"Wow, didn't know THIS was here!"

[+Sparrowhawk]

From my watchlist:

Scattered Remains

The cache is in the scattered remains of an abandoned industrial complex dating to about 60 years ago. They made gunpowder there. Things went kaboom there and the place has since been abandoned. Now it is a Twilight-Zone-ish location where old buildings and fire hydrants hide among the trees.

 

PA Turnpike Cache #1

An abandoned turnpike! With tunnels!

 

 

The Pipeline

And last but not least, a geocache I visited that impressed me SO much, I made a commemorative T-shirt design out of it!

 

Post pics of your most unexpected "...would not have known this was here if it wasn't for Geocaching!" stories and photos.

Edited August 9, 2006 by Sparrowhawk

[+niraD]

I had that reaction to Tear Down This Wall!

[+BlueDeuce]

 

Iowa.

 

Per request.

 

The Castle Cache

 

Yeah I know the name told me something, but it was still a cool pace to visit.

Edited August 9, 2006 by BlueDeuce

[+Sparrowhawk]

Please post cache names and links with your pics so I know what to add to my watchist!

[+DocDiTTo]

Caches along these lines usually make it to my favorites list. Scattered Remains, The Beer Well, Sand Quarry, Elk Rock, PA Turnpike Cache #2 "The Cache Down Under", Thousand Steps cache, all of them take you to great locations and show you something that you don't typyically see every day.

 

FYI, The Leprechauns have a great favorites list as well. Oddly enough, many of the caches on mine are also on theirs.

 

Here's a picture from Sand Quarry (GCECD)

Edited August 10, 2006 by DocDiTTo

[+Kit Fox]

the Treasure (Limekiln Ruins)

 

 

Edited August 10, 2006 by Kit Fox

[+Ambrosia]

I have a favorites list as well, and couple of them go in this category. Bookmark linky

 

I think that my favorite one is "Awakening", in the D.C. area. I remember seeing this giant sculpture in a couple magazines, but couldn't remember where it was. Then one time we were visiting D.C., and there it was in my pocket query! That was a "Wow, geocaching is so cool!" moment.

 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2006 by Ambrosia

[+briansnat]

Edison's Dark Rock (and other nearby caches). It was the site of a major ironworks built by Thomas Edison in the 1890's and abandoned a few years later because it was a money loser. The cache itself is in the shaft of an abandoned iron mine and the property is littered with ruins of the operation, now reclaimed by the forest. A really cool, historic site that is no more than 10 miles from my house and I never knew was there.

 

The cache is in there

 

Ruins reclaimed by nature

 

More ruins reclaimed by nature

[+nekom]

Wow, a reference to a local cache one the forums! `Scattered Remains' is an AWESOME cache. I would have never known that was there. Anyone who can seek that cache, go do it now. Other than that, I'd say the `Train overlook at Cassandra' I found on a trip to Altoona, PA would be my best "Wow I never knew this was here, and would never have without geocaching" cache find. As far as I'm concerned, THAT is what it's all about!

[+Confucius' Cat]

There have been many for me. To name a few: Tunnel Mill, Anderson Falls, One Hole of a View, Indy Star Misdirection, How Did Those Get Up There, Tranquility, Buzzard Rock Rampage, The Pinnacle...

 

I could go on and on- this is what caching is all about to me.

[+gorillagal]

There are many caches that have introduced me to trails and even parks that I didn't know existed. This cache, Treasure of the Abandoned Railroad Tunnels (GCGEYH) took me to an old railbed that goes through 4 tunnels (one of them long and curving so you can't see the other end from the beginning. It's right above a highway I had driven on many times without knowing the tunnels were there.

 

Edited August 10, 2006 by gorillagal

[+BadAndy]

How about an actual Hermits home carved into a hillside?

 

Hermits Home

 

[+Ambrosia]

Oooh! That's a waymark.

[+oldsoldier]

We have alot of abandoned railroads here in MA, complete with abandoned railbeds, trestles, and tunnels, in the middle of nowhere. Here is the only one I've done so far; central mass railroad There are quite a few of them, and, I THINK someone did a theme cache with them all.

[+ThePropers]

Oh there have been many, including Scattered Remains (the pic in the first post is one of mine, actually), the PA Turnpike one mentioned earlier, Sand Quarry (that's me, third from the left in the previous pic).

 

More recently, one of my favorite caches is The General (GCB9B). Here is a picture, although it will be a spoiler for those who haven't done it:

 

Click here for pic (this is about a 1.5 mile walk back into the woods on top of this mountain, so it's kindof an odd place to find something like this).

Edited August 10, 2006 by ThePropers

[+tozainamboku]

Oooh! That's a waymark.

