FYI: ANOTHER CACHER WHO WORKS IN THE RED BUILDING NEXT TO THE CACHE TOLD ME THAT "I have observed several people finding this cache and I'm not sure how you desire to deal with this but the red building will be monitored by a security guard as of today. People stopping by and hanging around the building will be on camera and may be approached by security ... I have informed the employees about what's going on and talked to the security guard, who to our benefit also goes geocaching, so maybe put a note that there is security that patrols?? The guard said he would put it in the notes but that's not a guarantee they won't approach them if they hang out too long."
Abstract: The major requirement of this challenge is to find, or to have found, in Minnesota, 29 caches, one for each day of February according to the date it was placed. Thus you'll find one that was placed on the first, one that was placed on the 2nd, and so on.
Genesis: February is a great month in Minnesota. It's a sunny month. The ice is solid enough to support ice skating, ice fishing, ice sailing and walking to caches that otherwise would require a watercraft. There's enough snow to enable sledding, downhill and x-country skiing, as well as snowmobiling. Perhaps it's because of all these other outdoor possibilities that geocaching drops off. According to my unofficial estimate, the number of geocaches placed in February is at least a third less than the monthly average. The purpose of this cache is to encourage February caching.
FAQ:
- What counts and what doesn't? Caches that have physical logs, i.e. traditionals, multi's, puzzles, and letterbox hybrids but not virtuals, events, earthcaches, webcams, or locationless caches. Furhermore, premium member only and whereigo caches don't count.
- How about other months? Please go ahead and place a "March Blackout Challenge", also Apr-Dec. That would create a total of 12 caches.
- Why just Minnesota? No rewards for snowbirds. For example, February in a very popular month in Arizona.
- How about Wisconsin? Go ahead and place a "February Blackout Challenge - WI". If we did that for each state and each month we'd have 600 new caches!
- How about using find dates rather than placed dates? Wow! That'd be 1200 new caches.
- Do prior finds count? Yes, but that's not as big of an advantage as it might seem.
- Why's that? If you just were to find February-placed caches at random, after a while you would start to duplicate placement dates. For example, after about 29 finds of February-placed caches you still would have about eleven to go, after 60 that would be down to about four; only after 120 would you have half a chance of finding them all. And multiply those numbers by about 20 to account for all months and you'd need a couple thousand or so finds to have even half a chance. So most cachers should have at least a few caches to find.
- What are the logging requirements? In either order, you have to find and sign the log at the posted coordinates and you have to either bookmark or email a list of the GCXXX for your 29 finds, each of which must have been found and logged by you personally. After you've done both you may claim the find. Please try to order your by February placement date.
- How can I easily obtain the placements dates of caches I've found? One way is to scan the "All Cache Finds" list for your profile.
- How do I find caches according to their placement date? One way is to scan through caches listed for Minnesota. These are arranged by placement date. You might need to go back through the years.
- What if I've more questions? Just ask. Anything significant that's been overlooked will be listed and dated here.
- Why is the difficulty of this challenge rated one star higher than the January Challenge? Simple, you have to find a cache hidden on February 29, a date which comes up only every four years. By my estimation, there are two active caches in Minnesota that were hidden on February 29. Let's hope nobody archives them! Otherwise, this challenge may not be found until 2012!
Here are the other caches in the series:
January Challenge by dgauss
February Challenge (THIS CACHE) by sparkyfry
March Challenge by Boreal Walker
April Challenge #1 by Minnstars
April Challenge #2 by Minnstars
May Challenge by trista74
June Challenge by pfalstad
July Challenge by FSU*Noles
August Challenge by GeoBex
September Challenge by goldribbon
October Challenge by Hal-oween
November Challenge by Laura (no name)
December Challenge by Sharknose Bunnies