Some people just seem to have a hankering for the strange, the unusual, the out of the ordinary, and the twisted. Northeast Florida has its share of twisted ... er, I mean imaginative cachers and they've hidden their share of way cool caches. Most are drive-ups, but that doesn't mean they are cakewalks. I highly recommend that locals and visitors alike find time to do these caches.
The Federation MUST PAY! is a "Jacksonville Style" hide of legendary proportions. Hunters may wish to research that particular style before attempting this one. It's an urban container, but not a micro, hidden in a high traffic, highly visible location. Retrieval will make stealth mode impossible. No doubt many cachers will find that they have a particular affinity for this type of hide and may want to do Just Ducky, Who Stole Lannie's Nuts? and Jacksonville Veterinary Proctology Series - #10 as well.
Finding Hook, Line and Sinker is the easy part. Retrieval will bring out the MacGyver in you. The setting is highly visible and you may want to plan at least two trips.
Being a coastal area, twisted hiders have the ebb and flow of the tides to use against their fellow cachers. There are several caches that require the correct timing to successfully collect a smiley and survive. Of course, low tide is no guarantee you won't get wet - or muddy. In fact, muddy is a guarantee on several of these:
Ask most cachers in the Northeast Florida area who produces the most challenging cammo, and two names will come up repeatedly - macleod1 and StressMaster. If you enjoy the hidden-in-plain-sight cammo jobs, you may want to hit some of their caches. I've included several below, along with some notable cammo jobs from other cachers.
- Right on Target - Out in Plain Sight!
- Girvin Park
- The Evil One (Try the whole EVIL series!)
- T.A.E. Cache
- South End BAD P
- The Adoption Series: HUH
Sometimes, finding the cache is only half the challenge. Next, I've actually got to make the grab and jot your nom de geo down in the log. The Jacksonville area offers a wide variety of such challenges. Some, such as Let the Water INspire You, Does Perky Paint Float and StressHouse The Duck pond, could, and indeed have, had many cachers swimming for their smiley. But if cooler heads prevail, there are easier ways. Then there is the somewhat drier (maybe) mental challenges presented by StressHouse Pines, Something New/Somewhere Old and the Yellow Jeep Micro.
This is Jacksonville's only "Boat Required" cache. Not only is a boat required to reach Goat Island, it is on shipping lanes so it is necessary to have at least a basic knowledge of channels and routes to avoid having your vessel swamped. It's been done in canoes, kayaks and various other watercraft, so bring your boat and do a cache only a handful of local hardcore cachers have done. And watch out for goats!
Monkey Puzzle II has kept many a cacher fiddling like monkeys for hours only to walk away with their only Smiley being the one on their faces. You may want to do it when you have some extra time on your hands. A LOT of extra time.
Love 'em or hate; Jacksonville has its share of puzzle caches. In fact, Zephyrus, who happens to be the "oldest" cacher in the area, has more hides than finds and nearly every one is a puzzle cache. If puzzles are your mug of brew, then pull up a list of his caches and go to town. I've included some of his caches, as well as those of several other cachers below. They are of varying difficulty but some do require a lot of research (and possibly some hints), so if you're coming to GeoWoodstock3, you better start NOW!
