December 7, 2012 / Adela B /

December Featured Geocacher of the Month Nominees – Add Your Comments

The December Featured Geocacher of the Month nominees work tirelessly to shape their communities and to make them stronger. No matter where they live or how long they’ve been pursuing the hobby, these geocachers are truly dedicated to giving the sport and their communities all they’ve got.

November Featured Geocacher of the Month, balkamper13

Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for December.

Write a comment at the bottom of this blog about which of these geocachers you feel should be awarded the Featured Geocacher of the Month title.

In November, Ted, a.k.a. balkamper13 was recognized for introducing and helping countless novice geocachers become caching addicts. Balkamper13 is known for donating quality homemade swag, time, and money to geocaching events. He spends numerous hours teaching his secrets and always invites new geocachers on geocaching outings and events. Ted also shares his geocaching adventures and tips on his blog, LiveLoveCache.com.

Here are your nominees for the December Featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.

ekitt10

Nominated by jo.b, Nik, a.k.a. ekitt10, “has been caching since August 2001, making him one of the oldest cachers in New Jersey. Since then, he has always been working to improve the geocaching community in the state. Nik is the the founder of the Central Jersey Geocaching group and co-founder of CentralJerseyGeocaching.net. He also organizes our big monthly meetup called, ‘Third Tuesday Beer and Burgers.’ Nik’s favorite phrase is ‘take pride in your hide.’ His view is that every cache owner should put the creativity and effort into their caches to make them truly worth finding. He is also an avid puzzle cache creator. Some of his puzzles are famous and notorious. Nik has held puzzle solving classes and will always help a cacher out with one of his puzzles, especially if it’s one of their first forays into the sometimes intimidating world of the ‘scary blue question mark’. For over a decade, Nik has been a pillar of the New Jersey geocaching community, but beyond tenure, he has truly made a mark on the game and helped shape it into what it is today. He works hard to make the game more accessible and to make the community larger.”

Team GatorOKC

Team Gilo writes, “Michael and Bonnie, a.k.a. Team GatorOKC has been a great asset and participant in the COG (Central Oklahoma Geocachers) group since 2007. They are instrumental in organizing COG meetings and generally participating in all the social events concerning geocaching in the OKC area. They invest a lot of time and energy in placing and finding caches here in Oklahoma. They are very friendly people who have made many friends from out of state and have influenced them to become addicted to this sport that so many of us have come to love. I believe they would represent geocaching well and would fly the banner of the geocaching community high.”

Moneydork

Kjwx and Cumbyrocks write, “His surname says it all really … Wayne Champion is a champion – of and for geocaching. Such is his dedication to this hobby and its community. The veteran New Zealand player has multiple names to prove it: Moneydork, camocrab, and Wayne. Whichever handle you know him by, Champion has been a major player in the Australasian geocaching scene for many years. As Moneydork, he has established himself as one of our most prolific cachers, most recently celebrating his 15,000th find. As camocrab, volunteer reviewer for Geocaching.com, he has examined and evaluated New Zealand and Australian cache listings since 2006. And as Wayne, he was involved in the recovery efforts for both the Christchurch earthquakes and the Pike River coalmine tragedy. Last year Champion relocated to Australia for a job, but that didn’t stop him from returning frequently to oversee his dream of hosting the country’s first Mega-Event, GC35TTR. Champion initiated the idea while president of the New Zealand Recreational GPS Society and oversaw its planning from more than 3500km away. His efforts as chairman before and after the four-day event helped ensure glowing logs from all 501 attendees. More importantly, Champion himself is respected by his peers, fellow reviewers and leader board rivals. His own hides and events are legendary Down Under and he never hesitates to give his all to this sport.”

Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured December 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, a Geocacher of the Month profile icon, and a certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. This month only, the recognized nominees will also receive a special edition John Grisham THE RACKETEER Geocoin. We will be accepting comments for December’s award through Monday, December 17th.

Those whose nominees were not recognized here are encouraged to submit their nominations again next month. If you know an outstanding geocacher you would like to nominate to be a featured Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com and include the following information:

Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more 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 Geocacher of the Month must be received by Tuesday, January 8, 2013.

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.

