Win Big Cache (GC1VQB6) by bflentje

Ever since I stumbled upon the GDLibrary (graphics device library) while working on a web project, I've been wanting to create a geocaching puzzle that involved dynamic web images.  Building a functional slotmachine as the puzzle seemed like a fun idea.  After hours of scouring around the Internet for the slotmachine images, I had what I needed to begin.  The slotmachine was written in Classic ASP (Active Server Pages) and is able to be embedded into a geocache listing because it looks and acts like nothing more than an image tag.

As a geocacher looking to score the find, the only way to solve the puzzle is to click the spin button on the slotmachine and hope for good odds.  You are awarded the coordinates, in part or in full, by hitting a winning combination as defined by the payout schedule or by scoring a jackpot.

Caching Challenge: Oak Shores Park (GC1PWYC) by bflentje

This geocache is part of my Caching Challenge series.  Each cache in this series is hidden at a higher level of difficulty than the average geocache and in addition to providing frustration and angst, also garners a sense of relief and satisfaction once found.  If you're seeking a quick and easy find, this is not the cache for you.

This cache was hidden on April 11th, 2009, and as of this writing, eleven finds have been logged to its 20 DNFs.  I originally thought this cache would not be as difficult as it is.  As you can imagine, I've been tweaking the difficulty ratings for quite some time in the upward direction.  The ratings currently stand at 4.5 stars difficulty and s stars for terrain.

If you plan on finding this cache, avoid looking at the pictures below as they are spoilers to this evil hide.

Enjoy the photographs.. 

The cache at ground zero.

Getting a better look with the container pulled down.

Do you see it now?

Nearly Naked (GC1GQZ5) by Seldon

During March of 2009, I completed 102 geocaches.  This is by far my favorite cache find for the month.  It is a traditional cache located in Rice County, just northwest of Faribault, MN.  The cache is rated 2 stars for difficulty and 5 stars terrain.  There is no real way to grab this cache without some kind of equipment.  You'll either need a lineman climbing apparatus or a ladder.  I chose the ladder to retrieve this cache since I own several of them.  Grabbing the cache turned out to be pretty easy but the weather was a tremendous factor with winds gusting up to 30MPH (see the angle at which the ladder is placed).  I promised fellow geocacher (and my mother) Norvina that she could retrieve the cache..  she had something to prove and she did well.  We signed the log and I got the duty of putting the cache back into place.

Unsuspecting cachers coming into this cache blind won't take too long to figure out that the cache is 20' up, even with the decoy hiding at the base of the stump.  I have since nominated this cache for the MN Geocaching Association Cache of the Month for April 2009.

Enjoy the photographs.. 

Approaching ground zero.	While you can park mere feet from GZ, it isn't a park-and-grab.	Setting up the equipment to retrieve the cache.
Wind gusting to 30MPH, we had to have a steep angle on ladder.	Norvina waving after having thrown down the cache.	Me holding on between gusts as I was putting cache back into place.

The Fun Side of Pfalstad (GC1J555) by Meralgia

The New Year was opened for me today with a geocache outing that involved an adventure underneath the city.  Along with fellow geocacher Norvina, I completed this geocache which is a traditional cache located, probably illegally, inside a storm drain underneath the University of Minnesota's east bank campus.  The cache is rated 1 star difficulty and 4 stars terrain.  The experience of entering the drain isn't all that challenging once you get past fears such as vagrants, rain storms, darkness, and odd smells.  And I hate to admit it, but this was not the first time I've been inside this location.  There used to be a different geocache inside this very location about a year or so ago.  But that was before the city refurbished the tubing, and it was much more smelly the first time in. 

We approached from the top as we parked along East River Road.  We descended down the stairs and got halfway to the entrance when one of us said.. "did you bring a light?".  Nope.  How bad could it be?  We entered the area and got nearly to the end when we decided there's no way this can be done without a light.  I raced out of the drain, back down the trail, up the icy stairs, to the car, grabbed a light, and made my way back down. Attempt #2 went perfect.  We had a light with fresh batteries, a couple of cameras, and a fresh writing utensil.  We quickly nabbed the cache, signed the log, and put it back into place only to emerge from the hole about as soaking wet as was physically possible.

UPDATE  It turns out it is in fact illegal to enter storm drains.  We do not recommend going into drains (especially when precipitation is forecast) and we pledge to never do it again.

Enjoy the photographs.. 

