My Geocaching

I found my first geocache in October 2006 when I brough a GPS (Garmin eTrex Venture borrowed from Francis) with me to Slovakia. The cache was ‘Dedinka’ and I found it while on a walk with my mom. Since then I got my own GPS (Garmin eTrex Legend Cx) and I found more than 700 geocaches on two continents. I mostly enjoy earthcaches and physically challenging caches of all types as long as they are in nature. I especially like caches that involve non-traditional retrieval techniques such as climbing, rappelling, crawling underground, wading, swimming, diving, kayaking, etc. I dislike uninteresting urban caches, especially the so-called “lamp post” hides and only do them out of sheer desperation. Here are my official geocaching stats:

Milestones:

1st Cache: Dedinka, in my hometown of Martin in Slovakia
100th Cache: Sadie’s Secret Spot, in Washington, DC, USA
200th Cache: Coffee Break, in Maryland, USA
300th Cache: Hole in the Wall Place, in Maryland, USA
400th Cache: Glacial Eratic, in Massachusetts, USA
500th Cache: Franciscan Complex – Alcatraz Terrane, in California, USA
600th Cache: JAWS III Mini-Micro, in New York, USA
700th Cache: Orange You Glad, it’s not Purple, in New York, USA

Memorable Caches:

Diamondback Terrapin on Long Island, NY, USA. This is a kayak/canoe/swim cache only on West Meadow Beach near Stony Brook. We stumbled upon it with Francis when the sealevel was low enough to approach it on foot. It was a great adventure because until the very last minute of walking in the drying swamp we weren’t sure if we are going to find this one (and return back).
Willard Brook Shelter in Willard Brook Forrest, Massachusetts, USA. Devillish little micro cache.
Spy Hard Lee in Washington, DC, USA. We retrieved this micro cache with Andi in front of a crowded restaurant.
Two If By Sea was a cache located on a little island in the Whitney Point Reservoir in the State of New York. We stumbled upon this cache with Andi on the way from Niagara Falls. We made a quick decision and after about 2 hours of kayaking we were back at the car with a find!
Poklad Templarov/Templars Treasure is a mystery cache in Slovakia that involves visiting caches near of two beautiful gothic churches (cache Kostolik v Martinceku/Martincek Church and cache Vsechsvatsky Kostolik/All Saints Church) to obtain clues for a spectacular, yet fairly dangerous final cache location
Dorothea in Pukanec, Slovakia. I love old mines. This one was no exception.
Juro in Svaty Jur, Slovakia. This one flooded its share of adrenaline out of my adrenal glands and followed it with a surge of endorphines from my hypothalamus (and pituitary gland – of course!). Go look it up if you don’t know what it means. Then do this cache.
Riverside Ruins II in Savage Park, Maryland tested mine and Francis’ technical skills as we decided to get the cache by using a different technique and not by a brute force. It worked out nicely.
Trojmezi/Three Borders in Poland/Slovakia/Czech Republic. Although the cache itself is nothing special, its geographical location makes it worthy of a visit.
Na Skalke. Atop a beautiful cliff overlooking a valley in Eastern Slovakia. Well worth the fairly long hike to the top.
Falcon. Yet another underground cache (this one in Eastern Slovakia), this one was even more adventurous because we reached it at dusk after a long ridge hike. We descended back to civilization at night with headlapms lighting the way.
Which Hill? 2. A trad cache in Turiec, Slovakia. The long bikeride was rewarded by magnificent views into the Turiec basin. Simply marvelous.