Earthcaching - Celebrating the 10th anniversary

On the 10 January 2004, the very first Earthcache was placed in New South Wales, Australia. Geocaching.com now reports that there are over 17,000 Earthcaches around the world.

An Earthcache is a special breed of cache, they take us to places of geological interest - for example the cache we visited brought us to the location of 25,000 sarsen stones. 

Lockeridge Dene, Wiltshire

As there is no cache container, an Earthcache must also explain and educate the cacher about why the Earth is the treasure at the cache location. We found out that these 25,000 sarsen stones are remnants of a sandstone deposit, which formed on the chalk over 30 million years ago. Known as Glacial Erratics these sarsen stones were dropped at this location by the retreat of the ice after the Last Glacial Maximum.

Excitingly for me, it was mentioned that root holes made by the plants that grew here when the deposit was still soft sand could still be seen.

Root holes left by plants?

We couldn't make it to a cache on the 10th January, so we visited this one on the 11th in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of that first Earthcache. I think this is the first cache and dash Earthcache we've done - parking was within feet of the cache! If you'd like to learn more about that very first Earthcache, see this interview with the creator of Earthcaching.

This anniversary has prompted me to get in gear and go from a Silver Earthcache Master to a Gold Earthcache Master. This means I need to visit 2 more Earthcaches and create another one. I hope to do this in the next few months. If you fancy becoming an Earthcache Master, then follow this link to the Geological Society of America.

If you've never visited an Earthcache, then it's about time! Join 4 million others and find that first Earthcache - I bet it won't be your last!

Not just a pretty stone, but a fantastic ecosystem!

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