the Geocaching.com Presents video, “The Rock” to experience what over five hundred geocachers have accomplished. Go along as geocaching daredevils attempt this physically intense difficulty five, terrain five puzzle cache. The cache is one of Europe’s most popular geocaches with more than 300 Favorite Points. Geocachers should only attempt “The Rock” if they have advanced climbing experience and proper equipment.

Filming of "The Rock"

Geocaching.com will continue to release English, Czech and German language geocaching videos in the coming months. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos. Watch the more than 50 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.

Eine am Ende des Kriegs zerstörte Brücke am Ufer des Rheins dient als imposantes Ziel für Geocacher, die den Cache “The Rock” bezwingen wollen. Schau Dir das Geocaching.com Presents Video, “The Rock” an, um zu erfahren, was schon einige geschafft haben. Schau zu und sei dabei, wenn waghalsige Geocacher diesen physisch intensiven T5/D5 Rätselcache machen. Der Cache ist einer der beliebtesten Geocaches in Europa mit mehr als 300 Favoriten-Punkten. Geocacher sollten “The Rock” nur dann angehen, wenn sie fortgeschrittene Klettererfahrungen und die richtige Ausrüstung haben.

The Rock

Geocaching.com wird auch in den kommenden Monaten weitere Geocaching Videos auf Englisch, Tschechisch und Deutsch veröffentlichen. Abonniere unseren YouTube-Kanal. So erfährst Du umgehend, wenn wir ein neues Video veröffentlicht haben. Du kannst Dir inzwischen mehr als 50 Videos auf unserer Videoseite anschauen, die von Geocaching.com produziert wurden.

/ Eric Schudiske /

“La Réunion the First” GCQJFP GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – November 7, 2011

 

Sunrise near the cache location

A geocache hidden on a small French island off of Africa reveals breathtaking sunrises and a volcano that still roars to life.  The location Réunion is popular with French, German, Czech and English visitors.

“La Réunion the First” (GCQJFP) was hidden in 2005. The sturdy cache container is well suited for the environment. It can be found near the lunar-like landscape of a lava field.

The small island  of Réunion mirrors the climate of the United States islands of Hawaii. Both have similar volcanic histories.

Réunion is also home to dozens of geocaches. An EarthCache  is even located near “La Réunion the First.” Geocachers who log the traditional cache say, “”One of the most beautiful places in the world and for sure a place one should visit at least once during a life. I’ll never forget our vacation in La Reunion – we’ll be back :-)”

Cache container

“La Réunion the First” has the most Favorite Points of any cache on the island. It was hidden by SwissSniper and is rated a difficulty two, terrain two. 150 geocachers logged smileys on the cache so far.

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 /

Bruneau Sand Dunes GC10F12 GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – October 31, 2011

Bruneau Sand Dunes

This difficulty one, terrain three EarthCache delivers adventurers to towering sandy dunes. These dunes don’t rise out of the middle of sweltering desert, but can be found in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Bruneau Sand Dunes (GC10F12) was created in 2007 by The Wandering Stars.

The cache page reads,”The tallest single-structured sand dune in North America rises high above small lakes in the high desert south of Mountain Home [Idaho]. The state park includes desert, dune, prairie, lake and marsh habitat with opportunities to observe nocturnal species… Feel free to climb but no vehicles are allowed on the dunes.”

More than 130 geocachers have logged a smiley on the cache, which now has eight Favorite Points. Cachers often combine discovering this EarthCache with finding nearby traditional geocaches. One log reads, “This is our first time out at the dunes and we have lived in Idaho 40 plus years. What a fantastic place. Took the walk over to the physical cache here and snapped a bunch of pictures. Thanks for putting this cache out.”

Bruneau Sand Dunes

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 /

7 Tips to Attending a Mega-Event

Editor’s note: Groundspeak Lackeys traveled thousands of miles from H.Q. this year to share smiles, shake hands and make geocaching memories at more than a dozen Mega-Events worldwide. Nicole Bliss, a.k.a. Louie Bliss, attended Mega-Event Catalunya 2011 in Calella, Spain. Nicole has been  a Lackey helping geocachers in customer service since 2010. This is Nicole’s account of the Mega-Event. 

Nicole and Signal

Oh Mega, My Mega! Catalunya 2011

I recently attended Mega-Event Catalunya 2011 in Calella, Spain and represented Groundspeak. It may have been my fifth Mega-Event, but it was my first international event.  I was surprised at how Mega-Events can be so similar 5,000 miles away from each other. There were still the same activities: discovering Trackables, shopping for merchandise, dinner events and, of course, lots of caching. I even attended my first flash mob – one of the best parts of the event! Yet, international events can be so different; everyone speaks different languages and cache descriptions are all in the local language. The difficulty rating goes up at least a star for foreigners. It helps that many geocaching phrases are universal.

With an international event, it was amazing how many countries were represented. I met cachers from Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Czech Republic, Portugal, UK, Canada, France, Netherlands and Spain. I was the only American. I spent so much time with a group of French cachers that at one point, I felt like I was in France instead of Spain.

I learned a lot about what to plan for when attending a Mega-Event. If you haven’t had the opportunity yet, listen up! Here’s 7 tips for attending a Mega-Event –

Catalunya 2011 Flash Mob
  • Check to see if there are any additional events nearby. Plan to arrive a day or two beforehand to attend these events and find nearby caches.
  • Plan your routes ahead of time. If you are a Premium Member, you can sort by Favorite Points so you’ll know which are considered the best local caches. The event organizers may even publish a new GeoTrail for the event so it is a good idea to run a Pocket Query on the day of the event.
  • Check the event forums to see who else is going. It is much more fun when you meet new people or go in a group. I cached with a few different groups and had a great time.
  • Are you attending an international Mega-Event like I did? I suggest learning the major phrases of that language. It can still be overwhelming, but it is much easier and the locals appreciate it. I was surprised that Barcelona and Calella, Spain primarily spoke Catalan and my Spanish was almost useless.
  • Make time to see the tourist sites. There’s a Mega-Event there for a reason! Of course, you can cache along the way.
  • Considering organizing a Mega-Event? Check out the Knowledge Books article on Mega-Event Classification.

    Cataluyna 2011 Community Dinner
  • After the event, log your Trackables quickly! Too often, Travel Bugs have gone missing from events because they are forgotten.

In the end, I realized geocaching is a language all its own. No matter what our native language is, we can understand each other perfectly.

 

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