/ Eric Schudiske

Groundspeak Weekly Mailer – June 29, 2011

Geocaching with Kids

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.

/ Eric Schudiske /

90 Year Old Inspires Geocachers

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.

 

 

 

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

“Manuel Antonio National Park Geocache” GCJ7WN GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – June 27, 2011

Resident near the Manuel Antonio National Park Geocache

Geocachers in search of the “Manuel Antonio National Park Geocache” (GCJ7WN) will find more than a just a geocache. Their journey will bring them face-to-face with local natural wildlife including monkeys, sloths and iguanas. Nature is on display in all its forms.

According to the cache page, “Along the way you will be thrilled by the display of flora and fauna in this park where the forest comes right down to the ocean.”  46rkl placed the difficulty 2.5, terrain 3 geocache in 2004. More than 200 geocachers have logged smileys on the cache.

Sloth lounging near the cache site

“Manuel Antonio National Park Geocache” has earned 11 Favorite Points so far. The cache brings adventures to a beautiful vantage point on Punta Catedral Point where they can look over the Pacific Ocean.

One cacher logged, “Our tour group visited this beautiful park today and I made the nice walk to find this cache. Great views from the cache site. Enjoyed swimming at the beach after finding the cache. TNLNSL TFTC.”

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.

View from near the cache
/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocachers Unite in Worldwide Hunt for Knights

Courtesy: Langley Castle

Geocachers are forming a team to track down missing knights in the United Kingdom. The Langley Knights Competition puts a cash award of up to £11,000, social media clout and worldwide prestige for the geocaching community on the line. The game plays a form of hide-and-seek that geocachers know well. Just imagine this as a quest to be on the team with the most “first to finds.” Hundreds of teams are expected to compete to find the most knights.

Will you answer the call to be part of the geocaching team? Click here to join the geocaching team and recruit your friends and family to help increase the odds of winning the competition. Team members must be recruited by July 1.

Here are the details. Five knights are being hidden around the U.K. beginning on July 2. Three knights will be real physical knights. They’ll be found in full armor in actual parks with their winning code number. Two of the knights will be virtual knights. Geocachers anywhere in the world can search for photos of the knights on Google Maps or Google Earth to find their winning codes. The “cyber knights” will appear as a photo in or near parks in the U.K.

This video offers more information.

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The competition is being organized by MIT Sloan School of Management and Cambridge Judge Business School. They’re calling this the first ever worldwide time critical social mobilization experiment.

Photos of all five knights will be released on July 2 at 9 am British Summer Time. If all the knights are not found in the first day clues will be provided several times a day, each subsequent day. If you are the first to find a knight, you receive a £1000 reward. The person who recruited you gets £500, and the person who recruited them receives £250. Any winnings directed to Groundspeak will be donated to charity. We are open to suggestions as to which charity this should be.

More information about the Langley Knights Competition can be found here. Join the Geocaching team and recruit friends using this URL: http://bitly.com/cachersuknight

This isn’t the first time geocachers competed in a timed social media challenge. Groundspeak Geocachers came in fifth out of more than 50 teams in the DARPA Network Challenge in 2009. The Langley Knight Competition was inspired by the DARPA Challenge.

Follow this blog post for the latest on the Langley Knight Competition and the success of the geocaching team. Good luck!

 

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

“Hammy” a Groundspeak Hamster Finds a New Home

Charlie and "Hammy" the Groundspeak Hamster

Jon Hudson (Dakar4x4) will always remember an afternoon phone conversation on May 26th. The quick call marked the finale after weeks of questioning and anticipation.

His daughter Charlie (FluffyDog) called Jon at work to say the postman finally delivered a small package. The box arrived at their United Kingdom home from Seattle, Washington in the United States. He says, “Her excitement was unforgettable.”

The package contained a glossy eyed battery-powered hamster. The toy hamster had 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.)

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Inside the package Charlie also found the hamster’s purple wheel and a note. Jon says, “She had the cutest hamster (the exact same one she had taken a liking to in the video) and an adoption certificate from everyone at Groundspeak, even Signal.”

But Jon says he never intended to adopt a toy hamster and Charlie has a cautious interest in any real pets, “She adores animals, but is equally scared out of her wits by them. It takes a long time for her to trust whatever geo-pet we meet on our adventures together, and of course, caching outdoors and going to caching events, we meet a lot!”

Charlie, Hammy and Dad

However, the hamster video struck a chord with Charlie. Jon says,”When Groundspeak announced the retirement of their aging Hamsters with the really cute video, I just had to show Charlie! She watched it again and again and again, still does in fact! As soon as the site was upgraded though, the video disappeared from the main screen and she asked where all the hamsters had gone. I explained that as per the story, they had been retired and the new ones were now running the geocaching site behind the scenes. Her immediate reaction was to ask where the retired ones had gone now that they were retired. That of course left me somewhat stumped, and so after being asked many times, I agreed to email.”

Soon a Groundspeak Lackey emailed a response. Jon quickly showed Charlie, “When she came home from school I watched her read it, she could not contain her excitement! One of the retiring Hamsters was going to be adopted over to Charlie! Now it wouldn’t be me getting the questions about checking the emails every hour for a response, but our poor post man, who was watched like a hawk for anything Hamster shaped being delivered from Seattle!”

Two Groundspeak hamsters still need homes!

The retired hamster, “Hammy” is happy in its new home. Jon says, “Hammy is still surprisingly spirited in his retirement years and has quickly adjusted to his new life with Charlie, who of course, is very proud of her very own, and incredibly famous geo-pet, thanks to everyone at Groundspeak! You folks really are the best!”

Almost all of the retired hamsters from the video found homes on Lackeys desks at Groundspeak Headquarters. The hamsters unblinking eyes and T5 cuteness remind Lackeys to diligently keep the website running at peak performance and to focus on the fun of an activity that allows people get outside and be active.

Here’s your chance to adopt some of that cuteness. Two retired Geocaching.com hamsters from the video still need homes. If you’d like to offer one of the hamsters a “forever home” post a comment on this blog. Explain why you’re the type of geocacher or geocaching family that would provide a good home for a retired Geocaching.com hamster. Please include your Geocaching.com username. The two winning geocachers will be announced by July 1.