Each week Geocaching.com delivers a geocaching adventure starter kit to your inbox. It’s the Geocaching.com Weekly Mailer. You can opt into the Weekly Mailer by visiting your Geocaching.com Profile page. Go to Your Account Details and change email preferences.
When you receive the Weekly Mailer look to your left and you’ll discover a mega list of Mega-Events. You can map out a trip to meet hundreds (or thousands) of other geocachers near your home or across the globe. There will be more Mega-Events in 2013 than ever before, so keep watching that column on your left for updates.
Enter a location near your home on your Geocaching.com profile and the weekly mailer becomes a tailor-made caching service. New caches hidden close to your location will be listed each week below the article. You could be logging a first-to-find (FTF) in no time; think of all that room to write your username on the log! You’ll also receive a list of nearby events that will give you the opportunity to talk to local cachers about geocaching, connect with your growing caching community, and learn some cool caching tips and tricks.
Watch for your Geocaching.com Weekly Mailer each week and get the most out of caching!
This week, we’re visiting some of Europe’s highest sea cliffs to find the Geocache of the Week. We may even climb as far as 1972 feet (601 meters) in our search for the difficulty 3, terrain 3 traditional geocache in County Donegal, Ireland.
Thanks to John, a.k.a. Wild Rover, Slieve League (Bunglas) (GC18RT) has brought nearly 300 adventure seekers to this secluded and stunning location since it was published in April, 2004. The extensive logs and 53 Favorite Points speak volumes for this remote geocache.
John’s goal was simply to place the cache, conscious that geocachers would aim to find a location with something unique worth seeing or doing. He says, “These cliffs, while not unknown, are quite remote for most visitors and the cache has laid as a pointer to an unforgettable area to see and enjoy.”
And what an unforgettable area it is. The tall marine cliffs create a breathtaking, and sometimes intimidating view of the Atlantic ocean. For those who love to take walks, the “One Man’s Path,” an infamous hiking path to be approached with extreme caution, provides stunning views of of the sea, the Sligo Mountains and Donegal Bay.
High winds won’t keep geocachers away
The cache container is a camouflaged box with lots of goodies for kids. Even though the 984-foot (300 meter) view down into the wild Atlantic waves can be disorientating, the cache is nestled in a safe and approachable location. Rain boots are strongly recommended in wet weather.
One geocacher who recently embarked on this adventures writes, “When planning our trip through Ireland, Reisegern and I also planned to visit some interesting caches. This one looked very interesting, so we visited Slieve League today. We didn’t expect that it would be that great! We walked along the high cliffs and watched the seagulls and the sheep. The sun was shining so we earned a sun-brand as a souvenir. We enjoyed several hours with the fantastic scenery. Thank you for guiding us here. We wouldn’t have found this great place without the cache. At the cache container everything is alright.”
Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 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@groundspeak.com.
Click to watch a rare geocaching adventure. It’s part club house, part dream destination for avid geocachers. Space Coast Geocaching Store is the only full-time walk-in geocaching store in the United States. The Space Coast Geocaching Store is the hub of activity in eastern Florida. Caching supplies, from Geocoins to cache containers, stretch wall to wall. Plus the store offers one of the largest active geocaches you’ll find in plain sight.
Cache Containers at Space Coast Geocaching Store
Dale n Barb own Space Coast Geocaching Store. The Florida geocachers also hosts events and have been nominated as Featured Geocachers of the Month on the official Geocaching.com Blog.
They have worked with parks and the geocaching community, including numerous CITO events. They are the owners of “A Cool Cache” (GC15RQB)
Subscribe to the Official Geocaching.com YouTube channel for the latest tips and tricks in geocaching. Watch the more than 50 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.
12-12-12 only happens once every hundred years, so we’re celebrating the best way we know how – by geocaching!
We’re asking you to be one of the many cachers who will join us to celebrate not only the date, but also the activity we all love. There are plenty of ways to join in: get outside and log a find, attend one of the many geocaching events being held around the world or come up with your own special celebration.
We’ll be commemorating the day with a special video project that you can be a part of. Due to our inability to be in multiple places at once (we’re working on it), we are collaborating with four vloggers (video bloggers) who will set out to create videos of their unique 12-12-12 geocaching adventures. If you want to be a part of the video too, just send in your still photos that capture how and where you spent the day.
The plan:
Twelve Geocaching.com employees, a.k.a. Lackeys, will venture out to find a special geocache together.
Four geocaching vloggers are going to celebrate the day their own way and send us their footage.
You post photos of your 12-12-12 adventure on our Facebook page (on 12-12-12, please) and you may be included in the video. Participation is highly encouraged!
On Monday, December 17, we’ll present the mash-up of all the adventures in the official Geocaching.com 12-12-12 video. The video will be featured on the Latitude 47 blog, the Geocaching.com Facebook page, and the Geocaching.com YouTube page.
Meet the vloggers:
GeocachersNYC
GeocachersNYC – A group of geocachers from New York City who run a geocaching series featuring interviews with musicians, comedians, writers, and entertainers as they go out geocaching.
Sam Osterhout, Host Dustin Nelson, Producer Erick Fix, Video & Editing
Justin D. Wright, Audio Will Clark, Motion Graphics, Website
Members of the geocaching community since 2011.
mngeocaching
mngeocaching – A prolific vlogger from Minnesota who documents his exciting geocaching adventures with a special brand of energy, passion and enthusiasm, which has earned him the nickname “The Steve Irwin of geocaching.”
