In the Crosshairs

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Hidden On: 18 Oct 2004
Waypoint (Landmark): N0238D
Open Cache:  Non-commercial use only
Cache type:  Multi-Part
Cache size:   Normal

Difficulty:  (hard)
Terrain:  (moderate)

Misc:

Comments:
If you choose to mountain bike this cache, be aware that (from the PA Game Commission website), "Under the new regulations, anyone who rides a non-motorized vehicle, conveyance or animal on State Game Lands must do so only on designated routes. Such riding activities will not be permitted, except on Sundays or on roads open to public travel, from the last Saturday in September to the third Saturday in January, and after 1 p.m. from the second Saturday in April to the last Saturday in May. This does not apply to anyone lawfully engaged in hunting, trapping or fishing on State Game Lands."


Also, as a general cautionary note, remember that this is a State Game Land. At certain times of the year you may feel like you are "in the crosshairs"! Accordingly, please be aware that during established hunting seasons, except on Sundays, "you must wear a minimum of 250 square inches of daylight fluorescent orange-colored material on the head, chest and back combined or, in lieu thereof, a hat of the same colored material. The material shall be worn so it is visible in a 360° arc." It would certainly be reasonable to wear blaze orange whenever you visit. Please show caution and remain safe! There is a public shooting range located in the general vicinity of this multi-cache, but none of the stages of the cache are located within close proximity of it.

Clues:    decode

• Stage 1 
  Cvaarq va ynetr ivarf bss tebhaq

• Stage 2 
  Ynetr ivarf ng onfr bs ynetr gerr

• Stage 3 
  Onfr bs yrnavat gerr

• Stage 4 
  Ba ynetr funyr urnc

What a great cache hunt!! I wouldn't recommend using a bike if you're not an avid cyclist. Personally I really enjoyed having the bike with me. It was a challege to pedal the hill between stage 2 and 3. I love a good hill climb. But I think having the bike might of made it harder for ekimdam and I suspect it would make it harder for a lot of other people too.
I have a garmin 60c that has proximity mode, that helped me find the cross hairs or at least got me close enough that I could guess where I would hide a cache!

TNLN SL! TFTC


[Modified 2007-01-01 13:02:37]

I'm feeling tired... We managed to find just three caches today but it seemed more like 8 because there was this five-stager and Willow's longish two-stager in these same gamelands. I never bushwhacked so much in one day. We tried to shortcut this one as much as possible so that we would have enough time left over to get to those "unofficial stashes" on the way back home. Unfortunately, we didn't get it done quick enough for that. Darn the luck! We initially how some difficulty finding where to park because (I think) the parking coordinates given on the cache page aren't quite right. We had a trail to the first stage but it was a snow-covered quagmire. We made it to the coordinates and searched for a good ten minutes for it before giving in and going for the hint. We found it shortly thereafter and realized that we would never have found it without said hint and resolved to use every hint we could get for the rest of this hunt. We could have hiked direct to stage two via the snow quag but AP's Garmin 60c hinted that there might be an easier way. We thus ended up driving part of the way and crossing the field of a thousand dead pigeons to get to stage #2. We didn't find the cache in the first place we looked but we did find it in there on the second try. It was completely buried in the mess and found only by sifting through the snow and leaves. I'd say that there would have been exactly zero chance of finding it without the hint. Stage #3 was on the other side but not very far away via the very direct bushwhacking route that we took. I wouldn't reccommend this route for the summer but it was okay for today. The third stage was likewise impossible to find. We found it in the first place we checked but not until after I poked at it for five minutes. The 60c suggested again that we might want to retreat to the truck and drive part of the way to the next stage so that's what we did. There were no dead pigeons this time but we did find a crashed UFO on the way to the cache. I actually don't know what we found but I'm calling it flying saucer parts until somebody figures out otherwise. Here's the coordinates: 40 36.999, -80 7.126. This massive metal thing is way too heavy to have been carried in and there is absolutely no trace of any kind of a roadway anywhere near it. It's in the middle of nowhere and it is just dumb luck that we stumbled onto it. We pressed on to the cache which was again found by sifting through the snow. We were then presented with a problem that I could probably figure out in an hour or two with my limited mathematical abilities but we really didn't have that much time before dark and my fingers would surely freeze before I could work it out on paper. We really thought that we would probably have to go home to work the math and return for the final cache on another day but it turned out that we weren't beaten just yet. AP guesstimated the coordinates for the final stage with his nifty 60c and away we went. The guesstimate wasn't real accurate but he did manage to find a cache about 160 feet from his guess. We were surely lucky to find it but we fairly deserved some luck after this ordeal. It was such great fun and a real feeling of accomplishment to get it done. I'm in the book! Thanks for the cache! Johnny.