Color Code

Title: Summer Colors
Location: encrypted (GCK940)
Owner: MeBuff8Fan
Team Members: Daedalux, nSilico
Status: Not Found, #3 of 3

Despite the clumsy clues and unannounced knowledge requirements for this cache, we're confident we figured out how to correctly decrypt the coordinates for this cache.

Decryption Spolier
The clues required a bit of HTML computer knowledge to decipher. The code given is: 262C1A*4D1D30 which is hex code for two 'colors' which can be converted into RGB values - Red, Blue, Green. Using a converter to get the RGB values for the codes you get R38 G44 B26 * R77 G29 B48. And the clues in the really bad poem by MeBuff8Fan reveal the that red is degrees, green is minutes, and blue is seconds. So the coordinates are N38°44'26"xW77°29'48". Again you can use another converter, like the one at jeEep.com if you need to change degrees and seconds to decimial for your GPS.

These coordinates are for a nearby park. It would be an unusual coincidence to accidentially decrypt corridinates in the same hemisphere let alone a nearby park so we're reasonably confident we did it correctly.

Unfortunately we never found the cache itself. The coordinates took us to a heavily wooded area and there was no shortage of potential hiding spots. After about 30 minutes of fruitless searching we finally decided to call it a day. It was probably right under out noses but we didn't see it. Maybe we'll try again later.

Mysterious Multicache Revisited

Title: Alias
Location: Secret per owner's request (GCBDE8)
Owner: Gaiterman
Team Members: Daedalux, nSilico
Status: Found, TNLNSL, #2 of 3

This was our second attempt at this cache, and thankfully this time it was an easy find. Pictured below is the tree that gave us so much trouble the last time. We were convinced it had to be there. We were wrong. (Read about our first attempt)


Not here

Instead it was all the way over here - Spoiler. There was no way we would have been able to see it with all the snow during our last visit, so at least I don't feel so bad.


here

Unfortunately the cache is only accessable via this rotting log. Like other caches we've seen - this one won't last too much longer before it becomes completely inaccessable.


rotten

Winter Wildnerness

Title: Start of Winter
Location: N 38° 44.675 W 077° 29.249 (GCHQMD)
Owner: lidar0101
Team Members: Daedalux, nSilico
Status: Found, TNLNSL, #2 of 3


The trail

Located near the beginning of Winters Branch Trail, this cache was easy to find despite the overgrowth.


wild woods

Inside the cache was a horrid Travel Bug that was by far the most fearsome thing we have ever encountered in our breif career as intrepid geogachers.


'Apple Annie' says "Kill meee ... please!"

Obviously the failed result of overly ambitious genetic expirmentation, this cross between a rhesus monkey and a rotten tomato was both pityable and revolting. We simply put her back in her jar of ambiotic fluid and left.

A Cruel Joke

Title: De-fence-less
Location: N 38° 43.610 W 077° 19.828 (GCJ8DT)
Owner: Gaiterman
Team Members: nSilico, Wheezy, Milhouse, Daedalux & Izzy
Status: Not Found #3 of 3

This cache was complete torture. The location was chock full 'o possible hiding spots but the tiny cache was no where to be found. We looked nonstop for 45 minutes. As awful as it was, we all would have liked to stay and look longer. Unfortunately I had a schedule to keep. This is the second time we've been stumped by Gaiterman.


Stumped (Wheezy and Izzy's tail in picture)

The only good news was, once we decided to leave, we discovered this cache was actually very near the park entrance. After happily hiking for hours, it was nice to be able to drive away quickly and try to forget about this one.

Hitting the Trails

Title: Rambo's Fountainhead Cache
Location: N 38° 43.675[.658] W 077° 20.365[.354] (GC7D15)
Owner: Rambo the cache dog
Team Members: nSilico, Wheezy, Milhouse, Daedalux & Izzy
Status: Found, TNLNSL, #2 of 3

Another easy find, this cache wasn't too far off the trail at all. I'd liked that this cache was touted as 'dog friendly' as I'm sure Izzy appreciated getting to come along. We think the cordinates might have been a bit off - the location was obvious but our GPS read slightly different than what was posted. [Amended last three digits in brackets above]

Happy dog

Over a River . . .

Title: Ghosts of Occoquan II - The Black Rocks
Location: N 38° 43.385 W 077° 20.376 (GC7E79)
Owner: Bigcall
Team Members: nSilico, Wheezy, Milhouse, Daedalux & Izzy
Status: Found, TNLNSL, #1 of 3


A nice view

This was Wheezy and Milhouse's first time geocaching. It was a serious hike but an easy find. The only trouble we had with this cache was in trying to be too direct. We left the trail early in order to reach the cache "more efficiently". It would have been best to stay on the trails as long as possible. We ended up having to backtrack quite a bit in order to cross a huge creek, and I imagine the trail had less steep climbs than the ones we ended up taking. Still it was a beautiful day and fun to be outdoors.

