Can you figure out this puzzle?

[+Mr. Speedy]

Hi,

 

I was wondering what the toughest unfound puzzle is. I vote for "School" (GC126FH). That premium-member puzzle cache has been out for 6 months, has had no finds, 8 DNFs, 30 notes and 24 people are watching it, which is a lot for a northern Alberta cache. This is by far the longest unfound puzzle in Northern Alberta, and possibly in the whole Alberta province.

 

The only real information on the cache page is a picture. Many of us have already analyzed the picture pixel-by-pixel to no avail. Here is the picture:

 

 

Can you figure it out?

[nonaeroterraqueous]

Of course, you just made all of this information available to us non-premium members now.

 

Thanks!

 

Maybe the coordinates are a factor of the number of bytes, pixels or something.

[+team moxiepup]

If you right click on the picture, ans select "properties", there are some numbers shown. Check to see if any look right for the first few digits of your local longitude and latitude. It may be what you're looking for, then again maybe not, but I've seen sneakiness of this level before!

[+LDove]

I figured it out - at least I think I did, if you want a clue or whatever, e-mail me.

 

Edit to add: I have a solution, but maybe others have some as well to help this cacher out.

Edited October 18, 2007 by lonesumdove

[+Custheyder]

Perhaps the cache owner could be pursuaded to add a GeoChecker (http://www.geochecker.com/) link so that some of us hundreds of miles away can check our co-ordinates before we jump on a plane and come to claim the FTF!

 

Cust.

[+Jhwk]

Oh, I see!

 

Now I just need to drive to Canada...

[+nekom]

You think THAT'S bad, there's one around here with only a picture that is all white. nothing else.

[+LDove]

Ya mean this one? GCRFZB Got me stumped there... The name of your town is a doozy by the way!

[+Kit Fox]

You think THAT'S bad, there's one around here with only a picture that is all white. nothing else.

 

Send me a Private Message if you would like some guidance on that puzzle.

[+wimseyguy]

Hmm, whatever happened to the concept that asking for puzzle help in the forums was frowned upon?

 

Maybe we should get them to add a new forum for puzzle solving?

Edited October 18, 2007 by wimseyguy

[+DeRock & The Psychic Cacher]

Hmm, whatever happened to the concept that asking for puzzle help in the forums was frowned upon?

 

Maybe we should get them to add a new forum for puzzle solving?

 

Just think of it as a phone a friend conference call.

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

[+-cheeto-]

There are many "picture puzzles" in my "neck of the woods". I have seen one that you have to search where the picture was taken from. I have also seen drawings or other artwork that does not give you the coordinates, but gives you a "map" or a reference point with a direction and distance. Puzzles have grown to include many different ideas of a "geocache".

 

For instance, there is a cache around here that is a picture of a scan of a brain and in the "brain" is a map of the roads in a cemertary. Circled is a spot and that is where the first waypoint of a multi cache is hidden. Yes the final is a brain

 

I have a puzzle that is solved by realizing the picture is a local bus route map. When you start getting this creative, then the reviewer has to know just how the puzzle can be solved before they will approve it.

 

Hope this gives you some more ideas for solving this cache!

[+Viajero Perdido]

I have seen one that you have to search where the picture was taken from.

In the case of School (above), that was the first thing many people did - they found the exact viewpoint (in a tree) where the branches lined up just like they do in the picture.

 

So far that hasn't helped, other than to annoy the squirrel that lives in the tree.

[+IDLookout]

I have seen one that you have to search where the picture was taken from.

In the case of School (above), that was the first thing many people did - they found the exact viewpoint (in a tree) where the branches lined up just like they do in the picture.

 

So far that hasn't helped, other than to annoy the squirrel that lives in the tree.

 

That was my first thought!

[+DeRock & The Psychic Cacher]

Steganography

 

I'm for brute force personally. There's more than one way to skin a cat!

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

[+Kit Fox]

Hmm, whatever happened to the concept that asking for puzzle help in the forums was frowned upon?

 

Maybe we should get them to add a new forum for puzzle solving?

