July 8, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

7 Souvenirs of August FAQ

I found all six souvenirs, but my achiever souvenir wasn’t issued?

Visit your 7 Souvenirs of August Trophy Case to unlock your Achiever souvenir.

I can’t see my friend’s/spounse’s/brother’s/pet’s 7 Souvenirs of August Trophy Case. What’s up with that?

You can see all of the souvenirs that you friend/spouse/brother/pet has earned on their Public Profile under the Souvenirs tab. You can find their Public Profile using this tool.

How do I delete these souvenirs?

You can hide a souvenir from your Public Profile on Geocaching.com by selecting the “Hide This” button below the souvenir you would like to remove on your Private Profile. Please note that this will not remove the souvenir from your Private Profile or the mobile app. You can make the souvenir visible again at any time by selecting “Show This”, underneath the souvenir in your Private Profile.

Oh no, it’s the end of August and I just signed up. Will there be another opportunity to earn the 7 Souvenirs of August?

Well, well… we have no plans now, but who knows? This challenge might come around again.

There’s no way I can find them all. Can I have an exemption for X souvenir?

Geocaching is about exploration and discovery. Unfortunately, exemptions are not being issued.

I have the Geocaching Intro app and I can only see traditional geocache types. How can I participate?

You can earn the Explorer souvenir by logging a Traditional geocache in the Intro app. You’ll then be able to see this souvenir in your Trophy Case, which is mobile-friendly. To earn the other souvenirs and unlock the special 7th one, you can use the website or upgrade to the Geocaching Pro app.

I found all the souvenirs in August, but I didn’t log my geocache finds until September. Do I still earn the souvenirs?

You’ll be able to receive the first 6 souvenirs by back-dating your logs to the correct date. However, the Achiever souvenir will only be issued to those who have earned all 6 souvenirs and then visit their Trophy Case during the month of August.

Break it down for me. How do I earn each souvenir again?

The Nature Lover = Log a Found It on an EarthCache or an Attended for a CITO event.
The Explorer = Log a Found It on a Traditional geocache.
The Sightseer = Log a Found It on a Multi-Cache.
The Puzzler = Log a Fount It on a Mystery Cache.
The Socializer = Log an Attended for an Event Cache, Mega-Event, or Giga-Event.
The Collector = Log a Found It on a Virtual Cache, Whereigo, Letterbox Hybrid, or Webcam Cache.
The Achiever = Visit your Trophy Case after earning the 6 other souvenirs. To learn more about geocache types, go here.

What’s a souvenir, and why do I want one?

Souvenirs are virtual pieces of art displayed on your profile page that you can earn for various geocaching achievements, like finding a geocache in a new country. The 7 Souvenirs of August are extra special, as they only available during the month of August. To learn more about souvenirs, visit our Help Center.

Do I need to find the souvenirs in a specific order?

Nope! Bonus points if you do though! (Just kidding. There are no bonus points for earning the souvenirs in any particular order.)

I’ve heard rumors that Geocaching HQ has developed a very scientific quiz to reveal my geocaching alter-ego. Can you confirm these rumors?

Yes! The rumors are absolutely true. (Well, not the *very scientific* part.) Discover what type of geocacher you are: http://bit.ly/1z8vjKz.

When exactly will I be able to start earning the souvenirs?

August 1st at 12 AM your local time!

December 31, 2013 / Eric Schudiske /

Announcing the November Geocacher of the Month

The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin (sun flare optional)

This blog post is perhaps the perfect way to wrap up an amazing year in the world of geocaching. We’re announcing the featured Geocacher of the Month for November. Each of the nominees is already a winner, with a prize package headed their way. The nearly 800 comments from supporters of the three nominees are a must-read for anyone feeling a little bit down, or who doubts the impact one person might have on their community. The comments are a testament to the giving nature of geocachers.

All the nominees contributed to their local communities and inspired the worldwide community. Each will receive special recognition for their contribution to the global adventure of geocaching. Before naming the Geocacher of the Month, Geocaching HQ reviews community input and blog comments. Each comment is read. This was one of the most difficult decisions for Geocacher of the Month in the history of the program.

A geocacher from an island with just 1,100 geocaches stood out. She’s found most of those geocaches on Puerto Rico and united a community to explore the world around them through geocaching, hosting Event Caches and leading by example.

Janizy has been named the 2013 November Geocacher of the Month. One geocacher who commented wrote, “Of all the events that have had the opportunity to participate, my favorite was the Geoweekend Camping in Adjuntas (GC4FPJC), organized by Janizy. She, along with her colleagues, saw to it that all who attended passed unforgettable moments. During that weekend I spent spectacular days. There was everything, varied activities for adult geocachers and for geocacher kids. They were days of doing interesting stuff and share what we like: Geocaching! My vote is for Janizy!”

