This is a tribute cache dedicated to one of the greatest geocaching puzzles Alberta has ever seen: Al Oeming’s Alberta Game Farm.
If you were lucky enough to experience it, you already know: this was more than just a puzzle. It was a rite of passage. A journey through history, mystery, and tenacity. Created with care, intelligence, and just the right amount of madness, this cache didn’t just ask you to solve it—it dared you to. And in doing so, it changed what a puzzle cache could be.
For me, solving it was a five-month odyssey. Five months of spreadsheets, sleepless nights, brain cramps, false leads, and tiny breakthroughs. I didn’t do it alone—not even close. This puzzle brought people together. I traded messages with strangers who became teammates. I sat over coffee with local legends. I posted in forums. I studied obscure Alberta wildlife, vintage signage, and long-forgotten landmarks. Piece by piece, with the help of many minds and generous hints from kind souls, I cracked it.
But the real prize wasn’t just the coordinates—it was the experience.
Al Oeming’s Alberta Game Farm didn’t just challenge the mind—it built a community. It was the puzzle that people talked about. The one that made your eyes widen when someone said, “I solved it.” The one that sat unsolved in bookmarks for months or even years, until—finally—you took the plunge.
This cache is my tribute to that spirit. To the cache that inspired, frustrated, educated, and united so many. To the owner who poured time and talent into its creation. And to Al Oeming himself—a larger-than-life Albertan figure whose passion for animals and education still echoes through this province.
This cache is not a replica. It’s not a sequel. It’s a thank-you.
If you solved the original puzzle, log a memory. If you never got the chance, ask someone who did—chances are, they’ll light up with stories. And if you’re brand new to the scene, let this cache remind you of what geocaching can be: creative, communal, and unforgettable.
To the puzzle that set the bar, and the cachers it inspired—this one’s for you.
Here is the actual page from the original puzzle below.
Since it is archived, and the zombie is gone, I also included how to solve the puzzle in very good detail at the very bottom. That is specifically for all of you who couldn't figure it out in time.
-- The cache is not at the posted coordinates. --
Al Oeming’s Alberta Game Farm was located about 24 km east of Edmonton, the entrance located on Range Road 223 just north of Highway 14. The list of animal species housed at the game farm in its heyday is long, with no fewer than 3,200 head of mammals and also birds being raised on the farm.
Al cofounded Klondike Wrestling with his childhood friend Stu Hart in 1948 at the age of 23. His first entrepreneurial endeavour would eventually become Stampede Wrestling, that venture becoming famous across Canada, indeed the world.
In 1955 Oeming obtained a Master's Degree in Science specializing in zoology and after selling his share in the wrestling concern, he used the proceeds as seed money for what would become the Alberta Game Farm in 1959. At this point in his life he was clearly combining a love of nature with a flair for promotion, bringing to game farm visitors the unique opportunity to experience exotic animals at close hand.
And that humble beginning gradually grew during the following 20-year period into a thriving business with attendance sometimes reaching 5000 to 8000 on weekends, a testament to the curiosity we humans have for learning more about other animal species.
Real credit for the popularity of the game farm needs to go to Al Oeming himself for promoting the love of nature and the game farm in various ways including visiting schools in Alberta and across Canada with his pet cheetah Tawana. His creation of Al Oeming: Man of the North promoted conservation as well as a greater understanding of nature.
Wild Splendour was another of the many films Oeming produced, and deja vu all over again; one of his sons has been attempting to develop a new business venture with the same name: Wild Splendour Ecological Resort. This village, as it eventually is planned to be, won’t need the former game farm’s many stockades to hold exotic animals, like Siberian tigers, white rhinoceroses, a silver back mountain gorilla, a Przewalski horse, and snow leopards just to name a few of the species kept at the Alberta Game Farm that closed in 1998. This project is conceived to be more like an ecological resort, and along with a golf course, an equestrian show facility, and a scad of other proposed services round out the future dreams for this newly conceived venture.
Late 2014 Al Oeming passed away and even at 88 is said to have been “pursu[ing] his interests with the zeal of a young man”. Long may the zeal and energy he displayed for conservation education live on in future generations!
Colchester Castle at the hint coordinates. Letter that exchanged hands relates to the Trevanion's Cipher. When I put the whole Al Oeming cache page description into the code Trevanion Cipher (using only ..) I get:
ninefiveSeightcrfSefSvetSevenplus2m which is written as 9558CR77+2M.
Put that into dcode "Open Location (Plus Code) and you get 53.4125625 -113.1858125
Use coordinate converter to get N53 24.75375 W113 11.14875
Coordinate Checker:
Your coordinates are within 3 meters of the correct coordinates!
N53 24.755 W113 11.150
Congratulations!!
You persevered to reveal the correct coordinates to the cache! For my part, I'm glad I can finally write sentences without having to count character positions after periods and commas again!
We're both relieved!?
Since Plus Codes define rectangles on the map, they are inherently a bit "fuzzy" when converted to coordinates. That's why you may have solved the puzzle with coords not exactly like the coordinates noted above. But rest assured you'll be darn close. Once you get to ground zero you shouldn't have much trouble making the find of this winter-friendly hidden cache.
Parking:There is ample parking available at the trailhead of Donaldson Park Natural Area. See parking coords below.
Please do not post any images that could compromise the location of the cache.
Child waypoints
Donaldson Park Natural Area Parking N53°24.939 W113°11.129
Once again, this was one of the my most favourite puzzles yet based on its complexity and very good design. It is such a shame to see it go.
TFTC CoolCat21!!!!