A is for Ericles Traditional Geocache

Small lock&lock container, hidden in Allaire State Park. Suggested parking is either by Nature Center (off season there's no fee) or the lot before the main entrance, by the bike path. Please be careful crossing the road.

This cache is part of a series of caches dedicated to Team ABC…. There are 4 caches published at this time that are part of this series. Team ABC has influenced many of us in Central Jersey and this was our way to show our appreciation for everything they have done. The caches that are part of the series are: A is for Ericles (This cache) B is for Musclemusher GC35T4Z C is for Monster-Truck GC35T54 Where A and B and C meet GC35T5C The ABC caches are traditional caches, with the last one being a bonus puzzle cache. In order to find the bonus cache you will need information that is hidden in SOME, BUT NOT NECESSARILY ALL of the ABC caches to be able to construct the coordinates to the bonus cache. All caches are located within Allaire State Park with the entire series requiring approximately a 2 mile walk.

Team ABC is for Ericles

If you cache regularly in Central Jersey, you may already be familiar with the reputation and influences Ericles has had on the hobby of geocaching throughout Central Jersey. Ericles (pronounced air-ick-LEEZ – rhymes with Hercules) has been not just an active finder and placer of caches, but is perhaps one of the biggest boosters geocaching has in all of Central Jersey. Ericles has taken an active role of working with Monmouth County Parks to not only volunteer his time with the Trail Building team, but to also take the time to explain geocaching to the parks system and act as an ambassador between the caching community and the park system, which has helped tremendously with maintaining a positive view of caching in their eyes.

Ericles is also the driving force for www.centraljerseygeocaching.net – he not only administers the website, but finances it himself with no donations or advertising content. The site is recognized for bringing together the CJG community through forums, chat, as well as providing a private cache publication service for local cachers who choose to not place their caches on any of the major cache publication sites.

As a leader in the geocaching community, Ericles has played host to many events including several of those that were organized under the Central Jersey Geocaching handle. These include the This Little Piggy Series of annual events, which often is a launchpad into a search for some well hidden pigs as they as they hide themselves from the Big Bad Wolf who lurks nearby. Ericles (and the rest of Team ABC) has also in the past graciously opened up their home in the past to the caching community for an event.

Ericles’ cache placements in the area are well known by the locals and are well-favored by many who come to find them. He maintains firmly in the quality aspect of his placements, by abiding to the principles that caches should be placed as a reason to highlight and complement their environment and take people to interesting locations. He genuinely wants every visitor to his caches to walk away with a smiley, so it is with great care that he hides his caches to find the perfect balance between security, difficulty, and cleverness.

An Ericles hide is synonymous with high quality caching. Almost every single one of Ericles’ caches has a story behind it, and finders would best be advised to read up on his cache pages and take a good look around the area as Ericles has certainly taken considerable time and careful planning to research, document, and highlight something interesting at nearly every location.

Of course an Ericles cache is not just about the location and cache page, as one of his other skills is being able to construct the perfect cache container. His cache laboratory is well stocked for caches of all different types, sizes, and applications, and he takes great pride in matching the container to its location, complete with clever and unusual camouflaging. His tool chest is impressive and when combined with his unbounded creativity, anything seems possible.

Here is just a sampling of some of the caches that Ericles has hidden:

Doctor Drake’s Journal GC161KQ
Difficulty: Terrain: Size: (3 Favorites as of the time of this write up)
The story is told of Doctor Twineas Drake who while investigating Central Jersey, has discovered a new class of lifeforms. The puzzle portion of this cache is a tasty delight and is worth just the read alone, even if you choose to not solve for and pursue the final. This is a classic example of Ericles’ skill at theming a cache, right down to the roads needed to travel to get to the cache. Take note as to the quality of the logs people write for this cache. That should tell you something!

Clare Pond GC1K163
Difficulty: Terrain: Size: (3 Favorites as of the time of this write up)
Ericles’ curiosity and creativity mesh well for this cache which takes the finder to a surprising quiet location in a seldom seen portion of a popular local park. Eric’s handiwork is on full display with the cache container.

Harts are where the home was GC215DE
Difficulty: Terrain: Size: (4 Favorites as of the time of this write up)
What happens when Ericles goes exploring? He finds evidence of an old homestead long abandoned and otherwise long since forgotten outside the caching community in one of the regions county parks. Ericles carefully constructed each stage to carefully recreate what it must have been to visit this homestead back in the day.

Tiny Often Empty Park: Laurence Harbor GC18MR9
Difficulty: Terrain: Size: (3 Favorites as of the time of this write up)
Spoiler! The perfect blend of location and cache container make for a great hide in plain sight. Not many people can pull this off, let alone as perfectly as Ericles seems to have done.

As a finder, Ericles is a solid cache partner. His creativity benefits his ability to get into the perspective of finding caches based upon potential hiding spots. He keeps a keen eye out for the cache as opposed to blindly following his GPSr as his primary search method. His remarkable ability to climb trees is noteworthy, as often he climbs just for the sport, and not because he necessarily believes the cache is hidden thusly. Regardless, he would be handy to have as a partner for those tricky tree climb caches. As much as Ericles crafts his caches, he also puts forth quality effort in his find logs, and he won’t short change a cache owner on sharing his experience just to support the mad rush of logs for number’s sake.

Our thanks to the A in Team ABC, Ericles, for his dedication to the caching community and the local parks and for always creating caches that inspire and bring real world smiles in addition to virtual smiles.

This cache is certified Central Jersey!

Cache conceived, placed, and maintained by jo.b
Cache description by bernsa