How about some castle caching, with a dash of dragon lore? The traditional geocache “Wawel” (GC2CZCX) can be found in Krakow, Poland. The GPS coordinates deliver geocachers to an impressive architectural complex called “Wawel” on the banks of the Vistula River.
Geocachers discover museums, a castle, and a cathedral. The history of the site is thousands of years old. According to the cache page, Neanderthals left their mark in nearby caves. The strategic location continued to play a role throughout European history. Legend even tells of a dragon that once lived in the caves under the limestone hill.
The cache owner, toczygroszek, encourages adventurers to explore the history of the site. He writes, “If I wanted to describe all buildings, museums and stories connected with Wawel, I would have to write a book. So the best idea is that you visit this place to see the unique character of Wawel yourself.”
"Wawel"Wawel Dragon
The difficulty two, terrain two geocache has been logged more than 200 times. It’s also accumulated more than a dozen Favorite Points. One geocacher who logged the cache wrote, “Found [the cache] after a brilliant visit to the state apartments and cathedral (and dragons cave). Krakow and its people are a constant delight.”
Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from 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.
Please join Groundspeak in thanking the volunteers who fuel the geocaching adventure for millions of treasure-seekers. More than 350 Volunteer Reviewers, Moderators and Translators give their time and talent to support Geocaching.com users. These dedicated volunteers serve the worldwide geocaching community by reviewing each cache listing before publication, moderating Groundspeak’s community forums and translating hundreds of pages of text. The volunteers don’t just serve the world of geocaching; they represent it.
The geocachers who volunteer are a diverse and hard-working group from nearly 30 countries. They are involved in their local geocaching communities and help a growing number of new geocachers discover and enjoy the activity.
The ranks of the volunteers are growing too. Groundspeak added more than 40 new volunteers in 2011. Collectively, they have published more than a half million new geocaches, supported more than 380,000 new geocachers and translated geocaching information into more than 25 languages in the past year alone. That’s a lot of time and geocaching know-how shared for the good of the global geocaching community. Oh, and most of them have “regular jobs” too.
Please take the time to join us in thanking a Volunteer Reviewer, Moderator or Translator today! Visit the Geocaching.com Facebook page to say thank you and leave a message for your local volunteers. Click here for information about finding your local Volunteer Reviewer.
Each month, Groundspeak Lackeys have the privilege of awarding one geocacher the title of “Featured Geocacher of the Month.” Deserving candidates are nominated by their fellow geocachers and Lackeys select three of the nominees to feature on the blog. The community then casts their votes to decide which of the three will be that month’s Featured Geocacher. Each of the November nominees showcased innovation, creativity, respect for the environment and helpfulness. We continue to be impressed by the number of qualified candidates as well as the number of people who vote for the winner.
November Featured Geocacher of the Month, Rokman4
With more than 100 votes submitted in November, it was a neck and neck competition. A panel of Lackeys, relying on voting and community comments, could ultimately only choose one. It is our honor to announce Rokman4 as November’s Featured Geocacher of the Month.
According to many, his dedication to the game since 2008 and his positive contribution the geocaching community are evident in his time spent assisting new geocachers, speaking at local libraries, and organizing the first ever geocaching training ground.
According to one comment: “Rod is looking into getting the city to donate a meeting room so that once a month new and seasoned cachers can learn how to use the different programs associated with geocaching, how to use Pocket Queries, and just general information about geocaching. Rod is a terrific role model for those of us that are new the the game.”
Rokman4 will receive a collector’s edition 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 not named Featured Geocacher of the Month.
Geocacher of the Month Geocoin
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for Geocacher of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.
September Featured GOTM winner, SuperGoober, with his GOTM Certificate
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 December Geocacher of the Month must be received by December 7th.
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.
Editor’s note: Lackeys often attend geocaching events of special significance and events that help showcase geocaching to new audiences. Jessie Perkins, Foxfire, the Community Relations Lead for Groundspeak traveled to North Carolina to attend a science teachers conference where she spoke to attendees about geocaching. This is her report.
