Watch this video to float along with a group of Czech geocachers as they navigate through fast-moving water on the river, and navigate to geocaches on shore. River geocaching Event Caches take adventures on a unique journey – often involving camping, cooking over a bonfire, and of course caching. This annual river caching event in the Czech Republic grows each year. Watch the video to see why, and gather ideas for your own river caching Event Cache in your part of the world.
Click the image to watch the Geocaching on the River video
Subscribe to the official Geocaching.com YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos about the evolving world of geocaching. Watch the more than 50 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.
What do the inventor of the Geocoin, one of the oldest cities in the world and a night time cycling tour have in common? They are all aspects of a unique Mega-Event known as Geocoinfest. Geocoinfest Lisboa 2012 (GC3N1YQ) takes place in just about three weeks in the capital of Portugal. It promises to be an exciting event and I’m thrilled to get the opportunity to attend.
This will be my fifth Geocoinfest Mega-Event I’ve attended and yet another opportunity to connect with the amazing community. I enjoy working with geocachers and Geocoins every day as part of my work at Groundspeak. I’m privileged to attend this event with my coworker Jon Stanley (Moun10bike), who plans to bring the very first Geocoin for all to discover.
Geocoins add a fascinating element to the game of geocaching for me and many others. Beautiful designs, unique icons, and the stories and pictures they collect as they move from cache to cache, or as they’re discovered in private collections, provide a fun experience for enthusiasts everywhere. I love walking around Geocoinfest events and seeing geocachers showing off the pride and joy of their personal collections to new friends and old. It always reminds me that the task of generating tracking codes (the unique set of numbers and letters that identify each Geocoin) at Groundspeak HQ has such a greater meaning than I realize on a day-to-day basis.
A dedicated event committee of over 50 Portuguese geocachers came together to organize this amazing event for Geocoin fans and collectors in a short amount of time. The committee is divided into eleven groups that cover the individual pieces that make up the Mega-Event. One of these organizers, António Casimiro (Acasim), explained that “A Geocoinfest event is a special Mega-Event, a themed event related to Geocoins. But in reality it is much more than that. It’s a gathering of people from many different countries, an opportunity to meet some Groundspeak Lackeys, famous Geocoin designers and producers, and many many Geocoin collectors and geocachers in general, who often carry their Geocoin collections to show around or to trade at the event.”
Along with viewing the latest and greatest Geocoin designs, I’m hoping to enjoy some of those other aspects involved with the event. Music, games, a flashmob, tasting local wines, attending an evening bicycle tour of Lisbon to discover the city, and of course finding geocaches! The organizers have done an amazing job putting the event together and I personally can’t wait to see their efforts in person.
Silva provides some great tips for those interested in attending the 2012 European Geocoinfest:
– Book travel and hotel as soon as possible, to get better prices (accommodation pointers are provided on the event website)
– Add your “will attend” log and register for the event, providing the requested information
– Look at the provided program and prepare your own schedule, to make the best possible use of time
– Periodically look at the event web site for news and updates
– Contact the organization in case you have any questions — everyone will do their best to help you!
Find more details for planning on the official event website. If you can’t make it to the European Geocoinfest, the annual US event (GC2XW58) is in the U.S. state of Colorado this October. Geocoinfest U.S. 2012 offers a similar experience in North America. Check out the official Geocoinfest U.S. 2012 website and register here.
The Geocache of the Week inspires a rappelling adventure into caverns in Portugal and reveals a glimpse into the distant past. A FENDA [Bombarral] (GCW5EA) is rated a difficulty 3, terrain 5 cache. It lures geocachers with the promise to discover caves that were once home to Neanderthals.
Miguelrk + João + Inês placed the regular sized cache in the location in 2006. The cache page, written in Portuguese, warns geocachers that the trek to find this geocache can be dangerous. Safety precautions and the right equipment are mandatory.
Signing the logbook
The experience is unforgettable. The geocache has won local awards. A FENDA has received dozens of Favorite Points.
The location of this traditional cache offers a visual wonderland. Just over 100 geocachers have logged smileys, but there are more than 500 images in the photo gallery. The logs are rich with detail and emoticons. Some geocachers spend years planning their trip to A FENDA and organize large groups to find and log the cache.
A recent expedition to the A FENDA titled their adventure, “Operação ‘Viagem do fundo da terra'” or “Operation ‘Voyage to the Center of the Earth.'”
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
If you’d like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@groundspeak.com.
[Editor’s note: This video contains spoilers and was filmed with cache-owner permission. The video is in Czech. For English subtitles, play the video then click on the CC button.]
Geocaching.com Presents: “First to Find.” Watch this video and be part of the hunt to claim a FTF on a newly published cache (GC2X6AW). The Geocaching.com video team perched at ground zero as a Groundspeak Reviewer published the cache listing. The cache is located in the rural countryside of the Czech Republic. The crew counted the minutes until the first cacher arrived, but being FTF on this cache would take more than being first to the coordinates. Watch to find out why. The video mentions “instant notification” which is a Premium Member feature. Find out more about instant notifications and Premium Memberships here.
