July 31, 2014 / Derek H /

Get ready for GIFF 2014!

Get ready for the 2014 Geocaching International Film Festival!

This year at the Geocaching International Film Festival we received 60 entries from over 15 different countries. After the team of Geocaching HQ judges carefully reviewed each entry, we are excited to announce the 16 finalists that will be screened at the second annual GIFF on August 15 in Seattle!

Congratulations to:

Geocaching in Canada
TheBarnSwallows
Toronto, Canada

First to Find – The Woodland Hunt
CarboKnightLuke
United Kingdom

La Búsqueda (The Search)
nitesco
Ciales, Puerto Rico

C9 H13 NO3 (Adrenaline)
Peter!
Portugal

Love Geocaching
Chiliconsushi
Lille, France

Geocaching Therapy
L’Avanguardia Team
Milan, Italy

Cacheheart
MudMen_GER
Luenen, Germany

GeoDouble
Owen15
Toronto, Canada

The Two Mountains
HurricaneJuan
Miami, Florida, USA

The Deadliest Cache
TheHunting Yoshi
Akershus, Norway

The Lonely Cacher
eldiablo11811
Bronx, New York, USA

The Ubercache
Duck Muscle
New York, New York, USA

How to Geocache in Thailand
RazMcCaz
Bangkok, Thailand

Geocaching with Sasquatch
Frisky Biscuits
Seattle, Washington, USA

Remember the Fallen
mrbrimm
Folsom, California, USA

Spend a Little Time With You
HurricaneBrain
Albany, Oregon, USA

These films will screen at Gas Works Park in Seattle, WA from 8-10pm (psst… this is the night before the Geocaching Block Party). Log your Will Attend here!

After the screening we will announce the winners for the following awards:

Most Creative
Funniest Film
Most Adventurous
Most Inspirational
Best Cinematography
Audience Award (to be determined via text vote at the event!)

And, hey look! Here is one of our graphic designers, Roxxy, working on the awards now!

Geocaching HQ Designer Roxxy working on the awards.

So grab that picnic blanket and meet us at Gas Works Park on August 15th where you’ll find new friends, ice cream, and incredible geocaching films!

Check out these stills from some of the finalists:

Geocaching in Thailand — How to Geocache in Thailand by RazMcCaz

Spend a little time with you — Spend a Little Time with You by HurricaneBrain

Geocaching with Sasquatch by Frisky Biscuits

And one last thing:

We wanted to give a shoutout to everyone who submitted films this year! The judging was incredibly hard and we were impressed with the amount of amazing work we saw. Thanks again for submitting your films and we hope to see more from you next year.

July 30, 2014 / Derek H /

Find your knight in shining armor. — Castle Northmoor (GCX612) — Geocache of the Week

Geocaching HQ's own knight in shining armor, Bryan, victoriously makes the find. — Geocaching HQ’s own knight in shining armor, Bryan, victoriously makes the find.

Geocache Name:

Castle Northmoor (GCX612)

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

1/1.5

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

There’s hidden history all around us—and geocaching is a perfect way to discover it. Seeking out this geocache will bring you to a castle tower—no, not in Europe—in Kansas City. While Missouri isn’t traditionally known for its castles, this tower has been bringing joy to geocacher’s faces since 2006. The tower itself was constructed in 1980 by Harlan Shaver, which included the structure as well as the intricate carvings throughout the interior. For a more detailed history, the geocache page even has a phone number to call for a guided tour.

What the geocache owner, SunshineWalker, has to say:

“I was inspired to place this cache because the property owner used to walk at E. H. Young Park in Riverside, MO. (the town next to Northmoor)…He told me about a strange Tupperware container he had found in the bushes. He said it had notes and little doodads in it. The container also had the Geocaching Logo and website information. I was curious and looked it up on the computer. It was a cache that had been lost and Larry’s dog found it.

I got very interested and took my family to several local caches. I still walked in the park with Larry [the property owner] and he told me about his father. The more I heard, the more I wanted to see it. When I saw the castle tower I knew I had to make it a cache site. Larry has been quite nice about sharing his property and he loves telling visitors about his artistic mother and stonemason father who built the tower.

I’ve really enjoyed the geocaching community and loved creating caches…It was great to take the family on hikes in places we would have never visited and look for treasure. A few years ago we even went to a cache on an island in the middle of the Kansas River. The kids LOVED the adventure, but we were a muddy mess! Fortunately the river was quite low and we waded most of the way.

I think Geocachers are some of the nicest and most interesting people I’ve ever met. They love adventure and are willing to search for hours in the dark for a camo box with penny trinkets in it. How devoted and determined! (The poison ivy generally doesn’t show up for two or three days.)”

What geocachers are saying:

“Found this cache thanks to the recommendation from a local friend. I was visiting from Seattle. Wow, what an amazing experience…It’s amazing to me that I never would have had this experience if not for geocaching. For this I am most grateful.” — Bryan

“This amazing cache was about 6 miles from our hotel, and it was well worth the trip. This place is amazing! Such amazing detail! I was glad that I made the trip out here! This one gets a favorite point for sure. I will be recommending this cache to anyone that travels to Kansas City. TFTC!” – croling

“This is one of my favorite caches to date. A further treasure was the builder’s son was nearby and told us much about the man who built the tower…Great geocache! Thanks for the cache owner and the property owner!” – Jawman173

Photos:

Castle Northmoor in all its glory. Photo by geocacher Unitzoid

The Knight of Castle Northmoor. Photo by geocacher *pixie

Hand-carved details on the door. Photo by geocacher Iscandar

If King Arthur were alive today and wanted to go geocaching with you, which geocache would you take him to and why?

