Monster Cachers: Project A.P.E.

In May 2001, geocaching was barely a year old, less than 450 caches existed anywhere in the world, and the activity was relatively unknown to the majority of the world when a promotions staffer at 20th Century Fox sent an email to Jeremy Irish, co-founder and CEO of Geocaching.com. The studio wanted to pair its upcoming summer blockbuster, Planet of the Apes, with this obscure new GPS-based scavenger hunt, and Geocaching HQ co-founder and CEO Jeremy Irish took the meeting. What came out of that partnership was Project A.P.E., short for "Alternative Primate Evolution," a fictional conspiracy Fox invented was purely for promotion, with no real connection to the film's plot.

The premise: renegade scientists claiming to have proof that apes were already rising to power, with movie props hidden around the globe as "evidence." Every Friday for thirteen weeks, cryptic clues appeared on the Project A.P.E. website, narrowing from vague riddles, such as "It is hidden in a state that starts with an 'I,' 'T,' or a 'K'", to “It is hidden in a state that borders a large body of water,” and eventually the exact coordinates were given. Whoever reached the site first got to keep whatever movie prop was stashed inside: torches, prop posters, scripts, even weapons used in the film. The caches themselves were repurposed military ammo boxes, spray-painted with "Project APE" on the front.

In total, fourteen caches were hidden across the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, and Japan. Most didn't survive more than a find or two before being muggled. Remarkably, two are still active today, Mission 4 located outside Seattle, Washington, and Mission 4, located in the jungles of Brazil — quiet survivors of a campaign that helped introduce geocaching to the wider world.

On May 26, 2001, Corona's Coming Attractions, the premiere website at the time dedicated to tracking Hollywood films in development and reporting on upcoming releases, broke the news of the promotion with this report:

"20th Century Fox has launched a really unique promotion for its Planet of the Apes film: using global positioning satellite (GPS) technology, fans can get involved in an interactive scavenger hunt for hidden caches of props used in the film. The first person to determine the location of a cache and reach it gets to keep the authentic prop!

Fox is calling this contest "Project A.P.E." (www.projectape.com — the A.P.E. standing for "Alternative Primate Evolution"), officially launched yesterday. Using the online gaming technology known as geocaching, every Friday the film's official website will supply new coordinates that can be used to determine the location of the latest hidden cache. The contest will run for 13 weeks, giving thirteen lucky individuals the chance to be first to walk away with exclusive Apes memorabilia. For those without a GPS unit, the website will also give away a Garmin eTrex to a randomly selected winner each Friday.

There are also hidden clues embedded in the Project A.P.E. game that, we're told, are important to the film's storyline. These secrets will "unlock long-hidden secrets that could present a clue to our past — or a key to our future," said the studio.

This week's operation is called "Devil's Spoon" and is located in California at coordinates N 37° 50.759 W 121° 56.041. You can view maps and discover clues about the cache location by visiting the Project A.P.E. website, along with learning what was inside once it's found. Remember, if you missed this week's hunt, a new location will be announced every Friday for the next three months!"

The caches themselves were large surplus military ammo boxes with "Project APE" spray-painted on the front and an official Project A.P.E logbook placed inside. Those caches hidden in the United States were large (32”x12”x6.25”) 120mm mortar ammunition containers; those hidden elsewhere around the world were surplus .50 caliber ammunition containers — much smaller, about the size of a toaster (12”x6”x7.5”), but still roomy enough for the stash inside. Most of the FTF movie prop prizes were lesser-known or seldom-seen items from the film — a torch, leather blinders, a knife, prop posters, and the like. Nothing especially valuable, but great conversation pieces. There were also T-shirts, trading cards, copies of the script, and instructions.

In total, fourteen caches were placed across a series of missions numbered 1 through 12 — one additional "Special Movie" cache marked the New York World premiere of the moive, and Mission 10 was split into 10a and 10b, with 10b holding tickets to the London World premiere. Evidence points to a potential Mission 13, though no cache page for it has ever surfaced. Most of the Project A.P.E. caches didn't survive beyond a couple of finds before being muggled (stolen). Remarkably, two of the caches are still active as of 2026, one just outside Seattle, Washington, and the other in Brazil.

Geocaching.com also released news about the project on its own website’s home page.

In an August 10, 2016, interview published on the Geocaching.com Official Blog, Jeremy stated, “It was a very exciting project. The website was still in its infancy, so it was pretty cool that a major movie studio wanted to partner with us. Project A.P.E. did a lot to inform the general public about geocaching.”

Jeremy assisted in hiding the Mission 9: Tunnel of Light geocache located approximately 60 miles east of Seattle, Washington. (Photo from the Aug/Sept 2001 issue of Business 2.0

An unused A.P.E. cache logbook (left) and the original logbook from Mission 9: Tunnel of Light (GC1169)

Vanity Fair article from 2001

The first A.P.E. cache was published May 24, 2001. It was followed by 13 more listings, with the final cache location revealed August 10, 2001.

Geocaching.com Project A.P.E. Announcement -

(Captured on May 28, 2001)

Project A.P.E. Homepage -

The Project APE homepage provided the background story created to interweave the movie plot with geocaching.

(Captured on June 2, 2001)

Project A.P.E. Current Mission Page -

The Current Mission page was where each week’s clue and map were revealed. Clicking on the Get Coordinates hyperlink would take the user to the cache listing page, which provided the final coordinates.