Groundspeak Lackeys to Attend Mega-Events in Eight Countries
Groundspeak Lackeys are traveling thousands of miles from H.Q. this year to share smiles, shake hands and make geocaching memories at more than a dozen Mega-Events worldwide. We’d love to meet you and to hear your geocaching stories! Come find a Lackey at one of these Mega-Events:
Australian geocacher Astrohiker felt inspired to make a cache that would leave those who found it saying, “Wow, that’s something else.” His inspiration was sparked by a Multi-Cache that he found. The cache had a padlock that could only be opened after discovering the combination through clues.
Astrohiker decided his Multi-Cache would also have a lock, but he took the concept a few steps further. He came up with “Swan Valley Safe” (GC2MRF0).
There is a combination to unlock the cache. But the cache box is a hand-made safe designed and constructed by Astrohiker [picture on left].
He says, “Cachers have to go to three topical places in the Swan Valley, Perth, Western Australia to get the numbers [for the combination]. One is a Cenotaph commemorating the two world wars.” Directions on where to go and what to find are located on the cache page.
Once you find all the clues, Astrohiker says,”You turn the tumblers. If you have the correct numbers lined up when you turn the handle, the 3 steel pins enter the holes of the tumblers allowing the handle to turn further allowing the latch to open.”
The inner workings of the safe
He says his cache also educates: “People get to see important places in the Swan Valley, have a short hike & can see a mechanical cache in the form of a three digit combination working safe. Oh and don`t forget the views of the city from the cache site.”
But the cache almost didn’t survive its first 24 hours: “It was amazing that I placed the cache at 9am and at 9pm that night a bush fire came through nearly destroying the cache. It was good planning that I placed the cache in rocks on a rocky area where the fire got close to but did not burn the cache. Hundreds of acres were burnt in the nearby National Park but no houses.”
“Swan Valley Safe” was just hidden on the 5th of February. It’s been logged only three times, and already has three Geocaching.com Favorite Points. One geocacher wrote, “Wow, what an ingenious well made cache. I passed a couple of kangaroos resting under a burnt out bush on the way up.”
Astrohiker
Astrohiker says he’s not finished with creative caches. He says, “The next one is going to be a winch (already made) and will fit up a hollowed out log courtesy of local white ants.”
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.
The treasure hunting adventure of geocaching and exploration are rarely solo experiences. We want to share these moments of discovery with the world.
Think of the great explorers.Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition around the world began with more than 200 men. Columbus had three ships full of fellow explorers. So it’s no stretch that modern day geocaching explorers want others to join the adventure.
Let me introduce you to Brenda Shirey, aka Sequoia_2. The Louisiana resident started geocaching in 2005. She wanted to share the adventure and camaraderie of geocaching. Her idea? It’s a Trackable geocaching puzzle (TB1CNE2 “Geocacher’s Puzzle”). The puzzle consists of custom-made puzzle pieces from geocachers around the globe. Pieces have arrived from Japan, the U.K. and throughout North America.
Brenda says, “The puzzle idea came along after I was buying school supplies at a teacher supply store. They had these large blank puzzles you could buy called ‘Community Puzzle.’ I really didn’t know what I was going to do with them. One day I sat there doodling around and started decorating one with my geocaching name and some stickers.”
Brenda Shirey aka Sequoia_2
Soon Brenda says, “I showed it to someone and they liked it and said they wanted to do one. Thinking this would make a good Travel Bug, I assigned a number to it from one of my Travel Bugs I had and started giving out puzzle pieces to people who were interested.” That was in March of 2007.
The idea spread quickly beyond her local geocaching community: “The puzzle goes to events as a Travel Bug where I set it up and people can discover it. I will also bring blank pieces with me with my mailing address on the back for those interested in making one. Everyone who sees the puzzle really likes it and enjoys looking at all the pieces. When I first started, most of my pieces were from local cachers, but as the puzzle traveled to events, other cachers took notice. ”
Brenda says, “My first piece from out of the USA came from Japan! I now have pieces from all over the world. They range from the very simple to some who have put a lot of work into them. Some cachers will tell me they can’t make one, they are not artistic. You don’t have to be artistic, as long as your geocaching name is in the design, it can be anything at all!”
And Brenda says that anyone can make their own puzzle: “I had someone express interest in starting one themselves and I told them to expect to spend a lot of time and money on it. Puzzle pieces, envelopes and postage add up after a while and it can be expensive, but it is worth it to me just to see it grow larger and to see how people decorate their piece. Someday, my ultimate goal is to get it to about 500 – 1000 pieces and then donate it to Groundspeak to go in their office, maybe even mounted on the wall piece by piece. Now that would be some awesome wall art!”
Yes, it would. Thank you Brenda!
Pieces made by Brenda, her husband and their daughter
Wheeler Dealers caching career is all about hiding creative and fun geocaches. Kandy and Dann started geocaching in 2003. They’ve hidden more than 1500 geocaches around their Southern California home since then.
Kandy says, “We think you need to keep an open mind while placing geocaches. We like hiding caches because it feeds the creativity we have. It also has become a pleasure to be able to add fun to so many people’s lives that come to our area.”
Her advice for becoming a great hider is easy to follow, “Study an area, look for any nook and cranny, be ready to do a color match or similar texture and then make it a fun name. We like to have the hint in the name.”
Kandy says they like giving geocachers the same experiences that draw them to the activity, “We like Geocaching because we are always looking for an adventure. We have always liked getting out and exploring unknown territory so now we have an excuse to travel the unknown road or trail.”
Out of their more than 1500 hides one hide stands out: “Our favorite hide, we were out and about looking for places to put a cache and found a pair of HANDCUFFS in the dirt. We put them on in an abandoned cement tube with a handle. We then hunted for a fake severed arm and put the other handcuff on the wrist of the arm and glued an Altoids tin in the palm of the hand.
“We named the cache, The thief that got away…[now archived] with a description that we didn’t like people taking our caches The arm was finally taken away by someone but the cache made many people laugh and that is why we like placing caches.”
Just this year, hiding became more exciting for the Wheeler Dealers team: “Our reward now is the “favorites” votes. It takes more time to place a cache than to find a cache. We are pleased that Groundspeak is acknowledging the people that help make it a fun sport for others.” Geocaching Favorites is a new feature on Geocaching.com.
What’s your advice regarding creating great hides?
“But something’s rotten in the giraffe from Denmark … ” that’s how the cache description for the German geocache with the most Favorite Points ends.
“Lego – einer ist zuviel” (Lego – one too many) GC13Y2Y is a difficulty 2.5, terrain one micro cache. The cache is hidden at the entrance to the Legoland Discovery Center in the heart of Berlin.
The geocache was placed by riechkolben & geometer42 in June of 2007. More than 2800 geocachers have since logged a “Found it” for the micro.
But it’s not an easy cache find. Almost 250 geocachers logged a DNF (Did Not Find) so far. The hunt requires a level of stealth. The bustling Berlin sidewalk is often crowded with muggles.
“Lego – einer ist zuviel” has earned 350 Favorite points. The cache holds the lead as the the most popular geocache in Germany by just two points. There are four geocaches with 300 or more Favorite Points in Germany. Geocaching Favorites is a new feature on Geocaching.com.
The mico cache from "Lego - einer ist zuviel
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.
