Watch this Geocaching.com Presents video: Unlocking Hidden History. See how the adventure of geocaching reveals a hidden world around you. It happens whether you’ve found a new park, a new viewpoint or unlocked a hidden history.
Go along as two Pennsylvania geocachers lift the veil on the history of a former prison, and discover how similar institutions of reform are found on four continents. Have you ever discovered a hidden history while geocaching?
Click the image to unlock local history
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.
We like a good joke here at Groundspeak and we were excited to present a fun video to help enhance your April Fool’s Day this year. In doing so, our production artist Roxxy came up with what we think is an awesome t-shirt design. We think all of you will love the design as much as we do, so we’ve added the new ‘Cachin’s the Fashion’ design in the shop. Order yours today! (US only – See International Distributors here)
Make your own trackables!
Have you considered making your own trackable geocoins or other unique trackables? We work with a number of manufacturers that can help you through the entire process of creating your own trackable geocoins or tags. You also have the option of ordering tracking codes directly from Groundspeak for unique projects such as a personal swag item that you already leave in geocaches. To learn more about the process or to see pricing and minimums, please check out our tracking code policy. If you’re working on a smaller project that doesn’t meet our minimum order requirements, consider purchasing a Travel Bug and adding the unique tracking code onto the item you want to make trackable (just remember not to send out the tags as well to avoid confusion in the game).
Cache In Trash Out (CITO)
Just a reminder that the official CITO weekend is coming up soon! We have a variety of official CITO merchandise including trackables and trash bags that can help enhance any CITO event! The 10th annual Cache In Trash Out weekend will be held April 21st and 22nd. View the CITO event calendar to see what events will be in your area! Starting in mid-April, the free sticker of the month will feature the CITO logo. One sticker is included for free with every order (while supplies last).
What’s New!
As usual, we’re always busy adding new items to the shop to keep the selection fresh. This past month has seen the addition of several new trackables. These include the first five in a series of trackable State Medallions (Washington, Oregon, Kansas, Illinois and California). A fun Treasure Hunt board game, new Farmtagz and the GeoSoftie Signal Travel Tags have all been added to the mix. Check these out and more in our What’s New section!
For orders outside the United States, please visit our International Distributors list. They feature many of the same listings in our shop as well as unique geocaching items of their own.
If you have any questions or suggestions on products for the website, please send us an email to shop@geocaching.com.
Many people know February’s Featured Geocacher of the Month for his ability to entertain as a Comedy Magician. To Vancouver geocachers, as well as many other geocachers, magicman65 is recognized for his ability to engage the geocaching community with creativity, commitment, involvement, stewardship, and encouragement.
Congratulations to magicman65 for pulling in a magical 65 votes to be nominated as the February Featured Geocacher of the Month. We greatly appreciate your positive contribution to the geocaching community.
February Featured Geocacher of the Month, magicman65
Magicman65 is the Vice President of the BC Geocaching Association as well as an active member of the Mid Island Geocaching Association and the Vancouver Island Geocaching Association. In addition, Magicman65 teaches geocaching and hides many creative caches.
According to one geocacher, “magicman65 sets an example to other cachers- he carries a knapsack with him filled with logbooks, plastic baggies, and swag. When he comes across a cache that needs maintenance, he will fix it right there on the spot and then he will send a private message to the cache owner informing him/her that the cache is fixed, saving others a trip.”
Magicman65 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. Those nominees not chosen as the featured Geocacher of the Month receive a gift of appreciation from Groundspeak. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here. The geocaching community is encouraged to renominate those who have yet to be honored as featured Geocacher of the Month.
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.
Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin
Every nomination must meet the following requirements: Please include your name, the name of your nominee, their username, at least one picture of the nominee and description (in 500 or fewer words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month. Please inform your nominee that you’ve submitted them for the award. Nominations for the March featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by April 1oth.
Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the Latitude 47 blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so we might learn from each other.
German geocachers travel to the UK for 12 hours of caching with locals
A group of German geocachers packed more than their GPS devices on a recent geocaching adventure to the UK. They also packed good intentions. Their epic international caching trip doubled as a fundraiser.
At the end of January, 80 geocachers made their way from Düsseldorf and Aachen, Germany to London, UK to spend an entire weekend treasure hunting with geocachers from several different countries.
The event, “London 2012” (GC38HZA), took place at the Joy of Life Fountain. The German cachers met an international group of geocachers at the event. Adventurers from Norway, France, U.S., and of course the UK joined to embark on a 12-hour treasure hunt. The teams found 64 caches. The favorite cache for many was “London – Beatles Abbey Road” (GC6F12). Geocachers got to transform into a “Beatle” for the cache. Others visited platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter movies.
The trip there and back across the English channel was about more than the event; it was also a chance to help others.
German geocachers make their way from from Düsseldorf to London
Janina Hering aka Döskopp says, “We thought about how to best utilize our time on the bus.” So, with some planning and the help of German geocaching shops and other businesses, Janina and her team collected prizes for a raffle that would take place on the bus drive back to Germany. The raffle money went to an organization for sexually abused children.
“We knew we wanted to support this organization. Their work is absolutely admirable,” she explained.
Janina was in charge of the collection of prizes, such as Geocoins and gummy bears. The team was busily selling raffle tickets and ended up raising more than 500 Euros for the association.
Board Member Monika Schiffer (left) and Geocacher Janina Hering (right)
“Such private, dedicated fundraisers are unfortunately rare,” says an excited Board Operator, Monika Schiffer. “The great thing about this initiative is that their hobby connected them to such a great gesture.”
Congrats to Janina and her fellow geocachers on a successful, well planned event. To find a geocaching event near you check out the Geocaching.com Events Calendar.
View Carre’ (GCE02C) perches high atop a New Orleans landmark. The cache ranks as the most ‘favorited’ geocache in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It’s accumulated more than 550 Favorite Points. With a view that stretches from horizon to horizon, it’s easy to see why.
Bamboozle hid the cache, with the permission of the facility owner, in 2003. He works at the building where the cache is located. He writes, “Many years ago I would notice tourist photographers in front of the building and occasionally offer to take them where they could get some really nice shots….the roof. They would be almost overwhelmed by the experience. When I started geocaching in 2003 I thought it would be a nice experience for geocachers as well.”
He was right. More than 1800 geocachers have claimed smileys on the geocache so far. The cache page offers details on finding the difficulty one, terrain one cache. A geocacher who found “View Carre'” over the past weekend logged, “Absolutely the coolest cache I’ve ever done. Alfred was great to us and gave us a wonderful tour. Simply the best cache I’ve ever done. Anyone who has not done this must add it to their short list. THANK YOU and all involved for making this happen. So much fun!”
The cache is close...
Bamboozle and his staff, like Alfred, often offer more than just finding the cache. He says, “My staff and I were all born and raised in the city and act as tour guides for the visiting geocachers. Over the years the View Carre’ has hosted events and has been the destination of school field trips and visits by geocachers from surely every state and many foreign countries.”
And geocachers didn’t forget Bamboozle when Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans in 2005. “I received at least a dozen emails from cachers all over the country offering us a place to stay in their homes until we could return to ours. This added to the already high esteem that I held for geocachers having met so many nice folks at the cache.”
A geocacher serving in the U.S. Army after the hurricane even helped Bamboozle restore the cache. “Hurricane Katrina had blown down the roof elevator and collapsed a wall on top the cache container. Johann Panholtz, a cacher from Indiana serving in the U.S. Army which occupied New Orleans, came by to make the grab and we “unearthed” the cache together and it has been available ever since.”
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.
View Carre' cache container
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.
