The pictures have been sorted, assessed and judged. The winner in the Hunt for the Gold! Find THE RACKETEER’s stash has been announced. Geocachers in the U.S. gobbled up 5,000 free Grisham Geocoins which read, “John Grisham THE RACKETEER 999.9 Pure Suspense.” No more Geocoins are available, except one (more on that later).
Geocachers released the Geocoins into geocaches around the country, allowing others to enter a photo contest with the Geocoin. Hundreds of photos were submitted. The winner took home a one-ounce bar of pure gold!
Check out the winners below. Interested in winning the last John Grisham Geocoin? Use your wit and humor in the Geocaching Caption Contest. The winner will receive the John Grisham Geocoin and a barely coveted prize.
You can still discover and keep the John Grisham Geocoin moving. They’ve now spread around the world. Check out the interactive map on the Geocaching.com John Grisham page for their latest locations.
Southshore Park, also known as Dragon Park, is a popular community park in The Woodlands, Texas. Fishing is one attraction. The park is also a great place for romantic picnics and for soaking in a beautiful sunset. For geocachers, it is popular for all those reasons and more. That’s because Southshore Park is home to Beyond Here, Lay Dragons (GCH52C), a difficulty 5, terrain 5 geocache whose size has not been revealed.
According to the cache page, “On old marine charts, they would record what they knew, and on the edges of the known world, they would write ‘beyond here, lay dragons.'” In this case, just beyond Southshore Park is a lake with a famous dragon sculpture.
And what a dragon sculpture it is. While the geocache’s size has not been identified, the sculpture is sure to be noticed, even from a distance. It is normal to see birds on the head of the dragon or kayaks floating alongside the long, green creature. The dragon is so popular that a three-day long Dragon Boat Challenge is held each year at the park. One of the events includes a “best dragon-like” boat competition.
… and off they go!
To log a smiley, geocachers have to paddle their way to the dragon and follow the directions outlined on the geocache page. Over 125 geocachers have done exactly that. They also awarded this geocache 41 Favorite Points since it was hidden in October of 2003.
A group of geocachers who logged this find wrote, “LOVE THIS CACHE! It was just fun all around for us! We purchased an inflatable boat and borrowed some paddles instead of renting a kayak on the lake… We took 2 trips to the dragon: sureman & mr turdhustler were trip 1, and myself & mrs turdhustler were trip 2.
Sometimes, it’s just best to swim to the treasure
We grabbed the dragon by the tail, stared him in the face and battled him in an effort to get this cache! We did not want to leave defeated! We felt like we were in the stone-age! We made a special tool from various items we had in our vehicle. As my caching group knows, I am a picture freak, so this one was worthy of lots of pictures. Sureman (my dad) and me completed our first 5/5 cache! Turdhustlers completed another 5/5 cache to add to their list! Thank you for the milestone! What a fun cache for a Texas summer day!!!”
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@groundspeak.com.
Volunteers help define your geocaching experience. Volunteers offer their advice and guidance to geocache owners and help set the tone of the game. The volunteers number in the hundreds, speak dozens of languages, and most all love geocaching and the global community it creates. Find out more about the geocaching community volunteers, including a behind-the-scenes video. Each geocache you find or hide has the digital fingerprints of a volunteer on it. Volunteer reviewers assist geocachers by reviewing and publishing geocaches that meet specific guidelines. To learn more about how to work with your local reviewer and successfully hide a geocache, see How to Hide a Geocache and watch Basics of Hiding a Geocache. For more information about working with a reviewer, see the Geocaching Help Center. Go to the official Geocaching Facebook page to join us in saying a big ‘Thank You’ to the community’s volunteer reviewers.
