Neos2

My EarthCaches are listed as "other" or "not chosen". Size refers to the container size and as we all know so well, EarthCaches do not have containers. I suppose it would be nice if we had a "N/A" (not applicable) option for size. Virtual seems to me more of a description of a style than a size, although EarthCaches are a type of virtual cache. Those are my thoughts.

Welcome to the EarthCaches forum. Hopefully lots of folks will chime in with tips for you. The EarthCache Guidelines may be helpful to you as you design your page. Absolutely, it is expected that we'll provide our sources and be sure to put the information in our own words. I always go to the source pages if I become fascinated by something I learn at an EarthCache and want to know more. There is a recent thread here that talks about checking to see who owns a particular property. It has lots of great ideas. Ask there if you have additional questions.

I don't know that I am free to give exact numbers, but you surmise correctly. The responses from owners were very low and the majority of those EarthCaches were subsequently archived. There was a modest percentage of positive responses.

The help section has further information on this topic 7.19. HQ emails to inactive EarthCache hider accounts Cache maintenance is an important (and required) component of geocache ownership. In April 2024 and June 2025, as part of Geocaching HQ’s ongoing efforts to keep the geocaching game board fresh and encourage well-maintained caches, we have conducted tests involving EarthCaches worldwide. Geocaching HQ identified EarthCaches owned by players whose Geocaching account has not shown activity in more than five (5) years. We asked them to post an Owner maintenance log to their EarthCache page within thirty (30) days. If an Owner maintenance log is not posted in that timeframe, the EarthCache is disabled. If the EarthCache remains disabled for thirty (30) days, then it is archived. In 2024, only 1-2% of EarthCaches worldwide were impacted by the test. In 2025, less than 1% of EarthCaches worldwide are impacted.

As a reminder, these are caches that the owners have not been responding to in at least five years. These EarthCaches were not picked up in last year's sweep. It's important to have active owners who are responding to the questions visitors are asked to answer to complete the EarthCaches.

Thank you GeoawareUSA9 for the timely reminder! It's always great to get a 'new' EarthCache to visit and a new learning lesson does give those who have already been to that location a reason to return. For those of you who struggle to come up with a learning lesson, do feel free to ask for assistance in this forum. There are clever minds who would be willing to help.

Not exactly a hoop, but an eager request... I once asked permission to place two EarthCaches in a state park. I was developing them with 80 Earth &Space students (high school freshmen and sophomores, mostly). The park ranger I was talking with to plan the trip asked if he could be involved. My Co-teacher and I gladly accepted his offer/request. It ended up going very well. It was a cold day. We had rented the shelter and lit fires in the fireplaces. The ranger gave a nice (short) talk about the geology of the park and then we broke up in groups to gather the information we needed. He guided the students to answers they couldn't find, explained things they didn't know, and made suggestions to improve their working ideas. We walked a couple of trails and generally had a great day. My co-teacher and I brought supplies to make Smores and hotdogs for all the kids to eat after they finished their explorations. We did publish two EarthCaches. Cache by Mrs A, Mrs V & the kids: Big Clifty & Little Clifty Falls EarthCache GCZBWG Fossils, Tunnel Falls, & Bough's Folly EarthCache GC10EBW

I didn't manage to get to my pick for the last Earthcache of the year. Mostly because we were going through that part of our trip itinerary late at night and I wouldn't be able to enjoy what was there. I will be back in that area in May and can try again then. But I did help a friend write up a new EarthCache and it got published very quickly, so that makes me happy. And of course it means I have a new EarthCache in my area.

I like planning caches on my way along trips. This holiday season we are visiting our daughter. I noticed an EarthCache along the way that appeals to me. I hadn't noticed it before, but it's been there years. GC19AXJ. If I don't get it now because of bad weather, I can get it when we got to GeoWoodtock XX1 in May. It belongs to a local geocaching friend of mine (actually a relative, too) even though it is several hundred miles away from both our homes. It's in a scenic area in a large park, the kind of place I love. It's not too terribly hard to get to (handy for my still recovering knee from a total knee replacement). It's less than 20 miles out of route total. So, do you have any plans to visit more EarthCaches this year?

