Intercaching: Walking the Nosey Noisy Noodle Noggin

As part of the 235 caches released on New Year's Day, the Detroit area has it's first Intercache!

An InterCache is an interactive geocache. It is a new way of creating a mystery geocache, where you can string together a combination of virtual and physical waypoints together. The entire geocache can be developed, edited, and played on your mobile phone's browser with no software required to download! Part virtual cache, part multicache, part puzzle cache, and part adventure.

DarrylW4 (of GeoGearHeads fame) & ReneeW25 released HNY-16 Walking the Nosey Noisy Noodle Noggin GC684NG. But before it went live, they asked me and TaGeez to take it for a spin. It was a fun adventure (even if the windchill was subzero - BRRRRRR).

To begin, you have to click a link on the cache page to access the website. With one exception (see below), it worked on all browsers on my iPhone and TaGeez's Android. Make sure your GPS functionality has been activated on your phone.

To me, this is like a cross between a letterbox and a Wherigo. Darryl and Renee ask you to take Fozzy for a walk around the neighborhood. You are guided by the webpage on your phone. Simply follow the clear instructions laid out on the page.

You read the story. Choose your destinations. Answer questions, where applicable. And move on until you reach the final.  The arrow directs you and let's you know if you are in range of your destination

PROS: 

• Unlike a letterbox, you know if you are heading the right direction. No ambiguous "take a left fork at the middling deciduous tree after passing a downed twig once attached to a piney outcropping on the slope."
• Unlike a Wherigo, no need to install a cartridge (normally troublesome on TaGeez's Android). Once started, this program ran without a hitch on both our devices.
• Prior to starting this, I reset my data usage statistics on my phone. This 15-minute cartridge used only 205 kb on my phone.
• Although we haven't created one ourselves, it appears to be easier to make edits and add photos. For Wherigos, if you use a 3rd party software to create them, they are pretty set in stone once uploaded to the official Wherigo.com website.

CONS:

• It's run on a smart device (phone, tablet, laptop) with an internet connection and GPS capabilities. However, if you don't have one, reach out to a friend and do it together.
• The arrow was a little wonky, and we found ourselves not relying on it. We relied more on the Intercache map and the distance counting down on the page.
• As mentioned earlier, TaGeez and I tried this on different phones using different browsers. For TaGeez, the intercache worked without problem using Chrome and Firefox. When he tried to use the Android default browser, the following message appeared: 

It was fun taking this Intercache for a spin and Fozzy for a "walk". I enjoyed the story line and the pictures. Fave point from me! I can't wait to see what our local cachers do next with this technology.