Groundspeak’s Lost & Found Celebration – Geocaching.com’s Lost & Found Video

Geocachers from around the world celebrated ten years of geocaching at Groundspeak Headquarters in Seattle, Washington on July 4th, 2010.  The Lost & Found Celebration brought together thousands of geocachers, dozens of Lackeys, Groundspeak’s mascot Signal the Frog, the Bubbleman, a dunk tank and The Founders of Geocaching.com.

Geocachers were also able to explore the Fremont neighborhood and earn a trackable HQ tag by completing a scavenger hunt.

Groundspeak CEO, President and Co-Founder Jeremy Irish gets dunked.

There’s more celebrating to come. Stay tuned for additional plans to commemorate ten years of geocaching.

Tell us, how have you celebrated a decade of geocaching?

You can see even more geocaching adventures by watching our Lost & Found video series here.

The Founder of GeoWoodstock in His Own Words

Joe Armstrong, JoGPS, had an idea more than eight years ago.  The avid geocacher from Tennessee planned to gather the top ten geocachers in one location.  He thought, why not invite others?  And so, GeoWoodstock began.  Hear JoGPS tell the story in his own words.  JoGPS says it started as “all about the numbers” but continues as “all about the number “of new friends you make and smiles you share.

Watch for a Lost & Found video story from this year’s GeoWoodstock VIII  in Carnation, Washington, USA.  The story will debut on July 20th.

That’s a Geocache?!? The Unending Evolution of Geocaches

Traditional geocache

For most, the evolution of the geocache container begins with a sturdy great-great-great-grandfather geocache.  It’s the iconic metal ammo can. But in one decade of geocaching, the geocache family tree branched off into dozens of directions.

Each branch embodies the spirit of evolution.  Geocaches now blend more and more into their natural environment.  Say you place a cache on the outskirts of an estuary?  There’s a bird geocache for that.  You’re considering an urban cache on a park bench?  We’ve heard of magnetic microcaches that resemble gum for that.

Take a quick look at the picture below on the left.  Guess how many geocaches are in that picture?  Ok, I know there are a few caveats. There can only be one geocache every tenth of a mile and none of these are activated, but how many possible geocaches do you see? The answer is… six. The bird, those pinecones, that rock, even two of the sticks are actually geocaches.

How many geocaches are hidden in this picture
Just enough room for a log

Geocaches are not the only part of the geocaching equation to evolve.  Geocachers developed a keener “geo-sense” over the past decade.  Say that you placed a corn cob shaped cache in field of corn… the cache will be found.

A cache like this one pictured at the bottom of the page is all in a days work for an average cacher.

I’d love to hear your most difficult find.  How many DNF’s did you log before uncovering the cache?  Let us know, just post a comment to this blog.

Thermometer reveals a geocache

Cache In Trash Out, Surf’s Up

Posted By: Lackey Nate the Great

Lackeys Nate the Great (second from left) and Powpea (far right) attending a geocaching event near Chicago

Groundspeak’s Lost and Found tour is in full swing, with Groundspeak Lackeys attending geocaching events spread throughout the world.  Earlier this month Lackey Powpea and I had the opportunity to visit the Second City for the first annual Chicagoland Cache-apalooza. The local geocaching organization, GONIL, hosted a fantastic event including 74 new geocaches placed and published over the weekend.

Before the festivities began, however, we attended a CITO event at the Lucas Berg Nature Preserve in Worth, IL. Here is a little speck of green space in the heart of a metro area whose stated purpose is as a repository for toxic soil dredged from a nearby canal. In short: it’s a dump.

Rather, it was a dump, until some geocachers caught wind of it. Thirty years of indifference and careless wind surfboard disposal (yes, really) provided geocachers the opportunity to put some of their hard-won bush-beating skills to good use. What it lacks in geocaches, it more than makes up for in potential.

No discarded BMX tire or mangled can of Fanta dared escape the eagle-eyed crew. I know at least one local resident would agree the place is much more inviting as a result.

Signal watching the CITO

However, it’s easy to see that altruism of the sort witnessed by this Lackey is not wholly selfless. Sure, getting filthy and comparing sticker-bush abrasions are their own rewards, but by demonstrating responsible stewardship of the land essential to our pastime we act as emissaries for the game. Geocachers sent a clear message to the land manager and community that geocaching is something to be welcomed and encouraged.

Worth Our Support!

What can you do in your community to spread this message?

The future of Lucas Berg Nature Preserve is still uncertain, but geocachers in the Chicago area are making an investment they hope will pay dividends down the road. At the very least, it’s a labor of love not lost on the critters in the little marshy plot of land just off SW HWY 7 and W 111th in Worth, IL.

Lackey Nate the Great

TFTH[ospitality Chicago!]

In: New life to a neglected park and potential geocaching playground
Out: Tires, busted glass, soda cans, 3/4 of a wind surfboard (no sign of the surfer!)

Geocoin – Geocaching.com’s Lost & Found Video

Meet the man behind one of the most engaging evolutions in geocaching… the geocoin. Jon Stanley, alias Moun10bike, is now a Lackey.  But almost ten years ago he forged his way as a pioneer in geocaching.  Go along with Jon as he retraces his steps in placing the first geocoin.

See all the Lost & Found videos, from a geocache in space to an 88 year old geocacher, here.