The November Geocacher of the Month is known as the Elvis of the geocaching world, and over 130 geocachers agree. Congratulations to Ted, a.k.a. balkamper13 for being named November’s Featured Geocacher of the Month!
November Featured Geocacher of the Month, balkamper13
Balkamper13 is recognized for introducing and helping countless novice geocachers become caching addicts. He has donated quality homemade swag, time, and money to geocaching events. Ted has spent numerous hours teaching his secrets, and always invites new geocachers on geocaching adventures and events. He also shares his geocaching adventures and tips on this blog, LiveLoveCache.com.
A geocacher who cast a vote says, “balkamper13 helped get us started. We love finding his caches and his swag. The first CSI series cache find had us hooked. I have never seen such creativity! The events he hosts are first class. I have known balkamper13 for about a year and I have never met a fellow cacher who puts his time, money, heart, and soul into this great hobby to make his fellow cachers’ experiences the best.”
Balkamper13 will receive a collector’s edition Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging his contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.
Thank you to the fellow November nominees and all those who supported them. The nominees not chosen as Featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Groundspeak. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.
Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon
The geocaching community is encouraged to re-nominate those who have yet to be honored as featured Geocacher of the Month. If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must meet the following requirements:
Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more 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 December Featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by the end of the day on Friday, December 7th.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top three 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.
The November Featured Geocacher of the Month Nominees provide their geocaching communities with a little TLC (tender loving care). They maintain for their own hides, but they are always willing to lend a helping hand with geocaches that are not their own. These geocachers are dedicated to doing whatever they can for their geocaching community from donations, to homemade swag, to their time.
October Geocacher of the Month, TeamAstro
Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for November.
Write a comment at the bottom of this blog about which of these geocachers you feel should be crowned The Featured Geocacher of the Month.
Last month, John, a.k.a. TeamAstro was recognized for creating the Solar System series of caches in South Australia. This series of caches is the world’s largest scale model of the Solar System. John is famous for his creative hides and is the proud owner of the most ‘Favorited’ cache in South Australia. John is also an important part of the South Australian geocaching community, and is known for his friendliness and eagerness in helping out new cachers.
Here are your nominees for the October Featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.
AZClaimjumper writes, “when you go a looking for a cschooner cache, you’re in for fun and adventure far beyond anyone’s imagination.” Al, a.k.a. cschooner “is relatively new to geocaching. However, the creativity of his caches is what makes geocaching such a fun and memorable outdoor adventure each and every time I go looking for one his caches. His hides are very creative and Al takes pride in providing timely cache maintenance, if a cache, or a part of a cache is logged by a fellow geocacher as missing. Take note of the number of ‘Favorites’ that Al’s caches have accumulated before you go looking for them. Almost 60% of all log entries haven given Al’s caches a ‘Favorite’ point. If you are visiting Phoenix, do a search for cschooner to see if one of his caches has been hidden nearby. Trust me, it will be a memorable adventure. A Travel Bug has just been put into circulation in honor of Al as my way of saying ‘thanks’ for all the fun-filled adventures his creative hides have given me.”
Nominated by TheBergstromClan, Erik, a.k.a. OF-Erad “is an amazing individual and fun cacher. Erik is always up for a caching jaunt and will go out hiking, hit a power trail, or crawl through tunnels all in the name of finding another cache with friends. He recently ended his cache-a-day streak of over 500 days because he was caring for a friend who needed some support. He gave the friendship priority over getting one more day in his streak. OF-Erad also adopted one of the toughest tunnel caches and then completely revamped it, rescuing it from the clutches of raccoons and other muggles in the process. Erik is a selfless cacher. Even though he had a long caching streak going, he still managed to always put other cachers in the group before himself. As he told me on multiple occasions, ‘I only need one cache to keep my streak going. Let’s go get the caches you want to get.’ The puzzle caches I’ve placed in Aurora were placed using knowledge acquired with Erik’s help. He is mostly interested in making the great game of caching more interesting, more exciting, and more fun for kids of all ages.”
