This cache celebrates a very special kind of fish and a little-known nature reserve at the heart of "classic" Nordmarka in the hills above Oslo. The tiny Karussputten naturreservat was established in 1981 to protect fragile and demanding species of vegetation found in this area, which is predominantly marshland.
The cache is hidden well away from those marshes, near the bank of a placid pond called Karusputten. A karus is a member of the Carassius Carassius family of fish, found in ponds, moats and other artificial dams in many parts of the world. It is believed that medieval monks brought it to Norway.
Today, however, the karus is lives in the wild in many lower-lying areas. It is our most common carp. The karus is rated as a particularly tough fish, which is able to survive in water with almost no oxygen. Also, experts say, the amazing karus adjusts its own shape according to the security situation - in waters with fish of prey, it grows tall, to look more difficult to eat. There are several Karussputter, but this is the only one which has been the site of a kjentmannspost (1990-92).
The cache is designed as a ski-in cache, but may also be easily approached in summer. Red marked ski tracks and blue-marked hiking trails lead to the general area. Some bushing may be required.
The given coordinates will not take you to the cache, but a signpole. To learn the real coordinates, you need to study the signs and answer the following questions. Hint: Ignore the back side of the signs.
1. Most places that these signs point to are man-made structures, like "-rud, "hytta", "kpl", "stua". How many in all? Answer=A
2. How many train stations occur on the signs? Answer=B
3. How many bodies of water - "vann", "sjøen", "tjern" - occur on the signs? Hint: Ignore Tryvannsstua. Answer=C
4. The signs point in several directions. How many? Answer=D
5. How many kilometers to Kikutstua from here? Answer=E
6. How many signs on the pole? Multiply by D. Answer=F.
The cache is hidden at N°AB.BC.DEC E 010°DF.AFA.
It is an Otterbox deluxe container hanging in a tree, hopefully not too tempting to the moose hooting all around this area.
Initial contents: Hand-written FTF certificate signed by a certain Moose.
Bilingual stashnote, black silver logbook, Ikea pencil, pencil sharpener
Swiss army knife
Green casino jeton
Canadian geocoin (please log at www.geocoins.ca)
Norgesreima ski strap
Wooden spoon
Hamar pin, Aust Agder pin
JHG car, micro card
TB Serious Skiers
Moose dropping