April 2, 2014 / Eric Schudiske /

A Texas Sized Mega-Event (and Squirrel)… in Texas

Editor’s Note: Staff from Geocaching HQ in Seattle are visiting more than 30 Mega-Events around the globe this year to shake hands, share stories and hear what you think is next for geocaching.

katie 2 — Geocacher “Dark Star” and Katie meet a new friend at the Mega-Event (okay, it’s a squirrel)

By: Katie Barker

It was my first time traveling to Texas and it definitely lived up to my expectations! Known as the “friendship state”, Texans showed me that geocaching friendship we all know and love the moment I arrived at the Friday Night Meet & Greet in the small town of Bastrop. Geocachers from near and far traveled many miles to attend the weekend’s festivities and I was feeling lucky to spend my time with such a great group of people. Here’s a little re-cap about my weekend in Texas. If you’ve never attended a Mega-Event, here’s what you can expect.

I was up bright and early on Saturday on a mission to complete the Lab Caches. Jana Fite, (cybercat) a long time geocacher and event organizer, created a series of 7 Lab Cache locations from the historic district of Bastrop to Smithville highlighting the most interesting businesses in the area. Each location had a unique experience like exploring the largest bronze foundry in the state of Texas or sampling bottled Texas rainwater at Texas Rain. I couldn’t help but giggle when we ended up at Berdoll Pecan Farms where we found a giant squirrel! A big special thanks to TxDiva and Dark Star for showing me around.

Halfway through the Lab Caches I made a quick stop at the Bridge Spittin’ Ceremony! Who knew that spitting over a bridge was a long time tradition in Bastrop? I do now! The kayakers in the river below had to stay back a little ways as the 200+ geocachers leaned over to spit all at the same time. It was an experience I will never forget to say the least.

I headed back to the 12^th Annual Texas Challenge after lunch to watch the challengers come racing in with their completed score cards. The competition was fierce and I must congratulate North Texas on taking home the win! I also got to meet Jenny Mills, the host of the Birthplace of Texas GeoTour. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try any Blue Bell ice-cream, next time!) I was overwhelmed with joy from all the compliments and positive feedback geocachers gave about the GeoTour. Keep up the good work in Washington County.

The weekend was packed with fun activities, but it wouldn’t be complete without a quick Texas Challenge CITO on Sunday along the Colorado River before heading to the airport (with a stop at Buc-ee’s, of course). Thanks to all the organizers for hosting a great fun-filled geocaching experience.

My favorite part of the weekend was hearing everyone’s stories, from PPanther’s prank (check out her profile page, it’s quite impressive) to the 254 county challenge. Thanks for making me feel at home Texas geocachers!

March 25, 2014 / Annika /

Climbing for a Smiley

Looking down, there is nothing for 30 feet and then the leafy floor of the Potsdam forest in Germany. My head is red from exhaustion. When I look at my hands, they are shaking. I try to write my geocaching username in the small logbook, but the letters are scrawly. “At least I did not forget the pen down there,” I think to myself.

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March 11, 2014 / Christy

A SWA*G Filled Mega-Event

Editor’s Note: Staff from Geocaching HQ in Seattle are visiting more than 30 Mega-Events around the globe this year, to shake hands, share stories and hear what you think is next for geocaching.

In February, the Southwest Arizona Geocachers hosted their signature event, S*W*A*G’s Yuma Mega #11, in sunny Yuma. Above is what it looked like at home in Seattle, where Geocaching HQ is located, that same weekend.

After arriving in Yuma and thanking the Southwest Sunshine Gods (they must exist), I found my first-ever Arizona geocaches and got started on the Mega Event’s Lab Caches.

Jeff Nicholson, you+me_makes3, with S*W*A*G created an elaborate series of 10 Lab Cache locations to show visitors a diverse range of attractions all around Yuma. Fortunately, he had suggested that I get a rental car for the trip. The Lab Caches were an excellent way to see the city’s well-known and hidden gems, ranging from the historical Sanguinetti House Museum to the Yuma Territorial Prison Cemetery. I even got to see some cute animals at the Wild World Zoo and Camel Farm, thanks to the Lab Caches.

