How do I return a geocache?

[acherep]

Hi geocache experts,

my 95-year old grandfather found a geocache box and I'm sure it wasn't by intention He didn't know what to do with this and asked me.  The problem is he doesn't remember where he found it. I suppose somewhere within 2km around this place:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Erholungspark+Lößnig-Dölitz/@51.2971703,12.3994898,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47a6f99fb497d9ab:0x87dbef110fa06ba8!8m2!3d51.2970482!4d12.4032636

How can I return it to the place it should be?

The box consists of 3 questions, the list with additional remarks plus a box with a 4-digit code.

 

[+TriciaG]

I don't know German, but someone else may be able to help.

 

Here's the cache map: https://www.geocaching.com/map/#?ll=51.29717,12.39949&z=14

 

Lots of mystery/unknown caches in the area - lots of possible caches.

[+kunarion]

2 hours ago, acherep said:

Hi geocache experts,

my 95-year old grandfather found a geocache box and I'm sure it wasn't by intention He didn't know what to do with this and asked me.  The problem is he doesn't remember where he found it. I suppose somewhere within 2km around this place:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Erholungspark+Lößnig-Dölitz/@51.2971703,12.3994898,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47a6f99fb497d9ab:0x87dbef110fa06ba8!8m2!3d51.2970482!4d12.4032636

How can I return it to the place it should be?

The box consists of 3 questions, the list with additional remarks plus a box with a 4-digit code.

 

That seems like a stage to a puzzle or multi cache.  A Final would usually have a log to sign.  But it may have not been in its proper place when found.  Is there a cache code in or on it?  Starts with GC.  Is there a name that could be a cacher nickname or team name or a cache name?

The enclosed clues may help, but  often will make sense only when combined with info on the cache page.

 

Your grandfather would be a great Geocacher!  I’ve never found a cache stage by going for a walk. 

[+Jayeffel]

What an interesting situation to work with - no cache name or number, no  log mentioned - it may be a futile endeavor to get it back in place. If you can see cache name or number you can use that to contact the cache owner. If as mentioned there is a log to sign with a recognizable cacher name , you might try sending a message to that cacher to see if he remembers.

 

Another option, though rather slow maybe, is to hold on the the box. And IF you are a cacher look at the caches in the area , particularly the log where someone might mention a missing box or such. They you could contact the owner of that cache to see if that box fits. A very hit or miss idea, but it may work.

 

Good to see you care.

Edited March 23, 2022 by Jayeffel

[acherep]

hi, thanks for your hints. Unfortunately there is no hint on the box regarding a cacher owner or cache name or number. Probably there are some clues inside, will need to enumerate 10k combinations

[+kunarion]

45 minutes ago, acherep said:

hi, thanks for your hints. Unfortunately there is no hint on the box regarding a cacher owner or cache name or number. Probably there are some clues inside, will need to enumerate 10k combinations

 

The box inside has a combination lock?  Maybe a key holder lock box?

 

A box with a combination is somewhat unusual as a Geocache, even as a puzzle. It's expensive to set up, and expensive to replace. I didn't see a lot of Disabled caches in that area, so maybe it was replaced (the box could have been in the wrong area for a while).

 

It would be interesting to know if this box is old or new. That is, is the lock loose, or has it been pried? Does it seem like parts have been handled? If this cache has been solved and found a few times, it would likely have some Favorite Points, to make it stand out, and make it easier to figure out to which cache this stage belongs. And locals would be more familiar with it.

 

Here are some upcoming local Geocaching Events. You may bring the box, and someone might know about it:

https://www.geocaching.com/play/results/?ct=6%2C1304%2C3653%2C3774%2C4738%2C453%2C7005&st=GC508A9&ot=geocache&asc=true&sort=distance

 

Bring your grandfather, too! 

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by kunarion

[+ChriBli]

On 3/13/2022 at 9:41 PM, acherep said:

The box consists of 3 questions, the list with additional remarks plus a box with a 4-digit code.

Maybe the questions and the list with remarks provide clues to the 4-digit code.

[+ChriBli]

Could this be the one?

[acherep]

@ChriBli

it is a different one, the clues don't really help.

 

@HHL

what would be the German forum?

[acherep]

my suspicion is this geocache is the one:

https://www.geocaching.com/map/#?ll=51.29327,12.40174&z=17

In the clues a roller skating rink is mentioned. So I contacted @CapRekar , let's see what he replies

Edited March 23, 2022 by acherep

[+kunarion]

4 hours ago, acherep said:

@ChriBli

it is a different one, the clues don't really help.

 

@HHL

what would be the German forum?

 

I was right, it's a key holder lock box!  Cool!  Does it seem rather new and unused?  Or are there signatures on paper in the lower right corner of the photo?

