Geocaching is delightful because of the people who play it — adventure-seekers, makers, parents, astronauts and (sometimes) celebrities. Read their stories.
“My first cache in Korea. Nice place, nice hide. A beautiful place to calm down and enjoy silence.” Geocachers have been writing logs just like that for “BongEun-Sa Revivial” (GCXNRW) since Healthpia hid this cache in 2006.
The difficulty 1.5, terrain 1.5 traditional geocache rests near the heart of Seoul, South Korea.
Its proximity to major hotels draws travelers out of their rooms to begin an urban treasure hunt. More than 120 geocachers have discovered the unexpectedly quiet and serene grounds of Bongeunsa Temple in the middle of this major city.
The Bongeunsa Temple was founded in 794. It’s a popular tourist destination where visitors can experience the life of a monk for two hours. The cache owner reminds people to be respectful and also to use stealth when hunting for the cache.
View of Buddha statue from near geocache site GCXNRW
This traditional cache is tied for the most Favorite Points received out of more than 4000 geocaches in South Korea. Geocaching Favorites is a new feature on Geocaching.com.
Continue your exploration with some of the most engaging geocaches from around the world. Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on our blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
The world of an 11-year-old is a complex ecosystem of school, sports, family and play. In 2011, play as a kid seems to only involve the pollicis brevis and abductor pollicis longus muscle groups. Those are the muscles that move our thumbs, as in playing video games.
But one 11-year-old is using his thumbs for something else. Evan works the buttons on a GPS device to hunt geocaches. He also recently picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Groundspeak.
The fifth grader is an avid geocacher. Evan writes, “Me and my dad go caching a lot.” He describes geocaching as, “fun-ga-cational.”
Here’s why. Evan says, “[Geocaching is fun-ga-cational] because first of all it helps with math, (working with miles and feet). Second of all because it helps with geography, maps and sometimes social studies, working with latitude and longitude, maps and sometimes you learn about the area around a person. And third of all because it is super fun.”
Well, thank you Evan. We work hard to make sure geocaching is as super fun as possible.
This fifth grader’s letter is peppered with ideas for geocaching and questions for Groundspeak. We thought we’d share a few of Evan’s questions.
Where did you get the idea for geocoins?
Geocoins, including a Moun10bike coin
Geocoins are the creation of Jon Stanley, alias Moun10bike. He now works at Groundspeak as a Lackey. We even did a video with Jon about the invention of geocoins. He placed the first coin on September 30, 2001. Did you know, Moun10bike has thousands of geocoins in his personal collection? It’s true. He has books and books of geocoins.
Can you put locks on geocaches?
Yes, if an answer or a key you discover unlocks the cache. Geocacher Richard Garriott has a lock on his cache called, “Necropolis of Britannia Manor III.” We did a video about this spooky cache. The clues you find on this puzzle cache give you the combination for the lock. You can watch a story about the cache here.
Can one put more A.P.E. caches out?
Evan's letter to Groundspeak
Nope. There’s only a couple A.P.E. caches left in the world. In 2001, fourteen geocaches were placed as the movie Planet of the Apes hit theaters. Each cache represented a fictional story in which scientists revealed an Alternative Primate Evolution. These caches were made using specially marked ammo containers. There’s one A.P.E. cache left near Groundspeak H.Q. and one still active in Brazil.
Will you ever branch out and make multiple HQ caches?
Seems unlikely. There’s only one H.Q. We’re located in Seattle, Washington. You’re always welcome to visit. Just check out our cache page.
Thanks for writing Evan. I hope this helped! And we’ll see what we can do about your suggestions. We like the idea of miniature Signal and Lackey figurines. But we’re not sure Geocaching will ever be an Olympic sport. Who knows though? Thanks again.
WINNING CAPTION: Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Micro Ammo Camoed Mini
-ErikaJean
Try your caption writing skills in the twentieth installment of our Geocaching.com Caption Contest. You could become the proud winner of a barely coveted prize! What caption would you write? “The Jolly Green Giant begins his geocaching career.” You can do better!
Barely Coveted Prize
Submit your caption by clicking on “Comments” below. Please include your geocaching username in all entries. Then, explore the captions that other geocachers have crafted.
You can influence the voting. “Like” the caption that you think should win. If you think your caption should win, convince your fellow geocachers to “like” your caption. Lackeys decide between the top captions to crown the winner of this Geocaching.com Caption Contest. The winner receives a barely coveted prize from Groundspeak Headquarters — this gently used cache container.
