101 DEVIL CACHES by E. J. Martin and Kurt Milligan

Posted on May 8, 2013 by ProfessorBenson

101 DEVIL CACHES by E. J. Martin and Kurt Milligan (2013, Leeward Coast)

As we move into the second decade of geocaching, 101 Devil Caches points the way forward. It’s a fun little book on the art of making geocache containers, always a favorite topic of mine. They also included chapters on the history of geocaching, geocaching do’s and don’ts, and the various geocacher rules. The two men from Maine have produced a fun little book.

With all the preliminaries, the book really doesn’t get started till page 32. Here, the authors list three different types of cache containers: man-made objects, natural objects, puzzles and challenges. The rest of the book is dedicated to showing how each of these types can be employed to make a really difficult cache. The book is filled with diagrams and illustrations of how to accomplish these goals. Best of all, they list three different clues a cache make can post for each of them.

There’s so many great ideas for geocache containers in here it would be impossible to list them all. Caches chained to the sea floor. Caches behind posters. Caches designed to resemble wasps’ nests. You’ll have to read the book yourself to get a feel for all of them.

If I have any quibble with the book, it;s the authors tendency to rely on the smaller caches. I could’ve done with a few less buffalo tube cache containers. However, I do understand the problems hiding a big cache. The largest I’ve hidden was in a plastic tub and it had to be hauled quite a distance into the forest.

So give this fun little book a chance, you won’t be disappointed.

THE GEOCACHING PUZZLES PALACE

Posted on April 9, 2013 by ProfessorBenson

In my effort to turn my little town into a geocaching mecca, I found it necessary to master the ability to create geocaching puzzles. In other words, I had to take my cache creation to the next level. I was running out of places to place caches and puzzle caching was one solution. Always a fan of WWII spy stories, I pulled out an old book on cryptograms and got to ciphering. The first results were not overwhelming, but what I produced on the third try was special.

In case anyone doesn’t know already, a geocache puzzle is one where you have to solve a code to find the exact location of the cache. The published place is not the final location of the cache.On the Groundspeak maps, the published location is represented by a question mark. Good form requires the real location to be no more than 2 miles from the published. The puzzle is usually contained in the description.

Deciding I was going to be a junior G-man, I spent several hours to come up with this cool substitution cipher (which I called Modesty Blaze):

NIMNEVESOWTNEVESTODE
NOYTRIHTEERGEDEVIFYT
NEVESWNIMNEVESTHGIEE
NOTODNETEERGEDYTROFN

Within 10 minutes of it going live, my super-cipher was cracked. I even had a few Sherlocks email me about a typo in the code (which I quickly corrected). Well it seemed the code-cracking community was far more experienced than myself. So I decided to get serious and spend some time on another cipher, this one being transpositional ( I called it The Million Eyes of Sumuru)l:

LDOCXOLKUFTNVOTQFAFW
QYQKORQNNKHNANVOTYQD
NVNLWLDOCFWQNVOTFWQQ
FADNVNBNNNKHNAYQKFTD

…which was cracked in one hour.

Starting to feel a little frustrated, I decided to create a cipher where you would have to “intuit” you way through it. Thus The Satan Bug was born. I chose the name from a 1965 spy movie. I’ve always loved this movie, although it’s never been a big hit.

The key to finding this cache is contained in my review:

Dana Andrews, George Maharis, and Anne Francis star in The Satan Bug (1965). Plot concerns the release of a deadly virus from a bioweapons lab. Author Alistair Maclean penned the novel on which the film is based. Former Agent Lee Barrett is called back into service to locate missing flasks which contain the bioweapon. Not leakproof, the flasks could start releasing the deadly virus very soon. The health of the planet is in danger as the virus could destroy all life. Tension ensues as Barrett races to find the flasks.
Actor George Maharis (who plays Lee Barrett) was a former TV star. An early appearence by Ed Asner is notable. An epic director, John Sturges was responsible for many Hollywood blockbusters. The credits were animated by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (Pink Panther cartoon). It abandoned the “James Bond” formula which was becoming standard. More tension arises in the film when it is revealed that the “Satan Bug” is in the hands of a madman. Not brief, this movie is 114 minutes long.

But not all the information is contained in the review! There are important numbers needed to solve this code. As I said in the description, you do not have to watch all of the movie, but it would help. And you have to do a little research to find those numbers.

