/ Eric Schudiske /

November Geocacher of the Month Nominees – Add Your Comment

Geocacher-of-the-month-geocoin-sunflare
The earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin (sun flare optional)

From the cold winter nights in the frigid north to the warm beaches of tropical paradise, the nominees for Geocacher of the Month share (at least) one thing in common: dedication.

Each nominee is being honored for their contributions to the geocaching community. Each will receive worldwide recognition and a prize package from Geocaching HQ in Seattle, but which will be named Geocacher of the Month?

This is your opportunity to  help decide who will take home the earned, never for sale, Geocacher of the Month geocoin (at left). Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive the exclusive special edition Geocoin, a hat and a profile icon. They’ll also receive a certificate acknowledging their contributions, signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com.

Mic68 - October Geocacher of the Month
Mic68 – October Geocacher of the Month

In October, Mic68 was named Geocacher of the Month.

One geocacher who commented wrote, “After visiting (Mic68’s)“Dragonheart” I kept referring to this cache as the best I’ve ever done. By now they have published another one which we have just finished a couple of weeks ago and I have to say that this cache definitely is a milestone in geocaching! Wow! In Germany people are willing to travel quite a bit if the cache is worth it and I see people flocking in. The mixture of storytelling, suspense, technical know-how and fun is hard to beat.  Also, this team is immensely nice and helpful! All in all they are very worthy candidates and I would be happy for them to win!”

Now it’s your turn to help us select the next Geocacher of the Month. Write a supportive comment at the bottom of this blog for the nominated geocacher that you feel should be awarded the title. A panel of folks from Geocaching HQ will then use your comments to help guide the decision of which geocacher is awarded the Geocacher of the Month honor.

Here are your nominees for the November Geocacher of the Month. Some testimonials have been edited for length.

 

Janizy

MMH_7543-4
Janizy – Geocacher of the Month Nominee

Milton Munoz writes, “Janizy has been one of most outstanding geocachers in the history of the hobby in Puerto Rico. She started 4 and half years ago, since then she is being a leader, creating events and inviting geocachers to the most beautiful places of the island. Her caches combine a wide variety of clever ideas and diabolic camouflages, which have become the most wanted (and frightful too) in the local arena. She has created one the most successful Multi-Cache in the south part of the island, inviting geocachers to do CITO in a beautiful coastal valley area.

Janizy has involved her entire family into the hobby: husband, 2 daughters, brother, sister, brother in law, niece and nephews. Janizy and her family are known as one the most successful FTF (First to Find) hunters of the island. Janizy has a great passion for the photography too and always is taking pictures and recording video of every geocaching adventure and produces excellent videos that she uploads in her YouTube and Vimeo channels. Janizy combines pretty well her profession as Special Education Teacher and her passion for the geocaching, recently she created the first Earth Cache published by a local geocacher on the island. For all the energy and interest that Janizy puts in to geocaching, she deserves to be honored as the geocacher of the month!”

 

BIGBROTHERBEAR

BIGBROTHERBEAR - Nominee for Geocacher of the Month
BIGBROTHERBEAR – Nominee for Geocacher of the Month

Gary Goodyear writes, “I would like to submit BIGBROTHERBEAR as the Geocacher of the Month.  BBB (bigbrotherbear) and his series Quest For The Holy Grail (GC3WKNB) was an inspiration for us. Jim (bigbrotherbear) spent months planning and researching the series.  BBB has taken time out of his life for so many people to accompany them on this journey. If someone needs some help while out on the trail he is more than willing to do this for them, not just a nudge or hint, he will bring them water, food or whatever they need. BBB is involved with the Iowa Geocaching  Organization. He has hidden many caches to help make the events successful for them.

BigBrotherBear is more than the average cacher. He contributes countless hours to the community as well. His series Quest For The Hoiy Grail won the IGO peoples choice for outstanding series of 2013.

If you look at the entire series you will see that it has been awarded more than 650 favorite points in total. BBB has hiked this series with several of the teams. 8-12 miles of rough terrain, hills, river crossings and wild life. BBB is planning a new series that involves over 161 well placed caches. It has been placed submitted and is awaiting review.

