Another aspect of Geocaching that I haven’t explored before are Challenge Caches. These are caches that although you are given the co-ordinates you can only log if you have completed a particular caching challenge, be it find at least one cache every day for a month, or a year, or find caches beginning with every letter of the alphabet, or every combination of terrain and difficulty etc.
While I was at the Flash Mob in Knaresborough there was talk about a new challenge cache – GC3X4GE – Number of the Beast, to be able to log this cache you had to find in one day caches that added up to a 666 points – points being calculated by the type of cache found and the difficulty and terrain ratings of them.
Via Facebook a set of caches that met the challenge were calculated and a party of cachers formed to go and do them, I decided to take part as it would give me a chance to better get to know some local cachers as well as be the first challenge cache I had done.
The 8 man party consisted of Mel&Freddie17, Printerfixerman, team mx, beavers clan, grayglove and myself. at 9:00am on Sunday morning we assembled with our bikes on the riverside in Dewsbury ready for the off. The First important thing to do was to come up with a Team name, so we could sign just ne name not 6 on the cache logs… the name Devil’s Bikers was chosen and we set off cycling along a sereis of caches called Sunday Morning Run – where for us it was Sunday Morning Cycle
21st October 2012 – SM#1 Sunday Morning Run GC3QGA7 – cache #2092
The first cache was found without any trouble after all we’ve all seem caches hidden in crash barriers like this before ! Mel signed the log as Mia the chihuahua looked on
21st October 2012 – SM#2 Sunday Morning Run GC3QGAH – cache #2093
Interesting that some of the Devil’s Bikers have logged this as an easy find while others say it took a bit of finding… for my part there were too many people looking so I couldn’t get near anyway ! Freddie (whose real name is Derek) signed the log
21st October 2012 – SM#3 Sunday Morning Run GC3VXF8 – cache #2094
Another cache where there were so many people and bikes around that I have no idea where the cache was actually hidden, it was found pretty quickly though and the Devils Bikers moved on to the next
21st October 2012 – SM#4 Sunday Morning Run GC3VXFG – cache #2095
There was some question as to whether this cache had been replaced with a non-magnetic one, but Mel found it attached to the fence
21st October 2012 – SM#5 Sunday Morning Run GC3W6CD – cache #2096
My turn to be first to spot the cache, though Mr Beaver picked it up and signed it as I had two bikes between me and the cache !
21st October 2012 – SM#6 Sunday Morning Run GC3W6CJ – cache #2097
One thing about caching in a group is that the old adage ‘many hands make light work’, so the Devil’s bikers, with 16 hands (and 4 paws) between us didn’t have too much trouble finding this cache…. though I believe more than one hand touched it before Kerry – Mrs B pulled it out
21st October 2012 – SM#7 Sunday Morning Run GC3VZPY – cache #2098
Another quick find for the Devil’s Bikers, so quick in fact that the cache was in hand before I got there
21st October 2012 – SM#8 Sunday Morning Run GC3VZQD – cache #2099
There was a bit of a scramble for this cache as the hint was not as specific as some others, Andy Beavers found it first
21st October 2012 – SM#9 Sunday Morning Run GC3VZR8 – cache #2100
On a narrow canal towpath you can only ride in single file, so as I had stopped my bike just past the cache it was someone behind me who found the cache !
21st October 2012 – SM#10 Sunday Morning Run GC3VZRX – cache #2101
Another of the advantages of caching in a group is that you can let someone else fight their way into hawthorn trees to look for the cache !
21st October 2012 – SM#11 Sunday Morning Run GC3VZTB – cache #2102
We crossed over the canal from the towpath and onto a farmers track. it was bit muddy down this side of the canal, and as I was riding a ‘hybrid’ bike I didn’t have big knobbly mountain bike tyres as the rest of the Devils Bikers had… it meant I was sliding my way down the track while Dave (team mx) was up the banking and grabbing the cache before I got there
21st October 2012 – SM#12 Sunday Morning Run GC3W6CT – cache #2103
Hooray ! I actually had opportunity to get my pen out and sign the log… Steep bankings and trees meant lack of GPS signal and we all rode past this one at first, so I wandered back down the track and spotted the hint item and the cunningly disguised cache !
