What do you get the Caching addict in your life???

A Caching

Shower Curtain

Everyone knows when you are a geocacher, there is no such thing as too many things about geocaching. When it comes to a caching collection, more is better. WE AGREE. With the holidays coming up we thought we would share our shower curtain with you. This special gift was a birthday gift to Balkamper13. I was at a loss on what to get him so I stopped searching and started designing.

I bought a plain white fabric shower curtain from Walmart for $14 dollars and some shower curtain rings for about $8. I then selected our favorite caching pictures and my favorite cache saying and started printing them on $12 iron on paper from craft store. After all printed I arranged them on the shower curtain and started to iron. Make sure if you are going to make one of your own, you double check your pictures, they have to be printed in mirror image setting, I ironed on two pictures backwards…no real way to fix that ooppps.

The shower curtain rings add a lot to the gift. I found some that looked like mini frames. I measured the inside and printed character pictures of our family that fit inside the frames. I cut them out and then glued them in with craft glue and put a layer of Mode Podge over that. They are adorable. If you have any questions or make one, please post and we will trade directions and/or pictures. Happy Caching & Holidays

Nomination for Cacher Of the Month

vote for balkamper13

 

We are freaking out excited, Our very own Balkamper13 is one of the three featured nominated geocachers of the month for November from the Geocaching.com’s blog, Latitude47. It is a huge honor to even get nominated, but we would love to see a Utah cacher win this recognition from Ground Speak. Below is the nomination and a link to vote for Ted. Just leave a comment and vote for him. This is a great way of saying thanks to Balkamper13 for all he has done for the caching world. Voting Link below….

http://blog.geocaching.com/2012/11/november-featured-geocacher-of-the-month-nominees-add-your-comments/#disqus_thread

Nomination:     Cacheseekers! writes, “Not only is Ted [a.k.a., balkamper13] the Elvis of the caching world, he is just a darn good person. He has introduced and help countless novice cachers become caching addicts. He has lent out his GPS to new cachers, spent numerous hours teaching his secrets, and invited new cachers on caching adventures and to events. He donates quality, homemade swag, time, and money to caching events. Ted is the mastermind behind the Cache Scene Investigator cache series that has a huge following. This series has everything from underwater caches to pulley system caches hoisted up a tree. This series has the Utah caching world on pins and needles waiting for the Longitude and Latitude killer to strike again. Ted also carries around a cache repair kit and leaves every cache in better condition than he finds it in. Ted also shares his caching adventures and tips on his blog at Live Love Cache.com. The list of people he has influenced and befriended is countless.”

Comment below to tell us who you think should be the featured November Geocacher of the Month. A panel of Lackeys will use your comments to help decide which geocacher is awarded the honor. Each featured Geocacher of the Month will receive an exclusive special edition featured Geocacher of the Month Geocoin, along with a Geocacher of the Month hat, a Geocacher of the Month profile icon, and a certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by two of the founders of Geocaching.com. We will be accepting comments for November’s award through Sunday, November 18th.

Below is the link to vote. It is easy and you don’t need an account. Click below and add a vote for our very own balkamper13.

http://blog.geocaching.com/2012/11/november-featured-geocacher-of-the-month-nominees-add-your-comments/#disqus_thread

Making Micro Caches a Little More Interesting

 Micro Geocaches Can be Fun

            

 A few years back I took a personal vow to never hide another micro cache. While this may have slowed my cache placements down I found more people have enjoyed the bigger hides. I am not completely against micro caches. I actually enjoy looking for them sometimes, but I feel with a little help they could be much better. Over the past few months Cacheseekers! and myself have been just loading and finding a few larger caches to keep us and the kids happy. Well when you live in a city area you are very limited to bigger hides and feel you are trapped in micro land. We have been running out of larger hides to find and have resorted to loading all size hides. While out and about we have been noticing the with just a tiny bit of TLC a micro can be a really fun thing to find.

      If you just take a little time and effort a micro geocache can be a ton of fun to find. We have been finding a few where people have just simply drilled a hole in a toy and glued a micro inside. Or the good old fake bolt hide is still one of my personal favorites. Your can place a micro in a lamp skirt but wouldn’t it be better to hide a McDonalds toy with a bison tube glued inside for everyone to find. Here in northern Utah we have a bunch of micro caches hidden in pine trees. These can be a real pain in the @$$ literally. But there are also some really neat ones where the cache placer has taken some time and built a really neat micro.

                     

The bison tube aka scuba tank can be a great cache to hide. I have used a few of these in my own personal cache hides. They make great mostly watertight containers that last through many weather conditions. These can be hidden just about anywhere. While these do make great caches they also make great log holders for a bit larger and more enjoyable to find geocache. All it takes is a drill or a bit of glue to create something like these fun caches.



Do you think finding a blank tube is better than the possibility of finding one of these geocaches?

Our next favorite cache is the dreaded Nano aka Mr. Magneto aka ^%$#^$$##^%. This style of geocache has made me mad more than once. These little guys can be hidden anywhere and I mean anywhere. With these I have seen people use silicon and make fake bubble gum hides. I have seen these glued to the tip of bolts and placed inside holes to make the bolt look very real. These little guys can be placed in even the busiest public places with ease. Like I said these have made me upset more than once, but can also be placed on some really neat features that you cannot hide a larger cache near. I really enjoy these on statues and other neat places. I REALLY REALLY hate these placed in very busy public places like on Redbox machines or pedestrian bridges at malls. They are very easy to hide but I wish people would not make us look like a complete wierdo or pervert looking for them in such places.

I have made this post in hopes that if you read it you will think twice about your next micro or nano geocache hide. Lets work together and make them all a little more interesting for everyone. I want to give thanks to my brother Paul and his website www.igogeocaching.com for use of some pictures.

100 caches in one day challenge

Accepting challenges…

On November 3rd Balkamper13 and I set out to get me closer to 1000 cache finds during my first year of caching. I was hoping for 50 caches in one day and he said it was time to complete the 100 caches in one day challenge and so we did.

      We started on a power run near Utah Lake and ended with micro heaven in the city near our home in West Jordan Utah. It was a long hard day and then the fun of logging all of the finds came the morning after. It took a good chunk of time to log them all but was well worth the feeling of accomplishment. I will admit I found more light pole caches and micros than I ever planned on. It was fun when we went to get a cache and found a creative hide or a unique cache during our quest for 100.

     We loaded to GPS and some guns and headed off for a day of fun with the kids. I am sure for those of you whom cache with kids, you know they can get bored after a few, especially if not larger caches. So we planned some activities for them as well, We found some caches and then went shooting, then caching. We also broke up the day with a big gravel hill we found. It is good to break up some of the day with other activities so no one gets bored or burned out.

     There are lots of challenges out there…it is fun to pick a few from time to time and work on them. It is a good goal and adds a sense of accomplishment after working so hard towards something.

Please feel free to let us know of any challenges you have created or accomplished, we welcome your comments! Please let us know what other activities you do while you cache. I know people mix caching with other hobbies and we would love to know what combinations you enjoy. Go accept a challenge today!