/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – September 7, 2011

Geocaching.com Video Series

Over the last year and a half, Geocaching.com has created more than 40 videos designed to help new geocachers learn about the activity, share the stories of Geocaching.com milestones and showcase the best of geocaching. Those new to geocaching should check out the “Getting Started with Geocaching” tab on the videos page, which includes videos such as “Finding Your First Geocache” and “Basics of hiding a Geocache.” For those trying to understand how to use some of the more advanced Geocaching.com features, the page also includes instructional screencasts.
The majority of our videos focus on the geocaching community. We have interviewed, gone geocaching with and even showered with geocachers from around the world to bring you the stories of some of the most interesting caches, events, people and trends in the geocaching community. These videos will inspire you to be a better geocacher and make it easy to share with friends what geocaching means to you.

/ Eric Schudiske /

The End of the World [Sagres] GC12CRJ – GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – September 6, 2011

'End of the World"

The southwest most cache in Europe takes geocachers to what might seem like the end of the world.

The cache page shows an image of the hazy blue ocean horizon  beyond the edge of the cliff and reads, “The pictures really tell the story, so there’s not really anything else to say. Just go there and experience it for yourself.”

More than 1000 geocachers have taken the advice and logged, “End of the World [Sagres]” (GC12CRJ).

The difficulty 1.5, terrain two traditional geocache was placed by funkymunkyzone in 2007.  The cache owner warns people to use caution and be especially careful when there are high winds.

Geocachers traveling to log “End of the World” discover a lighthouse with beacon so bright it can be seen as far as 60 kilometers out to sea. The cache site also sits at the crossroads of history. Battles at sea raged just off the coast, pirates plundered settlements here and an earthquake shattered buildings. The current lighthouse was built over the ruins of a Franciscan convent.

"End of the World"

The geocache has earned more than 80 Favorite Points. A geocacher who logged the cache wrote, “Very beautiful (and windy) place and our most western cache so far! Because of the good weather and the great view, there are many muggles in this area, so we had to be fast.”

Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from around the world. Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on the Latitude 47 blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching.com Caption Contest 27 – Win a Barely Coveted Prize

WINNING CAPTION - "TKLAB= took kangaroo, left angry boy. "- andrabrewer

Share your genius for witty captions in the 27th installment of our Geocaching.com Caption Contest. You could earn a barely coveted prize. What caption would you write for the picture snapped at this year’s Geocaching Block Party? It shows the Groundspeak mascot Signal with a kangaroo brought to Seattle, Washington USA by a group of Australian geocachers.

Coveted Prize

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

You can even influence the voting process. “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 this coveted, ‘barely coveted prize.’ It’s a Trackable from the Geocaching Block Party. Join us next year at Groundspeak HQ for the Geocaching Block Party on August 18, 2012.

24 Lackeys voted to award the winner of the 26th Geocaching.com Caption Contest a barely coveted prize. Click on the image on the right to discover the winning caption from the 26th Geocaching.com Caption Contest.

Click on the image to see the winner of this Geocaching.com Caption Contest

Explore all the past winning captions by checking out all the Geocaching.com Caption Contests.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – August 31, 2011

Get Out the Door and on the Trail Faster

Pocket Queries make preparing for your geocaching adventure a simple 2-step process.

Step 1: Create a Pocket Query for the area that you want to go geocaching. You can select which cache types to receive in the results, specify your range of difficulty and terrain levels, choose cache attributes and more. Want to see only traditional caches within 25 miles of your home that are above a difficulty 3 and require a long hike? This step lets you do so. When you’re done, you’ll receive an email containing a file with the Pocket Query results.

Step 2: Plug your GPS into your computer. Either drag and drop the emailed Pocket Query file onto the device or use third-party software to load the file (the process for loading files depends on your GPS device). You can find a list of your Pocket Query files that are ready for download under the tab “Pocket Queries Ready for Download” here.

That’s it! You now have the complete Pocket Query (up to 1000 cache listings) including cache coordinates, descriptions, hints and recent logs on your device, so whether you decide to go geocaching right outside your house or miles away, you’re ready to go.

Users can even look up caches when away from home! When you create a Pocket Query, just set it to run on one or more days of the week. The query will run on the specified day(s) and can be saved for later use, set to run automatically each week or deleted.

Pocket Queries are a Premium Member feature. Premium Members can run up to 5 queries per day with up to 1000 caches per query. Premium Membership is only US $30 per year or US $10 for 3 months and it’s well worth it for the amount of time (and paper) you’ll save. Don’t believe us? See what other Premium Members have to say about the benefits of Premium Membership.
/ Eric Schudiske /

Groundspeak Headquarters is on the Move

Moving day at Groundspeak

Right now, about sixty Groundspeak Lackeys are in the process of packing up desks and loading up boxes. Groundspeak Headquarters, affectionately known as “The Lily Pad,” is moving… about two blocks. We’ll still reside in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, USA.

The move will not affect performance on Geocaching.com. Our new offices allow the team to grow so that we can enhance your geocaching experiences.

Groundspeak Headquarters cache

We’d love for you to visit the new HQ. The Groundspeak Headquarters cache (GCK25B) will make the move too. The coordinates will be updated soon. Visitors to the new office should check out the cache page for instructions on visiting.

The move will only take a day. We’ll be back at work in the new offices tomorrow.