Top Geocache Finds of 2020

Geocaching is one of my favorite hobbies because it marries my love of getting outside, maps, and discovering new places and things. With a free app and a smartphone it is like an entirely new world is revealed. This list identifies the five geocaches with the most “favorite” points I found, mostly, with my husband in 2020. We are lucky in West Virginia to have one of the most skilled prolific makers of “gadget” geocaches in the country (the world?), WVTim, so many caches are in West Virginia. Another hallmark of a popular geocache is being the oldest in a state, and we found one of these thigs year. Finally, others are gems in plain sight, bringing a new perspective or gravity to a place on the beaten path. Favorite Points are awarded by geocachers who find a cache to be particularly good and they are used here to rank the top five caches I found in 2020.

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Logan Airport 9/11 Memorial

#5 – Logan Airport 9/11 Memorial (117 Favorite Points)

Days before the United States went under a virtual lockdown for CoVID-19, I was on a business trip to the Boston area. After the short flight from Pittsburgh and assessing the unending stream of Ubers, I took a moment to locate this virtual cache. Virtual caches do not have a log to sign, but require a finder to complete a task when they arrive. In my case, I had to answer some questions from plaques on or near the memorial to get credit for the find. But the location itself is hard to miss, it is a lit glass shelter down and to the left when heading for ridesharing services at Boston’s Logan Airport.

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Getting four folks to the oldest geocache in West Virginia, this is the right tool.

#4 – Rich Creek Riches (127 Favorite Points)

A holy grail, the oldest remaining geocache in a state! West Virginia is blessed with one of the best networks of ATV, UTV, and dirtbike trails in the world, the Hatfield-McCoy Trails. This network is constantly growing, shifting and boasts hundreds of miles of trail! While when originally placed this cache was located on an “outlaw” trail, it is now easily accessible from the Rockhouse trails. The trick is that the easiest and legal way to find this cache would be to have a machine and drive the trails to the cache. When we went to find this historical cache, our party of four rented the above machine from Mountain Top Adventures. They were a little casual, but the machine was in great order, we had a ton of fun, and ran into no problems. Renting ATV and UTVs can be expensive but I thought it was worth it (and my husband has a new hobby now).

GeoTours are set up by a range of organizations, usually spurred on by eager geocachers, as a way to innovatively inspire tourism. Berkeley County, West Virginia has and does host a range of superb geotrails, thanks to the prolific WVTim! The following three geocaches are all on the Berkeley Gadgets GeoTour, which is currently the most favorited GeoTour in the world!

#3 – BGG: Fiber Optics (151 Favorite Points)

First, this cache is located at Orr’s Farm Market. Only seek the cache during daylight hours, but do come when the market is open, they have a lot of goodies from the fields as well as an array of local products. Despite being a daylight only cache, a flashlight is required to crack the code to get into the cache. That is no mistake! From the geocache description: “This cache has over 20ft of fiber optic cable inside. The fiber optic cable will carry light to the display. You must find 4 locations where fiber optic cables are terminated. At those locations shine your light and watch for the digit to appear in the small panel in the upper left corner of the cache. I have provided you with a "test" spot to allow you to see what will actually be happening when you shine your light in the correct spot”

#2 – BGG: Almost Heaven (168 Favorite Points)

It is common for most interstate rest areas to be home to at least one or two geocaches, except in the few states that specifically ban geocaches from Department of Transportation (or equivalent) property. This cache is located at the Northbound I-81 West Virginia Welcome Center, making it a very convenient find for through travelers. With favorite points like these, the cache likely draws attention from both those committed to completing the BGG GeoTrail and those just passing through or who take a more casual approach to geocaching (definitely me). This cache requires completing a field puzzle and a light-hand to extract the log to sign. Make time next time you are passing through the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia!

#1 – BGG: Specialty Box (175 Favorite Points)

The life of a geocache can be difficult, caches may be damaged (intentionally or inadvertently) or even grow legs and walk away. The location of this cache had been home to The Quick and the Dead, but now brings another cache out of retirement, the Key is the Key (here is a spoiler video).

Geocaching is a great way to get outside and explore. While there are numerous geocaching groups and message boards, many prefer to take it on as a solo or partnership. The vast majority of my geocaching is done alongside my husband and the best car (or truck or UTV) we have for the job. We’re looking forward to finding more caches in the coming year!

Best of 2014: Auto Art

GCJ8M8 – Auto Art
Hidden by MsKardiac
314 Favorite Points
Found on May 24, 2014

Erie, PA has offered up some really fascinating adventures. Whether I keep falling over in knee-high snow in a desperate effort to look at the ice dunes at Presque Isle or am being attacked a lawn of a nondescript side road by enormous robots constructed out of car parts, there is never a dull moment.

