/ Eric Schudiske /

“Totem Pole Rock” CGGY8P GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – 8/30/2010

"Totem Pole Rock" GCGY8P

Sometimes what you see isn’t what you get.  According to the cache owner, the geocache “Totem Pole Rock” (GCGY8P) is really Gooney Bird Rock. Whether you call it Totem Pole or Gooney Bird, hcameron‘s hide has still been logged nearly 200 times.

Gooney Bird Rock
Gooney Bird Rock

The difficulty 1, terrain 1.5 geocache was placed in September of 2003.  It has been found by geocachers from around the world.  Adventurers simply drive outside of Moab, Utah to find the geocache.  They should exercise some caution. As indicated by the vehicle in the picture above, four-wheel drive is recommended.

"No Bull -- Great Canyon" (GC12R1Z)

The desert in the Moab area is rich with scenic geocaches.  A short drive away from “Totem Pole Rock” is “No Bull — Great Canyon” (GC12R1z).  See the picture on the right.

As with any geocache in an extreme environment, take precautions.  Make sure you pack plenty of water, a first aid kit and food. Geocachers, prepared with supplies, recently rescued two women who were stranded in the desert not far from these geocaches.

You can see all the Geocaches of the Week by clicking here.

/ Eric Schudiske /

“The Geocaching Triad” Geocaching.com’s Lost & Found Video

The Original Stash plaque

This video follows Ohio, USA geocachers Keith Lemons (keithlemons) and Nancy Steyer (27jack) as they visit the three caches required to complete the Triad.  Beware, the video containers spoilers.

The Triad is one of the crowning achievements of geocaching. Geocachers must log three specific geocaches: the APE Cache Mission 9: Tunnel of Light, Groundspeak Headquarters and the Original Stash Cache. Each find is rich in geocaching tradition. The geocaches do not need to be logged in any particular order.

The Original Stash Tribute Plaque hides outside of Portland, Oregon.  The plaque there commemorates the placement of the first geocache in 2000.

Project APE cache

Geocachers  must also log The Mission 9: Tunnel of Light Project APE Cache, hidden outside of Seattle, WA. Twelve APE caches were originally placed around the world in 2001 to generate publicity for the remake of the movie Planet of the Apes. Mission 9: Tunnel of Light is one of only two APE caches still active in the world.  The other, Mission 4: Southern Bowl is in Brazil.

The geocache at Groundspeak HQ

Geocachers need to also visit the geocache at Groundspeak Headquarters.  Groundspeak HQ is also known as the Lily Pad.  It is home to the offices of Geocaching.com.

Geocachers who complete The Triad says the accomplishment not only earns them  personal satisfaction and but also bragging rights.

Have you ever completed The Triad?  Do you have plans to do so?

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching Caption Contest 11 – Win a Barely Coveted Prize

Winning Caption: “More shocking than the size of the newly found geocache was the number of DNFs asking for hints on the cache page.” – bekah.manda

This is the eleventh installment of our Geocaching Caption Contest.  This picture was posted to Geocaching.com’s Facebook page.  It was too good not to share here on the Latitude 47 blog.

A coveted prize

What caption would you write? “Really big geocache… or really small geocacher?” You can do better.

The winner receives what’s actually a fairly coveted prize this time.  The Trackable celebrates 100 years of scouting and 10 years of geocaching.

Good luck!  Please include your geocaching username in all entries.

The winner of Geocaching Caption Contest 11 will be chosen by an ad hoc committee of Lackeys.

Geocaching Caption Contest 10. Click the picture to see the winning caption.

17 Lackeys voted to award the winner of the tenth Geocaching Caption Contest a barely coveted prize.

Click on the picture to the right to see who won.

Explore the wit and wisdom of geocachers by checking out all the Geocaching Caption Contests.

/ Eric Schudiske

Groundspeak Weekly Newsletter – August 19, 2010

Plan to Go Geocaching on 10-10-10

We want to see how many geocachers can go geocaching on a single day! We’ve chosen 10-10-10, since the date represents 10 years of geocaching and 10 years of Groundspeak in 2010. Bring your friends, bring your family, bring your worst enemy (if that’s what it takes) and let’s see if we can beat the previous record of 56,654 accounts logging on April 18, 2010. Even one log counts since we are counting how many accounts log a cache rather than the number of caches logged.

/ Eric Schudiske

“GR34 – Pointe de la Vicomté” GC1Q0VM GEOCACHE OF THE WEEK – 8/23/2010

View from GC1Q0VM

This Geocache of the Week was chosen from the video monitor in the lobby of Groundspeak Headquarters.   The monitor randomly selects a geocacher’s log, in real-time, every thirty seconds.

The map zooms to the location of the cache that was logged.   Geocacher CASTINE logged the find as I stood in the lobby of Groundspeak’s Headquarters 4900 miles (7886 km) away.  GR34 – Pointe de la Vicomte (GC1Q0VM) is located in Saint Malo, France.  Watch the video below to see the selection.

Geocachers describe the location of the cache as a mix of history and nature.  The geocache is rated a difficulty 1.5 and a terrain 1.5.  Gdugardon hide the cache in April of 2009 along the GR34.  The “GR” stands for Grande Randonnée, translating to Grand Walk.

The GR34 is a walking path that skirts the coast of France.  It was created in the late 1700s to guard against smuggling.  In modern times, more than 100 geocachers have discovered this view thanks to GR34 – Pointe de la Vicomte.

Destinations along the GR34

Explore the all the Geocaches of the Week.