Click the image to see the winner of this Geocaching.com Caption Contest
16 Lackeys voted to award the winner of the nineteenth Geocaching.com Caption Contest a barely coveted prize. Click on the image at right to discover the winning caption from the previous Geocaching.com Caption Contest.
Geocaching doesn’t have to take a vacation when you’re on vacation. There are more than 1.2 million geocaches around the world, including “Taj” (GC1A91Y) on the doorstep of the crown jewel of Indian architecture.
More than 200 geocachers visiting the Taj Mahal have logged a smiley on this cache.
The difficulty 1.5, terrain one cache was hidden back in 2008. You need to do your homework to log a “found it” on this cache though. GPS receivers are not allowed past security. The cache owner, mapadula, suggests reading the hint on the page before beginning your treasure hunt.
Geocachers from all over the world have logged GC1A91Y: from the Czech Republic to the United Kingdom to Canada.
The cache container near the Taj Mahal
Continue your exploration with some of the most engaging geocaches from around the world. Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on our blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
Volunteer reviewers power Geocaching.com by reviewing and publishing each geocache. They. Work. Hard. As a geocacher you can now choose your own adventure from more than 1.2 million geocaches hidden around the world. Each geocache offers you a custom-made journey to explore your world, and each geocache has the fingerprints of a volunteer reviewer on it.
The volunteer review team is made up of more than 200 reviewers, from Canada to Japan and the United Kingdom to South Africa. These men and women published more than a 250,000 geocaches last year alone.
Volunteer reviewers like Andy Kramer (stash-lab) review geocache listings submitted toGeocaching.com to promote the consistency and safety of the activity. Geocaching.com Volunteer Reviewers are first and foremost geocachers who were involved in their local geocaching communities long before becoming Volunteer Reviewers.
We interviewed stash-lab, a German Volunteer Reviewer, to find out what the experience is like for those who hit the “publish” button on geocaches.
stash-lab Volunteer Reviewer
Latitude 47: How did you learn about geocaching? When did you start the activity?
stash-lab: I was looking for a GPS device for car navigation. While browsing I found the Geocaching.com website. When I was a child I loved games like “Fox hunts” or “Hare and Hounds” [Paper Chase] with team tasks. When I realized what Geocaching is I was very excited and I knew that I found my new hobby! This was in September of 2004 but I needed some time until I got my GPS device and found my first geocache.
Latitude 47: When did you become a Reviewer?
stash-lab: I was asked in 2007 to become a reviewer. The truth of the matter is that I didn’t exactly know what to do as a reviewer and so I had to think a few days about this offer. But at last I felt it was time to support the game in an additional way. It was a good decision! 🙂
Latitude 47: When people ask, how do you explain the role of a Volunteer Reviewer?
stash-lab: There are many different ideas in the community about the role of a reviewer. But I only can explain my understanding of this role. Besides publishing caches there are three important things to do: understand the requests of cache owners, offer solutions, and be kind and helpful to the cache owners.
Latitude 47: What do you hope people know about Volunteer Reviewers?
stash-lab: Reviewers are humans, reviewers are individuals, reviewers are not infallible. The majority of geocachers are very respectful to volunteers. Thanks for that!
Latitude 47: Did you ever encounter anything funny or unexpected in your role as a Reviewer?
stash-lab: Yes, of course. I’d like to tell you two points. First: Sometimes there are reviewer notes like: “Please let me know when you will come to check the cache container. I’ll try to be there, too.” I like to travel a lot but unfortunately it’s not possible for me to visit every cache before I publish it.
And second: When I was visiting the GeoWoodstock VIII last year I met so many reviewer colleagues and it was like being welcomed at a big family event. That was really awesome.
Latitude 47: What advice do you have for geocachers who submit caches for review?
stash-lab: Use the reviewer notes to submit relevant pieces of information. They help us to review the listing in a more timely manner. I like caches where the cache owners implement new ideas. So it is helpful for a reviewer to have some explanations about the concept. We don’t need to know the solutions for puzzle caches but it’s good to know, for example, that there is a way to get coordinates.
Latitude 47: Anything else you would like to add?
stash-lab: Geocaching has became a very important part in so many peoples lives. It is impressive how dynamically it has grown over just the last two years, especially in Germany. But geocaching is a very young activity and sometimes I think about what geocaching will be like in 5 or 10 years. I don’t know what kind of technology the future will bring. I am sure that the fun of playing this game will always remain because geocaching satisfies three important human needs: nature, playing and social relations. That’s great and I’m proud to be a part of that game.
