If X marks the spot… then what does a soda machine mean?

You wouldn’t be the first geocacher to ask this question about this seafairing hide! Pop open a can of tasty Cache-Cola and listen as we tell the tale of Captain Haxton’s Treasure (GCAEZD2)!

This tale begins in the back alley of a suburban neighborhood. An unlikely spot for a pirate’s hidden treasure, sure, but sometimes the best spots are where no one would think to look.

Upon arrival, geocachers spot a defunct soda machine; not only is this a strange location for a machine like this, but there’s something different about this one…

We’ve all been disappointed by an out-of-order soda machine, especially when looking to enjoy a thirst-quenching beverage after a long geocache hunt.

However, this disappointment turns to joy, as this machine quenches a thirst like no other: the thirst for a geocache.

Cache owner LeviCol was inspired to create this geocache for a local gadget cache competition, Caching and Campfires at Lake Wapello:

“I live in a city without much geocaching traffic as I’m far from major cities. I needed to go big to make it worth people’s time to come visit me. I needed it to fit more fun prizes, and I wanted it to be safe for trackables to become a trackable hotel. That’s when late night scrolling online led me to a fun listing: an old soda machine! One quick impulse purchase later, I phoned up a friend and rented a truck to haul this machine home.”

-LeviCol

With that, Captain Haxton’s Treasure was born. As part of a team known as “The Curio Cabineteers,” a duo that pairs antique shopping with their geocaching travels, it’s only fitting that this machine was sourced similarly.

The cache took three people to move it into place, an entire day to remove the inside mechanisms, and countless hours of work to transform it into a treasure worthy of a pirate like Captain Haxton.

Not only was it worthy of the Captain, but it earned the cache owner 1st place!

For all this work, finding the cache has to be a comparable challenge! Geocachers must decode the captain’s partial directions on the cache page to reach the treasure within.

What a treasure it is! As the door swings open, one can spot several treasure chests sitting atop piles of golden coins and glittering gems.

This bounty is a sight to behold. As DinkinFlicka392’s pirate in training puts it, “OMG! Legendary! I declare this the best geocache ever!” With 30 Favorite points in just over a year, the caching community seems to agree.

Logs like these are the best rewards for dedicated cache owners. We think LeviCol speaks for most hiders when he says, “It doesn’t matter how rough of a day I’ve had, opening my emails to see a find on this cache makes me smile.”

One thing we learned from this cache is that geocaching allows you to see something new every day. We never thought we’d see a pirate-themed adventure inside a soda machine, but we’re sure glad we did.

Captain Haxton’s Treasure continues to delight geocaching adventurers from far and wide. Now, there’s even real treasure to be found inside!

“I created this coin to have a super unique treasure you can only get from this one pirate captain’s stash! I love finding unique treasure in caches and wanted to create something memorable for people to remember the cache by.“

-LeviCol

Treasure or no treasure, we don’t think anyone will ever forget this find.

Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world. Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.