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Cherry Bark Pictocache Mystery Cache

Hidden : 3/2/2005
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Cherry Bark Pictocache

A unique 2-part multicache that requires you to look for patterns in the trees in a forest to guide you from one cache to the next. [Note: All new pictures as of 3/31/08.]


BEWARE OF NETTLES!

Flood water level check.

Too often I read, “Easy find” when someone locates one of my caches. As a consequence, I came up with a different method for making a “not so easy find.” This new way of hunting geocaches I am calling "pictocaching." The prefix picto in Latin means "to paint." [Note: as of 3/16/05 I discovered that another cacher has used the term pict-o-cache to describe the same process.] By using this method I have used nature and a camera to "paint" the path from one cache to the next. I believe that this method has huge potential to be employed in a wide variety of areas, not just in woodland settings.

For the first attempt at using this technique I set up this 2-part multicache called “Cherry Bark” in the woods in the Greenbelt near Waterloo, IA. The first cache, which the published coordinates lead to, is a Lock & Lock container shielded from gnawing teeth by a jacket of aluminum sheet. Please carefully extract the box from the sheet and put it back together carefully as well. The top of the box should be facing the "top" marked part of the aluminum. Please make sure to rehide the box well so that roving eyes won't be as likely to catch a glimmer of the bright silver. Look at it from every angle to make sure it's invisible! The second container is a camouflaged match container.

Inside the first container is, at this time, a single set of images showing a series of trees that you will have to locate in sequence. The paces I took between the trees is listed along with the tree numbers. I used a telephoto setting when taking the shots. The proper perspective for accurate viewing is between 1 and 1.5 feet from your eyes.

To begin your search you will need to circle around where you uncovered the first container and look for tree 1. I took the picture of the next tree while standing close to the one preceding it. To help you to know that you are close to each numbered tree I placed a loop of thin iron wire from 5 to 6 feet up within 15 feet or less of the marked tree.

-it

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ybbx FJ gb ortva.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)