Meet face to face with your fellow geocachers to discuss recent finds, clean up a park, share a meal, or trade caching advice. It’s as easy as attending an Event Cache. An Event Cache is our version of a party: when a geocacher or geocaching organization chooses a time and location to meet and discuss the treasure-hunting adventure of geocaching. These events are open to all geocachers.
These fun gatherings introduce you to other local geocachers and helps build your geocaching community. You may end up with a few new geocaching partners too. Event Caches are also a great way to introduce new geocachers to your favorite hobby.
Along with Event Caches, explore Mega-Events and CITO (Cache In Trash Out) Events. An event has “gone Mega” when more than 500 attendees participate in an Event Cache. Geocachers can “go green” at a CITO Event. Geocachers at a CITO Event clean up parks, trails, and other outdoor locations.
It’s simple to find an Event Cache near you. All you have to do is visit the Geocaching Event Calendar for a comprehensive list of Event Caches around the world. You can also try using our advanced search tool. This tool allows you to search for a specific type of Event Cache in a specific location.
So now go discover an Event Cache and get to know geocachers and caches near you. Happy caching!
Benefits of Adding Home Coordinates
Please enter your home coordinates so we can provide information on new geocaches and geocaching events near you.
WINNING CAPTION: Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Micro Ammo Camoed Mini
-ErikaJean
Try your caption writing skills in the twentieth installment of our Geocaching.com Caption Contest. You could become the proud winner of a barely coveted prize! What caption would you write? “The Jolly Green Giant begins his geocaching career.” 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 that other geocachers have crafted.
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 decide between the top captions to crown the winner of this Geocaching.com Caption Contest. The winner receives a barely coveted prize from Groundspeak Headquarters — this gently used cache container.
Click the image to see the winner of this Geocaching.com Caption Contest
16 Lackeys voted to award the winner of the nineteenth 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 doesn’t have to take a vacation when you’re on vacation. There are more than 1.2 million geocaches around the world, including “Taj” (GC1A91Y) on the doorstep of the crown jewel of Indian architecture.
More than 200 geocachers visiting the Taj Mahal have logged a smiley on this cache.
The difficulty 1.5, terrain one cache was hidden back in 2008. You need to do your homework to log a “found it” on this cache though. GPS receivers are not allowed past security. The cache owner, mapadula, suggests reading the hint on the page before beginning your treasure hunt.
Geocachers from all over the world have logged GC1A91Y: from the Czech Republic to the United Kingdom to Canada.
The cache container near the Taj Mahal
Continue your exploration with 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.
Volunteer reviewers power Geocaching.com by reviewing and publishing each geocache. They. Work. Hard. As a geocacher you can now choose your own adventure from more than 1.2 million geocaches hidden around the world. Each geocache offers you a custom-made journey to explore your world, and each geocache has the fingerprints of a volunteer reviewer on it.
The volunteer review team is made up of more than 200 reviewers, from Canada to Japan and the United Kingdom to South Africa. These men and women published more than a 250,000 geocaches last year alone.
Volunteer reviewers like Andy Kramer (stash-lab) review geocache listings submitted toGeocaching.com to promote the consistency and safety of the activity. Geocaching.com Volunteer Reviewers are first and foremost geocachers who were involved in their local geocaching communities long before becoming Volunteer Reviewers.
We interviewed stash-lab, a German Volunteer Reviewer, to find out what the experience is like for those who hit the “publish” button on geocaches.
stash-lab Volunteer Reviewer
Latitude 47: How did you learn about geocaching? When did you start the activity?
stash-lab: I was looking for a GPS device for car navigation. While browsing I found the Geocaching.com website. When I was a child I loved games like “Fox hunts” or “Hare and Hounds” [Paper Chase] with team tasks. When I realized what Geocaching is I was very excited and I knew that I found my new hobby! This was in September of 2004 but I needed some time until I got my GPS device and found my first geocache.
Latitude 47: When did you become a Reviewer?
stash-lab: I was asked in 2007 to become a reviewer. The truth of the matter is that I didn’t exactly know what to do as a reviewer and so I had to think a few days about this offer. But at last I felt it was time to support the game in an additional way. It was a good decision! 🙂
Latitude 47: When people ask, how do you explain the role of a Volunteer Reviewer?
stash-lab: There are many different ideas in the community about the role of a reviewer. But I only can explain my understanding of this role. Besides publishing caches there are three important things to do: understand the requests of cache owners, offer solutions, and be kind and helpful to the cache owners.
Latitude 47: What do you hope people know about Volunteer Reviewers?
stash-lab: Reviewers are humans, reviewers are individuals, reviewers are not infallible. The majority of geocachers are very respectful to volunteers. Thanks for that!
Latitude 47: Did you ever encounter anything funny or unexpected in your role as a Reviewer?
stash-lab: Yes, of course. I’d like to tell you two points. First: Sometimes there are reviewer notes like: “Please let me know when you will come to check the cache container. I’ll try to be there, too.” I like to travel a lot but unfortunately it’s not possible for me to visit every cache before I publish it.
And second: When I was visiting the GeoWoodstock VIII last year I met so many reviewer colleagues and it was like being welcomed at a big family event. That was really awesome.
Latitude 47: What advice do you have for geocachers who submit caches for review?
stash-lab: Use the reviewer notes to submit relevant pieces of information. They help us to review the listing in a more timely manner. I like caches where the cache owners implement new ideas. So it is helpful for a reviewer to have some explanations about the concept. We don’t need to know the solutions for puzzle caches but it’s good to know, for example, that there is a way to get coordinates.
Latitude 47: Anything else you would like to add?
stash-lab: Geocaching has became a very important part in so many peoples lives. It is impressive how dynamically it has grown over just the last two years, especially in Germany. But geocaching is a very young activity and sometimes I think about what geocaching will be like in 5 or 10 years. I don’t know what kind of technology the future will bring. I am sure that the fun of playing this game will always remain because geocaching satisfies three important human needs: nature, playing and social relations. That’s great and I’m proud to be a part of that game.
EarthCaching is a great way to combine science education and Geocaching.
EarthCaches are locations that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth.
This week marks the 7th anniversary of the first EarthCache: “Earthcache I – a simple geology tour of Wasp Head” (GCHFT2) in New South Wales, Australia by geoaware. The listing went live on January 10th, 2004 and 96 people have since logged a smiley.
If you are considering submitting an EarthCache for review, please read the updated EarthCache listing guidelines. The wording of the guidelines has been clarified and the guideline about logging requirements has been separated into two guidelines: one about logging tasks, one about logging photographs.
Important points about the EarthCache guidelines:
• Any requests for photos are considered optional.
• Logging requirements should be centered on the Earth Science at the location.
• You will need to provide the reviewer some information about permission or your EarthCache publication will be delayed.
• If your EarthCache is not quite publishable, you and the reviewer will work together to ensure that it meets the guidelines.
Meet face to face with your fellow geocachers to discuss recent finds, clean up a park, share a meal, or trade caching advice. It’s as easy as attending an Event Cache. An Event Cache is our version of a party: when a geocacher or geocaching organization chooses a time and location to meet and discuss the treasure-hunting adventure of geocaching. These events are open to all geocachers.
