January 25, 2012 / Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching is (literally) a Piece of Cake (sometimes)

Here’s a question you don’t often hear, “Did you find that geocache on the cake?” Well… look at the masterful geocaching cake by Susan Currence to your left. Can you find the geocache?

Could the geocache be hidden in the pretzel stick palm trees? Might it be in the frosting river? Keep reading to find out.

Susan and others uploaded pictures of geocaching themed cakes after a Geocaching.com Facebook post. The post read, “Geocaching is about community. Community is about events. And when you have an event: You. Bring. A. Themed. Cake. Share your best geocaching cake recipes and pics here…”

Almost any given week you can check out the Geocaching Event Calendar and find more than fifty events in a dozen countries around the world. Odds are you’ll find a cake at most of those events. Here’s some of the best of the best.

UK geocacher cooper troopers spent eight hours crafting a geocaching themed cake. She writes you can feast on nearly everything you see on the cake to your left, but – “The only thing that you couldn’t eat were the film pot and the fern, everything else was edible. The cake was a chocolate sponge with chocolate butter-cream icing. Some of the items came from the local old fashioned sweet shop, sugar pebbles/stones and chocolate shavings (for dirt) and chocolate nibs (twigs).”

Geocaching cakes aren’t just for events. Some geocachers use them as prizes. Emma Harding (emma.27) writes, “My friend hid 20 something caches and made it a race to find all of the caches, my cake being the prize. The event itself was speed caking. Based on speed dating, cachers brought cake and swapped for more cake. Everyone had a fab time and got good feedback.” You can see the cache page from the event here.

Check out some of the cakes below for ideas for your next geocaching event. So… back to the first question in this blog post; did you find the geocache in the cake above yet? (Here’s the spoiler picture.)

Geocaching Cake — Geocaching birthday cake

January 5, 2012 / Eric Schudiske /

Announcing the December Featured Geocacher of the Month

Every month, Lackeys at Groundspeak Headquarters have the chance to learn about the outstanding geocachers in our community. They are nominated by community members for “Featured Geocacher of the Month” because they exemplify innovation, creativity, respect for the environment, and helpfulness. Based off of these nominations and the votes on our blog, each month Groundspeak selects one “Featured Geocacher.” We continue to be stunned by the number of quality candidates as well as the number of geocachers who participate in this monthly process.

All three of December’s Featured Geocacher of the Month nominees have done amazing things for our community. This was a close competition. Over 100 geocachers submitted votes, showing great support for each nominee. Based on these votes, a panel of Lackeys selected AbbeyAckbar as the December Featured Geocacher of the Month.

AbbeyAckbar, a geocaching couple, is known for organizing many of the most creative and popular events in Dublin, Ireland. According to one cacher, “AbbeyAckbar have gathered people for such events as: WWFM VIII – Dublin, Ireland and a mega huge International Geocaching Day (IGD)01: CITO Burrow Beach, Dublin, Ireland and later that day another event: IGD01: Dublin, Ireland and recently 11.11.11 – It’s all about the numbers. They are great planners, everything is always under control with them.”

AbbeyAckbar is also being recognized for their consistent willingness to assist a geocacher in need. One geocacher mentioned, and many others agreed, that, “they introduced me to Geocaching and have been great to me, on many a geocaching outing, helping and encouraging me along the way. They are all about fun and are so friendly and helpful, they deserve to be geocacher of the month.”

AbbeyAckbar will receive a collector’s edition Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging their 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 not named December 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.

geocacherofthemonthGeocoin(anniephone) — 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 January Featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by January 27th.

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.

December 28, 2011 / Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Weekly Mailer – December 28, 2011

2011: Geocaching Year in Review

The final geocaching hours in 2011 are ticking away. But the year won’t be forgotten. The geocaching adventure grew like never before in 2011.

Just a few fun things that happened this year:

Jamster O'Hirish — After Lackey transforms into a hamster

-More than 400,000 new active geocaches were listed on Geocaching.com. That’s quite a bit geocaching for your “to do” list in 2012.

-New maps, statistics and Favorite Points were added to enrich the geocaching experience.

–Geocaching Challenges were launched, helping bring adventure to every location.

-The community celebrated the first International Geocaching Day!

Check out the 2011 Geocaching Year in Review video for a fun overview of these events and all the other geocaching happenings in 2011. (SPOILER ALERT: You’ll also see a Lackey transform into a Groundspeak Hamster. It’s magical.)

[vsw id=”tGBkOpKF_KM” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]

Share your favorite geocaching experiences from 2011 on the official Geocaching.com Facebook page. Happy geocaching in 2012 from all the Lackeys at Groundspeak!

December 22, 2011 / Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching Reveals Lost Ancestors

Cachen'Zoom' 2 — Danny and Laura "Cachn'Zoom"

A race to find a newly published geocache uncovers a century-old piece of family history. Laura and Danny geocache under the name Cachn’Zoom. The experience helped the husband and wife team from North Carolina connect family ties back to earliest days of the United States of America.

Laura and Danny know geocaching introduces them to new sights, experiences and friends.

Laura says, “I have met some wonderful new adventurous friends since I started caching. I’ve been rappelling, rock climbing, hiked for miles and miles, gone on ‘geo-road trips’, and seen more waterfalls in the past year than I have in the past ten years!”

But nothing could prepared them for a recent cache run on a newly published historical series of geocaches. Laura says it all started with a competitive flair. Laura writes, “I am notified when new caches are published. I don’t always make a mad dash for the FTF (First to Find), however on this day Danny and I were able to head out to try and beat a few of the ‘FTF hounds’ in our area. Gotta keep them on their toes!”

