Unusual Finds

[+TeamTwoStar]

Tell me a neat geocaching story.

Edited April 10, 2012 by TeamTwoStar

[+firestronaut]

My most interesting find to date was a small one hidden inside a natural gap in a tree and covered with twigs. Slugs and other insects had taken residence there too, but it's definitely one of my favourites so far

[+Sinver]

I found one with a Gareth Gates cd in it once. I logged that as a "TNLN" despite the temptation!

[+OZ2CPU]

>I counted it as find, because the last three people didn't see it up there, but we did. It was very strange finding a lost box stuck up a tree.

 

YOU NEED TO SIGN THE LOG BOOK ELSE YOU DID NOT FIND IT !!

read the DNF = FIND IT, section

there is a lot of similar wrong logs stories.

[knowschad]

What was the wierdest geocache that you have ever found? It could be where you found it, what was in it, or how you found it. I love hearing geocaching stories, so please share them with us.

 

This is one of Team Two Stars misadventures:

My sister and me were looking for a regular sized box in a park today. We got to GZ and searched all over. There wasn't much to search, just a few bushes, thin bushes in the middle of a lawn. We kept looking around and around?? How hard could it be to find a regular sized box, 1.5/ 1.5?? I started to look up in the trees and there it was. Apperently a muggle had found the box (not surprising) and had taken the time to get it stuck up in that tree 30 or 40 ft off the ground..... There was no way to get up the tree and no way to get the box down. I counted it as find, because the last three people didn't see it up there, but we did. It was very strange finding a lost box stuck up a tree.

 

If you want to see the pictures of the cache suck in the tree read the log: http://www.geocachin...9a-6c5038f4ae8e

 

Thanks for all of you replies! XD

 

I hate to be the one to break this to you, TTS, but sometimes caches are hidden in trees deliberately. I will admit that a 1.5 terrain rating would make it seem as though it shouldn't be up there, but before posting pictures of it to the cache page, you probably should have asked the cache owner. You may have inadvertantly posted spoiler pictures of the hide. In addition, as has been rather abruptly mentioned, you really shouldn't claim a find on a cache where you didn't actually sign the log, particularly if this really was deliberately hidden in the tree.

 

Besides... how much better the story would have been if you had climbed the tree!

[+TeamTwoStar]

>I counted it as find, because the last three people didn't see it up there, but we did. It was very strange finding a lost box stuck up a tree.

 

YOU NEED TO SIGN THE LOG BOOK ELSE YOU DID NOT FIND IT !!

read the DNF = FIND IT, section

there is a lot of similar wrong logs stories.

 

You need to chill out. At this point you are stalking and trolling. Why don't you go out and find some little boxes and leave us alone. It is for the owner to decide. They can delet my log if he wants, its not a big deal. Like I told the CO, if he ever fixes his cache, I will go out and sign the log. At least if you are stalking me, read the log. I don't go out to get numbers on a web page or to be the top geocahcer in PA or the USA or the world; I go out because I think it is fun to find the caches. It is fun. BTW, stop talking about COs like they are the cleaning lady or a servants.

[+TeamTwoStar]

What was the wierdest geocache that you have ever found? It could be where you found it, what was in it, or how you found it. I love hearing geocaching stories, so please share them with us.

 

This is one of Team Two Stars misadventures:

My sister and me were looking for a regular sized box in a park today. We got to GZ and searched all over. There wasn't much to search, just a few bushes, thin bushes in the middle of a lawn. We kept looking around and around?? How hard could it be to find a regular sized box, 1.5/ 1.5?? I started to look up in the trees and there it was. Apperently a muggle had found the box (not surprising) and had taken the time to get it stuck up in that tree 30 or 40 ft off the ground..... There was no way to get up the tree and no way to get the box down. I counted it as find, because the last three people didn't see it up there, but we did. It was very strange finding a lost box stuck up a tree.

 

If you want to see the pictures of the cache suck in the tree read the log: http://www.geocachin...9a-6c5038f4ae8e

 

Thanks for all of you replies! XD

 

I hate to be the one to break this to you, TTS, but sometimes caches are hidden in trees deliberately. I will admit that a 1.5 terrain rating would make it seem as though it shouldn't be up there, but before posting pictures of it to the cache page, you probably should have asked the cache owner. You may have inadvertantly posted spoiler pictures of the hide. In addition, as has been rather abruptly mentioned, you really shouldn't claim a find on a cache where you didn't actually sign the log, particularly if this really was deliberately hidden in the tree.

 

Besides... how much better the story would have been if you had climbed the tree!

 

Nope, I am aware that some caches are placed in trees. However, with this cache that is not the case. The tree was unclimbable, the d/t was a 1.5/1.5, for us to have had to climb up a tree one of those numbers would have had to have been a 4 or higher. By reading the log, I could tell that at originally the box was left on the ground in the scrawney bushes. It doesn't take a genious to read the log and figure out from GZ where the cache originally was. If I'm wrong, I'll shave my head.

