The Gauntlet… End Of The Games

[The Lil Otter]

Ooops.. sorry about that.. here’s a perfect story in the Today’s Cacher (online geocaching magazine) that explains my cache

http://www.todayscacher.com/2006/nov/liarscache.asp

side notes:
I’ll be picking up my DNR archived caches in the Dells as well as the Gauntlet in the next few days.. Thought it best to stay out of the woods during hunting season.. also I’ve been battling health issues the last few years.. I hit a deer a few years back and got smucked in the face by my rear view mirror.. not understanding that there was damage done to my upper jawbone, it turned into a major infection, one step away from gangerine.. I’m on my second or third root canal (had one last Wednesday) to save my teeth as well as needing another year before the bone in my jaw grows back in.. no energy.. so it was fun “adventuring” online through the Gauntlet.. So no smuckin’ me in da face over this cache.. deal? (grins)

~The Lil Otter

[GrouseTales]

I’ve never really taken the time to read the Gauntlet logs before today. It was a creative idea, which is only spoiled by money. It’s easy to laugh and have fun, as long as you don’t invest too much time and money in the trip. I could see some being upset, especially if making a special trip with this year’s gas prices.

There are lots of clues to the true nature of the cache, but I think the lure of true adventure, was stronger than common logic.

Looking at the pictures from time to time, I could believe that it was real. Knowing Lorrie’s sense of adventure, I could believe that you had to climb mountains, forge rivers, and crawl through dark caves. She amazed me while hiking at Devil’s lake. While I’m looking for a trail, Lorrie is jumping over a cliff to take a short cut.

I thinks it’s time for someone to hide a REAL Gauntlet with some true adventure! 🙂

[LightningBugs Mum]

Wow. Some people sooooooo miss the point of The Gauntlet (edit: I’m not referring specifically to you, Brian). The cache was all about cameraderie and the ability to laugh at yourself.

I have great memories from that day. Going in, I figured there was an element of the liar’s cache involved, but I was still geared up for a good bushwhacking multi. As I was putting a bunch of stuff on me and my son, Bec was there watching us with concealed amusement (she had been totally tipped off I now realize). We headed over, found it, and had a good laugh. Then we all spent the rest of the day caching in a beautiful part of the state and coming up with stories for our logs. Finding an ant on my leg turned into getting swarmed by a nest and bitten. Bec’s sneezing a few times from allergies turned into a race to the hospital in near anaphylactic shock. My son and I still talk about it.

But I knew this day would come eventually. The Gauntlet was a victim of its own success – there was just no way a cache could be built up so far like this without something causing it to tumble down. Such a shame.

[Decrepit]

Ah… now I understand. I never really looked that close at this cache considering it’s ratings. I’m not one to put myself at risk, since I mostly go out on my own and knowing my limitations as well as “Old”s. Now I wish I checked it out a little more. I just read a few more of the logs and I’m sure I could have come up with a rather interesting adventure.

I can’t wait for the swelling and bruises to go away (no, not from caching… from ice) so that I can get back out on the trails again.

[LDove]

@GrouseTales wrote:

I loved kbraband’s encrypted log from 4/16/05 🙂

😳 😳 scratching head…. what is in the encrypted log? I need help here, don’t get it. I read it, read it, still don’t get it??? The cache is archived so WHAT WAS the encrypted log? ❓ ❓ ❓ 😕 (feeling dumb… 🙄 )

[I M WU]

I M so bummed. I had talked to sloughfoot about this cache, after he completed it, then I saw nunsontherun attempted it and completed THE GAUNTLET. This type of cache would have been right up my alley. I was out of town otherwise I would have been in the Dells with the gang from MN attempting it. I can weave a good “tail”. I got hooked on geocaching thanks to a lil otter cache that hit me right in the heart with a primal dart. PS Jeremy, I was talking with Santa tonight, he said get the stable ready for your pony and world peace is on its way! I was requesting gear to prepare for THE GAUNTLET! 😉

[GrouseTales]

@lonesumdove wrote:

@GrouseTales wrote:

I loved kbraband’s encrypted log from 4/16/05 🙂

😳 😳 scratching head…. what is in the encrypted log? I need help here, don’t get it. I read it, read it, still don’t get it??? The cache is archived so WHAT WAS the encrypted log? ❓ ❓ ❓ 😕 (feeling dumb… 🙄 )

Read the first letter of each sentence. Classic !

[Jeremy]

@lonesumdove wrote:

@GrouseTales wrote:

I loved kbraband’s encrypted log from 4/16/05 🙂

😳 😳 scratching head…. what is in the encrypted log? I need help here, don’t get it. I read it, read it, still don’t get it??? The cache is archived so WHAT WAS the encrypted log? ❓ ❓ ❓ 😕 (feeling dumb… 🙄 )

I hate to give away Ken’s little secret, but I can say that he made it clear that the logs were ALL LIES… 🙂

[Jeremy]

@I M W/U wrote:

PS Jeremy, I was talking with Santa tonight, he said get the stable ready for your pony and world peace is on its way! I was requesting gear to prepare for THE GAUNTLET! 😉

Great! …Er wait, you wouldn’t be lying to me would you? Now that I know lies exist in this world I’m just going to curl up in a ball and die… or maybe I need one of those lie detector machines like the police have so I can question the owner before I seek another cache? 8)

Speaking of lies, the clever thing about this liar’s cache (The Gauntlet) is there were no lies in the cache description that The Lil Otter provided. (OK, except maybe the difficulty/terrain ratings, but she could have just clicked on the wrong thing… as she often points out she is blonde. ;)) The sense that this cache is a great challenge and adventure, the mystique, and the greatness came solely from the lies in the logs all the folks who visited the cache provided. You had so many people lying that even when the stories became incredible and lacked any sort of coherence, others still believed that this would be the toughest cache they’d ever gone after.

