/ Adela B /

And the winner of the Trackable Week Story contest is…

Geocachers shared Trackable tales of adventures, challenges, and friendships. After careful consideration and deliberation, we are pleased to announce Log Dawgs as the Trackable Week Trackable story winner!

Log Dawgs shared a story about his encounter(s) with “one of the greatest pieces of geocaching local lore”: LostGuys’ FTF Trophy (TBHYTP). The FTF Trophy is a Trackable with the special mission “to be found by the champion first to finders in the Houston Area and be displayed proudly for a short time on their mantle.”

As a token of appreciation for sharing this great story, Log Dawgs will receive the newest Moun10bike Geocoin. LostGuys will also receive a Lackey Geocoin for creating such an inspiring Trackable!

Congratulations also to our two Honorable Mentions: Northwing65 and HoustonControl. Their stories show us how Trackables can intertwine with family, baseball, and the armed forces!

Visit the Trackable Week 2012 Trackable story contest page to read all the entries.

LostGuys’ FTF Trophy (TBHYTP) in all its glory.
/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching Vacation Destinations – Geocaching.com Weekly Newsletter

Let Geocaching Guide You

Let your love of geocaching guide you to your next vacation destination. Geocaching hotspots are popping up around the globe. You can explore unique destinations in a new way by attending Mega-Events or exploring official Geocaching.com GeoTours.

GeoTours are custom geocaching tours that lead geocachers on a series of interesting geocaches showcasing specific locations, like rustic Gold Country in British Columbia or find ideal bird watching locations in Florida through the Taking Flight GeoTour. More than a half dozen Geocaching.com GeoTours can be discovered throughout North America. More GeoTours are launching in the coming months.

You can also check out a hive of hundreds of geocachers and geocaching activities at a Geocaching.com Mega-Event. A Mega-Event draws more than 500 geocachers devoted to building the caching community, trading stories, and learning the latest caching trips and tricks. More than 20 Mega-Events are being planned around the world in 2013. Watch your Geocaching.com Weekly Newsletter for the latest Mega-Event listings. Subscribe to the Geocaching.com Weekly Mailer by going to email preferences under your Geocaching.com profile. See the latest geocaching tips and tricks, along with updated Mega-Events, and newly published nearby geocaches and events.

New John Grisham Trackable Promotion

Doubleday, publisher of John Grisham, invites you to discover why THE RACKETEER sets a new gold standard—even for the undisputed master of the legal thriller. The Racketeer — so entertaining, it’s a crime!

The Racketeer needs your help guiding 5,000 golden Grisham Geocoins across the U.S. THE RACKETEER Trackable adventure mirrors the book’s plot, in which ill-gained gold bars are moved from place to place. These unique THE RACKETEER golden metal geocoins are minted with a tracking code and the tag line, “999.9 Pure Suspense.”

When you find a gold Grisham Geocoin, keep it moving by placing it in another geocache. See how far it can travel to keep the mystery going! Then, upload your best Grisham Geocoin photos to the John Grisham Facebook page to be entered to win one of eleven autographed first editions of The Racketeer and a Grand Prize one-ounce bar of pure gold! Hunt for the Gold to find the Racketeer’s stash.

The Racketeer Geocoin Photo Contest is solely sponsored by The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, A Division of Random House, Inc. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States who are 18 years and older at time of entry. Entry period for the contest commences at 12:01 a.m. (EDT) on October 1, 2012 and expires at 11:59 PM (EDT) on December 15, 2012.Void where prohibited. For details and restrictions, seeContest Official Rules on the John Grisham website.

/ Adela B /

Liebesbrücke – GC2EJCE – GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – OCTOBER 4, 2012

Love bridge lock

Love locks are a romantic symbol of true love: Walk across a bridge with your sweetheart, affix a lock scrawled with your names to the structure, and then toss the key into the river below.

This tradition is said to have originated in Italy many years ago, but few bridges are as popular or as decorated with love locks as the Hohenzollern bridge in Cologne (Köln), Germany. Situated on the Liebesbrücke (GC2EJCE), or “love bridge,” geocachers have fallen in love with this difficulty 3, terrain 1.5 micro Geocache of the Week.

