“Liechtenstein’s First” (GCC2F4) brought geocaching to this 62 square mile European country in 2003.
When Heinz-Achmed placed the cache, he wrote on the cache page, “Still possible in Europe: a country without cache. Nice to be the first to place one in a country.”
It’s not possible any more. Liechtenstein’s First is now one of 115 gecoaches to dot the mountains and valleys in the landlocked country. Nearly 400 geocachers have logged smileys on the cache so far. It’s rated a 1.5 difficulty and 1.5 terrain. Cachers are able to drive within feet of the geocache location.
The winding roads lifts them about 1500 meters (4921 feet) into the Alps. More than 100 pictures on the cache page capture the stunning views and sites along the way. Some geocachers use the famous cache to mark their own personal achievements.
View near the cache location
One geocacher logged, “Decided to pick a special cache for our 3000th find, and the first in Liechtenstein certainly fit the bill!!”
Continue your exploration of some of the most engaging geocaches from around the world.Explore all the Geocaches of the Week on our blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.
Two retired Groundspeak hamsters found ‘forever homes.’ The toy hamsters were retired after playing a starring role in a Geocaching.com video. The segment aired in a continuous loop while the website received a major update in early May. The “Geocaching.com Hamster Power” video played on an old joke – that Geocaching.com is actually powered by hamsters. (It’s not.)
Thank you to the more than 100 geocachers who offered to care for the hamsters in their retirement years. Ultimately, a geocaching family from Germany and a geocaching couple from America will receive the hamsters.
CacheZwerge is a team made up of 10-year-old Kai-Luka and 12-year-old Catharina.
Team CacherZwerge: Catherina and Kai-Luka
They wrote, “We would be so glad to offer little Hammy a forever home. He was a hard working hamster for geocaching and now deserves a real good place to enjoy the sunny side of geocaching. We will show him all fantastic places in the Black Forest. Take him out to exciting adventures, visiting caves and climbing. Go kayaking with him and we will always carry him if he does not want to walk. Or he can get a special ride with our husky.”
The other hamster up for adoption won’t be traveling as far. It’ll find a home in Indiana, USA. Miss.Betsy and her fiance Mr.Charles have been geocaching since their first date, “We’ve camped, hiked, canoed and swam and now
we’re looking for a special pet to share in our adventures!”
Miss.Betsy
Miss.Betsy says no other pet would do, she’s allergic to animals. “His polyester-based fur wouldn’t require me to medicate myself, we could find some nice hiking gear for him (Or perhaps I could sew him some!) , He would have a forever home in Greenwood, Indiana. He could weekend with us wherever we decide to camp, and he could have a beautiful, two-story, to-scale townhome located in scenic my bedroom! There are many lock-in-locks in which he can nest, and if he feels the need for roomier digs, he can inhabit one of many ammo cans.”
Both CacheZwerge and Miss.Betsy will be receiving their Groundspeak pets soon, with care packages including Travel Bugs so that the hamsters will be trackable. You can watch the video below that made the hamsters famous. Stay tuned to the Latitude 47 blog. You never know when another hamster will come up for adoption!
WINNING CAPTION: Why do people keep signing my mail and leaving little army men and hot-wheels? – Team Snook
Share your genius for witty captions in the 25th installment of our Geocaching.com Caption Contest. You could earn a barely coveted prize. What caption would you write? “Geocaching, out standing in its field.” You can do better!
Barely coveted prize
Submit your caption by clicking on “Comments” below. Please include your geocaching username in all entries. Then, explore the captions other geocachers posted.
You can influence the voting. “Like” the caption that you think should win. If you think your caption should win, convince your fellow geocachers to “like” your caption. Lackeys vote to decide the winner of the contest.
The winner receives a barely coveted prize from Groundspeak Headquarters. This contest the barely coveted prize is a biodegradable Cache In Trash Out garbage bag.
Click on the image to discover the winning caption from this contest
21 Lackeys voted to award the winner of the 24th Geocaching.com Caption Contest a barely coveted prize. Click on the image at right to discover the winning caption from the previous Geocaching.com Caption Contest.
Geocaching with the younger crowd can be an unforgettable experience. In addition to being a great way for children to explore the outdoors, geocaching introduces them to problem solving and is a wonderful family adventure. Nothing is quite like watching the victorious “I’ve found it!” expression flash across the face of a young geocacher.