Die weltweiten Volunteers der Geocaching–Community
Freiwillige helfen mit, Dein Geocaching-Erlebnis mitzugestalten. Sie stellen Cache-Ownern ihre Expertise und Anleitung zur Verfügung und helfen dadurch mit, wesentlich bei unserem Spiel mitzuwirken. Volunteers beherrschen hunderte, sprich: dutzende, Sprachen, und fast alle gehen in Geocaching und der globalen Community, die dadurch entsteht, voll und ganz auf. Deswegen finde hier mehr über die Arbeit der freiwilligen Helferinnen und Helfer der Geocaching-Gemeinschaft heraus, inklusive eines Video-Clips, der einen Blick hinter die Kulissen wirft.
Jeder Cache, den Du findest oder versteckst, trägt den digitalen Fingerabdruck eines Volunteers: Freiwillige Reviewer sorgen mit dafür, dass alle Caches, die gepublisht werden, auch den Richtlinien des Spiels entsprechen. Um zu erfahren, wie die Zusammenarbeit mit Deinen lokal zuständigen Reviewern aussieht und wie man erfolgreich einen Geocache versteckt, schau Dir die Seiten “Wie verstecke ich einen Geocache?” und “Grundlagen des Versteckens eines Geocaches” an. Für weitere Informationen zur Zusammenarbeit mit einem Reviewer, wirf bitte einen Blickin den Hilfe-Bereich.
Besuch die offizielle Facebook-Seite von Geocaching, um mit uns zusammen den Volunteers einmal ein großes “Dankeschön!” für ihre Arbeit zu sagen.
This week, we will walk through a rain forest and climb the highest ancient Mayan temple to log a difficulty 5, terrain 4 micro geocache.
Located in the Orange Walk District in Belize, Lamanai High (GC19505) is known for the incredible experience that comes with finding the geocache. Not only is the temple the highest exposed structure of 108 feet (33 meters) for miles, it also provides a breathtaking view of the jungle and the nearby river.
Lamanai, a Maya term for “submerged crocodile,” is one of the largest and longest inhabited ceremonial centers in Belize. It’s an imperial port city that includes ball courts, pyramids, and several exotic Mayan features. Hundreds of buildings have been identified in the two-square-mile area, among the tallest of them is a cleverly hidden geocache.
It’s been said that “the difficult part is getting there.” Geocachers have the option of driving over rough roads or taking an organized day boat trip. Once there, the climb up the steep steps can prove to be a challenge despite the assistance of the rope. However, the final destination at the top of the High Temple provides a spectacular 360 degree view of the archaeological reserve, the exotic animals and forest, and the river.
Since February of 2008, Thumbs Up! has drawn more than 70 geocachers to travel to this location and experience an exciting adventure to find a cleverly hidden geocache.
Preparing for the climb
The geocache logs describe detailed and fun-filled adventures that may otherwise not have taken place. One geocacher wrote, “What an amazing journey Team Muddyloon experienced traveling to get to Lamanai High! After securing transportation for an hour long ride into the interior of the Belizean jungle, we arrived at a floating dock to board our boat for the second part of our journey. We set out at 34.6 mph up the twisting and turning crocodile ridden New River. Approaching some fishermen in a canoe, our driver slowed down while the fishermen pointed out a big green snake swimming swiftly to shore. Proceeding onward, we spotted numerous birds and the ripples of crocodiles along the shoreline.
Approached by a local
Approaching the ruins we felt like we had transported back in time, making us feel as if we were Indiana Jones. As we rounded a path the High Temple came into view. We stood in awe of the beautiful structure that was built over 3000 years ago and is still standing today. Now we had the daunting task of climbing the temple to the cache. As we reached the level the cache was hidden on we quickly searched and discovered the cache, signed the log and proceeded to the top of the temple. A beautiful 360 degree panoramic view granted us our final reward. Heading back down the river we were treated to unexpected bonus of seeing the branches of the trees along the river’s edge rippling and then seeing the long strong arms of some Spider Monkeys swinging towards us. One Spider Monkey dropped into our boat for a banana and to treat us to a close up view before swinging back into the jungle and disappearing from view. Thanks for an adventure of a lifetime!”
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@groundspeak.com.
