Category: Uncategorized

Geocache of the Week
/ Janelle /

Na konci cesty — Geocache of the Week

Mystery
GC4QKMP
by Bučáci
Difficulty:
3
Terrain:
2
Location:
Plzensky kraj, Czech Republic
N 50° 00.401 E 013° 09.125
St. George's Church
St. George’s Church.

Lukova, Czech Republic is an idyllic country village with a population of 700. There you will find an old abandoned church from the 14th century that has seen better days. Local Petr Koukl knows the church well:

There’s no question the [St. George’s] church has seen a lot: it suffered several fires, it was allegedly damaged by the Husittes, it was rebuilt several times. The last straw, though, was the collapse of part of the ceiling during a funeral service in 1968 which chased the mourners out. After that the church was closed and not reopened again.

 

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/ Ellis /

Harry Potters Abenteuer — Geocache of the week

Multi-Cache
GC6ACTD
by blackschneck
Difficulty:
4
Terrain:
3.5
Location:
Germany
N 45° 26.069′ E 012° 20.332′

“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already.” — J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

If you’ve ever read any of the Harry Potter books or seen any of the movies, you’ll know non-magical people are called muggles. You may also know in the geocaching community, muggles are non-geocachers. This is not the only thing that geocachers and Harry Potter lovers have in common. They both share the same excitement in creating magic and discovery in everyday life. Now, you too can discover what it’s like to be a Hogwarts student while on the epic Multi-Cache journey to find Harry Potter’s Abenteuer.

The journey begins just 60km north of Frankfurt, where the cache is located in the picturesque hills of the Lahn valley. There, you will embark on a series of 18 stages that are each inspired by a different scene of the Harry Potter books and movies. Each stage was designed in detail by the cache owners, blackschneck, also known as Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

One such stage invites you to embody the appearance of Harry Potter himself with a Gryffindor scarf, broomstick, round eyeglasses, and wand. There is so much detail to this cache that there are certain items that must be carried from one stage in order to complete the next stage. Because of this, only one team of 2-4 people are allowed to find the cache per day. To prevent multiple teams on the same day, there is a calendar to schedule your visit. Before you come, the cache owners will email you with all the information you need for your magical experience.

In their words:

Ever since we started to cache we’ve always wanted to make a Harry Potter inspired cache. Because we are big fans of the books and movies. After two visits to the original movie sets in England, we started getting ideas how we could make it happen. We’re extremely happy to see all the positive feedback in the logs by old and new Harry Potter fans. They give us new energy to keep repairing and improving the cache. And now it’s your turn to come and explore Harry Potter’s world in Hessen.

Things to take with you:

  • Mobile phone or GPS
  • Rechargeable battery pack
  • QR code reader
  • UV lamp
  • 2.0 liters of water
  • Umbrella and/or rain gear
  • Food and drink
  • Long pants
  • A good mood and a love for puzzling

There is not a short log on the cache page, but AR-Team’s thoughts on Harry Potters Abenteur summarize the experience well:

We had thought we were normal cachers, as Harry believed he was a normal boy. At least we thought that until the 11th of August when the owl letter reached us and called us to play GC6ACTD —Harry Potter’s Abenteur. The trip to the magical land of the Harry Potter cache was an unforgettable experience for us. Like Harry, we jumped into the adventure, which brought us to many different spectacular stages where we fought against beasts, classmates, and fabulous creatures. At the starting coordinates we arrived at the land of cachers, witches and wizards.

At each stage, we were surprised with how the dedication and detail that was put into this cache and all of its stages. Awesome. After a good 7 hours we completed the amazing cache and we will always remember this experience.

We find here is a magical cache of the category “exceptional cache – exquisitely recommended”! And the bar is truly raised to a new level of quality. Thank you blackschneck for the endless effort and time that has been put into every single detail!

After 5 km (3 mi), 18 stages, and a  6-10 hour re-creation of the magical wizarding world of Harry Potter, you will surely want to sit back and enjoy some butterbeer. Now grab your broomstick and wand and be on your way!

 

Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world.
Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.

/ Chris /

Help decide the fate of rediscovered APE cache!

Late last year, we announced the exciting news of how a group of Seattle-area geocachers rescued the muggled Mission 9: Tunnel of Light APE cache. We also offered the geocaching community an opportunity to suggest ideas for what should happen next with this renowned cache.

More than 9,000 geocachers responded to our survey! After considering all feedback, we have four options for the final vote. Now it’s time for you to decide the fate of Mission 9: Tunnel of Light. The idea receiving the most votes is the one we’ll implement. Simple as that!

Here are the ballot choices:

  • Return and Reactivate: Return the container to its original location and restore it to active APE cache status. It would be loggable throughout the year, although the unarchival date is to be determined.
  • Display at HQ: Display the APE cache container at Geocaching HQ as an important artifact of the game’s history. It would not be loggable as an APE cache, but would be assigned a special tracking number that could be logged only as a trackable with a unique trackable icon.
  • Activate Once A Year: Display the APE cache container at Geocaching HQ as a trackable for most of the year, and make it loggable as an APE cache at its original location only during the week of the annual Going Ape Mega-Event in Washington.
  • Traveling Artifact: Assign a special tracking number to the APE cache container and tour it to various events around the world. (It would be loggable only as a trackable, not as an APE cache.)

A few of these options would require exceptions to Geocaching.com guidelines. For example, it’s very rare for a cache to be unarchived, especially after a long period of time. However, this is an extraordinary situation for which we feel that exceptions can be made, especially with the support of a community vote.

The voting is open until March 5, 2017. One vote per person. Visit the ballot box here and make your voice heard!