February 8, 2017 / Ellis

Car challenge — Geocache of the Week

Traditional: GC593G5; by GeoCat

Difficulty:: 2
Terrain:: 3

Location:: Bulgaria; N 42° 10.933′ E 023° 15.386′

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost

To say this Geocache of the Week is reached by the road less traveled is an understatement. Located in eastern Europe’s Bulgaria, the cache is at the highest point reachable by car in the country. After crawling up the steep switchback, you will start the search for the appropriately named cache, Car challenge.

There are several ways to approach the cache. By car, by foot, or by bicycle. Whatever way you get there will be quite treacherous because the road is both steep and very old. By car and bicycle, you must take a switchback road that was built during the Second World War. Warning: This location makes the World’s list of dangerous roads so please be prepared and take a reliable vehicle with you.

The road was created to serve the construction of hydropower dams and reservoirs. The existing water reservoir (hint: the cache is nearby) is at the highest altitude in the Balkans (2,394 meters/7,854.331 feet).

By foot, you can either walk up the same road or hike through gorgeous mountain scenery on a 3-5 hour hike. You can also stay overnight at the picturesque Ivan Vasov Hut, named after the famous Bulgarian novelist, Ivan Vasov.

In the summer, the road serves as a track for cycling and running races. From the starting point just a mile up the road, there is nothing but you, the road, the mountains and the geocache on the summit. The cache itself is in great shape and has plenty of space for you to drop off or pick up a trackable at this breathtaking spot.

Testimonials:

Unexpected TTF – Thank you for a very nice cache (especially in Bulgaria measures) in beautiful mountains of Rila. I came for it by Jeep as I would never use my own “ordinary” car, although I have seen some other people climbing up there with a Peugot 30, so I guess it could be done…. T4TC!!!
Mur3na11

Finding this cache came as a little bonus. We went to close the summer season with a 4 day route through Maliovitsa, Ivan Vazov, the Seven Rila Lakes and back. We left an entire day to hike around Ivan Vazov and decided to go to the peak. I borrowed a GPS to record our route of the entire vacation in Rila and when I looked at the screen I saw that there was cache I had never found. What a nice surprise! We took a trip to look for the cache and the search was crowned with success.
Thanks for the cache!
TFTC!
Emo & Nati
Emil Petrov

By cache we reached the Ivan Vazov hut. The entire valley from the hut to the array of Kali is incredible. I recommend the pedestrian option, although the cache is dedicated to the road. Thanks for the great and well-packaged box 🙂
Hellla

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.

February 1, 2017 / Andrew Baldwin

Piz Palü 3901 m.ü.M. — Geocache of the Week

Traditional: GC5B9WM; by the Schnuppels

Difficulty:: 3
Terrain:: 5

Location:: In Graubuenden (GR), Switzerland; N 46° 22.715′ E 009° 58.152′

“Thousands of tired, nerve shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home.” –John Muir

If you love extreme, you’ll love this GOTW. In Switzerland, a mountain cache sits at 3,901 m (12,800 ft). Home to 30,239 active geocaches, and more than 250 summits above 3,600 m, Switzerland is a haven for mountain caching. According to the cache owner, Piz Palü is one of the great treasures of the Alps. “You will experience here breathtaking views that you will never forget, because you have to earn it with endurance and skill. The entrance over the Pers glacier is only possible with crampons, pick axes, and ropes.” –the Schnuppels

The journey can be split up into 3 days per Cosley & Houston’s Alpine Guide.

Day 1

Start by riding the Diavolezza lift to almost 3,000 m. From here you descend to the Pers Glacier, cross this and ascend the Fortezza to the Bellavista Terraces. These are followed to the Marco e Rosa hut, 3,597 m, where you spend the night.

Day 2

From the hut you climb up first glacier, then steeper snow, and finally rock to gain the east ridge of the Spedela, a 4020 meter sub-peak of the Bernina. From here a narrow ridge crest sometimes rock, sometimes snow, leads to the airy summit. Follow the same route back to the hut to spend a second night.