The Yuma Warm-Up Mega Event #11 at a local restaurant was a great opportunity to meet the friendly Geocaching community and to get to thank our amazing volunteers in person. There was a nice handful of Geocachers who also had ties to the Seattle-area, and it was fun to catch-up with them. The event also featured a special screening of the Geocaching International Film Festival (GIFF), as shown at the 2013 HQ Geocaching Block Party.

Making friends at the Yuma Warm-Up Mega-Event #11

The next morning, the Mega Event was set up and ready for crowds. The West Wetlands Park was an incredible location, not too cramped and very pretty. There was a large array of fun activities to choose from; check out the impressive Activities Schedule on the cache page! I met with even more geocachers, vendors, Signal the Frog, and checked out the cool vehicles on display before completing the Lab Cache series later that afternoon.

Before heading back to the airport, I hosted a very-early-morning event cache of my own: I choo-choo-choose you! at the historic steam train near Gateway Park. I arrived early and there was already a welcoming crowd of friendly faces waiting for me as the sun came up. What an incredible group of geocachers! A great way to end an outstanding weekend of geocaching. Thanks, S*W*A*G!

yuma 20 — A Show of Support Local Sheriff’s Department

yuma 30 — I choo-choo-choose you Logbook

February 25, 2014 / Annika /

Geocaching Caption Contest 41 – Win a Barely Coveted Prize

Help us find a caption for this stealthy predator – geocaching cat Mr. Pickles – , like “Just follow your nose to the geocache!” Tell us your funniest caption for this picture! You could even win a ‘barely coveted prize’ (emphasis on the ‘barely’) in the 41st Geocaching Caption Contest. This picture was discovered on the Recent Geocaching Log Images page. You can discover the 1000 most recent images from recent logs.

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February 13, 2014 / Derek H /

I <3 Geocaching Lab Caches from the Geocaching Community

At the beginning of this month, the I <3 Geocaching Lab Cache experiment launched. During the month of February, Geocaching Premium members have the chance to create a temporary, personalized Lab Cache for one special person. This new test is different than normal geocaching and is open to all sorts of creative interpretations. In fact, in the short two weeks that the test has been live, we’ve already seen a number of amazing Lab Caches from the geocaching community. If you’re a Geocaching Premium member and you haven’t created your Lab Cache yet, do it here, then post your ideas in the comments below.

Snow Adventure with the Geocaching Vlogger

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Lottery Cache by FlyingMoose

[vsw id=”SZulyAdTAs0″ source=”youtube” width=”560″ height=”315″ autoplay=”no”]

A few comments from FlyingMoose regarding his Lab Cache: “I think what inspired me was that only one person could log the cache and I wanted more to enjoy making the find. As for the responses to the cache? I would say that the responses have been positive, who wouldn’t like the idea of claiming such a unique find? I heard about the Lab Caches last year and thought they were a cool idea, when I heard we could create our own I thought this would be a great chance to do something fun for everyone and I hope to find a bunch of ballots next week when I open it up and pick the winner! “

Staying in Touch from 2300 Miles Away

This story comes from Geocaching HQ’er, Maria: “I sent a small plastic container to my father in AK [Alaska, USA] via mail to hide for my bestie since 6th grade, Jennifer. I had him hide it on his property in an old CAT grader. This particular location served multiple purposes. First, my dad could see the grader out his window. This meant that when Jennifer came to find it he could watch, I got a play-by-play on my voice-mail of her entire adventure. Second, Jennifer got a huge promotion at her job (a CAT dealership) this year and her co-workers are always grading on her nerves…see what I did there? So punny. Anyway, Jennifer was ecstatic and my dad loved being part of the action. It was a great way to stay connected to people I love who live 2, 300 miles away. “

Ready to begin? Create your limited time, single use Lab Cache Now!

An I <3 Geocaching Lab Cache is easy to create. You’re only bound by your imagination, a Find Code and, of course, local laws, regulations and just common sense. Need more info? Check out the I <3 Geocaching FAQ.

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