/ Adela B /

Announcing the October Featured Geocacher of the Month

This month’s featured Geocacher of the Month may be from down under, but his caches are out of this world. Congratulations to John, a.k.a. TeamAstro for being named October’s Featured Geocacher of the Month!

October Featured Geocacher of the Month, TeamAstro

TeamAstro is recognized for creating the Solar System series of caches in South Australia. This series of caches is the world’s largest scale model of the Solar System. He is famous for his creative hides and is the proud owner of the most ‘Favorited’ cache in South Australia. John is also an important part of the South Australian geocaching community, and is known for his friendliness and eagerness in helping out new cachers.

A geocacher casting a vote says, “TeamAstro has literally traveled the length and breadth of Australia with his cache hides, inspired others to look skywards with their caches, and is completely selfless in the way he conducts himself around other cachers…He just oozes inspiration… Team Astro is an absolute force behind the caching scene in Australia.”

TeamAstro will receive a collector’s edition Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging his contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.

Thank you to the fellow October nominees and all those who supported them. The nominees not chosen as Featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Groundspeak. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.

Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon

The geocaching community is encouraged to re-nominate those who have yet to be honored as featured Geocacher of the Month. If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must meet the following requirements:

  • 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 November Featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by the end of the day on Thursday, November 8th.

Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top three candidates and post them on the Latitude 47 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.

/ Adela B /

Råbjerg Mile – GC21787 – GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – October 25, 2012

Jumping into soft sand

Ever wonder what would it be like if the ground literally started to move under your feet? Geocachers who visited the Råbjerg Mile (GC21787) EarthCache know exactly what it’s like.

Located at the northern tip of Denmark, between the Danish cities of Skagen and Frederikshavn, the Råbjerg Mile is the largest migrating sand dune in Northern Europe. It contains millions of cubic meters of sand and moves up to 18 meters (59 feet) every year. Geocachers can enjoy this migrating wonder and observe many types of birds that make it their travelling home by visiting the difficulty 1.5, terrain 2 EarthCache.

Denmark once had many shifting dunes, even larger than the Råbjerg Mile. These dunes caused many problems for the people living in their paths. So, in the mid-19th century, the state bought the land under the dunes so that it could plant dune grasses and conifers that would help stabilize it. They then left the Råbjerg Mile so that future generations would remember both the challenges and the beauty of these shifting sand dunes.

Marking sand angels

Michael, a.k.a. WAUZZZ4B has given fellow Premium Member geocachers yet another reason to see and experience nature at its best since creating the EarthCache in November of 2009.

Geocachers everywhere can learn a lot about this dune just by reading the detailed cache page. But nearly 450 Premium Members got to experience this EarthCache for what it’s worth and share their experiences by posting more than 530 breathtaking images.

With Geocaching.com’s request, Michael has agreed to temporarily grant access to basic members for an opportunity to experience and log this EarthCache.

One geocacher who logged this Premium Cache wrote, “We heard about the dune from some friends who visited many years ago. We decided that we wanted to check out this place during our visit to Denmark. Sure enough, there’s an EarthCache, which gave us even more reason to come out and log our visit. We didn’t realize how beautiful this place is. Absolutely stunning scenery and by far the biggest sand box we’ve ever been in!”

For more information on Geocaching Premium features, such as Premium Caches, visit Geocaching.com/Premium.

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.

Soft sand between toes.

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Presents: An Unstoppable Geocaching Event

[Click CC for subtitles]

[vsw id=”NG3TAIkoPzQ” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]

A little rain cannot stop geocachers from reach their goal. Even a little urban flooding won’t cancel a geocaching event. Watch this Geocaching.com video for a snapshot at the geocaching Event Cache.

Geocaching Event Cache

Nicht einmal sintflutartige Regenfälle konnten dieses Grill-Event stoppen. Sieh Dir das Video an um einen Eindruck des Geocaching Events zu bekommen. Klicke “Gefällt mir“ wenn Du ebenfalls ein Geocaching Event im Regen besucht hast.

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.

/ Eric Schudiske /

A Really Big Geocache

The ammo-can geocache & the giant-sized TB

Mitchel Zimmerman stumbled into geocaching, or rather, geocaching stumbled into Mitchel Zimmerman.

He says, “I learned about geocaching when a group of geocachers stumbled out of the woods and into our backyard. They explained what they were doing, and the idea of ‘treasure hunting’ captivated me.” And what a fateful encounter this happy accident would turn out to be for the Pennsylvanian geocaching community.

Mitchel, a.k.a. mzairboy is now the creator and owner of the world’s largest replica ammo-can geocache.

One freezing January morning in 2011, Mitchel attended a Trackable discovery flash mob event. He was there to unveil his giant-sized Travel Bug. Yes, a giant-sized Travel Bug. Mitchel recalls, “During the event, a geocacher told me that all I needed was a geocache big enough to hide my giant travel bug in. That’s when the wheels in my head started turning.”

Mitchel and his masterpiece

Over the course of a year, Mitchel secretly designed and assembled his masterpiece. He says, “Deep in the cornfields of Lancaster County, a geocache of massive proportions was being built and no one knew about it.”

When it was finally completed, Mitchel invited geocachers to “The Grand Unveiling” (GC3WYY1). On October 6, 2012, geocachers arrived for the big event. While only a few guests knew what to expect, most were completely astonished by what they encountered.

A geocacher who attended the event writes, “This was certainly an event with a difference. Just the name ‘Grand Unveiling’ captured our curiosity. Happily, we were not disappointed. This ammo-can cache must be a candidate for the Guinness Book of Records. Thanks to mzairboy for thinking outside the box, organizing, and hosting this event.”

So, what’s next for this really big cache? Mitchel plans to eventually hide it as a geocache for everyone to find. For a sneak preview of Mitchel’s creation, check out this video.

Group photo