[+Straight-Cache-Homey]

Found one just yesterday at a trail nearby that I never knew existed.

 

Up in two trees are two dirt bikes, about 75 feet up in the branches. Neatly placed. Somehow. No idea how or who or why. Right off this interesting little trail. The gf and I were blown away.

[+Scubasonic]

Recently I found a cache when I was in Yuma Arizona, that was a Faucet in the middle of the desert, the funny thing was that when you turned the faucet on water came out. VERY COOL

[knowschad]

 

The tree was unclimbable,

Tell that to the person that put it up in the tree.

[+lamoracke]

 

The tree was unclimbable,

Tell that to the person that put it up in the tree.

 

perhaps he/she threw it up there, or some african swallows flew it up there. Have thrown a cache or two up a tree to rehide it, but will admit, none of them have been ammo cans.

[Clan Riffster]

The tree was unclimbable

There t'aint no such critter.

Looking at the picture you posted, I'd say it was a fairly easy climb.

The one I chained to the top of a 40' palm tree was a lot harder.

[Clan Riffster]

Tell me a neat geocaching story.

 

F.B.I. Office of Paranormal Research, Quantico Va

Lat. 38.52371 Lon. -77.30551.

May 10th, 2009, 0900 hours

 

MULDER: Scully, do you believe in Geocaching?

 

SCULLY: Geocaching? Isn’t that one of those mythical hippy geek cults? Something about a guy from Seattle who stuck an antenna in a frog?

 

MULDER: It’s much more than a cult, Scully. They believe that there are fantastic treasures to be found by entering numeric data into small, hand-held devices, then following a little spinning arrow on the face of the device. The treasures are hidden in what they call “caches”. That in itself is sufficient for speculation, but what really raises eyebrows is the fact that the whole process exists in-house, so to speak. The treasures which they hunt were all hidden by other cult members, in what some scientists have labeled “A giant game of hide & seek”. They communicate their efforts secretly over the internet, using cryptic glyphs which the NSA still has not cracked, and they can only be identified by their code names. Messages such as TFTH, TNLNSL, and FTF can convey volumes of data to the initiates. Scully, this is no crackpot, hodgepodge assembly of computer gaming nerds. During a raid on what was supposed to be the cult’s headquarters, documents were found indicating membership in the hundreds of thousands.

 

SCULLY: That’s great, Mulder, but what does that have to do with us? As I recall, the whole Geocaching phenomenon was determined by the CIA to be a hoax, perpetrated by a handful of bored college students. There is not one shred of physical evidence that the cult even exists.

 

MULDER: Scully, by now you should know better than to trust anything the government tells you. The CIA called it a hoax because it was in their best interest to do so. Fortunately, not everyone is as naive as you. To this day, there are thousands of otherwise normal people, scouring their local forests for these “caches”. Recently, several people have reported unusual sights and experiences while hunting for caches hidden in the Juniper Springs region of the Ocala National Forest. There have even been reported disappearances, which the local law enforcement agencies are helpless to stop.

 

SCULLY: So, you want to rush down to Florida, on company time, just so you can satisfy your overzealous imagination?

 

MULDER: I’m disappointed, Scully. Here’s a perfect opportunity for you to prove me wrong, and you hesitate.

 

(Mulder hands Scully a bundle of documents)

 

SCULLY: What is this supposed to be?

 

MULDER: Some friends of mine believe they have determined a means of finally proving this cult existed. These documents are reputed to be “Cache Printouts”, which the initiates use to determine the locations of the caches they were looking for. As you will notice, all of these caches are in the same general area as the strange activity. That can’t be a coincidence, Scully. There’s got to be a connection. Are you willing to find the truth?

 

SCULLY: I’ll go with you, but I have to tell you, I’m far more interested in finding the people who have been reported missing, if for no other reason, then to demonstrate that getting lost in the woods is statistically a result of too much beer drinking, combined with inadequate 4-wheel drive vehicles, and not due to the intervention of black helicopters or UFO’s..

 

MULDER: Great! We leave at dawn. I’ve taken the liberty of hiring a guide. He’s a fairly harmless crackpot by the name of Clan Riffster. He’s one of those who believes in the myth, and often spends his time hunting Tupperware in the woods. We’ll start with this cache, “Barking Moonbat”

 

Ocala national Forest, Northeast Quadrant

Lat. 29.19203 Lon. -81.65383

May 11th, 2009, 0915 hours

 

SCULLY: Mulder, it’s hot, it’s muggy and the mosquitoes are as large as sparrows. When are you going to realize this whole geocaching myth is a hoax? How many trails are you planning on dragging us down, anyway?

 

MULDER: Relax, Scully. It’s not like you had a hot date. The wind is blowing gently through the pines, the birds are singing, what more could you ask for? Besides, Riffster assures me we’re getting close, right, Riffster?