MMH_7543-4 — Janizy – November 2013 Geocacher of the Month

Janizy will receive the earned, never for sale, collector’s edition Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and a certificate acknowledging his contribution, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@geocaching.com.

Every nomination must include the following items and abide by the following guidelines:

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 have submitted them for the award. Nominations for Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.

Congratulations again to Janizy for being recognized as the Geocacher of the Month for October.

May 6, 2013 / Paige Edmiston /

The Very First – First to Find

Let’s set the scene. You’ve heard a few friends talk about this thing called “geocaching” and you fancy you might be pretty good at it. After all, you are fairly certain that your uncanny ability to locate lost car keys must mean that you have pirate’s blood coursing through your veins.

With your handy-dandy smart phone in hand, you set off to find the nearest geocache. According to your GPS you are right on top of it – but wait! Where’s the X marks the spot? You search high and low. You are on the verge of giving up when you spot a rock that doesn’t quite look like a rock….and yes, you’ve found it!

Finding a geocache feels kind of like this!

Now rewind the clock to a time long, long ago – a time without smartphones, Facebook, or (gasp!) geocaching. Thirteen years ago today Mike Teague became the first person to find the first geocache (at the time called a “stash”). It’s an adventure shrouded in lore. The word “geocaching” hadn’t even been invented yet. You can read much more about Mike Teague and the history of geocaching here. But the sense of wonder the first geocacher felt, is the same sense of wonder that now ripples through six million more geocachers. Are you one of them?

Share the story of your first geocaching find below in comments!

April 12, 2013 / Eric Schudiske /

Announcing the March 2013 Geocacher of the Month

WVTime - Featured Geocacher of the Month — WVTim – Featured Geocacher of the Month

All three nominees for the March Geocacher of the Month contribute to the global geocaching communityby creating quality geocaches and being an inspiration to geocachers.

Thank you to all those who supported the nominees. Those not chosen as the featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Geocaching HQ.

The choice was difficult. Ultimately, only one nominee can become the featured Geocacher of the Month based on a combination of community input, blog comments and voting. We all won seeing such examples of how the geocaching community works together.

After tallying the sentiment, WVTim is named the Featured Geocacher of the Month for March 2013.

WVTim is known for contributing one-on-one and through social media to improve geocaching for others. One geocacher who left a comment for WVTim wrote, “I see “paragraphs” of supporting statements about WVTim and the many things he has accomplished for geocaching. I am familiar with WVTim due to his YouTube videos. His gadgetcaches channel, in only 3 months, has nearly 11K views. He does instructional videos on how to build his gadget caches. So, he not only has amazing caches, he is giving ideas and instructions to cachers everywhere on how to build them. Cachers everywhere are benefiting from this guy whose caches have over 2K favorite votes. Plus, he just doesn’t do great caches. I’ve learned from this blog he has seminars, educational events, he teaches geocaching in schools, and to the Boy Scouts. He assists his state and local government in placing geocaching trails.”

WVTim 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. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsZ50JjRnJE]

Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must follow these requirements. Please include:

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 have submitted them for the award. Nominations for Featured Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.

Congratulations again to Uncle Louwtjie on being recognized at the Featured Geocacher of the Month for February.

March 8, 2013 / Eric Schudiske /

Announcing the February Featured Geocacher of the Month

louwtjievdw: Featured Geocacher of the Month for February

All three nominees for the February Geocacher of the Month show us the meaning of geocaching ambassadors. They welcome new community members, hide and maintain clever geocaches, and are rewarded with hundreds of Favorite Points.

Thank you to all those who supported the nominees. Those not chosen as featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Geocaching HQ.

After counting the votes and registering the sentiment a man known as Uncle Louwtjie, louwtjievdw, is named the Featured Geocacher of the Month for February 2013.

Louwtjievdw is known in the South African geocaching community as a creative geocache hider. He’s built a reputation as a geocacher who’s as quick to maintain his geocache hides as he is to make friends with new geocachers. He’s also known for friendly advice, leaving great logs on geocaches he’s found and having a cup of coffee ready for geocachers at his home.

One voter writes, “Oom Louwtjie, also called the “Flame of Bloemfontein”, gets our vote. His contribution towards geocaching can not go unnoticed. He accelerated this hobby and made it extremely pleasurable and challenging. His unique cache hides and above all his comments, his friendly nature, made him a legend in our country. He has the ability to find caches even in the toughest places with no complaints and he will always look for that something good in every cache hide…”

Uncle Louwtjievdw 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. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.