Geocaching.com is excited about introducing “Geocaching Challenges” in the near future. Enjoy this sneak peek at the innovative new way to experience and share location-based adventures around the world on Geocaching.com. More information will be released in the next days. “Geocaching Challenges” is scheduled to launch on Geocaching.com in the next weeks.
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Share your genius for witty captions in the 26th installment of our Geocaching.com Caption Contest. You could earn a barely coveted prize. What caption would you write? “We’re saving thousands on our around-the-world honeymoon this way!” You can craft a better caption.
Submit your caption by clicking on “Comments” below. Please include your geocaching username in all entries. Then, explore the captions other geocachers have posted.
You can even influence the voting process. “Like” the caption that you think should win. If you think your caption should win, convince your fellow geocachers, your friends and family to “like” your caption. Lackeys vote from the top finalists to decide the winner of the contest.
The winner receives a barely coveted prize from Groundspeak Headquarters. This contest the barely coveted prize is six Cache In Trash Out caption stickers.
26 Lackeys voted to award the winner of the 25th Geocaching.com Caption Contest a barely coveted prize. Click on the image at right to discover the winning caption from the 24th Geocaching.com Caption Contest.
Explore all the past winning captions by checking out all the Geocaching.com Caption Contests.
Editor’s note: Groundspeak Lackeys are traveling thousands of miles from H.Q. this year to share smiles, shake hands and make geocaching memories at more than a dozen Mega-Events worldwide. Jenn Seva, aka MissJenn, attended the COG (Central Ontario Geocachers) Spring Fling Zero-Zero-Seven Mega-Event (GC1MGER) outside of Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Jenn has been a Lackey since 2007. She was a volunteer reviewer between 2004 t0 2007, a geocacher since 2001, and she says, ‘a geek since forever’. This is Jenn’s account of her trip.
By Jenn Seva (MissJenn)
On June 11th, my not-so-secret mission was to infiltrate the Canadian province of Ontario and attend the Spring Fling hosted by the Central Ontario Geocachers. It wasn’t their first Mega. These people are pros. In fact, it was their Double-Oh-Seventh iteration and they pulled it off with nary a stray bullet.
I arrived early enough on Friday to help the organizers prepare registration packets the day before the event. Well, they thought I was helping prepare registration packets. Really, I was studying their organization, getting to know the masterminds and taking notes. 😉 [My report back to HQ: What a dedicated – and nice – group of people who created very engaging activities! Must see them again in future missions.]
One the day of the event, I hitched a ride into the location to be greeted by uniformed Russian guards marching in lockstep. I felt like I had traveled back in time to the Cold War era. After showing our credentials (my expired driver’s license was no good but my trackable name badge worked), we were allowed past the gate and then were welcomed by the OctoBeaver. Allow me to explain that this was the mascot for the event complete with a yellow felt tail. He gave everyone a tiny piece of that tail as a gift! How nice of him. Beavers are an important and industrious part of Ontario’s ecosystem, and hold a special place in the heart of the locals.
Mission dossiers (because a mere “schedule of events” is too boring) handed to the geocachers contained instructions such as directions to Central Intelligence, finding certain individuals in the crowd with suspicious characteristics or Bond-ish connections, and also how to find the Debriefing Sessions later in the evening. The names of the caches specially prepared for the event were so much fun: Ammo Cans Never Die, Diamonds are for Decryption, The Giving Daylights, Don’t Cut the Red Wire, Gold Drinker, Moneypenny’s Diaries, The Spy Who Quizzed Me, etc.
You see the theme coming together here? Not just the names but also the actual cache designs either tickled my fancy or really challenged the noggin. Some did both. Groundspeak and I had some fun too with a cache called From Seattle with Love, containing the best-dressed logbook of all time. You’ll have to go find it and see. All of the caches were published by the European reviewer James Bond, on behalf of Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Nice touch.
