Searchin' USA

Easier to find than a nanocache, you'd think

Although geocaching fits my definition of a PuzzleHuntContest, you aren't going to get rich doing it, or even come close.  But I still keep at it, mostly because it is fun.  But partly because I think it has a good fringe benefit:  it's good practice for other hunts where there are big prizes.  I've had trouble in the past finding a Canlis menu or key, or an Emerald City Search medallion, so I'm hoping my practice at finding small bison tubes and Tupperware containers pays off in the future.

It's around here somewhere...

Precision not guaranteed

Theoretically, geocaching should be easier than other hunts in that you have the exact coordinates (customarily, down to the thousandth of a minute of longitude and latitude, or a few feet).  But for a number of reasons, this is often not true.  Coordinates are usually read from the cache owner's GPS device when the cache is placed, and are thus subject to errors, especially if there are trees or buildings nearby.  In an urban environment, a check on Google maps could fix the coordinates, but most cache owners don't bother, probably because there is a 'tradition' of throwing out inexact coordinates and forcing the seekers to look around a bit (or, 'use their geosense').  In the woods, of course, a satellite view from Google Maps is unlikely to help much.  In addition, cache seekers can put the cache back in the wrong place, non-cachers can find the cache and move it, it could fall out of its hiding place, etc.

The net effect is that find a geocache is often a lot like finding a Canlis menu, in that you know the general location, but not exactly where.

Container?  I just met her!

Screwing with squirrel brains since 2000

Geocaches also come with a 'size' attribute (micro, small, regular, etc.), which also helps locate them, in much the same way that knowing what a Canlis menu or an Emerald City Search medallion looks like helps you find them.  At the very least, you know a 'regular' sized cache is not going to fit between a street sign and its signpost.  Geocaches, however, can come in any container (or no container at all), and special containers usually are marked as 'unknown' size, as finding the unexpected container is often part of the fun.  I've found caches in a toy squirrel, in a small plastic sleeve attached to a narrow strip of wood shoved into a crack in a piece of wood, and in a fake stick.  Geocaching.com has a small cottage business selling fake cache containers, such as rocks, logs, and even bolts.  I've found a cache that was a flat magnetic pad made to look like a common street sign.  The log to sign was on the back, and the cache owner just put the pad over a real version of the sign.

Hiding under an urban bench near you (the bison tube, not the dime.  Oh heck, I don't know, maybe there is a dime.  You'd better check 'cause hey, free dime)

Still, the most common cache containers by far are Tupperware containers and (especially in the city), small tubes, either plastic tubes with a cap or bison tubes, which resemble small Kleen Kanteen bottles (see above).  Usually the containers are painted or covered with tape so that they blend in to their environment.  So, for example, if you're going to hide a Bison tube under a black metal bench, you either paint it black or cover it with black electrical tape.

Bison tubes are tiny, but they are often one of the easier types of caches to find, as the most common way to hide them is to attach a magnet to them and then stick them to something magnetic.  So if you know that's what you're looking for, and you know the cache is, say, near a street corner, you can usually ignore nearby trees and concrete and look under and around all the metal objects (bench hardware, fire hydrants, sign posts...).  The plastic tubes can be trickier because some are tapered to a point at the end so that you can stick them into the ground.  With only a pea-sized cap to find, these can be extremely difficult to see, particularly if they're camouflaged in any way.

Tupperware containers are most often hidden either under permanent features (such as a boardwalk or a large rock) or covered.  A common method of covering is to find a cubbyhole (such as in an old tree trunk or stump, or a gap between rocks in a rock wall), put the cache container inside, then block the view with a single large item that looks like the surroundings.  So, for example, put a cache in a rock wall, move a big rock or two to block its view. Or put a cache in the hollow of a tree, then stick a big piece of wood in front of it.  Covering something with a pile of leaves or the like is usually not done, partly because it makes it hard to find, and also because water then tends to get into the cache, a big problem in the Pacific Northwest.  Containers usually start off mostly waterproof, but they wear out and sometimes they aren't closed properly, either.

Eye exercises

Let's play 'Find the Fishing Line'

Most interesting (and probably most transferable to the Emerald City Search and similar hunts) are the 'Something Out of Place' hides, where a small detail is what leads you to the hidden object.  For example, I recently found a cache that was hanging behind a sign on a locked gate; all you could see was the zip tie that attached the container to the top of the sign.  Some caches are hidden in cubbyholes that are in plain sight; you just wouldn't think of looking there.  For example, under a water meter cover, under the 'skirt' of a lamp post, or inside a capped pipe whose cap is easy to remove.

