I too apologise for the lateness of my log. I was planning to write it in the style of Tolkien, but have now thought better of it. I shall just tell the story, speaking of which, I think I was probably the most well versed in Middle Earth Lore having read both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings multiple times. I became aware of the cache as soon as it was published and right from the off (given the subject matter and the CO) it was obvious that this cache was going to be of epic proportions. I'm used to the multi stage puzzles at the start of caches by the CO and in this case it neatly cleared up any potential ambiguity before the adventure began. Due to the epic proportions mentioned above, it was decided by the Mega Breakfast/Los Juicios Brotherhood to reform for this and another lanky bird related cache in this mine. The route for the latter passed nearby most of the waypoints for the former with only a few more major diversions needed for the initial key finding mission. It shows the COs broad knowledge of both the mine and the story and his skill at building complex caches, that each stage was cleverly and carefully themed. The field puzzle elements were excellent, requiring just the right amount of thinking/puzzling/fishing to allow us to continue. The suggested party skill set was covered well as we were all pretty good at each ability but one role in particular fell to me for the final two stages. We despaired a little at the penultimate stage, not quite working out how to employ the method learned at my favourite puzzle stage during the key finding. But eventually I had the Eureka moment and I rejoined the group to head for the final. This was harder to reach than the preceding stage but was still not too much trouble and we finally had the cache in hand. Inside was the usual good quality swag, and two excellent geocoins and a logbook that now bears our signatures.The caches from the CO are always excellent and this one is up there with the best. I love how it is not too proscriptive, allowing us to decide how to do it (as with Los Juicios), and I love how cleverly the field puzzles are constructed, and I love how many caches the CO has set. I'm working on something similar and I'll be pleased if it's published by 2015.All in all we had an absolutely fantastic time going There and Back Again and would join Amberel in calling this a Top Cache.

'You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. antpeng, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!'‘Thank goodness!’ said antpeng laughing, and handed him the tobacco jar.