 

RIFFSTER: Huh? What? Were y’all talkin’ to me? Sorry, I was listenin’ to this here Hank Williams Jr tape. “Whiskey Bent & Hell Bound”. Ever heard of it? Naw, never mind. You look like one o’ them sissy boys what listens to Yanni. You was askin’ about that there geocache. It’s gotta be here ‘bouts somewhere. Keep lookin’!

 

SCULLY: Riffster, be honest. You don’t really believe in geocaching, do you?

 

RIFFSTER: Uh, yes Ma’am! I know it fer a fact! I seen one when I was knee high to a grasshopper. It was on the back side of Signal Mountain, where I done growed up. I was creepin’ through the woods, tryin’ to poach me a deer for dinner, and there it was, plain as day. A Tupperware container full of broken McToys, bottle tops and used Lotto tickets.

 

SCULLY: What makes you think it wasn’t just a plastic box full of junk?

 

RIFFSTER: Uh, no Ma’am! It was real! It said so right on the lid, plain as day! “G, E, O, K, A, S, H”. Besides, it had one o’ them stash notes inside.

 

SCULLY: What did the note say?

 

RIFFSTER: Uh, I’m not for sure. I don’t read none to good.

 

(Mulder pokes around with a stick)

 

MULDER: Found it! Look Scully! Didn’t I tell you? This proves the whole geocaching myth is real!

 

SCULLY: No, Mulder. It only proves you found a metal box in the woods. Wait! What are you doing opening it?

 

MULDER: We need to sign the logbook and trade swag. You’re the forensics specialist here, Scully. Help me sort through this stuff.

 

SCULLY: Mulder, do you have any idea what kind of microbes can live in that environment?

 

MULDER: Relax, Scully. Have a McToy. Let’s go find the next one. I believe “Bear Attack” is closest, right Riffster?

 

RIFFSTER: Huh? What? Oh, uh… Yeah. I reckon.

 

Ocala National Forest, Northeast Quadrant

Lat. 29.19169 Lon. -81.65492

May 11th, 2009, 1022 hours

 

MULDER: What’s the matter, Scully? Afraid your sensible Catholic upbringing might be diminished by a simple search for the truth?

 

SCULLY: Mulder, we’ve been chasing shadows for hours now. Logic dictates that we resign this obsession of yours and get back to doing the job that the F.B.I. pays us for. Obviously that box you found was just a coincidence. We’ve got real cases waiting for us back at Quantico. There is nothing here.

 

MULDER: If that’s true, then why has that black Suburban been following us around all morning? Don’t you find that just a bit suspicious?

 

SCULLY: Mulder, these woods are used by outdoorsmen every day. Those guys are probably hunters.

 

MULDER: Wrong, Scully. (Mulder passes Scully a spotting scope) Look at the tires. They look like Goodyear XL Strikeforce radials. Those tires were developed for the NSA back in ’04, and were never released to the public. Look at the suspension. Anyone can tell it’s been beefed up, probably to support the additional weight of armor plating. Do you see the way the light prisms off the windshield? Bullet proof glass does that. And if that’s not enough to convince you of their nefarious purpose, how do you explain the dark window tint? That degree of reflectivity is illegal in Florida, unless you are in a government vehicle.

 

SCULLY: If they were sent to interfere with our objective, why are they just sitting there?

 

MULDER: They’re watching us to see how much we know, and what we discover. Mark my words, Scully, we haven’t seen the last of those guys. What do you think, Riffster?

 

RIFFSTER: That there is sure one purdy truck all right. Not near as purdy as you are, Ma’am. No offense. But you ain’t gotta go getting’ outta sorts. I mean, it’s just a Chevy. If’n it was one o’ them Jeeps, I’d be worried. Say, did you bring any beer?

 

MULDER: Your inebriation will have to wait. We’re on a mission here. Where’s that dadgum cache?

 

SCULLY: Mulder, we’ve been wandering around in circles for the last hour. We’ve checked under every rock, every leaf. There is not a square inch of this area we haven’t checked. If there was anything even remotely larger than a pinhead here, we would’ve found it by now.

 

MULDER: You may be right, Scully. This one may have been “muggled”.

 

SCULLY: Muggled? What does that mean?

 

MULDER: Riffster’s been teaching me some of the geocaching vernacular. A “Muggle” is a person who doesn’t believe in geocaching. Someone like you, Scully.

 

SCULLY: Great. Another label, invented to foster an exclusionary atmosphere. So tell me Mulder. Are you finally convinced that geocaching is a myth? You’ve got the cache page print out in your hands. You can see we are at the right coordinates. Obviously there is no cache here, which puts a significant dent in your geocaching hypothesis.

 

MULDER: Relax, Scully. You’re wound way too tight. The lack of a cache at these coordinates does not disprove the truth. Your “hunters” have followed us here. That in itself is significant. Let’s not give up now, when we have another cache we can search for. The truth is out there, Scully. Riffster, what do you think?

 

RIFFSTER: Yup! It’s a DNF for shore. Dag nab it!

 

SCULLY: DNF…. What does that mean?

 

MULDER: DNF is an acronym, Scully. It means “Did Not Find”. Since we “Did Not Find” this cache, we call it a DNF.