Finally, one of the most clever ways to confuse things is to use the third dimension, which doesn't figure into the GPS coordinates at all.  Some caches are hidden up high in climbable trees or hanging below sewer grates (look for a bolt that looks less weathered than the grate, or a bit of fishing line).  I've used this idea myself when choosing Fremont Street Scramble checkpoints --- on the map you can't tell whether the checkpoint is on top of the Aurora Bridge or underneath it, although we do specify the level in the checkpoint description; we try not to make 'trick' checkpoints in Street Scrambles.

Coming up  

Update:  In the Ready Player One hunt, someone claims to have broken the Atari 2600 Joust record, which would make them the winner of the DeLorean, if they get past the Twin Galaxies adjudication process.  Stay tuned.

(italics = new since last time)

• Gumshoe 5K - August 3-12.  A charity event where you walk around Greenwood and solve a puzzle using clues you find along the way.  Times running out, but the above video might help.  Or not.
• Great Urban Race - August 11, starting at Jillian's.  Amazing-race style event.
• Lauren Jackson Bobblehead Hunt - week of August 18.  Like the Sue Bird hunt before, I assume, which means clues released via Twitter and Facebook.  Prize is tickets to a Storm game (plus a bobblehead).  All the Sue Bird prizes were found at businesses affiliated with the Storm.  Just sayin'.
• Seattle Rep's Theatrical Scavenger Hunt - August 18, noon.   Win Seattle Rep tickets for life!  Instantly become Foursquare's Mayor of the Bagley Wright.
• Bainbridge Street Scramble - August 18.  I assume this will be kind of like the Chilly Hilly, except with more checkpoints, better weather, and fewer people who fall over at the bottom of the hill because their derailleurs rusted out over the winter.
• TRIOBA Sprint Adventure Race - August 18, Ellensburg.  20-30 miles of biking, 5-15 miles on foot, no paddling, 5-10 hours total.  If you're looking for the next step after BEAST races, this would be a good place to start.
• 2012 Geocaching Block Party - August 18, Fremont.  It's International Geocaching Day, so break out your GPS devices and head on down to Fremont, headquarters of Groundspeak, which runs geocaching.com.  Various urban geocaching activities ensue.  Other events take place during the week, including one the next day at Snoqualmie Pass...
• Going APE at the Tunnel of Light - August 19, Hyak.  At the east end of the Snoqualmie Tunnel, on the John Wayne/Iron Horse Trail.  For those who like their geocaching more rural.  Or for those who like going into a 50-degree tunnel on a potentially hot day.  Bring a flashlight.
• Scavenger Hunt - August 21, 3pm, Northeast Branch Library.  Ages 12-18 only.  Heads will roll if they don't visit Top Pot.
• Premium Rush The Alleycat - August 24, downtown.  The opposite of a bum rush?  No, I think this is a poorly punctuated alleycat race related to a new bike messenger movie.  Damn you, Hollywood, was Kevin Bacon not good enough for you?
• Amazing Ring Race - August 25.   Free entry.  Prizes:  a local jeweler puts up a ring purportedly worth $15,000.  If this is anything like past years, 2nd prize is also nothing to sneeze at.  You run around a small area downtown solving clues using a mobile phone application called SCVNGR. 
• Choose Your Own Adventure #3 - August 25, North SeaTac Park.  Orienteering where you find as many checkpoints as you can in 75 minutes.  If you ever lose your bearings just wait for the next plane to come by and remember the airport is due south.
• First Thursday Adventure Run - September 6, Green Lake. 
• Rebel Without a Cog/Vagina Monocogs - September 7-8.  Alleycat + Time Trial + Lap race for single speed bikes only.  Unicycles count.  I totally want to see a unicyclist win this thing.

Still going on

• Book Scavenger hunt - Seattle Public Library's Teen Summer Reading Program.
• Letterboxing on Mercer Island - They make it sound like a summer-only program.  Does this mean all the letterboxes go away when school starts?

Puzzle cache of the week:  Anagrams, Anyone? - a little bit word play, a little bit map play.