CacheCrazy.Com

This cache was developed and contributed by friend and fellow geocacher Erika Jean. I had it posted to my website but decided this would be a better format to feature it. Be sure to let Erika know how you liked it and who knows, maybe she will make a second cache for us at CacheCrazy! You can visit her excellent blog here @  ErikaJean.com

Have fun and go fetch that cache!

Bloodhounded

While DLC is out hunting deer, we'll bring to you another food-for-thought topic...

The Boy Scout motto is: Be Prepared.  I was never a boyscout, but as a system administrator and geocacher I take that motto to heart.  In my experience one is well served to put this to practice when one is on the hunt for a geocache.  You never know what situation you find yourself in, so it really does help to Be Prepared.

Nothing like starting a 4.5-star difficulty/4-star terrain cache at 5:15 in the evening. 

And pretty much on a whim. 

And with heavy winds and the occasional passing shower and even some snow thrown in. 

And on a school night. 

No worries, that’s just part of caching with the Dodger Lizard Crew and Bloodhounded. 

Come on along…!

THE BRAINSTORM

We had magnificent plans of getting the Cache Crazy team together for a group outing, but schedules just weren’t meshing. When it looked like all was lost for the weekend, suddenly gears started to click, and it became clear that DLC and Bloodhounded were both going to end up having Sunday evening free. What shall we do… what shall we do… Hey, let’s surprise our colleague and buddy DctrSpott by showing up in the logs of his brand new adventure cache “Windmill Hunting in the Barrens” (GC2RYXK)! It was too windy for fishing anyway so, like a couple of geniuses, why not go climb trees in the woods instead, eh? Time, conditions… none of it mattered. The idea was just too grand and took on a life of its own. With a big ha-ha and drunk from exuberance, off we went…!

WEATHER, TERRAIN AND BEGINNING STAGES

5:15 PM. Blue sky above us, black sky hanging over the valley behind us, a stiff breeze pushing it all this way… And we were just starting. Nevertheless, optimism was high and we made short work of the beginning stages even as we got hit by the first smatterings of rain. Bloodhounded acted as our initial retrieval “expert” and made the finds like a pro.



We were cruising! Where was this terrain? This the best you got, Spott? Ha ha! Bring on the rain! Bring on the weather! Bring on this “physically challenging” cache! 


THE DIFFICULTY RISES

The weather continued to toy with us. The rain changed to snow and sleet and, just as suddenly, the clouds moved off to the horizon and the overhead sky cleared. This strange pattern would continue the rest of the evening. Additionally, the terrain continued to morph until we were faced with pretty much of a swamp-walk right to the end of our journey.


We realized based on a clue in the last hide that we were approaching some sort of field puzzle. We had written down the rather cryptic hint and marched on. When we reached the latest installment of Ground Zero, we poked here and there for a few minutes before the light bulb clicked on. After some assumptions and quick ciphering, we were 100% positive that we had the coordinates to the Final in hand. Clever boy you are, Spott, but nothing these Robert Langdons can’t handle. We declared triumph – “We’ve got it in our sights now!” 

Still, something didn’t feel quite right. 

Little did we know that despite having the correct coordinates, we were still a long way from signing the logbook. Even worse, we were going to do something I just don’t like to do – use the Phone-A-Friend (PAF) option.

EVIL DCTRSPOTT AND SOME CLEVER TRICKS

It made perfect sense. Surely Spott used his field puzzle as the prelude to the grand finale. When we got to yet another new Ground Zero, I was even more convinced we were at the end. What a great place to stash an ammo can! 

This preconceived notion turned out to be a big mistake, and it cost us dearly in our battle against nightfall. There were just so many good hiding places. Bloodhounded had Ground Zero nailed down and spent most of his time scouring that spot. I expanded out to well over 100 feet, checking every nook and cranny. Over and over and over… it’s here… it HAD to be here somewhere. At one point, I was sure I found it. I spotted the “cache” and went to reach for it. Whoa. Not so fast, slick.



After blowing an hour looking for the phantom ammo can, almost getting quilled by a porcupine, and now losing the fight against darkness, it was time to outline a new strategy. Getting a hint from Spott would not be good. First off, we didn’t want him to know we were trying the cache. Secondly, we both really like to solve these things without additional hints. That’s just the way we play the game. The problem, though, was it was already well after 7:00 PM. Did we want to try it again another day? Yes and no. Neither one of us knew when we’d get another opportunity. Finally I decided to bite the bullet and use a PAF…

Dodger text to Spott: “Stuck on (physical feature excluded to avoid spoiler). Hint?”

