April 4, 2014 / Paige Edmiston

Makers’ Secrets Revealed: Blueprints for 3 Amazing Geocache Hides

3 Amazing DIY Geocache Hides Revealed

Geocachers who attended one (or more!) of the 900+ events held around the world during Maker Madness, gained a glimpse into the inner-workings of the crazy-creative minds of geocache makers. They learned how to make clever hides, like camouflaging a container to look like a rock or tree or set up the ultimate Multi-Cache.

A few of these great geocaching minds agreed to share the secret sauce behind their coolest creations with us. So yeah, please DO try these at home.

Fogg working on "Geocache on the Rocks" — Fogg working on “Geocache on the Rocks”

Geocache on the Rocks by Fogg

fogg is a geocacher from Schallstadt, Germany known for his ingenious hides. To make Geocache on the Rocks, Fogg utilized a little thing called “physical computing.” Take a look at what geocachers have to say about this geocache:

rabbitredux: TFTC! What a truly amazing cache. I have never seen anything like it before!

BiblioMo: I thought I’d seen it all in Geocaching until today. WP1 was extremely cool and ingenious.

Check out these step-by-step instructions to recreate your own Geocache on the Rocks.

Click for a PDF of Geocache on the Rocks

A SHOCKING Cache by WVTim

WVTim is a geocacher from West Virginia who has racked up an impressive 5100 Favorite Points. He’s known for his gadget style hides, like a SHOCKING Cache. Here’s what geocachers are saying:

smitfam4: Another clever cache, my kids don’t understand how you come up with these ideas.

Steve105: Thanks for the shocking experience.

Check out these step-by-step instructions to recreate your own SHOCKING Cache.

screenshotPDFinstructions — Click to see a PDF on how to build A SHOCKING Geocache

Schrader’s Ode to Dayspring by Herr Potter

Herr Potter is the local, Seattle geocacher featured in Geocaching’s video Thank You to the Geocache Hiders. As its name implies, his geocache Schrader’s Ode to Dayspring was inspired by another awesome Seattle hider, Dayspring, and his Totally Tubular geocache series. Read what geocachers are saying:

wants to fly: Very nicely done. Impressive workmanship.

benandjayme: What a fantastically fun idea for a cache! We had a great time retrieving the cache with our co-workers. There was dancing, singing, worm admiring, and log signing! Thanks for bringing us here and sharing your creativity!

Check out these step-by-step instructions to recreate your own Schrader’s Ode to Dayspring.

Click to see a PDF of "Schrader's Ode to Dayspring" — Click to see a PDF of “Schrader’s Ode to Dayspring

Share your ideas for inspirational geocaches in comments below!

April 1, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

Geocacher Honored for Historic DNF Stats

DNF’s Earns Geocacher Coveted Award

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJRZnhq3v0Q]

If this DNF Pride video you’re about to watch was located at a set of exact coordinates, and disguised in a geocache container, it’s unlikely the man being honored would ever discover it. This April 1, we honor a geocacher who sets a proud example for other adventurers to follow. It’s a simple, easy-to-follow, statement: DNF Pride. Chosen as a Geocacher of the Month, Dean F, logged more Did Not Finds than anyone in history. He further logged exactly zero finds. His partner, Eftie F, and their geocaching friends created a special event to honor Dean F’s accomplishment. Watch this new video to find out what happened next.

Proudly celebrate your DNF Pride or a friend’s DNF accomplishments with DNF gear from Shop Geocaching.

March 28, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

And Now… A Geocaching Limerick Contest

It’s not often you’re able to combine your love of prose and geocaching… until now. And really how do you express your love for geocaching? Do you pour your creativity into an awesomely crafted hide? Are you the first one out the door in the race to be first to find? Do you spend hours crafting a blog post about your latest geocaching adventures? How about poetry? That’s right – geocaching poetry!

Geocaching HQ staff will be judging the lyrical stylings of the PodCacher Podcast Limerick Contest. You have until April 11 to enter for a chance to win geocaching gear provided by Shop Geocaching. There’s a few things you need to know. Ready for a limerick that explains it all (almost)?

