July 15, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

14 Km Geocaching Hike Starting after 10pm – That’s Portugal

14 Years Geocaching – Sintra | Portugal

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. Annie or Love works as the Partners Program Manager, supporting all international distributors. This is her Mega-Event experience.

In early June, I had the pleasure to travel back to Portugal to attend 14 Years Geocaching – Sintra | Portugal. After the very warm welcome I received at Geocoinfest in Portugal two years ago, I was excited to spend some more time with the geocachers from one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Even better, this Mega-Event would be taking place in the one of the most magical places. Sintra, a community hidden in the Sintra Mountains of the Lisbon region, is filled with unreal sites including a Moorish castle, architecturally stunning palaces and endless tiled sidewalks.

The festivities spanned over five days in the Sintra region, and included a variety of geocaching walks, CITO events, a geocache lab adventure and lots of smiling faces. We walked, we cached and we blew bubbles. If you’ve ever wanted to use geocaching as your form of tourism, this Mega-Event would have been for you.

Bubble-blowing event — Bubble-Blowing Event

Some might think it’s weird to start a 14km hike at 10:30pm. Not geocachers. We thrive on adventures like that. If you can find about 35 caches on that 14km hike, even better. On the second night of the event, that’s just what we did. When I finally returned to my hotel around 3am, I was able to reflect on a fun adventure through the mountains of Sintra with nearly 100 geocaching friends. Those are the memories that will stick with me forever.

bruning portugal — “Bruning” in Portugal

Pride is one word I would use to describe Portuguese geocachers. Several times throughout the five days, I had conversations with individuals or geocaching teams about the incredible efforts they’ve put into their own geocaches. In a couple of cases, the teams had spent over a year perfecting one geocache. These are the types of geocaches that would inspire me to plan a return trip to Portugal.

New Friends — Love (center) and Geocaching Friends

If you are in search of a place where the people are friendly, the views are amazing, the culture is rich and the geocaching is pretty ‘darn’ good, Portugal has got you covered.

caching in portugal 2 — Love and Geo-pup

July 13, 2014 / Derek H /

The Secret Double Lives of Geocaching Containers

Not all of these containers we specifically developed as geocaches.

Even though some geocache containers seem like they were handcrafted specifically for geocaching, most of them have been repurposed from something else. With things like Ammo cans, it’s pretty obvious what they used to be. For others, it requires a little bit of a deeper look into history:

Those Small, Clear Geocache Tubes aka Preform PET Tubes

These small, waterproof, durable containers are perfect for micro-sized geocaches. They can be attached to different camouflage and will last a long time. Plus, the larger tubes can hold both a logbook and a pencil. But their story isn’t just geocaching. In fact, you’ve probably used these hundreds of times and not even know it. Hint: There’s a key word in the heading to this section, “preform”. These small tubes are manufactured to be heated and expanded to form plastic bottles. Check out this video to see an animation of the process:

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Nano Caches

Oft-maligned in the geocaching community, these smaller-than-small, magnetic geocaches are popular for high-muggle areas and urban geocaches. With so little room inside, it’s hard to believe that these geocaches were actually created for a reason other than geocaching. Mark Yvanovich, one of the early makers of these containers told us a little bit about the history, “These containers were originally LED blinking jewelry. The space where the log sheet is stored was where the button cell batteries went. They came with a separate rare earth magnet that could be used to attach it to clothing, etc…” Once these lights obtained new lives as geocaches, Mark and his wife made thousands of these, hand rolling all of the logbooks!

Bison Tubes

What did the buffalo say when he dropped his kid off at school? Bison. #dadjokes

It’s no secret that these tubes look nothing like real bison. Not even close. So what’s the reason behind the name? These containers were originally created by a company named Bison Designs. The company originally made aluminum carabiners in multiple shapes, including dog bones, mouse ears and more. Seeking out new things to create out of aluminum, the need for a small, waterproof container to carry medicine in arose—and thus, the Bison Tube was born.