The entrance to the drain.	You can see the nice smooth walls of the reburbish work.	Approaching the inner sactum of the drain.
The geocache is located along the back wall to the right.	Me just after having signed the geocache log.	Proof that Norvina was an accomplice.

Gauntlet: Seldon's Century Hide (GC1EJ4X) by Seldon

My birthday is tomorrow, there couldn't be a better way to celebrate than by doing a Seldon geocache.  This cache is a very nicely executed 7 stage multicache that takes you on a 55 mile drive around Rice County.  This is a top shelf cache with a wide variety of hiding techniques, some of which I've experienced before.  The ratings on this multicache were a little on the high side but that did not detract from the hunt one bit.

SPOILER ALERT Do not proceed unless you do not intend on hunting this geocache.

Stage #1
Coordinates:  N44 13.855 W93 27.303
Container:  No container.
Description:  Look for knotted wire attached to underside of railing, north side.

Stage #2
Coordinates:  N44 13.855 W93 27.214
Container:  No container.
Description:  Stamped piece of aluminum attached to the outhouse shelter.

Stage #3
Coordinates:  N44 20.613 W93 21.384
Container:  Large cookie or popcorn tin.
Description:  Look for fake plastic boulder that is covering a large cookie or popcorn tin.  The tin has a mail slot on the top.  Use mirror to see coords under inside lid.

Stage #4
Coordinates:  N44 20.598 W93 21.362
Container:  Ammocan.
Description:  Decode the blocks by putting in order from A to O.

Stage #5
Coordinates:  N44 16.255 W93 15.411
Container:  No container.
Description:  Look for magnetic sheet underneath the very top railing, about head high.

Stage #6
Coordinates:  N44 29.008 W93 07.906
Container:  Quart sized thermos.
Description:  Container hanging about 25-35 feet in tree, must climb.

Stage #7 FINAL
Coordinates:  N44 22.077 W93 13.561
Container:  Medicine bottle.
Description:  Container hanging in tree overhanging the Cannon River.  Climb up the ramp shaped tree.

Enjoy the pictures.. 

A technique I've never seen before at stage #1.	A simple enough find at stage #2.	Stage #3 was very different and fun to figure out.
Decyphering stage #4.  They kept getting better and better.	Stage #5 is in there.	Stage #6 was about 35' up in that tree.
The final stage up in a tree overhanging the Cannon River.

Halloween 2008 BONUS: Coughin Up A Lung (GC1H32A) by bflentje

This cache is the grand finale to my 2008 Halloween series.  In order to find and log this geocache, you must find the other 12 geocaches in the series.  Each of the others contains a secret code that is required to have in order to calculate the coordinates to this bonus.  The calculation requires all 12 of the codes from the other caches and there are no feasible ways to cheat (unless your name is Pfalstad).

I normally start planning my Halloween series about the first week of September.  This year, I had started planning around July 1st and spent the majority of the summer designing and constructing cache containers.  The toe pincher coffin required the majority of the planning.  I wasn't exactly certain how to build a toe pincher coffin but I know I've seen them on the Internet.  After downloading some partial plans, that incidentally didn't have dimensions, and after various trials and errors in my design, my toe pincher coffin started to materialize.  There were two different instances where I realized I had made mistakes and ended up completely dismantling everything, making the fix, and putting it back together.  It did not have to be mortuary showroom floor perfect.  But it had to be good.  After a month of working on the coffin each night after work, the completed container was perfect.  It was so nice in fact, I was having second thoughts about placing it in the woods.  In the end though I did need a grand finale for my Halloween 2008 series.

Enjoy the construction pictures.. 

Construction materials included small and large fence pickets.	The first attempt at building the base, a crucial step.	The first draft of the base and the top.
Assembling the sides required many opposing angle cuts.	The finished product before it was taken to the woods.	The coffin could not be empty. It had to contain George.
Arranging the coffin in the woods so it looked perfect.	Finalizing the inside of the cache container.  George guards the black ammocan.	The final cache placement.  To bad other cachers can't leave it like this after their find.

Halloween 2008: Bubba Sawyer's Hideaway (GC1GXEQ) by bflentje

This geocache is part of my 2008 Halloween series.  You must find and log this cache in order to find the final in the series, Halloween 2008 BONUS:  Coughin Up A Lung.  When finding the cache, you must grab the secret code which is required in order to calculate the coordinates to the bonus.

The idea for the chainsaw cache container came to me very late in the planning of the 2008 Halloween series.  I thought it'd be a great idea but had no idea where I'd get a cheap chainsaw or worse, how I'd turn it into a cache container.