 

If you're interested in Waymarking or if you know of a place like the ones in this thread but can't have a physical cache there, the Waymarking category of Best Kept Secrets for just these sort of places.

[+Kit Fox]

Here are a few caches on my "dream list"

 

Cool Place

 

Anasazi Ruins

 

Wild Horse Homelands Confluence

 

One i'm going after soon is Bighorn Mine & Stamp Mill

 

[+StarBrand]

Almost too many to mention but here are a few:

 

Old Danish Church:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...18-4dc5d830ad03

 

Hillcrest Hide:

Old Cemetary for those that died from influenza in the winter of 1915 - sadly forgotten.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...4a-07bc82fe94e7

 

Sandoz Sand:

A 120 year old orchard in the middle of nowhere in Nebraskas Sanhills:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...bd-22381e9ffb5a

 

Whitney Pockets Dam:

Yes thats right - a dam in the middle of the Nevada Desert - no streams or rivers nearby....

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...92-41c1f7f9de56

 

Ames Monument: - A sandstone pryamid in Wyoming

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...46-ee3d5c6e4396

[+Snoogans]

"Wow, didn't know THIS was here!"

 

That's exactly the response I've gotten many times on THIS cache.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the whole gallery.

 

GREAT thread Sparrowhawk!

[+cachew nut]

The burial spot and tombstone of Chicago Pile Number 1 which was the world's first nuclear reactor, built as part of the Manhattan Project.

 

Manhattan Project

------Rush

 

Imagine a time when it all began

In the dying days of a war

A weapon that would settle the score

Whoever found it first would be sure to do their worst.

They always had before...

 

Imagine a man where it all began

A scientist pacing the floor

In each nation, always eager to explore

To build the best big stick

To turn the winning trick.

But this was something more...

 

The big bang took and shook the world

Shot down the rising sun

The end was begun and it hit everyone

When the chain reaction was done

The big shots tried to hold it back

Fools tried to wish it away

The hopeful depend on a world without end

Whatever the hopeless may say

 

Imagine a place where it all began

Gathered from across the land

To work in the secrecy of the desert sand

All of the brightest boys

To play with the biggest toys

More than they bargained for...

 

Imagine a man when it all began

The pilot of "Enola Gay"

Flying out of the shockwave on that August day

All the powers that be, and the course of history,

Would be changed forevermore...

 

 

link to cache

[+sbell111]

One of my favorite things about this game is that I am often shown something new. Hillside Tragedy immediately came to mind when I saw this thread.

[+Sparrowhawk]

Imaging being at a cross between a gourmet restaurant and an aircraft museum.

 

You can dine right under the wings of historic aircraft that have fought decisive battles in history.

 

There are hundreds of WW1 and WW2 artifacts all over the polished wood walls inside.

 

No pics you take can do the place justice.

 

As you dine on good seafood buffet, you get to watch HUGE jumbo jets land at the international airport - right across the street!

 

Welcome to Mig Alley

 

Edited August 10, 2006 by Sparrowhawk

[+karstic]

The Earp family

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...d4-3fe96476d1ee

 

and associated caches

[+Wreck Diver]

That's a common reaction when cachers first learn of our mystery cache aboard the Juliett 484, the former Soviet Guided Nuclear Missle submarine used in the movie K-19: The Widowmaker. Even the locals seem unaware that the sub has been permanently moored near downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

 

My own experience as a finder involved the cache Sagamore Hill, where I was startled to learn of a World War II anti-aircraft battery, coastal artillery battery, bunkers, trenches, and foxholes less than a mile from a place I had lived for years without knowing of its existance.

[+mtn-man]

I think that my favorite one is "Awakening", in the D.C. area. I remember seeing this giant sculpture in a couple magazines, but couldn't remember where it was. Then one time we were visiting D.C., and there it was in my pocket query! That was a "Wow, geocaching is so cool!" moment.

 

(pics removed)

Oh my! I did *not* know that was there!

I am going back to DC in two weeks. Looks like I have a target. Thank you Ambrosia. Thank you.

 

This topic is fantastic. I'll have to think on a good "wow" post. There are a few.

[+Ambrosia]

I'm glad that my post could help you, m-m. Have a good time.

[+Sparrowhawk]

Holy (bleep!)

 

Here is a whole list of places that if they don't have geocaches or waymarks, they should!

 

Huge 2-dimensional wall paintings that look 3-D

 

Example:

 

 

If you want to get coords to each location, translate the address to coords here

Edited August 12, 2006 by Sparrowhawk

[+Team Teuton]

I think this cache fits the bill.

 

(Photo by cqedens137)

[+Snoogans]

Caches like those listed here are the BACKBONE of GeoTourism.

 

This thread should be pinned.

