please wedge it back in where you found it. dont place it loosely on top...it will fall off. |
Additional Hints (There are no hints for this cache)
5/9/2009 by Kabuthunk
After the recent dearth of finds on this once-thought-missing cache, I figured I would go after it today. Since there was a CITO event nearby, I decided it'd probably be easiest to find it before or after the event.
Unlike the last time I went after this cache, I actually remembered (yeah, I know... what are the odds of me doing that?) that there was a parking lot pretty much right beside the cache area. Hence, I looped around a bit, and quickly found my way to the parking lot in question.
As I hopped out of my car and crossed the street, I got a quick honking-at from behind me. Turning around, a mystery person seemed to recognize me... or at least the fact that I was geocaching. They quickly parked and got out of their vehicle, revealing themselves to be Wagonmaker. Nice to see you again, by the way! Lots of fun hunting the various caches with you today 
.
Being as he had never attempted this cache before, I took the somewhat lead to get to ground zero, barely bothering to glance at my GPS. I had been given a few hints in the past, and the cache description mentions it being 'wedged' somewhere. Thus, when we arrived the two of us began to search various places inside of which something could be wedged.
Not long after the search began however, my hands stumbled across the cache in question! However, it wasn't wedged at all! As the cache description says not to do, it was just "placed loosely on top". Shrugging, I retrieved the cache, and both myself and Wagonmaker signed and dated it. Inside went a micromail ball, and the cache was ready to be replaced.
As Wagonmaker signed it second, he set about to replacing it. Naturally, we wanted to follow the cache description, and wedge it into place... it just makes sense. So as Wagonmaker attempted to find a place where it would 'wedge'... *clunk*. We heard a disheartening clunking sound as the cache fell inside of the boxy container-like enclosure on the wall. What the hell?!? The cache description didn't say anything about worrying about it 'falling in', it said to wedge it somewhere!
Stepping up on a nearby pipe... thing coming out of the wall, I looked at the surface of where the cache had been originally found. Yep... I didn't see any possible place it could have been wedged, and there was a large gap in the enclosure through which the cache fell. I imagine quite thoroughly that this may well be where it disappeared to for the last few months. I can only fathom that at one point it had been wedged inbetween the wall and that gap... however the enclosure in question is capable of about 3/4 of a centimeter of movement in pretty much any direction... far more than enough to drop whatever may have been wedged.
Wagonmaker and I spent several minutes with our fingers, sticks, and a handy wire that I have in my geocaching bag attempting to retrieve the container. Alas... we couldn't feel it in the slightest. I thought I had seen it at one point, but was mistaken 
. Dejectedtly, we left the area in order to be at the beginning of the CITO event in time (for which I was almost late... probably more on that in the event's log). Sorry about the cache, but I think it's gone to whence it had once been before... inside the enclosure. I can only imagine that once a park employee opens it, they may replace it or it'll just fall on the ground where 3T's&aG found it. One can hope, anyway.
There appears to be a 'needs maintenance' log on here already... however Wagonmaker said he would be logging another one, so no point in logging multiple in one day.
Thanks for the cache though. It IS signed by myself and Wagonmaker, and there IS a micromail ball in it... however unless the next finder can make a miraculous recovery, methinks this one will have to be looked at or replaced by the owner... perhaps in a tighter location.
Took: Nothing
Left: Logbook entry and micromail ball
11/11/2008 by Kabuthunk
Man, this cache certainly put up a fight. It was surprisingly (or perhaps not very surprisingly, given it IS winter) quiet in the park today. A few people wandering around here and there, but few to say the least. My wife and I headed over to St. Vital park at about 3:30pm... plenty of daylight. She opted to stay in the car like usual, while I went off to find the geocache. Unfortunately, this ended up with her staying in the car for quite a while 
. But she had a book with her, so I don't think she even noticed the time much.
After having parked on the road a bit to the North of here, I ran across the fields (after discovering there was significantly closer parking, but oh well... 200 meters isn't exactly a back-breaking hike ) and found my way towards the coordinates. Only after I got past the trees and noticed what was actually AT the coordinates did I understand the cache name. Figuring there may be a fair number of places for it to hide, I rushed over and began the search. Very few people were in the immediate vicinity, although a family of three was close to the other side of the pond. Thankfully, a pile of trees blocked their view of me. My first instinct was to just kinda walk around near the coordinates and see if anything popped out at me. Unfortunately, nothing did. I decided to do a little bit of hopping-and-grabbing in order to get a higher vantage point on several of the spots, but ended up empty there as well.
At this point, the family of three decided to make their way towards me and past the shelter. I took this opportunity (since they were walking ridiculously slowly) to check the description in my palm pilot, and proceed to walk the full perimeter of the structure, in case the coordinates were off. No such luck. Returning back to the side closest the coordinates, I did more hopping-and-grabbing in order to check all of the "higher" possible hiding spots that I could think of, but ended up finding nothing there either. I proceeded to run my hand over every surface of every corner of every protuberance of that side of the shelter, but found nothing. I especially paid close attention to anything that could have possibly fit the cache description. Unfortunately, not all that much did.
After nearly killing myself on the giant ice-patch on the ground a few times, I decided to check the inside of said structure, carefully examining all possible crevaces and corners along the wall closest the coordinates... still nothing.
At this point, I had probably killed about a half-hour at the location. Doing another quick-search of the outside of the building again, I sadly concluded that this cache would not be found by myself today. Most other people seemed to not have many problems with it, so it's likely one of the cases where I probably looked at it, or even ran my hand over it, but didn't realize it was a cache .
Alas, I shall have to dinifra this cache another day. I completely scoured the entire outside AND inside of the structure, both high and low, and just to be safe some of the various things NEAR the structure... but turned up nothing. T'was not to be today. Annoyingly, despite two cache attempts today (both by the same cache hider, apparently), I wasn't able to locate either of them. Course, the second one (which came after this one) I didn't put nearly as much time into, thinking that I may not have had the correct 'tool' to reach the cache. But that's a story for another log.
I shall return! I may or may not use the phone-a-friend option, but we'll see how I feel next time I'm near the area.
Skates Required (0.10 kms NW)Additional Hints (There are no hints for this cache)
gimme shelter! by jonhycache (2.5/2) (Archived)
Micro Hidden on 10/13/2008
Terrain: 