November 21, 2012 / Adela B /

Announcing the November Featured Geocacher of the Month

The November Geocacher of the Month is known as the Elvis of the geocaching world, and over 130 geocachers agree. Congratulations to Ted, a.k.a. balkamper13 for being named November’s Featured Geocacher of the Month!

Balkamper13 is recognized for introducing and helping countless novice geocachers become caching addicts. He has donated quality homemade swag, time, and money to geocaching events. Ted has spent numerous hours teaching his secrets, and always invites new geocachers on geocaching adventures and events. He also shares his geocaching adventures and tips on this blog, LiveLoveCache.com.

A geocacher who cast a vote says, “balkamper13 helped get us started. We love finding his caches and his swag. The first CSI series cache find had us hooked. I have never seen such creativity! The events he hosts are first class. I have known balkamper13 for about a year and I have never met a fellow cacher who puts his time, money, heart, and soul into this great hobby to make his fellow cachers’ experiences the best.”

Balkamper13 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.

Thank you to the fellow November nominees and all those who supported them. The nominees not chosen as Featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Groundspeak. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.

Geocacher_of_the_Month_Large — Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon

The geocaching community is encouraged to re-nominate those who have yet to be honored as featured Geocacher of the Month. If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must meet the following requirements:

Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more 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 Featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by the end of the day on Friday, December 7th.

Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top three 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.

November 9, 2012 / Adela B /

November Featured Geocacher of the Month Nominees – Add Your Comments

The November Featured Geocacher of the Month Nominees provide their geocaching communities with a little TLC (tender loving care). They maintain for their own hides, but they are always willing to lend a helping hand with geocaches that are not their own. These geocachers are dedicated to doing whatever they can for their geocaching community from donations, to homemade swag, to their time.

October Geocacher of the Month, TeamAstro

Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for November.

Write a comment at the bottom of this blog about which of these geocachers you feel should be crowned The Featured Geocacher of the Month.

Last month, John, a.k.a. TeamAstro was recognized for creating the Solar System series of caches in South Australia. This series of caches is the world’s largest scale model of the Solar System. John is famous for his creative hides and is the proud owner of the most ‘Favorited’ cache in South Australia. John is also an important part of the South Australian geocaching community, and is known for his friendliness and eagerness in helping out new cachers.

Here are your nominees for the October Featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.

cschooner

AZClaimjumper writes, “when you go a looking for a cschooner cache, you’re in for fun and adventure far beyond anyone’s imagination.” Al, a.k.a. cschooner “is relatively new to geocaching. However, the creativity of his caches is what makes geocaching such a fun and memorable outdoor adventure each and every time I go looking for one his caches. His hides are very creative and Al takes pride in providing timely cache maintenance, if a cache, or a part of a cache is logged by a fellow geocacher as missing. Take note of the number of ‘Favorites’ that Al’s caches have accumulated before you go looking for them. Almost 60% of all log entries haven given Al’s caches a ‘Favorite’ point. If you are visiting Phoenix, do a search for cschooner to see if one of his caches has been hidden nearby. Trust me, it will be a memorable adventure. A Travel Bug has just been put into circulation in honor of Al as my way of saying ‘thanks’ for all the fun-filled adventures his creative hides have given me.”

OF-Erad

Nominated by TheBergstromClan, Erik, a.k.a. OF-Erad “is an amazing individual and fun cacher. Erik is always up for a caching jaunt and will go out hiking, hit a power trail, or crawl through tunnels all in the name of finding another cache with friends. He recently ended his cache-a-day streak of over 500 days because he was caring for a friend who needed some support. He gave the friendship priority over getting one more day in his streak. OF-Erad also adopted one of the toughest tunnel caches and then completely revamped it, rescuing it from the clutches of raccoons and other muggles in the process. Erik is a selfless cacher. Even though he had a long caching streak going, he still managed to always put other cachers in the group before himself. As he told me on multiple occasions, ‘I only need one cache to keep my streak going. Let’s go get the caches you want to get.’ The puzzle caches I’ve placed in Aurora were placed using knowledge acquired with Erik’s help. He is mostly interested in making the great game of caching more interesting, more exciting, and more fun for kids of all ages.”

