Not many Cache Owners can say they made their cache using a printer. Of those, even fewer can say they built the printer themselves. Geocacher Lisje2000 did both.
3-D printing was solidified as a hobby for Lisje2000 when they built their own 3-D printer in March 2014. You heard right—they built their own 3-D printer.
Lucky geocachers may get a private viewing of the 3-D printer when the cache owners are home.
Much of the geocache itself is made of wood, but many of the parts were printed. A number of the objects found inside the cache were also 3-D printed.
The cache is disguised as a birdhouse displaying the CO’s street number.
Making the cache using the 3-D printer wasn’t an easy job. The CO’s estimate it took at least 132 hours to print all the parts that are currently in the cache…not to mention all the failed attempts at making other parts. The roof of the birdhouse alone took at least 40 hours.
Inside the cache are various 3-D printed artifacts, some of which one might conceivably find in a regular living room: lamps, bookshelves with busts, even a tiny laptop.
Can you spot the geocaching logos?
Opening the cache requires some clever thinking and attention to detail, hence the Difficulty rating—but be careful! Some of the pieces are delicate, and nothing should be forced in order to retrieve the logbook.
A peek into the attic window reveals the guardians of the logbook.An intrepid you geocacher makes the find.
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It was almost 11 years ago, but geocacher and HQ employee Prying Pandora remembers the moment well.
Prying Pandora was with CENT5, also visiting Alaska on a geocaching trip, and NorthWes, a local Alaskan and geocacher who was their tour guide for the day. As they drove along the dramatically scenic Seward Highway in a rented minivan, they took in the never-ending range of snowcapped peaks, and fjords filling with and spilling out water.
Suddenly there came a cry from the back of the car.
“BORE TIDE!!!”
It was NorthWes, who had caught sight of the phenomenon that his EarthCache, GCN6YV, describes. The van immediately stopped, everybody piled out (some more or less confused as to what was happening) and NorthWes explained what they were seeing.
Later, in her log, Prying Pandora wrote, “What a totally cool thing to witness, and unbelievable luck to have caught it!”
You see, this EarthCache is all about a bore, but it’s not boring.
Turnagain Arm is a waterway off the Cook Inlet in the Gulf of Alaska. The Arm’s unique combination of topography and tidal activity results in the geological feature that’s at the heart of this EarthCache: the tidal bore.
Before you say, “No, you’re a tidal bore!” let’s talk about what ‘tidal bore’ means. Basically, it’s a wave—a very, very special wave. It’s the individual large wave caused by a sudden influx of water rushing into a narrow, shallow inlet that’s still draining water from the previous tide. The rush of water coming into the inlet runs right into the draining water going out in the opposite direction, and boom!
Well…slosh.
Making it to the right spot in time to catch that wave’s journey through Turnagain Arm (and take a photo of it) is the task prescribed in this Geocache of the Week.
Possibly the only EarthCache in which you might be photo-bombed by surfers.A close-up of the tidal bore.Alaska, the beautiful!
Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world.
Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.
This traditional cache is located on Oahu’s North Shore at Laniakea Beach, a well known surf spot where the swells are big. The beach is beyond beautiful, and the geocache usually has a good number of trackables inside that have traveled from near and far since Hawaii is a mecca for international tourists and geocachers.
But the magical part of this geocaching experience is the high likelihood of encountering a green sea turtle, or “honu” as they are known in Hawaii. The turtles often come to the shore to feed on seaweed growing on the rocks, or since they are cold-blooded, will come onto the beach to warm themselves in the sun.
Encountering a honu is considered “good mana”, or good energy, by Hawaiians. If you see a honu, will you chances of finding this geocache increase?
What geocachers have to say:
“We loved this place. We saw a number of sea turtles coming up to the shore. Many people were snorkeling to see the turtles better. If it was not for this cache, we probably would never have seen this beach.” –SP4FUN
“Wow! What a great view at this cache site. Wes-rx and I wanted to make it up to Turtle Beach and discover the north shore of Oahu, and we were not disappointed. Lots of turtles just a few feet out in the water, so plenty of excitement to distract the muggles. TFTC!” –pharmanimal2016
“What a beautiful place for a geocache! We arrived at a fortunate time. There were 2 sea turtles sunning on the beach and at least 2 more out in the surf. Kudos to the volunteers who care for the area and keep us people from disturbing the turtles.” –MuStash
What the Cache Owner has to say:
We’ve contacted the cache owner, GeoGerms, to let him know his geocache is being featured as Geocache of the Week. He was very excited, but also busy. He is helping with the dengue virus outbreak on the Big Island of Hawaii. He’s an avid geocacher with over 4,700 finds, but hasn’t had time to geocache since fall of 2015. His profile states, “GeoGerms is a tad busy right now helping with the dengue virus outbreak currently happening on the Big Island. Sorry about the lapse in cache maintenance and lack of timely responses to your emails. Hope to be back fully caching soon!”
We wish everyone a speedy recovery, and hope you’re back out enjoying your hobby soon, too.
Photos:
The real name for this beach is Laniakea Beach
Turtle TB, meet Turtle
This is a great geocaching experience for kids of all ages
Green sea turtles are federally protected so make sure to stay at least 10 feet away from them
Aloha from Hula Girl TB!
