October 25, 2011 / Eric Schudiske /

Announcing the October ‘Featured Geocacher of the Month’

More than a hundred geocachers from around the world weighed in to help name the Featured Geocacher of the Month for October. Each comment affirmed that the three nominees were all deserving. Each is a geocacher who goes above and beyond in geocaching innovation, creativity, respect for the environment and helpfulness. Each nominee should be congratulated as an exceptional geocacher and individual. We are proud that each of the cachers is part of our worldwide community.

The choice for the October Featured Geocacher of the Month was not easy. A panel of Lackeys, relying on voting and community comments, could ultimately choose only one.

coast2coast2coast has been named the October Featured Geocacher of the Month. More than 50 geocachers posted comments in support of coast2coast2coast’s humble dedication to geocaching, geocachers and his local community. According to one comment, “Tom and Heather are the reason why I learned about geocaching in the first place and ever since they have been an inspiration to all geocachers in our neck of the woods. They have hosted multiple events, hidden excellent caches, all at various levels of difficulty, and are always aiding fellow cachers when in need.”

coast2coast2coast 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 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) — 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 November Geocacher of the Month must be received by November 7th.

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.

October 24, 2011 / Eric Schudiske /

“Pirate’s Booty/Bonaire” GC19NBJ GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – October 24, 2011

pirate's booty 3 — View near cache location

The Caribbean island geocache, “Pirate’s Booty/Bonaire” (GC19NBJ) delivers spectacular views, petroglyphs, and hidden caves. But it’ll take you a four-wheel drive car or the four sturdy hooves of a donkey to reach this remote location.

Cache owner FOOFY hid the difficulty 3.5, terrain 3.5 geocache in 2008. The cache page encourages geocachers to be prepared for a pirate adventure, “This geocache is now available for you to seek, find, and pillage. I suggest that you equip yourself with proper gear including sturdy footwear, a hat, plenty of water, a map, a GPS and a camera.” More than 70 geocachers have logged smileys, and the cache has accumulated nine Favorite Points so far.

Some adventurers who logged the cache say this is why they started the GPS powered treasure-hunt called geocaching, “Very good cache, this is exactly what geocaching is about – a cache in a great location, that visitors wouldn’t usually know about, combined with a good hike, and a great container as the reward. Overall a top cache, thanks.”

Pirate's Booty — Cave's near cache location

Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from around the globe. Explore 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.

October 17, 2011 / Eric Schudiske /

This is Mine 2 GC14EEQ GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – October 17, 2011

Near the top of the world the islands of Svalbard rest inside the Arctic Circle. The archipelago is home to a couple thousand hearty Norwegians. It’s also home to more than two dozen geocaches.

The traditional cache, “This is Mine 2” (GC14EEQ), collected the most Favorite Points among them. The difficulty two, terrain four geocache was hidden in 2007 by TVE & Martin L.

The hunt for this geocache leads adventurers back into the island’s coal mining past. Construction on the mine started in the early 1900’s – and is marred by deadly coal explosions and bombardment by World War Two battleships. The mine is now vacant and sealed for safety.

The cache page encourages cachers to be courteous, “Remember that all these old buildings and artefacts are important parts of the cultural heritage of Svalbard and treat them with respect!” More than fifty geocachers have already logged smileys on the small-size cache.

This is Mine 2 1 — This is Mine 2 - geocache

One geocacher who logged “This is Mine 2” wrote on the cache page, “What a place! Thanks for placing the cache up here, otherwise we probably would have missed this interesting place, even though it was visible from our room window. The climb up and back down was not that easy but surely rewarding. Took a lot of pictures and did some investigation.”

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — This is Mine 2 - cache page photo

October 13, 2011 / Eric Schudiske /

Featured Geocacher of the Month Nominees – Add Your Comments

supergoober2 — September's Featured Geocacher of the Month, SuperGoober

Last month the geocaching community voted SuperGoober as the September Featured Geocacher of the Month. According to those who nominated him, “he is a model geocacher which all of us in the area and beyond can be proud of. He is always willing to lend advice/help to any cacher that approaches him or contacts him.”

