Written by: Gary Lewis, Senior Director of Education and Outreach, The Geological Society of America
EarthCaching is different – while part of your geocaching experience, it involves a lot more than finding, logging and replacing a physical geocache. A visit to an EarthCache involves a lesson, a opportunity to think, discuss and ponder and a chance to be rewarded with achievements beyond your number of finds.
Garden of the Gods Earthcache GCND0E
EarthCaching started in January 2004 when I placed the first EarthCache with my daughter on a headland in southern Australia. My goal was to teach geocachers more about the wonderful geology of our planet. So Earthcaches involve you visiting a site and undertaking a logging task that teaches you some aspect of geology related to what you see. There are now over 18,000 active EarthCaches around the globe – and at least one on every continent!
Can you name this EarthCache? Do so in comments below!
I realized early on that the effort required to place an EarthCache needed to be rewarded. On top of the normal geocache needs, an EarthCaches require some research and planning to meet the guidelines. Out of that realization was born the EarthCache Masters Program – which rewards caters for visiting and placing EarthCaches.
The genius of the EarthCache Masters Program is that it’s quite simple.
The first level, Bronze, requires you to visit and log three EarthCaches. The trick is, those three EarthCaches cannot be in the same state/province/country. We want you to travel to experience the geology away from your home location.
The next level, Silver, requires you to visit and log six EarthCaches and develop and have published one EarthCache. So after you have visited a handful of EarthCaches you get rewarded for the effort you put into having your very own EarthCache published by the Geoaware team.
Can you name this EarthCache? Do so in comment below!
Beyond this the levels are Gold (visit 12, create 2)
Platinum (visit 20, create 3).
You record your efforts via the EarthCache website here and are rewarded by an icon you can place on the profile page. You can even buy Masters coins.
Being an EarthCache Master shows the community that you are not only committed to learning about our Earth, but committed to having even more fun geocaching!
Here’s my challenge. Lets see if we can’t double the number of people who are at each of the EarthCache Masters levels by International EarthCache Day (Sunday 11 October) this year. You have more than 18,000 EarthCaches to choose from to start!
Current Number of EarthCache Masters by Level
Bronze = 14122
Silver = 3731
Gold = 2086
Platinum = 1678
TOTAL = 21617
Can you guess this EarthCache location? Do so in comments below.
In the last 12 years, over four million geocachers have participated in one of dozens of geocaching-based Trackable promotions in partnership with adventurous brands around the globe. From John Grisham fans seeking gold ingot Geocoins to Jeep enthusiasts on the hunt for toy Jeeps, there are unique experiences for every type of geocacher.
Trackable promotions give geocachers a unique opportunity to engage with some of their favorite brands on a digital and physical level while spending time enjoying their hobby. Partnerships have included free Trackable giveaways, pre-release sneak peeks, and photo contests with prizes ranging from a set of new tires for your vehicle (road trip anyone?) to all expense paid trips. Each branded trackable builds a unique story as it travels. Trackables continue to generate engagement for years as geocachers discover and display these pieces of history at events, on social media, and online via their collection of unique digital icons (who wouldn’t want to collect a fancy little achievement for your profile page?) How many of these promotional Trackables have you spotted?
This was one of the first branded Geocaching promotions and the first time digital icons were introduced on geocaching profile pages. Over 24,000 Trackables were attached to Matchbox Jeeps and released in different color batches from 2004-2007. Jeep trackables have traveled over 16 million miles to date and have become a staple within the geocaching community. The first Yellow Jeep in the promotion was even inspired by the Yellow Jeep Fever, locationless cache, which was a life size jeep! Throughout the promotion Geocachers submitted photos and essays about the Trackables for a chance to win the top prize: a full size Jeep vehicle.
“As small as those TBs were in the grand scheme of life, participating in those promotions brought me an immense amount of joy.” – Brian – Team A.I., 2007 photo contest winner
Doubleday publishing group’s 2012 Geocaching partnership focused on John Grisham’s new book “The Racketeer.” 5,000 custom gold ingot trackable geocoins were distributed to geocachers who then placed and moved them from geocache to geocache to mirror the book’s plot, in which ill-gained gold bars are moved around the United States. In addition to moving the ingot trackables over 17 million miles, geocachers showed off their photography skills for a chance to win the grand prize of a real gold ingot! The trackable program was paired with Facebook ads and geocachers flooded the John Grisham Facebook page, which gained 72,000 new Facebook fans and an increase in reach of 220% (according to Marketing Sherpa.)
The winning picture was of a young boy who posed with the “Grisham Geocoin” as a character, Theodore Boon, from Grisham’s series of young adult novels.The story continues two years later: “Big score at Goodwill lol. Figured I had the trackable, might as well read the book. Both books for only $2. Might need to use for another library cache” – Jason Winder / animjason, Facebook, 12/2/2014.
GEICO’s 2011 Geocaching promotion released 9,000 Trackable tags designed in the shape of the iconic gecko mascot into the hands of geocachers across the United States. The tags were sent on their way while spreading awareness for the “Find the Gecko” sweepstakes in which one Magellan Explorist GC GPS unit was given away to a lucky geocacher winner each week of the 20 week promotion! The gecko trackables were moved by geocachers over 73,000 times and remain one of the most popular trackables being discovered around the world, averaging 29 touchpoints a day years later.
SHC’s Danger Ranger Geico Trackable has traveled the world collecting more miles traveled than any other Geico Trackable with a total of 326,315 miles (mapped above) since it was released into the game on June 11th, 2011.
In 2014, Michelin celebrated their 125th Anniversary by launching a geocaching campaign to promote tire safety via a social media based photo contest. With 2,000 Trackable tags designed in the shape of a tire and attached to actual Michelin Man tire pressure gauges, geocachers were destined for success on the road. Geocachers across the United States tapped into their inner photography talent by submitting over 1,000 photos portraying a sense of adventure to the official photo contest by using the hashtag #MichelinQuest on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. The Michelin Trackables have traveled almost 1.3 million miles in just 4 months and have saved many tricycle tires from getting too low on air.
Geocachers submitted 1000+ photos over 4 months to the #MichelinQuest contest by adding the hashtag #MichelinQuest on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
We were all there at one time or another—searching through the woods for something, staring at our phone or GPS, still somewhat unsure of what we were doing or if anything was actually there.
Geocaching Premium members are the rockstars of geocaching. Without you, we wouldn’t be here. So right now, you can help fuel the future of geocaching. One of the upcoming features is something that has been asked for by the geocaching community: a new and improved Advanced Search. It’s been completely retooled, revamped and streamlined based on geocaching community feedback. Now you’ll be able to find the exact adventure you want, easier.
Make sure you’re subscribed to the Geocaching Tips and Tricks emails to receive your invite to test this new tool. If you’re not sure, visit your Email Preferences and make sure the box next to “Tips and Tricks” is checked. The Geocaching Premium member sneak peek invite email is scheduled to be sent to you on or before this Thursday, January 29.
Searching through bushes, reaching under benches, looking through tree branches—to the untrained eye, a geocacher can look a little suspicious. Muggles (aka non-geocachers) who get curious have been known to unknowingly take or damage geocaches, which is why it’s important to maintain a level of stealth while geocaching. This new video will give you five tips for stealthiness.
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