 

SCULLY: We? Are you seriously contemplating joining this bunch of belly button lint collecting yahoos, who tromp through insect and snake infested woods in search of some ridiculous fantasy?

 

MULDER: Careful, Scully. You might start enjoying yourself. Right, Riffster?

 

RIFFSTER: Huh? What? Oh, uh….. Yeah. I mean, yes Ma’am.

 

MULDER: Why don’t we call it quits for now, and go find “SoulBait Springs“? I think it’s the next closest.

 

Ocala National Forest, Northeast Quadrant

Lat. 29.19245 Lon. -81.65710

May 11th, 2009, 1150 hours

 

MULDER: Looks like we’ll need to bushwhack from here, Scully.

 

SCULLY: Bushwhack? You want me to walk through that?

 

MULDER: Relax, Scully. It’s only 600’ or so through a swamp. It won’t kill you. Just follow Riffster. He cuts a pretty wide swath.

 

SCULLY: Don’t you mean he has all the grace of a herd of rampaging bull elephants?

 

MULDER: Something like that.

 

RIFFSTER: Here it is! Whoo Hoo!!! Yee Haw!!! I found me one! Hot Dog!

 

MULDER: Scully, that’s two out of three we’ve found. Still think it’s a myth?

 

SCULLY: Mulder, you’re quickly losing your objectivity. These woods have been used by yokels to dump trash for decades. I have no doubt that we could hike anywhere out here and find various types of containers, even ammo boxes. Just ask your nose picking “guide”. And while your at it, can you tell him to stop drooling while he’s looking at me? He makes me feel like a Thanksgiving turkey.

 

MULDER: Look Scully, just because he’s hygienically challenged, and has the IQ of a bag of hammers, doesn’t mean he’s not right about this. Don’t judge him by your urban standards. Sigmund Freud once said that people with an IQ gap of more than 40 points cannot communicate with each other. You just need to lower yourself to his level.

 

SCULLY: How’s this, Mulder; “Hey, Paw! You got’s any chawin’ toe-back-kee?”

 

MULDER: Sarcasm does not become you, Scully. Let’s press on to “Apocalypse, When”. It’s just a little ways upstream.

 

RIFFSTER: Is it time for beer yet?

 

Ocala National Forest, Northeast Quadrant

Lat. 29.19237 Lon. -81.66168

May 11th, 2009, 1202 hours

 

MULDER: There’s nothing here.

 

SCULLY: Mulder, we’ve only searched for 30 minutes or so. Why are you so eager to give up on this one?

 

MULDER: This one’s been disabled, Scully.

 

SCULLY: Disabled? What is that supposed to mean?

 

MULDER: Remember “Muggled”? If a cache owner confirms that a cache has been muggled, he can “Disable” it, which officially tells the rest of the initiates that it’s not there.

 

SCULLY: Let me get this straight. You knew there was nothing here before we bushwhacked all the way out here and spent half an hour checking every palmetto and burnt tree trunk, fighting off mosquitoes, horseflies, deer flees, and God only knows what other parasites?

 

MULDER: Relax, Scully. It’s the hunt that counts. Look at it this way, Scully. We’ve had a 50% confirmed success rate. That’s a whole order of magnitude greater than our hunt for Bigfoot. That’s two out of four that were right where the so called fictional cache pages said they’d be. 50% is far more than coincidence, Scully. Can’t you even admit to the possibility that geocaching might be completely legitimate, and the only reason the general population isn’t aware of it is because our Government is obfuscating the reality?

 

SCULLY: Sure, Mulder. If you say so. Look! Here’s another “cache”. And another, and another, and another. These woods are practically bristling with geocaches.

 

MULDER: Those are crumpled beer cans, Scully. There’s a difference.

 

SCULLY: What difference, Mulder? You have a scrap of paper that claims we’ll find some kind of container at a given set of coordinates. I’m simply pointing out the fact that you could change those coordinates to anything you like, and still find something there. I think you’re confusing government conspiracies with littering. After four so called “hunts”, you haven’t shown me a single shred of physical evidence to support the geocaching phenomenon. Riffster has fed you a steady diet of smoke and mirrors, and you lap it up, salivating like Pavlov’s dogs at the mere hint of a hidden box in the woods. Proof. That’s all I ask. Is that too much?

 

MULDER: I suggest we head to the next cache on our list, “Paint Fiction’s Apocalypse”. Maybe that’ll convince you.

 

SCULLY: I’ll humor you for now, Mulder, but I’m growing weary of chasing shadows.

 

RIFFSTER: Ma’am, this ain’t no myth. I swear upon my Paw Paw’s grave it’s for real. You just gotta believe!

 

SCULLY: Thank you for your unasked for opinion, Riffster. Now get your hand off my shoulder before you draw back a nub. You haven’t bathed in days, and you are dripping grease and BBQ sauce. This is a $400 Armani jacket you just stained. And for the love of God, can you please stop picking your nose around me?

