When you log a geocache, do you secretly practice your movie star autograph? Well, here’s your chance to put all that practice to good use. At this year’s Geocaching Block Party, we’re going to showcase geocacher stardom with the second annual Geocaching International Film Festival.
There are plenty of log types out there, but none more fun than earning a smiley by logging a “Found it!” Check out 5 quick tips to inspire your fellow geocachers with your next log entry.
Tell Your Story – The geocache log you write is like the preview to a movie. You’re telling geocachers about an adventure they could experience. Maybe your journey involved seeing the first leaves of spring, looking out from a mountain top or meeting other geocachers on the trail. Your logs help other geocachers decide if the geocache looks fun and exciting enough for them to find.
Add a Picture – A picture of a geocacher’s crooked smile after a find says a lot about a geocache. It’s easy to upload pictures on the fly with a Geocaching mobile app. If you’re wondering about the power of a picture in a log check out the 1000 most recent log images. It’s an ever-changing visual gallery of geocaching pictures from around the globe.
Name Some Names – Geocaching is all about community. Share the geocaching usernames for those who joined you out in the field. It’s a quick way to help build the local geocaching community and it makes meeting people at Geocaching Mega-Events or Event Caches easier.
Add a Favorite Point – Geocaching Favorite Points let you compliment the geocache hider and nudge other geocachers to check out this geocache. While only Premium Members can earn and reward Favorite Points, every can see them.
Say Thanks – It’s easy. Watch this, “Thank you for reading this Geocaching Weekly Newsletter.” It feels good. When you log a geocache and say “thank you” it means so much to the geocacher who hid and maintains the geocache. And don’t forget if the geocache needs maintenance leave a “Needs Maintenance” log.
This geocacher reached GZ happy, healthy, and totally tick-free.
“Hey there Southern Hemisphere! This is the Northern Hemisphere calling. How’re things? It’s about the third week of May, and…well, we’d like our summer back.” Depending on what part of the world you’re in, the latitudinal phone call that happens around the fifth month of the year signals the start to another summer of geocaching. The longer days, the warmer air, the leafier hiding spots…It’s a season so ideal for geocaching it’s hard to imagine spending your time doing anything else.
Though not to the degree of winter, even summer can have the pesky habit of preventing you from getting to GZ and finding a cache safely, effectively, and enjoyably. We’ve got some tips that will get you from working at cross-purposes with summer to working in tandem with it. (Assuming that is a thing.)
1) Make peace with your battery
Remember how we mentioned those longer summer days? They’re very good for longer sojourns into the wild, increasing your per-day find count…and draining your phone battery. Consider borrowing or purchasing a portable charger similar to this one available in Geocaching Shop, or this one on Amazon, to keep your phone from puttering to a halt at exactly the wrong moment. Compatibility with several types of devices is an especially useful trait when you’re geocaching with a group.
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” -John Steinbeck
2) Ticks are not your friends
Bees, mosquitoes, thistles, and poison ivy are common culprits of summertime discomfort, but ticks should equally be on your radar. Although only a few of the many species of ticks found around the world can bite and transmit diseases to humans, those that do can really ruin your day. Here are some tips to avoid them:
Check out a tick distribution map for your area, like this one for Europe and this one for the United States.
To be extra vigilant, invest in a bottle of tick repellent.
Since it’s not always possible to avoid the high grass or bushes when you’re searching for that cache, dress with ticks in mind. Geocaching HQ’er Heather suggests, “Tuck your pants into your socks to keep the ticks from crawling up your legs. You’ll look really cool, and you’ll be tick-safe.”
Conduct a tick-check of yourself, your gear, and your pets after coming back inside.
Tick-removal is an art. Know the correct technique.
3) Sunscreen is king
The sun’s rays may have a pleasing effect on the hue of your skin or the shade of your hair, but don’t make that a reason to forget the sunscreen on your geocaching adventure. Even if in the end you DNF, always protect yourself with SPF, preferably 15 or higher.
What tips do you have for ensuring an excellent summer geocaching experience?
Make your geocache smile… 4 things to avoid when hiding a geocache
(Cough Cough) Hello class, and welcome to a quick installment of the 4 most Common Geocache Hiding Mistakes. Why read on? It’s like knowing the four common routes where there’s a bridge out, or heavy road construction, or a locust migration. These are all mistakes a new hider doesn’t have to make. Let’s learn together and if at any point you’d like to know more, check out the Hiding Overview for all you need to know.
Here are the four guidelines that potential cache owners most commonly overlook:
1) Choose an Appropriate Location
Think like a non-geocacher and ask yourself, “Self, am I placing this geocache somewhere where it could be mistaken for something dangerous?” Also ask yourself if geocache hunting behavior (i.e. looking through bushes) might draw attention in sensitive areas, like schools. And make sure you know whether or not geocaches are allowed in that location. Some areas require a permit, are private property, or don’t allow geocaching altogether. Ask a land manager or owner for permission when needed.
