North American Edition of Geocacher of the Month: Comment Now

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

Sometimes continents must choose. Welcome to an all North American edition of Geocacher of the Month. This month we’re introduced to three geocaching community champs from North America. They’re already winners: recognized by their local communities, placers of inventive and well-loved geocaches and all-around advocates for new geocachers to join the adventure.

Your comments below help decide who takes home the earned, never-for-sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin. Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive the special edition Geocoin, a hat and a profile icon. They’ll also receive a certificate acknowledging their contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.

iPajero was named the Geocacher of the Month for March for helping unite the geocaching community in South Africa. One comment read, “We’d sum them up as a mix of irrepressible energy, indefatigable commitment to finding caches and a clever impish sense of humour when creating their own caches!”

iPajero – Geocachers of the Month

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.

hurleyanne

hurleyanne - nominee for Geocacher of the Month
hurleyanne – nominee for Geocacher of the Month

Nominated by Delaronda_Hillbillies:

Hurleyanne started caching in July 2006 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. She was one of a handful of people who started the Saskatoon and Area Geocaching Association in 2011 and has been on the executive since March 2013. This group hosts a 24 [hour] event each year, which includes a midnight “dine and dash”, a pancake breakfast and finishes with a BBQ. Well over 100 cachers attend this event every year and appreciate all the hard work that Hurleyanne and her fellow executive members put into it. In March of 2013 she traveled to California and Arizona to find a number of Route 66 caches by herself. She had such a great time that she returned in March of 2014 with a couple of other cachers from Saskatoon to do the TS trail in Nevada as well as approximately 400 caches on the ET trail. During the month of March she found 2907 caches with her most successful day being March 18th when she found 717 caches.

 

 

 

 

 

zacknmom

zacknmom - nominee for Geocacher of the Month
zacknmom – nominee for Geocacher of the Month

Nominated by dakotahillbillies:

zacknmom is a well rounded cacher in the Black Hills of South Dakota. You will find her name in about every logbook and more. She is crazy enough to cache at dusk, dawn, at night, in the cold & heat. Because of her drive to geocache, she has made it fun for those of us who cache with here too.

zacknmom has been active in geocaching events, CITOs and had events of her own. She has some really fun hiking caches. If a person needs help finding a cache she is always there to lend a hand. The stories she tells are so funny about her adventures! zacknmom takes a lot of pictures so we can enjoy her adventure as if we were there with her. One thing I know for sure, if you hide a cache, she is going to find it. With over 6.600 finds, it would be hard to stump her even if you tried.

Baytown Bert

Baytown Bert - nominee for Geocacher of the Month
Baytown Bert – nominee for Geocacher of the Month

 

 

Nominated by Lilsprinkles67:

You can’t help but get caught up in his enthusiasm for geocaching and life itself. He writes the funniest logs in the caches he finds, posts funny pictures of himself, had been known to wear a funny hat, wig, fake teeth, anything that would let people know when Bert is around – things are going to be out of this world fun and surprising.

Bert is real active in his community by organizing and participating in teaching geocaching classes, hosts events including CITOs, mentors geocachers, maintains several web pages not only about geocaching but Baytown as a whole. He meets and works with local community leaders about geocaching and has a set of goals to make geocaching better, safer, more fun, train other geocachers in nearby towns to be able to teach geocaching in their communities “pass it on” if you will.

 

 

 

 

Comment below to tell us who you think should be the April Geocacher of the Month. Comments accepted through through May 28.

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

Your One-Stop Geocaching Resource is Right Here

Sweet! You're on the blog right now!
Sweet! You’re on the blog right now!

You’ve really done it now. You’ve fallen down the geocaching rabbit hole. Suddenly, you’re speaking another language involving FTF, muggles and TOTT’s. But lo’ and behold, there’s so much more to explore in this wonderland of geocaching. Your one-stop shop is right here. Discover an inspiring Geocache of the Week—oddly enough, posted every week. Stand in awe of selfless contributions to the adventure from the Geocacher of the Month—weirdly named every month (and open for votes right now). There’s more though, as anyone down here in the geocaching rabbit hole will explain. You’ll also travel around the world, checking out Mega-Events in Belgium or the logging the First to Find (FTF) ever recorded in SPACE!

So, what are you waiting for? Explore the blog!

 

Planes, trains and epic hikes — Rund um den Gelmersee (GC32DQT) — Geocache of the Week

Hold on! The train you take to get to the Gelmsersee takes on a 106% grade! Photo by geocacher vomhoger.
Hold on! The train you take to get to the Gelmsersee takes on a 106% grade! Photo by geocacher vomhoger.

