Last year, we were excited to announce that one of the fabled missing APE caches, the Mission 9: Tunnel of Light, which was originally placed near Seattle, had been located. The original APE cache container, which had been archived after being reported missing and possibly muggled in 2011, was finally found in October 2016.
The discovery of Mission 9: Tunnel of Light sparked a debate in the community of what to do with the cache, and it was finally put up to a vote. According to Groundspeak, around 9,000 votes were tallied, and now the final fate of the APE cache has been narrowed down to four options, which users can vote now through March 5, 2017.
APE Cache History
APE caches were originally created by 20th Century Fox as a promotion for the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes and the 14 caches told a story that could only be completed by finding all of the original caches. The caches were placed around the world and the extremely secretive project was popular as we all know how much geocachers love clues.
The project was abandoned by Fox in 2003 as many of the caches were muggled or otherwise went missing. Most of them have never been found, although dedicated geocachers have searched and even put out cash rewards for the return of the original containers so that the caches could be reactivated. Finding an APE cach is extremely prestigious and at the time of writing, the only active APE Project cache is Mission 4: Southern Bowl, located in Brazil.
The Fate of Mission 9
Since the recovery of the original container for Mission 9, there has been some debate as to what to do with it. Some people believe that it should be put on display, as otherwise it will likely be muggled again, while others want it reactivated so that the prestigious APE Project is not quite as un-attainable.
After hearing all of the suggestions in the previous round of voting, Groundspeak has narrowed it down to four possible options:
- Activate Once A Year: Display the APE cache container at Geocaching HQ as a trackable for most of the year, and make it loggable as an APE cache at its original location only during the week of the annual Going Ape Mega-Event in Washington.
- Display at HQ: Display the APE cache container at Geocaching HQ as an important artifact of the game’s history. It would not be loggable as an APE cache, but would be assigned a special tracking number that could be logged only as a trackable with a unique trackable icon.
- Traveling Artifact: Assign a special tracking number to the APE cache container and tour it to various events around the world. (It would be loggable only as a trackable, not as an APE cache.)
- Return and Reactivate: Return the container to its original location and restore it to active APE cache status. It would be loggable throughout the year, although the unarchival date is to be determined.
Voting is open to any Groundspeak member, and visitors are only allowed to vote once. Click here to place your vote. The ballot will be closed on March 5, 2017 so make sure that you get your vote in before then!!
What do you think should be done with the APE cache? Go vote, and leave me a note below to let me know!