It’s considered good “mana” or good energy to encounter a honu
Going back out to the ocean
Wait! Come back!
Will you be lucky enough to find the cache and see the turtles?
Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world. Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.
Last week we featured a clever gadgety Travel Bug Motel cache. This Geocache of the Week is also a Travel Bug Motel, and while the cache itself is plain—spoiler alert, it’s an ammo can—you’ll probably be grinning wildly by the time you reach it. It’s a Travel Bug Motel in more ways than one.
That’s right, folks. The cache is tucked inside a cherry red VW Bug which, depending on the season and the whims of the property owner, alternately has flowers, tall grasses, or various other living things sticking out from its roof. (Speaking of the property owner: permission was granted for the placement of the cache!)
What geocachers have to say:
“A day off of work in the area and this cache made the list. another great cache nearby. what a cool ideal, hope they don’t try to move it. Gets a favorite point from us. TFTC.” –2CraziesMSN
“This was another must do cache on this trip. psychoVW loves cars, especially Volkswagens, and especially Beetles, and especially abandoned cars. This one had everything! She slugged me, as usual, when we drove past this on the way to another cache. When we arrived here, Paycho guessed where the cache was and made the find. Nice camo! We took some pics, and I dropped off the VW Beetle trackable I had picked up that I had been saving specifically for this cache.” –Darth Leviosa
“On our way to geocoin fest and this one popped up on our favorites filter. Very interesting area. Looks like somewhere out of a Hunter S Thompson novel. Picked up a couple trackables to take with us and dropped one off. Favorite point for taking us to the Boondocks.” –DublinMN
“GZ produced a big bug, but I did not squash it! thanks for the swag … TFTC!” –November Ghost
Photos:
Continue to explore some of the coolest caches around the world. Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.
GC3MFAD is disguised as a multi-level birdhouse, which, on its own, isn’t that unusual for a geocache. The casual observer might notice the birdhouse is a little high up…seven or eight feet off the ground, at least. A muggle probably wouldn’t think twice about that fact, but the geocacher—who realizes this must be the geocache, is presented with the problem of reaching it.
Geocachers realize the genius of this cache the moment they figure out how to lower it to the ground. At the base of the pole in a second wooden box is a small crank. When turned in the right direction, a box descends from inside the birdhouse ‘shell’. This is the Director’s Travel Bug Hotel. According to the cache page, this geocache is “by far the best Hotel in Pintlala, Alabama” and “the staff might be someone you recognize but they are not travelers and do not want to go for a ride. They are here to help the guest enjoy their time while staying here.”
It’s the perfect blend of a gadget cache and a roomy and well-crafted Travel Bug Hotel. Should you be lucky enough to be passing nearby, it’s worth the visit. Take care when lowering the unit—it is full of sleeping guests, after all.
The cache fully revealed.
What geocachers have to say:
“Out on a cache run with CaverScott. This was the start of our day. This was a great find. I love how this has been put together and how it works. Worth at least one favorite point. Thanks for the fun and the smiley!” –autigerman
“Wow. There was definitely a lot of work put into making this cache. I love that people drive by every day and don’t even know it’s there. Kudos for your awesome workmanship and for maintaining this. There were no travel bugs inside, but we signed the log and enjoyed the characters visiting the hotel. Great shape. Well crafted. TFTH!” –hoosiersunshine
“It is always a joy to find a Woodnutt cache, and with 99 favorite points we knew this one was not to be missed. I saved the two travelers I had for a nice stay at this quality hotel. Such fun! I am honored to add favorite point #100. CITO tftc” –tleu
How did you first come up with the idea for this type of hide? “A lot of my ideas come when I am traveling, which I do a lot for work. My mind wanders trying to come up with new and different ways to do things. I like birdhouses and have a number of them as caches and this is just another type of birdhouse.”
Was building the cache a difficult process? “Building it was not a difficult process, I have a nice workshop with a lot of tools and I enjoy woodworking very much.”
Do you ever see birds landing on the cache? “I have seen some birds on top of the cache but not a lot.”
What’s been your reaction to all of the nice logs and Favorite Points? “I have always read all logs on my caches. It is one of my favorite parts of owning caches. It is always nice and rewarding when someone appreciates the work and enjoys the cache. The favorite points are nice.”
Is there anything you’d like to say to the geocaching community? “Lately I have been very frustrated by some caches that have destroyed a cache with an ax when they could not figure out the on site puzzle cache but this is a game, not everyone enjoys the same thing but one can make geocaching what they want. You can go for numbers, you can go for puzzles, you can do FTF or whatever it is you like; most important is to enjoy what you are doing and respect others as well.”
Photos:
The cache, looking pretty birdhouse-y in it’s normal state.The hand crank elevator mechanism.The TB hotel descending from the bowels of the birdhouse.All the way down.The TB hotel is open for business!Time to put a “No Vacancy” sign up?The front desk staff are happy to see you.
Continue to explore some of the coolest gadget caches around the world. Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.
It was almost 11 years ago, but geocacher and HQ employee 
