/ Eric Schudiske /

Is that a Geocacher in Your Rear View Mirror?

By MissJenn and RCA777

Is that a geocacher in your rear view mirror?

Geocachers might be easier to spot in Ontario, Canada than anywhere else on earth. The province approved the world’s first official Geocaching.com branded license plate.

A Geocaching.com license plate was one of the attractions at the 2012 Geocaching Block Party. It was proudly showcased in the “Geocaching Museum.” It rested among other unique items from the history of geocaching. Exhibits included the world’s first geocoin, a log book from an original Project A.P.E. cache and a Travel Bug that spent some time on the International Space Station.

These unique license plates (which also feature a “GC” license plate number) are now available in Ontario, Canada. Local geocacher Roy  Alexander aka RCA777 spearheaded the initiative.

Geocaching Museum exhibit

Roy says, “The Ontario government have offered graphic license plates with logos of professional sports teams for a few years. The graphic license plate program expanded and other organizations were also beginning to offer graphic license plates. I was certain that geocachers in Ontario would appreciate their own geocaching license plate … and the Ontario Geocaching.com License Plate Project was born”.

After contacting Geocaching.com and the Ontario government to confirm the process and work through the details, Roy reached out to the Ontario geocaching community for their support.  Roy is also an active community member within his local Central Ontario Geocachers  group (COG). Through monthly events and their annual Mega-Event, COG spread the word of the project across the province. Other regional groups also helped to spread the word, echoing the message of the project within their community groups and discussion forums.

Living room full of license plates

To keep everyone informed, Roy created a Driven to Geocache website as well as an Ontario license plate Facebook group.

Roy explains “The Ontario government required a bulk order of 200 sets of plates before they could process our application to the graphic license plate program.  After a year of promoting the project, there were commitments for all 200 sets of plates. The government fee for the new plates was collected from everyone and the order was placed.  After the plates were manufactured, they were shipped to me for distribution. The living room floor was quite a sight for a few days!”

At the Geocaching Block Party, Geocaching.com received special delivery of their own license plate from Roy.  As the Lily Pad is located at Latitude 47 (hence the name of our blog), it seemed appropriate that our license plate would be 01GC47.

RCA777

Geocaching.com branded license plates are now available to all Ontario residents through the local Service Ontario offices, who handle driver and vehicle licensing.

Some tips for success:

  1. Make sure you understand  all the requirements from your official agency.
  2. Ask Geocaching.com for official permission to use the logo.
  3. Early on, agree on a foolproof way to allocate license plate numbers within your group.  The first numbers (01, 02, 03…) and the doubles (77, 99, etc.) will most likely be very popular.
  4. Create an easy way for group members to communicate with one another.
/ Eric Schudiske /

The Weekly Mailer: Working for You

Your Caching Concierge – Delivered

Each week Geocaching.com delivers a geocaching adventure starter kit to your inbox. It’s the Geocaching.com Weekly Mailer. You can opt into the Weekly Mailer by visiting your Geocaching.com Profile page. Go to Your Account Details and change email preferences.

When you receive the Weekly Mailer look to your left and you’ll discover a mega list of Mega-Events. You can map out a trip to meet hundreds (or thousands) of other geocachers near your home or across the globe. There will be more Mega-Events in 2013 than ever before, so keep watching that column on your left for updates.

Enter a location near your home on your Geocaching.com profile and the weekly mailer becomes a tailor-made caching service. New caches hidden close to your location will be listed each week below the article. You could be logging a first-to-find (FTF) in no time; think of all that room to write your username on the log! You’ll also receive a list of nearby events that will give you the opportunity to talk to local cachers about geocaching, connect with your growing caching community, and learn some cool caching tips and tricks.

Watch for your Geocaching.com Weekly Mailer each week and get the most out of caching!

/ Adela B

Slieve League (Bunglas) – GCJ8RT – GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – December 13, 2012

At the peak of Slieve League

This week, we’re visiting some of Europe’s highest sea cliffs to find the Geocache of the Week. We may even climb as far as 1972 feet (601 meters) in our search for the difficulty 3, terrain 3 traditional geocache in County Donegal, Ireland.

Thanks to John, a.k.a. Wild Rover, Slieve League (Bunglas) (GC18RT) has brought nearly 300 adventure seekers to this secluded and stunning location since it was published in April, 2004. The extensive logs and 53 Favorite Points speak volumes for this remote geocache.

John’s goal was simply to place the cache, conscious that geocachers would aim to find a location with something unique worth seeing or doing. He says, “These cliffs, while not unknown, are quite remote for most visitors and the cache has laid as a pointer to an unforgettable area to see and enjoy.”

And what an unforgettable area it is. The tall marine cliffs create a breathtaking, and sometimes intimidating view of the Atlantic ocean. For those who love to take walks, the “One Man’s Path,” an infamous hiking path to be approached with extreme caution, provides stunning views of of the sea, the Sligo Mountains and Donegal Bay.