Fascinated by the thousands of love locks that are legally placed to add a little glitter to a bridge that is otherwise gritty and dull, Huelva decided to add a love lock for all Premium Member geocachers who love the hobby.

One geocacher writes, “I find that many premium-only caches tend to be especially creative and very unique. This one falls nothing short of that. It was almost freaky how many locks there are to be found. This was a clever hide and it blends in quite nicely with the rest of the love locks. Lots of locks, lots of love. What a wonderful idea!”

Love bridge logbook

More than 3,200 geocachers have logged a “Found it” and awarded it nearly 730 Favorite Points. With Geocaching.com’s request, Huelva has agreed to temporarily grant access to basic members for an opportunity to view and find this popular geocache.

For more information on Geocaching Premium features, such as Premium Caches, please 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

The search is on
/ Adela B /

Announcing the September Featured Geocacher of the Month

You voted and we counted. And counted. And counted. Congratulations to Stuart, a.k.a. SpongeBob CachePants for pulling in a strong 106 votes to be named September’s Featured Geocacher of the Month.

September Featured Geocacher of the Month, SpongeBob CachePants

SpongeBob CachePants is recognized 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.

One geocacher casting a vote put it, “SpongeBob CachePants gets my vote. He has done a lot for the geocaching community and his local community. His efforts in the Hatfield McCoy GeoTrail was a stellar. He brought his caching experience to help create a combination of history and locations to bring cachers together from all over the country. Not only did he recognize cachers when they attended the events, but he also sent personal e-mails to most attendees acknowledging their will attends. Now that is attention to detail.”

SpongeBob CachePants 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.

Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon

Thank you to the fellow September 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.

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 October Featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by the end of the day on Sunday, October 7th.

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.

/ Eric Schudiske /

GC77 Germany’s First Geocache – A Geocaching.com Presentation

[Click CC for Closed Captioning – Klicke auf CC für Untertitel]

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Watch this video to see the story behind the first geocache in Germany. It started a craze that’s led to a quarter million active geocaches. Back on October 2, 2000 the owner of a brand new GPS device decided to try an experiment. He hid a geocache. Ferenc loaded the coordinates and a description onto Geocaching.com. He wondered if anyone might have heard of this new GPS-powered treasure-hunt. Days and weeks passes. Ferenc says he lost interest in geocaching. Years passed, and eventually he wondered if anyone had ever found his geocache or if geocaching ever caught on in Germany. One look at the cache page answered both questions. Watch, “GC77 Germany’s First Geocache” to discover a geocache that’s been logged nearly 4000 times.

First German Geocache

The video discusses how the geocache was initially buried. Geocaches are not allowed to be buried. This historical geocache is no longer buried and complies with the guidelines

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.

 

Schau Dir dieses Video an um die Geschichte des ersten Geocaches in Deutschland kennenzulernen. Der Geocache GC77 half den Boom auszulösen, der zu bisher einer viertel Million Geocaches in Deutschland führte.

Damals, am 2. Oktober 2000, machte der Besitzer eines brandneuen GPS-Gerätes ein Experiment. Er versteckte einen Geocache. Ferenc veröffentlichte die Koordinate bei Geocaching.com. Er fragte sich, ob schon jemand von dieser neuen GPS-unterstützten Schatzsuche gehört hat. Tage und Wochen vergingen. Ferenc sagt, daß er das Interesse an Geocaching verloren hat. Jahre vergingen und irgendwann fragte er sich, ob jemand seinen Geocache gefunden hat und ob sich Geocaching in Deutschland etablieren konnte. Ein Blick auf die Cacheseite beantworte beide Fragen. Schau Dir “GC77, Deutschlands erster Geocache” an und entdecke einen Geocache, der fast 4000 mal geloggt wurde.

First German Geocache

Das Video erörtert, daß der Geocache ursprünglich vergraben war. Geocaches dürfen nicht vergraben sein. Dieser historische Geocache ist nicht mehr vergraben und entspricht den Guidelines.

Abonniere den offiziellen Geocaching.com YouTube-Kanal, um die neusten Geocaching-Tips- und Tricks zu sehen. Schau Dir über 100 Videos von Geocaching.com auf unserer Video-Seite an.