/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching with Zorro – A Literary Challenge

Zorro makes an appearance at a geocaching event

Sometimes geocaching offers much more than a treasure hunting adventure at the intersection of a certain of latitude and longitude. The Long Beach Public Library Foundation in California, USA is tapping into the power of geocaching to encourage kids and adults to crack open the pages of a library book.

Geocaching is now part of an annual event called, “Long Beach Reads One Book.” The book selected this year is Zorro by Isabel Allende.  Di LaPlume with the foundation says, “For the first time ever, we are adding geocaching to the lineup [of activities for the event]. For March, we’ve hidden a series of six Zorro-related caches in Long Beach. They are what I would describe as “mini” Multi-Caches. Each cache has its own theme that is related to the story of Zorro.” All the geocache descriptions are in English and Spanish. One of the Zorro-themed geocaches even leads geocachers into a library.

Zorro cache container
Zorro library cache

LaPlume says the Library Foundation hopes the Zorro-themed geocaches promote literacy,  encourage people to get outside, learn more about the book, and have fun.

Geocachers are given some incentive to find more than just one of the caches. LaPlume says, “During the month of March, anybody who finds all six caches can enter to win a special Zorro prize.”

So far the caches have been logged dozens of times. Geocachers in the Long Beach, California area still have until the end of March to discover all the caches and earn an additional prize. But the real prize might be that snapping open a geocache leads to more people opening books.

 

/ Adela B /

Geocaching for a Cause: From Germany to London

German geocachers travel to the UK for 12 hours of caching with locals

A group of German geocachers packed more than their GPS devices on a recent geocaching adventure to the UK.  They also packed good intentions. Their epic international caching trip doubled as a fundraiser.

At the end of January, 80 geocachers made ​​their way from Düsseldorf and Aachen, Germany to London, UK to spend an entire weekend treasure hunting with geocachers from several different countries.

The event, “London 2012” (GC38HZA),  took place at the Joy of Life Fountain. The German cachers met an international group of geocachers at the event. Adventurers from Norway, France, U.S., and of course the UK joined to embark on a 12-hour treasure hunt. The teams found 64 caches. The favorite cache for many was “London – Beatles Abbey Road” (GC6F12). Geocachers got to transform into a “Beatle” for the cache. Others visited platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter movies.

The trip there and back across the English channel was about more than the event; it was also a chance to help others.

German geocachers make their way from from Düsseldorf to London

Janina Hering aka Döskopp says, “We thought about how to best utilize our time on the bus.” So, with some planning and the help of German geocaching shops and other businesses, Janina and her team collected prizes for a raffle that would take place on the bus drive back  to Germany. The raffle money went to an organization for sexually abused children.

“We knew we wanted to support this organization. Their work is absolutely admirable,” she explained.

Janina was in charge of the collection of prizes, such as Geocoins and gummy bears. The team was busily selling raffle tickets and ended up raising more than 500 Euros for the association.

Board Member Monika Schiffer (left) and Geocacher Janina Hering (right)

“Such private, dedicated fundraisers are unfortunately rare,” says an excited Board Operator, Monika Schiffer. “The great thing about this initiative is that their hobby connected them to such a great gesture.”

Congrats to Janina and her fellow geocachers on a successful, well planned event. To find a geocaching event near you check out the Geocaching.com Events Calendar.

 

 

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

View Carre’ GCE02C GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – March 19, 2012

View from "View Carre'"

View Carre’ (GCE02C) perches high atop a New Orleans landmark. The cache ranks as the most ‘favorited’ geocache in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It’s accumulated more than 550 Favorite Points. With a view that stretches from horizon to horizon, it’s easy to see why.

Bamboozle hid the cache, with the permission of the facility owner, in 2003.  He works at the building where the cache is located. He writes, “Many years ago I would notice tourist photographers in front of the building and occasionally offer to take them where they could get some really nice shots….the roof. They would be almost overwhelmed by the experience. When I started geocaching in 2003 I thought it would be a nice experience for geocachers as well.”