BBB will take the time to get the permission to place the caches and he also maintains them. I found one of his bike trail geocaches that was in need of repair. I called BBB and told him about this. The next day he was at the site and had repaired it.”

 

 

NorthWes

NorthWes - Nominee for Geocacher of the Month
NorthWes – Nominee for Geocacher of the Month

Darlene Fortin writes, “I would like to nominate NorthWes of Anchorage, Alaska for geocacher of the month. NorthWes is the president of Geocache Alaska. NorthWes is a man of knowledge on his state and on Geocaching. Northwes took time out of busy life to help me organize Events and Geocaching tours for 72 geocachers who were cruising from Vancouver to Alaska. Northwes organized a Meet and Greet for the Cruisers and the locals to meet each other and supplied some awesome prizes for the Event. Northwes is a very respected cacher in his area and has many caches throughout Anchorage and works hard to keep his and other caches in the area maintained. He also guided many of us on private geocaching tours through many of the parks in Anchorage. His knowledge of Alaska was amazing to help us with the many earthcaches through out Alaska.

NorthWes also helped me with all the paperwork to make Bermuda Island Geocachers a non-profit organization. His organization is well established and has members all over the world.

He is for sure one of the best ambassador for Geocaching and is well respected by his local cachers and now all the cachers that were cruising from all over the states and Bermuda. This man surely deserves to be recognized for all his hard work he has put into geocaching for Alaska!”

 

 

 

Comment below to tell us who you think should be the November Geocacher of the Month. We will be accepting comments through December 30.

If your nominee wasn’t recognized here, please submit your nominations again next month. We’re always looking for the next Geocacher of the Month. To nominate a geocacher, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@geocaching.com and include the following information:

  • 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 the next Geocacher of the Month should be received by January 3. Once Geocaching HQ has received the nominations, we will choose the top candidates and post them on the blog. You will then get a chance to champion your favorite. Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so that we might learn from each other.

Eric Schudiske

  1. Janizy has improved the sense of community in geocachers all around the island. I want her to receive this honor. Congratulations to the other nominees for their amazing job too, but my vote goes to Janizy.

  2. Clearly BIGBROTHERBEAR is a leader and he has proven that in my humble opinion.
    so I shall cast my vote BIGBROTHERBEAR.

  3. I vote for Janizy. I hope she wins this recognition to her valuable job. Janizy geocacher of the month.

  4. I vote for Janizy for Geocacher of the Month. Being in this list as a nominee is a great honor, but geocaching here has been enriched with all the effort and great ideas that Janizy puts in her events and caches. Janizy should be the geocacher of the month!

  5. I have know JANIZY for quite some time now and I must say that the local Geocaching community really enjoy her events as well as her caches. I personally enjoy her friendship and all of the events, specially the Geoweekends she organizes with friends and family members. My vote is for JANIZY she deserves it.

  6. We at Asociacion de Geocachers de Puerto Rico (AGPR) fully support and vote for JANIZY to win this prestige award for the month of November. We have recognize the hard work that she has put to keep our organization and our local geocachers united in various ways, such as planning events, geo trips and competitive events which all geocachers from our island have enjoyed including visiting cachers as well. She embraces what a truly dedicated geocacher stand for. For all of this and many more reasons she deserves this award.

  7. I vote for Janizy! She’s a great geocacher and has help the local community to really enjoyed this awesome hobby. I have participated in some of her events and there really great and everybody has a lot of fun. She deserves this award, thank you.

  8. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting NorthWes for the short time that I was in Alaska. In the first year that he was voted as president of the non-profit GeocacheAlaska organization, he demonstrated his leadership and vision of being active participants and stewards of the local community and environment. In particular, NorthWes promotes the relationship between the geocacaching community and public land owners, as well as educating the public as a whole on the benefits of geocaching. As a geocache owner, NorthWes is known for placing caches that are fun for all ages and in locations that are well worth visiting. The coordinates are accurate, and the containers are small or regulars which is always a treat! Hats off to you, NorthWes, and thank you for everything that you do!

