The Legend of Odd Mushroom Mystery Cache

There is no cache at the posted coordinates (I doubt the water authority would want you swimming there anyway). There is, however a metal ammo can hidden in SGL 198 within 2 miles of these coordinates. Read on about "The Legend of OddMushroom" for information on how to find it.

The Legend of Odd Mushroom

Back in the days before the Allegheny Front was scaled by a geocaching rookie and a new friend of his, to reach a legendary cave (or sinkhole) of forgotten lore, there was an adventurer that went by the name of dshope33 (the very same new friend to the aforementioned rookie). This adventurer found that no mountain or tree, no stream or river, no field of rocks nor deep dark cave was a match for his desire to turn every green, orange, or even (eventually) blue circle on the geocaching map into a yellow smiley.

Not long before this epic evening of climbing the "Front", both the adventurer and the rookie found themselves at an event to launch some ducks on a race and meet new geocaching acquaintances (GC6KXQR). But at that event, they did not get a chance to formally meet each other, yet the rookie was aware of the name "dshope33", seen on so many of the logs for caches that he was finding, and that this same "dshope33", the intrepid adventurer, was just sitting one table in front of him at the event. That same evening, the rookie finally found a difficult nano cache (GC5DNKV) that had been elusive for a week or two, and the very next day he noticed that ‘dshope33’ needed help on that same cache. A message was exchanged back and forth between the rookie and the adventurer to offer assistance, and soon after, the tricky cache was also logged by ‘dshope33’.

More messages were exchanged over the next two weeks, including some discussion about assistance at a multicache in a park adjacent to the adventurer's residence that was in need of help (GCPH9F). That cache was fixed, due to the valiant efforts of the adventurer, and the rookie was able to get it logged on his third visit. So after the weeks of these message exchanges, with an obvious shared interest in the hobby between these two, an epic evening of hiking and searching on the legendary mountain of 'Steal' was planned, and the rookie found himself happily heading to SGL 198 to meet the adventurer and make the climb (GC5FE9P).

And then two days later, something "odd"; happened. When the rookie was reading back over his geo-messages, he noticed that all the past conversations with "dshope33" were no longer there, but instead his message thread was showing a conversation with someone called... "OddMushroom"... What was this? Who was this OddMushroom?

On the anniversary of OddMushroom placing the cache "Let It Be Known" (GC6PQ6F), just two days after the "legendary" first journey that these two new friends would make in 2016, make your own journey to discover the lost pieces of the "Legend of OddMushroom". You will need to discover and track down three fragments of the rest of the legend and look for coded clues that will lead you to the final location of this cache (an ammo can on SGL 198 land) so that you might add your own name to the log and share in the ongoing geocaching adventures that we all enjoy.

The final is located at N 40 2A.BCD W 78 3W.XYZ

Be sure to carefully look at each fragment front and back for information you might need to get the final coordinates. Either photograph each piece or record all of the pertinent information on a notepad. Some hinted information might be incomplete on any one piece (after all, these are fragments...)

If at any point you encounter trouble locating one of the trackable pieces, please feel free to geo-message me or send an email to me using the geocaching.com website. I will do my best to quickly help you with the trackable issue at hand. Thanks!

Parking suggestions to access the cache will be revealed by the geochecker, which is also useful to verify that you have the correct solution before setting out on your hike. The terrain rating was chosen based on the possibility of a longer hike depending on which parking option is selected or available. The difficulty was chosen based on that used on two similar caches, GC5Q7F2 and the now-archived GC3WT2V.

* NEW for Summer 2018: During GeoWoodstock 2018 in Cincinnati, OH, copies of the three TB puzzle pieces were released with their own separate tracking Travel Bug tags. Each piece, Odd, Mush, and Room, is the same for both the "inside" original TB series or the new "outside"/Legend-Woodstock series of TBs. So if "ODD" is discovered, for example, as part of the "outside" series, then the puzzle could be solved by finding the two other fragments, "MUSH" and "ROOM", from either the original "inside" or the newer "outside" series.

For more information on the Legend-Woodstock extention and the up-for-grabs "Out-of-Area-FTF" prize, please see the information at HippoCache.org.

Congratulations to Profbrad and carels for FTF ... What a team!

Congratulations to TBA for Out-of-Area-FTF ... Still up for grabs!

This cache is located in state game lands, so PLEASE observe all state game land rules and wear orange during hunting seasons. During the primary hunting season, finding this cache is recommended on Sunday only.