This theme was beautifully carried throughout. The kids had their own activities as “Agents in Training.” Thanks to the GeoFreakZ for making it so much fun! The adult Agents were encouraged to solve a 5-part mystery called For Your Eyes Only: Guess Who? The event volunteers (mostly humans plus one bird) were all in tuxedos, of course, much like James Bond usually wears. In order for us attendees to find them easily, though, these were orange tuxedos. Geocachers doing it with style. As the event drew to a close, the biggest prizes were awarded to 7 lucky people: each prize was inside of a (what else?) briefcase so none of us knew what was inside of them. After a brief bout of stealing and horse-trading briefcases from one another, 6 of the winners got to open them and claim their gifts. The final grand prize was in a briefcase that had a combination lock! How to get in? Well, a three-digit code was needed and soon enough, the clever geocacher figured out the numbers she needed. Double-Oh-Smart!
Have you seen a theme carried out as nicely as was done here? Bet you haven’t.
A final thought: Mega-events are usually characterized by the fact that there are so many people around. That’s the hallmark of a mega, after all. Somehow, the COG Spring Fling managed to keep it feeling small – in a good way. This event utilizes land of the beautiful Nottasawaga Valley Conservation Authority. Because the activities and special caches are all within this lovely forested area, and because the trails are set up to crisscross, geocachers were able to see one another several times throughout the day as one group went hither and another group went thither. It felt neighborly. Maybe it wasn’t the location that did that; maybe it was the genuine friendliness of the people. Maybe it was both.
See MissJenn’s pictures from the Mega-Event here. For those that attended, The souvenir icon for this event is currently being revised. You can also find a Lackey at one of these upcoming Mega-Events:
Ohio, USA – Midwest Geobash
Wales, UK – Mega Wales 2011
Wisconsin, USA – West Bend $1000 Cache Ba$h
HQ in Washington State, USA – Groundspeak Block Party
Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany – Geocoinfest Europa
Catalunya, Spain – Mega Event Catalunya
South Carolina, USA – Geocoinfest
The “Greatest RV Event in the World” gets even better. Geocaching.com is sending a team of Lackeys to share the adventure of geocaching with RVers at “The Rally” in Redmond, Oregon. The Rally runs from July 14 – 17. It draws tens of thousands of RV’ers from around the United States and Canada. Groundspeak Lackeys: Nicole (Louie Bliss), Jessie (Firefox) and Lisa (barendje) will be shaking hands and introducing RVers to a perfect addition to their road trip, geocaching.
Watch this video to see the team launch on their road trip down to The Rally. If you’re attending The Rally, make sure to stop by and say hi to the Lackeys.
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By: Kelly Ranck
In July of 2001, Thomas Klestil was president, the most popular album was “1” by The Beatles, and the country had recently cheered on David Coulthard as he won the Grand Prix. It was Austria.
And on July 30 of 2001, the Italian Geocacher Giorgio introduced Austria to the cutting edge GPS-enabled treasure hunt called geocaching. His original cache on Mount Niedere in Vorarlberg disappeared a short two years after it was hidden. Local geocachers placed a memorial plaque at the original cache coordinates and hid numerous caches nearby – all under the name ‘A Tribute To Austria’s First (ATTAF)’. These caches were placed in a circular shape along a beautiful path with breathtaking views of the surrounding Austrian mountains.
On July 3, 2011, the Austrian geocaching community gathered to celebrate ten years of geocaching in their country with the event ATTAF – 10 Jahre Geocaching in Österreich. Geocachers met on Mount Niedere to make the circular trek to the memorial cache, ATTAF – In Memoriam “Austria’s First GCE47.”
The group of geocachers included Geocaching.com CEO Jeremy Irish and German reviewer Stash-lab. Dozens of geocachers stopped to take a group photo and toast the occasion. This moment would not have been complete without the stunning mountainous backdrop. What better way to celebrate an anniversary than on an Austrian mountaintop?
Since the first cache was logged ten years ago, more than 18,000 geocaches have been hidden in Austria. Some caches, such as You have got mail, are so popular that they have accumulated over 170 favorite points.
Geocaching is quickly growing in popularity. As you’ve been reading this article, more than 100 caches have been logged on Geocaching.com from around the world. In fact, 3-5 caches are logged every second!
Because of its popularity, geocaching anniversaries such as Austria’s are continually being celebrated around the world. These anniversaries signify commitment to the activity, consistency, longevity, history, and tradition.
Let’s continue to gather together to celebrate this much loved activity.
