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Puzzle caches and vactioning.


Coldgears

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I never liked puzzle caches because the ones that i can't find close to my house will remain unfound. I can figure out most of them, but that usually requires multiple days. That was when I disliked them... now I HATE them. So I was planning a day trip to NYC. I wanted to go to central park for the day. Going into this I knew I wouldn't have much time to geocache, it is a 2 hour and 30 minute drive (90 Miles from philadelphia,) and a 2 hour 30 minute drive back. If I left at 10:00 and got there at 12:30 that gives me about 5 hours before it gets dark before I want to get home, (I don't want to drive in the dark too long.) So, I check maps... And waddya know.

 

PuzzleAAAHHH.jpg

 

There are more puzzle caches then regular caches. It's not even worth visiting if I can't solve most of these. Seriously, more then 50% are puzzles. I guess I have alot of work cut out for me. And I need to do it quick before the wether gets cold. If I had more time I could get the caches on the north end of the park, or even in the city, but I only have a few hours as this is a day trip... What a shame!

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Even with skipping the puzzles, five hours is probably not enough time to do the remaining caches if you're on foot.

 

The earthcache is a really good one, and the traditionals and virtuals will keep you busy and take you to some great places.

 

Wanted to add that the southern section below the reservoir is very pretty, and there are a lot of historical spots that you might want to visit if you haven't already.

Edited by Skippermark
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I own several of the puzzles. I'd be happy to help you if you are getting stuck on them.

 

Geocaching in Central Park is very different from geocaching in many other parts of the country. We have a very fragile relationship with the Central Park Conservancy, and I spend a good chunk of my geocaching time helping to maintain that relationship. Geocaching was once banned from an entire section of the park because of the bad behavior of a few, and I consider us very lucky that we weren't banned from the park entirely.

 

As it stands there are more caches in the park than the CPC is completely comfortable with, but because many of them are puzzles, which tourists usually skip over, the geo-traffic is a lot lower than it would normally be with this number of hides. As a result, we are able to maintain a delicate balance with the CPC. For me, because this is my backyard and I'll do *anything* I can to maintain a geocaching presence here, it's worth it.

 

And as Isonzo Karst says, there are still a fair number of Traditionals in the park (I own one or two of those as well). Between 15-20; enough to keep most people busy for up to 5 hours (assuming 15 minutes per cache). The park is a lot bigger than most people realize; I suspect you would not be bored, and might even find it a challenge to find them all during your limited time frame. There's an Earth Cache and three or four Virtuals as well... and for those who prefer their oddball icons to come with physical containers there's a nice Letterbox in the North end and a Wherigo in the South. There is also a multi-cache that takes folks on a tour of all of the bridges and arches in the park, that takes most people on foot between 4-6 hours to complete. It's a nice tour. A group from New Jersey is coming to the city tomorrow for the sole purpose of tackling that one.

 

Anyway, I'm sorry that your planned trip to New York has gotten off to such a rough start and that you hate puzzle caches now... as someone who loves New York, geocaching, and puzzles that's so sad to hear! Like I said, I'd be happy to help you with any of my puzzles if you find that you're having trouble getting started. And I know that childofatom (a good friend of mine, who owns many of the other puzzles in the park) is also very good with nudging solvers along.

 

Also, we will be hosting a geo-puzzle solving workshop in November, expressly for the purpose of helping new solvers learn some of the tricks of the trade. We'd love to have you join us, although I understand that it's a bit out of the way.

 

Best wishes from New York - addisonbr

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2 and a half hours? I live the same distance and it takes me 90 minutes. The Holland tunnel is the only backup, and that is only at certain times. Central park is huge and extremely diversified with plenty to do. It's actually one of the nicest parks around. Skip all the puzzles and you will still be busy. There is plenty to see without geocaching anyhow.

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Some hate puzzles, others love them, I guess that is part of this that makes it so unique is we get to choose which we want to do. I enjoy working through the puzzles during winter then going to hunt them down in warmer weather. It still amazes me at how many of these threads are from people moaning about something or the other and they just have to vent about it.

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It's not even worth visiting...

Wait... By my (probably mistaken) count, there are 14 traditionals, 3 virtuals, a multicache, (or several) an earthcache and a letterbox hybrid. And by your reckoning, this large number of caches, in an area known for its beauty and history, is not worth making the drive over? Seriously? :ph34r:

 

When I found out I was going to have a seven hour layover in Paris while on the way to Johannesburg I did a PQ of the downtown area so that I could try and find a few caches. If anything, it has an even higher concentration of puzzle caches than central park. I solved several of them before I left home. I only ended up finding one cache while I was there but I got to spend a couple of hours wandering the streets of downtown Paris.

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It's not even worth visiting if I can't solve most of these.

 

I find this attitude very interesting. If you can't solve most of the puzzles, it's not even worth visiting?

 

When I first looked at the map, I thought, "Wow! There are enough caches there to keep me busy for years." I don't live near New York City, but my son does, and when I visit we sometimes go into the city. I guess if you think of geocaching as just something that gives you numbers, you'd be bother by this, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of doing just one good puzzle cache, so this is paradise for me.

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I can see what you mean, if your on vacation somewhere or visiting for the day the last thing you want to do is sit in your car or hotel doing the puzzles. But for people who live there the puzzles are much more fun and rewarding. I visited NY in January and I thought it would be fun to walk central park. Well, we didn't even make it half way before we got tired and turned around. That place is HUGE. Trust me, it's worth visiting. Even if you don't end up caching, you should still have fun.