21st October 2012 – SM#13 Sunday Morning Run GC3VXFK – cache #2104
This cache had almost all of us off the towpath and up the banking… we did suffer a bit from the fact that one of the group had Emailed-A-Friend beforehand and got more prescriptive hints for the difficult to find caches…. except the hints weren’t necessarily in the right order ! So we were using two different hints to find the same cache, but Mel came up with the goods in the end
21st October 2012 – SM#14 Sunday Morning Run GC3VXG3 – cache #2105
This cache nearly beat the Devil’s Bikers, but 8 of us up the banking searching every possibility turned up the cache in the end (though I believe the finder was about the 4th person to look in the same place !)
21st October 2012 – SM#15 Sunday Morning Run GC3W865 – cache #2106
I was lead cyclist along this stretch of towpath and had the cache in hand before the rest of the group got there
21st October 2012 – SM#16 Sunday Morning Run GC3VXGB – cache #2107
As I’d found and signed and replaced the previous cache I was at the back of the pack for this cache and Mr B had got it before I rode up
21st October 2012 – SM#17 Sunday Morning Run GC3W868 – cache #2108
A quick find for Mel as the rest of the Devil’s Bikers looked on
21st October 2012 – SM#18 Sunday Morning Run GC3WBVF – cache #2109
An easy find by Andy Beavers made more difficult by an inquisitive man who walked past while we were stopped at the cache and then sat down on the wall a few yards away while we did our best to cover the replacement of the cache from him
21st October 2012 – SM#19 Sunday Morning Run GC3WBVM – cache #2110
Being at the back of the group on this very narrow path meant that I never saw this cache being signed nor where it was hidden
21st October 2012 – SM#20 Sunday Morning Run GC3WBVQ – cache #2111
Lack of GPS signal under the trees, and a doubt about the accuracy of the co-ordinates meant that after we had spent a while failing to find the cache we decided on a new tack… search everywhere ! and with that Dave soon came up with the cache
21st October 2012 – SM#21 Sunday Morning Run GC3WBVV – cache #2112
Again I was riding at the head of the group and had this easy cache in hand before the others rode up
21st October 2012 – SM#22 Sunday Morning Run GC3WBW4 – cache #2113
The emailed ‘cheat sheet’ grayglove had came up trumps for this cache, as it as exactly where it said it would be
21st October 2012 – SM#23 Sunday Morning Run GC3WBWB – cache #2114
My fingers were longer than Mels so although she spotted it first it was I who retrieved this one
21st October 2012 – SM#24 Sunday Morning Run GC3WBWJ – cache #2115
Again I was at the back after replacing the last cache so team MX had found this cache before I got there
21st October 2012 – SM#25 Sunday Morning Run GC3WBWM – cache #2116
Mr Beavers searched for and found this cache down an overgrown path while the rest of the Devils Bikers blocked the pavement with our bikes !
21st October 2012 – SM#26 Sunday Morning Run GC3WBWX – cache #2117
Last of the cycle caches for the Devils Bikers (though we actually left our bikes by the road and walked down the steps to this cache. Took a bit of searching but eventually I spotted the cache
It took us about 3 hours to cycle round and find the 26 caches… a nice way to spend a sunny Autumn morning
21st October 2012 – Here today scone tomorrow? GC3F0HX – cache #2118
The problem with caching as a group is that there is no way you can keep 5 cars together as you traverse from one cache to another, so after getting separated from the others in the traffic I went straight to this cache and signed it before the others drove up….
Really weird weather here, we had had a lovely sunny morning down by the canal and river, but as I walked along the short track to the gate I could see that although it was fairly reasonable by the road, the field was totally obscured by mist….