She says they had already claimed a couple FTF’s when they arrived at a cache in the series called, “Adam Cooper – Long Ago But not Far Away – Fairview.” The team wouldn’t claim an FTF on that geocache.

According to Laura, “Upon our arrival, we noticed our good buddy RobinMohawk already there. He had just signed the log and re-hid the cache and enjoyed watching us finish the search. Just as I was replacing the cache, I heard ‘Mr Cachn’Zoom’ say ‘I don’t believe it.'”

Cachen'Zoom' 1 — Danny by headstone of his ancestor

The geocache is hidden with permission near the burial site of a pioneer settler, Adam Cooper. Danny was exploring other tombstones when Laura says, “Danny proceeded to inform us that he had found the grave of a distant ancestor, John Lanning – a pioneer.” Lanning had died more than 170 years ago. Danny also found the marker for Lanning’s wife, Sarah Whitaker.

Laura says, “When we returned home he verified the discovery with the genealogy report of his family. John Lanning is my husbands ‘great, great, great, great, great grandfather’ and Sarah Whitaker is his ‘great, great, great, great, great grandmother’, on his mother’s side of the family.”

Ruth, Dare2Geocache, placed that geocache. She says she discovered some local heritage as well, “I had a blast researching our local history to create both the Fairview and the Spring Mountain historical series. We have so many “local treasures,” as I’m sure most communities do. [They are] places that people pass by daily and never know exist, or they never know the details that make these places so interesting.”

The story of Danny and Laura’s family discovery spread fast. She says, “Most folks are amazed and are surprised to learn we located this while ‘geocaching’. We would have never located this without geocaching.”

The couple just returned from vacation and are already playing catchup with local geocaches. Laura says, “Thanks to all the geocachers who keep this adventure going and growing! There were at least ten new caches published in my area while I was away for a week!”

Laura and Danny do not expect the discoveries to stop any time soon. She says they’re looking forward to, “hours and hours of more fun and adventure!”

November 8, 2011 / Eric Schudiske /

November Featured Geocacher of the Month Nominees – Add Your Comments

Every month the geocaching community nominates people to be the Geocacher of the Month – a geocacher who positively contributes to the community and stands out for his or her outstanding involvement in the activity. Groundspeak Lackeys choose three of the nominees and tell their stories here on Latitude 47. The community selects which of the three should be designated “Geocacher of the Month.”

Last month, geocachers awarded the honor to coast2coast2coast. More than 50 geocachers wrote in support of the winner. Coast2coast2coast has hosted multiple events, helped direct the Mid Island Geocaching organization, and is known for his dedication to the geocaching community. Congratulations to all those who were nominated in October.

Now it’s your turn to help select the featured November “Geocacher of the Month.” The nomination period is closed and we have whittled it down to the three geocachers featured below.

Write a comment on this blog post about which of these three geocachers you feel should be November’s “Geocacher of the Month.” Those whose nominees were not recognized here are encouraged to submit their nominations again next month.

Some testimonials have been edited for length.

_JohnnyCache

( Member since 2007 )

Nomination by Bocco:

“_JohnnyCache has volunteered countless hours of his time as the president of the Maryland Geocaching Society for the past two years. In that position Tom has worked tirelessly to promote geocaching in our state. He also provides links for helpful information, and detailed instructions on how to use various GPSr’s, software, etc., in our organization forums. He has created a Maryland Geocaching Society fanpage on facebook, and a smartphone app for our forums. _JohnnyCache is not only an enthusiastic geocacher in his own right, who has hidden some of the most devious cache hides in the state, he gives back to our community of cachers. His efforts as president of our society have enhanced geocaching in Maryland enormously.”

Rokman4

( Member since 2008 )

Nomination by 2oddHOGs:

“Rod spends a lot of time helping new cachers learn everything from the basics of geocaching to more intricate hides. When I first met Rod, he was giving a talk at a small town library. Rod is enthusiastic and thinks nothing of going over to a person’s home to help them with a computer problem or to take them out to find their first cache. Rod was instrumental in setting up the first ever geocaching training ground, on a city owned recreational island, that will stay a training ground even now that the training event happened (close to 100 people attended). Rod spent a lot of time working to make a contact with the city, showing them what he planned for the island and getting the city’s support to hold the event and keep the island as the training ground. Rod is a terrific role model for those of us that are new the the game. ”

nicgeo

( Member since 2009 )

Nomination by Mickelic:

“Nicole is a geography teacher who uses geocaching to teach her students about latitude and longitude. She just wrote a grant for new GPS devices for her students and was awarded $500. Those who awarded the grant thought that her grant was the most unique and they featured Nichole in their monthly newsletter. I believe that she should be up for a nomination because, due to her excitement for geocaching, all of her students love going on field trips geocaching in our area. There is so much more about NicGeo which makes her the cacher of the month.”

Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured November “Geocacher of the Month.” A panel of Lackeys will use your comments to help decide which geocacher is awarded the honor. Each featured “Geocacher of the Month” will receive an exclusive special edition featured ”Geocacher of the Month” Geocoin along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and a certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by 2 of the founders of Geocaching.com. We will be accepting comments for November’s award through Monday the 24th.

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be the Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.

Every nomination must meet the following requirements:

GCotM_geocoin — Geocacher of the Month Geocoin

Please include your name, the name of your nominee, their username, at least one picture of the nominee and a description (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 December Geocacher of the Month must be received by December 3rd.

Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the 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.

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