Welcome to the first annual Halloween Radioactive Event Cache!

By: GeoTech Creations, LLC, Brian Team A.I., Aus Dem Kasten, and CopyCache

The haunting hour begins at 6:00pm with the bewitching hour ending at 10:30pm when the park closes.

To See the Logs from this event on geocaching.com - Click Here!

The Haunted Grave Yard

Visit the haunted grave yard featuring Henry Morgan the King Pirate, Black Beard, Casper, Trucker Dan, Lazy K, and Captain Magellan. Oh... and don't miss the final resting spot of the infamous cache pirate Captain Mad Morty McVane! You will need to know something about him to solve this urban legend and to find the whereabouts of the event log. Stay tuned for the story and the clues. Arrrgggg!!!

• 6:00 - Event starts
  
• 6:15 - Food is served
  
• 6:45 - Close of event registration
  
• 6:15 to 6:45 - GPS Tracks
  
• 6:50 to 7:05 - Witches Wort Hunt - Time Trials
  
• 7:15 to 8:15 - Ghoulies Revenge - Jr. Goblins Multi Cache Event
  
• 7:50 to 9:45 - 1313 Dead End Trail - Main Event Cache Hunt
  
• 10:30 - Go Home! The Event is Over!

• Face Painting
  
• Pumpkin Toss
  
• Trick or Treating

Event Registration: 6:00 - 6:45

In order to participate in the events, you must register for each event to participate in during this time. No late registrations please. You can pre-register for events by sending an e-mail to geocaching@uccinc.net address. Please include your team name and specify which event(s) you are registering for with the number of participants. You are NOT required to register or participate in any of the events. We welcome you to just come and enjoy yourself, relax, and poke fun at all the other cachers!

Event Log

Solve the mystery behind the infamous cache pirate Mad Morty McVane! This urban legend will be posted on this site 10 days before the event. You will need to solve the puzzle to find and sign the log book! This one will require some homework before you come out to the event - so check back often as clues will be posted from time to time. For those of you who do not want this extra challenge, have no fear, the log book will be available after 8:15 in the general area. Remember, no sign, no find! Arrrrggg!!!!!!!

The Best and Worst Dressed GPS!

Dress up your GPS for Halloween! When you register for events, we will take a picture of your GPS and print it out to be voted on by your fellow cachers during the event. Voting ends at 8:00. There will a prize for the Best and the Worst GPS costume! Hmmm... What should my GPS be for Halloween?

Ghoulies Revenge - Jr. Goblins Multi Cache 7:15 - 8:15

This six part multi cache is designed just for the youngins! Parents are encouraged to cache with them as they seek out the secret stashes. The waypoints will be downloaded to the GPS just prior to the event to make it easier. Every Goblin will be a winner!! So don't miss out on this event.

This event is limited to cachers 12 and younger. A certified copy of a birth certificate is required! (just kidding) Each stage will have a ticket that must be brought back and verified. A prize will be given to each goblin on the team. In order to assure a "treat" for all participating in the kids caches, please let us know how many Jr. goblins will be attending prior to the event. If you have any items left behind by ghosts, goblins, and ghouls that you'd like to donate, please let us know prior to the event so we can work on assembling prize bags.

GPS Tracks 6:15 - 6:45

Clear out all that junk from your GPS and draw the best shape you can! We've outlined an area at the park to use as your canvas. So start practicing!!!!

Tracks must be done on location and in the area boundaries as marked. All tracks must be turned in no later than 6:45. They will be printed and posted during the event. Your fellow cachers will vote for the best track shape. Voting ends at 8:00.

Witches Wort Hunt - Time Trials - 6:50 - 7:05

Choose your best hunter from your team. They will need a good eye and fast feet! Hunt down as many Witches Worts as you can and log them with in 15 minutes! There will be two "special worts" to be found to complete the brew!

Only one member of the team may participate to make it a fair and equal event for all. All participants will start at the same time and at the same location. Each wort found must be logged on our special monkey dropping log sheet and be legible for credit. The hunter must return with in 15 minutes of the event start. There are two special wort that will need to be removed and brought back.