The featured Geocacher of the Month recognition celebrates geocachers for their contributions to the activity. A panel of Lackeys had the difficult task of selecting three of the most outstanding nominees. Now it’s your turn to help name one of these nominees the featured October “Geocacher of the Month.”

Write a comment on this blog post about which of these three geocachers you’d like to see as the featured “Geocacher of the Month.” Those whose nominees were not recognized here are encouraged to submit their nominations again next month. Read the testimonials below and leave a comment with your suggestion. Some testimonials have been edited for length.

seping

(Member since 2007)

Nomination by Ceddy:

“seping is a very active geocacher, he lives in Catalonia / Spain, in his native [country] many geocachers know him! He has found more than 18,000 caches all over the world and has over 240 caches hidden!
seping also already has organized two Mega-Events, including the recent Mega Catlunya 2011, and brought together geocachers from around the world. I met seping. He’s a very friendly and helpful man, and I think that’s he’s seen similarly by many other people.”

coast2coast2coast + Zoe

(Member since 2002)

Nomination by adventureseeking3:

“They have hosted multiple events, hidden excellent caches, all at various levels of difficulty, and are always aiding fellow cachers when in need. Tom currently serves in the Canadian armed forces so not only is he promoting geocaching here in BC, Canada, but he is also contributing world wide. They head up a local organization, Mid Island Geocaching that just recently had a summer end event “The Geo-Poker Rally” which was held in conjunction with Our local BCGA year end Blitz. Even though he is currently overseas on a mission supporting world peace, he is still staying in contact and helping people back home who geocache. They are both very dedicated and very well respected in the community.”

bpp_picnic

(Member since 2006)

Nomination by Mrs.Hoagie:

“Around Chester County PA, caches by bpp_picnic are notorious for their unique locations and even more interesting camouflage. bpp_picnic hosts a great event at the Brandywine Picnic Park (his family’s place) every September, and though his park, Big Red (his truck), and the event were flooded out this year by all the rain in SE Pennsylvania, bpp_picnic was still gracious enough to feed those of us who showed up with his amazing bbq pork and brisket.”

Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured October “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 certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by 2 of the founders of Geocaching.com. We will be accepting comments through Monday October 24th.

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be the Geocacher of the Month, send an email to

GCotM_geocoin — Geocacher of the Month Geocoin

geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.

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 November Geocacher of the Month must be received by November 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.

October 10, 2011 / Eric Schudiske

“The British Library” GC2M0AF GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – October 10, 2011

The husband and wife geocaching team of Nickie! & Brian~! hid the Multi-Cache “The British Library” (GC2M0AF) back in January of this year. Bryan writes, “I’ve been given co-credit for the cache, but it was really all Nickie’s work, I just tested out some of the maths involved. ”

The difficulty three, terrain one geocache was placed with the permission of the library.

The geocache is one of the largest caches in Central London and quickly tallying up Favorite Points. “The British Library” takes geocachers on a tour of the famed institution. Geocachers are directed around the library to gather clues. The answers to questions like, “Outside in the piazza, there is a statue of Newton. The last number on the plaque will give you A.”

Geocachers then explore several more stops in the library to discover clues in paintings, plaques and signs. They even discover the visual illusion of Paradoxymoron to help lead them to the geocache.

Once geocachers accumulate the answers to all of the clues, they plug the information into a formula found on the cache page to locate the geocache. The cache page reads, “Once at that location, you will find a small keysafe with directions back into the Library to find the final cache. Leave enough time to enter the building before it closes to sign the final log book! The final container is quite large (5 gallon) and can hold many swaps and Travel Bugs.”

newton — The statue of Newton at the British Library holds one of the clues

Geocachers who logged the cache wrote, “Wow – excellent and worthwhile cache.. loved the challenge on this one… and what a contatiner / location.. brilliant – 10 stars from us.”

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