To win a cool coin that is slick

you’ll need to know this little trick

All you need to begin

with a good chance to win

is write up the best limerick

The Geocaching Limerick Contest is sponsored by the PodCacher podcast. Here are some important guidelines. Your limerick must have a geocaching-related theme and it must be family friendly! It must follow the standard Limerick format (3 long and 2 short lines rhyming aabba)

A geocaching Limerick might look something like this:

An urban family went caching

To locate what ranchers were stashing;

They disturbed many crickets

And found a few trinkets

Though the steers kept them constantly dashing.

And here’s a non-geocaching example:

Writing a Limerick’s absurd,

Line one and line five rhyme in word,

And just as you’ve reckoned

They rhyme with the second;

The fourth line must rhyme with the third.

Interested in competing? Check out the contest and details. The winner will be selected by a panel from Geocaching HQ. You have until Friday, April 11 to enter. Good luck! Listen to the PodCacher Podcast for the winner announcement!

March 10, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

Dear (Aspiring) Geocache Hider: Earn a Souvenir

MailerImage_03102014_MakerMadness_vFINAL_blog (1) You’ve found geocaches that leave you in awe, now unlock the secrets of making those creative geocache hides. Celebrate Maker Madness. Hundreds of Maker Madness events around the world aim to inspire geocachers. Learn the magical formula that weaves innovative containers, inspiring locations and powerful storytelling into creative geocache hides. While amazing geocaches live on and on, Maker Madness is for a limited time only. It runs from March 28 through April 7. Everyone logging an “Attended” for a Maker Madness event earns a digital “Maker” souvenir for their geocaching profile.

Visit the Maker Madness Event Center to find an event near you, or find out how to create your own Maker Madness event. Now “Go Forth and Create”!

March 5, 2014 / Derek H /

Don’t look down! — Vertical Limit I: Die Brücke (GCZVW2) — Geocache of the Week

Gear up to get down—carefully. Photo by geocacher p-boro

Geocache Name:

Vertical Limit I: Die Brücke (GCZVW2)

Difficulty/Terrain Rating:

1.5/5

Why this is the Geocache of the Week:

Between inviting forest trails, urban jaunts and neighborhood parks, it’s easy to forget that there’s a whole other side to geocaching—the adrenaline-fueled adventure sport that only the skilled and brave take part in. This Geocache of the Week serves a gentle reminder of the exciting T5 and those that throw fear to the side to earn their smileys. If rappelling off of bridges isn’t necessarily your thing, that’s okay. T5’s take on many different shapes. For the seafaring, geocaching pirates, there are plenty of boat-in and scuba caches. For the forest dwellers, try a tree-climbing cache. And if you’re a rock climber (like the author), there are plenty of geocaches that can only be accessed via fifth-class terrain. There are tons of options. The only requirement for a T5 is that it must require special equipment to access.

# of Finds:

885

# of Favorite Points:

416

What the geocache owner, TUTANCHAMUN, has to say:

“Some years ago when I did with with a friend of mine some rock climbing and we thought about creating a special geocache. We never thought that this cache will exist such a long time and will get so popular.[…] I am pleased that Vertical Limit I is alive and I think it is accountable to let this cache stay, it is not so extremely dangerous. An important thing I want to say to the community: Enjoy geocaching in nature, search lovely places, search funny and extraordinary caches but don’t hunt only for points along the road every 0.1 miles. Quality not Quantity!”

What geocachers are saying:

[All logs translated from German]

“A great geocache, there are far too few of this kind… :-)” – Chaosjan

“This was so worth it! A fantastic adventure, that was a lot of fun for everyone.” – DaDieDose!

“This Bridge was on our bucket list for a long time and today it is finally happening. […] A really great location that literally screams for you to rappel down!” – Nuuskamuikkunen_01

Photos:

Found it! Photo by geocacher Evelyn&Andreas

I hope you're not afraid of heights. Photo by geocacher ruby74 — I hope you’re not afraid of heights. Photo by geocacher ruby74

See More Photos

What fears have you conquered (or would you conquer) to earn a find? Post your stories and photos in the comments.

Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog.

If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, leave a comment below with the name of the geocache, the GC code, and why you think we should feature it.

Official Blog

Tag: Extreme Geocaching