Saturday, March 09, 2013

The Parasite And The Nest

The Parasite
Today I had what could possibly be one of the most unique caching experiences I've ever had.

The cache is called The Nest (GC443QW) , and it is a two stage puzzle cache.  One has to find the coordinates to the final (aka the nest) which are written down in the first stage container. Sounds straight forward, right?

The twist is that the coordinates for the final stage are hidden on a travel bug (the parasite) which is travelling from cache to cache, and could be anywhere within a 100 mile radius of the posted coordinates.

I had tracked the current location of the parasite to a cache I had already found in Riverbend Park. Since I have been there before, and familiar with the trails, I was able to quickly make the 2.4 mile round trip to the cache and retrieve the bug without a lot of drama or suspense. I did manage to find a couple caches I had DNF'd on previous trips though (a rather nice bonus).

The Nest.
Now that I had the parasite in hand, I entered the coordinates into the GPSr and headed off 11 miles down the road to find the nest.

The nest is hidden in an unbuilt housing development.  There are roads, but no houses. Unfortunately this also means the roads are not on any maps.  As a result finding parking for GZ was a bit tough,  and involved blind driving around cul-de-sac filled suburban neighbourhood hell.

Eventually I got all parked up, and I took a short, pleasant walk along the edge of a farmers field, and into some nice woods where I found the final.

Afterwards I did some more caching, and I released the parasite back into one of those caches.  Safe and sound in a random location for the next cacher to find.

This was definitely a unique experience.  What unique caching experiences have you had?  Let me know in the comments below.