For many geocaches, the hard part is finding the actual container. Most of us have seen geocaches that are hollowed-out bolts, some that look like rocks or plants, and some that are so tiny, you need a magnifying glass to see them. The good part is once you hold those geocaches in your hand, the hard part is over. On the flipside, you have geocaches like this week’s Geocache of the Week, where finding them is just the beginning.

Mechalumpus (GC1W1ZD), placed with land-owner permission in Western Australia is fairly easy to find. Minus the trees and the camouflage paintjob, it’s hard to miss. And just like all geocaches are supposed to be, this one is waterproof. And then the geocache creator, roymerc, went a step further to make this geocache muggle-proof. However, this had the side-effect of making it geocacher proof as well—unless you read the description. Geocachers are privy to a small bit of information that makes this geocache a tad bit easier to open: a secret toolkit hidden just meters away. Even though you have to use the secret toolkit to open this geocache, it still only receives a difficulty rating of 1.5 and a terrain rating of 2. In fact, the description states that the geocache owner’s grandchildren figured it out in less than 10 minutes. (Consider that a challenge.) Roymerc had this to say about creating the geocache, “So, the challenge is: find the tool box (easy) and figure out which tool is required, and how to use it.  The reward is to see the red hatch cover with its bulbous wobbly eyes appear. Kids love this! And that’s the aim of the game.”

Nearly 150 geocachers have figured out the combination to open this geocache and over 60 of them have left favorite points. While this might not sound like a lot to those of us in major metropolitan areas, this geocache is one of the most well-loved in Western Australia. Geocacher sylken had this to say in their “Found It” log, “What a fantastic design. We very quickly had the required tool box in hand and after a bit if poking, prodding, twisting and turning geohubby worked out the solution and Mr Mechalumpus himself appeared….and with a very smug look on his face I must say! We signed the log, feeling pretty smug ourselves by now, replaced the tool box and then started on our return journey.”

Regarding all of the positive logs and favorite points, roymerc said, “They’re a delight and makes the effort worthwhile. My policy is ‘finding the cache is just the beginning of the fun.’ ” We couldn’t agree more. This geocache is a total package: great journey, amazing container, innovative idea and great logs. What’s your favorite “total package” geocache? Tell us in the comments.

Continue to explore some of the most engaging geocaches around the globe. Check out all the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog or view the Bookmark List on Geocaching.com.

If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, send an email with your name, comments, the name of the geocache, and the GC code to pr@geocaching.com.

 

Bonus spoiler pic of the geocache mechanism, courtesy of roymerc: