This Month:

• The Long Strange Trip of Life By Christina Raving
• Tips on Hiding Your First Cache: Making That First Hide a Success By Mike Buschele aka Good Dog
• AOL Tins Make Good Cache Containers: Don't Toss Them Out By Will Nienke aka 9Key

This cache took me fourteen hours over two days and a total of about ten miles of hiking.What a Long Strange Trip it’s Been was created by Mike Chmi Named the same as a Grateful Dead song, Mike wanted to parallel his experience during 2001 & 2002, where he spent around a year living in his truck and traveling across the country. It was definitely a long strange trip, and if the cache makes the seeker range from expressions of “how great,” to “how horribly frustrating,” and all the phases in between, then he accomplished what he set out to do. The cache is located near Erie, Pennsylvania, in a beautiful forest cut by a clear, shale bottom creek. This multi-cache is among one of the longest, offering good prizes at the end; but its prize is not so much in the Tupperware at the end, as it is in the journey there. To date, only three cachers have undertaken the trip, but if you are in the area I strongly encourage you to set your sights on completing it.

My Adventure at the "What a Long Strange Trip it's Been" Cache By Tprints

"What a Long Strange Trip it's Been" is a cache that has to be one of the most difficult & demanding ones out there. This cache took me fourteen hours over two days and a total of about ten miles of hiking. Normally I may have skipped a cache like this but this one was so close to my home though that I just couldn't ignore it. I decided to go for the First Finders prize about two weeks after it was made public.

I really didn't know what to expect when I began this quest and you won't either, even after reading this recap. One thing I will reveal is the number of steps involved with this multi-cache. When I found it I had no idea of how many steps were involved. That was one aspect I wasn't crazy about, as it seemed as if this cache just went on, and on, and on.

It turned out to have a total of twenty steps. That's right, twenty! Each one was different from the next. This cache also requires you to climb up and down several hills and to cross numerous creeks. The terrain is definitely very difficult so be prepared.

The first couple steps were typical finds but it didn't take long for me to run into a stumbling block. The third step just explained what to do next and it took some hair pulling before I figured this one out. The next step reminded me a bit of letterboxing as it gave instructions on what to do and where to go. This part was fun as it involved using a rope to lower yourself down a steep bank.

Once at the bottom the next directions said to find a nearby structure, which was easy to find. However, this container had a question you needed to answer to get the correct coordinates for the next step. You had a one in four chance of getting the right coordinates but of course it took me two tries to get it right.

The very next step had another multiple-choice question which of course Took me two tries again, Sheesh! When I finally got the correct coordinates and found the next hide, I got real excited. It was a big ammo box this time. At this point I had no idea of how many steps were involved so I thought I must've found the final cache. When I opened it up I received the cruelest joke yet on this adventure. The box contained a bunch of puzzle pieces that I had to piece together in order to read the next coordinates. That was cruel!

Anyway, I put the puzzle together and made my way to the next step, which was a typical hide. The following step had me following specific instructions again but wasn't difficult. Then I ran into the first big problem. There was supposed to be a tree with coordinates written on some fungus on its side. Somehow the numbers had disappeared and it stopped my search right there.

I had to return home and get a hold of the cache owner by email before I could get any further. It took a few days to get the next coordinates however and by then another cacher also received them. We then teamed up the rest of the way to complete the cache.

Some of the next steps involved some more unusual hides. Caches high up in trees, Tolkien puzzles, Compass directions, and believe it or not, a psychology test. This test made use of a phenomenon in cognitive psychology and basically consisted of a story that had to be read (alone) and three answers that you had to choose from with one having the correct coordinates. At that point I really wasn't into reading through the entire story so we just made an educated guess at the correct answer and got lucky. Even when we got to what we thought was the final part, there was yet another twist with some creative use of some "mystery stuff".

That was the last trick in this exhaustive trek however as we soon found the jackpot- just twenty steps, ten miles, and fourteen hours after I began. Ouch.

This cache is far from typical in the Geocaching world as this it turned out to be unbelievably exhausting. It seemed to go on forever since I had no idea how many steps were involved. Hopefully any others giving it a shot will enjoy it more by knowing how far along they are. I'm still certainly glad I did find this cache though and hope some others try it out too.

Journeying on the “Long Strange Trip,” By Pat (AKA PAKRATPAT)

To begin with, I've always been the "out of doors" type, and even did an Outward Bound course about 15 yrs ago. However, I had only been geocaching for about 2 months when I went after this one.

As I read the description when this cache was posted my first thought was maybe to go for it after I got some more experience. But as days went by and it hadn't been logged as found I started thinking about being FTF.

I wasn't familiar with the area and just getting there was a 70 mile round trip. I started my search on Sunday the 17th of August, but not before letting someone know where I would be and what I was doing. After reading the cache owner's description and warning, I decided it was best not to cut corners on this one. I have to say that the area in which this cache is located is a very nice place and some day I want to go back and do some exploring.

The name for this cache is very appropriate and the steps imaginative and interesting, to say the least. On the 4th day I came to the location of the MIA clue. This is the same day when I first ran in to Rick, AKA Facedances. After searching for the MIA clue for some time I used my cell phone to call Tom AKA Tprints who,By now I knew Tprints was also after the FTF, and I was tempted to go after it right then but considering the terrain thought better of trying to do any of it in the dark. as we discovered at one of the previous clues, had also been hunting this cache. With the information that we were now at a dead end, we started to make our way out and back to our cars. After trekking up a very steep hill I stopped (yet again) to catch my breath. It was then I noticed something that looked out of place and upon closer examination discovered that it was another clue, which lead to a trail of clues. These were a strange sort of alphabet which when I got home and did some research found out it was Tangwar, as in Lord of the Rings. Finding the clues really didn't help, as it wasn't known where in the sequence they belonged.

I emailed the cache owner about the problem but he was in the middle of moving to Iowa for graduate studies so it was a few days before he sent the needed information. It came by email late on a Saturday night. By now I knew Tprints was also after the FTF, and I was tempted to go after it right then but considering the terrain thought better of trying to do any of it in the dark. I got there at about 7a.m. on Sunday the 24th, and Tom who only lives maybe 5 miles away was already there. At first he wasn't exactly happy that I had gotten the needed info at the same time as him, but he mellowed after awhile and we worked together. Even then there were still alot of clues to find before getting to the final cache. At one point we were joined by Rick, but he had to get to work and couldn't stay long.

At first my goal was to be FTF. After a couple of days of search for this cache I considered saying the hell with it, but after having gone through so much already, kept going. Because it was so long I got to the point where I just wanted to finish and be done with it. It seemed every time there was a choice of 3 locations for the next correct clue I chose the correct one last and ended up doing more walking than I had to. I also didn't trust my skills in this new hobby of mine so I spent a lot of time hunting to make sure I hadn't overlooked the clue, sometimes when it wasn't the correct location.

All total it took me 5 days of hunting and more walking that I had done in a long time and care to do again any time soon especially if it's up and down hills like this was. It is physically demanding and even though I am middle aged, overweight and have a 3 pack a day habit, I am proud of the fact that I was able to do it. It was only by chance that I found the next to last clue and actual container. Tprints and I did some bartering and I got the FTF prize, a Princeton-Tech Headlamp valued at $50. Thanks again T!