Can You See the Forest for the Trees? Mystery Cache

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the coordinates above; in fact, they are quite accurate... if you want to be in the middle of the interstate in the Cedar Bluff area of Knoxville. However, if you want to find this cache, I suggest solving the puzzle in the cache description below.

I love puzzle caches. I love creating them and I get great pleasure from solving them. They are a fantastic way to play the game when the elements outside are not conducive to enjoying a quest. It was puzzle caches (and the FTF races for them) that created the initial friendship between me and my best friend, life partner, soul mate and geobud yomegranate. One of the first things I do each morning is check my daily email for the Geocaching Puzzle of the Day, for which I am honored to fill in as guest host on occasion. The euphoria of a green light on a geochecker is what I often refer to as a "puzzlegasm".

BUT, I am quite often my own worst hindrance when working through the possibilities. I chase red herrings or dive into rabbit holes that have nothing to do with the answer but can't shake the possibility that my flawed theories are correct. I fail to see, understand, or focus on a situation in its entirety due to being preoccupied with minor details.

In short, sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees.

We are all familiar with the expression used of someone who is too involved in the details of a problem to look at the situation as a whole. Sometimes, if you look at things one at a time, you might not realize that a branch of separate "trees" go together to make a "forest".

When you are too close to a situation you need to step back and get a little perspective. When you do you will notice there was a whole forest you couldn't see before because you were too close, and focusing on the trees. Simply put, you have focused on the many details and have failed to see the overall view, impression or key point.

That's what brings us to this cache. The coordinates are hidden away here, but you can find them if you keep looking.

I've enjoyed solving puzzles for over 35 years. When I found geocaching and got to solve them in order to find caches it was even better... like five times better! Four, you see, it was two in one. That is, two of the things I like to do most, combined in a single activity. Yomegranate and I used to love to solve puzzles that a particular hider used to place, and when they'd publish we just eight them up! Four of them still exist, I think, but as far as I know the other 6 are archived. One thing is for sure, when you're solving a new puzzle, and you're absolutely sure you see what the solution is, you can't assume two many things. Every once in a while something is there just to throw you off track.

.-- --- .-. -.. --- .-. -.. . .-. -- .- -.- . ... .- -... .. --. -.. .. ..-. ..-. . .-. . -. -.-. .

Anyway, even though
solving them is fun, hiding
them can also be a
thrill. This isn't my first
puzzle cache.
Recently I was solving another one and as I
was trying something which turned
out not to have anything to do with
the solution for that
puzzle, I got the idea
for this one. That's how several
of my ideas have
shown up.
Inspiration from heading off on the wrong direction trying to solve something else. Of course, sometimes you just go down the wrong path on solving a puzzle and end up with nothing to show for it.

-... . -... --- .-.. -.. .- -. -.. -.-- --- ..- .----. .-.. .-.. ..-. . . .-.. -.-. .- .--. .. - .- .-..

Have you ever read a cache page and the description had something odd in it, and it was obvious that was the puzzle? Then there are the descriptions where you read it and then you wonder where the puzzle is. "Surely there's got to be more here!", you'll think. "Did the owner forget to include the coordinates??" But what if the description had so much stuff that you weren't sure where the puzzle was, or even if there WAS a puzzle? Maybe the coordinates are just hidden and you have to find them, not solve for them. You count words, you look for double meanings, you check the HTML Source Code, you try and see if strings of code like
this, [01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01110100],
or this, [74 68 65 79 20 64 6f 6e 74],
or this, [116 104 101 121 32 100 111 110 116],
actually mean anything, but after working on them you realize they don't.

-.. --- -. .----. - -.-- --- ..- ..-. . . .-.. .--- ..- ... - -.-. .- .--. .. - .- .-.. ..--..

peRhaps in your desperation you rEalize that maybe there's a hint left for you to decoDe from rot-13 that will give you a pointer in the rigHt direction, but to your dismay you sEe that theRe's not one. well, at the veRy least I didn't have a hiNt encoded that would decode to somethinG like, "none at this time". i'd hate for you to waste any effort and not find the coordinates.

.-. --- -.-. -.- -- . .- -- .- -.. . ..- ...

The coordinates are indeed very findable here, they're just hidden. They're available to you if you know where to look. You might look across the country trying to find them but once you see them, you'll know without a doubt that you've found them but I have included a checker just to give you a warm and fuzzy feeling about your discovery. Then you'll only need to enter them into your GPSr or caching app and go find the container I've hidden for you. (N 35° 54.910 W 084° 06.239)

I will add that I think someone trying to solve this cache using a Pocket Query will be at a huge disadvantage, and probably won't be able to find the hidden coordinates. The best approach is to be online, viewing the web page directly. Those using the Firefox browser may or may not have an easier time and those using Chrome or Safari will likely be at no advantage or disadvantage. Folks that can speak Japanese may or may not be at an advantage, but not with this cache. If you're trying to find the coordinates on a Mac it might be easier for you than those using a PC... or it probably won't. Anyone listening to Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Bob Marley or Aerosmith while reading this page is definitely cooler than someone that isn't. Don't smoke. Stay in school. Just say "No". It takes a village. The way to solve this cache has nothing to do with the zodiac, the periodic table, Austrian history, or cooking times for various bread machines or air fryer features that are currently on the market.

!elpoep tae sregrubmah dna ,sdrawkcab semoceb sdrawtnorf ,pu semoceb nwod ,dlrow orazziB nI

Enjoy, happy hunting and good luck spilling your ink. Cache ya later!

Ol'Fogie

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As the geocache owner, I ensure that these links are to a local geocaching group that is active in the community and contributing to geocaching in positive ways. These links have not been checked by Geocaching HQ or by the reviewer.