This month:

• The story of Tube Torcher
• Caching with a Homicidal Maniac: A Successful Hunt of Tube Torcher.
• TMA-1(Tycho Magnetic Anomaly-1 ):A 3/5 Cool Cache

Forget about searching for an ammo box hidden in a stump; if you really want to test your mettle, go to North Carolina and hunt the cache, Tube Torcher.

The original name for this cache was Pipe Dream, but it became more like a nightmare, or some kind of esoteric torture, so it was named instead Tube Torcher. Now this was not accidentally misspelled, but rather a clue to some of the guides on the hunt.

IndianaLee originated the idea for the cache. Teamed up with CrotalusRex, the two debated, planned, surveyed, and reconnoitered for over nine months before it’s birth in February 2002. They were the first ones to get banged up, bit, scratched, wet, dirty, and worn out, but they weren’t going to be the only ones. The 5/5 cache soon became a local legend, and I am writing this to tell you why you should seriously consider making this one cache to get.

There is some specialized equipment necessary for this cache. The cache page lists flashlights, climbing harness with carabineer and safety rope, gloves, kneepads, area road map, and a note pad and pen. (The note pad is needed as part of the mental challenge). Also required are stamina, intestinal fortitude (guts) and an intense desire to sign your name with the few, the proud in that logbook.

If you do succeed in finding this cache, (and I stress the word if) it will only be by pushing your physical limits and overcoming innate fears.

The cache coordinates take you to the parking area. From there, take a short hike. You are looking for the “Corn-fed Twin Towers”. The cache page tells you: Once you arrive at the target, you must choose wisely. Only one (tower) is correct. Use all your wisdom to help you with your decision. If you make the wrong decision, think again.

Before you reach the end of this quest, you must master your natural aversion to dizzying heights. You must brave the dark and unseen dangers past the wavering glow of your flashlight. Be prepared to encounter such wildlife as bats, birds, biting insects, raccoons, rodents, snakes, spiders, and wasps. In order to do this cache you must venture to and through cramped, confining spaces. When Litljon and spyderman did the cache together, one phrase they kept repeating was, "they expect us to go up/in/down/through there?"

There is a very strong warning on the cache page not attempt doing this cache during and shortly after periods of heavy rain or during thunderstorms. This is because one or more segment(s) require negotiating a storm drain. This is where a skateboard comes in handy. Here you can meet your claustrophobia head on.

Upon finally reaching your ultimate goal, there is a very large and unique cache container. When it was originally hidden, it required a crescent wrench to open it, and this was part of the specialized equipment. Now it has been upgraded for easy opening, but it is still a special cache. The items in the cache tend to be much more valuable than the key chain or plastic dinosaur. It has housed a brass telescope, a nice compass, a magic eight ball, Homer’s novel of the Iliad (should have been the Odyssey)--all above average stuff for a cache, so you should think accordingly about what you bring. This cache will impress you with the amount of work that went into putting it together, and it should have a fitting reward at the end.

If you require a guide for your trip, Nuwati, OzGuff, and Shava4 have all declared that they would gladly repeat the adventure.

As a last word, Snake1411 makes the bold statement that, “a cacher is not a true cacher until they have finished this hunt.”

I have now told you all you need to know about this cache before you hunt it, but one question remains for me-- who’s going to pick me up at the airport?