  9. Congratulations to all of the nominee’s. I am sure that all of you deserve to be nominated for a variety of reasons. But I am voting for NorthWes. Wes is an all around community leader and family man (Father, Grandfather, Decon in his church, and the President of Geocache Alaska Inc). He thoroughly enjoys spending time with his family as well as geocaching and benchmarking. He always post great logs on the caches that he finds to include awesome pictures. He is always willing to teach or help out new cachers learn the basics and beyond in the caching world. Wes also enjoy’s hosting a variety of events every year to include CITO’s, Eduevent’s, Meet & Greets, as well as Flash Mob’s. He likes to place caches in places that one would probably never see unless you went looking for one of those caches. And his cache pages always have great information about the local areas as well, to include any historical facts or significance to the cache location. When you complete one of Wes’ Earth Caches, you know that you just received a quality geological and history lesson.

  17. Un millón de gracias a toda la Asociación por el apoyo incondicional, los quiero!!

  19. I vote for NorthWes. He has done a fantastic job building up the Alaska geocaching community, working with land managers, and setting a fine example for others to follow.

  20. Janizy gets my vote to be geocacher of the month, for her achievements taking geocaching a step further, with events and competences of quality and include new and old school geocachers in events and geotrips. Janizy deserves this award.

  21. NorthWes is one of Alaska’s original geocachers. He is key to Alaska’s thriving and booming geocaching culture. In addition to setting innovative caches far and wide, he has organized numerous geocaching outreach activities with local area schools, youth and adult groups, and various park agencies. I’ve lost count of how many CTIO events he’s sponsored. He nurtures rookie and seasoned cachers alike by providing encouragement, praise, assistance, and friendly banter. He and his geo-poodles are Alaska geocaching treasures.

  23. My vote is for Janizy, for all she has doing for geocaching in Puerto Rico. Here there are many geocaching enthusiasts, and Janizy is representing all of us. My vote is for her! Janizy should receive the honor to be geocacher of the month!

  24. I agree that BIGBROTHERBEAR gets my vote. We have had many cachers stop in to get gas and refreshments while caching in the area. All the caches out at White Water Canyon draw people from all over the Midwest because of the great caches and scenery. Good luck to BBB and the other cachers nominated.
    Lyons Service Center & C Store

  25. The Cascade Community Enhancement Corporation is happy to see all the caches in the region that draw visitors and help sustain the local economy. We are proud of our town and proud to know BIGBROTHERBEAR for all the work he does to draw visitors to the area.
    Cascade Community Enhancement Corporation
    John Noonan – President

  26. Big Brother Bear all round the best in caches placed, civic service and a true steward of our resources.
    Bear get my vote

  27. Of all the events that have had the opportunity to participate, my favorite was the Geoweekend Camping in Adjuntas (GC4FPJC), organized by Janizy. She, along with her colleagues, saw to it that all who attended passed unforgettable moments. During that weekend I spent spectacular days. There was everything, varied activities for adult geocachers and for geocacher kids. They were days of doing interesting stuff and share what we like: Geocaching! My vote is for Janizy!

  28. I vote Big Brother Bear

    Fantastic guy and a true ambassador of geocaching in the Midwest and he leads by example. His work with all the different agencies that head up the parks and trails to the visitors bureau and more. Bear’s love geocaching and sense of civic duty are combination that is a win win

  29. Determination and dynamism are two qualities that describe Janizy. When she is proposed to create an event, activity or cache, does everything possible to get it and that everyone is satisfied with her work. She’s a great leader and my vote is for her.

  30. Mi voto es para Janizy. Ella ha sabido ser una gran líder en el geocaching en Puerto Rico. Ha contribuido a fortalecer el juego y merece ser la geocacher del mes.

  31. If you want a great day on a river, beach or beautiful forest of Puerto Rico, looking for any of the Janizy´s caches . A variety of tastes and difficulties (although she and her husband enjoy extreme caches in terrain and difficulty), she always remember geocachers like me, who go a little slower and we can not go to the extreme. I always enjoy everything she publishes. My vote is for Janizy.