I’ve been accused of using “moon logic’ and being arbitrary on this puzzle. However, 280 people have already tried entering their coordinate guesses on the site geochecker and not one have been right. And to up the ante, I put a bar of pure (99.95%) silver in the cache.

I’ve also had a few geocachers email me about help in locating it. But the only help I’ll furnish will be on the groundspeak site page. Which can be found here.

Happy caching!

GEOCACHING PENNSYLVANIA: THE BIG ONE, PART II

Posted on April 7, 2013 by ProfessorBenson

I kicked stared my new geocaching Pennsylvania season today. With the weather improving I decided to check on the biggest cache I had placed in these parts. Most of the log commentators have remarked about how this was the biggest geocache they had ever seen in Pennsylvania, or anywhere else. The problem with a cache of this size is the difficult in concealing it. My original post detailed the fun I had trying to place the thing, I didn’t want to lose it.

Another reason I decided to check the big one, which is known as Agent from H.A.R.M., was to place all the excess trinkets I’ve found in my small geocaches. Other than smoking implements (why someone would leave these things in a cache I will never know), I don’t toss away anything I find. I feel the person who put it in the cache did so for a reason, even if it wasn’t obvious to me. But many of my caches have limited room and would fill-up if I didn’t clean them out. So I save all those Happy Meal toys and erasers I keep finding. But they pile up.

However, The Big One, has plenty of room at the present, so that is where they go.

As you can see in the above picture, the cache is all safe and sound. Somewhat depleted since the initial placement last year, but I expected this. I put the left-over goodies from the other caches into it.

The hobo camp is gone. I mentioned in the original post as to how it was very neat and organized, but a little unexpected. I don’t know when the ‘Bo’s packed up and left, but I suspect the geocachers wondering around it made them feel a little uncomfortable. Not to mention all the people walking their dogs on the hill. Guess they’re riding the rails toward another camp.

Geocaching Pennsylvania: Still Another Evil Cache!

Posted on February 3, 2013 by ProfessorBenson

One of the fun aspects of hiding evil caches during the winter months in eastern Pennsylvania is visibility. You very quickly learn what to see when there is no ground cover. In other words, the pole base hidden by all that tall grass suddenly turns a transparent brown in February So I find winter to be the best time to hide a cache: if you can’t see it very well when the temperature is cold enough to freeze water, you won’t be able to see it at all when the weeds are growing all over the place.

Today we start with these simple items purchased at craft store (you know, the kind which sells cloth and beads):

Here we see a few simple items: a blue pencil-case, some rubber cement and random twigs. I didn’t buy the twigs; this time of year they are all over the place. In warmer times it might be difficult to find them, but I’m sure you could manage.

The rubber cement is poured over the top of the pencil-case:

Next, we begin to add the twigs one at a time. Do not attempt to create a pattern. A friend of mine who endured army ranger school informs me the key to good camouflage is to break up the pattern.

A few more minutes of attaching the twigs now produce:

But what is wrong with this cache? Can you guess? I’ll tell you: the pretty translucent blue color which makes it attractive to schools all over America is going to stick out. Like an alien monster without its disguise kit. Our precious little cache will be found too quickly at best or, at worst, be compromised by CHAOS agents. We must take action!

Which leads to:

A quick hit with a can of flat black spray paint. Easily purchased at most hardware stores for under $5.00. The evil cache can hide sinisterly in the undergrowth free from enemy agents until a geocacher with a GPS reciever finds it.

And this fiendish cache was made for under $20.00!

I placed it two weeks ago and it’s already been found twice.

Happy caching!

Geocaching Pennsylvania: The STRANGE Meeting

Posted on January 28, 2013 by ProfessorBenson

The local geocachers meet-up now has a name: The Strange Meet-up. What does “Strange” stand for? I’ll let you know as soon as it is decided. Last January 10th, the decision was made to christen it with this acronym I wanted “Smerg”, but my nomination was quickly voted down.

Geocaching Pennsylvania: Building A Fun Cache (Beware The Blob!)

Posted on December 30, 2012 by ProfessorBenson

It’s been some time since I had a chance to post anything on this Blog. Work and life has a tendency to eat into your geocaching time. To make up for the absence I decided to document my latest cache creation: Beware The Blob! Geocaching in Pennsylvania was never so much fun!