This virtual cache does what virtual caches often do: highlights a particularly unique, scenic, historic, or other relevant superlative in a location one may lack familiarity with. The photographic opportunities here are out of this world, in more ways than one.

Attacked by one of the pieces of "auto art"

New Favorites and Old Favorites

When I think about fine French cuisine my mind does not immediately travel to Huntington, WV. While I have never been to France and consequently have no points of reference there, my mind at least travels to my native Canada and to a wonderful bistro in the DuPont Circle area of Washington, DC. But I am also not one to dismiss an ethnic offering just because it is not in a typical locale. If that were the case, I truly might think that West Virginia is devoid of tantalizing opportunities. To the surprise of many, West Virginia has some great restaurants. I know I’m always eager to see who Candace Nelson reviews next on her blog.

Le Bistro is one of the offerings near the Pullman Square complex in downtown Huntington and a favorite of my mother-in-law, who is such an excellent cook I sometimes wonder how she can even tolerate eating out most of the time. I ordered a plate of chicken salad, fruit, and breads, sort of a deconstructed concept. Everything on my plate was delicious. At the same time, there was ample sharing between Chris and his mother. There was nothing that would not be described as outstanding on anyone’s plate. I am so excited to return next time we visit Huntington because their menu is adjusted weekly to include new recipes and ingredients. Menu selections are very much tuned into the season. While we had been up to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Thanksgiving meals were hardly memorable compared to the perfection at Le Bistro. I’m not exactly a foodie, but I hardly have a figure that would imply I don’t enjoy eating.

After a divine meal we parted ways from Chris’s parents and turned our sights on the highway home. Though we had been on something of a geocaching streak so we decided to find an easy geocache on our way out of town. I picked C-N-C Challenge: Favorites, a challenge cache requiring that each person logging it as a find has found 10 caches whose favorite points total 4700. We didn’t need 10 caches to do this, we only needed five. At the time we found the cache our list looked like this:

Points - GC Code - Cache Name
2237 - GCK25B - Geocaching Headquarters
  788 - GCEB2 - The view of an “Honest Man”
  714 - GCK12J - Last stop for a weary traveler
  561 - GCM1C - Table Rock Earthcache
  553 - GC33NAZ - Evolution of the Rest Stop!

Total Favorite Points = 4853

We were feeling just a little chuff about the ease of satisfying the requirements. So much so that when Chris stepped away from the guardrail the cache was hidden in there was an audible ripping noise as he tore a hole in his brand new corduroy pants. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or both. There aren’t words to express how much we dislike shopping. In light of the draft in his pants, we focused on the drive back to our home and our cats.

Best of 2014: Elm Tree #1: Smithsonian NMNH GeoTour

GC3QMEP – Elm Tree #1: Smithsonian NMNH GeoTour
Hidden by Smithsonian NMNH
244 Favorite Points
Found on December 11, 2014

It is evident geocaching has become a legitimate, mainstream hobby when the Smithsonian is getting in on it. Even more admirable is the effort they’ve put into establishing the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) GeoTour because it has meant embracing the challenges of placing caches in high-traffic areas while also trying to deliver a quality (and educational!) experience.

I had very carefully planned out this day of geocaching to help accomplish a number of goals in an area that I frequent. So there were several caches that I touched on to help solve so I could find them in the future that are not reflected in my total finds for the day. Though this was the last one before I had to hop on Metro and rendezvous with my husband for the drive back to Morgantown.

I knew this was a simple, physical cache (which was highly desired after a day of answering seemingly complicated questions and running around the senate office buildings). When I arrived at the posted coordinate only one place seemed to make sense. I twisted on the top of the host and there it was, sitting in the ground.

Here was my surprise of the day. I’m kneeling on the ground next to one of the most popular Smithsonian museums on the Mall retrieving something that the ignorant observer could liken to a pipe bomb. Geocaching in DC seriously feels like some kind of covert FBI or CIA mission. I tried to discreetly carry the cache over to a bench so I could less suspiciously trade trackable items and sign the log.

Then I waited. There was a nearby intersection that was beginning to fill up with congested traffic and occupants of vehicles had a direct view of what I was doing and where. In DC it is urged that if you see something suspicious you should report it ASAP. I knew I had to be looking suspicious but I needed to wrap it up with this cache. I tried to obstruct the view with my body and I replaced the cache. No one seemed to have noticed. Perfect.