  32. I see many stars in the night time sky and the brightest is the northern star which I believe is BBB he shines above all the others.stars
    He is a well loved geocacher in the north.
    Bear is #1 and gets my vote

  33. My vote definitely is for Janizy! I still remember the face of impresion of everyone who attended your event Fear of the Dark 2, when the leaders of each group had to eat worms to get their routes. But, the best of all was when after all the groups finish their routes, the chest with the prize for the FTF’s are revealed. The FTF’s had gotten the key to the chest in its final stage and when they opened it was $ 100 for the winners. The face of FTF’s and all who were there worth millions. It was an event full of shocks, surprises and good geocaching. It was excellent, she always stands out in everything she organized.

  34. I still remember how well we felt in the event with the largest attendance in the history of geocaching in Puerto Rico, FOD3 (GC3YKMB) ! And guess who organized it? Janizy!! It was an unprecedented event, every detail she had to cover was impressive. The whole community of geocachers was activated from months before the event. The motivational work of Janizy and her Crew performed was excellent. Geocachers who for years did not do geocaching, that night perform an appointment and got to enjoy this great event. Among scares, fun, geocaching and healthy competition all enjoy a night like no other. I vote for Janizy and I hope to continue bringing the geocaching in Puerto Rico to another level as she has done so far.

  35. I congratulate all the nominees, is remarkable the dedication, time and effort they bring to geocaching. They are worth admiring, an example for the entire worldwide community. My vote is for Janizy. She has earned the respect and admiration of the community of Puerto Rico with all the contributions she has made to geocaching in the island .

  36. My full support is for Janizy! She is a warrior who has managed to bring geocaching to the next level in Puerto Rico.

  37. In my opinion, Janizy meets all the criteria required to be an excellent geocacher and deserving of the honor of being the geocacher of November. My vote is for her.

  38. It is notable as the entire community of geocachers of Puerto Rico has provided full support to Janizy. Despite being a small island, we maintain geocaching in a large scale and a pillar that holds it up is Janizy and her Crew. The community knows it and is for this reason that have overflowed giving their unconditional support. And here is one more vote in her favor.

  39. Janizy has enabled that geocachers of Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Germany and other countries, can enjoy quality events and caches, full of adrenaline and lots of family fun. I vote for her to be the geocacher of the month.

  40. I am in with my vote for Janizy, her friendship, energy and enthusiasm towards geocaching and people in general makes my proud to give support to Janizy. Go Janizy!!!

  41. The vote of my family is for Janizy! Thanks to her events all my family has enjoyed geocaching and the wonders that our island has to offer. I hope Janizy win the honor of being the geocacher of November.

  43. Janizy is a stronghold of geocaching in Puerto Rico. All her contributions to the game have been well received and appreciated. Always cheerful, helpful and with camera in hand, alert to the publication of a FTF, that´s her! My vote is for her.

  44. Thank to Janizy´s events, I visited places, in the dark of the night, which is scary to enter during the day. The feeling of adrenaline running at 100% is fabulous, while competing with other teams manage to be the first to complete the entire route and visit all the stages. Her events are always magnificent and I enjoyed its entirety. She has my full support in this competition to be the geocacher of the month.

  46. Janizy is always willing to lend a hand when someone needs it. In this case it is she who needs the support and all of Puerto Rico geocachers have given it. I wish she wins because she deserves it and has earned it. My vote is for her.

  47. A great big vote for Jim BBB. He has done lots of great work on his series and caches. One of my favorites was “Dang Nabit” which won geocache of the month from the Iowa Geocachers Association.
    Thanks for all your hard work Jim!!!
    Pat L.

  48. Working for the Jones County Conservation Board has helped me get to know BIGBROTHERBEAR and he has been instrumental in bringing visitors to our county parks and wildlife areas. I give him my vote and hope to see you keep up the good work Jim.
    Much Appreciated,
    Larry

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