1313 Dead End Trail! - Main Cache Event - 7:50 - 9:45

Enter if you dare and at your own risk!!! This multi stage cache hunt may just frighten you right out of your skin!!! You'll need to be on the look out for things you don't expect and don't make a wrong turn or you could be ghosted!!! Don't say we didn't warn you ahead of time!

This will be a staggered start. Team order to be determined at the time of the event. Each team will have the same chance to win as order does not matter. Each stage will contain coordinates to the next stage and either a ticket or an envelope. The tickets and envelopes must be brought back from each stage for verification to qualify.

Face painting, pumpkin toss, glowing horse shoes, trick or treating, and other activities will be going on during the event. If you don't want to take the goblins on the 1313 Dead End Trail, please notify us at time of registration. A certified baby sitter will be there to attend to those in need while that event is going on.

The 1313 Dead End Trail is out in the desert. Please dress accordingly. The Ghoulies Revenge will be on grassed areas. A GPS is not used for the Witches Wort event.

Prizes have no cache value. No deposit, No Return. Use of metal detectors or Geiger Counters are helpful, but not allowed!

Items to bring

A flashlight will be required for most of the events. A portable back light is preferable to enhance your experience, but not required to complete any of the activities. A pad of paper to make notes on will also be helpful in several of the events.

We will be using a PC with both USB and Serial interfaces to download/upload from the GPS's. We will supply a cable for Garmin E-Trex series and Magellan Meridian/Sport. If your GPS is not compatible with these two types of cables, please bring your own. Please preset and test your GPS to work with easyGPS as we will not have time to diagnose problems.

Food and Drink

Come join us for hamburgers, hotdogs, and all the fixings including some interesting concoctions brewed especially for this event that can only be prepared by the master witches themselves! Not an ordinary event, not an ordinary dinner!!!

If you're going to join us for dinner, please RSVP no later than Oct. 15th, with numbers, so we can plan appropriately. Adults are $3.00 and little goblins 12 and under are $1.00. If you wish not to join us for dinner, feel free to bring your own. Beverages are on you, but please no Alcohol! We do not have permit for it.

Current Event Sponsors

• Ultimate Computer Concepts, Inc.
  
• Glendale HIgh School Art Club
  
• Spectrum Products
  
• Groundspeak
  
• Magellan
  
• Garmin
  
• Team Coyote1022

Prizes

We have lots of give-a-ways and prizes from Magellan, Groundspeak, Garmin, and others! So don't miss out on your chance to walk away with some cool free stuff!

Volunteers

Because we have a full evening and we must be done by 10:30, we are looking for a few volunteers to help us clean up after the event. Please e-mail us at geocaching@uccinc.net if you would like to help out.

The time was May 2003, when Captn Mad Morty McVane took to the high desert and began plundering Geocaches in the arid Phoenix desert. All was going well in the world of Geocaching, until this one particular day when many caches were robbed of their contents, leaving only its history and a despicable signature behind. A cache pirate was in our midst!

As the urban legend goes, May 3rd was a nice day, coming in at reasonable 86-degrees. One would see this as perfect caching weather, and hit the valley by storm with a wave of `finds'. However, doing good and enjoying the sport was not on the minds of all who were seeking Geocaches. On this particular day, it was revealed that a number of caches had indeed been visited and their contents plundered.

"YO HO YO HO it's a Pirates Life for Me... you've been Plundered by Captain Mad Morty McVane (Cache_Pirate)," the logs read, sinking the hearts of children as it was discovered there was nothing to trade but a note for a tear. A total of eight caches had been plundered on this fateful day, creating a flurry of anger toward this terrible person, resulting in the most intense manhunt in Geocaching history. Checkpoints were in place, and many caching teams set up watch on some of their caches, hoping to catch the elusive thief, with plans to send him down the plank to pay for his horrid crimes. It wasn't until perhaps the inexperienced pirate diverted his attention to the noises from above while approaching the cache `Propelling Aluminum (GCSTOLE)' that the cover was blown. Like a scene from an off-the-wall British TV show, all about the area was heard:

"NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise....
Our two weapons are fear and surprise... and ruthless efficiency....
Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...
and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our four... no...
Amongst our weapons... Amongst our weaponry... are such elements as fear, surprise..."