Spott response: “Are you on Stage ‘x’ and is that you CJ?”

Ha! Some “colleague and friend”. He didn’t even know it was his Cache Crazy teammates! That’s too rich. I was about to respond with, “Hey, dumb @$$, it’s us!” but Bloodhounded quickly cut me off - “No, no! Don’t tell him!” Ooh, very good! So without lying but without exactly telling the truth either, I responded, “Yes, Stage ‘x’.” The fun from our little masquerade quickly evaporated, though, when I got the hint. We were NOT at the Final. I spied the hide immediately and we both cursed ourselves, Bloodhounded for not seeing it initially and me for convincing myself the whole time that we were at the end. Hmm, so it seemed the good Doctor has more brass than I gave him credit for. I retrieved the stage, almost falling once and almost dropping the container once. With the needed information and a good deal of sand knocked out of us, we went on our way. Looking back now, I do have a question for DctrSpott – How did you rig that up? I no longer question your heart, just the reach of your arm. 

We were left with another decision to make – bag it or press on knowing full well that we weren’t going to finish before sunset.

PRESSING ON

Screw it. Pressing on was really the only option. With darkness beginning to close in, we continued picking up stages. I got my turn to play “Stage Retrieval Expert” and quickly gathered up the coordinates.



THE DARK TOWER

Finally, it started to make some sense where we were going. 



For real now, the Final was near. So were those windmills. They just hung in the dark sky with their incessant WHOOSH… WHOOSH… WHOOSH. The howling wind, the on-and-off rain, the clouds moving constantly in front of the moon… It was spooky, no doubt, but very, very cool. We scrambled all over the place looking for the prize, but in the dark it was just a shotgun approach. 

“Where are you?”

WHOOSH… WHOOSH… WHOOSH…

“Over here. Did you find it?!”

WHOOSH… WHOOSH… WHOOSH…

“No. You?”

WHOOSH… WHOOSH… WHOOSH…

“No.”

WHOOSH… WHOOSH… WHOOSH…

And of course, the dreaded cell phone call from concerned wives…

“Where ARE you guys?” 

“We’re still in the woods. We’re fine. We’ll be home in a little bit.”

(“Little bit” being a relative term...)

“Are you OK?”

“Yes! We’re fine!”

Just as I was about to pitch the stupid phone in the creek, I realized that we might need Spott again. I put the phone back in my pocket…

Well, what the hell. It was time for another PAF…

WHOOSH… WHOOSH… WHOOSH…

“He says it’s around here.”

“Where?”

WHOOSH… WHOOSH… WHOOSH…

“Wait a second, wait a second… YES!!!!”

“You got it?”

“WE FOUND THE FINAL!”

We signed the logbook with the aid of a flashlight, quickly swapped some swag, and made tracks for home.

ONE MORE ERROR IN JUDGEMENT

Instead of backtracking through the woods, we decided to take one of the windmill access roads back to the parking area. It was a decent walk for a while – you could see all the lights in the Wyoming Valley from high atop the Wyoming/Penobscot Mountain ridge (elevation just over 1,900 feet), but we were gradually walking too much downhill. After a hike much farther than anticipated we started to parallel the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and then came out on PA Route 115 about 1.5 miles down the mountain from where we started. At this stage of the game we had little choice but to foolishly walk the highway shoulder back up the mountain to the vehicle. That was an adventure all in itself, but we survived.

The big cache quest had come to an end. It was 10:00 PM.

SECRETS REVEALED

We never did tell Spott that it was us contacting him from out in the field. When we each got home, we went ahead and logged the find. About ten minutes later, my phone buzzed…

“Had I known it was you two, I would’ve let you get lost in the woods … Good job!”

Love it, DctrSpott!

THE REVIEW

I used “The Gunslinger” analogy once before to describe a cache, but if ever there was one that captured the essence of “The Dark Tower” series this is it. Readers of the books and attempters of this cache would surely see the connection – the barren landscape, the mechanical windmill giants, the peculiar weather, trying to do everything properly or be doomed to start all over from the beginning… It is a “DctrSpott meets Stephen King” adventure.

Each stage of the cache was laid out beautifully and not knowing how many you had to tackle really kept us on our toes. The care and planning that went into this cache is top-notch and it definitely is appreciated. It’s great fun.

