So you think you know geocaching?!?
Here is a fun little puzzle cache, placed in the winter of 2020 to keep our geocaching game going year round, and to have a bit of fun with a puzzle cache at the same time. The theme: Gecoaching itself! What do you know about the origins of geocaching? What do you know about travel bugs and geocaching etiquette? If any of these questions stump you, I'm sure an online search would quickly help you. Here comes the quiz!
This cache is hidden at:
N 47° 36.ABC W 052° 43.DEF
Where A through F are found by considering the clues below:
A - Dave Ulmer hid the first "geocache" on May 3, 2000. The cache was located at N 45° 17.A60 W 122° 2A.800.
B - The term "geocaching" was first coined by Matt Stum on the "GPS Stash Hunt" mailing list on May B0, 2000.
C - The very first travel bug is "Deadly Duck: Envy" and has the code "TB1". It was released by Jeremy Irish on Thursday, 30 August 200C. Not surprisingly, Envy has gone missing. The picture below is from the last log entry of Envy.
D - Mike Teague, the first person to find Ulmer's stash, began gathering the online posts of coordinates around the world and documenting them on his personal home page. The "GPS Stash Hunt" mailing list was created to discuss the emerging activity, and Stum's suggestion of "geocaching" stuck. As with most participants, Jeremy Irish, a web developer for a Seattle company, stumbled upon Mike Teague's website while doing research on GPS technology. The idea of treasure hunting and using tech-gadgets represented the marriage of two of his biggest interests. Discovering one was hidden nearby, Jeremy purchased his first GPS unit and went on his first hunt the following weekend. A new site was developed With Mike Teague's valuable input, the new site was completed and announced to the stash-hunting community on September D, 2000. At the time the site was launched there were 75 known caches in the world.
E - Here is a bit of Newfoundland and Labrador's geocaching history: "The Lookout: first ever cache in Newfoundland" has the GC code GCE(E)C.
F - The first geocache contained software, videos, books, money, a slingshot and... a can of beans. The cache was a black plastic bucket, party buried, and was eventually destroyed by a "lawnmower incident". The only thing salvaged from the original cache was - go figure - the original can of beans, which has been turned in to a trackable item! The name of the now legendary trackable is "OCB©", code TBGJAA. The travel bug belongs to Team XY0. F = X + Y - 1 ("X" plus "Y" minus one).
So how did you do? Do you have your coordinates? Check them below, if so!
The cache is a small container, with a logsheet and a small trackable upon initial hide.
I hope you enjoyed this puzzle, and this little lesson in the history of geocaching. 