By Jessie Perkins
Groundspeak has been working hard to connect with teachers and find out how we can help bring geocaching into the classroom. As part of this initiative, I had the privilege to join some local cachers for the North Carolina Science Teachers Association Conference (NCSTAC) early this month. This was the first Science Teachers Conference that Groundspeak has attended. I manned the Geocaching.com booth and was able to talk to teachers who are considering developing geocaching-related lesson plans as well as those who have already started using geocaching in the classroom.
Jessie (third from right) with local geocachers
Many teachers in the latter group have placed (unlisted) geocaches on their school grounds and used them to encourage cross-curricular learning. One teacher told me about a lesson that encompasses the Science and Physical Education disciplines. They post clipboards around the school and input the coordinates into GPS devices. Students navigate to each clipboard using a GPS device and answer the question written there. It may be, “What kind of tree is this?” or “What kind of bird made this nest?” Each time the kids go out the destination coordinates and questions on the clipboards change.
The reason I went to North Carolina was because of the efforts of a geocacher and teacher by the username of markcase. Mark is a North Carolina science teacher and avid geocacher. He had quite a weekend between presenting on geocaching at the conference and ensuring that I would have a full day of North Carolina caching. Once he heard that I enjoy EarthCaches, I had not done a 5/5 and I had never been to North Carolina, he couldn’t wait to show me around.
His post-conference plans started with a meet and greet event, where I got to know a few cachers who were either from the area or there visiting, including _Norah_, _c3_, Check-Cacher, Gizmo’s Keepers and ncbiscuit. The next day started bright and early. I met up with markcase, Ranger fox, Night-Ranger, Diefenbaker and Okie.Bug. I would spend the next 13 hours geocaching with this group around the Greensboro area. We found 18 caches that day including a number of EarthCaches, Traditional Caches, one Multi-Cache and my first difficulty 5, terrain 5.
The 5/5 had to have been one of the most rewarding caches that I have found, “bald mnt challenge” (GC15CC2). It was at the top of a large, steep hill. After scrambling over boulders to reach the top, we were able to catch our breath, admire the view, and sign the log. We had fun trying to think of all the firsts from my trip so I could write them in my log. It went a little something like this: “First time in North Carolina, first 5/5, first Multi-Cache, and first time having North Carolina BBQ and first time at an education conference talking about teaching geocaching in the classroom… and the list goes on.”
I was able to meet some wonderful people, make new friends, got to know the real meaning of southern hospitality and add new adventures to my list of firsts. In the end, I can’t wait until I get the chance to go back to North Carolina.
If you are interested in learning how teachers have been incorporating geocaching in the classroom and perhaps borrowing some of their ideas for your own class or youth program, please visit our Education Forums.
The warning is clear: “Never go alone!” This difficulty five, terrain five geocache challenges adventurers as they descend below the surface of the island of Mallorca.
The cache page for “DSOM – Minero las piedras” (GC273NE) weaves a ghostly story of phantom voices and those who did not obey warnings turning to stone. ‘DSOM’ stands for ‘Dark Side of Mallorca.’
Pullermann & Tossiman hid the small size cache in 2010. Some 35 geocachers have logged smileys on the geocache and it has received 23 Favorite Points so far.
The cache page tells the story of Pedro, the ghost of the stones. The cache owners tempt geocachers to hunt for the cache: “Do you want to unveil Pedro’s secret? His ghost may live in an old can which is hidden very well somewhere in the quarry. To locate it, you have to follow Pedro’s traces. But be careful, never walk alone…”
Dark Side of Mallorca
To find the final location of this Multi-Cache, geocachers must use clues collected at several waypoints. When they finally reach the location of Pedro’s ghost they discover artifacts which lead them to the final cache container. Geocachers must also use specialized climbing equipment and are advised to take extreme caution.
One geocacher reports completing this geocache took his group seven hours. He also said “DSOM” was one of his favorite caches. Other logs on the cache page read, “Wow wow wow!” Followed by a string of smileys.
Dark Side of Mallorca
Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from 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.
