Don’t Forget to Bring Your Brain — Antron’s Puzzle Box #2 (GC40M7T) — Geocache of the Week

pbOCow6
Antron’s Puzzle Box #2. Photo by Thibaud Oost

The geocache description reads, “No need for screwdrivers, hammers or explosives to open this box,” but after taking a look at this puzzle box, we’re not so sure. Some geocaches show you amazing vistas, others take you on subterranean adventures, and some—like this difficulty 4, terrain 1.5 geocache—put your brain to work. Antron’s Puzzle Box #2 (GC40M7T) may be hidden in plain sight, but actually opening the geocache is where the challenge lies.

“I will not divulge what took longer. The drive from Vereeniging, the cracking of the combination lock code or opening of the Puzzle box, but it was a concerted effort between Mrvan & RumJack working as a tag team to crack this one,” said geocacher Avanclan in their log.

This geocache is guarded by a combination lock, several locking mechanisms, a secret code and a particular series of steps. When asked about creating these puzzle boxes, the geocache creator Antron said, “both Puzzle boxes in Parys (GC3R5ER and GC40M7T) took us about three months each to design and construct. It took about ten prototypes before the final product was ready for placement. Our ‘self-inflicted’ goal is to try and not place a cache if it is not as good or even better than our previous cache.”

This geocache has only been active for a few months, but has already garnered much praise and 11 Favorite Points (as of this writing). One look at the logbook and you can see just how much fun a well-made puzzlebox geocache can be. “Contender for the best cache we’ve done so far. Ever. Definitely the longest one. Took us around 45 minutes to fight a solution out of the thing. So frustrating, and yet such a feeling of achievement when we finally got to sign the logbook! Thanks so much for this cache, amazing experience,” wrote Geogamy & Sheldor, who has 1,341 finds. According to the geocache creator Antron, “the positive logs and e-mails we receive is all the reward that one can ask for.”

Des14, Span Marlin and The Grove Clan trying to figure out the puzzle. Photo by geocacher Span Marlin
Des14, Span Marlin and The Grove Clan trying to figure out the puzzle. Photo by geocacher Span Marlin

Geocache containers come in all shapes, sizes and difficulty. We always enjoy seeing geocaches that have an incredible amount of craftsmanship put into them. What geocache containers have you seen that have blown your mind?

Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.

If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@geocaching.com.