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Five Caches That Were Tough


avroair

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I know this thread has been around, but people have been caching alot recently and there are alot of newer cachers who have only been out 3-4 months. They can be tricky, physically difficult or mentally tough. List them, who placed them and why they were tough.

 

Three of the toughest caches I have found:

1. Christmas Cache 2002

by Outdoorslady

This was hard because it was up a mountain and I had already hiked 9 miles.

2. Passaic Hideaway

By the Artful Dodger and Brian Snat.

Just read the logs.

3. Not Far from a Tree

By HartClimbs

I had to keep going back cause I had to use my brains

4. No Moths Here

By Natureboy44

It's a Natureboy44 cache what more do I need to say? (and cops will meet you at the final stage!)

5. JMB 61: Mayan Adventure

By JMBella

Cache page says it all: You're gonna get wet!

 

BONUS: Blood and Guts Virginia (aka Iron and Stone)

By Team Ekitt10 and Old Dominion

But it doesn't count since I was only a group member.

 

If you haven't tried any other these, they are well worth the visit! :huh:

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In no particular order:

 

GC5 which was a pretty difficult bushwack.

 

Melvins Multiple Madness. Muck, mud and water. Took some planning, reading tide charts, etc..

 

Aircrash 3. A 7+ mile hike, very steep climb in spots and a bushwack through some pretty dense growth. And how can you not find an entire Cessna on the side of a mountain? It's harder than you think. Especially when you're standing 20 feet away from it and don't see it.

 

Mouses Tree House. Largely because I didn't read the cache page and took a route where I could have used climbing equipment.

 

Middle a' Nowhere. Not because our walk there was such a challenge. Finding a way in that wasn't too challenging was the challenge.

 

Steam Power. A micro on a steam engine. The hide was done very cleverly. I probably touched the cache several times and didn't realize it. The owner has since added to the clue and made it a lot easier.

 

Others: Wheretogo? Vertigo! I didn't count it because I didn't walk the beam. Vt_h, which was a brutal climb. It was a DNF so I didn't include it. And the Fast Cache.. I had 6 DNFs on this one over the course of a year, 'nuff said.

Edited by briansnat
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My five are also among my favorites.

 

1. Aircrash 4: Killer hike (solo, with crampons, snowshoes, and full pack) in winter conditions. Then had my log deleted because I couldn't find the log book. Aaargh!

 

2. Aircrash 2: Sub-zero temps, deep snow. Then there's nothing to see because the plane is almost totally buried.

 

3. Spooky Island Cache: Lots of prep work for a short paddle. Difficult put-in. Best cache in NYC!

 

4. Two Springs: Lots of time and miles for 1 find.

 

5. Let's Play Dominos: For some reason the satellite reception is horrible in this area. The stages are so close together that it's impossible to target the area to search. Very fustrating!

 

As Avroair states, Blood And Guts, was done as a team but was still a very difficult puzzle to solve. As was Five Star New York.

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I can't give five found.... I started just 6/21/04...Some of the caches listed, I havent found ....

 

1.Alluvial Material

TeamEpitome

my first try I couldn't get it....Still DNF

 

2.LOst But Not Forgotten

DiscGolfer

I looked every place / So many muggles... Still DNF

 

3.The Curiously Strong Micro

Corps Of DiscoveryII

Found it...But took 2x

 

4.The Crown Royal

Paintballguy

Found it....But took 20mins at GZ...

 

5. Mohawk

ED634

Just can't find this...

Edited by Allez Comp
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Several of my picks have been archived, so I've included additional caches that are active, just in case you choose to visit any of them.

What made most of these difficult was that at the time I was seeking them, I had not heard or read about this type of cache. Caches that are tedious or require lots of hiking are need companion caches to find I'm not including. These are the caches that have keep me awake at night.

 

Ghosts of Georgia Tavern Rd. by tneigle. We looked for almost and hour. Once we found the offset, the hide was tricky too. (archived)

 

Manasquan 3

Another Tommy Boy cache. Without a zoom on the camera, we would have never made it past stage 1. (archived)

 

Sitting CrossLegged on the Floor Hart is sadistic, what else do you need to know. I hadn't seen or read about a cache like this, so when you read the cache description and the owner pumps it up as a east lunch time cache and dash, you're caught off guard. Of course, I also parked about 4 time farther then required and bushwhacked straight to the cache. (archived)

 

Dwayne of Beekman Lane Nefarious Natureboy. Before he was kind enough to add a hint, this cache was almost impossible. Plus we were trying this in the Presidents Bay blizzard of 2002.

