Wow, who thought we would ever make it to a fifth issue. Here it is. As promised, we have a new section by Blue Grass Tom called “Basics of Placing a Cache” and this should be running for the foreseeable future. We also have a great cache highlight from Iowa Tom. As always, congratulations to all of those hitting a milestone. Big Congrats to davyduck on your 1000th find. Remember, if you have news you want included or a cache you want to highlight or you have an idea you want us to check into, please feel free to email us at "newsletter at iowageocachers.org".

I also wanted to remind everyone about the big Hike N Seek event taking place this coming weekend at Lake Wapello State Park. There are 48 caches hidden and everyone has a chance for prizes so come on down and have a great time meeting other geocachers.

I have added a section listing some of the other events happening in the next month or two. If you have never been to an event, I encourage you to go to one and put a face with some of the cachers you see in the logs.

We also have some sad news to report. The Iowa geocaching community lost a member this week. Long time geocacher Maggie Potts has lost her battle with cancer. We don’t have a lot of the details. She had over 300 finds and had 10 caches placed in the Montezuma area. She will be missed by all that knew her.

GC.Com Username: Schnider

Number of Finds/Hides: 679 / 5

Occupation? I work for a Prairie Energy Cooperative. My business cards say that I am an Information Systems Technician, but I wear many hats. I can be doing anything from checking on electric meters, installing satellite internet, or anything else that need to be worked on.

How you got your username? My username comes from my occupation. Schneider was a character on the 80's sitcom "One Day at a Time." He was the maintenance man, and I kind of feel like him at work sometimes.

How long have you been caching? Found my first cache on Nov. 26, 2003. I liked the cache so much, I ended up adopting it. The cache is Brushy Creek Cache (GC4D6C).

Favorite cache/why? Hands down it has to be Briggs Falls, GCJ8YQ. My wife and I had been going to Webster City, IA to camp, walk, or check out the river many times. But never drove to the other end of the park to walk the trail. Boy, were we missing out. When I noticed that DougB had placed a cache in Briggs Woods, I had to be the first to find on it. Well we were the first, and in the pouring rain too. But when we saw the beauty of the falls, we totally forgot about the rain. We now go back there at least once every two months, just to see the falls.

Least Favorite/why? Mallards, Mergansers and Geese, Oh My! I know it was a traditional cache that was converted to a virtual due to theft like three times. But I guess as a virtual, it was kind of depressing I guess.

How did you get started? A colleague of mine told me that his wife had read an article in a newspaper somewhere. I already owned a GPS and had internet access. I thought, "How awesome!" Someone married hiking with electronics, two of my favorite things.

Current caching goals? To not get into poison ivy while caching, again!

The Pulfrich Illusion Science Lab Geocache (GCRYX0)
By Iowa Tom

The Pulfrich Illusion Science Lab Geocache is a science lab in an ammo box. It offers people the opportunity to try to see the strange perceptual phenomenon called the “Pulfrich Illusion.” The necessary parts in the cache are a pair of sunglasses from which one lens was removed and a pendulum. The lens I took out became the “The Pulfrich Illusion TB” that people could use to experience this illusion at home.

When a person arrives at the cache they need to hang the lead ball pendulum on a branch then give it a gentle moving swing in a straight line. When the one-lens sunglasses are put on a perceptive person sees the ball moving in an ellipse, not in a straight line! The webpage for this cache explains how this works and explains how to do it at home!

“CACHE TYPES PART 1”

Although there are various types of geocaches, most fall into one of two categories. They’re either a “traditional” cache or a “multi” cache. Personally, I prefer the traditional type, because I like to maximize my caching time on the weekends. But, don’t let me influence you on that – lots of people enjoy multiple stops, especially when those stops are laid out near a scenic hiking trail!

Every cache posting on Geocaching.com tells you what kind of cache you’re looking for in a banner line at the upper left side. The “Traditional” geocache is just that – a classic hide that just requires that you go to the coordinates listed and search. No clues, no puzzles, just the search. The “Multi” is like a “Traditional,” but uses multiple locations, hence the name “Multi.” The coordinates given take you to the first in a series of caches where instead of a log book or paper you will find the coordinates for the next stage.

A “Multi” can have just two stages, like Morgan Creek Seek (GCKT60), a fun one which we did recently in Cedar Rapids, or it might have quite a few stops like The Galaxy (GCXDTZ) in Cedar County. One now-archived cache at West Lake Park in Scott County involved a “Multi” that ranged from 8 to 32 parts, depending on how well you progressed through the various stages. I’ve got to admit that I avoided that one on purpose (sorry, Lyle!) – it was the only one I didn’t do in that cache-dense area!

A “Puzzle” or “Unknown” cache listing is recognized by its question-mark icon next to the cache name on the website. The coordinates given for these types are not where the cache is, but rather you must solve a puzzle to obtain the true location’s numbers. If you’re like me and others, trying to fit in an unplanned extra cache on the way home, you just check the GPS for “nearest caches” and go to one to find there’s nothing there! And, once at home, the website reveals it was, indeed, just a set of meaningless coordinates for the listing.

Some fun puzzle caches are based on the Sudoku craze – over 300 are currently listed online! One in Scott County is Sudoku With A Twist (GCRB51). My 5-part series near Eldridge, Iowa, called the Islands of Aloha Series is based on a crossword puzzle where various Hawaiian-themed words and names are converted into numbers and then coordinates. Starting with Garden Isle (GCRRWK), you complete four ammo box caches and get a clue in each that gives you the location of the fifth and final cache. Other puzzle caches require finding information ranging from sports trivia Two in the Busch (GCVWR4) in Davenport to historical data like Salute or Underground Railroad (GCVRDR) on I-80 in near West Liberty to locate the object of your search.

Coming up next: Offset, Virtual, Webcam, Letterbox hybrid and Earth geocache types, and, of course, the Event Cache!