The first hiding theme of 2026 is hidden in plain sight: urban edition. This theme covers clever, camouflaged geocaches that blend into everyday urban surroundings.
Each quarter, we will introduce a new hiding theme to celebrate geocaches published in 2026. We will also feature geocaches from each theme on the Geocaching Blog and social media.
Our first theme is hidden in plain sight: urban edition 🫣
Geocachers celebrate the holidays in many ways—from earning souvenirs and hosting Events to finding “just one more cache” before the year ends. In many places, a popular tradition is holiday and winter geocache trails.
Throughout fall and winter, local geocachers create seasonal series to give back to the community. Some trails release one cache per day like an advent calendar, while others publish all at once for a planned outing. No matter the format, they share the same spirit: creativity, generosity, and community.
Check out some winter geocache series from around the world:
As we begin 2026, we invite geocachers to bring their creative energy into the new year. Each hidden geocache creates an adventure and makes each finder an explorer.
Our goal is to inspire geocachers to hide and find caches that showcase creativity, innovation, and the sense of adventure that make geocaching special.
In 2025, we celebrated a major milestone—25 years of geocaching! To mark this special anniversary, we introduced a new hiding theme per quarter to celebrate geocaches published in 2025. Every three months, we featured geocaches from that quarter’s theme on the Geocaching Blog and social media.
For our fourth and final hiding theme of the year, each nomination helped us revisit memorable moments in geocaching. We struck retro gold with your ‘blast’tastic nominations and discovered caches that could make a highlight reel titled “geocaching’s greatest hits.”
In 2024, the EarthCache™ program, a partnership between Geocaching HQ and the Geological Society of America, marked its 20th anniversary. The first EarthCache (GCHFT2) was placed in New South Wales, Australia in 2004.
Since then, thousands more have brought geocachers to awe-inspiring sites while sharing the wonders of Earth science. We asked the community to share some tips on how to get started with EarthCaches. Continue reading →