 

Just think of it as a phone a friend conference call.

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

 

Except nobody has really offered a solution to the puzzle, it's been nothing but idle chit chat.

 

My favorite picture puzzles were created when picture puzzles were uncommon. A great example of a cache way ahead of its time was Viper's Hummingbird Mystery

[CacheNCarryMA]

Steganography

 

I'm for brute force personally. There's more than one way to skin a cat!

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

 

Steganography based puzzles are no longer allowed. Any cache that requires downloading software outside of GC.com is no longer allowed. Such caches that were placed before the restriction are "grandfathered".

 

Forum thread: "Caches involving data and executables"

[+DeRock & The Psychic Cacher]

Steganography

 

I'm for brute force personally. There's more than one way to skin a cat!

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

 

Steganography based puzzles are no longer allowed. Any cache that requires downloading software outside of GC.com is no longer allowed. Such caches that were placed before the restriction are "grandfathered".

 

Forum thread: "Caches involving data and executables"

 

You are partially correct:

 

Correct: Any cache that requires downloading software outside of GC.com is no longer allowed.

 

Incorrect: Steganography based puzzles are no longer allowed.

 

There are online decoding solutions for steganography images that don't require any software to be downloaded.

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

[+pokerace]

check out this one

GCQHTH

[+Kit Fox]

Steganography

 

I'm for brute force personally. There's more than one way to skin a cat!

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

 

Steganography based puzzles are no longer allowed. Any cache that requires downloading software outside of GC.com is no longer allowed. Such caches that were placed before the restriction are "grandfathered".

 

Forum thread: "Caches involving data and executables"

 

You are partially correct:

 

Correct: Any cache that requires downloading software outside of GC.com is no longer allowed.

 

Incorrect: Steganography based puzzles are no longer allowed.

 

There are online decoding solutions for steganography images that don't require any software to be downloaded.

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

 

Even after the new guideline change, you can still get caches approved that use executables. I've done it, by offering an alternative encryption method. Make the alternative obtuse enough, that cachers are naturally drawn to your preferred method. This way, nobody is required to download anything, unless they choose to.

[knowschad]

check out this one

GCQHTH

 

That one was just too easy!!!

[+SRD525]

N 53° 28.970 W 113° 29.311

[+"we two want to play too"]

The first thing I thought of was "am I looking at the North and the West sides of the building?"

[Keystone]

N 53° 28.970 W 113° 29.311

Although there's no forum guideline which squarely addresses the issue, the general sense of the forum community is that puzzle solutions ought not be given away in forum posts. The owner says for no spoilers to be posted on the cache page. Please consider extending the same courtesy here in the forums.

 

By the way, your guess was incorrect.

[+Kit Fox]

Anyone notice how the picture on the cache page is a JPEG, but when you click on the image, an offsite PNG image is hosted?

[+Arndtwe]

Anyone notice how the picture on the cache page is a JPEG, but when you click on the image, an offsite PNG image is hosted?

What's your point?

[+Kit Fox]

Anyone notice how the picture on the cache page is a JPEG, but when you click on the image, an offsite PNG image is hosted?

What's your point?

 

 

Images make great hiding spots for hidden data, but this data is often lost when downloaded to gc.com, due to their compression software. A cache with off site hosted images is usually a good indication that hidden information can be derived from within the images.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

You think THAT'S bad, there's one around here with only a picture that is all white. nothing else.

 

As to the picture of the school house. Did you count the bricks?

 

I have seen quite a few puzzles which require you to "view source" or play some other browser trick in order to expose coordinates. I recently solved one that had 13 pictures. I downloaded all of them to see if I could find numbers in them if I zoomed in, only to discover that two of them were actually named with lat/long coordinates.

 

One of my favorite caches was a puzzle cache which showed a large white space. Changing the default background color exposed some "text". The text was several pages of morse code, which when decoded, asked 20 questions. One final question still had to be answered to get the final coordinates, which turned out to be on an island. As an avid kayaker that didn't present a problem. I was FTF and it was over a month before the next find.