balkamper13

Cacheseekers! writes, “Not only is Ted [a.k.a., balkamper13] the Elvis of the caching world, he is just a darn good person. He has introduced and help countless novice cachers become caching addicts. He has lent out his GPS to new cachers, spent numerous hours teaching his secrets, and invited new cachers on caching adventures and to events. He donates quality, homemade swag, time, and money to caching events. Ted is the mastermind behind the Cache Scene Investigator cache series that has a huge following. This series has everything from underwater caches to pulley system caches hoisted up a tree. This series has the Utah caching world on pins and needles waiting for the Longitude and Latitude killer to strike again. Ted also carries around a cache repair kit and leaves every cache in better condition than he finds it in. Ted also shares his caching adventures and tips on his blog at Live Love Cache.com. The list of people he has influenced and befriended is countless.”

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, a Geocacher of the Month profile icon, and a certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. We will be accepting comments for November’s award through Sunday, November 18th.

Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more 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 Friday, December 7th.

October 11, 2012 / Adela B /

The Aare Gorge | Aareschlucht | Gorges de l’Aar – GC1YH51 – GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – October 11, 2012

Each Geocache of the Week takes us around the globe and sneaks us a peek at a geocaching adventure that we may otherwise never explore. The Aare Gorge | Aareschlucht | Gorges de l’Aar (GC1YH51) EarthCache in Switzerland delivers on adventure – big time.

Located between the villages of Meiringen and Innertkirchen, the river Aare is also home to an EarthCache that’s been around since September 2009. Geocachers can explore the beauty of a 1,400 meter (4,593 feet) long and 180 meter (590 feet) deep gorge.

The gorge has been accessible for more than 100 years by safe paths and tunnels. Walking through the gorge is a unique way to experience raw nature. Gigantic rocks, consisting mainly of ancient hard limestone and the river’s light green colors mesmerize nature lovers and geocachers alike.

Aare Gorge IV — Exploring the path over the river

Since ernies set up this EarthCache three years ago, nearly 300 geocachers have logged a smiley, shared an incredible 1,149 images, and awarded it 48 Favorite Points.

One geocacher who logged this EarthCache writes, “It’s unbelievable what mother nature has created. We saw the quieter side of the gorge. The water was almost still, the rocks so tall and intimidating. What an incredible experience. We would have never visited this place if it weren’t for this cache. Thank you ernies for bringing us to this amazing place.”

International EarthCache Day 2012 — International EarthCache Day logo

There are nearly 15,000 active EarthCaches. At least one can be found on every continent. Since 2004, EarthCaches have taken us on educational adventures that you may otherwise never have learned. Sunday, October 14, 2012 marks the 6th annual International EarthCache Day. We invite you to go out and explore the world by visiting an EarthCache site. For more information about EarthCaches, check out the Geocaching.com Presents – EarthCaches video or visit the Geological Society of America (GSA).

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 would 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.

October 4, 2012 / Adela B /

Liebesbrücke – GC2EJCE – GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – OCTOBER 4, 2012

Love locks are a romantic symbol of true love: Walk across a bridge with your sweetheart, affix a lock scrawled with your names to the structure, and then toss the key into the river below.

This tradition is said to have originated in Italy many years ago, but few bridges are as popular or as decorated with love locks as the Hohenzollern bridge in Cologne (Köln), Germany. Situated on the Liebesbrücke (GC2EJCE), or “love bridge,” geocachers have fallen in love with this difficulty 3, terrain 1.5 micro Geocache of the Week.

Fascinated by the thousands of love locks that are legally placed to add a little glitter to a bridge that is otherwise gritty and dull, Huelva decided to add a love lock for all Premium Member geocachers who love the hobby.

One geocacher writes, “I find that many premium-only caches tend to be especially creative and very unique. This one falls nothing short of that. It was almost freaky how many locks there are to be found. This was a clever hide and it blends in quite nicely with the rest of the love locks. Lots of locks, lots of love. What a wonderful idea!”

More than 3,200 geocachers have logged a “Found it” and awarded it nearly 730 Favorite Points. With Geocaching.com’s request, Huelva has agreed to temporarily grant access to basic members for an opportunity to view and find this popular geocache.

For more information on Geocaching Premium features, such as Premium Caches, please visit Geocaching.com/Premium.