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I looked at 6 at random and 4 were actually multis, mislabeled as puzzle caches.

Which 4?

 

I'm not going back and looking again, but one brought you to a spot and asked you to project a waypoint. The other 3 you obtained info from a sign and plugged in the numbers to get the cache coordinates.

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I'm not going back and looking again, but one brought you to a spot and asked you to project a waypoint. The other 3 you obtained info from a sign and plugged in the numbers to get the cache coordinates.

I think you some how got really (un)lucky and out of six tries identified virtually every single cache in the park that could be described as a simple offset - McGown's Pass (go to spot, count objects), Seneca Village (go to spot, find object, project waypoint), Resolve (go to spot, project waypoint), Eye of the Needle (go to spot, follow letterbox-like clues) and Central Park Carousel (go to spot, count objects).

 

The other 25-ish mystery caches in the park wouldn't fit in this box.

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I like puzzles when they involve doing something physical (finding a TB with a clue on it, watch a movie and answer questons, figuring out how a gizmo works, finding a hidden key to a cache, etc.)

 

Wicked brain-bending puzzles, ciphers, codes, complex mathematics, steganography and the like really aren't my thing. I'll give them a try, but if I can't make any progress or understand what I'm looking at after about 10 minutes I give up.

 

I'd rather have a 5 star terrain than a 5 star puzzle.

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I think you some how got really (un)lucky and out of six tries identified virtually every single cache in the park that could be described as a simple offset - McGown's Pass (go to spot, count objects), Seneca Village (go to spot, find object, project waypoint), Resolve (go to spot, project waypoint), Eye of the Needle (go to spot, follow letterbox-like clues) and Central Park Carousel (go to spot, count objects).

For some of those (Seneca Village maybe), I thought part of the challenge (mystery) was figuring out where you needed to go to look for the info. It wasn't at the posted coords, but that could be for some of the others, like the one where you had to get info off the statue but had to figure out where the statue was.

Edited by Skippermark
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I think you some how got really (un)lucky and out of six tries identified virtually every single cache in the park that could be described as a simple offset - McGown's Pass (go to spot, count objects), Seneca Village (go to spot, find object, project waypoint), Resolve (go to spot, project waypoint), Eye of the Needle (go to spot, follow letterbox-like clues) and Central Park Carousel (go to spot, count objects).

For some of those, I thought part of the challenge (mystery) was figuring out where you needed to go to look for the info. It wasn't at the posted coords, but that could be for some of the others, like the one where you had to get info off the statue but had to figure out where the statue was.

This is exactly right. There are a couple of caches like that in the park where the puzzle itself is to figure out where to start; from there (perhaps to satisfy the GPSr requirement) a waypoint projection is asked for. I tried not to include them on the above list, though.

 

Seneca Village comes close, but the posted coordinates get you within a few dozen feet of what you're looking for. For the others, like the one you reference, the object you're looking for could be anywhere within a couple of miles.

 

ETA - I see now that you actually *were* referencing Seneca Village, not the cache I thought

Edited by addisonbr
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It's not even worth visiting if I can't solve most of these.

Maybe he found out the lamp post skirts there don't lift up, and there aren't any traditional guard rails?

 

Seriously, I feel your pain, I'm not much for solving puzzles in order to find a cache. But if I want to visit a location, I will still visit it, and make the most of my caching experience while I am there. As others who are more knowledgeable on the location have already posted-there are historic and scenic sites throughout the park worthy of a stop, cache or no cache.

And it's one big freaking park, really big.

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I starting to look at these caches myself now - I'll be caching Central Park somewhere 10/17 to 10/20, and want to solve some of these puzzles to make the grab.

 

Should be interesting! This will be our first time caching a different setting than our own desert one, and should be interesting to see how the cache hides differ.

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And it's one big freaking park, really big.

 

You can say that again. Humongous, even.

 

Mrs. GeoGeeBee and I were making our way from The Cloisters, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Looking at a subway map, I thought it would be fun to take the "A" train down to 81st Street and walk across Central Park.

 

Big mistake. It's a LOT farther than it looks.

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I suggest renting a bicycle for a few hours. Google bike rentals NYC. Parking can be a problem in the immediate area, it might be better to choose one a little further away and ride a few blocks. I've rented from pedal pushers on 2nd ave a few times. or, of course, you can bring a bike with you.

As stated above, CP is a unique caching experience. You should be able to get 10-12 caches in 2.5 hours on a bike (including the virts). Just filter out the puzzles and forget about them.

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I'm sorry! It's my fault! I was bragging about how I cleared Manhattan of caches twice, and they banded together to make sure that that never happens again! (Of course, I did retaliate...) Been caching Central Park for six years. They're always showing me new and interesting places!

So, just ignore the mystery caches, and you'll still have lots to see and do in Central Park. It's a geat place!

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I'm planning on going in about a month. I'm going to use this post here as a way to list all the caches that I can actually find, (most are missing :blink: ) If someone could tell me a place to park that'd be great...

 

Some puzzles are beyond easy, like the artist gate one. Then again, you have to know photoshop to do that one.

 

Traditionals

Snug as a Bug in Central Park

Twitter Cache

Dinosaur Train Velociraptor - WNET

Dinosaur Train Glacial Rock - WNET

Riftstone

Down the Rabbit Hole - NYC (Oh This one is a MUST DO, it was in the movie splinterheads.)

Lakeside View

A Million in Cash Cache

 

Puzzles I actually solved

It Begins At The Artists Gate

 

Virtuals and earth caches.

Central Park Guardian (Virtual)

The Castle

Stone Face

Umpire Rock

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