They put on events, they readily share geocaching tricks and tips and they challenge new and seasoned geocachers with their hides. They are the January Featured Geocacher of the Month Nominees.
December 2012 Featured Geocacher of the Month, Moneydork
Now it’s your turn to help select one of them as the Featured Geocacher of the Month for January.
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 December, Wayne, a.k.a. Moneydork was recognized for establishing himself as one of Australasian’s most prolific geocachers. His efforts to support the community as a Geocaching volunteer reviewer and good Samaritan have not gone unnoticed. He even managed to organize New Zealand’s very first Mega-Event from 3500 km (2175 miles) away. According to fellow geocachers, Moneydork’s hides and events are legendary Down Under and he never hesitates to give his all to the sport.
Here are your nominees for the January Featured Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.
Mr Bluesky writes, “On November 29th, Don, [a.k.a. Kirret] will have found a geocache every single day of the year, since November 2011. He has done this in three different countries and on two continents. This year alone he has found over 1,700 geocaches, including a grand haul of 100 on March the 27th. Don worked in Scotland in 2010 and 2011 and I got to meet him through geocaching. We immediately became firm friends. I had the pleasure of geocaching with him in Canada in July 2012 and then again on August 18th in Scotland. Don is very enthusiastic about geocaching and has, just by meeting people while out geocaching, gotten many involved in this hobby by informing them of what he was doing and how enjoyable it is. He mostly geocaches with his wife and son and is one of Guildford, England’s most prolific geocachers. He is out in all weather conditions with a smile on his face and a GPS in hand. I think his achievements this year is a remarkable feat.”
ttcm4geo writes, “If you visit Prescott, Arizona as we were one weekend, you will note something curious. Many of the geocaches you visit will have a note stating that ‘while you are in Prescott, you must find a geocache called Raven’s Labyrynth.’ So many geocacher said this that we finally decided to pursue it. The geocache itself is amazing, which I am sure took weeks to construct. Then we found out that the geocache owner has many similarly thought-out geocaches in the area. In fact, Prescott is known as ‘Ravenland.’ But, even more amazing is that if you email Dan, a.k.a. The Raven with a question, he promptly replies and tells you to call him. So we called him and got some assistance. He was very nice, and you can tell that his only goal is to help people enjoy geocaching. His geocaches are creative, well thought out and so much fun. He does all this work for people many of whom he will never meet. Therefore, I think he deserves this recognition.”
SuperGoober writes, “Tim, a.k.a. The Weasel is what geocaching is all about. He gives back so much more than he takes. He hosted the very first CITO in the Midwest: EIGA 2004 CEDAR RAPIDS CITO EVENT. He is an active member and Board Director for the Iowa Geocacher Organization and a volunteer for the Linn County Conservation. Tim has conducted and assisted in over 50 geocaching 101, 201 and 301 classes and workshops throughout the State of Iowa and abroad. His knowledge of the wilderness extends well beyond that of an average geocacher. He uses his extensive knowledge of the outdoors to help other geocachers by placing some very creative and educational geocaches. The Weasel has an impeccable sense as to what geocaching is all about. He realizes that cache maintenance is very necessary to ensure that geocaching is fun and that the geocache is there. He is just unstoppable.”
Comment below to tell us who you think should be the January Featured 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 January’s award through Sunday, January 20th.
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 February Geocacher of the Month must be received by Friday, February 8th.
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.
We did not want to leave defeated! We felt like we were in the stone-age! We made a special tool from various items we had in our vehicle. 
As my caching group knows, I am a picture freak, so this one was worthy of lots of pictures. Sureman (my dad) and me completed our first 5/5 cache! Turdhustlers completed another 5/5 cache to add to their list! Thank you for the milestone! What a fun cache for a Texas summer day!!!”
Volunteers help define your geocaching experience. Volunteers offer their advice and guidance to geocache owners and help set the tone of the game. The volunteers number in the hundreds, speak dozens of languages, and most all love geocaching and the global community it creates. Find out more about the 
