1. How Do I Solve These #@&%$ Puzzles?!! Intro Mystery Cache

This is the first of a series of "How Do I Solve..." caches. I tried to make these easy to understand, but if you have any questions about them, please ask.

Park hours are 5 a.m. to midnight.

- Do you see a in front of a cache name and automatically ignore it?

- Are you mystified that some cachers are able to pull coordinates out of cache-page gibberish?

- Do puzzle caches make you feel this way:

If you would like to get a start on solving puzzle caches, this is the first of a series of caches that may help.

I did a couple "Puzzles 101" classes to introduce people to some beginning puzzle-solving techniques, but not everyone who wanted to was able to attend. So I am going to put out a series of caches over the next few months that will cover the topics mentioned in the classes.

This series is designed for BEGINNING puzzlers, and will cover some of the techniques sometimes seen in puzzles with a 2.5 star and lower difficulty.

Before we get started, I want to tell you two important rules I apply to caches:

So, let's start. Why bother with puzzle caches?

There are some people who ignore all caches. They detest puzzle caches and think they should have no part in caching. But there are several reasons why I think people are missing a lot of fun by flat-out ignoring all mystery caches:

1. Puzzles keep your mind young and agile. Studies show that doing a variety of puzzles helps prevent alzheimers.

2. Puzzle-solving can be a fun caching activity for cold, rainy winter evenings.

3. You know that little thrill when you find a cache? With puzzles, you get that thrill twice: once when you find the solution, and again when you find the cache.

4. Some puzzles are surprisingly clever and easy, once you take a closer look. Like this one below.

This is the puzzle you must solve to find this cache:

That's it! Now you can go and find it! Park hours are 5 a.m. to midnight.

You don't need to use it unless you want to, but here's a checker you can use to verify your solution.

As I said, this is one of a series of "How Do I Solve..." caches. They are spread out in different neighborhoods. It might help to solve them in order, but you don't need to. I tried to make these easy to understand, but if you have any questions about them, please ask.

Here are all the caches in the series. They are also posted in a "How Do I Solve These #@&%$ Puzzle Caches?!!" bookmark list.

Have fun solving puzzle caches! And remember ...

This cache complies with the geocaching policies for Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) properties. Please respect park hours when caching.