Geocaching reveals a world that’s often hidden to others. Take ‘Thar She Blows!’ (GC4ADE) in Oklahoma, USA for example.
American motorists, since the 1920’s, zipped along a famous stretch of road know as Route 66. The highway connected the growing country to the West Coast. The prominence and popularity of Route 66 rose as the country grew.
That all changed in the 1950’s as the U.S. Interstate system gradually made Route 66 obsolete. But geocachers can still discover a little remembered tourist stop. ‘Thar She Blows!’ delivers geocachers to an unexpected site – a blue whale wading in a small pond. The difficulty two, terrain one geocache was hidden by Golden Retrievers in 2002. It has been rewarded with more than 40 Favorite Points so far.
One geocacher who logged a smiley on the cache writes, “What an excellent roadside attraction. We were going to Tulsa today anyway, and the weather was quite nice, so we thought – ‘hey, why not go see a big blue whale?’ …. Assigning a favorite point because this is just so unusual and off the wall.”
Thar She Blows!
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.
January’s featured Geocacher of the Month comes from a US state that’s known for its contributions to American history. The first hot dog hails from this state, as do America’s first ambulances and traffic lights. Now our congratulations to SerenityNow for being named Ohio’s first featured Geocacher of the Month.
A panel of Groundspeak Lackeys had a difficult time choosing a final winner. More than 150 votes were received. Lackey’s were greatly impressed with the three amazing final candidates. SerenityNow was named featured Geocacher of the Month for the couple’s innovation, creativity, stewardship, and helpfulness.
January Featured Geocacher(s) of the Month, SerenityNow
One geocacher casting a vote for the geocaching team mentioned, “SerenityNow is such a great caching couple and is loved by cachers all over Northeast Ohio. They continue to share their love of caching with old and new cachers alike.”
SerenityNow are popular for organizing annual geocaching events in Ohio. They are also known to hide many puzzling and creative geocaches. According to TeamDotOne, “Not only do they go way out of their way to host the best events ever, but they seem to come up with something new each and every year to make people want to keep coming back. We have spent countless hours enjoying their company, enjoying their events, enjoying their caches and most importantly, enjoying their friendship.”
SerenityNow will receive a collector’s edition Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with Geocacher of the Month hats and certificate acknowledging their 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 February featured Geocacher of the Month must be received by February 2oth.
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.
Geocachers kulhal and otco recently embarked on a journey to locate the last cache in a vanishing series. The duo traveled half way around the world to claim a “found it” on the final active cache in the Project A.P.E. cache series. To many geocachers, the Project A.P.E. caches ring a nostalgic bell.
The A.P.E. cache series was established in May of 2001. The promotion was for the film Planet of the Apes. Thirteen different A.P.E. caches, each with props from the movie and a story that tied into the movie, were hidden all over the world. Those who found the caches received a unique icon.
All that is left of the highly sought series is a single, active cache hidden deep in the tropical jungles of Brazil. Mission 4: Southern Bowl is now the last obtainable A.P.E. cache. The remainder of the geocaches in the series have been archived. The final cache has been logged less than 40 times.
Project A.P.E. Cache Icon
kulhal and otco met up with Brazilian cacher, gsilberbestlife, when they arrived. According to kulhal, the excitement of discovering the last of the vanishing series only heightened the caching crew’s sense of adventure.
Early one morning, otco, gsilberbestlife, and kulhal piled into their rental car and drove 300 km outside of Sao Paulo, Brazil. They arrived at Intervales State Park, the supposed location of the lone standing A.P.E. cache. Along the way, the cachers were surprised to find that many locals were unaware of the park’s existence. This further motivated them to discover the rarely visited cache.
According to kulhal, experiencing the beauty of the park was just as much of an adventure as discovering the cache, “I equally appreciated the fact that the cache brought me to a place that I would have never visited otherwise. I experienced a wonderful part of the world and saw nature so different from what I know from home.”
The roads through Intervales
Using a sketchy GPS signal to navigate windy, unmarked dirt roads, the cachers were able to drive within 100 meters of the cache. Now only a few minor obstacles stood between the cachers and the final A.P.E. cache. Wild animals, jungle-like terrain, and a lack of a trail map couldn’t stop these cachers.
Otco, gsilberbestlife, and kulhal discovered the cache successfully, noting that, “The beauty of this cache is something else.” Kulhal stated, “I had a feeling that I was touching a piece of geocaching history and for that it was a special moment.”
It’s a special moment geocachers may continue to share. There have been more logs in the past 2 years than in the nine years after the cache was placed. And because this is the final A.P.E. cache, it is likely that an increasing number of geocachers will be traveling to Brazil. Located in a new exotic setting, the Mission 4: Southern Bowl is an opportunity for geocachers to discover a significant cache.
Waterfall in Intervales State Park
The story doesn’t end here. For more information on kulhal, otco, and gsilberbestlife’s adventure, check out their Czech language blog.
The ping of your next text message could be the starting bell for a geocaching adventure. Premium Members can receive email alerts for newly published geocaches, giving those geocachers racing to claim a “First to Find” a much-needed head start. Many mobile phone owners can get an additional leg up on the competition by emailing new cache notifications to their phone via email-to-SMS.
Email-to-SMS allows you to send an email to your phone, where it will show up as a text message. This means you don’t have to remain glued to your inbox to claim that “First to Find.”
Directing Instant Notifications to your mobile phone takes eight steps of know-how, which you can find in this Help Center article. Get ready for the ping of a new text message to take geocaching to the next level!
Quick disclaimer: Your phone needs to have internet access to receive Instant Notifications by text. Most mobile service providers offer this service, but it may not work on all phones. Your mobile provider’s text messaging rates may apply.
Some Geocaching.com Trackables get lucky enough to log a stop at Sea Shells – TB Stop & Go (GCNWBC). The Arizona, USA Travel Bug hotel has been checking Travel Bugs in and out for nearly seven years. It’s a huge geocache that Jeep’en Jumpers placed to add some variety to local geocaches.
Jeep’en Jumpers is the owner of 20 Travel Bugs. He wanted a safe stop for other Travel Bugs and says, “There were very few caches back in Yuma in 2005. Most of them were in the desert and I thought a friendly easy-to-get-to-cache would be nice for folks to find in the city. I had a wild idea and since I run the company that owns this property, I didn’t have any problem getting permission.”
Jeep’en Jumpers “wild idea” turned into a geocache that’s a regional favorite. Sea Shells – TB Stop & Go has racked up more than 70 Favorite Points. The cache page encourages geocachers who are on the move to visit the cache before traveling. It reads, “Going on a trip? Please check back to this page and see who needs a lift.” And people have checked back. Jeep’en Jumpers says more than 1300 Travel Bugs have passed through the hotel.
The difficulty two, terrain one geocache has even been the starting geocache for a major Travel Bug race.
But Jeep’en Jumpers admits, one of the best parts of owning a giant Travel Bug hotel, are the logs. One cacher wrote, “SEA SHELLS is a destination cache, one for the TOP OF THE LIST!… Thanks for the super-fun and all you do!”
Sea Shells - TB Stop & Go
Another geocacher who logged Sea Shells writes, “Found it with the entire extended family this morning…. what an amazing cache! And to think it even houses an ammo can…. inside it!! Kids spent almost 15 minutes exploring all the different TBs and trying to decide which would accompany us back to Alberta later this week. Thanks for the creative find!”
Jeep’en Jeepers has another creative hide. Check out his other Travel Bug hotel hiding in plain sight.
Continue to explore of some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Explore 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.