Member of the geocaching community since 2008.
Geovloger
GEOvloger – A quirky vlogger from Colorado who co-hosts his show with none other than himself. His videos entertain more than just geocachers with the antics of Mike and Mikey (Mike’s off-kilter alter-ego).
Member of the geocaching community since 2005.
Pedro Santos
Pedro Santos – An extreme geocacher from Portugal whose vlogs include footage of him skydiving and snorkeling while in search of geocaches. When he’s not geocaching or taking part in other adrenaline-fueled activities, he helps maintain GeoPT.org, a geocaching adventure portal.
Member of the geocaching community since 2008.
Need inspiration for your 12-12-12 portraits? Check out what mngeocaching and GEOvloger will be doing to celebrate the day.
Stay tuned for the world premiere of “A 12-12-12 Video Featuring You.”
Please note that by posting your 12-12-12 photo(s) to our Facebook page, you are giving us the right to include them in our 12-12-12 video described above. All photos submitted remain the property and copyright of the original author. By submitting a photo for consideration, you grant Geocaching.com a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, perpetual, irrevocable, fully-paid royalty-free license and right to use, reproduce, distribute, import, broadcast, transmit, create derivative works of, and publicly display the photo(s) within the 12-12-12 video without restriction or obligation to you. You understand and agree that Geocaching.com is under no obligation to include your photo(s) in its 12-12-12 video.
The December Featured Geocacher of the Month nominees work tirelessly to shape their communities and to make them stronger. No matter where they live or how long they’ve been pursuing the hobby, these geocachers are truly dedicated to giving the sport and their communities all they’ve got.
November Featured Geocacher of the Month, balkamper13
Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for December.
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 November, Ted, a.k.a. balkamper13 was recognized for introducing and helping countless novice geocachers become caching addicts. Balkamper13 is known for donating quality homemade swag, time, and money to geocaching events. He spends numerous hours teaching his secrets and always invites new geocachers on geocaching outings and events. Ted also shares his geocaching adventures and tips on his blog, LiveLoveCache.com.
Here are your nominees for the December Featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.
Nominated by jo.b, Nik, a.k.a. ekitt10, “has been caching since August 2001, making him one of the oldest cachers in New Jersey. Since then, he has always been working to improve the geocaching community in the state. Nik is the the founder of the Central Jersey Geocaching group and co-founder of CentralJerseyGeocaching.net. He also organizes our big monthly meetup called, ‘Third Tuesday Beer and Burgers.’ Nik’s favorite phrase is ‘take pride in your hide.’ His view is that every cache owner should put the creativity and effort into their caches to make them truly worth finding. He is also an avid puzzle cache creator. Some of his puzzles are famous and notorious. Nik has held puzzle solving classes and will always help a cacher out with one of his puzzles, especially if it’s one of their first forays into the sometimes intimidating world of the ‘scary blue question mark’. For over a decade, Nik has been a pillar of the New Jersey geocaching community, but beyond tenure, he has truly made a mark on the game and helped shape it into what it is today. He works hard to make the game more accessible and to make the community larger.”
Team Gilo writes, “Michael and Bonnie, a.k.a. Team GatorOKC has been a great asset and participant in the COG (Central Oklahoma Geocachers) group since 2007. They are instrumental in organizing COG meetings and generally participating in all the social events concerning geocaching in the OKC area. They invest a lot of time and energy in placing and finding caches here in Oklahoma. They are very friendly people who have made many friends from out of state and have influenced them to become addicted to this sport that so many of us have come to love. I believe they would represent geocaching well and would fly the banner of the geocaching community high.”
Kjwx and Cumbyrocks write, “His surname says it all really … Wayne Champion is a champion – of and for geocaching. Such is his dedication to this hobby and its community. The veteran New Zealand player has multiple names to prove it: Moneydork, camocrab, and Wayne. Whichever handle you know him by, Champion has been a major player in the Australasian geocaching scene for many years. As Moneydork, he has established himself as one of our most prolific cachers, most recently celebrating his 15,000th find. As camocrab, volunteer reviewer for Geocaching.com, he has examined and evaluated New Zealand and Australian cache listings since 2006. And as Wayne, he was involved in the recovery efforts for both the Christchurch earthquakes and the Pike River coalmine tragedy. Last year Champion relocated to Australia for a job, but that didn’t stop him from returning frequently to oversee his dream of hosting the country’s first Mega-Event, GC35TTR. Champion initiated the idea while president of the New Zealand Recreational GPS Society and oversaw its planning from more than 3500km away. His efforts as chairman before and after the four-day event helped ensure glowing logs from all 501 attendees. More importantly, Champion himself is respected by his peers, fellow reviewers and leader board rivals. His own hides and events are legendary Down Under and he never hesitates to give his all to this sport.”
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured December Geocacher of the Month. A panel of Lackeys 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.com. This month only, the recognized nominees will also receive a special edition John Grisham THE RACKETEER Geocoin. We will be accepting comments for December’s award through Monday, December 17th.
Those whose nominees were not recognized here are encouraged to submit their nominations again next month. If you know an outstanding geocacher you would like to nominate to be a featured Geocacher of the Month, 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 January Geocacher of the Month must be received by Tuesday, January 8, 2013.
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.
Each week Geocaching.com delivers a geocaching adventure starter kit to your inbox. It’s the Geocaching.com Weekly Mailer. You can opt into the Weekly Mailer by visiting your Geocaching.com Profile page. Go to Your Account Details and change email preferences.
