Let’s set the scene. You’ve heard a few friends talk about this thing called “geocaching” and you fancy you might be pretty good at it. After all, you are fairly certain that your uncanny ability to locate lost car keys must mean that you have pirate’s blood coursing through your veins.
With your handy-dandy smart phone in hand, you set off to find the nearest geocache. According to your GPS you are right on top of it – but wait! Where’s the X marks the spot? You search high and low. You are on the verge of giving up when you spot a rock that doesn’t quite look like a rock….and yes, you’ve found it!
Finding a geocache feels kind of like this!
Now rewind the clock to a time long, long ago – a time without smartphones, Facebook, or (gasp!) geocaching. Thirteen years ago today Mike Teague became the first person to find the first geocache (at the time called a “stash”). It’s an adventure shrouded in lore. The word “geocaching” hadn’t even been invented yet. You can read much more about Mike Teague and the history of geocaching here. But the sense of wonder the first geocacher felt, is the same sense of wonder that now ripples through six million more geocachers. Are you one of them?
Share the story of your first geocaching find below in comments!
All three nominees for the March Geocacher of the Month contribute to the global geocaching communityby creating quality geocaches and being an inspiration to geocachers.
Thank you to all those who supported the nominees. Those not chosen as the featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Geocaching HQ.
The choice was difficult. Ultimately, only one nominee can become the featured Geocacher of the Month based on a combination of community input, blog comments and voting. We all won seeing such examples of how the geocaching community works together.
After tallying the sentiment, WVTim is named the Featured Geocacher of the Month for March 2013.
WVTim is known for contributing one-on-one and through social media to improve geocaching for others. One geocacher who left a comment for WVTim wrote, “I see “paragraphs” of supporting statements about WVTim and the many things he has accomplished for geocaching. I am familiar with WVTim due to his YouTube videos. His gadgetcaches channel, in only 3 months, has nearly 11K views. He does instructional videos on how to build his gadget caches. So, he not only has amazing caches, he is giving ideas and instructions to cachers everywhere on how to build them. Cachers everywhere are benefiting from this guy whose caches have over 2K favorite votes. Plus, he just doesn’t do great caches. I’ve learned from this blog he has seminars, educational events, he teaches geocaching in schools, and to the Boy Scouts. He assists his state and local government in placing geocaching trails.”
WVTim will receive a collector’s edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging his contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must follow these requirements. Please include:
Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month
Please inform your nominee that you have submitted them for the award. Nominations for Featured Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.
Congratulations again to Uncle Louwtjie on being recognized at the Featured Geocacher of the Month for February.
louwtjievdw: Featured Geocacher of the Month for February
All three nominees for the February Geocacher of the Month show us the meaning of geocaching ambassadors. They welcome new community members, hide and maintain clever geocaches, and are rewarded with hundreds of Favorite Points.
Thank you to all those who supported the nominees. Those not chosen as featured Geocacher of the Month will receive a gift of appreciation from Geocaching HQ.
After counting the votes and registering the sentiment a man known as Uncle Louwtjie,louwtjievdw, is named the Featured Geocacher of the Month for February 2013.
Louwtjievdw is known in the South African geocaching community as a creative geocache hider. He’s built a reputation as a geocacher who’s as quick to maintain his geocache hides as he is to make friends with new geocachers. He’s also known for friendly advice, leaving great logs on geocaches he’s found and having a cup of coffee ready for geocachers at his home.
One voter writes, “Oom Louwtjie, also called the “Flame of Bloemfontein”, gets our vote. His contribution towards geocaching can not go unnoticed. He accelerated this hobby and made it extremely pleasurable and challenging. His unique cache hides and above all his comments, his friendly nature, made him a legend in our country. He has the ability to find caches even in the toughest places with no complaints and he will always look for that something good in every cache hide…”
Uncle Louwtjievdw will receive a collector’s edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging his contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. See a list of all the featured Geocachers of the Month here.
Featured Geocacher of the Month Icon
If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be considered for the honor, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com. Every nomination must follow these requirements. Please include:
Your name, the name of your nominee, their username
A picture of the nominee
Description (200 or more words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month
Please inform your nominee that you have submitted them for the award. Nominations for Featured Geocacher of the Month are accepted at any time.
Congratulations again to Uncle Louwtjie on being recognized at the Featured Geocacher of the Month for February.
Two million active geocaches is a big deal. But at the end of the day, two million active geocaches is a number. It’s hard to even imagine. Here’s a little perspective on the magnitude of two million. It takes you more than four months to blink two million times. About two million babies will be born around the world this week. And students spend two million minutes to complete four years of high school classes in the United States.
Two million active geocaches though, means adventure is closer than ever. Active geocaches can be found in more than 180 countries. Those at Geocaching HQ in Seattle weigh in on the significance. Cathy Hornback at Geocaching HQ has more than 11,000 finds. She’s been geocaching under the username Prying Pandora since 2003. She says two million active geocaches takes Geocaching into the mainstream, “It means we’re no longer the biggest game that no one has heard about.”
Jenn Seva, MissJenn, at Geocaching HQ says congratulations goes to geocache hiders, “Thank you so much for those quirky gems and amazing locations. Thank you also to those who take the time to award Favorite Points so that it’s slightly easier to choose my destinations.” (You can thank a geocache hider by sharing this video)
Recent “Corporate Day” at Geocaching HQ (no one really dresses like this at HQ)
MissJenn also helped power the worldwide geocaching volunteer community. Each of the two million active geocaches has volunteer reviewer fingerprints on them. Each geocache was individually reviewed. She says volunteers should take a moment to enjoy the milestone, “Being a steward of the game takes a lot of time and dedicated effort. Please take a moment to bask in a bit of the glory: beam with pride! Take a look at this awesome community that you have helped to create: one geocache at time, one forum thread at a time, and one translation at a time.”
Geocaching is now more than 12-years-old. Jon Stanley, Moun10Bike, has been geocaching since its infancy. He works at Geocaching HQ and says, “At the outset, I had no idea that this great game would ever get this big. When I placed Idaho’s first geocache back in 2000, there were less than 40 geocaches in existence, and I naively placed a hitchhiker in the geocache with the idea that it might someday visit every geocache in the world. Now we’re at two million. My hitchhiker, poor little Stash Hopper never had a chance!”
But Jon reminds us, “Remember, it’s not about the numbers! For this game to continue to thrive, we all need to become stewards of the game and push forward to new heights of creativity, cooperation, and commitment!” Well said.
Share your comments below. What does reaching two million active geocaches mean to you?
We hear it all the time, “Geocachers are the nicest people!” It’s a wonderful compliment that good-hearted geocachers have earned for over a decade. Cache In Trash Out (CITO) weekend is just another example of geocachers giving back. Since 2002, tens of thousands of geocachers have cleaned up parks, trails and other geocaching-friendly destinations. Geocachers plan CITO events year round, but one weekend each year the global geocaching community unites to cleanup tons of trash together.
CITO Event in Texas
The 11th Annual CITO weekend is scheduled for April 20, 21, and 22 2013. There will be hundreds of events to attend in dozens of countries, but if there’s not one in your area, it’s time to gather your friends and create your own CITO Event. Be sure to check the CITO Event calendar for gatherings near you.
Those attending CITO Events on April 20, 21 or 22 (or all three!) will earn a 2013 CITO Souvenir for their Geocaching profile. Thanks for keeping the geocaching a community one of the nicest groups of people out there![Editor’s note: This video is spoken in German and Czech. Click the CC button for English, German or Czech subtitles.]
