/ Derek H /

The most dangerous geocache in the world? – Hua Shan (GC1XAM3) – Geocache of the Week

For something like this, you have to spell extreme like this: "XTREEEEEEEMMMMEEEE". Photo by geocacher poizon
For something like this, you have to spell extreme like this: “XTREEEEEEEMMMMEEEE”. Photo by geocacher poizon

Geocache Name:

Hua Shan (GC1XAM3)

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

2/4

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

First, to clear things up: we don’t condone taking unnecessary risks in order to find a geocache. No find is worth getting hurt over. And in fact, in order to find this geocache, you don’t have to walk along the precarious pathways bolted into the cliffside. That being said, very few times will you get the chance to do something this cool. And just think of the amazing selfies you could take! The pathways were developed several hundred years ago by those seeking to reach the mountain peaks for their religious significance. In more recent years, this has become a popular tourism spot. The Chinese government has incorporated more safety measures to the vertigo-inducing paths to ensure that everyone gets a chance to safely make the journey. Just google “the most dangerous hike in the world” or “Hua Shan” for plenty of more pictures and info.

What geocachers are saying:

“Finding this cache was a great adventure. Huashan is a wonderful mountain and we enjoyed our day very much.” – poizon

“This is the cache I have worked mostly to get. 3 hours of climbing stairs. I tried to count the stairs, but I gave up, reaching 1600. I think we climbed more than 2000 steps…Thanks to >>SCK_ARo<< for this cache.” – Lyngerup.dk

“After climbing incredibly many many steps, we found out that we have forgotten to check a photohint, but fortunately we found it anyway. Box was empty, so we tried to fullfill it with travelbugs. Hua Shan cache will be the most precious point of mine!” – GeoEfka

Photos and video:

 

NBD. These steps are solid as rock. Because that's what they're carved into. Photo by geocacher klingac
NBD. These steps are solid as rock. Because that’s what they’re carved into. Photo by geocacher klingac
Yikes! Don't look down! Photo by geocacher klingac
Yikes! Don’t look down! Photo by geocacher klingac
The heavenly steps. Photo by geocacher klingac
The heavenly steps. Photo by geocacher klingac
A beautiful sunrise makes it all worth it. Photo by geocacher doky team
A beautiful sunrise makes it all worth it. Photo by geocacher doky team

What’s the most well-made geocache you’ve ever found? Tell us 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!

/ Alex

How to DNF a DNF

Sometimes, expectations don’t match reality. Sometimes, geocachers are absolutely fine with that.

The team of intrepid Geocaching HQ’ers who left Seattle on Friday, June 27th were expecting their weekend culminate in a hike halfway up Mount Rainier. At 10,080 feet in elevation, the Camp Muir hike wasn’t one to scoff at. For five hours, the team would slog straight up rock, ice, and snow. Virtual caches GCA69 and GC1192 would be waiting for them at the top (hopefully holding a sign, flowers, and hand warmers). Logging these, one very old T5 and another very old T4.5, would be the ultimate payoff.

Alas, despite fervent pleas and several bouts of sun-dancing, the team of geocachers was not able to ward off the mantle of clouds that hung over the mountain. When the big day came, Mt. Rainier was to reveal itself for only a few seconds before vanishing shyly again.

2014-06-28 14.33.37

At that point, the team found itself on the cusp of failure.

A triple DNF hung across their shoulders—two for the caches, one for the mountain itself. They had no back-up plan, for the hike up to Camp Muir had consumer their very beings. It was the only ascent they’d considered, the only slope they’d trained for. The team was inconsolable.

Inspiration hit them like a bison charging down a mountain. What do geocachers do when they DNF? They break into song of course.

Explorers, sleuths, adventurers,

finders, keepers, hey!

We the brave, the geocachers,

three dozen finds per day!

The song, which was sung to the tune of “Ronda Alla Turca”, rallied the team immensely. They realized what they had to do to cancel out their DNF: find some more geocaches! Unsurprisingly, the surrounding cliffs, valleys, trails, rivers, and lakes were dotted with geocaches of every type. In little time, the team was hiking merrily along a thin, winding trail rimmed with wildflowers. The prospect of two more caches at the end of the trail lifted their spirits immensely.

