We kicked off the 2026 hiding themes with a challenge to look twice at their surroundings. Hidden in plain sight—urban edition covered clever, camouflaged geocaches that blend into everyday urban surroundings.
From February 1 through March 31, geocachers around the world nominated caches they hid or found in 2026, turning inconspicuous objects and placements into extraordinary adventures.
The second hiding theme of 2026 is hiking and nature. This theme covers hiking routes in natural areas, suitable for all experience levels. From beginner-friendly trails to more challenging hikes, we are looking for geocaches across a range of outdoor experiences.
Each quarter, we will introduce a new hiding theme to celebrate geocaches published in 2026. We will also feature geocaches from each theme on the Geocaching Blog and social media.
The first hiding theme of 2026 is hidden in plain sight: urban edition. This theme covers clever, camouflaged geocaches that blend into everyday urban surroundings.
Each quarter, we will introduce a new hiding theme to celebrate geocaches published in 2026. We will also feature geocaches from each theme on the Geocaching Blog and social media.
Our first theme is hidden in plain sight: urban edition 🫣
As we begin 2026, we invite geocachers to bring their creative energy into the new year. Each hidden geocache creates an adventure and makes each finder an explorer.
Our goal is to inspire geocachers to hide and find caches that showcase creativity, innovation, and the sense of adventure that make geocaching special.
In 2025, we celebrated a major milestone—25 years of geocaching! To mark this special anniversary, we introduced a new hiding theme per quarter to celebrate geocaches published in 2025. Every three months, we featured geocaches from that quarter’s theme on the Geocaching Blog and social media.
For our fourth and final hiding theme of the year, each nomination helped us revisit memorable moments in geocaching. We struck retro gold with your ‘blast’tastic nominations and discovered caches that could make a highlight reel titled “geocaching’s greatest hits.”
