/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – December 7, 2011

The Geocaching.com Holiday Gift Guide

Unwrap the thrill of geocaching this holiday season. While you can’t log a “Found it,” finding a present from Geocaching.com might be just as thrilling as finding a cache (and there’s no need to worry about insects). Here are some of the most exciting gift ideas from Shop Geocaching.

The Limited Edition Glass Holiday Ornament showcases the unity of the worldwide geocaching community. The phrase “Found It” is translated into multiple languages and printed on the ornament in 22 karat gold.

If a loved one is excited to go geocaching with their Smartphone, the Cache With Your Phone Starter Kit is the perfect surprise.

Do you know a geocacher who works up a sweat finding geocaches? They’ll need the Cool Cloth Bandana and the matching “Hide it/Find it/Log it” tee. And the Challenges Geocoin is the perfect gift for the superhero in your life. Check out Shop Geocaching for dozens of additional gift ideas.

Happy Holidays from the all Lackeys at Groundspeak!

/ Eric Schudiske /

“Para Emmy-n-Sapphie” GC19941 GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK December 5, 2011

View near the cache location

The geocache “Para Emmy-n-Sapphie” (GC19941) sits just outside one of the most recognizable vistas in the South American country of Peru.  According to the cache page, the micro-cache is “hidden along a path on the outlying edges of Machu Picchu.”

The fascinating history of the site and the breath taking views reward geocachers for their find. Many tourists hike a substantial portion of the 2,450 meters (8,040 ft) trek up the mountain.

The difficultly three, terrain 3.5 geocache was hidden in 2008 by GiGi and JoJo. It’s maintained by a local friend of the cachers. The cache received more than 20 Favorite Points. Its been logged by 281 geocachers so far.

Geocachers who visited the tourist destination and logged “Para Emmy-n-Sapphie” write, “A perfect day for Machu Picchu. Coming here with heavy rain, fog, clouds and not so much tourists. And during noon the sun was coming out. The cache I found quickly.”

Para Emmy-n-Sapphie
Caption on the cache page photo reads, "Cache guardians..."

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.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Caption Contest 29 – Win a Barely Coveted Prize

WINNING CAPTION: "Tfth. Left bug, wallet, car keys, flashlight, prescription eyeglasses, hat, and pride." Mentor19

The search for a geocache often takes us to unusual places and sometimes bends us into unusual shapes. Share your gift for witty captions in the 29th installment of our Geocaching.com Caption Contest. You could earn a barely coveted prize. What caption would you write for the picture above? It was originally posted on our Geocaching.com Facebook page by teamoggy.

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

Coveted Prive - Size Medium

You’re encouraged to ‘influence’ the voting process (nudgenudge). “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.

The winner receives the ‘barely coveted prize’ you see to the left, which may actually be quite coveted. It’s is a sample product submitted to Shop Geocaching – a size medium orange hooded sweatshirt. No other sizes are available to the winner.

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

More than a dozen Lackeys voted to award the winner of the 28th Geocaching.com Caption Contest a barely coveted prize. 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.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Presents: “Geocaching Without GPS”

[Editor’s note: This video contains spoilers and was filmed with cache owner permission.]

[vsw id=”BqRn0tZzEyw” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]

Ed Scott

Ed Scott (edscott) admits, “I’m sort of obsessed with maps.”  The Pennsylvania, USA geocacher discovered more than 2,500 geocaches using only maps, aerial photos and his wits. Watch Geocaching.com Presents: “Geocaching Without GPS” to see how edscott geocaches without using a GPS device.

He says, “In the beginning I preferred to do it this way. Then after that it became, well, people expect me not to have a GPS. So that’s what I’ll keep on doing.”  The geocacher does use a GPS device occasionally, but says he’ll never use a GPS device 100% of the time.

Ed using a compass and a map

Geocaching.com will continue to release new thrilling and educational English, Czech and German language geocaching videos each month.

The next Geocaching.com Present video to be released will be “The 2011 Geocaching Year in Review.” What do you think should be included in the year in review? What are your personal geocaching highlights?

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be one of the first to see new videos. Watch the more than 50 videos produced by Geocaching.com on our video page.

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske

Groundspeak Weekly Newletter – November 30, 2011

Get a Free Geomate.jr Trackable Geocoin with Every Geomate.jr Geocaching GPS

That’s right, Geomate.jr is giving away a free Geocoin with every Geomate.jr purchased from Shop Geocaching while supplies last! So you not only get an easy-to-use, family-friendly geocaching GPS that comes preloaded with 250,000 geocaches covering all 50 states, you also get a cool Geomate.jr trackable Geocoin that has its own glow-in-the-dark screen! To purchase a Geomate.jr., please click here.

You can even update the Geomate.jr with the latest US caches or caches from around the world. Find out more here.

Feeling lucky? A Geomate.jr is being given away every week until Christmas along with other prizes and competitions. Just “LIKE” Geomate.jr on Facebook to enter to win.