Out Huntin'

by Tony Delgado, photography by Jonaya Kemper
Answer: LEPER COLONY

The picture found at the cache shows seven strange runes and a coin on its side, with letters and numbers engraved along the side. This is a geocoin, and it can be tracked on geocaching.com. Going to the Geocaching website shows solvers this geocoin page. It shows the two sides of the coin, and links to a designers' webpage showing the design of the coin. The runes from the picture can be found on the obverse of the coin.

Several tickmarks on the obverse separate the circumference of the coin into 1/32s. The runes in the picture all correspond to such tickmarks. If the top of the coin (where the divot is, with the rune that looks like "7><") is considered north (N), then the runes correspond to the locations at N, NNE, ENE, EbS, SEbE, S, W.

Each log message has 32 letters and numbers, not counting punctuation (and smilies). These messages can be arranged around the coin clockwise starting with the bearings listed on the cache page. For each log message, there's an initial bearing that will align the runes from the picture with the letters and numbers in that cache's waypoint. The seventh space (which is always at N, at the top of the coin), provides an extra letter.

Cache	Waypoint	Message	Start Bearing	Extra
The Great Pyramid of Woodland Hills	GCVWN8	Wrong GZ at 1st (avoided moving :) ). Nice. L8r.	SEbE	V
PENTAGON	GCQA4E	A new law: "Agonies" equal 9684 tries! Nice!	WNW	W
Just Another AMMO CAN!	GCJ901	Oodgay! TALFTC! My log time: Jan. 09 at 09:19.	SEbS	W
The Observatory Satellite	GCPB44	Love Griffith Park! Wunderbar! 4:45. T4TC!	SE	E
Groundspeak Headquarters	GCK25B	Kings 2 us cachers! At 2:55, I was at my best.	ENE	M

Here's what the messages look like if they're wrapped around without punctuation:

   0        1         2         3 
   v v   v  v v    v       v     
   12345678901234567890123456789012
1. ViNgniCel8rWrongGZat1staVoidedmo
2. WaGoniEseQuAl1234triesniCeanewla
3. MeJan09at0919oodGaytalftCmylogti
4. ErBar445t4tCloveGriffithParkwund
5. MyBestKinGs2uscaChersat253iwason

On the reverse of the coin, there are five symbols around the globe (Pentagon, Groundspeak, Satellite, Ammo Can, Pyramid). Each of the symbols corresponds to the title of one of the caches, and provides an ordering mechanism for the extra letters. Read from left to right, the final answer is WMEMV. This is the waymark code for LEPER COLONY.