 

The Scenic "Overlook" again, Tneigle stumped us on this. After 4 trips the clues was staring at us in bright pink neon letters.

 

Magoo's Multi in the Mud Many stages, mud and micros and a white stage that talks and taunts you.

 

Power Trip, Circuit 2 Again NatureBoy taking out aggresion on fellow caches. Now that he has add police dispatch to these caches, they should be really fun. He was also nice enough to add hints to this one after I still couldn't find on my 20th try. Of course the hints are about a useful and you know what on a nun.

 

Not a Dead End...Yet Clearly a Dead End by KiteGirl. I never expected anything like this out of such a sweet person.

 

Bill & Gary's Excellent Adventure III The ultimate Geocaching challenge. climbing, crawling, wadding. 5+ miles hiking, 20+ miles driving. Ten creative, tricky and devious stages.

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The most clever hide: Briansnat's Lame Roadside Cache II (now archived)

 

The cache that tired us out most: Washington Rock CITO event by Ekitt10

 

The "I can't believe someone put a cache HERE!" nominee: The Passaic Hideaway by Briansnat

 

Largest flesh-wound: Mountainside cache by Briansnat (again!) due to genetically enhanced thorns covering a mountain of loose rock.

 

Longest elapsed time: Devil's Hole by Bluehook

 

Toughest climb: Helispot (via the Tammanny trail)

 

Favorite Event cache: Pirates of Harriman by AvroAir 7/24/04

 

Favorite cache hidden: None (because NY Admin is giving us a hard time! - will get back to you)

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I think any mention of Passaic Hideaway should also include A Walk in the Park. Anyone looking for a challenge should attempt either of those on foot in the current conditions.  ;)  Equally difficult is Tuckahoe by Sea if you leave the boat at home.

 

I was glad to see Brian list two of the caches we did together.

Please note that Passaic Hideaway is an Artful Dodger cache. I simply accompanied him when it was placed. Now I take full blame for its companion cache on the other side of the river, A Walk In The Park, which is in a much nastier area than Passaic Hideaway and I'm sure quite a challenge at this moment.

 

And speaking of Mountainside, check the page for the latest log. Archerino had a major mishap while returning from that cache. I emailed him to see how he's doing, but haven't heard back. He has logged a few since then so I assume he's OK,

Edited by briansnat
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And speaking of Mountaiside, check the page for the latest log. Archerino had a major mishap while returning from that cache. I emailed him to see how he's doing, but haven't heard back. He has logged a few since then so I assume he's OK,

I found Mountainside and it was TOUGH! I have it on my watchlist and when I saw that post I thought it was a joke. That can't be real!!

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In NO particular order:

 

Melvlin's Multiple Madness...Great fun but physically and somewhat mentally taxing.

 

Sticks & Stones...A difficult group of individual finds.

 

Wheretogo?Vertigo!...A test of guts (or stupidity?)

 

Magoo's Memories of Merit...A great goup of caches (including two of the above) needed to complete it.

 

Several by NB44, Magoo, and Ekitt10 would all qualify for my fifth as real thinking type caches.

 

I have not included the many hiking caches (Briansnat types) because I just enjoy the treking TOO much to call them tough. David of Team DEMP knows what I mean (as I nealy crawl to the completion of some of them).

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I have not included the many hiking caches (Briansnat types) because I just enjoy the treking TOO much to call them tough. David of Team DEMP knows what I mean (as I nealy crawl to the completion of some of them).

The Ironman comes to mind :rolleyes:

 

Just noticed it only has 7 finds. Everyone should go after that one! :blink:

Edited by Team DEMP
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Permit me to chime in with some entries from Western Pennsylvania. While my most challenging two caches were a virtual in Arizona and a mountaintop cache in Washington State, here are five from right here at home that are worth building a trip around:

 

Polly Takes the Plunge (GC34FB) by Quest Master (4/4)

Our 600th find is a "reverse multicache" with the container at the first stage, following a long uphill hike, and a wild time after that. This cache tells a story too cool to divulge in the forums. Read the beginning on the cache page, learn the ending by doing the cache.