I made my way back toward the mall, returning through the pleasant butterfly garden—though no butterflies were to be found on this cool December day. I successfully made my way to the Federal Triangle Metro station and out to the suburbs. A victory to close out my peaceful day among the monuments.

Bookends

Frustration is a real issue when geocaching at times. It can be frustrating when you can’t find what you’re looking for. It can be frustrating when you can’t figure out how you’re supposed to extract and then sign the log. Geocaching is a hobby of problem solving, but sometimes you don’t realize you’re in the mood for certain problems until you’re teetering precariously on a hillside, placing a lot of faith in what muscle tone may exist in your ankles.

Let me introduce you to Cinders Petrie’s Hexahedron.

Named for a feisty old ferret, it made a lot of sense when we found the cache. It seemed like it should be easy, just a short walk up a hill from a park and ride on I-68. With a name like hexahedron, I thought it would just be a cube or some other six-faced object. We didn’t realize how devious Ms. Petrie must’ve been.

The container had a lot of places where a log could hide. 56, to be exact. Previous logs had indicated it took folks anywhere from about 5 to about 30 tries. I figured it couldn’t be that hard. I looked in 53 places. It became progressively more difficult as it was a chilly December morning and my fingers slowly lost fine sensation while my ankle was reminding me that I could stand to be in better shape.

The victory dance was abbreviated by the cool air. Once the log was signed we hurried back to the car. Down the hill, through the spilled contents of someone’s purse, and across the parking lot. We cranked up the heat and continued on to our next errand.

Since moving back in with my husband in December 2013, we’ve been paring down. When we had two separate households we duplicated a lot of items and did so in as cheap a manner as possible, knowing that the magical time would come where we could donate one of them and then slowly replace our cheaper items with nicer, less college-y items (once my loans are paid off and I get a new or newer car!). In 2014 we donated over $1000 in good condition household items and clothing to Goodwill (never donate to Goodwill what you wouldn’t give to a friend!).

Feeling as if our home sighed with the relief of having just a little bit less junk in it, we continued on to the Mountain State Brewing Company for Team Bingo and, my favorite, their own root beer brew. Never big on real beer, a good root beer never fails to satisfy. There were some large teams at Team Bingo so we never managed to win a round, though after stuffing ourselves we decided on a different prize.

We headed south of town on old Route 73. Before I-79, Route 73 was the most efficient way to get between Morgantown and Fairmont because U.S. Route 19 bows way out to wind through some settlements. 73 largely travels through unsettled areas, a golf course, past a long-abandoned roadside park, and eventually spits out on the east side of Fairmont. It is how one gets to the Uffington trail head of the Mon Trail South, the rail trail that follows the Monongahela River south of Morgantown.

The goal was to walk two miles and avenge a Did Not Find log from a geocache along the way. While we had plenty of time to talk over pizza during bingo, nature always has a way of directing our minds. The conversation was at least as lively. These are the opportunities we have to get to know ourselves and our loved ones the best. Oh, and we did find the geocache, The W080°00.000 Incident IV.

Opekiska Geocaches

Autumn is my favorite season, despite the fact it ends in winter and winter is my least favorite. Autumn is my favorite because the days are still warm but the nights are cool (consider that even in the dead of winter the ceiling fan swirls above our bed because we are both furnaces) and there is nothing prettier than the Appalachian mountainsides blanketed in hundreds of shades of yellow, orange, and red. Taking advantage of yet another perfect autumn day, Chris and I headed to the Opekiska Lock and Dam trailhead on the Mon Trail South, the rail trail that follows the Monongahela River, to seek out two geocaches.

GC2RCC1 – Paul Bunyan’s Lunch Box

We chose to come to the Opekiska area because of this cache, which at the time of this writing, has 18 favorite points. Once a cache hits about 10 favorite points it really captures my attention. But Opekiska is interesting and unique for a few other reasons: you can get very close to the lock and dam, the road out to the trail is beautiful, and it is less congested and busy than trailheads in more populated areas.

The cache was a few feet off of the rail trail and did require navigating over a small ditch filled with water, but once we located the cache it was clear why it had so many favorite points. The container was not unique, but it was placed within a custom-made host. Given the size of the host (hinted to with the reference to Paul Bunyan in the title) I am still not sure if it was made elsewhere and brought to its location or if a dedicated cache owner came out to the area numerous times to craft the host.

GC1EYNN – lock n lock at the lock

Looking at the map, it seemed as if this cache would be hidden similarly to the previous cache. We were wrong in so many ways. First, while the distance off of the trail was only a little bit further, it involved substantially more vertical terrain. There was also more overhead foliage, which interfered with satellite reception and accuracy of our GPS units.

