Pandora's Box of Mystery Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(large)
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Pandora’s Bucket of Mystery is based on the Yankee Swap principle.
It is located in a nice little park in Jericho filled with great
trails and lots of other great caches to explore. Parking can be
found at N 44 27.257 W072 59.141. You have been here many times
most likely.
This cache was thought of many moons ago when I was First to Find while visiting a Great Big Wall somewhere near a golf course in Bolton. Vermont’s own Grand High Poobah placed that cache herself. In it was a small white box labeled “to be opened only if taken in trade”. Well, me being the adventuresome sort traded for the box. In this small box was a little turtle jewelry box. This past Christmas I went to a Yankee Swap party and I took the little turtle. I traded it for a bread machine. Not a bad swap if I say so myself. Well anyway ever since then I have wanted to come up with a cache that combined a little bit of the Yankee Swap principle with a little bit of mystery. Originally this was going to have a puzzle
quality to it but due to a promise made to Mwein about “remembering my roots” I have made it a simple walk and find for kids of all ages. It is just a touch less than 1mile roundtrip. You will only need to bushwhack 50 to 100 feet depending on your trail selection. The hide itself is pretty easy to find. Please remember to hide it
back carefully, as it is a very large cache and will stick out easily. I have tried to place it so that it was hidden from the two closest trails. The coordinates are deliberately 20 feet or so off to put you into a very small gap in the overhead cover where I was reading 7 satellites. Finding it is the easy part, living by the
rules are slightly more difficult. Please live by the very few rules set forth!!!
This will ensure that this cache remains true to its original form and remains fun for all. This cache is meant toget a lot of us out of the TNLNSL routine. The rules are very simple:
1) Bring along a wrapped trade item. Newspaper wrapping is
Ok that’s what I used. Although colorful gift wrap may attract someone to an artfully placed prank gift. Original items are valued from $1 to $20 or so. Most of them are good prizes. Intermixed, however, are a few fun prank gifts. I personally think that one of them is invaluable but beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.
2) Select one of the other wrapped trade items that are in
the bucket. Do not open it until you get home!! This makes the anticipation greater!
3) Place your wrapped trade item in the bucket for the next person to select from. There are extra ziploc
bags to make sure the giftwrap doesn’t get wet. Please leave ziploc’s in the cache.
4) When you log your visit please make sure to enlighten the rest of us as to what the trade item you selected
was. Do not mention what you put in though.
See not so bad, the rules that is, was it. In addition to the ten or so mystery gifts there is the usual logbook, pens and geocaching sheet. There is a bag for signature items of which there are some to start, mine of course. There is one for travel bugs, there is a white jeep and a new Green Jeep to start off with. The bags are to keep them from
getting mixed up and lost at the bottom of the bucket. There are some extra ziplocs to put your trade items in. There is no particular First to Find gift other than first choice from among the items. There is a “DeweydoubleD’s Fix or Build Microcache Kit” stocked with pieces and parts that could be used to fix or build microcaches but that is only one of many fine trade items. Will the FTFer pick one of them, who knows. Good luck on your selection.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lbh jbag ernyyl arrq bar. Vg vf bar bs gur ynetrfg pnpurf V unir frra.