 

Syzygy (GCK1EK) by Tonsil (4/3)

Our 1000th find combines some creative clue micros, an evil puzzle that we over-thought WAY too much, and which has to be solved in the field rather than in the living room, and a nice hike that can quickly turn disastrous if you choose the wrong path. We did.

 

Grand Theft Auto (GCGJMR) by Fishin' Magician (2.5/3)

Take an old strip mine, and let nature reclaim the perversely misshapen terrain, and put a micro and an ammo box on opposite sides of a swamp. Toss in a dozen wrecked cars and other odd relics for scenic effect. Done as a night cache, it gives you a hint of what infantry patrols in Viet Nam must have been like.

 

Hootin' in the Holler (GCHDT7) by Accident_Prone_Hiker (3/3.5)

Climb the mountain in rural Greene County by stepping over downed timber tossed about like giant tinkertoys, and die at the top. Or, follow the trail. Guess which route I took?

 

Slippery Rock Creek (GC1DE3) by puppyman (2.5/4)

Our 50th find, this was the first truly "killer terrain" cache I ever hiked. Mountain goat footing required for traversing the sides, tops and bottoms of a never-ending ravine. 1.5 miles as the crow flies turned out to be 3 miles plus of careful footings, hand-over-hand climbing, and jumping from stone to stone.

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This is in no particular order as well and while Im sure I have found a lot more than 5 caches that were tough, I'll name a few that really stand out in memory!

 

Preakness Mountain: We were new to the game and had never been to this park, so we had no idea what terrain was ahead of us. Although the cache itself was not hard, it was a rigorous hike for us out of shape newbies!

 

Wilds of Wayne: Found the same day as Preakness Mtn.

 

We Saw A Bear: Still a little wet behind the ears, we completely miscalculated the susnset and the terrain. Not only was it another rigorous hike due to the trails we took, it took us a long, long time to find it. Once found, it was just about completely dark and we had long way back to the car! We both had tiny flashlights that barey lit our path. We aslo took a completely different trail back to the lot, this one although shorter, it was pretty rugged trying to navigate in the dark! We also each got a ticket from the park police when we got back to our car.

 

The Cauldrons of Courage: This just so happens to be in the same park as the first two. I parked on a dead end street thinking this was going to be an easy dash into the woods and it turned out to be a 4 stage multi!! I was very ill prepared for this. I had not read the cache page previously and I only had about 4oz of water left in my bottle but I pressed forward and battled the heat, the bees and the terrain stage after stage. I picked up my first Skully & Mulder Geocoin at this cache as well as a laminated CoC coordinate card. I will certainly never forget this cache!

 

Monroe Ridge Micro Challenge: Another one that I did not read the cache page before heading to. Not only did I not notice it was a multi, I left the trail once I reached the Macmillan Reservoir and bushwacked (or should I say rock climbed) over a half mile to the first stage.

 

Come to think of it....I still seem to cache same way, only thing is now I have a Camelbak and don't dehydrate as often, but I rarely study the cache pages before I head out to find them :rolleyes:

 

P.S. Mountainside took us a long time as well. I remember looking around for the cache and finding a snakeskin that was almost as long as I am tall and I suddenly didn't feel like looking for the cache. I quickly decrypted the hint that day!!

 

Kar of TS!!

Edited by Team Shibby
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Wow, I'm stoked one of mine made you list Avro. It was supposed to be even harder in that you would have had to translate the Glyphs on the page. Then I realized how much I would personally hate that so why would I hide one like that? If you liked that one, wait 'til you come back for more. :rolleyes:

 

Anyway, These are in the order that I've found them:

 

 

Knobs on high by Thundergunner. "About 2 miles of gradual uphill walking on the access road." It didn't seem to gradual when we did it.

Phantom Woods by Jester. Pretty long hike up and down large hills on soft sand.

Palisades Surprise by GWho. Read the logs and you'll see.

Squealy's Little Bits @ St. John's Pond by Squealy, nuff said.

The Funnel by Eagleflyby. Very tough climb.

5 will get you 10 by Whitehat. 10 Mile, 5 part multi.

Edited by JMBella
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And speaking of Mountainside, check the page for the latest log. Archerino had a major mishap while returning from that cache.  I emailed him to see how he's doing, but haven't heard back. He has logged a few since then so I assume he's OK,

Archerino finally found 101. I don't think he was kidding about his Mountainside log! :blink: OUCH!

 

Poor guy. What a trooper to get back out there! I wish him well.

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