2) Consider Proximity to Other Geocaches
Geocaches must be at least 1/10 mile or 528 feet (161 meters) apart. Check the area for other geocaches before settling on a spot. There’s a great new planning map tool to help you, with red circles showing places that are already blocked by another geocache. It won’t tell you about secret locations, but it will catch a lot of the locations that have already been taken.
3) Avoid Commercialization/Agendas
Geocaches cannot be commercial or used to publicize an agenda. Sometimes people get tripped up by the commercial guideline unintentionally. There are lots of platforms that you can use to get the word out about your important cause or a business that you really (really) like, but geocaches are not an appropriate platform for that.
4) Don’t Damage Property
Telephone poles and stop signs seem like they are public property because they are so familiar, but they are the property of the city or utility company. Don’t damage things in the environment. Screwing or drilling into a live tree creates an pathway for insects and disease. Never bury a geocache, even partway. If you have to make a hole in the ground, it’s not OK.
Follow these four tips and you’ll avoid many of the common hurdles geocache hiders face. And while this is the end of this blog post, it’s not the end of what you need to know. Check out the Hiding Overview before placing a geocache and avoid these pitfalls and create smiles like the one below!
Last Year’s GIFF Geocoin. Photos by Suzi-Pratt.com
By Reid,
Around this time last year, my co-HQer and the great Geocaching Block Party organizer, Amy, said something like, “Hey Reid, so it turns out we have access to a very large screen for Block Party. What should we do with it?” After a thoughtful pause I said, “What if we hosted a film festival?” Amy did a giddy dance and the Geocaching International Film Festival (GIFF) was officially born. In true “If you build it they will come” fashion, the ambitious idea was a success. We received over 100 submissions from more than 20 countries! After spending three years of telling the stories of geocachers for Geocaching HQ, I was truly inspired to see how the community chose to tell their own. Our inaugural GIFF was such a hit that we decided to do it again this year.
Crawling around in a cave. Anything for the shot!
It has now been four years that I’ve been running through forests, crouching into caves, and crawling through sewers to tell the stories of people who love to find and hide geocaches. I like to think I’ve learned a thing or two about what makes for good geocaching video, and with the help of the GIFF judges from HQ, I have compiled five tips to up your chances of being one of the finalists for this year’s Geocaching International Film Festival.
1. Less is More
Just because you can submit up to 4 minutes of video doesn’t necessarily mean you should. When I make videos I think, “What is the simplest way I can tell this story?” Then, I add from there if I can’t resist. This will help you focus on what is truly important and keep your audience engaged. Last year’s finalist, Godzilla Goes Geocaching, is a great example of a geocacher who used 1 minute and 32 seconds to tell his story.
2. Global Appeal
How are you going to communicate your love of the game to 9 million geocachers from more than 185 countries? Something that might be amazing for your local community may not speak to the global community. One of last year’s finalists, Geocaching Day, is a story told without dialogue that speaks to the adventurous spirit of geocachers everywhere.
GIFF on the Big Screen. Photos by Suzi-Pratt.com
3. Focus on Quality
We understand if geocaching comes before filmmaking on your hobby list—we’re not looking for Hollywood here. We are, however, looking for videos that will look and sound good on the big screen. If you can, use a tripod and an external mic. If you can’t, have your actors speak close to your on-camera mic and use a natural tripod like a tree or your friend’s shoulder. For inspiration, check out last year’s winner for Best Cinematography: Galaxy Cache. For more technical tips, I highly recommend checking out Vimeo’s Video School.
4. Follow the Rules
For real. We had to deny one of our favorite films last year because they didn’t have permission for the songs they used. If you’re serious about being considered as a finalist, I recommend grabbing a coffee, a snack, a highlighter and reading through the GIFF guidelines.
5. Have Fun!
If you’re not having fun making your film, your audience won’t have fun watching it. Though I know they didn’t get much sleep, I’m pretty sure the creators of My Geocaching Addiction had a pretty good time putting it together. Oh, and they just happened to take home the Audience Award.
We are on the edges of our exercise ball chairs over here at HQ to see what you come up with for GIFF 2014.
“Hey there Southern Hemisphere! This is the Northern Hemisphere calling. How’re things? It’s about the third week of May, and…well, we’d like our summer back.” Depending on what part of the world you’re in, the latitudinal phone call that happens around the fifth month of the year signals the start to another summer of geocaching. The longer days, the warmer air, the leafier hiding spots…It’s a season so ideal for geocaching it’s hard to imagine spending your time doing anything else.