However, geocaching can become a very forgettable experience for kids if they don’t manage to find a geocache. To make sure this doesn’t happen to your family, we suggest the following:
• Seek caches with a lower difficulty rating. We suggest 1 to 1.5 stars. The difficulty rating is listed on each cache page as well as on the search results page.
• Seek larger caches. In addition to being easier to find, larger caches are more likely to contain items for the kids to trade. The cache size is shown as a graphic on each cache page as well as on the search results page.
• Make sure that the cache has been found recently. Scroll to the bottom of the cache page where you can view recent logs by other geocachers. Recent logs with “found it” smileys indicate that the cache is most likely still in place and findable.
• Read the cache description and any hints so that you have some idea of what to search for at the cache coordinates. For more of a challenge, bring along the hint and don’t read it unless you really need it.
Check out our guide page for more information that will help you choose a great adventure for the younger geocachers in your group.
Be the FTF a Knight and You Could Win
Geocachers have been unknowingly practicing for the Langley Knights Competition since the day the first geocache was found. This UK-based competition is a quest to be first to find – only in this case, the geocache is a knight. On Saturday, July 2nd at 9 am British Summer Time, five knights will be hidden around England. Three of these will be physical knights – full suits of armor placed in English parks – while two will be “cyber knights” that can only be found in images on Google Maps and Google Earth.
The first person to find each knight and input the corresponding code on the Langley Knights Competition website wins £1000. The person who referred them wins £500. The person who referred them wins £250 and on up the line.
Help us show the world the power of the geocaching community! Click here to join team “geocachers” and go hunt for some knights this weekend. You must join by July 1st to compete.
Check out the blog for more information. Any winnings directed to Groundspeak will be donated to charity.
Ons Oma with her gifts from Groundspeak and friends
By: Kelly Ranck
Have you ever felt that you are not athletic, outdoorsy, or tech-savvy enough to go geocaching? Perhaps you think that you are too old to hit the trail? We kindly request that you go ahead and let those excuses go. Here’s why.
According to the geocacher Ons Oma, “Geocaching is a sport for people of all ages. Young and old.” If anyone deserves the right to make this claim, it is Ons Oma (Dutch for “Our Grandmother”).
Recently, a group of Ons Oma’s closest family and friends came together to surprise her for her 90th birthday. This was a celebration of her 90 years of life and for the adventure that’s been Ons Oma’s life since 2008. That’s when she started geocaching.
Ons Oma signing a logbook
According to her grandson Paul, “She was very surprised” by the party. “She knew that something would happen, because home-care was early that day. In the morning people were invited to her [Ons Oma’s] house, in the afternoon, we picked her up to have a BBQ at her daughter’s house.”
Ons Oma is a perfect example of that fact that anyone can geocache. The geocaching community is diverse, ever-expanding, and a place for people of all shapes, sizes, and ages.
Although Ons Oma is a tad bit older than the average geocacher, her age does little to keep her from regularly going geocaching. She has been caching since she was 87 and has now logged more than 30 finds.
Ons Oma with friends and family during the party
According to those who know her, before heading out on the hunt, she runs a Pocket Query to find caches that are wheelchair accessible. Ons Oma then picks her favorite of these caches. She tends to favor Multi-Caches that have a puzzle element. She prints out the cache descriptions in a larger font and hits the trail with family and friends.
Ons Oma’s geocaching group may have to assist her with her GPS device, but she is the first one to log her finds on Geocaching.com.
Not only has geocaching enabled Ons Oma to become more computer literate, it has also been a hobby that challenges her to remain active, spend time outdoors and solve puzzles. Her love and appreciation for geocaching is evident in the guests and gifts that were present at her 90th birthday party – Ons Oma even received a gift from Groundspeak.
As articulated by Ons Oma, “It’s unbelievable that there are people in the world, who do things (hide geocaches) to make other people, who they don’t know, happy and expect nothing in return for that.”
Ons Oma's 90th birthday cakes
Ons Oma is not the only geocacher who is grateful for the sport and the way in which it brings families and communities together.
Check out this video to view other families who have bridged age gaps by geocaching.
If you want to see Ons Oma in action, click here and watch her geocaching music video debut.
