It’s that time of year again for Rand McNally’s search for the best small towns across America! The annual Best of the Road program seeks America’s favorite towns with populations under 150,000 in multiple categories, including Most Beautiful, Most Fun, Friendliest, Best for Food and Most Patriotic. And, new this year, in association with Geocaching.com and the Rand McNally Foris Outdoor GPS, Best of the Road is searching for the Best Town for Geocaching. Help us during our campaign to find the towns with the best travel experiences and visit bestoftheroad.com to vote!
The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin (sun flare optional)
The power of the worldwide geocaching community came calling for this Geocacher of the Month. The common denominator for all three nominees was the passion each nominee poured back into their community. From award-winning creative hides, to geocaching events that leave people talking, to a geocaching online platform that keeps people talking, these geocachers are all winners.
The Featured Geocacher of the Month is named by Geocaching HQ after reviewing community input and blog comments. After tallying the sentiment and reading the comments, Mollov has been officially named the Featured Geocacher of the Month for July 2013.
Mollov – Geocacher of the Month
One comment shows Mollov’s 360 degree passion for geocaching and its community, “Mollov is one of the most active geocachers in Bulgaria I know and probably the most enthusiastic one as well. His geocaching activities do not end with finding, hiding and maintaining geocaches. If you have seen any of his geocaching adventures on Youtube, or read any of his geocaching articles on his blog, or attended any of the events organized by him, then you probably know why Mollov deserves to be selected as Geocacher of the Month. For all the rest, it would be enough to say that Mollov’s devotion has made geocaching a much more popular activity in Bulgaria. His dedication to the game deserves to be recognized not only in his own country but by the wider geocaching society as well.”
Mollov will receive the earned, never for sale, collector’s edition Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Featured Geocacher of the Month hat and a certificate acknowledging his contribution, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. See a list of all the Featured Geocachers of the Month here.
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@geocaching.com. Every nomination must follow these requirements. Please include:
Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Featured Geocacher of the Month
Please inform your nominee that you have submitted them for the award. Nominations for Featured Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.
Congratulations again to Mollov for being recognized as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for July.
Meet some of previous Featured Geocachers of the Month
The Mechalumpus reveals itself! Photo by geocacher feathertop.
For many geocaches, the hard part is finding the actual container. Most of us have seen geocaches that are hollowed-out bolts, some that look like rocks or plants, and some that are so tiny, you need a magnifying glass to see them. The good part is once you hold those geocaches in your hand, the hard part is over. On the flipside, you have geocaches like this week’s Geocache of the Week, where finding them is just the beginning.
Mechalumpus (GC1W1ZD), placed with land-owner permission in Western Australia is fairly easy to find. Minus the trees and the camouflage paintjob, it’s hard to miss. And just like all geocaches are supposed to be, this one is waterproof. And then the geocache creator, roymerc, went a step further to make this geocache muggle-proof. However, this had the side-effect of making it geocacher proof as well—unless you read the description. Geocachers are privy to a small bit of information that makes this geocache a tad bit easier to open: a secret toolkit hidden just meters away. Even though you have to use the secret toolkit to open this geocache, it still only receives a difficulty rating of 1.5 and a terrain rating of 2. In fact, the description states that the geocache owner’s grandchildren figured it out in less than 10 minutes. (Consider that a challenge.) Roymerc had this to say about creating the geocache, “So, the challenge is: find the tool box (easy) and figure out which tool is required, and how to use it. The reward is to see the red hatch cover with its bulbous wobbly eyes appear. Kids love this! And that’s the aim of the game.”
Nearly 150 geocachers have figured out the combination to open this geocache and over 60 of them have left favorite points. While this might not sound like a lot to those of us in major metropolitan areas, this geocache is one of the most well-loved in Western Australia. Geocacher sylken had this to say in their “Found It” log, “What a fantastic design. We very quickly had the required tool box in hand and after a bit if poking, prodding, twisting and turning geohubby worked out the solution and Mr Mechalumpus himself appeared….and with a very smug look on his face I must say! We signed the log, feeling pretty smug ourselves by now, replaced the tool box and then started on our return journey.”
Lots of happy geocachers! Photo by geocacher Team M-B
Regarding all of the positive logs and favorite points, roymerc said, “They’re a delight and makes the effort worthwhile. My policy is ‘finding the cache is just the beginning of the fun.’ ” We couldn’t agree more. This geocache is a total package: great journey, amazing container, innovative idea and great logs. What’s your favorite “total package” geocache? 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 or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@geocaching.com.
Bonus spoiler pic of the geocache mechanism, courtesy of roymerc:
You’re among the first to see a new geocaching debut. We’re proud to launch the new “What is Geocaching?” video. Watch and share the easy-to-understand video to quickly show all those who ask you, “What is Geocaching?” Once you’ve shared the video, soak up all the thank you’ll receive for introducing people to the joys of geocaching.
Explore the joys of finding an old soda can or picking up faded, weather-worn newspapers. Sounds wonderful right? It’s a wonderful feeling if you’re tromping around with a group of geocachers who are helping clean up geocaching-friendly locations. It even has a name: Cache in Trash Out (CITO). It’s easy to earn a CITO Event smiley and put a smile on your face at the same time.
More than 12,000 adventurers in over a dozen countries took park in CITO weekend this past April. Together, they cleared 50 tons of trash around the world. That weekend gets much of the recognition, but CITO continues throughout the rest of the year. Check out CITO events near you or host your own. Many geocachers simply practice the principle of Cache In Trash Out every time they geocache. Interested in seeing the other smiley you receive from a CITO Event?
Watch this Geocaching HQ video and see what the CITO smiles are all about in less than a minute.