He was right. More than 1800 geocachers have claimed smileys on the geocache so far. The cache page offers details on finding the difficulty one, terrain one cache. A geocacher who found “View Carre'” over the past weekend logged, “Absolutely the coolest cache I’ve ever done. Alfred was great to us and gave us a wonderful tour. Simply the best cache I’ve ever done. Anyone who has not done this must add it to their short list. THANK YOU and all involved for making this happen. So much fun!”

The cache is close...

Bamboozle and his staff, like Alfred, often offer more than just finding the cache. He says, “My staff and I were all born and raised in the city and act as tour guides for the visiting geocachers. Over the years the View Carre’ has hosted events and has been the destination of school field trips and visits by geocachers from surely every state and many foreign countries.”

And geocachers didn’t forget Bamboozle when Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans in 2005.  “I received at least a dozen emails from cachers all over the country offering us a place to stay in their homes until we could return to ours. This added to the already high esteem that I held for geocachers having met so many nice folks at the cache.”

A geocacher serving in the U.S. Army after the hurricane even helped Bamboozle restore the cache. “Hurricane Katrina had blown down the roof elevator and collapsed a wall on top the cache container. Johann Panholtz, a cacher from Indiana serving in the U.S. Army which occupied New Orleans, came by to make the grab and we “unearthed” the cache together and it has been available ever since.”

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.

View Carre' cache container

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.

 

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – March 14, 2012

4 Geocaching.com Tips for Improving your Swag

In geocaching, like in life, it’s all about the small things. That’s especially true when you crack open a geocache and discover all the small things inside. The little objects at the bottom of the geocache are trade items, also known as “swag.” You are welcome to take a trade item from a geocache, so long as you replace it with an item of equal or greater value.

A trade item might be a small toy, a signature item from a local geocacher, or a fun trinket. But sometimes the small things inside a cache can be a big disappointment. With more than 1.6 million geocaches around the world, the swag in some of those caches is less than desirable.

Here’s what you can do to change that. Check out these 4 quick tips:

• Choose trade items that you would enjoy finding in a cache
• Fun items to trade include small toys, patches, pins, or an item that symbolizes who you are (a signature item)
• Never put food or scented items in a geocache (animals are especially good geocachers when they smell food)
• If you wouldn’t want to carry an item in your pocket, don’t put it in a geocache

For ideas on good swag items, click here.

You may also find Trackables at the bottom of a cache. These are not swag, but items owned by other geocachers that are meant to travel from cache to cache. Trackables are etched with a unique code and generally include the text “trackable at www.geocaching.com.” When you take a Trackable from a cache, you are not required to leave anything in its place, but you should move it on to another geocache and log its movement. (Read about Trackable etiquette.)

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Caption Contest 32 – Win a Barely Coveted Prize

WINNING CAPTION: “Got the cache, but I'm probably gonna have to slice open the tauntaun if I am going to survive the night.” -DrJay Geocacher

Enter a caption to win a ‘barely coveted prize’ in the 32nd installment of our Geocaching.com Caption Contest. This picture was originally posted on the official Geocaching.com Facebook page.

Barely coveted prizes

As you can see, winter still has a hold on much of the geocaching world. That’s not stopping hearty geocachers from braving the snow, ice, and wind to log smileys.

What caption would you write for the picture at the top of this post? “If you find this cache please bring a hairdryer to defrost that last geocacher.”

Submit your caption by clicking on “Comments” below. Please include your Geocaching.com username in all entries. Then, explore the captions other geocachers have posted.

You’re encouraged to try to ‘influence’ the voting process (*nudge*nudge*). “Like” the caption that you think should win. If you think your caption should win, convince your fellow geocachers, your friends, and family to “like” your caption. Lackeys vote from the top finalists to decide the winner of the contest.

Click on the image to see the winning caption of this contest

The winner receives these, ‘barely coveted prizes’ you see above. They’re two pins from Geocaching.com.

More than two dozen Lackeys voted to award the winner of the 31st Geocaching.com Caption Contest a barely coveted prize. It was also winter-themed. Click on the image at right to discover the winning caption from the last Geocaching.com Caption Contest.

Explore all the past winning captions by checking out all the Geocaching.com Caption Contests. If you have suggestions for Geocaching.com Caption Contest photos, send a message and the image to pr@groundspeak.com.