 

RIFFSTER: Yes, Ma’am. Sorry, Ma’am. Please don’t kill me lady. My young’uns wouldn’t cotton to me comin’ home dead. I won’t be touchin’ you no more. Shake? (extends hand)

 

SCULLY: Oh, the irony.

 

MULDER: Scully, quit picking on the boy. You can’t have a battle of wits with someone who’s unarmed, right, Riffster?

 

RIFFSTER: I ain’t got no gun!

 

MULDER: See what I mean, Scully?

 

SCULLY: (Sigh)

 

MULDER: Your “hunters” are back, right on queue. We need to lose them before we start our search. Let’s go!

 

Ocala National Forest, Northeast Quadrant

Lat. 29.18359 Lon. -81.66795

May 11th, 2009, 1511 hours

 

MULDER: Stay down!

 

SCULLY: My God, Mulder! What is that?

 

MULDER: In 1947, a great deal of unusual debris was recovered from a ranch near Roswell New Mexico. The Roswell Army Air Field issued a press release stating that a “flying disk” had been discovered. Within hours, a retraction was issued by the Pentagon, claiming instead that is was just a weather balloon. In 1978, Jesse Marcel, one of the people involved in the original debris recovery, expressed his belief that there had been a cover-up of the recovery of an alien craft. Additional witnesses and reports emerged over the following years. They added significant new details, including accounts of a large military operation to recover alien craft and aliens themselves, as many as 11 crash sites, and intimidation of witnesses. In 1989, former mortician Glenn Dennis revealed a detailed account which included alien autopsies carried out at the Roswell base.

 

In response to these reports, the Secretary of the Air Force released two reports. The first one, released in 1995, concluded that the material reported recovered in 1947 was likely debris from a secret government program called Project Mogul. The second report, released in 1997, addressed the reports of aliens and concluded these reports were likely transformed memories of the recovery of anthropomorphic dummies in programs like Project High Dive, conducted in the 1950s. The psychological effects of time compression and memory contamination explained the discrepancy with the years in question.

 

These UFO remains were eventually brought to the Air Force Flight Test Center, Detachment 3, at Groom Lake, an ultra secret military testing site known locally as Area 51.

 

SCULLY: OK, Mulder. Even if all that hyperbole was real, those sites are in New Mexico and Nevada. What does that have to do with anything in Florida?

 

MULDER: Do you think New Mexico holds patents on UFO crashes? They have happened here, as well. Scully, did you happen to notice that the most prominent structure utilized on the private property surrounding the Ocala National Forest are mobile homes? Studies at Stetson University have shown a direct link between mobile homes and UFO sightings. Some speculate that there is some unknown factor in the unique composition of mobile homes which actually attract UFO’s.

 

In 1963, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office responded to this location to investigate a reported UFO crash. The initial deputies on scene confirmed over their radios that it was, in fact, a vehicle from outer space. The Air Force sent in troops, and those deputies were removed from duty, never to be heard from again. 12 hours later, this entire area was cordoned off. The Air Force claimed it was a small personal airplane that crashed. Do you think a trained deputy sheriff could mistake a Cessna for a UFO?

 

Now, the Forestry Service claims this is a protected wetland, using endangered plant species as an excuse to keep people out. Look at those formations, Scully. Does that look like an endangered wetland to you? Obviously, the government intends on keeping this area secret, and since geocachers know about it, their entire existence must be made questionable. It’s apparent that whoever hid these caches out here has had enough of the cover up, and has decided to use geocaching as a medium to spread the truth.

 

RIFFSTER: I’m Skeered! I wanna go home! I don’t wanna play no more!

 

SCULLY/MULDER: Shut up, Riffster!

 

SCULLY: Sorry….. Mulder, this is amazing. We need to make this public. We should take lots of pictures, interview the locals, bring in the media….

 

MULDER: You would be silenced, Scully. Hear that “Whop Whop” sound? That’s not a bunch of natives opening tubes of Pillsbury biscuits. That’s a Blackhawk helicopter. It’s coming our way. We need to get out of here, fast.

 

F.B.I. Headquarters, Office of Public Relations, Washington, D.C.

Lat. 38.89534 Lon. -77.02489

May 11th, 2009, 1700 hours

 

F.B.I. DIRECTOR JOE SMITH: Ladies and gentlemen of the press. It is with much regret, that I must announce the loss of two field agents. Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were on vacation, camping in the Ocala National Forest in Florida. It appears they became disoriented, and got lost. Without food, water or shelter, they succumbed to the elements, and perished. Funeral services will be tomorrow at 8:00, at Arlington National Cemetery. These will be closed casket affairs at the request of their families.

 

On a side note, the F.B.I. is currently seeking a Florida resident by the name of Riffster, who may have had contact with agents Mulder and Scully prior to their deaths. He is reportedly described as an ol’ fat crippled guy, with thinning hair, wearing a smelly hat, driving a green Toyota 4x4. He can often be seen wandering around in the woods with a handheld GPSr, muttering “Found It!”, over and over.