High winds won’t keep geocachers away

The cache container is a camouflaged box with lots of goodies for kids. Even though the 984-foot (300 meter) view down into the wild Atlantic waves can be disorientating, the cache is nestled in a safe and approachable location. Rain boots are strongly recommended in wet weather.

One geocacher who recently embarked on this adventures writes, “When planning our trip through Ireland, Reisegern and I also planned to visit some interesting caches. This one looked very interesting, so we visited Slieve League today. We didn’t expect that it would be that great! We walked along the high cliffs and watched the seagulls and the sheep. The sun was shining so we earned a sun-brand as a souvenir. We enjoyed several hours with the fantastic scenery. Thank you for guiding us here. We wouldn’t have found this great place without the cache. At the cache container everything is alright.”

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.

A brave Trackable near the cache site
/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Presents: Space Coast Geocaching Store

[Click CC for Subtitles]

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Click to watch a rare geocaching adventure. It’s part club house, part dream destination for avid geocachers. Space Coast Geocaching Store is the only full-time walk-in geocaching store in the United States. The Space Coast Geocaching Store is the hub of activity in eastern Florida. Caching supplies, from Geocoins to cache containers, stretch wall to wall. Plus the store offers one of the largest active geocaches you’ll find in plain sight.

Cache Containers at Space Coast Geocaching Store

Dale n Barb own Space Coast Geocaching Store. The Florida geocachers also hosts events and have been nominated as Featured Geocachers of the Month on the official Geocaching.com Blog.

They have worked with parks and the geocaching community, including numerous CITO events.  They are the owners of “A Cool Cache” (GC15RQB)

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.

 

/ Adela B /

A 12-12-12 Video Featuring You!

Signal, getting his picture taken

12-12-12 only happens once every hundred years, so we’re celebrating the best way we know how – by geocaching!

We’re asking you to be one of the many cachers who will join us to celebrate not only the date, but also the activity we all love. There are plenty of ways to join in: get outside and log a find, attend one of the many geocaching events being held around the world or come up with your own special celebration.

We’ll be commemorating the day with a special video project that you can be a part of. Due to our inability to be in multiple places at once (we’re working on it), we are collaborating with four vloggers (video bloggers) who will set out to create videos of their unique 12-12-12 geocaching adventures. If you want to be a part of the video too, just send in your still photos that capture how and where you spent the day.

The plan:

  • Twelve Geocaching.com employees, a.k.a. Lackeys, will venture out to find a special geocache together.
  • Four geocaching vloggers are going to celebrate the day their own way and send us their footage.
  • You post photos of your 12-12-12 adventure on our Facebook page (on 12-12-12, please) and you may be included in the video. Participation is highly encouraged!

On Monday, December 17, we’ll present the mash-up of all the adventures in the official Geocaching.com 12-12-12 video. The video will be featured on the Latitude 47 blog, the Geocaching.com Facebook page, and the Geocaching.com YouTube page.

Meet the vloggers:

GeocachersNYC

GeocachersNYC – A group of geocachers from New York City who run a geocaching series featuring interviews with musicians, comedians, writers, and entertainers as they go out geocaching.

Sam Osterhout, Host     Dustin Nelson, Producer     Erick Fix, Video & Editing

Justin D. Wright, Audio     Will Clark, Motion Graphics, Website

Members of the geocaching community since 2011.

 

mngeocaching

mngeocaching – A prolific vlogger from Minnesota who documents his exciting geocaching adventures with a special brand of energy, passion and enthusiasm, which has earned him the nickname “The Steve Irwin of geocaching.”

Member of the geocaching community since 2008.

 

 

 

Geovloger

GEOvloger – A quirky vlogger from Colorado who co-hosts his show with none other than himself. His videos entertain more than just geocachers with the antics of Mike and Mikey (Mike’s off-kilter alter-ego).

Member of the geocaching community since 2005.

 

 

 

Pedro Santos

Pedro Santos – An extreme geocacher from Portugal whose  vlogs include footage of him skydiving and snorkeling while in search of geocaches. When he’s not geocaching or taking part in other adrenaline-fueled activities, he helps maintain GeoPT.org, a geocaching adventure portal.

Member of the geocaching community since 2008.

 

 

 

Need inspiration for your 12-12-12 portraits? Check out what mngeocaching and GEOvloger will be doing to celebrate the day.

Stay tuned for the world premiere of “A 12-12-12 Video Featuring You.”

Please note that by posting your 12-12-12 photo(s) to our Facebook page, you are giving us the right to include them in our 12-12-12 video described above. All photos submitted remain the property and copyright of the original author. By submitting a photo for consideration, you grant Geocaching.com a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, perpetual, irrevocable, fully-paid royalty-free license and right to use, reproduce, distribute, import, broadcast, transmit, create derivative works of, and publicly display the photo(s) within the 12-12-12 video without restriction or obligation to you. You understand and agree that Geocaching.com is under no obligation to include your photo(s) in its 12-12-12 video.