March 20, 2013 / Derek H /

Don’t Forget to Bring Your Brain — Antron’s Puzzle Box #2 (GC40M7T) — Geocache of the Week

pbOCow6 — Antron’s Puzzle Box #2. Photo by Thibaud Oost

The geocache description reads, “No need for screwdrivers, hammers or explosives to open this box,” but after taking a look at this puzzle box, we’re not so sure. Some geocaches show you amazing vistas, others take you on subterranean adventures, and some—like this difficulty 4, terrain 1.5 geocache—put your brain to work. Antron’s Puzzle Box #2 (GC40M7T) may be hidden in plain sight, but actually opening the geocache is where the challenge lies.

“I will not divulge what took longer. The drive from Vereeniging, the cracking of the combination lock code or opening of the Puzzle box, but it was a concerted effort between Mrvan & RumJack working as a tag team to crack this one,” said geocacher Avanclan in their log.

This geocache is guarded by a combination lock, several locking mechanisms, a secret code and a particular series of steps. When asked about creating these puzzle boxes, the geocache creator Antron said, “both Puzzle boxes in Parys (GC3R5ER and GC40M7T) took us about three months each to design and construct. It took about ten prototypes before the final product was ready for placement. Our ‘self-inflicted’ goal is to try and not place a cache if it is not as good or even better than our previous cache.”

This geocache has only been active for a few months, but has already garnered much praise and 11 Favorite Points (as of this writing). One look at the logbook and you can see just how much fun a well-made puzzlebox geocache can be. “Contender for the best cache we’ve done so far. Ever. Definitely the longest one. Took us around 45 minutes to fight a solution out of the thing. So frustrating, and yet such a feeling of achievement when we finally got to sign the logbook! Thanks so much for this cache, amazing experience,” wrote Geogamy & Sheldor, who has 1,341 finds. According to the geocache creator Antron, “the positive logs and e-mails we receive is all the reward that one can ask for.”

Des14, Span Marlin and The Grove Clan trying to figure out the puzzle. Photo by geocacher Span Marlin

Geocache containers come in all shapes, sizes and difficulty. We always enjoy seeing geocaches that have an incredible amount of craftsmanship put into them. What geocache containers have you seen that have blown your mind?

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.

March 20, 2013 / Eric Schudiske /

The Weather Channel Partners with Geocaching to Present “Prospectors”

Skip the extreme climates of prospecting and find the gems hidden on weather.com for your chance to win $3,000! Starting March 20, visit The Prospectors Facebook Page to get your daily clue to find the hidden gem and enter in the Find the Gem Sweepstakes.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. U.S. Only. Ends 3/26/13. Official Rules.

Watch the Prospectors preview

March 18, 2013 / Eric Schudiske /

A Mother and Son Geocaching Bond

The post on the Geocaching Facebook page started with “My 28 yr old son (who has Down Syndrome) is my best geo-buddy!” The post from Peggy Caton, PeGC56, instantly struck the heart of geocaching buddies sharing an adventure. They search for ‘hidden-treasure’ only find the real treasure right next to them the whole way.

Peggy answers a few questions about geocaching, and about her best bud and son Brian who goes by the geocaching name CoolGuy84.

How did you discover geocaching?

I discovered it when a couple of my Facebook friends posted about going geocaching last summer. I Googled it instead of asking! I originally didn’t even think to include Brian (CoolGuy84’s real name—and BTW he made up his own geo-name), my younger son and his gf had heard of it before and had been wanting to try it, so the 3 of us set out one evening and only found 2 of the 5 we looked for, but were hooked none the less.

What attracted you to geocaching as a mother and son activity?

We live in a small Missouri town (suburb of KC) and were surprised to find so many geocaches in Raytown—Brian eventually joined us for a few adventures as the others of us got the hang of caching. My other son and his girlfriend lost the fever somewhat between work and life, but Brian was hooked. Its kind of a long story, but in the previous year and a half my family had quite a few losses. We had evolved into sad depressed lumps. Once we discovered geocaching suddenly we were out almost everyday. We went hiking on the trails; we ran up and down hills; climbed rocks and got fresh air and sunshine! I know it sounds sappy but it was kind of a miracle in our lives.

What’s your advice about geocaching to others with family members who have Down Syndrome?