I’ll also say that DctrSpott might be the guy who puts the “Crazy” in Cache Crazy. Of course, you obviously have your followers and we’re right there with you. As Obi Wan told Han, “Who’s more the foolish – the fool or the fool who follows him?” I scoff! That wizard’s just a crazy old man!

Geez, guys, I guess I’m still looped up from hunting those windmills...

Rock on!

The event is a cache.  The cache is an event.

Either way you phrase it, geocaching events are a fun time.  Whether it's at a sporting event, the local park, or an eatery, events are a great opportunity to put faces to those names you see on the cache logs week in and week out.  Want to release that trackable you've been dying to send out?  Do it at a cache event, and you'll have people lining up to discover it!

I attended my first geocaching event last summer.  The event was GC2B3FQ: TheJump in PA Event:  Year 1.  The event was hosted by said cacher, in celebration of the anniversary of her move to Pennsylvania.  It was held at a local restaurant on a Sunday morning, and was very well attended.  Now, I was apprehensive at first about going.  I have a shy personality, and perhaps an overabundance of new faces would be too much for me.  Perhaps I'll just go, sign the log, and leave.  Quite to the contrary, I found myself mingling with some of the friendliest people you'd ever want to meet.  As I'd find out at this and other events, geocachers are very outgoing and friendly people.  It's one thing to meet up with someone near a cache, but it's a different experience when you're indoors.  I couldn't believe how many people came up to me, shook my hand, and said "Hi, I'm so-and-so, what's you're caching name?"

A group of about 20 or so cachers sat down, had breakfast and coffee, and discussed geocaching.  It was my first opportunity to talk about caching, and not be speaking Greek to someone.  We talked about our favorite caches, or least favorite caches, tips, techniques, and shared our favorite war stories.  The event may have ended after an hour or two, but the fun didn't stop there.  A small group of us decided to formulate a game plan, and hit up some local caches.  We even had a group FTF, finding GC2BT8Y: I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU, which is owned by our own Bloodhounded.  This day still ranks as one of my favorite caching days.

Sign-in party at the cache!

I recently attended another caching event, GC34KJD: 11.11.11 @ 11:11:11 Yumm.  I got to meet quite a few cachers at this event.  A local caching family, who I often either just beat or was just beaten by on FTF hunts, was at the event.  We shared some laughs over the playful ribbing we do in our cache logs.  There were a few new faces, and cacher names I've never seen around before.  Fred even attended the event, and was spotted by both BIG_DOG1970 and the K-Team.  It was great catching up with both of them, as well as John Galt? and walnut-tripper.  We all shared stories, both of a geocaching and personal nature.  Oh yeah, we enjoyed some yummy lunch in the process!

Harold and Lois from BIG_DOG1970 with Fred.

Have you ever attended a caching event?  If so, what memories do you have to share?

By Big Al


Grab a glass of egg nog or a cup of hot apple cider, a piece of pumpkin pie or mincemeat (yuck), and sit back and enjoy some time with family and your Cachecrazy friends.



So today is the big day; Thanksgiving Day. You’ve arrived at the family homestead and you plan on enjoying a day with all of your relatives as you sit around the dinner table eating fresh turkey with all of the trimmings. 




You know like mashed potatoes, creamed corn, cranberry sauce, stuffing, homemade rolls, candied sweet potatoes, and the all time favorite pumpkin pie. (I’m getting hungry about now.) Depending on when you read this post you’re either waiting to eat that big meal or you've just finished it. Ahhh, finally time to sit back and relax and let that belt out just a little bit. Oh what a relief it is.




By now the table has been cleared, the TV has been turned on, and you are waiting for that big game to start. But then you notice that there is a little bit of time to kill before the kick off actually takes place. What do you do? Well my friends let my help you with something to do. We’re going to do an acrostic Big Al style. Here are twelve things you can be thankful for this holiday season.

Geocaching in Self-storage
Guest Blog - Matt Schexnayder, SpareFoot


Recently, there has been an increase in the geocaching fascination. Now for those of you that don’t know, geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches", anywhere in the world.
Millions of people have joined the search for these caches and now they can be found in all seven continents, including Antarctica. This blog was created to share the experiences of multiple geocachers, and I think it does a great job. It is a fun thing to be a part of, and it will be interesting to see how many more people get involved in the future.