If you search terms like "How are lakes classified geologically" "or "Geologic origins of ponds" I suspect you will get the kinds of answer I think you are looking for.

Just another reminder of the special day coming up. Remember to claim your souvenir this weekend. I've made my plan for an EarthCache to visit on International Earthcache Day. Barnhill Cemetery and the Weathering process EarthCache GC8V4MM It's pretty simple as Earthcaches go, and a topic I am very familiar with from teaching Earth & Space Science in a local high school for so many years. But I love old cemeteries, and I cache with a woman who was not a big fan of EarthCaches before she started caching with me. This is one she can figure out without my help and feel good about -- and she likes old cemeteries, as well. Plus, I'm still babying a total knee replacement, and she is just three weeks out of surgery on a shoulder replacement and this EarthCache is one we can walk right up to. So, it's a win-win choice all around. Most of the other Earthcaches we both need within 100 miles have much higher terrain ratings. I'll be back with photos if it's a good cache for those.

It's not too soon to start thinking about International EarthCache Day 2024! We will celebrate it from Friday, October 11 through Sunday, October 13, 2024. How will you commemorate the date? Invite people to join you at your EarthCache to learn a bit more from the awesome CO? Take a walk to an EarthCache you have not yet visited (You can earn a souvenir during those days for visiting an EarthCache and fulfilling the requirements) However you celebrate the day, please post here to let us all know what EarthCache you visited and tell us a little about your visit.

I think it is fine to ask the visitor to speculate on some outcome based on what they know from the observations. It's one of the higher levels of learning, and some leeway should be given to what answers you accept because of that aspect. In teaching. I often asked one high level question during class discussion. Along the lines of "based on what you have observed, what do you think will happen if ...? And then I guided students to reasonable answers that were likely given the parameters. So, for instance, it would be fine to ask what might happen to crystal formation if the pH of the water changed. BUT I wouldn't make that the only question. I wouldn't want the visitor to have to get that smilie based solely on a difficult to answer question. I'd have another question that would leave them feeling more assured--or I would ask it as a hypothetical question they really didn't have to answer at all.

I'll begin by asking if you are familiar with the newest suggestions for writing Earthcaches? That is a likely reason you were asked to delete some of the questions. Secondly, I would ask if you are keeping you learning focus tight. By that I mean asking one or two key questions that lead the visitor to learn the one key thing you want them to know. If you have several unrelated questions, sometimes that is because you have too many focal points. It helps to keep the focus on the geology. (For example, I am not sure what answer you are looking for about how heavy metals impact the geology of the soil. I can tell you how they impact its ability to support plants but I don't know what you mean by your question. If I were doing your EarthCache, I would have to write you to ask for more information). And lastly, I would encourage you to think of this other reviewer not as "bad" but as someone who you don't yet know how to communicate with effectively. As people respond here, I'd like to remind everyone to respect all the parties involved in this attempt to create a new EarthCache. Please follow the forum guidelines, especially 2 and 4.

Thank you so much for sharing that with the forum. That answers many of the questions people have when trying to get permission to place an EarthCache. I particularly like that you suggest going in person for the first approach at least. It is so much more likely someone will want to help you if they have met you. I guess it is harder to say "No" in person.

While EarthCaches are a bit more stable than caches with containers, vacation EarthCaches are discouraged, as are other forms of geocaches. Per the geocaching Help Center 5.6. Can I hide a cache while on vacation? It’s not recommended We recommend that you do not hide a geocache while traveling. Vacation/holiday caches are usually not published. Geocache owners must visit their caches to maintain them. Log books fill up, cache contents get wet, or the cache can disappear. If you live far away from your cache, timely maintenance is impossible. It’s best to place physical caches in your usual caching area. Maintenance plan If you do place a geocache while traveling, you must have a maintenance plan. For example, a local geocacher agrees to maintain the cache in your absence. When you submit your cache, document your plan in a Reviewer Note. Include the local geocacher’s username, email address, and written consent. Information in Reviewer Notes will auto-archive on publication and will not be available to other players.

We have been discussing this in the Earthcaches forum. Feel free to join us there if you want to discuss the archiving of EarthCaches.