21st October 2012 – Thesaurus Occultus GC3CAGWC – cache #2119
The way the numbers work out is such that you can’t get the exact number of points needed for the challenge by finding traditional caches alone, so we needed to stick in an easy puzzle cache which wasn’t so easy to find. We all parked at the bottom of the path, and all trooped up to the other end of the path missing the cache altogether – our excuse being the high walls and trees bouncing around the GPS signal… so we walked back down the path and stopped at the point that our GPS’s showed was nearest the cache… a quick search around and grayglove came up with the goods
21st October 2012 – LGC #6 lupset golf course 6 GC3BJ4M – cache #2120
At this point the Devil’s Bikers became the Devil’s Hikers… as from now we were walking round the last caches we needed to find. By the time I changed to my walking boots and got out of my car the cache had been located
21st October 2012 – LGC #5 lupset golf course 5 GC3BJ4G – cache #2121
In the morning we had had a lovely sunny cycle around the Sunday Morning Run series in Dewsbury… as we set off on our circuit of Lupset Golf course it was contrastingly cold, misty and damp… The cache was quickly found by Mel, though the log was rather damp and swollen and tweezers were needed to remove it
21st October 2012 – LGC #4 lupset golf course 4 GC3BJ49 – cache #2122
A cache by a pond. There were no amphibians in sight today, hardly any golfers either, I think the 8 of us probably outnumbered those playing golf.
I quickly spotted the cache as we’ve all seen ones like it before
21st October 2012 – LGC #3 lupset golf course 3 GC3BJ45 – cache #2123
As we were now on the 32nd of 37 caches we needed for the challenge, the apparent disappearence of this cache at first caused consternation… until it was discovered on the ground, not where it was supposed to be, and we could relax again
21st October 2012 – LGC #2 lupset golf course 2 GC3BJ41 – cache #2124
Grayglove found the cache in a place where Mel had already searched… I guess she needs longer arms !
21st October 2012 – LGC #10 lupset golf course 10 GC3BJ5Q – cache #2125
The geography here meant that only one of us could search in the place the hint indicated where the cache didn’t appear to be – it also meant the others could look a few feet away, and find the cache
21st October 2012 – LGC #9 lupset golf course 9 GC3BJ58 – cache #2126
Poking about under things is one of the reasons I take a walking pole with me when caching ! and it enabled me to be the one to find ths cache
21st October 2012 – LGC #8 lupset golf course 8 GC3BJ56 – cache #2127
Some interesting fungi growing on the various hint items, but we managed to locate the cache without disturbing any of them and Grayglove signed the log for the team
21st October 2012 – LGC #7 lupset golf course 7 GC3BJ4Z – cache #2128
The last cache on team Devils Bikers list of 37 caches for the challenge cache was found after a bit of searching by Kerry of the Beavers Clan… 37 caches and fortunately no DNF’s so there wasn’t any last minute recalcualtions looking for alternative caches
21st October 2012 – The Number of The Beast – Challenge GC3X4GE – cache #2129
I’m not sure what it is with Sat Nav’s, I mean we’re all experienced cachers and so should be good at navigating, but there were 4 stretches of driving and for each one it seemed that I went a different route to the others, thre out of four times I got there ahead of them, and the other time I got there at the same time – but facing the opposite direction ! and I had stopped off for some petrol en route !… maybe I just drive faster than they do
But whatever the reason I got to the challenge cache, found the only safe place to park and had found and signed the cache before the others got there…
We started off with the first find GC3QGA7, SM#1 Sunday Morning Run at 09:36am, finished the cache list at GC3BJ4Z, LGC #7 Lupset Golf Course 7 at 14:56pm
Within 6 hours of starting out we were at the pub having finished the list and signed the Challenge Cache !
Thanks must go to Mel & Derek for working out the list of caches to get to the magic number
My fellow cachers, Ian (Printerfixerman), Graham (grayglove), Mel and Derek… and Mia (Mel&Freddie17), Dave (team mx), Andy and Kerry (beavers clan)
