The Zoink (Mephisto III) by Dudeface & GeoBear18 (2/3.5)
N25° 37.045 W80° 23.522 (WGS84)
UTM 17R E 561040 N 2833456
Use waypoint: GCWBM7
Size: Small Hidden on 5/31/2006
In Florida, United States
Difficulty:
Terrain: 
| Deep in the heart of little traveled section of a well know park, the area is heavily wooded but easily accessible. A smaller non-traditional cache. The cache opening is about an inch and a half wide. Log is in a separate container tethered to the cache lid to protect it from being lost in the cache; so bring small stuff to trade and your own writing utensil!. Take care replacing the cover and returning the cache to the exact place it was found. |
Dr Mephisto is up to his old tricks again; always trying to improve on nature. In his recent experiments aimed at improving the ham sandwich, Alphonse has cross bred the common farm pig with a wide variety of... er... things. Each has been shown to be an intelligent and benevolent creation. Still, there is reason for concern. It seems that these new hog creations have... well... escaped. Not trusting Mephisto's sandwich plans, capture and return of our new porcine friends has been ruled out. Instead your help is requested to monitor these kind creatures in the wild and help ensure that they do not turn towards evil.
Following the clues from our last contact another escapee has been located.
Zoink (zoingk) n. - The zebra-pig is a composite animal creation with a running speed similar to a horse, but with much greater stamina. Zoniks are also known for their vivid white and black stripes. Happiest in open grass lands and sparse forests it is unlikely to encounter a zoink in an urban environment. They can most easily be found in South Florida hiding in pine forests.
When attempting to view our timid friend be mindful of its environment. While chatting with a park attendant I learned that the area is open to the public but walking on the service roads is prohibited. (apparently someone managed to fall into the "mote" hurting himself). Suggested parking: N25° 36.797; W080° 23.674. Suggested trail head: N25° 36.865; W080° 23.595. Please take care.
Additional Hints Hints
Current at 12/18/2006
11/23/2006 by Blueye
This is definitely one of those where the shortest distance between two points is not the path of least resistance. I got a lot of exercise on this one because I was trying to find my way in from the north first, then tried the south. I enjoyed this one a lot, and was happy to see another one of Mephisto's hides.
11/19/2006 by Davis5 Miami
Sunday afternoon and no sign of officials until after our find. What a hike and what a cache. We had a good chuckle when we found it. Beautiful location, too bad it will be dissappearing. Took coin and left a friendly green alien. This might be my favorite of the day.
8/19/2006 by Phreel0aderr
Great hide. Took about an hour to find. No muggles around. It looks like there is active contruction going on so this might be why others were run off. TFTH.
8/16/2006 by Dudeface
The area is a county park (more or less), and as such should be open to everyone. Also, when I placed the cache I was told that the perimeter road (near the moat) was the only thing off limits. I also found out that they are planning on mulching all of the trees so a nice (heavy sarcasm) resort hotel and water park can be built.
Now, given all that info I would conclude that the area is not a "no-trespassing" zone, but if you do happen to encounter any park personnel you are more then likely going to be chased off.
Knowing how zoinks like a hassle free environment, this zoink may be moving his home at some point soon.
8/16/2006 by tedcool
What a gorgeous piece of pine rockland! I don't know how much the Naval Airbase at Richmond helped with the war effort in WWII, but it seems wasteful, the hundreds of acres of PR wiped out for something that lasted 4 or 5 years. There is no getting this stuff back, and there is nothing like it in the world (here, Big Pine and the Bahamas, that's it). Metro Zoo was more destruction... and supposedly more planned with a water park.
The Zoink seemed less than water-tight, I dried the log, and sopped up a paper-towel's worth of water inside. Cache contents were fairly waterproof. The parking lot on this side of Metro Zoo appears to be a staging area for construction (of what I have no idea). Perhaps that explains the security problems. I parked in the old degarded parking lot and put my car as far out of site as possible, just in case. Coords = 25 36.999 80 23.627
I didn't encounter anyone doing this at lunch. Late in the day is probably bad as they probably run people out of here before they shut the main gates.
TNLNSL TFTC!
Here are some Richmond links:
http://cuban-exile.com/menu1/!wave.html
http://www.goldcoast-railroad.org/naspage.htm
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GCM768 Tunnel in the Bush (1.24miles S)
GCN5QW Lakeside Hike (1.24miles SW)
GCJWA2
Lucky Penny (1.36miles SW)GCN5R6 Rocky Road (1.36miles S)
Decoded Hints
| Follow the trail past its end, into the pine woods. Tethered to the base of the dead trunk. |