Caching in NYC – The Urban Factor

This article was originally published on Cache Up NB. It has been mirrored here for archive purposes only.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to head down to New York City for the week. I was in town for my work but since I was going to be there for a few days, I figured I might as well get some caching in. I’d been to NYC before so it made it a bit easier to know where a few things were. However, I did quickly realize that caching in NYC, and cities like it, is not like caching around here.

The first cache I actually managed to snag was GC1Z0MZ and it was a small, not a micro. It was hidden in behind one of these steel cages that protect a garage door of a building. Standing in front of the cache, having signed the log already, I looked down at my GPS to log a find, only to find it told me I was 100M away, but I was in fact in the right spot.

GPS bounce. Basically, for getting the urban caches near buildings, the GPS is effectively useless. I found myself using Google Maps looking for reference points, as well as the map on the GPS to find the caches that had physical containers.

It would turn out that I would only find three regular type caches that were actual physical containers. The photo you see here on the left was taken from a small picnic/park area on 3rd Avenue near 60th street. The cache was in a planter and was a fake rock. A nice little hide in the middle of downtown.

I tackled a couple of caches in Central Park. Because the park is so large and there are no actual buildings to get in the

way, it made it far easier to get GPS accuracy that was at least a little sane. I generally kept around 9M accuracy but it did improve from time to time but that was pretty much what I had to deal with.

The cache location you see here was a micro stuffed into a tree. The cache was appropriately named “Down The Rabbit Hole“. I had never seen this part of the park before so it was definitely worth the walk.

I also managed to snag two virtuals in the park: The Central Park Guardian and The Castle. The guardian one was kind of neat. There’s a lot of jogger lanes for folks who use the park for exercise. Along one such lane, it runs beside a street but right along the edge of the park. As it goes up a hill, when you reach the virtual’s location, you find yourself looking up and there’s a very large metal/wooden black cat sitting on a rock staring out at the road. A very cool site to see.

The castle was actually a pretty cool virtual as well. It was a little harder to get to because of the route I had taken but it was still nice to add. I also did another virtual which was in front of one of the many NYC museums.

While there, I did two Wherigo caches. The Mikie Macleod murder mystery was a real nice Wherigo to do. I had done a couple of run throughs on the emulator to get the hang of how the game was played so I was prepared once I got there. VERY well done. You had about 8 suspects and various locations and murder weapons to help you figure out who the murderer was. A good time.

But for me, I think the cache that made the trip was actually the one that I was the most uncomfortable doing. The Roosevelt Island Wherigo. I’d been to that island before just to see the view of the city but since I was relatively close to the start of this cache as far as being close to my hotel, I knew I wanted to do it.

It was raining a bit when I started but by the time I finished I was soaked to the bone but I didn’t care. It was a great tour of the island and although I was tired, wet, and my feet hurt, I was very happy to have done it.

The photo you see here was taken from the island facing Manhattan. It’s the East River that you see here and the view is awesome, and the ride on the tram is pretty fun. If you saw Spiderman, you’ve seen this tram. It’s the one Green Goblin attacks near the end of the movie. I documented the entire Wherigo experience in a video which you can watch below.

I had intended to actually film the two regular caches near my hotel but my time got cut short and I never got the chance to do it. The last cache I actually did was on my way to Penn Station on Thursday afternoon where I was catching a train to take me to Newark Airport. There’s a virtual cache at the bus station where a statue of an infamous bus driver can be seen. The photo shown here is of the plaque at it’s base.

Caching in NYC was different.  I can definitely say that you’re going to want to pick your targets and research them for any major caching you do in a city like that or any other larger urban environment. It’s a whole other type of caching in that you can still use your GPS, but now you’re using it more as a guide for directions on a map as opposed to following an arrow towards the location. I spent a lot of time looking at my NYC map on the GPS to give me indications of where I should be looking. It also helped that the hints for these caches were VERY good. If I had no hints, I doubt I would have found the two traditionals in the city center.

Definitely a great place to visit. I’m heading back there for work again in a few months so I plan to hit up a pile more virtuals along with a letterbox and another Wherigo that I didn’t get this time.

If you’re interested, here’s the video I put together for the Wherigo on Roosevelt Island.