[+Arndtwe]

Anyone notice how the picture on the cache page is a JPEG, but when you click on the image, an offsite PNG image is hosted?

What's your point?

 

 

Images make great hiding spots for hidden data, but this data is often lost when downloaded to gc.com, due to their compression software. A cache with off site hosted images is usually a good indication that hidden information can be derived from within the images.

Hmm, that makes sense, did you look into it? If so, did you find anything?

[+Mr. Speedy]

Anyone notice how the picture on the cache page is a JPEG, but when you click on the image, an offsite PNG image is hosted?

What's your point?

 

 

Images make great hiding spots for hidden data, but this data is often lost when downloaded to gc.com, due to their compression software. A cache with off site hosted images is usually a good indication that hidden information can be derived from within the images.

Hmm, that makes sense, did you look into it? If so, did you find anything?

I did! That's one of the first thing I noticed. I downloaded the PNG and look really closely into it. Even wrote a PNG meta-data decoder to find out if there were some hidden coordinates in the meta-data. I also tried stripping the png file name in the URL to see if the web site where the image is hosted has other interesting data beside it. Nope.

[+Skillet68]

Anyone notice how the picture on the cache page is a JPEG, but when you click on the image, an offsite PNG image is hosted?

What's your point?

 

 

Images make great hiding spots for hidden data, but this data is often lost when downloaded to gc.com, due to their compression software. A cache with off site hosted images is usually a good indication that hidden information can be derived from within the images.

Hmm, that makes sense, did you look into it? If so, did you find anything?

I did! That's one of the first thing I noticed. I downloaded the PNG and look really closely into it. Even wrote a PNG meta-data decoder to find out if there were some hidden coordinates in the meta-data. I also tried stripping the png file name in the URL to see if the web site where the image is hosted has other interesting data beside it. Nope.

 

You...um...meta...um...png...what?

[+Big_John]

What outside sources or sites are there for solving picture puzzles anyway? I stumbled upon this GCZM91 and have no idea even where to start.

[+van der Decken]

I did! That's one of the first thing I noticed. I downloaded the PNG and look really closely into it. Even wrote a PNG meta-data decoder to find out if there were some hidden coordinates in the meta-data. I also tried stripping the png file name in the URL to see if the web site where the image is hosted has other interesting data beside it. Nope.

How much potential spoiler info is generally considered permissible to give away in an open forum like this? There is something subtly embedded in the original png image file but I don't know how much more to say about it...

[+Western Mass Clan]

I was wondering what the toughest unfound puzzle is. I vote for "School" (GC126FH). That premium-member puzzle cache has been out for 6 months, has had no finds, 8 DNFs, 30 notes and 24 people are watching it, which is a lot for a northern Alberta cache. This is by far the longest unfound puzzle in Northern Alberta, and possibly in the whole Alberta province.

 

** SNIP **

 

Can you figure it out?

 

In general, I think it's bad form to discuss puzzle cache solutions in an internet forum. If I were the owner of the cache and a spoiler was posted here, I'd be particularly irked.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Matt

[+DeRock & The Psychic Cacher]

In general, I think it's bad form to discuss puzzle cache solutions in an internet forum. If I were the owner of the cache and a spoiler was posted here, I'd be particularly irked.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Matt

 

To each his own. I would be honored.

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

[+Kit Fox]

 

You...um...meta...um...png...what?

 

When pictures are taken or enhanced, they leave a digital trail. If you open a photograph using a program like Photoshop, you can learn data like whic type of camera was used, plus the settings, even user notes. Cachers have been know to hide puzzle data in the meta data.

 

A PNG is a type of picture, just like Jpeg, BMP, and GIF.

[theseeker999]

i would say its the view from the cache

[+Western Mass Clan]

In general, I think it's bad form to discuss puzzle cache solutions in an internet forum. If I were the owner of the cache and a spoiler was posted here, I'd be particularly irked.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Matt

 

To each his own. I would be honored.