Have you repurposed a container originally made for something else as a geocache? Tell us in the comments.

July 12, 2014 / Eric Schudiske

The Theory of Caching is Found in Canada

COG Fling 10 – The COG Cache Theory

COG 1

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. Cathy or Prying Pandora works supporting geocaching community volunteers . This is her Mega-Event experience.

Cathy (center) – Canada Day with reviewers CacheViewer, GeoawareCA, and CacheShadow

When I found out I had been selected to attend COG Fling 10 – The COG Cache Theory in Ontario, Canada, I was very excited. I knew that the Central Ontario geocaching community was super creative and fun, and they would turn this year’s science theme into a weekend full of laughter and crazy surprises. The chosen location for the 10th Fling was Tottenham Conservation Area, a beautiful 41-acre park about 40 minutes away from Toronto.

The kickoff event on Friday evening was COG Spring Fling, a nod to the COG Fling’s traditional springtime date. This year the event took place during the long hot days of summer, so how do you make a Spring Fling out of that? By flinging springs, of course! That was just one of a crazy hodge podge of activities, including racing to fill pipes by squeezing water into them with sponges, and performing an interpretive dance with shock absorbers before tossing them at a target. The prize? A fine trophy made of springs!

Elf and Fababoo doing their shock absorber interpretive dance. She has a bubble on her finger.

COG 3 — Swifteroo’s shock absorber interpretive dance

I had a blast at the Mega-Event on Saturday, meeting and chatting with 800 geocachers. Some of them came all the way from Australia and Germany! Keeping with the science theme, the event log was a lab coat, there were 8 super creative science lab caches, and a mad scientist too! Games, workshops and a bunch of new caches in the area kept people busy all day.

cathy 1 — Two of the COG volunteers helping with the event, Juicepig and Elf

Me with one of the cachers I met, luvvinbird

The weekend wrapped up on Sunday with the COG’s Anti Trash Theory CITO event. Lots of trash was collected from the area surrounding the park, and a few unusual items too.

cathy 3 — Tromelin heaves in an old satellite dish

I completed my Canadian adventure after the event weekend by visiting the nation’s capital in Ottawa with some of Ontario’s volunteer reviewers to celebrate Canada Day. It was the perfect end to a wonderful trip!

July 11, 2014 / Paige Edmiston /

Help Name the Next Geocacher of the Month

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

Geocachers are known for being adventurous, friendly, a little quirky, and just plain fun.

June’s Geocacher of the Month nominees are no exception.

In addition to earning an impressive number of smileys, these geocachers have hidden quality geocaches admired by many, and they never fail to bring laughter, joy, and helpful hints to all those they meet. If you’re out on the trail and need to Phone-a-Friend, these are the geocachers you want on speed dial.

Each of the nominees below is an essential part of the global geocaching community and will receive a prize package from Geocaching HQ in Seattle, but only one will be the next Geocacher of the Month. A panel from Geocaching HQ will use your comments, community input and other data to decide the winner.

Now it’s your turn to help us select the next Geocacher of the Month: write a supportive comment for the nominated geocacher you feel should be awarded the title.

Leftygator

Afwingman writes, “Leftygator has been geocaching since 2003, before geocaching had become the hobby it is today with Pocket Queries and advancements in GPS technology. We first met leftygator just after we started geocaching in November 2009. We met for breakfast and have become great friends ever since. Leftygator has put out outstanding geocaches and does not hesitate to offer guidance and assistance to all the new geocachers in and around the Mississippi Gulf Coast area. Stumped on a cache? Call leftygator and he will go out his way to give you the nudge you need to get you back on track. With Keesler Air Force base located in Biloxi, he has taken airman under his wing that became interested in geocaching. They then take the hobby world wide in their travels and adventures and get other airman involved who get their friends into geocaching. He is a great asset and ambassador to the geocaching community and it would be an honor to have him considered for Geocacher of the Month.”