We start by gathering all the materials needed for the project:

In the above photo, I used some modeling clay purchased at a local big box arts and crafts supply store. I also used some common cling wrap, easily found at your neighborhood grocery store. The tube of toy figures for the blob’s victims came from another art supply store. The cache container itself was also found at a local grocery store. Finally, the tube of MS Polymer from Soudal can be purchased through Kraftmark .

Looking at the above picture, we see how the container is first wrapped in the cling film. Then clay is piled around the container to avoid any undercuts which would make it impossible to pull out of the blob. Blobs can be hard to extract!

Using a standard cartridge gun (Not pictured. Use some imagination here), the MS Polymer is extruded over the wrapped container and smoothed around. The Polymer is very thick, but can be manipulated with a craft stick or disposable trowel.

The polymer is allowed to settle into place before putting in the victims:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After curing overnight, the container is pulled from the finished blob:
SAMSUNG

Flipping the blob over we find a void perfect for fitting the container cache:

SAMSUNG

Which slides right into place.

The blob cache is placed in a secure location and the coördinates listed on a favorite geocaching site. I put this one in a remote section of a wooded area. Didn’t want any enemy agents finding it! Also didn’t want to scare the locals. It was found within 24 hours of the hide.

More Adventures in Pennsylvania Geocaching: The Big One

Posted on November 30, 2012 by ProfessorBenson

Few people bother to create a really big cache. In my local Pennsylvania geocaching area, I don’t think there is a single plus size geocache. It’s obvious: they are not easy to hide. Smaller geocaches, the size of Tupperware containers, get compromised all the time. What can you expect for one the size of a five-gallon bucket? And where would you hide it?

My goal was to fill a 5-gallon sized bucket and hide it. Initially, I considered molding a fake tree stump around the bucket. But practical considerations made this impossible. It would’ve taken me more time than I wanted to devout to build the cache container. And how would I secure it into the ground?

So I went with plan B which involved taking a storage container and spraying it black. It’s been my geocaching experience that a black cache is invisible in the wild. They can be found, but wrapping the smallest container in black duct tape renders it very hard to find.

And this is what I put in the cache:

1 log book.
1 pen.
1 stuffed red bull.
1 DVD of “Death and the Compass”.
1 copy of the excellent spy novel ” Diamonds Are Deadly”.
1 copy of “A Dance of Dragons” by George R. R. Martin.
1 copy of the book “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea”.
1 used copy of “The Mystery of the Green Ghost”.
1 plastic ship in a plastic bottle.
1 diarama.
1 pack of Starbrite 5-minute epoxy.
1 pack of ProCreate Terrain Putty.
1 pack of ProCreate Stick Putty.

My first idea was close to the local river. However, this soon proved to be problematic: there is a walking trail which runs on the old rail bed next to the river. The local parks service controls the trail. Any cache placed in parks service jurisdiction involves filling a 4-page document and getting the approval of Ranger John. Since my cache was at least fifty feet out of the parks service range, I didn’t think it would be an issue.

Wrong.

After hiking in a mile into the drop point, I placed the cache, took a GPS receiver reading, and published the cache on Groundspeak. The next day the reviewer informed me her map showed the cache in park services territory and I would need Ranger John’s approval. I hike back to ground zero and take another reading. Which shows it to be identical to the first one.

Meanwhile, I’ve emailed Ranger John who tells me his map also shows the GZ in parks services territory. I ponder over filing the paper work and maybe moving it into an old concrete storage box on the trail. Ranger John also informs me all the ground south of the trail belongs to the power company who will never allow such a thing, etc.

I am now left with no other option than to hike back to ground zero and replace the cache somewhere less troublesome. I find a densely wooded area which appears to be a municipal park. This seems to be the best course of action.

After walking around the cliffs which overlook the river, I decided on a good place for the hide. I tote the container in the general direction and what do I find? A campsite. Now this is most interesting as the area adjoins the municipal park. I’ve seen these tents posted before, but this one lay in the general direction of the drop point. It looked clean and well maintained, but the picture was taken before the first snow of the year:

After placing the cache, I avoided the hobo camp on the return hike. I didn’t see anyone around it. I’ll be checking on the hide this weekend, so it will be interesting to see if the encampment survived the first snowfall (which was much).

The hide was discovered within the first 24 hours it placed. The FTF’r didn’t take anything, which disappoints men, but I have to give her credit for locating it in a snowstorm.