You've discovered the thrill of geocaching and it is time to take the next step into the unknown.
If you’re new to the adventure, our Top Tips and Cache Types Guide (see below) will give you a head start. If you’re a more seasoned pro, you’ll want to select your next location and devise a game plan. In either case, you may want to brush up on your surveillance spycraft and dead drops before setting out.
Here are five espionage-themed geocaches for a memorable mission.
There are an estimated 3m geocache locations worldwide
USA
1. Spy's Cache, Virginia, US
Coordinates: N 38° 54.857 W 077° 15.448 UTM: 18S E 304275 N 4309687 (Difficulty Rating: 1 / 5)
Convicted FBI-KGB double agent Robert Hanssen is considered the most deadly spy in US history, selling sensitive intel on electronic surveillance to Moscow for more than $1m in cash and diamonds.
Your mission is to catch Hanssen in the act. It is February 18, 2001, and you are part of the FBI’s counterintelligence team. You believe Hanssen has been leaving intelligence packages for his Russian handler at a drop site, but how and where? You'll need to do some research - maybe read up on Hanssen or stream Breach (2007) to find out about his modus operandi. In any event, don’t delay.
Coordinates: N 40° 29.801 W 074° 26.533 UTM: 18T E 547265 N 4483035 (Difficulty Rating: 3 / 5)
You may have heard about the Culper Spy Ring organized by George Washington and Benjamin Tallmadge in the late 1770s and run mainly in New York, Long Island, and Connecticut. What you may not know is that a lesser-known ring operated nearby in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The contact for the New Jersey ring is Joshua Mersereau, a fearless man comfortable operating behind enemy lines or going head-to-head with traitors.
Your job is to read through the correspondence and ferret out a potential traitor before it is too late. Hopefully, you are as fearless as Mersereau because you may have to get your hands dirty.
Coordinates: N 40° 03.000 W 075° 13.000 UTM: 18T E 481518 N 4433329 (Difficulty Rating: 5 / 5)
From China’s Sun Tzu to the CIA and the Soviet KGB, history is marked by thrilling stories about espionage. None perhaps as thrilling as… Well, we can’t tell you the details or reveal names. All you need to know is that there is an espionage operative who desperately needs your help solving puzzles. You’ll have access to a secret notebook but you’ll need to use your code-breaking skills if you are to find hidden caches of intelligence stashed at various locations. Need we mention that the fate of the world may rest on your shoulders?
There’s no one-size-fits-all and an estimated 3m active geocaches waiting to be found in more than 180 countries so here’s a quick briefing on the main types:
• Drive-bys/Park ‘n grabs/Cache and Dash: Great geocaches for beginners.
• Traditional Geocache (sometimes called Park 'n grabs) - Straightforward caches that involve coordinates to help you locate containers. Confirm your success in the logbook.
• Mystery or Puzzle Caches - Complicated puzzles must first be solved to determine coordinates.
• Multi-Caches - Involve two, three, or even more locations. Generally, you complete stage one, which provides a clue to stage two, etc.
• Letterbox Hybrid - Letterbox hybrid treasure hunts will appeal to your inner Sherlock Holmes as Letterbox Hybrids use clues rather than coordinates.
• Mega-Event Caches and Giga-Event Caches - A mega-event cache involves 500-plus people and may take place over a full day. Giga-event caches attract 5,000-plus people and are often annual events held over several days.
Geocaching: Five Spy-themed Geocaches For Puzzle Lovers
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You've discovered the thrill of geocaching and it is time to take the next step into the unknown.
If you’re new to the adventure, our Top Tips and Cache Types Guide (see below) will give you a head start. If you’re a more seasoned pro, you’ll want to select your next location and devise a game plan. In either case, you may want to brush up on your surveillance spycraft and dead drops before setting out.
Here are five espionage-themed geocaches for a memorable mission.
There are an estimated 3m geocache locations worldwide
USA
1. Spy's Cache, Virginia, US
Coordinates: N 38° 54.857 W 077° 15.448 UTM: 18S E 304275 N 4309687 (Difficulty Rating: 1 / 5)
Convicted FBI-KGB double agent Robert Hanssen is considered the most deadly spy in US history, selling sensitive intel on electronic surveillance to Moscow for more than $1m in cash and diamonds.
Your mission is to catch Hanssen in the act. It is February 18, 2001, and you are part of the FBI’s counterintelligence team. You believe Hanssen has been leaving intelligence packages for his Russian handler at a drop site, but how and where? You'll need to do some research - maybe read up on Hanssen or stream Breach (2007) to find out about his modus operandi. In any event, don’t delay.
Coordinates: N 40° 29.801 W 074° 26.533 UTM: 18T E 547265 N 4483035 (Difficulty Rating: 3 / 5)
You may have heard about the Culper Spy Ring organized by George Washington and Benjamin Tallmadge in the late 1770s and run mainly in New York, Long Island, and Connecticut. What you may not know is that a lesser-known ring operated nearby in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The contact for the New Jersey ring is Joshua Mersereau, a fearless man comfortable operating behind enemy lines or going head-to-head with traitors.