We spent 30 minutes going up and down the hillside, trying to find the cache. After being on the hillside for six years, the area around the cache had changed somewhat so the hint was less useful than it likely was in 2008. As we were about to throw in the towel, I realized I was standing on a nice, flat rock. I lifted it up and found the cache quietly waiting to be found.

Sore from moving up and down the hillside so much more, it was nice to be back on level ground. When we made it back onto the trail, it looked like there was a twig on Chris’s shirt. But then it seemed like it was moving. I was puzzled. My lack of confidence in what I was seeing led Chris to pull off his hoodie in a hurry. It was a walking stick insect. I had never seen on before. So it truly was a twig that was walking. My eyes weren’t deceiving me. Making these discoveries is just one of the multitude of reasons why walks in nature are so rewarding.

Best of 2014: A house on a hilltop

GC1H9T3 – A house on a hilltop
Hidden by GR8Caches
198 Favorite Points
Found on November 8, 2014

Harper’s Ferry is unique among places in West Virginia. Like nearby Shepherdstown, it feels very much like it does not belong in West Virginia. Culturally it is very distinct from the rest of the state. I am not sure that was always the case, given the sentiments that led to the creation of West Virginia during the Civil War, but I think geography has had a cumulative effect. What may have been less significant differences in the past are magnified now due to the varying effects time has had on the different geographies. Jefferson County, and even Berkeley and Morgan counties are geographically remote from the rest of the state. The years have been kinder to the Eastern Panhandle than the Southern Coalfields, though sometimes the strangest things can link different places together in our memories. 

The geocache itself is simple, it is an ammocan chained to a base (so it will not grow legs and wander off!) tucked between a bench and a tree. It is easy to be so explicit when the cache description is equally explicit. The point of this cache isn’t the container. The point of this cache is… well, I guess it is supposed to be the view but I was at least equally intrigued by the hulking dilapidated structure next to it.

The cache overlooks the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. It is a far less strenuous approach to a similar view that can be achieved after a difficult hike that is not always open and accessible on the Maryland side of the Potomac (when we visited, some locals said that the area had been closed off to let nature have some time to recover from a heavy trampling from a heavy tourism season). The view is stunning. The hydrology is impressive. The generations of bridges and their remnants over each river enough to make the hearts of any engineer pound with passionate delight. It is no wonder these rivers have inspired songs for hundreds of years, including West Virginia fan favorite, Take Me Home, Country Roads.

The Potomac and Shenandoah rivers at Harpers Ferry

But once you catch your breath from the view in front of you, there is the mysterious case of the dilapidated building behind you. We were lucky enough on the day we visited to have some locals show up at about the same time, and they were able to at least give some basic information. This enormous building is the Hilltop House (a better and more eloquent history is here) and it was occupied until about 2008. It has deteriorated substantially since then, with clear and substantial damage to the roof and internal and external vandalism (including arson). Locals desire to return the building to its former use, but I fear it is too far gone.

The dilapidated Hilltop House

The Hilltop House was established in 1888 by an African American entrepreneur, Thomas Lovett. The current structure is the third Hilltop House, built after the second one burned down in 1919. Though the structure is one of the remnants of a significant history in Harpers Ferry for the empowerment of African Americans, it was home to Storer College, a historically black college dedicated to educating African American teachers and leaders—of which it graduated many.

Of all of the geocaches found in 2014, this may win for most interesting and unique structure. It was also somewhat unexpected. It took me back to an experience I had four years earlier when I visited Logan in the Southern Coalfields to see the ruins of the historic Aracoma Hotel after much of that structure had entirely collapsed as a result of an extensive fire.

Best of 2014: A Sunday Afternoon Cache

GC897E – A Sunday Afternoon Cache
Hidden by NeoGranger and Rabid Bunny
168 Favorite Posts
Columbus, Ohio
Found on May 25, 2014

Art often depicts or intends to mimic nature but in the case of this virtual geocache it is the reverse. In the heart of Columbus, nature mimics art. In the minute Topiary Park, a mere 7-acres in size, one has the rare opportunity to become part of a famous painting.

Topiary Park in Downtown Columbus

And not only can you interact with the characters from the work for art, but the park is also full of all kinds of local character as well!

Best of 2014: Gadget Cache

GC333J2 – Gadget Cache
Hidden by WVTim & WVGrammy (maintained by GR8Caches)
167 Favorite Posts
Jefferson County, West Virginia
Found on November 8, 2014

My husband loathes multi-stage caches. He hates them. Frankly, he moans and groans if I propose we seek almost anything other than traditional caches (he’s fine with some virtuals as well as mystery caches if they are puzzles that I have already solved without his involvement). Sometimes I see his point of view. There are some very poorly arranged multi-stage caches out there. However, Gadget Cache stands as an example of an excellent multi-cache as well as three unique cache containers.

