Geocaching Primer #2: Tools Of The Trade Mystery Cache

Welcome to Geocaching Primer 2: TOTT (Tools Of The Trade)!

First, the specifics: You are searching for a microcache...the inner tube from bison containers with log-only...so bring your own pen. The cache is NOT hidden at the posted coordinates...those coordinates are simply fake numbers required for the posting of a puzzle/mystery cache. To figure out the true coordinates, you'll need to solve the fun-but-simple puzzle below.

In our first Geocaching Primer cache, we took cachers on a tour of the most common types of geocache hides. In Geocaching Primer 2, we take cachers on a tour of some of the most common and/or useful tools for geocaching.

There are many tools that are extremely useful while engaging in this great hobby. For instance...

* When you go out geocaching in the heat of day, suntan lotion and plenty of water are two must-haves, and a sun visor and/or sunglasses might be useful.

* In the wet season or at night, bug spray is a great idea. You can also purchase inexpensive mosquito net hats that allow you to laugh at the blood-suckers while they try to get at your tasty face.

* If you tend to be allergic to poison ivy or poisonwood, some counteractive soap (such as Tecnu) or some preventative lotion (such as Ivy Block) can potentially prevent a serious outbreak. Dressing appropriately would also help...for example, gloves are great barriers to contact with poisonous plants, as are long pants.

* If you bring food to eat, it's a good idea to also bring along hand sanitizer...it's pretty gross to be digging in muck for a cache, to get back to the car, and to then grab ahold of that pizza slice with those encrusted fingers! Ugh!

* If you decide to try a night cache, which is a fun thing to do in the dark, you'll absolutely need to bring along a flashlight.

* If you want to sign the log...which is the only way you're allowed to claim credit for the find, by the way...you of course need to bring with you a pen.

* Some caches have hidden writing and require a UV (ultraviolet) light to reveal the hidden message.

For today's puzzle, 10 additional tools and geocaching lifesavers are pictured below. Here are descriptions of each of them, with some (but not all) of their geocaching applications. In alphabetical order, they are:

* Cell phone. For example, if you need to look up some information on the internet for a field puzzle or if you have fallen out of a tree and need to contact emergency services, the cell phone is your best friend.

* Computer. Some geocache hunts begins with advance information-gathering rather than a drive to the posted coordinates. Without a computer, those caches will simply be unobtainable.

* Extendable magnetic pick-up tool. Gotta reach for something magnetic in a cramped spot? These can make your life easy.

* Extra containers and logs. Obviously, these are necessities when you're checking on your own geocache hides that have received multiple DNF reports. However, these can also be useful with other people's caches. We're all one big geocaching community...in fact, I consider most geocachers to be de facto family. So, if we have gotten confirmation that a geocache has gone missing (known as "getting muggled"), we can provide a great service by replacing the missing cache for the owner (with his/her permission, of course). Similarly, if you encounter a log that is full or is so wet as to be unsignable, placing extra log sheets and plastic mini-zipper-lock baggies into the cache is always going to be appreciated (it's a pain in the neck for cache owners to drive out to their caches just to put a new piece of paper in there!).

* Friends. Other geocachers are very, very often the best resource you may have in a variety of otherwise-infuriating situations.

* GPS unit. Obviously, a handheld GPS unit can provide you with the coordinates you need in order to navigate to a geocache.

* Metal detector. Admittedly, I don't know many geocachers who have a metal detector in their back pockets, and geocaches are not permitted to be buried underground (so no shovel should EVER be required!). However, that time I was in a forest covered with fall leaves in search of an ammo box, this would have been a gift from the heavens!

* Mirror with adjustable angles. Well, dang it...someone wrote the coordinates for a geocache on the back of that soda machine, but I don't have a two-inch head to be able to look back there and see the writing and I refuse to potentially cause property damage or reveal my super-strength by moving the machine. Thank goodness this angled mirror will allow me to see in that hard-to-get-to spot!

* Tweezers. For those times you have a tic suckin' on your blood out in the forest...or for other reasons delineated below...tweezers are often a geocachers good, good buddy.

* Walking stick. These can be used in many ways, including (1) Keeping steady & finding footing on a steep incline, (2) Feeling underneath murky water before taking a step to avoid a sudden dip, and (3) Probing the dark area underneath a rock to see if there are snakes before shoving your arm in there.

To solve the puzzle and get the true coordinates for this geocache, match the scenarios described below to the tool / lifesaver that could best help you resolve the situation. Each picture is numbered. Note that some tools may be used more than once while others may not be used at all. The answers will fit into the following format:

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A - You come across a geocache...a nano-sized cache no bigger than the eraser at the end of a pencil...stuck at the bottom of a street sign on some deserted island with some meaningful words in the theme song for said island. You managed to reach the container, but the log is jammed in there and won't shake loose no matter how many times you attempt to shake it like a mercury-filled thermometer. If only you had a tool that could extract the log........

