EarthCaches

  A neat 19 century springhouse in the middle of the city, a bedrock outcropping near the river, a peaceful spot for reflection where two rivers meet. The perfect spot to view a waterfall, iconic landmarks from the Old West trails, the swimming hole at the old quarry, the big rock that just doesn't seem to belong where it is. We've all been to places like these to find our traditional ammo cans, bison tubes and nano's. All of these places could be EarthCaches as well.

   So what is an EarthCache and what makes it different from traditional caches? Here is the definition from earthcache.org "An EarthCache site is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. Visitors to EarthCache sites can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth."

   Hmm that could cover a lot of different type places. Ok I have a place in mind, how do I go about submitting an EarthCache? There are guidelines and requirements on the earthcache.org website, from there it could involve some research and planning. The research generally isn't too bad with the vast amount of information available on the Internet, but deciding on your "educational task" may be a tad more difficult. Visitors to an EarthCache need to show that something has been learned at the site. Looking at how similar type EarthCaches have done this can be helpful. Another requirement is that sites need to have contact information from the owner of private lands or the management agencies for public lands. This is to ensure that the EarthCache description meets their approval for accuracy and that the additional traffic to an area is acceptable. These agencies can also be very helpful in correcting any mistakes or an oversight in the descriptions, such as forgetting to mention that park permits are required or what hours the site is open.

Great! Just got the agency approval and I'm ready to submit the cache, how do I do that? Because an EarthCache has specific requirements, the Geological Society of America must approve them before being published on geocaching.com. In fact, what happens is that you fill out the form at earthcache.org which is very similar to the geocaching.com form and submit. It is then reviewed and published with geoaware as the cache owner. Then geoaware will send you an adoption request. Just accept the request and you have your very first published Earthcache!

Well, it sounds like extra work, what do I get out of it? What do you get out of placing traditional caches? Praise for a job well done, being entertained by reading the logs, developing a clever idea and making it work, being creative? An EarthCache can give you most of those, but it also has its own rewards program! By finding as few as 3 EarthCaches in 2 different states you qualify as a Bronze EarthCache Master. To qualify for the next step, Silver, you need to develop one EarthCache and find 6 from 3 different states. The Gold level requires 12 found in 4 states and 2 developed. For each of these levels you are awarded a badge that can be added to your geocache.com profile. The Platinum level, 20 found and 3 developed has an award of a pin, in addition to the badge, to signify your accomplishment. Personally, we found our first EarthCache in September of 2007 and since then have planned our mini caching vacations around EarthCache sites. We earned our Platinum EarthCache Masters in July of 2008 and have enjoyed both the sites and the lessons of all that we have visited, with some of them leaving us simply amazed at the wonders of our world. So far we have developed six EarthCaches, with more in the works, and both encourage and offer help to those that would like to develop their own EarthCache.

For more information on earthcaches go to www.earthcache.org

By catsnfish

A couple of empty-nesters who caught the caching bug not realizing it was incurable. So if we’re found in the woods waltzing with Garmins, lifting lampskirts while tying our shoe or looking for “gum” underneath benches, be sure to stay away... it’s contagious and the only temporary relief can be found in finding bison’s, ammo’s, nano’s, or passing coins and spreading travel bugs!

Publisher's Note: Catsnfish write the periodic column The Adventures of Catsnfish. Subscribe (free) to The Online Geocacher to get an email alert when a new article is published.

Comments(1):

1. Does the Geological Society of America approval all earthcaches or do the other country's society approve those around the world?

   Monday, October 26, 2009 Natasha