.Jpeg

Dhaulaghiri writes, “After overcoming the shock of moving to Houston, TX we met a great bunch of local cachers that have provided us with lot’s of caching fun. .Jpeg particularly stands out because of the ingenious nature of his hides and the variety of hides he’s put out, but also because of his wonderful, thoughtful and sometimes even downright funny logs on caches he finds.

.Jpeg is an inspiration to me and other cachers I know in the Houston area, always willing to help out a fellow cacher, go on a hunt on short notice and last but certainly not least a truly wonderful human being!”

gillywig

animalbiker67(ab67) writes, “The caches that gillywig puts out are interesting to do. [She is} always willing to assist in every way and is always bubbly and full of energy. Gillywig assists finders with her Puzzle ones too, but will still not give the game away – brilliant hints. She is a joy to communicate with and she never lets me down.”

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

July 9, 2014 / Derek H /

Geocaching: The Video Game — LostSailRs: Uncharted Waters (GC55CDQ) — Geocache of the Week

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Geocache Name:

LostSailRs: Uncharted Waters (GC55CDQ)

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

3/1

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

Getting creative with a new geocache hide takes some skill. Whether that’s just learning the art of how to hot glue camouflage without burning yourself or a bit of woodworking. Or you could take it a step further, like the cache owner of this geocache did and teach yourself HTML 5 and create an immersive geocaching video game experience. The time, effort and creativity that went into the puzzle, the game and the geocache itself are a perfect example of what makes a GREAT geocache.

What the geocache owner, LostSailRs, has to say:

“I love designing puzzle caches and try to put a lot of thought behind each one. Some of them are fairly complicated, others, not so much. But I try to do something slightly different each time. Currently I am on summer vacation and decided it was time I taught myself something new. I started to watch hours of YouTube teaching myself HTML5 game design and began implementing the basics into some of my other video-game based caches. Since I started teaching myself how to make games I had my eyes on doing something to satisfy puzzle cachers of all ranges: Strategy, logic, skill, dexterity, etc… This took about 6 weeks from start to testing. Every few days I would get it to a playable stage and tell my wife, the Lost in LostSailRs, that it was done, but would wake up the next day and start learning something new and adding it to the game. Towards the end I started writing and recording the background music and sound effects, and put the finishing touches on some of the graphics. I sent out a request to our local geocaching society and got some great replies. After another week or so making changes and fixing bugs it was ready to release. The idea for the multi-stage final came late in the stage, once I received the containers. I thought they were so perfect and wanted to make use of the bulk amount I received. So I added a very simple puzzle/riddle that will take the person straight to the final. I chose the location because of it’s scenic view and isolation during the weekends.”

“We are so grateful to be part of this amazing community of cachers who have warmly welcomed us into the fold this past year. On Sunday, July 6th, my wife and I celebrated our 1 year cache-aversary. In that year we have found some amazing hides, clever containers, and friends-for-life. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for year number 2.”

What geocachers are saying:

“Really enjoyed this cache. The puzzle was well done and just enough work. Made it to GZ and spent a few minutes thinking through the hints. Thankfully, my daughter made the last connection that allowed us to find the cache.” – PowerDime

“Marvelous game, well played from start to finish! …Not having read the logs, though, I was very pleasantly surprised when I arrived this afternoon and found that there was more adventure to be had! I love it when there are unexpected twists and journeys! This one gets a favorite for the concept, a favorite for the game, a favorite for the twists, a favorite for the… WHAT? I can only award ONE?!!! So be it.” – GoldenStateBoy

“This was fun, I like it when someone really puts out a clever cache and this is definitely a cache that will get many favorite points. I don’t believe I have done any other caches of yours but I sure will now. Thanks for an adventure.” – oldwood

Photos and Video:

Your booty awaits. Photo courtesy of LostSailRs

X marks the spot! Photo courtesy of LostSailRs

The view from GZ. Photo courtesy of LostSailRs

Yarrrr better be privy to all the muggles! Photo courtesy of LostSailRs

What new skills have you learned because of geocaching? 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!

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