Day 3

On our last day, traverse back across the Bellavista Terraces to the pass at the west end of the three summits of Piz Palü. The first summit is mostly rock. the second and third are snow, with some steep and narrow snow ridges to add spice to the adventure. After descending the large Vedret Pers glacier, climb back to the Diavolezza lift and take it back to the valley.

The descent is steep and can be dangerous. Temperatures in the region can hit -22 degrees celsius at night (uh brrr?) and the cache page says the initial ascent of the mountain is 5-6 hours — the descent about 4 hours. Geocachers are drawn to parts of the Earth like this to fight nerves and be in an environment where they feel at home. Spending three days to earn a geocache through blistering freezing temperatures, putting your faith into your pickaxe on the side of a cliff hundreds of meters in the air, and getting swept in all directions by the Apline wind is home to some. Call it crazy, call it geocaching, call it what you will, it’s all in the spirit of adventure and finding your happy place in the world.

“At 4:40 we started from the Diavolezza. Apart from the ascent on the previous day, the first day on the route was exhausting, even without the acclimation. But in the end, we had a good time on the saddle and could fill up the summit with a short break. We were able to get here without a rope, so it was no problem to quickly go to the memorial plaque. I was surprised at how wide the saddle is.

Thanks so much for the cache at this special place! This was, of course, the icing on the cake! Now I’m curious when I’ll find an even higher cache. For a while, this cache will probably remain on place 1 of my high altitude list.” –SteinbamOne 6th log entry.

The Schnuppels was the pioneer who placed this extreme cache, and only 8 others have braved the journey since 2014.

January 25, 2017 / Janelle /

Deep Darkness — Geocache of the Week

Traditional: GC1QC0V; by Balla & Silly

Difficulty:: 2
Terrain:: 3

Location:: Islas Baleares, Spain; N 39° 28.425 E 002° 29.127

This geocache is located in Islas Baleares, Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. This idyllic area has everything you could ever dream of: beaches, prehistoric ruins, gorgeous countryside, and of course, awesome geocaching.

Continue reading →

January 18, 2017 / Alex

A Box of Red Herrings — Geocache of the Week

Traditional: GC6NQC2; by burgo78

Difficulty:: 4
Terrain:: 1

Location:: Townsville, Australia; S 19° 17.724 E 146° 46.327

“A Box of Red Herrings” (GC6NQC2) delivers exactly what it promises. The cache itself is hidden with permission inside the Aitkenvale Library in Queensland, Australia. It’s not difficult to spot, but the logbook inside is as well protected as J.K. Rowling’s sorcerer’s stone.

The cache sits in an inconspicuous corner of the library.

At ground zero you’ll find a three-foot tall cupboard with each of its drawers padlocked. Tackle the bottom drawer first, using instructions on the cache page and letters from a nearby library sign as your guide.

"A Box of Red Herrings" is easy to find but tricky to open. — “A Box of Red Herrings” is easy to find but tricky to open.

Open that drawer to find over a hundred mostly unmarked keys. You might start to feel like Harry Potter himself as you search through a throng of dud keys to locate one that will unlock the middle drawer.

It'll take a while to sift through the contents of the bottom drawer to find the right tool to open the middle one. — It’ll take a while to sift through the contents of the bottom drawer to find the right tool to open the middle one.

The middle drawer contains several items. Some may be useful in opening the top drawer and gaining access to the log inside. Most are red herrings. The challenge lies in discerning which are which.

unnamed-12 — The contents of the middle drawer will take some time to sift through.

The middle drawer contains the following:

A magnifying glass and a small clue; on the clue some letters and numbers are in bold or capitalized
Two tent pegs which will fit into holes in the drawers
A telescoping magnet
A mirror and a backwards note
Toothpicks and a block of wood – when the toothpicks are pushed into the holes in the wood they spell something in Roman numerals
Several plastic eggs, some with letters on them
A UV torch

Is it a literal or a figurative red herring?

Is one of the objects — or are several of them in combination — a clue? Or is there some other trick to getting the top drawer open? We won’t reveal any more than that here, but cachers who make it out to this cache won’t find it an easy one to finish…unless, says the cache owner, they ask for a hint from the local older gentleman who often sits in a chair near the cache.

