In Search of the Goblet of Fire

I have now logged sixteen finds of various geocache since getting my GPS a little less than a month ago. Some have been very simple. Some have been rather tricky. But now I am up for a more serious challenge. I am in search of the Goblet of Fire.

There is a teacher in Milton Freewater who is an avid geocacher. He has set up a multi-cache challenge that will involve covering many miles for a Harry Potter inspired series of finds which lead up to the final destination called “The Goblet of Fire.” He has placed quite a few cache at various places around the valley. One of his took me three tries to find, so I know better than to assume this will be easy. After all, one of the tag lines from the Goblet of Fire movie is:
"Difficult times lie ahead, Harry."

To find the Goblet of Fire, I must first find four different cache sites that will each give me a coordinate clue.

The four caches that hold the clues are: The Whomping Willow, The Forbidden Forest,
The Chamber of Secrets, and The Herd of Hippogriff.


The four sets of coordinates which I find in these other sites will be the four corners of a big X. The center point of the X is where the Goblet of Fire is.

The description of this cache site says:

“The coordinates listed for this mystery cache are the coordinates for a lookout that is within a mile of The Goblet of Fire. The final cache is rated a 4/4 for good reason. Come prepared with heavy boots, long pants, some drinking water, and a bit of time on your hands. …

This would be an excellent cache to bring your dog on. There is a manmade watering hole less than 500 feet from the cache (it looks like a lean-to). Your dog can run, dig, and be free while you trod along looking for this cache.

If you record all of the clues correctly, the center of the "X" is the exact location of the cache. The final cache is a five gallon ammo container well camoflauged. It is stocked with some very desireable items, but the true treasure is being selected by The Goblet of Fire.”

Judging by the comments logged by other players who have found it (and a few who tried but failed) I’ve got a serious challenge on my hands. Apparently the final hike in will take about an hour and is over some challenging terrain. Also, finding the darn thing isn’t easy. But it sounds doable if I use my head, plan carefully and figure out how to do the routing.

I found two of the four waypoints today. I’m hoping to get the other two picked up on Monday. Then it is on to the main challenge to find the Goblet of Fire. Wish me luck!

This geocaching thing really can be addicting. I’m having a blast with it.