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!

July 29, 2014 / Alex /

It’s Always Sunny in Geocaching HQ

There’s some serious Geocaching going on in this family.

Brothers Sterling and Ethan are avid geocachers, and it seems to run in the family. Their mother, Candice, wanted to teach a Geocaching unit to the 120 students in her school’s gifted children program. At the time, though, there simply weren’t enough caches within walking distance of the school.

edited — It’s always sunny at Geocaching HQ.
Sterling and Ethan are pictured in the middle, with dad David in the center back, and mom Candice on the far left.

Like a true geocacher, Sterling came to the rescue.

Once he had 100 finds, Sterling hid four geocaches that his mother could take her students to. The class was undoubtedly a success. Within several months, many of the students had over 100 finds (and their parents were getting in on it too). Sterling and his younger brother Ethan maintain their caches carefully, and Sterling himself now has over 200 finds, with 250 in sight.

We were so excited that Sterling, Ethan, Candice, and David decided to spend the day at Geocaching HQ…especially since it was Sterling’s 10th birthday. Happy birthday Sterling, and best of luck to everyone!

July 29, 2014 / Carly

July’s Geocacher of the Month: True Mentor and Friend

July 2014 Geocacher of the Month: Leftygator

Sometimes the world is a big place.

It’s a daunting place with crisscrossing borders and politics, and for many it’s often isolating. Then there’s geocaching. The Geocacher of the Month taught us a lesson. The world of geocaching is small, connected and ready to celebrate the contributions of other geocachers.

We met three geocachers from different countries. Each delivers serious geocaching joy to their local geocaching communities, whether it’s gadget geocaches, inspiration and encouragement or a groundbreaking series of geocaches, or even all three.

Each of the geocachers will receive special recognition and a prize package for their contribution to the adventure of geocaching. Before naming the Geocacher of the Month, Geocaching HQ reviews community input and blog comments. Each comment is read and posts in native languages are encouraged.

It was a difficult decision.

With over a decade of geocaching and ambassador expertise, this adventurer can now claim the title “Geocacher of the Month”.

Leftygator is known throughout the Mississippi geocaching community for his contagious smile, extensive GPS knowledge and round-the-clock helpfulness. With over 100 hides under his belt, he is also a master at hiding. Rumor has it that his are the toughest and best in the area.

One geocacher writes, “Ricky and I first met Lefty in August 2008 at our very first event that we went to. When Ricky saw Lefty he told me he was going to hang onto Lefty’s coat tail and learn everything he could about geocaching and hang on we did. We went on a number of caching trips with him and he took time to show us how to load caches and how to use GSAK. Ricky was diagnosed with leukemia on Sept. 5, 2011 and Lefty visited with Ricky quite often while he was in the hospital and would take Ricky’s phone calls anytime of the day or night. Ricky went into remission and we had eight good months of caching before Ricky passed on Nov. 17, 2012. Lefty was there for me as well as many of our geocaching friends. Leftygator is my friend and hero.”

Another geocacher says, “He was the first cacher I came across while on the hunt and stopped to talk to me for a few minutes even though he could have just continued on his way. His hides always make you think, “If I was Lefty where would I hide this cache?” He never hesitates to help, not only in the geocaching world but he passes on advice as a military veteran to the active military in the community. I consider it an honor to have Leftygator as one of my caching mentors.”

Lefygator taking a break to pose with his handy gps

Congratulations again to Leftygator for earning the July 2014 title of Geocacher of the Month.

The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, simply fill out this webform.

July 26, 2014 / Alex /

Give Your Cache Page a Makeover

See this cache page? It’s pretty snazzy.

While the bright blue tiled image has the potential to disorient a geocacher, the photo in the center column and the color of the text tie the whole thing together.

jklhjikl — Bright blue looks good on Phil Harris…and this cache page.

How do you transform your cache page from blah to rah?

Can you say “Hypertext Markup Language” five times fast?

Check out GC57KW3...it literally sparkles. — Check out GC57KW3…it literally sparkles.

That’s right, we’re talking about HTML, baby.

And we’re talking about it with as much spice as possible, because we know some of you are about to fall of your chairs at the sheer boringness of it all.

handsintheair (1) — Even the HQ’ers think so.

HTML 101

HTML code is created using tags framed by the greater-than and less-than signs: < and > . A piece of code usually uses two of these tags to change the text between them.

fjdsi;fa — You can have colors too. Keep reading.

To make a paragraph break

Enter and on either side of the text in your paragraph.

Give your eyes a rest. Take a (paragraph) break.

To make something bold

Enter and on either side of the text you want to emphasize.

fdsafds — Be bold. Is there any other way?

To add italics to your text

Do basically the same thing as with bold text, only use the and tags.

To add both italics and bold

Use both the and the tags, with their closing tags: and

27b84da215a411e39d3822000a1f90e8_7

To add an image to your page

Make sure your image is saved to your cache page gallery or is available on the internet somewhere. Find the URL of the image.
To find the URL, open the image in your browser, and right-click to get the URL.

fdsafds

For more information on how to add…

Fonts, hyperlinks, fancy spacing, and more, visit http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk/resources/htmlcodes.html

10488729_1438833359709606_491933015_n

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