/ Eric Schudiske /

“Edinburgh’s Royal Mile” GCKTYK GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – May 9, 2011

A view along the Royal Mile

Since 2004 geocachers have been guided on a tourist-friendly cache through the heart of Edinburgh. The Multi-Cache “Edinburgh’s Royal Mile” (GCKTYK) lifts the veil on nearly forgotten Edinburgh lore dating back to the 1600’s. Geocachers uncover stories of witchcraft, ghostly visions and a story of miraculous survival. The Multi-Cache has six stages along the famed Royal Mile, which hums with tourists from around the world.

The nano cache

The cache by marmal is rated a 1.5 difficulty with a 1.5 terrain. The cache container is a nano. The cache is among the highest rated in Scotland with 42 Geocaching.com Favorite Points. A geocacher from Germany recently logged the cache and writes, “During our time in Edinburgh it was a must to visit the Royal Mile and to search this cache. It was one of the highlights and the cache was located without any problems. T4TC!”

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.

A view along the Royal Mile

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Na klar!- Of course! Lackeys Learn German

Lackey's German Text Book

Among the sounds of “good morning” and “how are you?” you’ll hear Lackeys (employees at Groundspeak) sharing a “Guten Morgen!” or “Wie geht’s?” when passing in the hallway. Is this because we have suddenly become fluent in German? Sadly, no, but we are trying! 18 Lackeys met twice a week for eight weeks to learn how to better understand and communicate in German. The Founders of Geocaching.com sat next to Lackeys who answer emails from around the world and other Lackeys who commonly communicate with German geocachers.

German language lessons at Groundspeak make sense. More than ten percent of geocaches located around the world today can be found on German soil. To see the incredible growth of geocaches in Germany, watch the YouTube video on this page. The video ends in 2009 when there were more than 118,000 geocaches in the country. Two years later, there are now more than 180,000 active geocaches in Germany.

After eight weeks of lessons, Lackeys moved from, “Mein Name ist….” (My name is… ) and “Wie bitte?” (Beg you pardon) to mostly understanding “Jeremy und Bryan kommen per Fahrrad vorbei.” (Jeremy and Bryan are coming by on their bikes).  Lackey Annie Love recently met some German geocachers in the Groundspeak lobby with some freshly learned language skills: “Woher kommen Sie?” (where do you come from?)

[youtube]LmbHcbF2XcU[/youtube]

Understandably Lackey’s are not fluent in German… yet. More German language classes are in the works.

As the global geocaching community grows, Groundspeak Lackeys strive to understand the local languages, culture and most importantly how to best serve local geocaching communities. You can choose to read the main sections of Geocaching.com in any one of eleven different languages. Geocaching unites more than five million geocachers around the world, regardless of whether they say “Hello” or “Hallo” or “Ahoj” or “Hej” or “Hola” or “Ciao” or “Bonjour” or “Olá” or “Witam” or “Tere,” we all say “Geocaching.”

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske

Groundspeak Weekly Mailer – May 4, 2011

Happy 11th Birthday Geocaching!

Can you believe that geocaching turned 11 years old this week? Neither can we! Geocaching has come a long way since the first geocache was placed on May 3, 2000. Here are some fun facts and a timeline of the history of geocaching:

• The first geocache was not called a geocache at all, but a “GPS Stash.” Although the original geocache is no longer in place, there is a plaque marking its location and a physical container with a logbook for visitors to sign.

• September 2, 2000: September 2, 2000: Geocaching.com launches. The site lists 75 geocaches worldwide.

• August 30, 2001: The first Travel Bug® is released by Jeremy. TB1 is a rubber ducky named “Deadly Duck: Envy.” Fun fact: The image on the Deadly Duck’s Trackable page is Photoshopped to replicate this mug shot of a famous Seattle-area entrepreneur and philanthropist in his younger, “wilder” days.

• September 30, 2001: Moun10Bike places the second Geocoin in a cache near Deception Pass, Washington. He keeps the first Geocoin in his personal collection. Watch him tell his story.

• December 31, 2007: Geocaching.com reaches 500,000 active geocache listings.

• March 8, 2010: Geocaching.com reaches 1 million active geocache listings. The number of listings on Geocaching.com has grown by 37% since then.

• May 3, 2011: There are currently over 1.3 million geocaches listed on Geocaching.com. They are hidden in almost every country in the world.

• May 3, 2025: The first geocache is placed on Saturn to commemorate the 25th anniversary of geocaching.

Okay, so the last one is probably not true. But it could be. How do you think geocaching will change in the next 5, 15, 25 years? Share your thoughts on Facebook.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Preview of Geocaching.com May 4th Website Release

Get ready for a new look and experience on Geocaching.com beginning May 4th. Geocaching.com will go offline for four to six hours on the 4th beginning approximately 9am PDT (GMT -7). Lackeys will be upgrading the database server to improve site performance. We will also be releasing the latest website update, which includes a sleek new design and interface for the homepage. Watch this screencast for a sneak peak of what to expect! Closed captioning on the screencast is available in both English and German.

[youtube]OcW68QDe1Kw[/youtube]

/ Eric Schudiske

“Vermont 1” GC86 GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – May 2, 2011

View from near "Vermont 1"

Five months after the first geocache was placed in Oregon state in May of 2000, geocaching had spread Vermont. “Vermont 1” (GC86) was the first geocache placed in the state of covered bridges and brilliant fall colors.

GPS Guy and Michael McNeany placed the Multi-cache on October 15, 2000. More than ten years later, there are now more than 3700 geocaches in Vermont.

But Vermont 1 still has a place in local geocachers hearts. The cache has the most Geocaching.com Favorite Points in the state. The difficulty three, terrain three cache has been found more than 100 times. Located among the wooded rolling hills, this cache offers Geocachers scenic views. The first geocacher to log Vermont 1 this year wrote, “This was the find of the month for us! Thanks for the fun cache hunt and keeping this special one active.” Others thanked GPS Guy and Michael McNeany for planning the cache to take geocachers past a roaring waterfall.

Waterfall on the way to the cache

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.