More adventures with my imaginary friends!
After seeing all the fun that Loopy, Bijoux, Hoot, Boopsy,
Denny, and Knox have had placing caches (GC25ZQD, GC277MK, GC27GPH,
and GC28J10), Cello and Buzz, their geodogs, wanted to get into the
mix. They figure that since they have been on a lot of the trips
with the Abbott and Bellow clans, they have learned quite a bit
about how to properly find and hide caches. We are about to put
that theory to the test.
The geo-pups sent me directions for finding their cache.
Unfortunately, they sent them in a variation of the whistle
commands used by shepherds to communicate with their dogs in the
fields. I have taken the liberty of translating the information
into English but Buzz also speaks a fairly obscure dialect of
Welsh, since he was born there. Thus, my translation may be less
than perfect. And since the boys did parts of this independent of
each other, the units do not always mesh as well as we might like.
Why you cannot train an AKC registered breed to use a standard
measurement system remains a mystery.
The first part of this quest was constructed by Buzz. I pointed
out we could describe this as a "dog-leg" but the humor was lost on
him; sheep dogs are very serious cookies. He wants you to start at
the published coordinates. Then he wants you to subtract the number
of a major road in Fairfax County that intersects I-66 and has
three consecutive numbers in its usual designation from the N/S
figure. He remembers that road because he got "tutored" someplace
along there. You then subtract the answer to life, the universe and
everything from the E/W number. He got this number because he is a
surprisingly well read beast.
Cello figured out the second part. He didn't take copious notes,
thus some of this is coming out of his fuzzy canine brain, so bear
with him. Project a bearing of 295.709 for a distance of 930
fathoms. Where he got that unit of measurement eludes me. This will
take you to a parking area sufficient for three cars and no
more.
Based on what anyone has managed to extract from them, this is
where they started to "mark" a trail to the cache. Unfortunately,
now we come to the limitations of the canis lupus familiaris
vis-a-vis geocaching. That whole lack of an opposable thumb thing
tends to put a crimp into some of the common methods of marking
cache locations. Thus, the boys have been forced to use something
more appropriate for their species. We apologize in advance if any
of you are offended by their methods but Buzz and Cello, being
dogs, are less squeamish about such things.
Realize that the boys are 16 (Cello) and 18 (Buzz) inches at the
withers, and that should give you some rough idea on where you need
to look to find their trail unless you happen to have a canine
olfactory system in which case you should just "follow your nose".
(Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.) I have seen these guys wander
in the woods so it is very likely that the trail they created may
not be as linear as you or I might create. Unless they are chasing
stock, the boys tend to be distracted easily. By the same token, if
you have ever been on a walk with a dog, they tend to mark with
some frequency. The boys are very mindful of private property and
they may not have left as many markers there. You might have to
look a little farther along the "trail".
Both Buzz and Cello's favorite movie was "Never Cry Wolf".
Apparently it stars some distant relatives of theirs. Through a
liberal application of doggy treats, I have managed to learn that
the boys particularly liked the scene where the human character
marks the territory around his tent. They found it quite humorous.
According to them, there was clearly no technical advisor on hand
during the filming. It is just a guess, but my suspicion is they
may have used a similar technique to mark their cache location.
You may expect less than a half mile walk from your vehicle to the
cache. Knowing the boys as I do, there may be some minor
bushwhacking. I am pretty sure they did not cross any bodies of
water.
You are looking for a small camo'd 100cc container. Extra credit
if you can figure out its original function (hint - it is in line
with the general "theme" of this puzzle.) There is not a lot of
extra room for "stuff". BYOP would be a very good idea. This cache
is well suited for small children since they are built low to the
ground and for geo-pups because they are great cover. People in
wheelchairs should be able to do this one although you will need a
helper for some of it.
Once again, if you already have one or more FTFs, please wait 48
hours from the date this cache is published so we might be able to
share the FTF wealth. Once the log is written into the first time
or 48 hours are up, all bets are off. If you have mini-cachers, you
can take 24 hours off of that number provided you bring them along
and they get to sign first. I cannot enforce that request but I
will ask nicely. If it weren't my cache, I would have to wait
also.
The name of this cache comes from an adventure with one of my
real-life geo-dogs, Bart. I had gone to "climb" the highest point
in Berks County, PA. On the way back to the car, in order to help
fellow hikers, I built a small cairn at one of the more indistinct
trail intersections. I had no sooner finished piling half a dozen
small rocks atop each other when Bart decreed the cairn to be
"Number 1". I took this to be an editorialization about my cairn
making abilities but it was likely just a general expression of his
overall canine nature.
Of course, since this is a Northern Virginia cache, the usual
warnings apply: Heed all signs, look both ways when you cross the
street, and call your mother.
Congratulations to donbadabon for the FTF!!
Note for Dec 5, 2010: The old container was apparently muggled or
at least it was not where I had left it. I have replaced the
container with something slightly more plebeian but probably
slightly more apropos to the location.