The UV torch highlights a clue...or another red herring. — The UV torch highlights a clue…or another red herring.

Impressively, the cache owner, burgo78, has only been geocaching since March of 2016, proving that it doesn’t take years of geocaching practice to design a cool hide. He’s been thoroughly enjoying his first year of caching. “I now have 800+ finds and have 60 hides in Townsville (plus one in the USA, and one in England); some are simple containers but most are either a little harder to get to (boat or remote) or are a little more creative as these are the types of hides I enjoy finding myself.”

The bottom and middle drawer successfully unlocked. One to go!

unnamed-7 — A mysterious jar of sticks can be arranged into a mysterious upright row of sticks.

Although he’s sure his caches will provide a fun challenge for many, burgo78’s motives may lie elsewhere. “I also hope that this cache my inspire new hides in Townsville as I’ve found almost all of the 400 currently in place and the next substantial city is over four hours’ drive away.” The struggle is real.

Trying to discern what the magnifying glass is for.

Until now, only a few folks have found “A Box of Red Herrings”, but the comments have been unanimously positive. Burgo78 hopes that more cachers will rise to the challenge and won’t be too distracted by the red herrings they’ll encounter along the way.

We can see a lot of work and thought has gone in to this really great cache. We tried many options, slowly and methodically working towards success. My comment when I signed the log, “WOW”. Thank you, a favorite for us.

The logbook finally reveals itself. — The logbook and a trove of other objects — mysterious and otherwise — finally reveal themselves.

January 4, 2017 / Andrew Baldwin

The Ouzoud Waterfalls — Geocache of the Week

EarthCache: GC21VQ7; by Silvana

Difficulty:: 2
Terrain:: 2

Location:: Morocco; N 32° 00.900′ W 006° 43.181′

Waterfalls draw people in with their effulgent mist, power, and calming radiance from the sound of flowing water. The Ouzoud Waterfalls are located in the epitome of an oasis, surrounded by trees and vibrant desert life. Can you imagine the excitement of crossing the Sahara desert and stumbling upon this multi-tiered waterfall?

This EarthCache here is designed to educate you on waterfalls and their formation. The geocache page does an excellent job in explaining the different types of waterfalls and will equip you with the right information so you can enjoy a fulfilling geological adventure.

But to bring you up to speed: You’ll learn the difference between a cascade and a cataract waterfall, and how waterfalls are created. The peak of the falls reach 323 ft (98 m), and from there the water flows down several tiers of varying size. You can view the falls from both the top or from the plunge pool below. The name “Ouzoud” translates to “olive” in the ancient language of Berber, and was named that because of the plenitude of olive trees that surround the falls.

There are also a ton of monkeys!

gotw-morocco8

Take a break to take this all in.

gotw-morocco4

Here’s what geocachers had to say:

On the day before we went home, we visited the Ouzoud- waterfalls. First, we looked at this beautiful natural phenomenon from above. The the stairs down seemed endless. Both views were breathtaking! Thank you for this great Earthcache! – Trittauer translated from German

We have found this cache during our motorized one week long geotrip around Morocco. We have visited cascades d’Ouzoud, some caves and lakes and interesting and beautiful places in cities like Fes, Casablanca or Marrakech. We enjoyed our journey a lot and we definitely will come back to Morocco in the future. These waterfalls are really beautiful, it is probably the greatest place we have seen in Morocco. We liked also the meeting with monkeys and our trip through valley down the river. Thank you very much for our 6000. cache!!! Greetings from the Czech Republic. – R+D

Every EarthCache has delightful engaging facts about the geological site that you can observe first hand. Thank you Silvana for recognizing a great EarthCache and writing a very educational cache page. Go chase this waterfall if you’re in search for an amazing adventure!

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Category: Community

Car challenge — Geocache of the Week

Piz Palü 3901 m.ü.M. — Geocache of the Week

Deep Darkness — Geocache of the Week

A Box of Red Herrings — Geocache of the Week

The Ouzoud Waterfalls — Geocache of the Week

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