 

Top Secret NSA confinement facility

Lat. Unknown Lon. Unknown

May 11th, 2009, 20150 hours

 

MULDER: dadgum it, you have no right to hold us here! We’re federal agents! I demand to speak with someone in charge!

 

SCULLY: Relax, Mulder. Shouting won’t get us out of here. Our only hope lies in the fact that they haven’t captured Riffster yet. If he can expose those caches we found, maybe he can generate enough publicity, and they’ll have no choice but to let us go.

 

Oval Office,

The White House

Lat. 38.89748 Lon. -77.03658

May 17th, 2009, 1600 hours

 

President Obama: My fellow Americans, I’d like to take this time to apprise you of some recent, startling developments. As you know, our great country abounds with myths and legends which have passed from one generation to the next. One of those myths, called “Geocaching”, has just been confirmed by the NSA as a real hobby.

 

The story came to light when one of the players of the game, known locally as “Clan Riffster” contacted the New York Times with photo documentation of one particular set of geocaches along a creek in the Ocala National Forest, in Florida.

 

My security specialists have analyzed his photos and they’ve determined that they are not fakes. This leaves us with little choice but to accept the existence of this hobby. Folks, this hobby is as real as Rosie O’Donnell’s waist line. Mark my words ladies and gentlemen, we haven’t seen the last of this game.

 

Now I’d like to introduce FBI Director Joe Smith, who has some related news.

 

FBI Director Joe Smith: Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, it is with a glad heart that I announce our earlier reports regarding the deaths of Agents Scully and Mulder were premature. It appears that they suffered some unknown calamity in the Ocala National Forest, and were found wandering around. Both agents have been diagnosed with amnesia, and have no recollection of their activities since their mysterious disappearance last week. As to whose bodies are buried in their graves, we have no comment. For those of you wondering why there has been a dramatic increase in military troops near Juniper Springs, we have no comment.

 

Members of the press, the balding obese gentleman to my right is Clan Riffster. He has agreed to answer some questions. Please limit your questions to words of less than four syllables, as he is a dimwit.

 

Clan Riffster: Howdy Y’all! How you doin’?

 

Press dweeb: Mr Riffster, you’ve cracked open one of the oldest myths of our country’s history. What are your plans now?

 

Clan Riffster: I’m goin’ to Disney World! Whoo Hoo!!!

[knowschad]

The tree was unclimbable,

Tell that to the person that put it up in the tree.

 

perhaps he/she threw it up there, or some african swallows flew it up there. Have thrown a cache or two up a tree to rehide it, but will admit, none of them have been ammo cans.

Didn't look at the picture in their log, didja? It appears to have been very carefully placed up there.

[+OZ2CPU]

>The tree was unclimbable,

 

no tree I have ever seen is unclimbable, so if something is allready up there,

IF I can see it, fine I get my bud up there, find the log book sign it, NOW I found the cache

and can be happy, anything else is a DNF or a NOTE

That is a general rule of all geocaches, no matter how much you can see it, or its mark on the ground,

if you did not sign its log book you did not find it..

when you learn this, you maybe also got the equipment you need to climb such trees safely,

please also take a course in the use of the equipment so you can do it safely, then it is alot of fun,

my personal record is just 60 feet, about 20 meters, that matches my equipment and skill level,

but I dont see why it is fun to put caches that high up, it will not be something for the general or even special geocachers,

only a very few will enjoy this level off a tree climb.

 

Yes some caches are rated wrong, both UP level or DOWN level,

I personally dont like this kind of trick, but others enjoy it alot,

it is a litte bit like the wrong hint or missing hint or cordinate off, but still with in legal off limit,

and also you can write wrong size or unknown size, so there are alot of tricks to add a bit of difference.

[+oxford comma]

 

The tree was unclimbable,

Tell that to the person that put it up in the tree.

 

perhaps he/she threw it up there, or some african swallows flew it up there. Have thrown a cache or two up a tree to rehide it, but will admit, none of them have been ammo cans.

 

WHAT is your favorite color??!

[+dexnjan]

My favoite find lately was near a municipal water tower. In the description of the cache the container was described as "other". It took me 3 trips to find it. There was just nothing else near "ground zero" as shown my gps. It was on the side of an electrical cabinet, a stainless steel switch cover with a couple of screws showing. It was magnetic and a ziplock bag with the log in it was in turn held to the cover by another small magnet inside the bag. It really looked like it belonged on the cabinet.

TRICKY!

Edited April 11, 2012 by dexnjan

[+TeamTwoStar]

 

The tree was unclimbable,

Tell that to the person that put it up in the tree.

 

LOL, I think they threw it up there and it got stuck. They could have used a ladder but that would have been a lot of work and that would have had to have beed a huge ladder.

[+lamoracke]

The tree was unclimbable,

Tell that to the person that put it up in the tree.

 

perhaps he/she threw it up there, or some african swallows flew it up there. Have thrown a cache or two up a tree to rehide it, but will admit, none of them have been ammo cans.