 

Looks to me that there's enough information to open that lock.  Can you go to a local Geocaching Event?  Or deliver the box to someone at an Event?  A few Geocachers together may be able to solve it (NOT here in the Forums, but in a group at a venue), and if it works out that there are coordinates in that lock, even find the cache.  Or at least there will be more clues to where the cache box belongs.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by kunarion

[+ChriBli]

3 hours ago, acherep said:

my suspicion is this geocache is the one:

https://www.geocaching.com/map/#?ll=51.29327,12.40174&z=17

In the clues a roller skating rink is mentioned. So I contacted @CapRekar , let's see what he replies

Actually I don't think that's the one, if it is https://coord.info/GC95YVE you mean. Even if the question mark is placed on the Rollschuhbahn it doesn't mean that it has anything to do with that location. Instead, the location seems to have been chosen because it provides parking space. I see Rollschuhbahn mentioned on the post-it in your picture, apparently a clue to number D. I assume that was also in the box. Strange that it is not in the same format as the other clues and that the Geschichte one doesn't mention D.

[+kunarion]

19 minutes ago, ChriBli said:

Strange that it is not in the same format as the other clues and that the Geschichte one doesn't mention D.

 

Could this puzzle box already be a replacement for a previously missing stage?  If so, the combination lock (the lockbox itself) now has 4 wheels, a 4-number combination, where the previous one had only a 3 number combination lock.  Then, I'd assume the lock box was what was stolen, and all the old hints were re-used when the new lock box was placed.  And it explains the added un-laminated post-it note.

 

But if I were making a tricky "box of clues", I might have them loose in the box as a variety of things.  Printed items, post-it-notes, who knows.

 

I also would guess this was a last-ditch attempt to keep a previously muggled cache viable, and that it was soon archived after this box was lost.  It might have been found by the OP's grandfather in a spot where a muggle dropped it, not actually in the proper place for that stage.

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by kunarion

[+ChriBli]

2 hours ago, kunarion said:

Could this puzzle box already be a replacement for a previously missing stage?  If so, the combination lock (the lockbox itself) now has 4 wheels, a 4-number combination, where the previous one had only a 3 number combination lock.  Then, I'd assume the lock box was what was stolen, and all the old hints were re-used when the new lock box was placed.  And it explains the added un-laminated post-it note.

 

But if I were making a tricky "box of clues", I might have them loose in the box as a variety of things.  Printed items, post-it-notes, who knows.

 

I also would guess this was a last-ditch attempt to keep a previously muggled cache viable, and that it was soon archived after this box was lost.  It might have been found by the OP's grandfather in a spot where a muggle dropped it, not actually in the proper place for that stage.

I tend to agree. The topmost laminated note in the picture says that the three clues below it should be affixed to three sides of the box, and the A, B, C clue should be on the bottom of it. Now they are on laminated notes inside the outer box, and the inside box has a four-digit lock.

 

I find it odd though that the CO would just throw in an almost illegible post-it clue for the fourth digit. Everything also looks rather pristine. Could it be that the CO was actually working on replacing the missing original box, jotted down a clue for D that he found in the field with the intention of laminating also that, and then accidentally left the whole thing on a park bench?

 

I can't really find any suitable caches within a 2 km radius, even when including archived and disabled. The only one that has a field-puzzle attribute is the one I suggested before, although I can not check for that in the archived ones. But it could be as you say, the box may have ended up quite far from where it should have been. 

[+ChriBli]

11 minutes ago, ChriBli said:

But it could be as you say, the box may have ended up quite far from where it should have been. 

Correction: The Rollschuhbahn was mentioned on the post-it in the box, so it should be in the vincinity of that. Unless it is another one.

[+kunarion]

On 3/13/2022 at 4:41 PM, acherep said:

I suppose somewhere within 2km around this place:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Erholungspark+Lößnig-Dölitz/@51.2971703,12.3994898,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47a6f99fb497d9ab:0x87dbef110fa06ba8!8m2!3d51.2970482!4d12.4032636

 

 

I believe you are right about that place.  That the box belongs somewhere in the area of N 51 17.661 E 12 24.335.  The clues are specific to objects at the Rollschuhbahn. If someone would like to know why I think so, PM me or MC me from my profile.  Even if this is an archived cache, I don't want to dig into the cache puzzle itself publicly in the Forum.  I have not solved the puzzles, but I have more clues.

 

Does your grandfather do a lot of skateboarding? 

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by kunarion

[+kunarion]

Is there a Lost And Found office for that park complex?  Is there an office?  If the office will hold the box in case someone asks, that could be a way to return it to the owner.

 

There are weird things about the box and the puzzle that make me wonder if this was a prototype rather than an active cache.  At the very least, the boxes and the puzzles had changed from the way they were first intended.

 

I didn't solve it, and I pretty much can't read German.  But based on clues in the OP's photo, and some wild guesses, I think the cache page would have directed cachers to N 51 17.677  E 12 24.324, where they were to locate that box and work several field puzzles.  Maybe to open the lock and sign a log sheet inside, or to get instructions for the next cache stage.  But even if you were to open the lock box, it seems unlikely that more information about the Cache Owner would become evident.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by kunarion