The next Geocaching.com Presents video showcases some of the most exciting geocaches with Favorite Points. It’s scheduled for release on October 20th. See a preview of all the Czech videos to come by clicking here. Geocaching.com will continue to release English, Czech and German language geocaching videos in the coming months. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos. Watch the more than 40 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.
Geocaching.com uvádí: “First to Find.” Podívejte se na toto video a zúčastněte se lovu a závodu o FTF nově uveřejněné keše (GC2X6AW). Video posádka z Geocaching.com číhala u cíle, když kontrolor společnosti Groundspeak zveřejnil podrobnosti keše. Keš se nachází ve venkovské krajině České republiky. Posádka počítala minuty, než dorazil první kačer, ale získat FTF této kešky nebude tak snadné. Dívejte se a zjistíte proč. Video obsahuje spojlery a bylo natočeno s povolením majitele keše.
Další video Geocaching.com uvádí se soustředí na geokeše s nejvyšším počtem příznivých bodů. Plánujeme jeho zveřejnění na 20. října. Podívejte se na ukázky všech českých video záznamů kliknutím zde. V příštích měsících bude Geocaching.com také dále zveřejňovat geokešingová videa v angličtině, češtině a němčině. Podívejte se na více než 40 video záznamů, které vyrobil Geocaching.com na naší video stránce.
Nota do editor: No decorrer deste ano, os Lackeys da Groundspeak estão a viajar milhares de quilómetros a partir da sua sede (o HQ) para participar e espalhar boa disposição em mais de uma dezena de Mega-Eventos espalhados pelo mundo. Nate, também conhecido por Nate the Great, foi uma das presenças no Mega-Evento 11 Years! Oeiras – Portugal que teve lugar a 1 de Maio em Lisboa, Portugal. Nate é Lackey desde 2003 e coordena o desenvolvimento de novas funcionalidades na Groundspeak. Este é o seu diário de viagem:
Lackey Nate the Great
Estou a mais de 12000 Km de casa e entre 500 dos meus amigos mais próximos (e que acabei de conhecer hoje) num parque nos arredores de Lisboa, Portugal. No preciso momento em que estão a fazer uma caricatura minha, o DJ de serviço passa “Take On Me” dos A-Ha. Uma situação absurda como esta seria o suficiente para me colocar um sorriso lunático nos lábios durante os 10 minutos que demoraria a terminar o meu retrato. Mas passa um geocacher anónimo, sorri e tira uma fotografia, enquadrando a placa trackable com o meu nome. Dá-cá-mais-cinco e tal… E desaparece entre a multidão. Só tenho tempo para ouvir o caricaturista a dizer “Senta-te quietinho, se faz favor…”
A equipa iURKings
É dificil ficar sentado quieto num Mega-Evento.
Choque de cultura? Geocaching é cultura. Quando estamos em viagem e nos sentimos desenquadrados de tudo, vamos a um evento de geocaching e sentimo-nos em casa, identificando desde logo as personagens habituais: o frenético doido dos FTF agarrado ao telefone; o escondedor de caches compulsivo, com mais tupperwares escondidas no meio do mato que caches encontradas… e mais geocachers de botas cheias de lama que crianças a brincar no parque infantil. Se não fosse a agradável sonoridade do português falado à minha volta, podia ser em qualquer parte do mundo.
O Nate não está nesta fotografia
O espírito de aventura é algo naturalmente partilhado por todos, mas os portugueses em particular têm o instinto explorador gravado na sua identidade nacional. Na era dos Descobrimentos, entre os séculos XV e XVII, exploradores como Vasco da Gama trouxeram fama e riqueza a Portugal viajando pelo mundo. É impossível viajar por Portugal sem tropeçar num monumento comemorativo desta ou daquela viagem. A probabilidade de haver uma cache mistério baseada num desses factos é alta. Hoje em dia, é fácil comprar mapas topográficos detalhados do território, o que pode explicar o crescimento exponencial do geocaching em Portugal durante os últimos anos. É no geocaching que este povo está a redescobrir o seu desejo de explorar e de conhecer coisas novas, mesmo que seja à porta de casa. Por tudo isto e pela história e tradição que me rodeiam, Portugal é o centro de tudo.
Ou então o geocaching é divertido. Para quê complicar?
O Geocacher TZR
Estou de volta aos Estados Unidos, a folhear um bloco de notas cheio de ideias rabiscadas à pressa sobre como melhorar o site Geocaching.com. Sim, eu admito. Havia um motivo subjacente para ir a este Mega-Evento. Não, o meu motivo não era só encher o bandulho de porco no espeto (divinal), desfrutar da hospitalidade dos geocachers locais (interminável)… certamente que não era ouvir tesouros deprimentes dos anos 80 enquanto me desenhavam a caricatura (que coisa bizarra). Quis, acima de tudo, estar em contacto com geocachers, perceber melhor o que é que a Groundspeak faz bem e o que é que podemos fazer para ser melhores. Como Lackey, aprendi que a melhor coisa que posso fazer aos geocachers é aparecer, ouvi-los e tomar notas para depois fazer com que o website esteja ao nível das suas exigentes expectativas. Porque os geocachers portugueses estão muito à frente no que toca à inovação no geocaching. E isso facilita-me muito o trabalho.