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

 

I don't disagree with you. However, IMHO it's one thing to "team up" in a forum to brainstorm ideas on a puzzle. That I could live with. However, once a correct solution is derived by "the team", the solution should not be posted in the forum for all to see. Once that happens, the puzzle cache might as well be archived and a traditional put in its place. Having the final coordinates (or solution to arrive at those coordinates) posted for anybody to later read would defeat the purpose of the puzzle and ruin the challenge for future finders.

 

That's all I meant. Just try to be thoughtful of future solvers and don't ruin the fun / challenge for them.

 

Regards,

 

Matt

Edited October 24, 2007 by Western_Mass_Clan

[+Skillet68]

 

You...um...meta...um...png...what?

 

When pictures are taken or enhanced, they leave a digital trail. If you open a photograph using a program like Photoshop, you can learn data like whic type of camera was used, plus the settings, even user notes. Cachers have been know to hide puzzle data in the meta data.

 

A PNG is a type of picture, just like Jpeg, BMP, and GIF.

 

Maybe in email, but could you explain this further? I have photoshop but use it little. How do you find the data and how do you implant it?

[+Arndtwe]

Where do you go to download this pic?

[+linuxxpert]

I have been wrecking my brain on that school puzzle with the png picture for days and I wont be able to find the cache because I am much too far away, however I want to solve this puzzle!

 

I have tried everything I could think of, every stego program, tried to extract meta data, layered both the PNG and JPG on top of each other to look for differences but nothing! The evil thing I cannot try to see if the image is mirrored and that the building has a mirrored view... Cant test this theory because there are no letterings in the picture!

 

If somebody has figured this one out and not willing to post it publicly, please PM me so I can get some sleep!

 

EDIT: speeling

Edited October 24, 2007 by linuxxpert

[+OienLabs]

Can you figure it out?

Yes I can. And I have already done so. And it is fairly easy.

Well. I actually have two solutions and both seems ok when viewed in GE. Unfortunately there is no chance that I will go overseas to Canada to have my solution verified.

[+Kit Fox]

 

You...um...meta...um...png...what?

 

When pictures are taken or enhanced, they leave a digital trail. If you open a photograph using a program like Photoshop, you can learn data like whic type of camera was used, plus the settings, even user notes. Cachers have been know to hide puzzle data in the meta data.

 

A PNG is a type of picture, just like Jpeg, BMP, and GIF.

 

Maybe in email, but could you explain this further? I have photoshop but use it little. How do you find the data and how do you implant it?

 

Open an image using Photoshop, then go to the upper left colum, find "File," then tab down to "info."

 

If you don't use Photoshop, but you use a PC, right click on an image you want to examine, then select "open with." Look for notepad.

[+gebu]

Solved it

 

But whats ******?

 

The last stage of this cache (can be solved online) gives a very good hint on how to solve the OPs cache - Hackers Quest

 

---

Edit...

 

Oops - didn't went to the cache page until now.

 

Apparently I only solved a part of the riddle - still working on the rest. The cache above still gives valuable clues about an aspect of the solution.

Edited October 24, 2007 by gebu

[+linuxxpert]

Solved it and confirmed with owner.. That was difficult. Could not have done it with some combined experience from fellow members Need guidance? PM me...

[+Kit Fox]

Portable_Network_Graphics

 

Here is a brilliant example of a Picture Puzzle.

 

A Mystery Cache

[+ReadyOrNot]

 

HEY! Where did you get my avatar?

[+linuxxpert]

Portable_Network_Graphics

 

Here is a brilliant example of a Picture Puzzle.

 

A Mystery Cache

 

Aaarrgghhh Stop posting these puzzle caches now I have to solve this one too!!!!

[+linuxxpert]

 

HEY! Where did you get my avatar?

 

Right here

[+VirginiaGator]

You think THAT'S bad, there's one around here with only a picture that is all white. nothing else.

There is one that is white in what looks to be a picture frame hanging on the wall. On my computer monitor at home, all I can see is total white inside the frame, nothing else. On my monitor at work I was able to see what is very faint! What's up with that?

Edited October 26, 2007 by VirginiaGator