/ Adela B /

Announcing the July Featured Geocacher of the Month

The July featured Geocacher of the Month took matters regarding Trackables in his own hands, spiced things up, and brought a community closer together.

July Featured Geocacher of the Month, De Wijngemachtigde

Congratulations to De Wijngemachtigde for being named July’s Featured Geocacher of the Month!

Guus, a.k.a. De Wijngemachtigde, is recognized for encouraging a record number of geocachers across the Netherlands to participate in Geocoin races.

His creative approach to get the community to put their Trackables in circulation, instead of keeping them at home, allowed the coins to travel across all 415 municipalities of the Netherlands.

As one geocacher put it, “Not only has he [De Wijngemachtigde] put and continues to put a lot of effort in the Dutch Geocoin race, he also frequently gives away Geocoins to other cachers through quizzes and sweepstakes. These initiatives really create a very positive vibe for geocaching in the Netherlands and beyond!”

De Wijngemachtigde 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 July 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: Please include your name, the name of your nominee, their username, at least one picture of the nominee and description (in 500 or fewer 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 August featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by the end of the day on Friday, August 10th.

Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top 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

Taal Volcano – GC1GJ6N -GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – August 6, 2012

Enjoying the view from the top of the volcano

Geocachers will need to travel by boat and on horseback to get to the Geocache of the Week.

Taal Volcano (GC1GJ6N) is part of a chain of volcanoes located on the western side of the island of Luzon in the Philippines.

The difficulty 5, terrain 5  EarthCache was placed by Team1337 in late September of 2008. Since then, it has attracted a number of geocachers to journey out to the volcanic island to claim a smiley.

Taal Volcano presents one of the most charming and picturesque views and is one of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines, with its last eruption occurring in 1977.

Getting to Taal Volcano on horseback

Geocachers who make the trip to this volcano often dive into Crater Lake – a lake inside the volcano’s crater that holds sulfuric content – to celebrate their trip.

A geocacher who embarked on this journey writes, “Unbelievable, amazing, what a trip and very beautiful view!  It was a real adventure to reach the rim of the crater. I used a boat and I walked to the rim of the crater. The questions were a real challenge, but I did it! Thanks a lot for this EarthCache.”

The 112 images on the cache page have done a fantastic job revealing the volcano’s beauty and capturing geocachers’ experiences.

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.

Taking a dip in Crater Lake
/ Eric Schudiske /

Dog Finds Geocache

This is a 10 second video that may change how you train your dog. Geocacher of the Month, coast2coast2coast, shared this video of his dog Stewie, going into the final push for a geocache and coming out with the cache container.

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Dog Finds Geocache

Subscribe to the official Geocaching.com YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos about the evolving world of geocaching. Watch the more than 75 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocacher Competes in the 2012 Olympics

João Costa username: Neverfail1

Portuguese Olympian João Costa embodies his Geocaching.com username. It’s “Neverfail1” That tenacity leads João to find an average of 2.5 geocaches day. He joined Geocaching.com in April of 2011 and has accumulated more than 1200 finds. The spirit of “never fail” also led João to the 2012 Summer Games in London. These are his fourth Olympic games. The Portuguese Air Force Sergeant competes in Shooting.

João and Arne

He ranked 7th in his first event: Men’s 10m Air Pistol. And he’s not the only geocacher at the Olympic Games. João says, “My coach is and I know two more shooters, I’m sure there are more, but we all aim to have good results in the Olympic Games, and geocaching goes to a second level.”

Geocaching took awhile to hook João. He says, “A friend was in my car and said, ‘Stop, stop I want to go there.’ I asked, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I’m looking for something.’ He explained what geocaching was, but then I made fun of him. A few months later it was the same thing, but then I found the cache and it was a very nice one. The switch turned on and I was infected.”

João at the Olympic shooting range at the Royal Artillery Barracks

João quickly became part of the tight-knit Portuguese  geocaching community. His wife encouraged his geocaching outings. João says, “My wife loves geocaching as I get off the sofa and go walking or go hiking.”

He attended the Mega-Event 12 years Geocaching – Portugal in May. That’s where he met  Geocaching.com Lackey Arne Moen, username RandolphAgarn – and shared his story about competing in the Olympic Games.

You still have time to root on your fellow geocacher. Leave a message below in comments for João. João’s competing in his final Olympic event, the Men’s 50m Pistol, on Sunday August 5th.

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching on the River – Geocaching.com Presents

[Click CC for English, French, Italian, Bulgarian and Czech subtitles]

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Watch this video to float along with a group of Czech geocachers as they navigate through fast-moving water on the river, and navigate to geocaches on shore. River geocaching Event Caches take adventures on a unique journey – often involving camping, cooking over a bonfire, and of course caching. This annual river caching event in the Czech Republic grows each year. Watch the video to see why, and gather ideas for your own river caching Event Cache in your part of the world.

Click the image to watch the Geocaching on the River video
Click the image to watch the Geocaching on the River video

Subscribe to the official Geocaching.com YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos about the evolving world of geocaching. Watch the more than 50 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.