Didn't look at the picture in their log, didja? It appears to have been very carefully placed up there.

 

Oh, I saw it, but trying to consider all the possibilities...rope, ladder, 10 cheerleaders in a pyramid.

[knowschad]

The tree was unclimbable,

Tell that to the person that put it up in the tree.

 

LOL, I think they threw it up there and it got stuck. They could have used a ladder but that would have been a lot of work and that would have had to have beed a huge ladder.

 

I think you could stand there and toss an ammo can for a year before you could get it to land in a tree like this:

 

[+wimseyguy]

@ Clan Riffster-you were nipple deep in a gator infested swamp with Scully and don't have any pics to share with us?!?

 

@ the OP-you need to make friends with a cache monkey. I used to be surprised at the way some people can climb trees, but not any more.

[+lamoracke]

I agree. However, I remember doing a cache with some buddies that the cache was up a tree. We worried that any of our weight would break the vertical branch so we took turns throwing it up on the branch and hoping it would stay. There was much rejoicing when we did. Wasn't any worse hidden than when we found it.

 

How about Lou Ferrigno of the Incredible Hulk fame? Perhaps he can be rented out to throw ammo cans 30 feet up a tree. Might be cheaper than 10 cheerleaders.

[Clan Riffster]

@ Clan Riffster-you were nipple deep in a gator infested swamp with Scully and don't have any pics to share with us?!?

Them there FBI fellers what got the great big guns and them Cool Hand Luke, man-with-no-eyes sunglasses done told me I ain't supposed to say nuthin' about bein' nipple deep in no swamp with that Scully lady. So if'n you see somethin' runnin' contrary to that di-rective, we aughta up and pretend it was the cat what typed it, not me. I don't know nuthin' about nuthin'. I twern't there, I tell ya!

[+power69]

 

The tree was unclimbable,

Tell that to the person that put it up in the tree.

easy when ya attach a wire hook and heave it into the tree from the ground

[+TeamTwoStar]

Like I said, it was not supposed to be in a tree, but it was. To end the debate, and hopefully get the topic back on track, I contacted a previous finder. They told me that it was laying on the ground in a bush. Hence the 1.5/ 1.5 rating. It doesn't take a genious to read the log and figure out where it originally was placed on ground zero. I am pretty sure that a muggle came around and just to mess with us they threw the cahce into the tree, rather than out right stealing it. Honestly, it wouldn't be that hard to throw it up there. And for the average, not fitness buff, american, with no tools or tree climbing training the cache was unaccessable. (Btw, a close up zoom picture of the tree may make it look closer to the ground, but its not. It would be as high as the roof of my house, with no limbs to grab on to.)

 

I know some of you guys have some really cool stories.. Please share them.

[+firestronaut]

IF I can see it, fine I get my bud up there, find the log book sign it, NOW I found the cache

and can be happy, anything else is a DNF or a NOTE

That is a general rule of all geocaches, no matter how much you can see it, or its mark on the ground,

if you did not sign its log book you did not find it..

when you learn this, you maybe also got the equipment you need to climb such trees safely,

please also take a course in the use of the equipment so you can do it safely, then it is alot of fun,

my personal record is just 60 feet, about 20 meters, that matches my equipment and skill level,

People play the game differently. That cache was up a tree when it wasn't supposed to be, so if the finder wants to log it was a find, based on the fact he actually find the cache, let him.

I've not signed log and still logged it as a find. There's no rules in the game, only guidelines.

If there's a good reason for not signing the log book, most CO's don't mind.

 

Some people can't climb trees, even with the equipment. It's takes time and money to learn, and it's just not worth it if you only come across a climbing cache every so often.

[+nthacker66]

What was the wierdest geocache that you have ever found? It could be where you found it, what was in it, or how you found it. I love hearing geocaching stories, so please share them with us.

 

This is one of Team Two Stars misadventures:

My sister and me were looking for a regular sized box in a park today. We got to GZ and searched all over. There wasn't much to search, just a few bushes, thin bushes in the middle of a lawn. We kept looking around and around?? How hard could it be to find a regular sized box, 1.5/ 1.5?? I started to look up in the trees and there it was. Apperently a muggle had found the box (not surprising) and had taken the time to get it stuck up in that tree 30 or 40 ft off the ground..... There was no way to get up the tree and no way to get the box down. I counted it as find, because the last three people didn't see it up there, but we did. It was very strange finding a lost box stuck up a tree.

 

If you want to see the pictures of the cache suck in the tree read the log: http://www.geocachin...9a-6c5038f4ae8e

 

Thanks for all of you replies! XD

 

I hate to be the one to break this to you, TTS, but sometimes caches are hidden in trees deliberately. I will admit that a 1.5 terrain rating would make it seem as though it shouldn't be up there, but before posting pictures of it to the cache page, you probably should have asked the cache owner. You may have inadvertantly posted spoiler pictures of the hide. In addition, as has been rather abruptly mentioned, you really shouldn't claim a find on a cache where you didn't actually sign the log, particularly if this really was deliberately hidden in the tree.

