The Geo Boo Gang is a social group made up of geocachers from northeastern New Jersey and the Lower Hudson Valley of New York. The Geo Boo Gang holds regular events, including monthly ice cream socials and quarterly dinners. They race each other for First to Finds and often run into each other on local trails.
Caesar's selfie of the Geo Boo Gang at the Manunka Chunk Tunnels Cache (GC82B5)
Foreground l-r: Cornelius Taylor, Caesar Taylor, Balto Kaasen
Background l-r: Bo Woolensworth, Felicia Furrball, Olga Caramel, Jack Russell, Cody Cook
It was during one of their ice cream socials that the following conversation occurred:
Olga: ... and that's how I developed a love for cooking.
Bo: Wait, I love to cook too. How did I never know this about you?
Cody: Well, all we usually talk about is geocaching. I don't think I really know much about any of you, besides the fact that you enjoy finding Tupperware in the woods using a super-expensive satellite system!
Felicia: Hey, that gives me an idea! Why don't we create a puzzle series together; each of us would create a puzzle based on something that interests him or her? Olga or Bo could use cooking if they wanted to, for example, since they both love cooking. And then together we can create a final, bonus puzzle, based on all our individual puzzles. This will be a fun way to get to know each other better.
Cornelius: Caesar and I are brothers. Can we put together a puzzle as a team?
Balto: Jack and I hang out all the time. Can we create a puzzle together too?
Felicia: That sounds great guys! So we'll have six puzzles, which works out perfectly. Let's coordinate the bonus puzzle, and then we'll go create our individual puzzles on our own.
And that's how the Geo Boo Gang puzzle series was born.
Balto Kaasen and Jack Russell
Balto Kaasen and Jack Russell are best friends, and have been as long as they can remember. Their parents have known each other since elementary school, and were the best man/maid of honor in each other's weddings. So it was only natural for Balto and Jack to develop a friendship of their own.
Not that their friendship is perfect; occasionally they will clash over what to do when they hang out ("Let's ride bikes!" "No, let's go see a movie!") but for the most part they get along and share common interests. They both love frisbee, and soccer, and any game that involves running around outside.
Balto and Jack playing soccer
When off the field, however, they love their video games. They started out playing multiplayer console games, and have since shifted their interests to multiplayer apps on mobile devices. And on this particular rainy Saturday, Balto and Jack decided to hang out in Jack’s living room and battle each other online.
Jack and Balto playing video games
“Dude, I leveled your town hall!” exclaimed Jack.
“Go wipe that smile off your face, Jack,” replied Balto. “And stop hogging all the snacks!”
“Enough game time, boys!” called Jack’s mom from her office. “Please find something else to do!”
“Okay mom,” Jack called back. The boys shut down their game apps.
“What do you want to do now? Go caching?” asked Balto.
“Well, why don’t we work on our puzzle for the Geo Boo Gang puzzle series,” replied Jack. “We need to come up with an idea. One based on ‘something that interests you’, or something like that.”
“I think I have a spot for the cache,” said Balto. “When I was out last weekend, I found a location that we could use. Here, check out the coordinates.”
Jack took a look at Balto’s GPS receiver. “Awesome! Hey, that gives me an idea. Give me a second,” he said to Balto.
“Mom, “ Jack called. “Is it okay if I used the app for just a couple more minutes? It’s geocaching-related.”
“That’s fine,” called back his mom. “But not too long please!”
Jack re-opened his game app. After a few minutes of playing around with it, he showed Balto the screen. “Check out the squad I put together. What do you think of doing something like this for our puzzle?” asked Jack.
Jack's squad
Balto took a look. “That’s awesome, Jack. Get a screen capture of that! Let me try!” said Balto, re-opening his game app. After a few minutes, Balto showed Jack his screen. “What about my squad? Look good?”
Balto's squad
“That’s perfect!” exclaimed Jack. “Capture that too. Boy, that was easier than I expected. Let’s create a cache listing, hide the cache, and submit this for review!”
“Why don’t we call it ‘This Little Piggy Cache’, ‘cause they all 'go wee wee' all the way home,” said Balto, laughing.
Jack laughed too. “I don’t know; I’m not sure if anyone will get the title! Let’s just keep it simple.”
“Sounds good,” said Balto. “Let’s get this published!”
Can YOU find the geocache?
Per the rules of geocaching, a Found It log must correspond to a signed logbook.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
BONUS: the cache container will have written in it a note with part of the coordinate for the puzzle series bonus cache, of the form LETTER=COORDINATE PIECE. Save these pieces of the bonus coordinate for use in geocache GC62D9P.
I hope you enjoy the entire Geo Boo Gang puzzle series! The series consists of the following caches:
GC62D9B: Geo Boo Gang Series: Caesar and Cornelius Taylor
GC62D9D: Geo Boo Gang Series: Balto Kaasen and Jack Russell
GC62D9F: Geo Boo Gang Series: Cody Cook
GC62D9G: Geo Boo Gang Series: Olga Caramel
GC62D9J: Geo Boo Gang Series: Felicia Furrball
GC62D9M: Geo Boo Gang Series: Bo Woolensworth
GC62D9P: Geo Boo Gang Series: Bonus
Happy caching!