B - The CO has five puzzle caches that are driving you bonkers. One is asking all sorts of questions about some old television show that you've never watched, the second apparently will require you to freeze the frames of the opening credits of a current show you HAVE seen, the third wants information about some country you've never heard of, for the fourth the CO has apparently hidden the coordinates in the source code of the cache, and for the fifth, there's a sound clip with music from some song, and you're pretty sure you need the next words in the song to get the coordinates. If only there was some way of getting what you need for each of those caches........

C - You've solved the puzzle, but it requires you to go into a neighborhood where you suspect a solo geocacher might not be all that welcome, and you don't have a deathwish. If only there was a way to have strength in numbers.....

D - The puzzle has an audio file that sounds like someone is speaking gibberish. There was this guy you knew back in high school.....you weren't friends (yes, that's a hint on what is NOT the answer for this question), but he always bragged that he could understand gibberish. If only there was a way to contact him........

E - Apparently, the CO of this cache thinks it would be a really clever idea to attach the geocache container to a dime and to name the cache "EPLURIBUSUNUM", since that's printed on the back of all dimes. He hid the dang thing under a long bush, making it nearly impossible to locate. If only there was some tool to help you find that dang coin........

F - You're trying to solve a puzzle cache called "Hi!". The cache write-up is 10,000 words in length...some really long diatribe from a classical book...and you've noticed that, periodically, the homonym for "hi"..."HIGH"...shows up in the text. You think that the solution would be to count the number of words between appearances of the word "high", but they appear hundreds of words apart and that would take forever (and you'd probably miscount a dozen times). If only you had a tool that could count the words for you........

G - The cache involves driving all around town and spotting clues as you drive by them, but taking your eyes off the road as you drive greatly increases the likelihood that geocaching may indeed prove to be the death of you. If only there was some way to be keeping your eyes fully on the road while somehow still spotting the clues as you drive by........

H - There's this puzzle cache secretly subtitled "House Calls". You've solved part of one stage...that one has netted you seven letters, which is the number of digits in half of most geocache coordinates. You know the CO loves hiding hints in his cache titles, so you suspect that, given the "calls" part of the title, these letters may correspond to the numbers on a dialpad. If only you had a tool that could help you match the letters up to the numbers on a dialpad........

I - Ouch. When you arrived, you didn't realize this was an offset cache, you thought it was a standard multi-cache. At Stage One, you've discovered that you need to figure out where to go to be "324 feet away at a bearing of 245 degrees." You don't carry a compass with you. If only one of your tools had a compass setting........

J - Ow ow ow ow ow!! Getting to this geocache involved walking through a field full of those sharp burrs, and now they're stuck to your sock, your shoe, your pants and your shirt. You want to get them off of you, but every attempt results in more pain. If only you had a tool that could allow you to remove those burrs without actually touching them with your skin........

K - Well, you THOUGHT it would be a great idea to try a 24-hour geocaching run, aiming to get 200 caches in a single day, but as the day comes nearer, you're recognizing your limitations. You can't stay awake that long...and, besides, it takes too long to park the car for each cache. And, even worse, some of the caches involve climbing trees and scaling walls, and you are deathly afraid of heights. If only there was some way to share the driving and searching duties and to not have to risk your fool neck in those climbs........

L - You're pretty sure that the cache is a nano hidden in one of the holes at the bottoms of each rung in that fence. Problem is, there are over 100 holes and you're worried that, instead of a geocache, you're going to stick your thick fingers right into a hornet's nest. If only you had some tool to let you first see into those holes without actually diving in fingers-first........

M - You hid a puzzle cache that you're calling "I lost my mind but finally FOUND IT!", and you now want to hide the puzzle to the cache in a "Found It" log. However, you can't log a "Found It" for your own cache and, even if you could, it would be too obvious. One possible solution would be to open up a second shill account on www.geocaching.com and post a Found It with the fake name, but you figure the new cacher would also stand out like a sore thumb. If only there was a way to post a "Found It" log on your own cache without it appearing that you wrote the log and without it being obvious that this is part of the puzzle you created........

N - You come to a challenging cache in a park. There's a small, deep hole in the tree, just the right size for a bison tube. But it's too narrow a hole for your fingers to get in, and it's about a foot deep. When you shine your flashlight in the hole, you think you can juuuuust make out the metal key ring attached to the top of bison containers. If only there was a way to get that thing out of the hole........

Final note: I'm vying to make this one of my most "favorited" geocaches, so I've added a whole other element of geocaching goodness to the puzzle. Here's the secret: While they can also be used for caches throughout Miami and, heck, the entire world, we have it on good authority that many of the above scenarios provide hints on how to handle one or more of the geocaches hidden by JeffGamer, the Gamer Duo and the Gamer Family. If you get any insights from this puzzle that help you solve another geocache, that'll hopefully put this cache in your good graces! But PLEASE, do NOT post in your log which specific geocache(s) the hint(s) were helpful with...that'll be our little secret.

Good luck....and cache on!