Acquiring a chainsaw was MUCH easier than I had ever anticipated.  I placed a wanted ad on Craigs List for a cheap chainsaw.  I clearly stated that it didn't need to be working but needed to be fully in tact.  Within hours of posting that ad, I got a call from someone trying get rid of their chainsaw CHEAP; they only wanted five dollars for it.  And better yet, the chainsaw was yellow in color which was perfect to help bring out the color of blood patterns.

Before I could figure out how to turn the saw into a container, I figured it'd be wise to remove any hazardous parts or anything that could be construed as polluting the environment.  That process involved removing the electrical system and coil, the oil reservoir, fuel tank, gluing in the recoil pulley, and grinding down the teeth on the saw blade.  While I had the chainsaw apart, it was clear that the front cover of the unit could be easily modified to make it a door, or accessibility for a container inside of the chainsaw.  After some drilling, the addition of bolts and a pair of wing nuts, the latest edition to my Halloween collection was born.  All that was needed now was a fresh coat of blood and Bubba's toy now lives.

For those of you who are not movie buffs, Bubba Sawyer is the character better known as Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  That his name in the original movie.  I believe in the remake of the movie, the name of the character was changed.

Enjoy the construction pictures.. 

Chainsaw purchased on Craigs List for $5.	How do I turn this thing into a container?	Disassembly to remove parts that may be hazardous or polluting.
I used the lawn as my backdrop while creating blood patterns.	The container hidden in the woods of Lebanon Hills.	Watch out, Bubba may come back looking for his toys.

Halloween 2008:  Palu Bufo Marinus (GC1GXF9) by bflentje 

This multicache is part of my 2008 Halloween series.  You must find and log this cache in order to find the final in the series, Halloween 2008 BONUS:  Coughin Up A Lung.  When finding the cache, you must grab the secret code which is required in order to calculate the coordinates to the bonus.

The idea for this cache came to me as I was visiting the seasonal Halloween store in Apple Valley.  Between myself and KBayNPapaBear, we'd built quite the collection of Halloween caches.  But we were short two containers in order to make the count of thirteen.  I took a trip to the Halloween store and was browsing around at some of the slower selling items.  The giant toad was sitting in a corner by itself, looking pretty lonely.  I knew that I could turn this thing into a geocache container.

Enjoy the construction pictures.. 

The giant toad before it got its geocache makeover.

The addition of a match container made for a nice and quick cache.

The giant toad in its hiding place out in the woods.

Halloween 2008:  Polycephaly, Not a Muse (GC1GXGD) by bflentje

This geocache is part of my 2008 Halloween series.  You must find and log this cache in order to find the final in the series, Halloween 2008 BONUS:  Coughin Up A Lung.  When finding the cache, you must grab the secret code which is required in order to calculate the coordinates to the bonus.

The idea for this cache came to me as I was visiting the seasonal Halloween store in Apple Valley.  Between myself and KBayNPapaBear, we'd built quite the collection of Halloween caches.  But we were short two containers in order to make the count of thirteen.  I took a trip to the Halloween store and was browsing around at some of the slower selling items.  The two headed monster baby was sitting by itself on the bottom shelf and I knew that somehow, I had to turn this thing into a container.

Enjoy the construction pictures.. 

The two-headed monster baby before it got its cache makeover.

The addition of a match container made for a nice and quick cache.

The polycephaly baby in its hiding place out in the woods.

Halloween 2008:  Phalangeal Food (GC1GXGM) by bflentje 

This geocache is part of my 2008 Halloween series and is probably the toughest one of the series to find.  You must find and log this cache in order to find the final in the series, Halloween 2008 BONUS:  Coughin Up A Lung.  When finding the cache, you must grab the secret code which is required in order to calculate the coordinates to the bonus.

The idea for this cache came to me as I was visiting the seasonal Halloween store in Apple Valley.  I took a trip to the Halloween store and was browsing around at some of the slower selling items.  The severed finger was on a shelf in a pile of severed fingers.. looked kind of nasty.  Upon closer inspection, I knew I could easily create a cache container out of the finger with a Bison capsule.  The severed finger is actually hidden inside a piece of wood placed under a park bench.  You'd think this was an easy find but it is the most difficult hide in the series.

Enjoy the construction pictures.. 

The severed finger after the addition of capsule for container.

The cache is hidden inside this piece of wood under a bench.