 

Besides... how much better the story would have been if you had climbed the tree!

 

And these are the types of caches I take issue with. Don't get me wrong, I love a good "climb" cache. But TELL me in some way this will be that type of cache - use those silly little icons to say if it is a climb, or gear is required. Or at the very least RATE IT PROPERLY. Why? So I know that I need to bring the right gear to do it. Looking at the pics of this cache, at the very least you would need a harness to climb the tree, possibly even real tree climbing gear.

I do agree though, the finder should have asked the CO first if that was their intention to place it there before posting the pics and logging the find.

[+nthacker66]

Like I said, it was not supposed to be in a tree, but it was. To end the debate, and hopefully get the topic back on track, I contacted a previous finder. They told me that it was laying on the ground in a bush. Hence the 1.5/ 1.5 rating. It doesn't take a genious to read the log and figure out where it originally was placed on ground zero. I am pretty sure that a muggle came around and just to mess with us they threw the cahce into the tree, rather than out right stealing it. Honestly, it wouldn't be that hard to throw it up there. And for the average, not fitness buff, american, with no tools or tree climbing training the cache was unaccessable. (Btw, a close up zoom picture of the tree may make it look closer to the ground, but its not. It would be as high as the roof of my house, with no limbs to grab on to.)

 

I know some of you guys have some really cool stories.. Please share them.

 

Sorry didnt read down this far...And sometimes other cachers think it is funny to make hides more difficult.

[+nthacker66]

Here is a fairly cool story that recently happened. So we gatjered a bunch of people for a group cache (this particular cahce required two seperate teams on two different trails to relay next stage coords to one another) and we were going about doing our thing. We merged back together at a spot another cahce was hidden but missing. Of course, people insisted on looking for it, it was quite obvious that it was missing being that the clue said it was supposed to be in a gap in a door jam on an amphitheater.

 

SO we are all standing there about to go to the next stages when someone spots in the corner near some steps, a tube. What do you know, It was the cache that was missing. We all logged the find, let the CO know we found a long missing cache and put it back where it was supposed to be. Eh, nothing exciting but I thought it was pretty cool.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Interesting cache. Pour water in, hand over the bottom to prevent all the water from leaking out. Cache floats to the top. I'd never done one of those.

But, Hey! This thing is screwed into a live tree!

[+Klatch]

Interesting cache. Pour water in, hand over the bottom to prevent all the water from leaking out. Cache floats to the top. I'd never done one of those.

But, Hey! This thing is screwed into a live tree!

Uh-oh, here we go. At least it wasn't a peanut butter jar.

[+JesandTodd]

Your typical LPC (container is a hide a key)

[+OZ2CPU]

>Your typical LPC (container is a hide a key)

 

HAHA darn good climbing there :-)

I prefer to use my special tool to grap stuff like this,

then I can stand safely on the ground, my grapper-stick is 6m / 20 ft long

it is very rare to see lamps higher than that,

we even found NANO caches this hi up !! those are nasty

(offcourse the idea is you take it down, sign it, mount it again, else no find log,

an avarage minded person should be able to figure this out,

others can read the guideline as they like and play their own game of no fun)

 

here is one of my favorites UP-HIGH caches

http://coord.info/GC2MN5J

see the log gallery, he encurage people to post spoiler pictures of how you get it down and up

since this is 100% of the fun of this cache (as with many other hard to get caches)

here is my log and my pictures, wow he had so much fun.

http://coord.info/GL6K6XR7

[+TeamTwoStar]

Your typical LPC (container is a hide a key)

 

LOL, that is soo evil. Where could you even put that on a lamp post that someone wouldn't be calling the cops on you??

[+JesandTodd]

It's archived now. But was in a random parking lot, surrounded by palo verde trees.

 

Unfortunately, when I found it, it was not halfway up. The people this picture look to finding this in the off hours.

 

I'll see if I can find the GC code

http://coord.info/GC15ME8

Edited April 17, 2012 by JesandTodd

[+power69]

>Your typical LPC (container is a hide a key)

 

we even found NANO caches this hi up !! those are nasty

neat thing about those is you can keep tossing em high til the magnet sticks

[AZcachemeister]

It's archived now. But was in a random parking lot, surrounded by palo verde trees.

 

Unfortunately, when I found it, it was not halfway up. The people this picture look to finding this in the off hours.

 

I'll see if I can find the GC code

http://coord.info/GC15ME8

 

I had one of those for a while. It was in an un-completed development...the builder put up the lamp-poles before they halted the development. Eventually they also put up NO TRESPASSING signs, so I had to archive it.

 

Another local has taken it a step further and has three caches on wooden poles of varying height with the tallest being about thirty feet. The cache is ATTACHED with wire and a staple and IS NOT REMOVABLE. You can't just knock it loose and then put it back. You must actually get up there next to it to sign the log.

[Coast Guard Kiteman]

or some african swallows flew it up there.

 

Not European swallows?

 

;~)°