This April 1st begins a new day in your geocaching life. Unlock new geocaching moves that will dramatically increase your find count, give you a leg up on FTFs, and have you signing more TFTCs. From the makers of the (not very) popular Geocaching.com Hamster videos, watch Cachers of Steel: Cachin’s the Fashion.
Discover the all-new fitness craze that’s inspired by the world’s favorite outdoor hobby. You’ll learn new tricks of the trade with Cachers of Steel that include Ammo Can Deadlifts and Muggle Ducking, even watch an exclusive interview with Signal! This workout is guaranteed to have you FTFing, TFTCing, using your TOTTs like a pro—you’ll never forget to BYOP again!
Sometimes nature takes a bite out of geocaches. Cache containers end up battered by weather or broken from regular use. Does one of your geocaches need a new logbook, is the container cracked, or did the pen or pencil in the cache disappear? The changing of the seasons is a perfectly timed reminder to check your caches.
And geocache maintenance is not just for geocache owners. Courteous geocachers often help with cache maintenance, which helps increase the quality of the game for all. It’s easy. You simply bring additional supplies such as an extra geocache container, swag, logbooks, and pens on your geocaching adventures. That way you’re prepared to help out another geocacher by fixing a cache that needs maintenance on the spot.
If you go geocaching on the spur of the moment and don’t have supplies to fix up a cache that needs maintenance, visit Geocaching.com and report a ‘Needs Maintenance‘ log on the cache page.
If you are a geocache owner here are three ways to help make geocache maintenance a breeze:
1. Place a cache that is durable and requires little or no upkeep
2. Periodically check on your cache both in person and via the cache page to see if there are any issues
3. If you see a ‘Needs Maintenance’ log on the cache page, fix the cache and post an ‘Owner Maintenance’ log
Many people know February’s Featured Geocacher of the Month for his ability to entertain as a Comedy Magician. To Vancouver geocachers, as well as many other geocachers, magicman65 is recognized for his ability to engage the geocaching community with creativity, commitment, involvement, stewardship, and encouragement.
Congratulations to magicman65 for pulling in a magical 65 votes to be nominated as the February Featured Geocacher of the Month. We greatly appreciate your positive contribution to the geocaching community.
February Featured Geocacher of the Month, magicman65
Magicman65 is the Vice President of the BC Geocaching Association as well as an active member of the Mid Island Geocaching Association and the Vancouver Island Geocaching Association. In addition, Magicman65 teaches geocaching and hides many creative caches.
According to one geocacher, “magicman65 sets an example to other cachers- he carries a knapsack with him filled with logbooks, plastic baggies, and swag. When he comes across a cache that needs maintenance, he will fix it right there on the spot and then he will send a private message to the cache owner informing him/her that the cache is fixed, saving others a trip.”
Magicman65 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. Those nominees not chosen as the featured Geocacher of the Month 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 renominate those who have yet to be honored as featured Geocacher of the Month.
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.
Featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin
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 March featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by April 1oth.
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.
A remote geocache perches along the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It’s hidden on the coast of Turkey.
But finding “Afkule Monastery” (GC1RM77) does more than reward cachers with a smiley; it transports treasure-hunting adventurers a thousand years in the past.
The cache is located among the isolated ruins of a monastery. The buildings, including structures carved into the rock face, date back to the 11th century.
The difficulty 2, terrain 3 traditional cache was hidden by barmbek in 2009.
Cache and log from "Afkule Monastery"
Geocacher Schlauchen logged the cache last year. She emailed Geocaching.com to suggest “Afkule Monastery” as the Geocache of the Week. She says the cache rates as her favorite find in 2011. She writes, “You climb down a very steep hill and all of a sudden you’re out of the forest and have a breathtaking view of the old monastery and the sea, which is really as blue as it’s shown in the cache listing.” She says another element adds to the allure of this cache, “Of course there’s also the famous ‘usual muggle tourists don’t come here’ feeling.”
View near cache locationView near the cache location
Just over 50 people have logged smileys on the cache, averaging about two finds a month. It’s received 12 Favorites Points.
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’ d 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.
There’s a one-click solution to discovering some of the most interesting geocaches anywhere in the world. Premium Members can click the blue ribbon on their search results page and presto magic, the search results are sorted by Favorite Points! This is an easy way to instantly see which geocaches leave your fellow geocachers in awe. The one thing you can say for certain is that the quality of the caching experience is likely to be far above average.
Geocaches might earn a Favorite Point if the location is really interesting or the container and hiding place impress cachers with their originality. Some geocaches have racked up hundreds of Favorite Points (some have even earned more than a thousand). Searching by Favorite Points also offers a big time-saving advantage, since you won’t have to sort through page after page of search results to find the best caches in an area.
Premium Members earn one Favorite Point for every ten geocaches that are found. They can reward their points to any cache they have logged as found. Basic Members who upgrade to Premium Membership receive Favorite Points accordingly to their past finds.
To start earning, rewarding, and sorting by Favorite Points, upgrade to Premium Membership for as little as $2.50 per month!