Unfortunately, the power of the Internet allows one person to discredit all these upstanding cachers lying on behalf of The Gauntlet by shouting out to everyone who hasn’t found it yet. In the past, something like The Gauntlet would have become legendary and tales about it would have gone on to be accepted as the truth… non-believers would have been easy to ignore or quiet by the majority.

[Cache_boppin_BunnyFuFu]

I liked my pics!! LOL Dan and I did a lot of work to get those out. Made up a the “Final” and that bat and cave pic?? Cave was from Arizona somewhere and the bat… Some cave in Germany. Borrowed them from a few other caches on GC.com Oh… I’m going to heck for lying. 😈 but you are all going with me ROFLMBO!!!!!

Thanks for the Fun Laurie! The Gauntlet will be missed 😥

[kent1915]

My two cents. I ran it and enjoyed it. As I said in my log, it is one of those caches that you will either laugh or cry about. Do I understand being ticked off? Sure. But in the end, you have no one to blame but yourself. Think about it. Anyone worth their weight in salt would research the cache, the area, the terrain before doing something that is reported to be that grueling. If you DID research, you would have figured something was up. The people that purchased a few hundered bucks for gear without researching it? Man, ya know? I don’t have a lot of sympathy. One key to woodsman/personship is to know your surroundings. Did people get taken for a ride? If they let themselves; be it by not researching and by taking this thing we do too seriously (remember, it is a game and recreation). I drove several hours for it, left my wife and kids at home that day, got “tricked” like everyone else, but in the end, so what? It was fun in its own way and I can now claim to have done a liars cache. I still want a trail patch for it though!!!

[LDove]

Hey Lil Otter –

I did not do the cache either – I only skimmed through the logs and was sure it was a difficult cache – the terrain there is quite difficult so it did not surprise me. I even was very concerned about the person who supposedly got very injured. Why not leave the cache there? People would still have fun writing stories, etc… about their adventures. I have a fantasy cache in West Bend – have a great time reading the fantasy finds that people post. When we were in the Dells, we noticed there were not as many caches as we had hoped so I hope that you reconsider and then I can come out and git er done on our next trip to that area.

Oh yea and thanks for the clue about the encrypted log – sheesh – 🙄 😳 I am really bad at solving things like that. To top it off I am reading Digital Fortress by Dan Brown which is all about decrypting writing.

[Team Honeybunnies]

Maybe it’s time to bring up the Gauntlet t-shirt again? I’d wear mine with pride 😀 . I’ll admit to a bit of a crispy feeling when I opened the log book, but I went on to have a beautiful day of caching in the Dells, one of the prettiest places in Wisconsin if you get away from the waterslides and amphibious assault rides. We stopped by to share the campfire with everyone after another big Gauntlet day and that was one of our best experiences with the geocaching community to date. We all laughed and laughed and talked ’til the wee hours. Obviously we all enjoyed it.

It’s too bad others couldn’t take it in the spirit of things. They took away something we could all share. I always told people that four stars means no special gear and that it was doable. Not tipping my hand, but encouraging the intimidated to try at least.

Thank you Lorrie. It was fun while it lasted 8) .

[Coastiegirl04]

I’ll admit i was hoodwinked when i went after this cache, and everyone who went only one of us actually said out loud to LO what he was truely feeling *cough cough zuma cough cough*
But afterward we end up doing a cache that was so worth doing and i was happy, now my dad wasn’t so much but he was already cranky cuz he had rode on his motorcycle over 500miles to do that cache! (FIRST LONG DISTANCE TRIP HE HAS EVER TAKEN ON HIS BIKE) but afterward he had to admit it was good and was still worth coming out and doing! and then we went and did some of the Devil Lake caches, so it was worth it anyway, and then in Sept i came out to **see off** the MN cachers.. i won’t voice how i really felt/feel… but oh well, it was still worth going and meeting new people… and that honestly was the best part! and thats why i love the Gauntlet and think it was worth doing cuz if you did it right, you’ll get what you want out of it.. and What i got out of it was friendship, and a Military who is going to be moving every 3-4 years friendship is the most important thing… but thats just my .02
Lindsey

[LightningBugs Mum]

@Coastiegirl04 wrote:

*cough cough zuma cough cough*

LOL! Ralph kept asking me about The Gauntlet. I told him, that if my 10 year old son could do it, then it was certainly within his capabilities. I wish I could have been there for zuma’s discovery. 😀 Getting together with the other cachers made it worth it, right?

BTW, the pix that our group posted were from the Rocky Arbor cache. We were wearing mosquito netting and that wasn’t just for show!!! I’ve never seen skeeters that big in my life.

I agree with Kent. We should put together some sort of commemorative keepsake or something.

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