 

GeoTourism is a muscle that has yet to be flexed to its FULL POTENTIAL and it would be nice to point land managers and legislaters to a voluntary information resource such as this thread when pointing out the benefits of allowing geocaching to grow and expand.

 

Not to mention a place to look before planning a trip.

 

Now to get online and find some training for my boss to send me to in Savannah, Georgia.

Edited August 12, 2006 by Snoogans

[+Iowa Tom]

Caches like those listed here are the BACKBONE of GeoTourism.

 

GeoTourism is a muscle that has yet to be flexed to its FULL POTENTIAL and it would be nice to point land managers and legislators to a voluntary information resource such as this thread when pointing out the benefits of allowing geocaching to grow and expand.

 

Not to mention a place to look before planning a trip.

 

Once when I was poking around the Net looking for something I noticed that under tourism, geocaching was a link. Has anyone else seen this?

[+Sparrowhawk]

Caches like those listed here are the BACKBONE of GeoTourism.

 

This thread should be pinned.

 

cool idea

Edited August 13, 2006 by Sparrowhawk

[+tozainamboku]

Caches like those listed here are the BACKBONE of GeoTourism.

 

This thread should be pinned.

The Best Kept Secrets Waymarking category is trying to do the same for Waymarking. Part of the Wow! is the suprise of finding whatever it is once you get there. So a Best Kept Secret waymark description would try not to give away too much about what you will find. A location that already has a physical or virtual cache or is already listed in another Waymarking category, can still qualify for a Best Kept Secret. You just need need to write some thing up that doesn't give away what you will find while still giving enough information to make people curious enought to want to find out. You will also need a verification question that can only be answered by visiting the location. It certainly looks to me (and I'm the leader of the group that manages Best Kept Secrets) that the locations posted here would qualify as Best Kept Secret waymarks.

[+JohnTee]

Rock 'N' Roll or the 'Ball Mill Resurgence' is a neat geologic feature in Perry County, MO. The county has a large number of caves and sinkholes. This particular area consists of a large sinkhole, with a cliff on one side. The resurgence, at the bottom of the sinkhole, is where water from surrounding sinkholes comes up out of the ground (resurges). Rock from the adjacent cliff falls into the sinkhole/resurgence and is tumbled by the water coming up out of the ground, the ball mill. Apparently the rumble can be heard for some distance. Alas, it must be visited soon after, or during a rain to experience the feature. It was quite dry the day we visited.

 

 

JohnTee

[+Juicepig]

Here are some of my favorites:

 

Muskoka, Ontario - screaming skulls - A field in the middle of nowhere, that an artist has placed hundreds of these 10 meter high statues of trees, hands, heads, and horses coming out of the ground

 

 

 

Gatineau, Quebec - The Acid Tower - a turn of the century battery factory, far from the nearest road.

 

 

Canmore, Alberta - Cold Cache - A cave drilled into the side of a mountain by the canadian government during the cold war to house libraries of files. The cave is abandonned, and requires a rugged 2 hour walk through grizzly country, but the reward is one of my favorites of all time! Alot of the mining equipment is still inside rusting away. and there is a few hundred meters of tunnels and chambers to explore if you bring a good enough flashlight.

 

 

Parry Sound, Ontario - Ghost town of Depot Harbour - A small city destroyed in WWI when the grain silos were used to house gunpowder (hind-sight is 20-20)

 

 

Banff, Alberta - Cascade Ghosts - A coal mining town that was enveloped by the expanding national park. quite an extensive ghost town.

 

 

[+GClouse]

"Tranquilty in the City" is in a small historic park that is accessed by driving through a large cementary. The park is not visible from nearby streets, so most people don't know that its there.

[+Sparrowhawk]

"Tranquilty in the City" is in a small historic park that is accessed by driving through a large cementary. The park is not visible from nearby streets, so most people don't know that its there.

 

Got a link or a location?

[Team Moped]

Never been there, but heard that Keweenaw Rocket Range (GCK3GC) in the UP of Michigan is pretty cool. It used to be a rocket launching site back in the 60's. If only I had a 4WD truck and not a Ford Escort...

 

 

[+Webfoot]

I posted this in the motivational thread, but it goes here too. The caption says it all.

Living in Southern California, we get very little rain and most of it runs off quickly. This creek/stream is about five miles from my house and I didn't even know it was there until Geocaching took me out to find a cache out there.

[+Sparrowhawk]

Living in Southern California, we get very little rain and most of it runs off quickly. This creek/stream is about five miles from my house and I didn't even know it was there until Geocaching took me out to find a cache out there.

 

Cache name please? Link?

[+Ambrosia]

Poor Sparrowhawk.

[+Sparrowhawk]

Poor Sparrowhawk.

 

"MUUUUUUUUUST HAAAAAAAAAAAAVE LIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!!!!!"

