“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already.” — J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

If you’ve ever read any of the Harry Potter books or seen any of the movies, you’ll know non-magical people are called muggles. You may also know in the geocaching community, muggles are non-geocachers. This is not the only thing that geocachers and Harry Potter lovers have in common. They both share the same excitement in creating magic and discovery in everyday life. Now, you too can discover what it’s like to be a Hogwarts student while on the epic Multi-Cache journey to find Harry Potter’s Abenteuer.

The journey begins just 60km north of Frankfurt, where the cache is located in the picturesque hills of the Lahn valley. There, you will embark on a series of 18 stages that are each inspired by a different scene of the Harry Potter books and movies. Each stage was designed in detail by the cache owners, blackschneck, also known as Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

One such stage invites you to embody the appearance of Harry Potter himself with a Gryffindor scarf, broomstick, round eyeglasses, and wand. There is so much detail to this cache that there are certain items that must be carried from one stage in order to complete the next stage. Because of this, only one team of 2-4 people are allowed to find the cache per day. To prevent multiple teams on the same day, there is a calendar to schedule your visit. Before you come, the cache owners will email you with all the information you need for your magical experience.

In their words:

Ever since we started to cache we’ve always wanted to make a Harry Potter inspired cache. Because we are big fans of the books and movies. After two visits to the original movie sets in England, we started getting ideas how we could make it happen. We’re extremely happy to see all the positive feedback in the logs by old and new Harry Potter fans. They give us new energy to keep repairing and improving the cache. And now it’s your turn to come and explore Harry Potter’s world in Hessen.

Things to take with you:

• Mobile phone or GPS
• Rechargeable battery pack
• QR code reader
• UV lamp
• 2.0 liters of water
• Umbrella and/or rain gear
• Food and drink
• Long pants
• A good mood and a love for puzzling

There is not a short log on the cache page, but AR-Team’s thoughts on Harry Potters Abenteur summarize the experience well:

We had thought we were normal cachers, as Harry believed he was a normal boy. At least we thought that until the 11th of August when the owl letter reached us and called us to play GC6ACTD —Harry Potter’s Abenteur. The trip to the magical land of the Harry Potter cache was an unforgettable experience for us. Like Harry, we jumped into the adventure, which brought us to many different spectacular stages where we fought against beasts, classmates, and fabulous creatures. At the starting coordinates we arrived at the land of cachers, witches and wizards.

At each stage, we were surprised with how the dedication and detail that was put into this cache and all of its stages. Awesome. After a good 7 hours we completed the amazing cache and we will always remember this experience.

We find here is a magical cache of the category “exceptional cache – exquisitely recommended”! And the bar is truly raised to a new level of quality. Thank you blackschneck for the endless effort and time that has been put into every single detail!

After 5 km (3 mi), 18 stages, and a  6-10 hour re-creation of the magical wizarding world of Harry Potter, you will surely want to sit back and enjoy some butterbeer. Now grab your broomstick and wand and be on your way!

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