Written by: Gary Lewis, Senior Director of Education and Outreach, The Geological Society of America
EarthCaching is different – while part of your geocaching experience, it involves a lot more than finding, logging and replacing a physical geocache. A visit to an EarthCache involves a lesson, a opportunity to think, discuss and ponder and a chance to be rewarded with achievements beyond your number of finds.
Garden of the Gods Earthcache GCND0E
EarthCaching started in January 2004 when I placed the first EarthCache with my daughter on a headland in southern Australia. My goal was to teach geocachers more about the wonderful geology of our planet. So Earthcaches involve you visiting a site and undertaking a logging task that teaches you some aspect of geology related to what you see. There are now over 18,000 active EarthCaches around the globe – and at least one on every continent!
Can you name this EarthCache? Do so in comments below!
I realized early on that the effort required to place an EarthCache needed to be rewarded. On top of the normal geocache needs, an EarthCaches require some research and planning to meet the guidelines. Out of that realization was born the EarthCache Masters Program – which rewards caters for visiting and placing EarthCaches.
The genius of the EarthCache Masters Program is that it’s quite simple.
The first level, Bronze, requires you to visit and log three EarthCaches. The trick is, those three EarthCaches cannot be in the same state/province/country. We want you to travel to experience the geology away from your home location.
The next level, Silver, requires you to visit and log six EarthCaches and develop and have published one EarthCache. So after you have visited a handful of EarthCaches you get rewarded for the effort you put into having your very own EarthCache published by the Geoaware team.
Can you name this EarthCache? Do so in comment below!
Beyond this the levels are Gold (visit 12, create 2)
Platinum (visit 20, create 3).
You record your efforts via the EarthCache website here and are rewarded by an icon you can place on the profile page. You can even buy Masters coins.
Being an EarthCache Master shows the community that you are not only committed to learning about our Earth, but committed to having even more fun geocaching!
Here’s my challenge. Lets see if we can’t double the number of people who are at each of the EarthCache Masters levels by International EarthCache Day (Sunday 11 October) this year. You have more than 18,000 EarthCaches to choose from to start!
Current Number of EarthCache Masters by Level
Bronze = 14122
Silver = 3731
Gold = 2086
Platinum = 1678
TOTAL = 21617
Can you guess this EarthCache location? Do so in comments below.
In the last 12 years, over four million geocachers have participated in one of dozens of geocaching-based Trackable promotions in partnership with adventurous brands around the globe. From John Grisham fans seeking gold ingot Geocoins to Jeep enthusiasts on the hunt for toy Jeeps, there are unique experiences for every type of geocacher.
Trackable promotions give geocachers a unique opportunity to engage with some of their favorite brands on a digital and physical level while spending time enjoying their hobby. Partnerships have included free Trackable giveaways, pre-release sneak peeks, and photo contests with prizes ranging from a set of new tires for your vehicle (road trip anyone?) to all expense paid trips. Each branded trackable builds a unique story as it travels. Trackables continue to generate engagement for years as geocachers discover and display these pieces of history at events, on social media, and online via their collection of unique digital icons (who wouldn’t want to collect a fancy little achievement for your profile page?) How many of these promotional Trackables have you spotted?
This was one of the first branded Geocaching promotions and the first time digital icons were introduced on geocaching profile pages. Over 24,000 Trackables were attached to Matchbox Jeeps and released in different color batches from 2004-2007. Jeep trackables have traveled over 16 million miles to date and have become a staple within the geocaching community. The first Yellow Jeep in the promotion was even inspired by the Yellow Jeep Fever, locationless cache, which was a life size jeep! Throughout the promotion Geocachers submitted photos and essays about the Trackables for a chance to win the top prize: a full size Jeep vehicle.
“As small as those TBs were in the grand scheme of life, participating in those promotions brought me an immense amount of joy.” – Brian – Team A.I., 2007 photo contest winner
Doubleday publishing group’s 2012 Geocaching partnership focused on John Grisham’s new book “The Racketeer.” 5,000 custom gold ingot trackable geocoins were distributed to geocachers who then placed and moved them from geocache to geocache to mirror the book’s plot, in which ill-gained gold bars are moved around the United States. In addition to moving the ingot trackables over 17 million miles, geocachers showed off their photography skills for a chance to win the grand prize of a real gold ingot! The trackable program was paired with Facebook ads and geocachers flooded the John Grisham Facebook page, which gained 72,000 new Facebook fans and an increase in reach of 220% (according to Marketing Sherpa.)
The winning picture was of a young boy who posed with the “Grisham Geocoin” as a character, Theodore Boon, from Grisham’s series of young adult novels.The story continues two years later: “Big score at Goodwill lol. Figured I had the trackable, might as well read the book. Both books for only $2. Might need to use for another library cache” – Jason Winder / animjason, Facebook, 12/2/2014.
GEICO’s 2011 Geocaching promotion released 9,000 Trackable tags designed in the shape of the iconic gecko mascot into the hands of geocachers across the United States. The tags were sent on their way while spreading awareness for the “Find the Gecko” sweepstakes in which one Magellan Explorist GC GPS unit was given away to a lucky geocacher winner each week of the 20 week promotion! The gecko trackables were moved by geocachers over 73,000 times and remain one of the most popular trackables being discovered around the world, averaging 29 touchpoints a day years later.
SHC’s Danger Ranger Geico Trackable has traveled the world collecting more miles traveled than any other Geico Trackable with a total of 326,315 miles (mapped above) since it was released into the game on June 11th, 2011.
In 2014, Michelin celebrated their 125th Anniversary by launching a geocaching campaign to promote tire safety via a social media based photo contest. With 2,000 Trackable tags designed in the shape of a tire and attached to actual Michelin Man tire pressure gauges, geocachers were destined for success on the road. Geocachers across the United States tapped into their inner photography talent by submitting over 1,000 photos portraying a sense of adventure to the official photo contest by using the hashtag #MichelinQuest on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. The Michelin Trackables have traveled almost 1.3 million miles in just 4 months and have saved many tricycle tires from getting too low on air.
Geocachers submitted 1000+ photos over 4 months to the #MichelinQuest contest by adding the hashtag #MichelinQuest on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
We were all there at one time or another—searching through the woods for something, staring at our phone or GPS, still somewhat unsure of what we were doing or if anything was actually there.
Schau Dir die Tipps für neue Geocacher auf unserer Pinterest-Seite an.
So haben wir alle mal angefangen – auf der Suche nach etwas im Wald, derBlick starr auf das Smartphone oder GPS-Gerät gerichtet, unsicher darüber,was wir eigentlich machen und ob da überhaupt etwas ist.
Jetzt, wo wir mehr über Geocaching wissen, ist es an der Zeit, Tipps mit neuen Geocachern zu teilen. Wir haben eine Pinterest-Seite mit den 10 besten Tipps für neue Geocacher eingerichtet. Teile sie mit allen neuen Geocachern, die Du kennst, und schreibe Deine besten Tips für neue Geocacher auf unsere Facebook-Seite.
It’s no secret that micro and nano geocaches sometimes get a bad rap. But with the right creativity and work ethic, even the smallest geocaches can be a big adventure. To sign the micro logbook in this geocache, you’ll have to work the container through a series of tubes until it reaches the exit. Be patient and you’ll earn your smiley in no time!
What geocachers are saying:
“Talk about frustrating! When we found the cache I was quite confused based on the size of the container and the nano title. Man was I in for a surprise when I opened the container! While avoiding the ants and other crawley things, this one took me a few minutes to get worked around. Just glad to have figured it out. #7 with HerroSone. Submitted this one to Geocaching.com as one of the best field puzzles around!!” – Wild Dog Clan
“Got this with the kids after a long day at the beach! Awesome Cache!” – Superhero Team
“Its Caches like this that keep this game interesting. Not what we were expecting… Everyone took turns at retrieving the nano. WOW! Mahalo For The Cache!” – KALA696
“A few years back there was a flurry of urban nano hides (with spotty coordinates) that kind of took the fun out of the game for a large portion of the active geocachers on Oahu. My wife and I actually like nanos so I began thinking of unconventional ways to hide them, this is the one that started it all. It’s a pvc pipe maze that was built to fit the container, I had no idea what it was going to look like when I started. There was no blueprint just “what ever looked good”. I’ve already told myself that if this one goes missing, the replacement will be twice as big and ten times harder so for everyone’s sanity I hope it never gets muggled.
The goal is to make something different that will excite or even frustrate (sorry) others but still gives them a sense of satisfaction once it’s done. Favorite points are always appreciated but never expected, when we do get them we know we did something right.We really enjoy reading the logs and find ourselves going back to read them all again, from the FTF to the most recent. They also help to keep us motivated to find and build even more creative caches.
We can only hope that our geocaches keep the game fun and exciting for others and gets the gears turning for those brilliant minds out there. We know that ammo cans in the woods are the most popular and preferred geocache, especially for the veterans, but the handmade, imaginative ones are the most memorable to us.”
Photos:
You’ll have to work the geocache through the tubes from start to finish.The nano and the tubes in their case.The geocache in the wild. Photo by geocacher havespots
What’s the best micro-sized geocache you’ve ever found? Tell us and post photos in the comments.
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, just fill out this form. Thanks!
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