Gotta have link!! AAAaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!! AAAAAAAAIEE!!!!

Edited August 16, 2006 by Sparrowhawk

[+Webfoot]

Living in Southern California, we get very little rain and most of it runs off quickly. This creek/stream is about five miles from my house and I didn't even know it was there until Geocaching took me out to find a cache out there.

 

Cache name please? Link?

Sorry.

Cucamonga Creek

[+Ambrosia]

Poor Sparrowhawk.

 

"MUUUUUUUUUST HAAAAAAAAAAAAVE LIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!!!!!"

Gotta have link!! AAAaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!! AAAAAAAAIEE!!!!

It's good to have goals.

[+HugoBear]

A Road to Nowhere

 

Abandoned highway taken back by the forest in CHICAGO of all places...

[+Sparrowhawk]

Finally got to Crater Lake Jr. today. Only the second-coolest Oregon cache I have ever experienced. A giant artesian well forming a 60-foot wide, maybe 50 foot deep mini-lake... not quite a pond.

 

It's amazing to look down and see CLIFFS in the water... allllllll the way down... the water is that clear. And COLD, darn cold too... hey, it's water flowing deep inside the earth in mountain country.

 

 

 

Those are whole trees at the bottom of the water.

Edited September 5, 2006 by Sparrowhawk

[+The Amigos]

We initially went to find a cache called "Whose Zoo?" (GCC577), and found this awesome place! Just had to put a cache here so others could find this place! Wish I had been able to come here when it was open!

 

 

 

The name of the caches that we placed here, or nearby are:

 

1). World's Largest Swimming Pool (GCVQQD)

2). Lost HWY 283? (GCVQEC)

3). Dance the Night Away (GCVQEM

 

LARGEST CONCRETE SWIMMING POOL IN THE WORLD

 

Cisco in its early days was plagued with inadequate water supply. In the 1920s the Williamson Dam was built north of town, resulting in the formation of Lake Cisco. It was named after James Milton Williamson, long time mayor and survivor of the 1893 Tornado. At its base was built what was billed as the largest concrete swimming pool in the world. The complex boasted a two story building with a skating rink upstairs, a zoo, an amusement park with rides, and a park. Bob Wills was only one of the celebrities to entertain there. For decades it was a major attraction for folks from miles around. The hollow dam was open to the public but this is no longer the case. Going into the blackness of its inner chamber was spookier than any horror movie. During the 1920s the high school football team, the Loboes, were called the Big Dam Loboes. I would think that some were probably scandalized by this nickname!

 

The pool closed in the 1970s and the vacant skating rink burned a few years later. The property is now in a state of disrepair, but one is still captivated by the size of the swimming pool. It is so darn big!

 

Must have been an awesome place to spend a hot summer day!

 

(If you look closely at the recent picture, you can see that the swingset still stands in the pool!)

Edited September 5, 2006 by The Amigos

[+howeler]

"Under the Wide & Starry sky" R.L.S. GCJBAB

 

The grave of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau the son of Sacajawea and the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He did not die on the expedition but this is where he lies... 3 miles from the nearst route and the only cache I could find between Nevada and Idaho through Oregon...

[+Mix]

this Photo is not the best but the site is Wow,

 

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...54-4064834b1bd5

 

heiroglyphs in a 'lost temple of Anubis' in Australia.

[+Big Max]

 

LARGEST CONCRETE SWIMMING POOL IN THE WORLD

 

Cisco in its early days was plagued with inadequate water supply. In the 1920s the Williamson Dam was built north of town, resulting in the formation of Lake Cisco. It was named after James Milton Williamson, long time mayor and survivor of the 1893 Tornado. At its base was built what was billed as the largest concrete swimming pool in the world. The complex boasted a two story building with a skating rink upstairs, a zoo, an amusement park with rides, and a park. Bob Wills was only one of the celebrities to entertain there. For decades it was a major attraction for folks from miles around. The hollow dam was open to the public but this is no longer the case. Going into the blackness of its inner chamber was spookier than any horror movie. During the 1920s the high school football team, the Loboes, were called the Big Dam Loboes. I would think that some were probably scandalized by this nickname!

 

The pool closed in the 1970s and the vacant skating rink burned a few years later. The property is now in a state of disrepair, but one is still captivated by the size of the swimming pool. It is so darn big!

 

Must have been an awesome place to spend a hot summer day!

 

(If you look closely at the recent picture, you can see that the swingset still stands in the pool!)

 

We have driven through Cisco going to Dallas many times and never knew this was there. Going to have to schedule time to stop and do this one next time.

[+Tsmola]

The Old Car Graveyard comes to mind right away. From the road where you park, you would never guess there was anything back in the woods there, but about 50 yards in there's a steep slope where cars of all shapes and sizes have been dumped over the edge.