Your job is to read through the correspondence and ferret out a potential traitor before it is too late. Hopefully, you are as fearless as Mersereau because you may have to get your hands dirty.
Coordinates: N 40° 03.000 W 075° 13.000 UTM: 18T E 481518 N 4433329 (Difficulty Rating: 5 / 5)
From China’s Sun Tzu to the CIA and the Soviet KGB, history is marked by thrilling stories about espionage. None perhaps as thrilling as… Well, we can’t tell you the details or reveal names. All you need to know is that there is an espionage operative who desperately needs your help solving puzzles. You’ll have access to a secret notebook but you’ll need to use your code-breaking skills if you are to find hidden caches of intelligence stashed at various locations. Need we mention that the fate of the world may rest on your shoulders?
Coordinates: N 53° 20.156 W 006° 15.436 (Difficulty Rating: 1.5 / 5)
You'll need to think like a spy to complete this two-stage Multi-Cache. In Part One, you'll gather intelligence. Starting at a phone booth in St. Stephen's Green, central Dublin, your mission is to discreetly find the phone booth’s ID number - the secret code you'll need to proceed.
If you are successful, you'll receive further instructions by phone - but don't wait for the phone to ring. Pick up the receiver within two or three seconds, jot down the instructions, and embark on Part Two. Too complicated, you say? Welcome to the spying game. Keep your wits about you and you'll complete this challenge.
5. Spies, Lies, and Cache Containers - Scotland, UK
Coordinates: N 57° 41.235 W 003° 14.821 (British Grid: NJ 25747 67052) (Difficulty Rating: 2.5 / 5)
The tranquil beaches of Lossiemouth, Scotland once roared with the sound of Royal Air Force squadrons and the WWII Bomber Command. The beach and woods hid concrete traps to repel tanks in the event of a Nazi invasion but three German spies are said to have avoided the traps to infiltrate the UK. Two signed confessions in 1941 but the third - Vera Eriksen, known as the ‘Beautiful Spy’ - disappeared. The three are believed to have left behind a small plastic container when coming ashore with the location known only to Vera. Your job? Decode the secret radio transmission Vera sent before her disappearance and locate the cache.
Don’t forget to bring trinkets to replace the ones you’ve earned
Top Tips For Successful Geocaching
1. Use your senses - including common sense! A GPS / smartphone will direct you to the general area but use your hands, eyes, and mind to find the cache.
2. Take a second look - Check anything that looks like it doesn’t belong and search in unusual places. FBI-KGB spy Robert Hanssen hid his dead drops under a small park bridge; nuclear spies Diana and Jonathan Toebbe went for hikes off the beaten track to drop their intel.
3. Geocaches may be disguised - Spies love disguises, including masks and hiding places where they can disguise microphones or dead drops. During the Cold War, British spies even hid communications in a fake rock planted in a Moscow park!
4. Look up and around - Geocaches should not be buried in the ground but don’t expect caches to always be at eye level. Is there a treehouse? Are there rocks that can be moved to reveal a secret hiding place?
5. Read the hints - If the cache page has comments, look for clues. Think like Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle's famous consulting detective: when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
A Treasure Hunt is waiting right outside your door
Logistics
Choose the size of your geocache adventure based on difficulty (ratings 1-5) or based on the size of the cache from micro (the size of a film for a camera) to small or medium (a loaf of bread), and large (think big). Get the coordinates from the geocache page (for example, N 45 ° 17.460 W 122 ° 24.800) and either send them to your phone or enter them into your GPS. The coordinates will lead you to about 30 meters of the geocache but the rest is in your hands. Don’t be surprised if mystery caches supply coordinates that are a bit vague. That may be part of the challenge!
What to bring
- A backpack. - Either a smartphone with a GPS app or a GPS receiver. - A portable charger/replacement batteries for more difficult geocaches. - A flashlight and spare batteries if you are heading out late in the day. - A notebook/ pen - if only to sign the logbook and note the geocaches you locate - and a map (or bookmark digital maps like Google Maps, MapQuest, or Bing Maps). - Appropriate dress for the weather/environment along with gloves and a retractable mirror if you expect to be hunting in difficult locations
There’s no one-size-fits-all and an estimated 3m active geocaches waiting to be found in more than 180 countries so here’s a quick briefing on the main types:
• Drive-bys/Park ‘n grabs/Cache and Dash: Great geocaches for beginners.
• Traditional Geocache (sometimes called Park 'n grabs) - Straightforward caches that involve coordinates to help you locate containers. Confirm your success in the logbook.
• Mystery or Puzzle Caches - Complicated puzzles must first be solved to determine coordinates.
• Multi-Caches - Involve two, three, or even more locations. Generally, you complete stage one, which provides a clue to stage two, etc.
• Letterbox Hybrid - Letterbox hybrid treasure hunts will appeal to your inner Sherlock Holmes as Letterbox Hybrids use clues rather than coordinates.
• Mega-Event Caches and Giga-Event Caches - A mega-event cache involves 500-plus people and may take place over a full day. Giga-event caches attract 5,000-plus people and are often annual events held over several days.
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