As a deer caught in the headlights, the cache_pirate was struck with fear, tipping his hat down to hide his true identity, and fleeing the area, never to be heard from again until some months later. It was almost as though the mere mention of the evil name invoked some mystical spell that caused the resurrection of McVane, when threats were made to yet again plunder caches, appearing to target specific teams but little materialized.

An effort, truly in vain, exists today to organize a group of pirates to continue the plundering on a global scale. However, as with Captain Morgan, it is expected that the pirates will begin to plunder one another and this threat will eliminate itself.

It is said that the pirate hides in wait, using clever ruses to disguise whether or not he still exists. As the story goes, a chapter of local history was `borrowed' using an area landmark to hide the logs of his spoils.

Can you solve the mystery of Captain Mad Morty McVane?

Chapter 2 - McVane's Revenge.

Choosing his plunders carefully, several of the stashes were really caches. Not just caches, but cashes. Taking all the items and carefully marking them, with the intent to hide them in his own cache, he was a'hopen that his to be plundered too and them contents returned. The plan was simple, but was foiled again and again. Who was he, Yo Ho Yo Ho a pirates life it is.

Not able to hide his wares, his cover to be blown, he set out to revenge. "I'll show all of them, AAAARRRGGGG!!!" Clinking the coins, the loot, and fiddling with the bags, "The gold they say, AAARRRGGG, the gold they say, I left the gold, I marked them with my sign. I left the gold, AARRRRGGG. I'll create the map, I'll leave the clues, I'll, I'll, AAARRRGGG, a pirates life I have".

Trying to recruit others from across the world, in attempts to disguise his identity. "AARRGG, no one wants to play. I'll just hide for now. My revenge to hold the gold, oh, how do I hide it back?"

Traveling from cache to cache, he left secret marks, marks to locate the log book. Find the final resting place. Solve the rest of the clues, find the gold! Oh, that sweet, sweet gold!

Good Luck on your Journey!

Coordinates are;

AA.BC.DEF
GGG.AB.HIH

A) The day of the month the plundered occurred

B) Count the number of cash caches that were plundered.

C) The number of caches plundered that did not contain "English Gold"

D) The number of letters of the plundered cache that has the same number of letters in each word

E) Total plunders

F) The total number of plunders we wish the cache_pirate had

G) The number of days caches were plundered by Captain Mad Morty McVane

H) A common word for modern day loot. (count the letters in the word)

I) the name of one of the caches plundered has this number in it.

Event Winners List

Thanks to all who came to this event. We had fun putting it together for you and hope that we can do this again next year. Below are the winners of the events. Congradulations to all.

1313 Dead End Trail

Grand Prize Winner - Team AZCELTS
Magellen Color GPS
Hat
Pens
1st Place - Team GRALDRICH
Hat
Dictionary
Pens
Logbook
Garmin Bag
Geocaching.com Licenseplate holder
2nd Place - Team Budcam & Mary
Hat
Pens
Garmin Bag
Geocaching.com Window Decal

Witches Warts

Team GPSaxophone
Hat
Cup Koozie
Pens
Misc Halloween Goodies
Wart #31 - Team AJ.JR
A fully stocked and ready to go full size ammo can with Geocaching sticker
Wart #13 - Team AZCACTUS
A "trick" cach container complete with neon camo job, crummed up cheezy log sheet and all broken toys! Ok - they got some pens and the ever sought after collector's item, the official halloween radioactive 2003 pencil!

Best Dressed GPS

Best dressed - Team K&S Putters
Snowman Cookie Jar
Hat
Cup Koozie
Pens
Misc Halloweeen Goodies!
Worst Dressed GPS - Team Stringcachers
Hat
Cup Koozie
Pens
Misc Halloween Goodies!

Ghost Trails

Team Lazy K
Garmin tote bag
Hat
Cup Koozie
Crossword Book
Geocaching.com Patch
Misc Halloween Goodies

Ghoulies Revenge

Grand Prize - Team Smallville
Vinal Bag
Ty Black Cat
Neon Puzzle
Princess Bag
Delux Goodies Bag
1st Place - Team Hockeyrocket
Brown Stuffed Bear
2 Small Puzzels
Princess Bag
Delux Goodies Bag
2nd Place> - Team Smallville
White Bear
2 small Puzzels
Candy Corn
Delux Goodies Bag