Cra-Z Cache Coords Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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in our disclaimer.
The cache is not located at the posted
coordinates
Before jumping into a cache, don't you always love to see that
little disclaimer "The cache is not located at the posted
coordinates"? It's kind of a head's up to what you're really about
to experience. Prior to really getting into Geocaching, my wife was
the puzzle wizard. I really never understood the fascination of
solving some of the things she does, but as long as she was happy,
what else was needed? That, however, has changed with me since
getting back into the sport. Not that I really solve all that many,
but I have really begun to enjoy creating puzzles for geocaching
(thus the name .ichydr, and not .icfyndr). Whereas before I would
sit back and just marvel at, “how did they possibly conceive of
that idea?” I now look at everyday items as possible “puzzle
material.”
Every day, it seems lately, I work to determine how new and old
puzzle formats can possibly be used for new geocache puzzles. You
have your faithful standbys, like the crossword puzzles, or
find-a-words, of course. You can always use unscramblers to decrypt
coordinates from scrambled letters. There are even your standard
jigsaw puzzles which, when assembled properly, reveal the necessary
information. Some of the newer puzzle formats, including SuDoku and
logic puzzles can be really fun (for some) and when combined with
geocaching it can be really entertaining. Personally, I love the
old-fashioned maze concept. I have seen some caches where you have
to successfully navigate through maze-like boards and at the end
the coordinates are provided (not necessarily clearly spelled out
for you – sometimes even the end is only the beginning). Sometimes
geocaching is a maze in-and-of-itself, what a great way to really
mix it up!
To other people some of the newer technologies have prevailed in
providing great habitats for geocaching puzzle concepts. For
example, people have used binary codes as a way to mask coordinates
(00110010 00110101 10101000 00011101 11011001). Others add pictures
to their documents that actually conceal secondary pictures within
the primary picture. I’m sure you’ve seen the postings with the
coordinates somehow embedded within pictures in the background, and
of course there's the concept of leading people from one webpage to
another, to another, to another, to another just to somehow cobble
together numbers that may eventually lead to a viable coordinate.
These, and other similar ones wouldn’t be possible without the
internet. Ain’t technology great!
Average spies probably love this game, too. So many ciphers and
cryptograms available make it a super-sleuth’s play haven!
Washington, DC has a neat spy museum (down the street from the FBI
Building, of course) that talks about the history of spies and some
of the ways they would communicate their information in codes and
ciphers. If you haven’t visited DC, you can always go to the FBI’s
website where code and ciphers are actually explained and, in many
cases, you can build your own encrypted codes which can very easily
be placed into your goecaching web page. I’ve often wondered if the
old days of spy-vs-spy really evolved into what we call geocaching
today! Is “I geocache” code for “I’m a spook”?
More and more people are embedding codes within the text of their
write-ups. People will emphasize letters or numbers or de-emphasize
them to hide within the text. Some text is hidden in words that are
in white text so that you can’t see them, others in bold text,
plain as day, but so obvious that you would never think that they
could be real. I’ve worked codes where the alphabet is used to
create the coordinates, words translate into numbers, or even where
numbers translate to words!
And, of course, you always have the brainiacs at work. Literally,
some puzzles require a degree in rocket science, or brain surgery.
Others require you to know a little bit about a lot, or a lot about
just a little bit. Engineers and scientists love to turn their work
into puzzles for other people to solve by using formulas of their
field to calculate out their desired outcomes. Some are nice enough
to tell you the formulas that are needed, other require you to
search for them on your own. And once you have the formula (and
know how to use it), you still may need to use some other technique
to pull the necessary information into the formulas to get them to
calculate!
Zany puzzles have been created using jokes where the punch-lines
actually lead you to the cache location. Robots are popping up
requiring you to provide the necessary “password” before it will
reveal their secrets. I’ve even seen cartoons where the coordinates
are drawn into the design! As crazy as they may be, they can be
entertaining, fun, and challenging all in one package. Goofy
puzzles sometimes look more like a completed Mad Lib story than
anything truly informative. Reading these types of caches always
makes me laugh and I’ve even been known to pull out the old Mad
Libs books just to entertain the kid in me again. Nothing like
working the brain cells with a little humor!
Each person has their own way of creating geocache puzzles. There
are so many themes, so many designs, and codes, and ciphers, and
pictures and creative genius that it would be impossible to list
them all. And I know mine have been sometime known as a bit “out
there,” but I always try to make them fun, yet challenging, which
is what I believe all geocachers try to do. Obviously, they are not
impossible, but I do admit some of them make you want to knock your
head against a brick wall sooner than trying to go back and solve
the cache. I hope if you choose the wall route, that after your
recovery you come back and enjoy the hides.
Notes to Observe:
WARNING: Please note that one
aspect of caching is to PRESERVE the environment. If
you have problems with returning landscaping or cleaning the
environment to a point as good as or better than you found it,
don't search for this cache! You do not need to destroy the area to
find anything for this cache. Going to the cache in the most direct
route is not necessarily the environmentally-wisest (or safest)
route. Take the necessary extra steps to preserve the environment
as well as to maintain the secrecy of the cache's location!
Parking could be tricky. Although a parking lot is fairly near
ground zero, it may not be best due to muggles and their curiosity.
I would recommend parking in a lot a bit down the road and walking
to the cache spot. Less questions, fewer watchful "eyes" (of
various kinds.) And, as always, parking is not permitted on the
road near the cache.
By popular demand, a verification system has been implemented
below. I hope this helps in your endeavors!
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Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Nyy gur uvagf lbh arrq ner va gur cnentencuf bs gur znva grkg. Lbh qba'g ernyyl arrq nalguvat ryfr.
Unaqf qbja, jvgubhg dhrfgvba, lbh jvyy xabj lbh unir gur pbeerpg pbbeqvangrf jura lbh fbyir gur chmmyr. Gurer jvyy or ab arrq gb nfx zr sbe pbasvezngvba. Vs lbh unir nal dhrfgvba ba jurgure lbh unir gur pbbeqf, lbh cebonoyl qba'g unir gurz. Ohg, hfr gur pbasvezngvba flfgrz nobir vs lbh fgvyy qba'g unir pbasvqrapr va lbhe novyvgvrf.
Treasures
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