The only advice I have is to not hesitate to include them! Depending on their age there are a variety of ways they can participate. Younger kids can just enjoy the family time and the exercise and fresh air (and eventually become experts). Kids with Down Syndrome tend to be very sedate in nature and would be happy sitting; but then tend to be overweight also. There’s all kinds of therapeutic benefits too—it’s a gross motor activity, fine motor activity (getting to the containers; opening containers; digging through the swag and picking out what you want), it’s a cognitive activity—putting the pieces of the puzzle together to locate the cache. And it also has all the same benefits for them as with typical kids—learning about nature (we saw 2 deer in the woods closeup last weekend and Brian was in awe); traveling, learning geography, history (we’ve done several mystery caches that have taught both of us some interesting history facts). With older kids/adults like Brian it gives them quite a sense of accomplishment, pride and self-confidence. He is SO excited about all of them whether they are quick Park and Grab geocaches (P&Gs) (which he does love and doesn’t usually need my help at all) or if we’re hiking through the woods. Most of all its just plain fun for everyone and can help build a close family bond and hobby.

You describe “CoolGuy84” as a freak for geocaching. What excites him so much about the activity?

He just gets excited when he figures out where the caches are; he actually does better than me at actually finding the containers. I can read the maps/GPS like a champ and I can drive us there, but I find that he doesn’t have preconceived ideas about what a container should look like or where it should be hidden so he just looks everywhere! Even if I say “ehhh no its probably not there, I don’t know how they could hide one there” then BAM he has it found. He’s always so proud of himself and takes ALL the credit for finding it. Here is our caching chant: ME: “I drive the car, I read the map, you find the cache!! What do we call that?” BRIAN: “ TEAMWORK!!!”

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A special thanks to Peggy for sharing the story from all of us at Geocaching HQ. Leave a comment for Peggy and Brian below.

March 15, 2013 / Eric Schudiske /

March Featured Geocacher of the Month Nominees – Add Your Comments

The nominees for the March Featured Geocacher of the Month award are innovators, creators and co-conspirators with other geocachers. They’re all friendly and welcoming to geocachers from Germany, America, Spain and all over the world. Each is already a winner and will receive a prize package from Geocaching HQ.

louwtjievdw: Featured Geocacher of the Month for February

Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for March.

Write a comment at the bottom of this blog about which of these geocachers you feel should be awarded the featured Geocacher of the Month title.

In February, Uncle Louwtjie, aka louwtjievdw, was named the Featured Geocacher of the Month. He’s known in the South African geocaching community as a creative geocache hider. He’s built a reputation as a geocacher who’s as quick to maintain his geocache hides as he is to make friends with new geocachers. He’s also known for friendly advice, leaving great logs on geocaches he’s found and having a cup of coffee ready for geocachers at his home.

Here are your nominees for the March featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.

moenk

@mic nominated moenk who’s been geocaching since 2003. @mic says, “He (moenk) is the inventor of the very popular “Dönerstag“, an event which is celebrated in more than hundred locations worldwide on the same day. Furthermore, he created the biggest geocaching forum in Germany, Geoclub.de. And last but not least, he was producing a very famous podcast about geocaching called, “Cachetalk.” Another nominee wrote, “Moenk fosters the community towards a healthy growth, a responsible handling of nature and preserving the meaning and fun of geocaching. The Geocacher of the Month is a worthy reward for the energy, the
impetus and the style with which he supports the geocaching community.”

WVTim

wallmeister22601 writes, “Tim is an outstanding geocacher who has inspired many a person with his unique and unusual geocaches. His caches are what inspired me to start hiding caches of my own and to continue geocaching. His caches draw people from other states that come to his home state of West Virginia specifically to search for the wonderful and creative WVTim caches. He has the number one favorite physical traditional cache in the state of Virginia as well.

Tim is one of the most responsible geocache owners that I know. If any of his caches are in need of attention he will make it a point to repair them or replace them as quickly as he can. In short Tim in my opinion is a pillar of the geocaching community that inspires, encourages, educates and gives back so much.”

Chrismaxx

Christmaxx - nominated as Featured Geocacher of the Month — Christmaxx – nominated as Featured Geocacher of the Month

MallorcaClaudia writes, “They have placed a lot of geocaches in Majorca [including one featured as the Geocache of the Week with more than 350 favorite Points] and all of them are fantastic ones with special places, great views and nice trips. When I met them one year ago on a geocaching event I found out that they are also very friendly and nice people. They have given me a lot of advice on how to place geocaches and how to do the maintenance. For me they have become very good friends and for me the chrismaxx team is an idol.”

Comment below to tell us who you think should be the February featured Geocacher of the Month. A panel of folks from Geocaching HQ will use your comments to help decide which geocacher is awarded the honor. Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive an exclusive special edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat, a Geocacher of the Month profile icon and a certificate acknowledging their contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching. We will be accepting comments for March’s award through Sunday, April 7.

If your nominee wasn’t recognized here, please submit your nominations again next month. We’re always looking for the next featured Geocacher of the Month. To nominate someone, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com and include the following information:

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 Geocacher of the Month

Please inform your nominee that you’ve submitted them for the award.

Nominations for the next Geocacher of the Month should be received by Monday, April 8.

Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so we might learn from each other.

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