As we look back on twenty years of geocaching history, we’ve decided to revisit some of our favorite Geocache of the Week candidates from years past.

This week we’re looking back to October 2015, when we featured Namib Desert, Namibia (GC14W63). After being hidden in 2007, this EarthCache is still ready to educate and inspire courageous desert adventurers.

This sprawling desert is home to towering dunes of fine, sunset-orange sand. The colors of the dunes are like rings in the trunks of trees: a telltale sign of age. A brighter and more rusted colored appearance signifies an older dune due to the oxidation of the minerals within them. Southerly winds sculpt the geological features to have razor-sharp ridges and heights that are record-shattering. This EarthCache encourages cachers to question why and how this landscape continues to be an awe-inspiring destination.

To get credit for this EarthCache, cachers must answer questions about the shapes of these asymmetrical mounds of sand, the flora in the area, and various categories of deserts. Although some factors may limit your ability to travel to Namibia, reading the incredibly well-crafted cache page will transport you and educate you on surprising facts about the Namib Desert. For example, here at HQ we were surprised to learn that the Namib Desert has a highly unpredictable annual rainfall. It can receive anywhere from 5 millimeters in the west to about 85 millimeters along its eastern limits. 

Seeing these remarkable features is on a to-do list for many adventurers, but these amalgamations of sand have been around for a long time and will always be there waiting for you. Just like us, these dunes are slowly impacted by time and elements beyond their control. They shift, they change, and they even grow. Although a situation or environment may look barren, there is always an opportunity for life and something to learn. Geocachers can learn the silent strength of resilience from GC14W63. Standing high above a sea of orange, cachers will get their just “deserts.”

When Geocaching HQ co-founder Jeremy Irish invented the Travel Bug® in 2001, little did he know trackables would become such a big part of geocaching!

Trackables are physical game pieces that move from geocache to geocache. From geocoins and tags to t-shirts and even bowling balls, trackables come in all shapes and sizes.

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