Cacheseekers! writes, “Not only is Ted [a.k.a., balkamper13] the Elvis of the caching world, he is just a darn good person. He has introduced and help countless novice cachers become caching addicts. He has lent out his GPS to new cachers, spent numerous hours teaching his secrets, and invited new cachers on caching adventures and to events. He donates quality, homemade swag, time, and money to caching events. Ted is the mastermind behind the Cache Scene Investigator cache series that has a huge following. This series has everything from underwater caches to pulley system caches hoisted up a tree. This series has the Utah caching world on pins and needles waiting for the Longitude and Latitude killer to strike again. Ted also carries around a cache repair kit and leaves every cache in better condition than he finds it in. Ted also shares his caching adventures and tips on his blog at Live Love Cache.com. The list of people he has influenced and befriended is countless.”
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured November Geocacher of the Month. A panel of Lackeys will use your comments to help decide which geocacher is awarded the honor. Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive an exclusive special edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat, a Geocacher of the Month profile icon, and a certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. We will be accepting comments for November’s award through Sunday, November 18th.
Those whose nominees were not recognized here are encouraged to submit their nominations again next month. If you know an outstanding geocacher you would like to nominate to be a featured Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com and include the following information:
Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more 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 December Geocacher of the Month must be received by Friday, December 7th.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the 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.
You voted and we counted. And counted. And counted. Congratulations to Stuart, a.k.a. SpongeBob CachePants for pulling in a strong 106 votes to be named September’s Featured Geocacher of the Month.
September Featured Geocacher of the Month, SpongeBob CachePants
SpongeBob CachePants is recognized for his ability to influence and encourage geocachers around him, and for his commitment to providing quality geocaches for his community. SpongeBob CachePants is also praised for his work on the Hatfield McCoy GeoTrail Kickoff Event – a small community event that quickly became a Mega-Event.
One geocacher casting a vote put it, “SpongeBob CachePants gets my vote. He has done a lot for the geocaching community and his local community. His efforts in the Hatfield McCoy GeoTrail was a stellar. He brought his caching experience to help create a combination of history and locations to bring cachers together from all over the country. Not only did he recognize cachers when they attended the events, but he also sent personal e-mails to most attendees acknowledging their will attends. Now that is attention to detail.”
SpongeBob CachePants will receive a collector’s edition Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging his contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.
Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon
Thank you to the fellow September nominees and all those who supported them. The nominees not chosen as Featured Geocacher of the Month will 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 re-nominate those who have yet to be honored as featured Geocacher of the Month. If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must meet the following requirements:
Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more 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 October Featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by the end of the day on Sunday, October 7th.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top three 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.
We started honoring geocachers for their great hides, amazing spirit, and contribution to the geocaching community exactly one year ago. Nominations continue to come in from all corners of the world to recognize the young and the old, the cool and the geeky, and everyone in between who has made a mark on their community.
This month’s featured Geocacher of the Month is described by her community as caring, dedicated, and helpful.
August Featured Geocacher of the Month, whbaisden
Congratulations to Wendy, a.k.a. whbaisden for being named August’s Featured Geocacher of the Month!
Wendy is recognized for helping to organize the Hatfield and McCoy GeoTrail Kickoff Event scheduled to launch for September 1st. The GeoTrail cuts through Kentucky and West Virginia in the United States. Wendy has also been a strong advocate for her community since she launched on her first geocaching adventure in 2010, and she has no intention of slowing down.
A geocacher casting a vote says, “In the very short time she [Wendy] has been involved with geocaching, she has managed to instill in any number of people the joy of geocaching. She has managed to get multiple city governments and chambers of commerce aligned behind what has turned out to be a major event, possibly even a Mega-Event. Nothing in her previous geocaching experience has prepared her for this massive undertaking, but she has not wavered in her determination to succeed, nor has she been stopped by any obstacle. I think she had done a truly remarkable job and is worthy of recognition. It is for these reasons that I am throwing my support to Wendy.”
whbaisden will receive a collector’s edition Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging his contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.
Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon
Thank you to the fellow August nominees and all those who supported them. The nominees not chosen as featured Geocacher of the Month will 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 re-nominate those who have yet to be honored as featured Geocacher of the Month. If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. 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 September featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by the end of the day on Monday, September 10th.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top three 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.
Each of July’s Featured Geocacher of the Month nominees has made their mark on the geocaching community. Though many other qualified candidates were nominated, Groundspeak Lackeys selected these three influential and inspiring nominees.
Sniperchicken – June 2012 Geocacher of the Month
Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as July’s Featured Geocacher of the Month.
Write a comment on this blog post about which of these three geocachers you feel should be crowned.
Last month, SniperChicken was chosen as the June Featured Geocacher of the Month. SniperChicken was recognized for his kindness and creative ability to engage the geocaching community through his caches. As the Board President of the Mississippi Geocachers Association, he is known to go above and beyond to research every hiding location to provide fellow geocachers with a unique geocache and story.
Here are your nominees for the July Featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.
Nominated by Deermark, Lynn, a.k.a, daggy “has been the Chairman of the Indiana Fall Geocaching Picnic for 8 years. This event draws between 200 and 300 geocachers every fall. She helped found INKY (The Indiana-Kentucky Geocaching Group). This group meets once a month for a social and has drawn between 30 and 80 new geocachers every month since inception. Daggy has volunteered with Lincoln State Park in Indiana to help with the park’s annual geocaching event for the last 5 years. She was also instrumental in writing the proposal that brought Geowoodstock X to Indiana. Daggy has been caching since September 2001 and has almost 16,000 finds and 137 hides. Her traditional hides have 248 favorite points and 67 of them are still active. She has hosted 14 Event Caches and has found a cache in 50 states. She gives so much back to the geocaching community, not just locally, but nationally.”
“Every year a Geocoin race is organized in the Netherlands to encourage people to put their coins in circulation instead of keeping them at home,” says irisisleuk. “When the original organizer suddenly stopped organizing this race, Guus, a.k.a. De Wijngemachtigde stepped in and took over this race. But his actions didn’t just result in copying what was done before. He really wanted to take it to the next level. This year, Guus managed to get a record number of 250 participants in the race. And the coins didn’t just visit the 12 provinces, but all 415 municipalities of the Netherlands. He thought of the idea that photos of the coin with the city limit sign and city hall and/or coat of arms of the city where a coin is dropped/retrieved, should be rewarded with bonus points as well. So, he now checks every log, of each coin for photos to see whether this coin should get bonus points. He does all this himself. The way Guus has organized everything has really got our geocaching community in the Netherlands closer, more involved and resulted in many, many fun coin logs to read. This race has given a whole other dimension to geocaching. It really spices things up and makes moving trackables so much more fun.”
bigfish97 writes, “My name is Dustin and I am 14 years old. I have only been geocaching since February and now it is one of my favorite things to do. I was introduced to geocaching by my aunt and uncle, Troy and Amanda,” a.k.a. T&AD. “They showed me everything about geocaching such as Trackables, Geocoins, different types of caches, etc. They have been geocaching since January but have already found over 350 geocaches! I learned everything I know about geocaching from them. They still guide me through a lot of my finds, even from 300 miles away. I love to share my experiences with them because they are beginner geocachers that I can relate to. I am thankful that they introduced me to this great hobby and what I am asking is for you to choose them for the month of July because it would mean the world to me!”
Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured July Geocacher of the Month. A panel of Lackeys will use your comments to help decide which geocacher is awarded the honor. Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive an exclusive special edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat, a Geocacher of the Month profile icon, and a certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. We will be accepting comments for July’s award through July 31st.
Those whose nominees were not recognized here are encouraged to submit their nominations again next month. If you know an outstanding geocacher you would like to nominate to be a Featured Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.
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 a description (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 August Geocacher of the Month must be received by August 10th.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the 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.
