Tokyo public transit crowds with millions of people each day. Under the blur of hurried commuters, one train station holds a story of canine loyalty. “At Rest At His Master’s Feet” (GCMCTM) reveals the story for geocachers on the hunt. Geocaching.com Charter Member Biggles Bear hid the Multi-Cache in 2005. The cache page tells the story of a faithful canine, Hachiko, who would greet his master at the train station.
Cachers read, “Hachiko would accompany his master to Shibuya station in the morning, and then meet him again in the evening when he returned from his work at the Imperial University. This routine continued until one day in 1925, when the professor was taken ill at work and later died. Despite this Hachiko continued to make his way to the station and patiently await his master’s return. Hachiko became a familiar sight to commuters as he kept his vigil for over ten years. On March 8, 1935, Hachiko finally went to meet his master. He died on the very same spot he last saw his friend alive.”
Cache container for "At Rest At His Master's Feet..."
The difficulty two, terrain one Multi-Cache starts at the memorial for the professor and his loyal dog. To find he final stage with the cache container, adventurers must use information found at the site to deduce the final coordinates.
A cacher who logged a smiley on the cache writes, “Seeing Hachiko’s memorial and sharing the story with my two sons was very heartwarming. We battled mosquitoes (might want to prepare yourself with bugspray if you plan to visit) to figure out the calculations.”
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.
Congratulations to all the Featured Geocacher of the Month nominees for September. The geocaching community is comprised of inspirational individuals – who go 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.
SuperGoober, Featured Geocacher of the Month
The choice for the September Featured Geocacher of the Month was difficult. A panel of Lackeys, relying on voting and community comments, could ultimately choose only one.
SuperGoober is the September Featured Geocacher of the Month. Dozens of geocachers wrote in to share stories about SuperGoober’s humble dedication to geocaching, geocachers and his local community. He has hosted and attended numerous events, led many geocachers on their first outings, and is involved in local geocaching organizations. According to one nominee, “Jeff is a model geocacher who 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.”
SuperGoober will receive a collectors Geocacher of the Month geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by the founders of Geocaching.com: Jeremy Irish, Bryan Roth and Elias Alvord.
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for Geocacher of the Month, send an email to 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 October Geocacher of the Month must be received by October 3rd.
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.
“This is a very interesting location, try to have extra time to explore the area.” That brief hint is all the cache page for “Screaming Skulls (GCPJNV) offers about this visually amazing geocache location in Ontario, Canada.
The Go Getters hid the traditional geocache at this site in 2005. Since then more than 200 geocachers wandered into a grassy field crowned with larger than life sculptures in search of the cache.
One cacher who logged the difficulty one, terrain 1.5 geocache says, “I walked around in awe for about 45 minutes, checking out the statues, structures and miscellaneous other sights throughout the property. The house is very unique as well. Thanks for placing a cache here and thereby bringing me to a spot I would never visit. This one rates a ‘Favorites’ listing from me.” That cacher wasn’t alone. “Screaming Skulls” has earned 40 Favorite Points so far. There are more than 1.5 million active geocaches around the world. Each can lead you on an adventure you never imagined.
"Screaming Skulls"
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.
Geocachers who search for “Ghost Ship” (GC2HM40) unlock a haunting story of a rusting ship hull. The jagged metal skeleton rests in a shallow tributary to the Ohio River. Liyah hid the cache one year ago. The difficulty three, terrain four cache has already earned nearly two dozen Favorite Points.
The cache page regales adventurers with the mythical story of the S.S. Shadow. It details the voyage of a cargo ship in 1885 that came under attack by river pirates. A chase ended in location geocachers search today.
The creative and detailed cache description encourages other geocachers to post memorable logs rich with their own details. Some logs are hundreds of words long with multiple pictures.
Most geocachers who logged a smiley on Ghost Ship say they would have never found this site without geocaching. One log reads, “This was an awesome find and one my fellow cacher and I will not soon forget! Not only was getting on the boat a challenge, but at first the cache alluded us and we had to really search for it! TFTC and the terrific story to tell!”
'Ghost Ship"
Cachers are warned to be cautious as they hunt for the cache on-board this “Ghost Ship.” The real story of the ship is almost as spectacular as the cache page “Ghost Ship” description. To find both stories check out the geocache “Ghost Ship.”
Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from around the world. Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
Trackable Week presents a new story Monday through Friday this week about creative ways to experience Trackables. Geocaching.com Trackables allow people to tag and track an item from location to location. Trackables typically come in three varieties, Geocoins, Travel Bugs® or Promotional Trackables like the “Find the Gecko,” Geico campaign. (Watch a video on Travel Bugs)
See the bottom of this article for a place a share your Trackable stories, links to other Trackable stories and a limited time special offer for 30% of individual orders of Travel Bugs through Sunday September 18 (U.S. costumers only).
Okay, a quick background. When I do a major trip or head to a big event I try to find a “plush” Travel Bug to act as the trip mascot and it logs all or most of the caches to track my mileage for the event.
[Binrat’s log reads] Now, with Summer 2009 approaching I retrieved “Beaglescout” (TB211TD) with his jaunty Scout hat and backpack and the fun began!
Binrat and Beaglescout
Trip #1 – 8359.9 kilometers or 5194.6 miles (16 June 09 – 25 June 09)
This was an epic train, plane and automobile trip from Brockville Ontario all the way British Columbia and down to Oregon visiting such famous caches as Groundspeak Headquarters, Mission 9: Tunnel of Light and the Original Stash Tribute Plaque before returning home for a rest.
Trip #2 – 2,175 kilometers or 1,351 miles (01 July 09 – 04 July 09)
A fantastic trip From Brockville to Perce Quebec in the Gaspe Region by train.
Trip #3 – 1,591 kilometers or 988 miles (22 July 09 – 26 July 09)
A fun trip from Brockville to Windsor and on down to Midwest GeoBash in Ohio. My first time down to “The Bash” and together we met some amazing cachers and some very cool Travel Bugs.
Trip #4 – 1,873 kilometers or 1,164 miles (31 July 09 – 05 Aug 09)
Beaglescout and Bears
This was a major league epic trip that saw all of us drive from Brockville to North Bay Ontario then continue on to Cochrane to board the Polar Bear Express to Moosonee Ontario just for an Event. Beaglescout even took a trip down the Moose River to James Bay.
So, after four major trips, what has Beaglescout accomplished?
14,000 kilometers or 8.699 miles and visited Ontario, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Quebec, New York and Nunavut.
The Travel Bug tasted salt water on three different coasts(Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic), met many great cachers and had one fantastic summer of excitement.
P.S. Sadly, shortly after I handed him off he was picked up by a newbie/muggle and vanished never to be seen again, but I still remember all the fun including meeting [Lackey] Miss Jenn.
My dad (who caches as The Frito Bandito) and I (caching as vante) are in the middle of a good ole fashioned horse race. As my dad started becoming more and more interested in geocaching, I used to explain the different aspects of the game to him. When we got on the subject of Trackables, I told him how people held Travel Bug races and competitions. He liked the idea so we found a couple of plastic horses and hitched them up to a couple of Travel Bug tags.
He named his horse The Dark Horse (TBPTYQ), a race horse that is not known to gamblers and thus is difficult to place betting
odds on. I named my horse Lucky (TBQ93P), and claimed he can shoot lightning bolts out of his eyes.
My dad and I hid a cache as a finish line near a racetrack here in Michigan and called it the Winner’s Circle (GC276PV). It
was my dad’s first cache hiding experience and he has gone on to hide several caches of his own. My dad then took the horses to Texas with him and dropped them in a cache on April 28, 2010.
Dark Horse track as of September 16, 2011
We’ve had a lot of fun watching our horses race across the country. Each move prompts a phone call and race analysis. There have been a few stretches of time without any action, but it seems that just when one of us really start to worry that the race is lost, a fellow cacher will move our horse along with an encouraging word. Lucky has lived up to his name, once being pulled out of the back roads of Utah before winter hit and most recently being retrieved from a cache that was destroyed by Hurricane Irene four days later. So far he has traveled 3862.9 miles and was last in New York.
The Dark Horse appears to be on a more direct course. He has only traveled 1332.4 miles, but as I write this he’s stabled in a cache in Michigan less than 60 miles away from my home coordinates (dark horse, indeed!). My dad told me that it’s taking everything in his power not to drive down there and get it himself. Me? I’m hoping for just a little bit more luck.
Geocaching has been a blast for my dad and me. It’s a great excuse to spend time and to explore the world together.
Travel bugs and horse racing is just part of the fun!
Editor’s note: Both Binrat and vante will receive a set of Trackables for submitting their Trackable stories. Thank you to all those who submitted stories. Look for Trackable Week again on the Latitude 47 blog in coming months.
ADDITIONAL TRACKABLE STORIES:
Click on the image for 30% off Travel Bugs (US customers only)
Go on a mission to take the first geocoin in the world to another country and back
Check out a Travel Bug race with do-it-yourself tips