2014-06-29 12.36.17

The team thought about all the reasons they loved geocaching, and added one more to the pile: A DNF isn’t synonymous with failure. Lots of things can get in the way of a find. Weather turns south. Batteries die. The dog eats all the snacks. Does that mean the adventure is over? Nope!

Three tips to DNF a DNF

1) Bring a friend. Someone with Pollyanna-style enthusiasm will do nicely.

2) Look around. Are there other caches nearby? Go find ’em.

3) Plan for a return trip. A DNF isn’t a permanent status.

4) Try singing the song mentioned above. Try singing anything to the tune of Ronda Alla Turca. It will cheer you up, we promise.

10521728_10154276926440244_7936347188583333663_n

 

10505416_10154276928645244_4365418961181342701_n

 

/ Guest Writer /

Allegany State Park Geobash IX Mega-Event

Signal, Amy and the whole ASPGB IX crew
Signal, Amy and the whole ASPGB IX crew

Geocaching is Better with Friends… Lots and Lots of Friends.

Editor’s note: Geocaching HQ staff are  attending dozens of Mega-Events around the world, shaking hands, sharing stories of adventure, and of course, geocaching. Each person at Geocaching HQ brings their own unique talent to advancing the adventure. Some write code for the website, others design images for the apps, and some shoot videos explaining it all. Amy Faulkner is the Geocaching HQ staff member behind the Geocaching Block Party and other awesome events. She recently traveled to her home state of New York to join nearly a thousand people  in celebrating geocaching and the geocaching community at the ASPGB IX. Here’s her story. 

A Return Trip Home with Geocaching

Here at Geocaching HQ, we often hear glorious stories of geocaching taking people to places they never knew existed. And we’ve even experienced this phenomenon ourselves – stumbling upon EarthCaches that reveal large geological events that we never knew happened, or finding the Little Library around the corner that just so happens to contain a geocache.

As excited as I was to attend the ASPGB Mega-Event again this year, returning to the place where I grew up to attend an event I had previously attended seemed a bit anticlimactic. But I was wrong. Not kind of wrong, I was so wrong – out of the ballpark wrong- that I’m actually embarrassed that I had that thought in the first place.

To begin, the ASPGB was spectacular this year. It was great to see familiar faces from last year and meet all of the new attendees this year. The event was packed full of fun activities,  from Lab Caches to a creative cache contest to a raffle dripping with anticipation. I met so many great people including these lovely ladies (below) that were celebrating their 100th find. They presented me with the awesome smiley which now permanently resides at my desk.

100 finds
100 finds and a smiley

In addition to attending the event, I had the opportunity to spend a day geocaching with my mom in the town where I grew up. We found an amazing EarthCache at one of my favorite childhood spots, Rock City Park. My mother has become quite the geocacher over the last year.

GC14E7K: Rock City Park
GC14E7K: Rock City Park
amys mom
Amy’s mom, geocaching pro.

 

A Hometown Still Full of Surprises

The biggest element of surprise happened on my drive back to the airport. About 30 minutes into my drive, I stopped at a rest area in a place called Friendship, New York. While there, I decided to peek at the Geocaching app to see if there were any nearby geocaches. To my surprise, there was one right at that rest area. I left the car and wandered to GZ and quickly made the find. As I was re-hiding the container, a car drove up behind me. From the window I hear, “Can we sign the log before you put that back?”

As I turned around, I saw a car full of geocachers. They pulled over and we shared stories, trackables and even had an impromptu photo shoot.

All in all, I realized that geocaching is so much more than finding new places. It’s about the randomness of the things that happen along the way, the people you meet, the experiences you have and the community that you belong to as a geocacher.

unnamed (3)
Random encounters: Teamajk, theworldisfun, cheryyll, & Tiki tour

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Introduce Friends to Geocaching with this 1 Free App

MailerImage_06302014_IntroAppsForEveryone_vFINAL_BLOG

Geocaching has never been easier to share or take along on a spontaneous adventure.

