5 years, 176 DNFs, 1 Find — A Real Challenge (GC1764C) Lives Up to Its Name

Derek H on February 26, 2013, 10:30 am

Extreme Geocaching | Geocaching with Kids | Milestones

A little geocache frustration from geocacher The Wumpus, with Leaderdog and Tape Worm in the background, while on the search for A Real Challenge.

In this week’s Geocaching Weekly Mailer, we talked about logging DNFs (did not find). While no one yearns to log a DNF, they’re a necessary part of the game. DNFs can mean all sorts of things: the geocache has been moved, needs maintenance, or in the case of A Real Challenge (GC1764C), it could mean that it’s incredibly hard to find.

With 176 DNFs and only one find, A Real Challenge lives up to its name. In fact, it took nearly four years for the FTF. This geocache was hidden near Peoria, Illinois, USA by geocacher Fuzzy B, who set out with the goal of creating something he’s never seen before, which, with nearly 46,000 finds, is hard to do. “I have felt a little guilty that so many people have spent so much time searching for it,” he said when asked how it felt to be the owner of such a difficult geocache.

In the geocache description, Fuzzy B writes, “Please, to hold down the level of frustration, anger, etc., just put this on your ignore list, it’s not very findable.” But he goes on to reassure us, “Yes, its there. It’s a shelter Cache, a log in a container. Cache is not in, on, or touching any part of the electrical equipment. It’s not on the roof, or under the shingles, nor the drip edge. Cache is exposed to light and air. Cache is within the footprint of the roof. There is NO reason to damage or destroy Park property.”

BransonAdventure after their find.

It’s there somewhere…

A Real Challenge has only one find so far by geocacher BransonAdventure. “We found at 8:07pm, but waited to log so we could confirm with owner it wasn’t a decoy or mistake. All the way from Nebraska on vacation we extended the Eastward travel just for this cache,” they said in their log, “I will say we spent just a little under 2 hours looking when my husband found it and then to unroll the log, being so excited and shaking felt like it took about as long. The husband and kids did a little jig.” After the find, Fuzzy B came to meet the lucky geocachers.

Even if it’s a little discouraging, DNFs are an important part of the game. Just think, if all the people that had searched for A Real Challenge hadn’t logged their DNFs, the FTF wouldn’t have been as special.

There’s only one way to find out where this geocache is located, but in the meantime, we can speculate. Where do you think it’s hidden?

Geocache owner Fuzzy B meets the only geocacher to find A Real Challenge, BransonAdventure.

http://www.facebook.com/matt.mclain.33 Matt Mclain

That is awesome!!! If I ever make it back there I will be making a pit stop…Happy Caching!!!
Goblincamper2004

That is a cool story. We have actually met Fuzzy B in Utah while they spent time in Utah geocaching. They are an awesome geocaching team.
Chiliconsushi

I think the racoon (background of FTF picture) has some informations about the cache! haha
The Wumpus

If anyone goes out in the spring, contact “The Wumpus.” I’d like to give it another shot if I can get some time.
http://twitter.com/understandblue understandblue

SO fun – added to my watchlist!
Never_Speechless

In my state of Massachusetts this would get the listing cancelled. I guess if it’s too hard and nobody can find it….it’s considered missing here in Mass.
mrori11

In the Springfield Area, would like to give this one a shot at some point. Contact me if you want to team up on this one. Congrats Fuzzy B for such a great cache.
http://www.facebook.com/Wallybworld Walter Booth

Is that the cache in his hand?
Madkaw

That’s not Madkaw in the first pic. It’s The Wumpus, with Leaderdog and Tape Worm in the background.
http://www.facebook.com/robert.delpin Robert Delpin

Missouri or illinois?
DutchMeNow

So the CO only narrows it down to “within the footprint of the building”? That sounds an awful lot like intentionally vague coordinates, to keep the search area larger. Which is most definitely against Groundspeak’s rules.
http://www.facebook.com/mbplunkett Marcia Plunkett

BrandsonAdventure can expect to be very busy with PAF’s if all those who DNF’d have this one on their watchlists…
Nurse_Pat

I think the CO is pretty generous even giving that much of a hint (within the footprints of the building), given the difficulty rating. All that’s required are coordinates. Not sure why giving a vague hint as opposed to no hint at all is against Groundspeak rules.
http://twitter.com/dsverdick Dave Verdick

If you were the only finder on this cache, or any difficulty 5 cache, would YOU give out a hint? I wouldn’t, and I don’t blame BransonAdventure for not giving any out, either. Pleasure to count the CO among the ranks of our local caching group here in Peoria.
Derek

Updated, sorry about that!
The Wumpus

If I remember, fuzzy offered a reward for FTF. I believe that’s the reward.
The Wumpus

Well, there go my 15 minutes of fame.
adam mckinney

Hmm, I love a hard one, but “Don’t log until the owner verifies” sounds like ALR to me. Regardless, nice challenge, if I ever go that far east, I might be game.
mini-s

Only wish it was closer… then if I couldn’t find it, at least I would be able to say “well virtually no one else did either”!!!
http://www.facebook.com/AprilDawn76 April Dawn Christensen

I think it’s great. I would love to be that skilled and creative to hide with such mastery. I don’t understand why people think it should be archived since it’s definitely there. If it was gone and/or the CO was not active nor responding to questions about it, then that’s a different story. Obviously people are enjoying the hunt for it. I would be upset if it was archived before I had a chance to look for it.
http://www.facebook.com/AprilDawn76 April Dawn Christensen

I didn’t realize hints were a rule? I thought just coords and some type of description? I mean, I am just a newbie, only been doing this a few months, but I don’t recall reading that it is a rule to provide hints.
FloridaPanther

Check out GC2BXAE which was placed on 7/17/2010 and has never been found.
Chisquare

I think it is in one of the wooden poles, in a node witch would have been replaced after hiding the price.
Nip-N-Tuck

Aww, come on. In my book, a 5 difficulty should mean at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, or the equivalent. It shouldn’t be listed as a 5 if it isn’t nearly impossible to find. If 157 DNFs in the great state of Massechusetts does indeed results in the the listing being archived (as long as is hidden within the guidelines), the there is something amiss in Mass.
Nip-n-tuck

There is not need to provide a hint. That is only a option available to the cache owner.
CP Columbus

After reading the cache information, I’d say this sounds like F-U-N!
Generok

OCCASIONALLY I like a stump the dummy cache. I’ve been in some in Germany that definitely push the limits of sanity by going down old mines, huge drainage pipes and even a 75 foot long rabbit hole… BUT, by far my most memorable caches were simple ones that took me to a place I’d never seen or a little hidden gem of a view or trail, or a secret green spot in the city. I try to log DNFs, but only if I didn’t quit due to lack of time. If I truly “gave up”, I will log the DNF.
Kevin K

When we have an hour or two and lots of patience and some help we WILL find it.
CachingFool

Hats off to the cachers that love to look for these types of caches, and to the finder of this cache… Personally, I only give about a 15 minute search for a cache like this… Sadly, with everything said above about where a cacher should search, usually there are real signs of vandalism to a structure like this, and somewhat surprised that a cache owner, parks department, and Groundspeak would support a cache that has a negative consequence to a structure and area. Most cachers respect a structure and/or the area they are searching, yet, more and more cachers, sadly, do not hold those values.
Kev Boat

The “building” is about 25′x25′, hardly outside the idea of soft coordinates. Any commercial grade GPSr can’t do much better than that, regardless of where you are.

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