My personal opinion as a cache owner here. I haven't received any AI logs yet, but it sounds like they are easy enough to detect. I know I did a search engine query the other day about a play I had seen, and the AI tried to write a synopsis of possible plays scripts it created. They were nonsensical. It was easy to see that no human had written those entries. I suggest people add photos on my EarthCaches, not because I want to police the photos so much as I want to be able to give people a break if their answers are off quite a bit. If they do include some photo from the area, it assures me they were there and I can send them back the answer I was looking for, so they can learn something--and I can allow the log to stand in good conscience. I usually have one or two questions and say that photos are welcome. I've seen COs flat out suggest adding a photo in case your answers are wrong.

I am so glad you came in here to ask for help! Please keep in mind the guidelines have changed over time and some EarthCaches will not be allowed today that were allowed in the past. There is no precedent for publishing new caches based on old guidelines. I did a search engine query and found these: Dry River EarthCache GC37F6D Redmond Dry Canyon EarthCache GC6MN61 This Riverbed is High and Dry EarthCache GC5B9FH Maybe some of the others will know of some archived ones or periodic ones. I didn't search for those. Are you also looking for information on oxbow lakes and other signs of former riverbeds? I saw an interesting article recently on city mapping that shows signs of former river in Toronto.

Forgive me if I am mistaken, but it seems like you like the idea of creating EarthCache about 14ers in Colorado and don't already have specific features in mind. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it could be the reason you are having trouble coming up with specific geology information. I find it's easiest for people to develop Earthcaches when they have gone somewhere and noticed the geologic feature for themselves and wondered what it was and how it got there---then go home and do their research. The specific geology you need will probably not be spelled out for you on one page (and you don't want that anyway, or people could just "do a google search" for the answers to your EarthCache), but it's possible to get clues for what to look for from looking at the right sorts of pages. You can narrow your search engines terms, also. You might try searching for "Mountain peak name Colorado geology" for example "Mount Elbert Colorado geology" and see what turns up. I did and saw a geology page for kids that was about Mount Elbert that looked like a promising start. It listed some features you might find, if you went there, and explained how the peak formed and how it was later changed. And since it was written for children, it had everything spelled out pretty clearly. You could get ideas from it that would point you to more technical terms without making your head swim.

If you would like to see if any of us can help point you in the right direction on a particular place, post a few details here. Often someone in here knows about a topic and will give you some help. I'll try--I am a retired Science teacher. I taught Earth-Space to high school freshmen among other courses. The series of book on Roadside Geology (Roadside Geology of Albama, Roadside Geology of Indiana etc) are very helpful finding locations and explaining what they are in simple terms. And they point out what is important about the site geologically. It makes it easy to create your learning activity when you are clear on exactly what you want your visitors to take away from the visit. The summaries from local rock groups or college class field trips are often available online. They can get a little more technical, but some of very clearly written. Most states have some sort of State Geological website. They can be excellent sources of all sorts of information.

As geoawareUSA9 mentioned above, the new guidance suggests that newly made EarthCaches focus on the smaller number of questions AND EarthCaches that don't won't get as many visits, most likely. Having only 2 or 3 questions isn't a rule or even a guideline, yet, however. Are you friendly with the CO? Have you asked if they are aware of the new guidance from Groundspeak and the GSA? We have been discussing this topic in New Suggestions for EarthCaches.

Let's keep this discussion focused on EarthCaches, please. The comparisons to virtusls have already been made. I have received only positive feedback on the move to check with owners who appear to be inactive from people I meet at events, and of course those of you speaking up in this forum. Have your friends reacted similarly?

I am guessing sgerbs is referring to the limiting of some types of EarthCaches from 2019. Other than river gauging stations, most of the EarthCaches being archived may still be able to be published again, if the stipulations were met. 4.5 Limiting Some EarthCache Types

The learning activity is an integral part of the EarthCache. It's important to have feedback from the person who develops an EarthCache to the answers the finders send. The information in the help center covers this situation. I encourage any EarthCache owners who choose to leave the game to archive their EarthCaches or adopt them to other geocachers.