They’re lean, they’re mean and they’re swarming back to Geocaching HQ as we speak. Almost a full year ago at the 2012 Geocaching Block Party, we released a collection of Travel Bugs in The Great Geocaching Block Party 2013 Travel Bug Race. The trackables entered the wild to start the race of their lives. Geocachers and Geocaching HQ Staff (Lackeys) alike watched their intrepid racers start their journey with a singular goal: to make it at least 2013 miles and return to Geocaching HQ in Seattle in time for the 2013 Geocaching Block Party. Additionally, Travel Bugs competed in the following categories:
Fastest TB back to HQ (after traveling the minimum mileage)
TB with the most mileage
TB to travel to the most countries
TB with the best picture
TB with the best log entry
TB with the most geocachers who moved the TB
TB with the most creative Hitchhiker (item the TB is attached to)
Summer Time Geocoin’s Travel Map
We’re in the homestretch now, less than 72 hours left! But who will win each prize? Will the mileage race be won by budda63’s 28,000 mile powerhouse Summer Time Geocoin, which has already traveled further than the circumference of the Earth? Will “most geocachers involved” go to Pinscreen’s Hippo Safari racer, or will belaviz’s Pass’n Gasser Racer Tag take the prize? All questions are answered once and for all this Saturday in Fremont at the 2013 Geocaching Block Party.
In the meantime, keep up that 31 Days of Geocaching streak (we sure will)! You can also check out the status of all the Travel Bug® racers here. Who’s your favorite to win?
August is awash with Geocaching Mega-Events around the world. A Mega-Event connects hundreds or even thousands of adventurers from every level of geocaching. Those who walk into a Mega-Event step into adventure, family-friendly activities and, of course, all things geocaching. Whether you’re excited about finding your first geocache or you’ve already found each of the 2.1 million caches hidden around the world*, attending a Mega-Event is sure to be fun. And there’s a Mega-Event every geocacher should plan to attend at least once: the Geocaching Block Party in Seattle.
If you’re joining thousands of your geocaching friends for the Geocaching Block Party this Saturday, August 17, log your “Will Attend” and share the news through the Geocaching Facebook Event page. This year’s Block Party weekend promises more geocaching, more fun and more events. Plus, Geocaching HQ will debut new geocaching ideas for attendees to play with. Once the sun goes down on Saturday, you’ll cozy up in front of a giant outdoor movie screen for the first annual Geocaching International Film Festival (GIFF). GIFF will showcase the best videos from geocachers around the world.
Whether you attend the Geocaching Block Party this year or in the future, we’ll be here ready to swap tales and show you the latest in geocaching tips, tricks and tech. Can’t make it to Seattle? Check here to see if there is a Mega-Event near you.
*Not humanly possible, but don’t let that stop you from trying.
Geocaching Tech Update
Update now to the latest version of the Geocaching Android App. Check out the powerful new search, maps and toggle functions: http://bit.ly/GeocachingAndroid
Tony and his son’s adventures take them to find Ko Tapu James Bond Island (GC2179V) in Thailand.
Meet Tony Linberg (Username: galdrin): IT guy, geocacher, and proud father. Meet Tony’s son: 13-year-old treasure hunter, adventurer, and explorer. They’re your everyday father-son geocaching duo. But dig a little deeper and like most geocachers you’ll uncover something remarkable about their relationship and why they geocache.
In 2006, Tony’s three-year-old son was diagnosed with severe autism, meaning that he is unable to use spoken language. He also suffers from asthma, light epilepsy, and hyperactivity. This diagnosis would change the Linberg family’s life. They moved away from their friends and family in the city to a quiet house in the countryside, an environment more suitable to their son’s needs. A year after the move, the Linberg’s daughter came into the world. She was also diagnosed with autism.
Then, in 2008, Tony happened across an article about geocaching. After discovering that his son enjoyed being driven in a car, Tony had started the routine of taking long car rides with his son. They would just drive and drive for hours at a time. Tony says, “The article gave me an idea to create a goal for our next evening in the car so that the trip would have some meaning for me also and not just for my son. And this is where our life takes a new direction for me, my son, and in the end all our family. If the [autism diagnosis] started a downward spiral then the discovery of geocaching started an upward spiral that just keeps on going.”
On that first geocaching experience, Tony and his son both fell in love with geocaching – but in very different ways. Tony loved the way that finding the treasure at the end of the trail made him feel: excitement building, pulse racing, confidence growing. Tony says his son fell in love not with the find itself, but rather with the adventure of getting there: “My son has never cared about the box at the end of the trail, he only cares about the trail and what he got the day we found geocaching is the activity needed to feel good.”
