Geocaching is delightful because of the people who play it — adventure-seekers, makers, parents, astronauts and (sometimes) celebrities. Read their stories.
One-third of all land on the planet is considered desert. The parched earth is not off-limits to the ingenuity of geocachers. Watch the Geocaching.com Lost & Found video “Desert Geocaching.” See your fellow geocachers use the sand and shrubs as a sprawling canvas to create and enjoy the GPS-enabled treasure hunt.
Desert geocaching in California
Geocachers say the wide expanses offer those hiding geocaches nearly unlimited creativity and those finding geocaches unlimited fun.
You can explore more videos on the adventure of geocaching. Check out the Geocaching.com Lost & Found video gallery. Explore 4×4 geocaching, watch a Travel Bug go around the world and visit the highest and lowest geocaches in existence.
The regular sized geocache “4 Jan” (GC1T8R0) hides in Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, Scotland. But the geocache isn’t “for” someone named Jan. It has a different meaning altogether.
Cache owner C3P4J created “4 Jan” as his first hide. He writes in the cache description that the name of the cache is the anniversary date of his wedding. He and his fiance were married on January 4th.
Geocachers discover more than a sentimental geocache. They are treated to amazing views of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth.
The size of this cache makes it easy to trade items, sign the log book or even drop a Travel Bug.
Depending on the route that you take, the three star terrain trek may require a bit of steep climbing. The payoffs also include an unforgettable visit to the ruins of St. Anthony’s Chapel (pictured above and below).
The cache has been found more than 150 times since to was placed in June of 2009.
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.
Geocacher Louis Cifer with the world's largest geocoin
If your pockets jingle with Geocoins, your Saturday night is spent cleaning and collating your immaculate Geocoin collection or you just want to be wowed by a wonder of the geocaching world – take a look to your left.
What you behold is touted as the world’s largest Geocoin. Geocacher Louis Cifer and a team of others created the handcrafted 40 kilogram (88 lb), 97 cm (38 inch) Geocoin.
Average size geocoins
Geocoins are traditionally no larger than an U.S. silver dollar or a 1 Euro coin (see the photo to your right).
A Geocoin is a special trackable coin created by geocachers as a kind of signature item or calling card. The shape of coins varies from round to square even interconnected hoops or unique forms like miniature swords.
According to Louis, the hefty anchor Geocoin was created to be an unforgettable gift. He says a group of friends hoped that it would show their appreciation to the host of a geocaching event.
Geocacher AlexSchweigert organizes “Nordseetaufe 2010” (North Sea Baptism 2010). The official event Geocoin for “Nordseetaufe” was a much smaller anchor.
Original event geocoin for Nordseetaufe 2010
Louis and friends took the event coin theme and super-sized it. A 80-year-old anchor was purchased, sand blasted and painted gold.
They then welded a plate commemorating Nordseetaufe 2010 to the anchor and added the unique tracking code.
AlexSchweigert was presented with the massive Geocoin, named “Der Dicke” (The Big or The Heavy) on October 23rd.
Louis says, “It was a huge surprise for AlexSchweigert and he was very impressed.”
Louis says the Geocoin, which weighs about as much as the average 12-year-old boy, even had a Twitter account. Geocachers Tweeted mysterious updates about the coin before it was unveiled. “Der Dicke” is listed as the “world’s largest geocoin” on the German language geocoin Wikipedia page.
Geocachers in Germany have been discovering “Der Dicke” at events since mid-October. But now the Geocoin has a permanent location in the hometown of its owner, AlexSchweigert. If you see “Der Dicke” in person, you can log the Geocoin as “discovered.”
To do that, you’ll have to travel to the anchor’s new location outside of Hamburg, Germany. “Der Dicke” should be easy to find; right now it’s located at a geocache, also called, “Der Dicke.”
WINNING CAPTION: In other news, a couple found a way to travel around the world for free. – reinshadow
Try your caption writing skills in the sixteenth installment of our Geocaching Caption Contest. You could win a barely coveted prize. These geocaching Halloween costumes come from a post on the official Geocaching.com Facebook page.
What caption would you write? “Muggle-proof Geocoins.” You can do better!
Barely coveted prize
Submit your caption by clicking on “Comments” below and explore the captions that other geocachers entered. Please include your geocaching username in all entries.
You can also help sway the vote. “Like” the caption that you think should win. If you think your caption should win, convince friends and strangers to vote for it. Lackeys will then decide between the top captions to crown the winner of this Geocaching Caption Contest.
The winner typically receives a barely coveted prize from Groundspeak Headquarters. But this contest you could actually win a coveted prize: Geocaching Trail Cards.
Click image to see the last caption contest winner
Click on the image to the right to discover the winning caption from the previous Geocaching Caption Contest.
25 Lackeys voted to award the winner of the fifteenth Geocaching Caption Contest a barely coveted prize.
Underneath lamp posts skirts simmers a geocaching controversy. Lamp post caches (LPCs) polarize opinions. A LPC is typically a small nondescript container placed under the metal skirt of a lamp post. Some geocachers believe that LPCs are unimaginative hides and all too easy finds.
Other geocachers see LPCs as part of the spectrum of geocaches that provides accessibility for all players. The ease of finding LPCs also offers geocachers the ability to string together dozens or hundreds of finds a day.
Julie Husting "IWillFindIt!!"
Geocachers like Julie Husting, IWillFindIt!!, see the base of lamp posts as a canvas for adding more creativity to geocaching. She believes that lifting the metal skirt on a lamp post should be more like lifting a curtain on stage. Julie creates scenes to surprise and entertain cachers looking for a quick LPC grab.
She adapted the idea from an LPC she discovered. Julie says, “I went to Fotomat GC17R5G by FishfulThinking which had a bunch of film canisters under it. I thought that was really fun. I got some cool tins at Disneyland. One had the little green men from Toy Story on it. I had a bunch of swag that had action figure toys so I put them on boards and put them in the Toys R Us parking lot and wrote a little story about them. That was my first one — The Search for the Little Green Men GC1D5FW. ”
Julie now has nearly twenty themed LPCs in the Southern California area. She says her craft has evolved: “I started with the Disney tins (Nemo, pirates, princesses, Mickey Mouse, Toy Story), then I moved on to holidays. Now it is whatever we find that we like. My boyfriend, Bob, does the majority of the work on them now. He has gotten much more elaborate with them than when we first started.”
A LPC by IWillFindIt!!
Their motivation comes from reading the logs as more and more geoachers seek out caches by IWillFindIt!! Julie says, “Most people appreciate the effort that goes into them and they write really nice logs. One person even brought a girl scout troop to Find Nemo to teach them about caching.”
More geocachers will have a chance to discover LPCs like these. Julie says, “My cousin, Sue aka $$tracker, also has some themed LPCs in the Santa Barbara area. I will be sending one to be published in Texas pretty soon!”
What do you think? Do you know other geocachers who are reinventing LPCs?
