LP Ein Gedi Dead Sea, Earth's lowest point on land

Geocaching makes it possible to take on extreme geographical challenges, such as hunting down the lowest box on land in the world. That was the case for LP Ein Gedi Dead Sea, Earth's lowest point on land (GC4QD7Z), hidden in 2013 in Israel, on the shores of the Dead Sea, more than 420 metres below sea level. In its early days the search area lay on a busy tourist beach, easily reached from a car park.

The setting of this cache went through profound upheavals, however. The steady fall in the water level, caused by evaporation and by the diversion of the Jordan, brought dangerous sinkholes to the surface. The area was finally closed to the public in 2015, becoming a desolate landscape reshaped by construction work. Rather than remove the cache, the owner carried out maintenance and moved the container even lower, towards the new shoreline. He also updated the listing to warn geocachers about the unstable ground, spelling out that approaching this salt-covered place was at their own risk.

This unusual geocache is archived today. Contrary to what one might think, that decision was not taken because of the danger of the terrain or the sinkholes forming. The archiving was administrative, quite simply because the owner never followed up on the reviewer's questions and reminders.