Geocaching has not only changed Tony and his son’s life, but also the way in which the entire family lives, loves, and exists. Through geocaching, Tony says, “I get small glimpses of the boy behind the handicap, small moments when his hyperactivity lets go of him and he can sit down and enjoy the situation, and short moments when he grabs my arm and laughs when we have successfully logged a geocache and are walking back to the car. He almost never laughs normally, but when we are geocaching I am blessed with the sound of his laugh… Geocaching is a water balloon full of goodness that hit me, but it splashed everyone in our family.”
Tony’s son finds a geocache in their early years of geocaching.
Tony and his son are now going on 1400 finds and currently own two geocache hides. Their geocaching adventures inspired a new level of physical activity for both Tony and his son. Tony’s son started sleeping more than four hours a night and improved his balance. Perhaps most importantly, geocaching showed the Linbergs that their children’s autism diagnoses were not the final chapter. At first, the Linbergs thought that autism spectrum disorder meant that their family would never get to explore the world together. Because of his disorder, Tony’s son cannot be left alone for even short periods of time. But through geocaching, they learned that they can still lead lives full of exploration and adventure and – like all parents hope to do – they can challenge their children to try new things and discover interesting places. Tony has started calling his son his “shadow cacher” because they get to have adventures together all the time.
Today, Tony’s son is beginning to learn to communicate using an iPad. For the most part, the language is very basic (e.g. “I’m hungry” or “I need to go to the toilet”). However, there is one phrase that Tony says his son uses more than any others: “I want to go geocaching.”
For Tony and his son, geocaching is not about the numbers. 1400 finds means 1400 adventures, 1400 memories, and 1400 reasons why any parent and child – of any ability – can find a common bond through geocaching.
You can follow shadowcacher’s adventures on Tony’s blog. If you have a story you would like to be considered for the next installment of “Geocachers Care,” please email pr@geocaching.com.
Standing victoriously next to QuadLockLog. Photo by geocacher GEO-Fuchs
If you’re maintaining your month-long streak during the 31 Days of Geocaching, you’ve probably found out that you can’t always get out to a local park or natural area to earn your smiley. Many times, the find for the day is just a quick park and grab, a nano on a bench, or another lamp-post. But urban geocaching can offer much, much more, as this week’s Geocache of the Week proves. Urban geocaches can be just as amazing as those hidden deep in the woods.
QuadLockLog (GC330KJ) is not your typical urban geocache. Unlike many urban geocaches, stealth isn’t necessary. In fact, with the giant Geocaching.com sign above it, it’s next to impossible. One of the geocache creators, TravelingViking comments, “From the logs we know that several cachers found the location even before their GPS had a fix, the sign is big enough…” Luckily, the locals, including the police force, know all about this geocache. Most of them even know how to solve it. TravelingViking recalls, “Locals and police know about the cache, it already happened that police drove by and asked the cachers “what takes you so long?”
However, the one thing you trade for stealth is difficulty. The terrain rating is only a 1, but the difficulty is all the way at 5. Actually, the geocache creators thought this deserved an additional star, deeming it an unofficial D6. In order to open this geocache, you have to solve four separate puzzles. Despite the increased difficulty, geocachers love this geocache—and the 350+ favorite points and all the positive logs prove it. Geocacher LA Tiger says (translated from German), “Nothing is impossible! With a lot of patience and dexterity we opened together one lock after the other. Well done!”
Where, oh where could the geocache be? Photo courtesy of TravelingViking
QuadLockLog was actually based on another geocache, TriLockLog (GC1622A). As you can probably guess, TriLockLog requires you to solve three puzzles before being able to open the geocache. TravelingViking tells the story of how QuadLockLog came to be, “I had a chance to buy an old vending machine and Indianer Jones offered to build a challenging locking mechanism, he is good with steel (currently built his own, real U-Boat). If I remember correctly he spent about 2 days on it. On my side I spent another 3 days or so to bring all puzzles in place…”
QuadLockLog all locked up. Photo courtesy of TravelingViking
This geocache is proof that urban geocaches can be just as amazing as those we find in nature. What has been your favorite urban geocache find so far? 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.
This has been one exciting week at Geocaching HQ! Last week we accepted the 31 Days of Geocaching challenge. We vowed to find at least one geocache every day in August. And guess what…Our streak is still alive! Here is a photo recap of the first week of our 31 Days of Geocaching.
