"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” These are the first words from the first book, by J.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit is a wonderful book about the adventures of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. If you have never read this book, now would be a great time to start. The cache that you are currently viewing relates to The Hobbit and to the first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy; The Fellowship of the Rings. The adventure that you are about to take, was planned by Butterfly Girl and myself: DxChallenged. The following has been done so that this geocaching adventure can feel “hobbit like”.
The cache is being placed on Butterfly Girl’s long awaited 11th birthday. Similarly, a long expected party was held for Bilbo on his eleventy-first birthday.
Contrary to our customs, hobbits give presents on their birthday. Butterfly Girl and I have included our very best trade items as birthday presents to give out you; our caching friends.
As you can see from the enclosed picture (hand colored by Butterfly girl), Bag End is the name of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ residence. As a play on these words we have placed every “present” inside a cloth bag. You may keep the one your chosen gift is in or simply leave it in the cache with your trade item.
Bilbo labeled many of the presents that he gave away. Each present within the cache box (which is a dk green 50 cal. ammo box with gold geocaching lettering on it) has been labeled. Some labels may contain riddles but none will be as hard as those that Gollum posed to Bilbo. (the "gifts are for you rather you guess the riddle or not. You can attach a riddle of your own under the contact paper we used or just remove the riddle that goes with the "gift" you chose).
The Hobbit tells the story of Bilbo Baggins who reluctantly embarked on a quest, with 12 dwarves and 1 wizard for dragon’s gold. This long journey brought them over many amazing natural formations. Our cache is placed in an area where 1000 years ago a glacier stopped. You will see, in a rather small area, very interesting rock formations and at the same time be able to revel in the beauty of wild flowers.
This cache is one in a series of 4 caches, which in turn holds a reward for you should you choose to complete all 4 caches. You will need to read all the Lord of the Rings books and to travel to some of the very best places in Pennsylvania. You will also need to sign each of the 4 quilt squares. One square is contained (and ready for you to sign with the fabric pen that is next to it) in this, the Hobbit- bag end cache. Hey! You’re already ¼ of the way there! If you want to complete all 4 caches. then you will need to visit the Fellowship of the Ring Cache in Erie, PA. Subsequent caches will be placed when the corresponding movies are released: The Twin Towers Cache will be out around 12/2002 and the Return of the King CAche will be out around 12/2003.
Your reward… Once you have completed the above, go to the virtual Tolkien quilt cache The Tolkien Quilt Cache to log and have verified your finds/signatures. Then I will send to you a 100 square signature quilt…..ready for signatures that you can gather when you go “There and Back Again”. One quilt per group of cachers and I will have to limit it to 20 quilts (small in size around 36" by 36"). Once these are handed out the Virtual will end.