New, For Me, Puzzle

 A local hider placed puzzle caches based on the card game Sets.  I had not heard of the game and never seen the game played before.  I looked for information on YouTube and found a few videos.  They are informational, but they didn't really help me with solving these puzzles.  For my next step I looked for an on-line game.  I found the best way to learn with a daily on-line game.  I've even found all six sets in the daily game a few times.😂

With a much better idea of the game, I tried to find the best way to solve for the cache.  I finally decided on printing the twelve-piece puzzle cache "set".  I arranged six copies of the on-line "set" on a powerpoint page.

Once printed, I looked to identify a set from each group cutting out the three items making the set.  Once you have built six unique sets, you have a solution.

The individual tiles can now be grouped in like tiles which then provide information to easily complete the math portion of the puzzle.

I don't typically spend a long time on puzzle solutions.  The rest of my life's commitments don't allow me to work with puzzles that may take hours/days/weeks and yield no geocache solution.  With Sets puzzles, I can solve these in reasonable time and enjoy a fun find when I am in the area of the hide.  When we are allowed back in Pennsylvania, I look forward to placing one of these fun puzzle hides.

Barbie Lost Her Backpack

Barbie was hiking in the woods in New York and left behind her backpack complete with a logbook.

Goals

 Maybe it was just lucky that we never really discussed goals for 2020 beyond 35 finds in each calendar day.  We hope 2021 has a bright ending.  With that hope in mind we made a few caching goals for this year.  They are...

• 38 finds in each calendar day.  January will answer early if we can actually pull this off.

We need to cache over half the days in January to make this goal.  Our overall sight is 50x365.  We started 2019 with 138 days of 50 or more.  We ended with 156.  At the start of 2020 we needed a total of 2,462 finds for 50x365.  We started 2021 needing 1996 finds.

• 19,700 Total finds...  We toyed with the idea of 20,000.  We've made 1300 in multiple years, but life and responsibilities have changed.  1,000 finds will be a nice improvement over last year's 784 total and would mark the first 1,000 year find in three years.
• 2,250 3+ terrain or higher finds...  We ended the year at 2,107.  In a normal non-COVID year this would be an easy win, but our travels will be limited for a significant part of the year as COVID still prevails.
• One new state...  This would have been 2-4 in a normal year, but we have both agreed the only possible air travel will be for me if I must for work until the vaccine greatly reduces risk.
• 950 multis...  Four a month is doable.  It would be more if we were free to travel.

Our last goal is 426 events.  I set this one off on its own as we currently have 425 events.  Yes, we are quietly hoping we will be able to attend at least once this year say hello to our caching friends.  Our last in person contact with another geocacher was 29 March when we said a socially distanced hello to petroypa70 along a rail trail in Matua, Ohio.

Stay safe.  Cache well.  Make memories.

The Challenge of Using Plastic Ammo Cans in the Woods

Plastic ammo cans have been increasing in use for geocaching containers for a few years now.  They are now commonly available at many retail stores and on-line.  Many of them have issues with leakage and condensation, but the plastic itself is a challenge for use as a container.  We have seen the results of ammo cans chewed by porcupine and ripped apart by bears.  While these are easy to find and cheap to buy, they are not a great substitute for steel cans.  The images below are from one afternoon of caching in Shinglehouse at a Pennsylvania State Game Land.

2020's Images from Geocaching

January: Cleveland Metroparks South Chagrin

February: Fakahatchee Swamp

March: Lakeview Cemetery

April: Garrettsville

May: East Harbor State Park

June: Bendigo State Park

July: Quehanna Wildlife Area

August: Mentor Lagoons

September: Garrett State Forest

October: The Wilderness Center

November: Dunham Siding

December: Ashtabula