Geocache Name:

Rund um den Gelmersee (GC32DQT)

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

2/3

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

To get to many amazing mountain views, you have to endure a long and arduous hike. For the amazing views you get around the Gelmersee in Switzerland, you just have to hold on and ride the train up a 106% grade. And that’s not it—afterward, you can hike around the lake along narrow pathways carved into the stone walls as you collect clues for the Geocache of the Week. This geocache will take you to multiple stages on a tour around the lake (the name, translated from German, means “Around the Gelmersee”). For the awesome journey and beautiful views, this multi-cache gets this week’s honors.

# of Finds:

86

# of Favorite Points:

28

What geocachers are saying:

“Wow, what an amazing place! My personal Swiss tour guide always takes me to the most amazing places! This one proved to be a fun challenge since we unknowingly passed the first stage. A little brain power made it work with the stages we did have. Thanks for the fun!” – Love

[translated from German] “What a magnificent day. Weather couldn’t be better, and the railroad wasn’t overbooked. We stumbled anti-clockwise around the lake, absorbing the wonderful Nature. We would have done this hike even without the cache there! Of course, the GC was the cherry on top. Thanks!” – Mr.Quady

[translated from German] “The impressive little rail took us to daring heights under incredible summer weather, followed by a circumnavigation of the lake on foot. Those railroad builders sure were inventive. After a successful log we took the train back down into the valley. TFTC.” – Scio

What the geocache owner, Eltitas, has to say:

On this geocache’s inspiration: “It is absolutely gorgeous up there. The hike around the lake is pure bliss!…I had been there many times before placing the multi cache.”

When asked about the reaction to all of the favorite points and positive logs: “Joy. Satisfaction. Happyness.”

And to the geocaching community: “My life motto is “carpe diem”. I try to use every day as if it were my last. Nobody knows how many days they have remaining. But everyone can spend the current day in a way to give them as much happyness as possible.”

Photos:

 

Two geocachers with smiles after earning their smileys. Photo by geocacher Mr.Quady
Two geocachers with smiles after earning their smileys. Photo by geocacher Mr.Quady
Quite the precarious hike. Watch your step! Photo by geocacher jokama
Quite the precarious hike. Watch your step! Photo by geocacher jokama
Beautiful views of the Gelmersee. Photo by geocacher D'Fenneks
Beautiful views of the Gelmersee. Photo by geocacher D’Fenneks

What’s your favorite way to travel to and from geocaches? 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, leave a comment below with the name of the geocache, the GC code, and why you think we should feature it.

What You’re Missing at a Mega-Event – The Brugse Beer IV Mega-Event Video

brugse beer

Editor’s note: Geocaching HQ staff are planning to attend 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. Reid Kuennen is the Geocaching HQ staff member behind the lens. She recently traveled to Belgium to join hundreds in celebrating geocaching and the geocaching community. Here’s her story (which includes a nifty video explaining it all). 

Bryan and Reid, "We may or may not have known how to play Kubb"
Bryan and Reid, “We may or may not have known how to play Kubb”

By Reid:

Last month I was honored to attend the Brugse Beer IV Mega-Event in Bruges, Belgium. My friend Bryan, who also happens to be one of the founders of Geocaching, was there with me and we had an unforgettable time. We played Kubb with skill and precision, we climbed the climbing wall with… a lot of help from the organizers, and we even ate fries with mayonnaise. Best of all, we had countless conversations with fun and inspiring geocachers from near and far.

As a thank you to all who attended and organized this awesome event, I have compiled a short video to capture some of the memories. Enjoy:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/_2g3XeXqMlc]

 

A Geocaching Return From Space After 75,000,000 Miles

Rick Mastracchio and the Travel Bug in Space.
Rick Mastracchio and the Travel Bug in Space.

Finally you’ll be able to post “Welcome Back to Earth” on our Facebook page!

After orbiting the Earth nearly 3,000 times over six months (and about 75,000,000 miles), astronaut Rick Mastracchio (Geocacher: AstroRM) and a very popular Travel Bug® will return home from the International Space Station. Thousands of people, at more than 700 Geocaching in Space events around the world, watched as Mastracchio and a Travel Bug rocketed into space.

Mastracchio has been living aboard the International Space Station since November of last year. He even geocached in space. He logged a First to Find on the International Space Station geocache placed by fellow geocacher Richard Garriott. He used the Travel Bug to teach students back on Earth about science and geography, interacting with them on the Travel Bug page about everything and anything to do with space.

May 13, Mastracchio and the Travel Bug will climb into a capsule and return to Earth. The event will be aired live on NASA TV. Celebrate and remember the epic adventure with the Geocaching in Space patch. And do us a favor, say a very special thanks to geocacher Cizzors for leading the charge for Rick Mastracchio to take the Travel Bug into space.

mastracchio 1