The idea
When my son received his virtual cache reward in 2019, we decided to place it in Vatican, and we came up with the idea of asking cachers to show where they came from. I still like the idea, so when I received my own VC reward four years later, I decided to repeat it here in Iceland - another country that is very international... and totally amazing, to boot.
So here we are - I hope you love this beautiful country as much as we do, and I'm sure it was a dream come true for you, too, when you first visited it. And as we wrote in my son's Vatican cache listing, please also remember those who never get the chance to admire this country – simply because they are poor, unfree, or both. Many thanks.
The task - read at least this, please! :-)
In order to suggest where you came from, please visit at least one of the places given as waypoints and take a photo of you or your personal item with as many raised fingers as there are colours on your home country national flag. For example, I come from a region that has had at least seven different names in the last 120 years, but it proudly calls itself the Czech Republic right now. And because the Czech national flag has three different colours, I need to raise three fingers of my alabaster hand if I want to log this virtual (kindly see my beautiful example photos below.) Attach your photo to your log, then, and write which flag your fingers represent.
It's a pretty stupid idea, I know, but it also happens to be a reliable way to make sure you have visited this place after the publication of my virtual cache. So please don't try to send me photos from your family holiday in Iceland in 1979 - however nice those polaroids may be, they will be brutally deleted along with your "Found it" log.
Important note: :-) If your country flag has more than 10 different colours (is there any such country?) or if you lost some fingers splitting wood last winter (oh, I'm such a cynic!), then you can simply attach more photos, until the total number of raised fingers on them meets my condition. I can only hope I won't receive batches of two, three, four or more photos of raised middle fingers from even bigger cynics than me! :-)
The locations
Initially, I had pre-selected three locations that grabbed my attention for whatever reasons. But when I couldn't then decide which one to pick for this virtual, I got an idea to offer you all three of them, so you can choose yourselves (or visit all ot them, of course).
The first two locations are well accessible and quite frequented, while the third one is much more remote and magical. The T of this virtual cache is rated by the easiest-to-access location, which is Strokkur (T1).
Location 1: Strokkur What can I say here? Arguably the most famous Icelandic geyser, so don't expect to be alone here. Just take your photo somewhere around here, don't push and shove your fellow visitors, and please beware of hot water!
Sample photo here (remember: three flag colours = three raised fingers, etc.):
Location 2: Öxarárfoss Another popular stop on the Golden Circle. Some continental plates meet in this place, so you can technically hop between Europe and America here if you manage to come within the next 100 million years or so.
As for my sample photos, please note that I show the European style of finger-counting on them. But I will, of course, accept other styles, too. (In fact, it is very interesting to read how much such a simple thing as finger-counting can differ among regions.)
Sample photo (European way):
Location 3: "The Hell" This place was shown to us by our good friend Tomas, who nicknamed it "The Hell" (you will see why). It's located in the Reykjadalur valley, some 500 metres behind the famous hot river. And yes, chances are you will be alone here at the long last.
The whole trail of Reykjavegur is picturesque and magical, and you can also try a hot bath in the geothermal river or the zipline ride in the parking lot below. The trail could be icy during the winter, hence the T4 rating.
Sample photo here (I'm beginning to get cramps in my three fingers...):
The bonuses
And, as a special bonus, if youʼre the first cacher from your country to find this virtual, I will allow you to log your country-FTF. So, no matter how much time elapsed from the publication of this cache, you still have a chance to win an FTF!!!
It will be interesting to watch how many different flags there will be in a year, three years or five years. You can see the current list of countries below.
List of country first finders
|
|
country |
date |
country-FTF holder |
| 1. |
 |
United States |
02-04-2024 |
tex_ak |
| 2. |
 |
Czech Republic |
02-04-2024 |
Angelstorm44 |
| 3. |
 |
Germany |
02-08-2024 |
Boña |
| 4. |
 |
The Netherlands |
02-08-2024 |
millieballon, Los Rositas |
| 5. |
 |
Austria |
02-08-2024 |
garge |
| 6. |
 |
United Kingdom |
02-09-2024 |
Robincat, C0sm0Cacher |
| 7. |
 |
Portugal |
02-10-2024 |
JEstruz |
| 8. |
 |
Ireland |
02-12-2024 |
Wa wa |
| 9. |
 |
Belgium |
02-15-2024 |
pelle_25 |
| 10. |
 |
Norway |
02-16-2024 |
sigmundv |
| 11. |
 |
Switzerland |
03-02-2024 |
Pakasch |
| 12. |
 |
Poland |
03-08-2024 |
Ignis_PL |
| 13. |
 |
Lithuania |
03-09-2024 |
justekun |
| 14. |
 |
Slovakia |
03-11-2024 |
Marcok9315, bonny a clide |
| 15. |
 |
France |
03-15-2024 |
sjl&co |
| 16. |
 |
Iceland |
03-24-2024 |
GrrafZahl |
| 17. |
 |
Italy |
04-08-2024 |
f3dinho |
| 18. |
 |
Finland |
04-16-2024 |
JonnixD |
| 19. |
 |
Latvia |
05-18-2024 |
cheburs |
| 20. |
 |
Canada |
05-22-2024 |
BenSimMom |
| 21. |
 |
Sweden |
05-26-2024 |
privatakatta |
| ... |
|
... |
... |
... |
Another bonus is for eager cachers who visit all three locations and send me photos from each of them. Your nicknames will be eternalized in my personal honour list below, which is definitely worth the effort, isn't it? :-)
List of cachers who visited all three locations
|
|
country |
date |
nickname |
| 1. |
|
Germany |
02-10-2024 |
Boña |
| 2. |
|
? |
??-??-???? |
? |
| 3. |
|
? |
??-??-???? |
? |
| ... |
|
... |
... |
... |
They say I should leave this here :-)
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.
And this must be here
Many thanks to Pilif 007 for helping me with this virtual cache. As I always write, "no betatesters were harmed in the process of creating this cache, and if they were, it was for another reason". :-) But last time I checked, Filip was still alive and kicking...
Thank you again, and happy caching!