The first characteristic that makes it an excellently designed cache is that the cache page is extremely descriptive: it gives you a very clear idea of the experience you are in for. The page explains the number of stages, the distance between each of the stages, and it tells you where to park your car.

Spoilers Follow. This is your first and final warning.

The posted coordinates take you to a device that catapults the container with coordinates to the second stage out of it with a spring. How cute! Definitely a unique take on the more typical hanging bison tubes or pill bottles in a pile of rocks.

The second stage was even more unique and has since been replicated in another WVTim cache that is part of the previously discussed Gadgets of Berkeley County GeoTrail. This stage featured a scent board. That is, a board with a number of vials on it, each one containing a scent. Each scent is associated with a number. Then the cacher is given a list of scents to complete the coordinates for the third stage. WVTim describes some of the process of how this board is constructed on his blog, Unique Geocaches.

We made one minor mistake in calculated the coordinates for the final stage. After combing through the area the coordinates we calculated took us to, our team of three split up. The guys went back to the scent board and I had another hunch. This cache had been found earlier in the day and the brush in the area was on the high side. I followed the footsteps of the previous finders, that is, where the brush had been beat down, I went. Bingo!

When I found the cache it was a small container wedged into a small hole on the underside of a log. Something I have seen in many caches, ranging from British Columbia to Maryland. What really made me smile was the name I saw on the log immediately before I wrote in my own: 4LostMarbles! These were the same folks we ran into earlier in the day when we were caching at WVTim’s church and when we found Under a Lamp Post.

As I signed the log, I heard the guys yell, they had found the mistake in their coordinates. In a minute or two they joined me at the final stage of the cache. To complete all three stages, despite the confusion, took less than 15 minutes, yet it really was one of the more memorable finds of the day and certainly of the year.

Best of 2014: I am the God of Leaky Caches and Soggy Log Books

Number 8: GCBB8F - I am the God of Leaky Caches and Soggy Log Books
Hidden by JoeCthulhu
164 Favorite Posts
Washington, District of Columbia
Found on December 11, 2014

Washington, DC is not only the seat of a world power and a cultural hub, it is a geocaching paradise: particularly if you love virtual (and, increasingly, earthcaches). Areas in and around the National Mall and the various presidential and military monuments it is possible to find caches that have accumulated thousands of favorite points. This is particularly handy given the increasing popularity of challenge caches that demand finders to have found combinations of caches with sometimes as many as 8000 favorite points with as few as 10 to 20 caches.

Being tucked behind the Capitol at the steps of the Library of Congress, this virtual cache is comparatively off of the beaten path of tourists eager to gather as much of “DC” as they can in the short period of time that they have to experience it. Perhaps this is how it was overlooked when I lived in the DC area in the latter half of 2009 and on my numerous trips back in the years since. Frankly, those who try to experience the best of DC in a few days are deluded, I had months and I couldn’t even penetrate the surface. There are still countless museums I dream of visiting.

Let me hop off my high horse, geocaching is an excellent way to see DC. I first noticed this trend when I was checking out geocaches in Baltimore, but caches tend not to be placed in areas that are particularly unsafe for outsiders. Obviously, if you’re in an unfamiliar environment you should be vigilant and careful, but that should be common sense. Geocaches, especially virtual and earthcaches, are also often placed in interesting places. Also consider caches with ample favorite points and you can pick out some places that you probably really want to visit.

A quilt that hung in the now-retired Senator Jay Rockefeller's office in the Hart Senate Office Building

Immediately prior to finding this cache I solved the coordinates for a mystery cache, U.S.S. to CinC. This cache took me through the halls of the Senate office buildings where I not only had the opportunities to see where some of our greatest presidents had their offices when they were members of the Senate but I also had a chance to meet the staff and talk to the people representing my interests as a resident of West Virginia in the Senate. After I found this virtual cache, I continued on to an earthcache at the National Museum of the American Indian, where I spent hours among the exhibits, watching the films, and binging on the delicious cuisine.

But back to the Library of Congress, on a cold December morning, it is deserted. I had the place to myself to answer the questions necessary to log the find. Tightly gripping my coffee to keep my hands warm, I spent just a few extra moments with Neptune, knowing that of all the wondrous and inspiring statues and monuments in DC he is easy to miss and that in such company I would want the visit, too.

Neptune with some of his friends from the sea on a cold and dry December morning