A Precarious Perch

Title: A River Runs Thru It
Location: N 38° 41.050 W 077° 54.240 (GCMN64)
Owner: Team Hot Cache
Team Members: nSilico, Daedalux, Izzy
Status: Found, TNLNSL - Took Picture, #3 of 4

Whoever hid this cache was a complete sadist, but it was a lot of fun. Spoilers It was hidden at the hollow end of a giant log hanging high over a narrow river. The coordinates were actually for the middle of the river and at first it was unclear if we were even approaching from the correct side. nSilico correctly devised from the clues that it had to be the high hanging log, and I gleefully shimmied out across its slick surface. At worst I would have gotten wet and embarrased, but thankfully I didn't fall. I can't help but imagine that the cache is only going to end up floating away with the current one of these days. Putting it back was even tricker than retrieving it!

No Fear
It was a beautiful location, a challenging find, and the cache even contained a disposable camera with the instructions to take a picture of ourselves and replace for the owner. What a good idea! Of course taking a picture of yourself is tricky, and I have no idea if I got all of us in the picture or not.
My dog Izzy had a great time sloshing in the water and then rolling around on the sandy shores. She was a completely contented with becoming a complete mess, and ended up looking like a giant ball of dirt by the time we got back to the Jeep. At least she had fun too.


Dirty Izzy

Down in the Dumps

Title: Little League
Location: N 38° 40.326 W 077° 57.522 (GCK05A)
Owner: LudeinVA
Team Members: nSilico, Daedalux, Izzy
Status: Found, TNLNSL, #2 of 4

This site was more than a little dissapointing. Sandwiched between a main highway and someone's residence, the cache was located in a thorny rocky snake pit. I didn't mind the difficult terrain so much as I disliked conducting a search out in the open, practically in someone's front yard. What was worse, was the fact the location had recently become somebody's private trash dump. Old beer bottles and even entire peices of furniture littered the area. The cache was reasonably well hidden (there seemed to be no limit to the number of possible hiding places among the rocks) but we were fortunate to discover it quickly. If we hadn't found it so easily I doubt we would have stayed to search for very long - it wasn't a fun place to be.

Mysterious Multicache

Title: Alias
Location: Secret per owner's request (GCBDE8)
Owner: Gaiterman
Team Members: nSilico, Daedalux
Status: Not Found, #3 of 3

We decrypted the simple code that revealed the coordinates for this cache using the clues we had discovered at our previous two sites (Our First Cache, An Easy Find). When we looked the coordinates up on the map it came out smack in the middle of yet another nearby park. Since the previous two caches had also been in similar locations, we were confident we had the correct coordinates. Sure enough the GPS led us straight to another hollowed out tree. It was the perfect hiding location - a tall gnarled stump of an old tree that had a large opening with a built in shelf that would both conceal and protect a hidden cache. The only problem was nothing was in there. We made a search of the area, but we kept comming back to the same place. Given the owner's modus operandi for hiding caches in hollow trees we knew it had to be the place - it had simply gone missing.
It was a dissapointing end to our otherwise successful first day, but we resolved to send the owner an e-mail about not finding the cache, and hoped we would get the chance to try again.
Besides, two out of three isn't all bad.

Update: (2/4/2005)
I sent the owner an e-mail, giving him the coordinates we had gone to and a discription of the empty tree. He was very kind to reply so promptly and explained we were at the correct coordinates, but looking in the wrong place. He assured me it was still there, just not in the hollow hidey hole.
Apparently we were foolish to think we'd figured out his M.O. so completely, the tricky devil. We will definately go back and try again soon. I wonder what we missed . . .

Update: (3/10/2005)
We finally did find this cache on our next visit. You can read about the find here.

Our First Cache

Title: Undercover Cache
Location: N 38° 38.262 W 077° 27.004 (GCBDBB)
Owner: Gaiterman
Team Members: nSilico, Daedalux
Status: Found, TNLNSL, #1 of 3

This was our first foray into the great sport of Geocaching. It was a fun search. From the clues we knew the cache was in a hollow tree but it took a lot of searching to find it. There were several trees with hollow places, and we even tried following the footprints of what we assumed to be recent geocachers in the snow (to no avail). It turned out to be in the very first tree we had searched, I just had to reach my arm way up into the crevice in order to find it. Inside the small container was a short snippet of a numerical code - a clue to a multicache. We copied it down, but didn't take any of the trinkets that were the available treasure. At least we're off to a good start.