The official Geocaching Intro apps for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone serve up beginner geocaches. The app is loaded with helpful advice, tips and videos to turn muggles into geocachers in just a few clicks. The apps offer your friends everything they need to launch on a geocaching adventure. Use the app to search for Traditional geocaches, navigate to their locations and log finds. Now when friends ask about geocaching, you can say, “download the official Geocaching intro app, and I’ll show you all about it.” Or say something even wittier, maybe even add a joke. Your friends like jokes.

If you’re a Geocaching Premium Member the intro app offers even more features, like access to all Traditional geocaches regardless of terrain or difficulty, including Premium Member Only Traditional caches. Download the app for your phone now, and begin a geocaching adventure anywhere.

/ Derek H /

The wheels keep turning – A Moagem (GC4QYFG) – Geocache of the Week

The geocache during the creation process. Photo courtesy of fundao365
The geocache during the creation process. Photo courtesy of fundao365

Geocache Name:

A Moagem (GC4QYFG) [translated from Portuguese: The Grind]

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

1.5/1

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

Geocaches take on many forms: some are cool containers, some are in interesting places and some are mind-bending puzzles. This week’s Geocache of the Week is a combination of all three. The geocache itself is an incredibly well-made, large cryptex. Geocachers have to use the clues in the description to decipher the code, then line up the different wheels in the right spot to release the geocache. The place where this geocache resides is also interesting. “A Moagem” in Portuguese translates to “The Grind”, which is appropriate since the geocache is placed inside a grinding mill that has now been transformed into a museum, arts exhibit and meeting place. After you earn your smiley, you can even take a look at some of the original grinding machinery.

What the geocache owner, fundao365, has to say:

With this cache we used the concept of indoor geocaching. After understanding this kind of cache rules with the help of the reviewer btreviewer, we started the developement and prototyping process. We take this opportunity to thank him for the cooperation. The cache is inside a reconstructed milling house, that a long time ago used to collect the rye seeds from the local producers and produce the flour. According to this, we  inspired in the grindstone to build the cache. We also thought that the container opening method should be as original as the design. After thinking about a few possibilities, we came to decide to build a big dimensions cryptex with an opening device that looks like a grindstone.

  • The geocache is inside a museum, how did this partnership come about?

The museum belongs to Fundão city hall. The team fundao365 is composed by some of its employees, that share the passion of geocaching. The partnership was born naturally.

  • Can you talk about how you created this geocache?

The cache was developed and created in Fab Lab Aldeias do Xisto, that is a Digital fabrication laboratory recently created by Fundão city hall, wich main goal is to support open access to entrepreneurship and idea development.

  • What do you think of all the positive logs and favorite points?

It’s rewarding seeing that our work is being recognised by the geocaching community and it is an inspiration to future projects that we are already working on.

  • Is there anything you’d like to say to the geocaching community?

We appreciate the opportunity that Groundspeak gave us to invite all geocaching community to visit Fundão and meet its wonderfull territory, wich has too much to offer to geocachers. We’d also like to promote our nearest Mountain: Serra da Gardunha, that has an unique landscape and offers other activities like mountain bike, hiking, Hang gliding, canoeing etc…

What geocachers are saying:

[all translated from Portuguese]

“Excellent cache that I got to know during the event held on the same day. Cache that deserves a visit from all geocachers.Thanks to the owner for sharing.” – jccms

“I confess that I was very impressed with the work that went into the design of the container and was even more surprised with the logbook cover is genius. Throughout originality gets the deserved FAVORITE!” – scalpelman

“…this is wonderful, very original and well thought out! now here’s a cache to last a few many years! TFTC” – grilo85

Photos and video:

[vsw id=”6hy5zScHFTs” source=”youtube” width=”853″ height=”480″ autoplay=”no”]

The museum where the geocache is located.
The museum where the geocache is located.
The cache in its natural habitat. Photo courtesy of fundao365
The geocache in its natural habitat. Photo courtesy of fundao365
This could be your view—if you decipher the code and open the cache. Photo courtesy of fundao365
This could be your view—if you decipher the code and open the geocache. Photo courtesy of fundao365
An up-close view of the locking mechanism. Photo courtesy of fundao365
An up-close view of the locking mechanism. Photo courtesy of fundao365

What’s the most well-made geocache you’ve ever found? Tell us 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!