Join the International EarthCache Day celebration on October 14. Each EarthCacheteaches visitors about the playground all geocachers enjoy – the earth. An EarthCache takes adventurers to a unique site showcasing geological features. Simply discover and log an EarthCache, or attend an EarthCaching event, this Sunday to take part in the worldwide movement.
EarthCaches can reveal why a giant boulder came to rest in the middle of a prairie or how a river flows in two opposite directions in one day. Instead of finding a container at an EarthCache, geocachers learn and report their geology discovery to log a smiley.
There are now more than 14,000 active EarthCaches around the globe. Go to the official Geocaching.com Facebook page to share your International EarthCache Day experience.
If you’ve logged a fun, creative or challenging geocache, and said ‘thank you’ to the cache owner – you may already know some of our October Geocacher of the Month nominees.
Grounspeak Lackeys selected these three nominees because of their creativity, effort, and dedication to provide fellow geocachers with cache hides that are sure to get the entire community raving. All three nominees this month deliver powerful geocaching experiences through creative hides.
September Geocacher of the Month, SpongeBob CachePants
Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for October.
Write a comment at the bottom of this blog about which of these geocachers you feel should be crowned The Featured Geocacher of the Month.Last month, Stuart, a.k.a. SpongeBob CachePants took the title of September Featured Geocacher of the Month. SpongeBob CachePants was recognized for for his ability to influence and encourage geocachers around him, and for his commitment to providing quality geocaches for his community. SpongeBob CachePants is also praised for his work on the Hatfield McCoy GeoTrail Kickoff Event – a small community event that quickly became a Mega-Event.
Here are your nominees for the October Featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.
Sherry Adams writes, “Mike, a.k.a. firedog09us has spent 27 years as a career firefighter. In his spare time, which he doesn’t have much of, he enjoys geocaching. He has introduced quite a few of his friends to this also. But what is really special about Mike’s geocaching is his hides. He has some of the coolest and most creative caches in Northeast Alabama. He puts a lot of time, effort and creativity into these hides and it shows. Almost everyone that visits one will comment on how fun, unique and clever they are.”
Nominated by duncast, John, a.k.a. TeamAstro “is a prolific finder and hider of caches, and an iconic cacher from South Australia. Very approachable and friendly, his eagerness to help out the new, and frankly give a piece of his mind on other’s caches is greatly respected in the South Australian community. Astro’s Solar System series of caches is an outstanding achievement. It is a series of caches being progressively released across Australia from Adelaide that create the worlds largest scale model of the Solar System. Astro is also the proud owner of the most popular cache in SA based on Favorite Points. Astro La Vista, Baby!”
Brandon.helm11 explains, “Whether it’s a Christmas tree, using eleven empty micro cache containers as ornaments and the twelfth as the log, or by honoring a small town by preserving local history by sharing his locations with other cachers and writing up a wonderful and informative description about each hide, Gene, a.k.a. Yowza-PA has inspired me to be creative in my own hides. Yowza-PA has also been a great advocate for this wonderful game offering tips, tricks, and techniques to others and making the experience more memorable for all of us who know his unforgettable hides.”
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured October 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. We will be accepting comments for October’s award through Sunday, October 21st.
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.comand 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 November Geocacher of the Month must be received by Monday, November 5th.
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 Geocache of the Week takes us around the globe and sneaks us a peek at a geocaching adventure that we may otherwise never explore. The Aare Gorge | Aareschlucht | Gorges de l’Aar (GC1YH51) EarthCache in Switzerland delivers on adventure – big time.
Located between the villages of Meiringen and Innertkirchen, the river Aare is also home to an EarthCache that’s been around since September 2009. Geocachers can explore the beauty of a 1,400 meter (4,593 feet) long and 180 meter (590 feet) deep gorge.
The gorge has been accessible for more than 100 years by safe paths and tunnels. Walking through the gorge is a unique way to experience raw nature. Gigantic rocks, consisting mainly of ancient hard limestone and the river’s light green colors mesmerize nature lovers and geocachers alike.
Exploring the path over the river
Since ernies set up this EarthCache three years ago, nearly 300 geocachers have logged a smiley, shared an incredible 1,149 images, and awarded it 48 Favorite Points.
One geocacher who logged this EarthCache writes, “It’s unbelievable what mother nature has created. We saw the quieter side of the gorge. The water was almost still, the rocks so tall and intimidating. What an incredible experience. We would have never visited this place if it weren’t for this cache. Thank you ernies for bringing us to this amazing place.”
International EarthCache Day logo
There are nearly 15,000 active EarthCaches. At least one can be found on every continent. Since 2004, EarthCaches have taken us on educational adventures that you may otherwise never have learned. Sunday, October 14, 2012 marks the 6th annual International EarthCache Day. We invite you to go out and explore the world by visiting an EarthCache site. For more information about EarthCaches, check out the Geocaching.com Presents – EarthCaches video or visit the Geological Society of America (GSA).
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.
“I think the geocache ‘Fountain of Youth’ is this way? — Wait, the coords say we already found it.” Devise your most creative caption for this picture of two cute geocachers out on the hunt. You could even win a ‘barely coveted prize’ in the 36th Geocaching.com Caption Contest. This picture was originally posted on the official Geocaching.com Facebook page. Special thanks to geocacher Rainbow Brubaker-Gass for use of the picture.
Submit your caption by clicking on “Comments” below. Please include your Geocaching.com username in all entries. Then, explore the captions other geocachers have posted.
Barely coveted prize
Try to ‘influence’ the voting process (*nudge*nudge*). “Like” the caption that you think should win. If you think your caption should win, convince your fellow geocachers, your friends, and family to “like” your caption. Lackeys vote from the top finalists to decide the winner of the contest.
The winner receives this month’s ‘barely coveted prize.’ The prize is a selection of Trackables from the desk of the author of this blog.
Click on the image to discover the winner of this Geocaching.com Caption Contest
Lackeys voted to award the winner of the 35th Geocaching.com Caption Contest a barely coveted prize. Click on the image to your right to read the winning caption of that contest.
Explore all the winning captions by checking out all the Geocaching.com Caption Contests. If you have suggestions for Geocaching.com Caption Contest photos, send a message and the image to pr@groundspeak.com.
Spend less time planning and more time playing! Explore the 10 reasons to become a Premium Member on Geocaching.com. It costs as little as a cup of coffee a month and supports the activity you love. Premium Members unlock a suite of features like advanced search (Pocket Queries), have VIP access to Premium Member only caches, and even receive instant notifications of new cache placements.
Subscribe to the Official Geocaching.com YouTube channel for the latest tips and tricks in geocaching. Watch the more than 100 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.
