Fort DFN!

I decided to go after a multi-stage cache in Riverfront Park. A little ambitious for a lunch hour cache, but I figured if I couldn't complete it in one day, that would be OK. The first coordinates took me to a really cool place. It was like a fort made of fallen trees and branches. It reminds me of a crude sweat lodge or something. If I found this as a kid, man, I'd always hang out there. There was a bit of trash there. Empty juice bottles and cigarette pack. I'll have to go back with a trash bag and see if I can't clean a bit of that up. At any rate, did I find the first coordinates? Nope. I looked all over that thing for at least 30 minutes. It is suppose to be a match container. Uggg. Now I know why people hate micros in the woods. My GPS was bouncing all over the place. The section it told me it was couldn't be the coordinates as there is nothing there. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fort. I tried pretty hard to find it. But I had to give up, or I'd be late for work.

On the way back to the office, I decided I'd log a DNF and ask for a hint. But after reading the logs, everybody seemed to find it except for 2. They said it was a tough hide. Well, I didn't feel quite right about swallowing my pride so early. I think I'll give it another go before asking for a hint.

Stroll in the Park

I wanted to go out and take some pictures for the GeoCoin that I retrieved last week. But I decided against it due to the fact it would take my entire lunch hour. I wanted to find a cache, instead. So I think I'll take these pix some other day.

There was a new cache at a ball park. So I decided I'd go after this one and try to pick up a puzzle cache that has been eluding me for awhile now. The first one was pretty easy. This one really made me laugh. It was this rubber dragon with a bison tube attached to it. It really blended in well with it's surroundings. I liked it so much I had to take a picture of it. What a fun cache.

The next one was the puzzle cache that has me stumped. It points to pole and I looked everywhere. I can't find where it would be hidden. The problem with puzzle caches is that you can't depend on your coordinates because you could be wrong in solving the puzzle. I don't know. This is the second time I went to look. I think I'll give it another go before asking for hints.

Since I couldn't find this one, I decided to go after a Cache n' Dash. It was a pretty easy one. Tally one more for the list. Perhaps this will balance my DNF.

Looking for the Ammo Can!

Blue Lagoon Cache
GCY7PY
DNF

It's been raining for the last few days, so no geocaching for me. Today was the first day the rain let up and I thought I'd get out and try to find a cache. As I kinda planned my attack, I looked at several geocaches. All of them were micros. I'm kinda tired of micros. I want to see a traditional cache. I jumped on GSAK and searched for regular sized caches and found a bunch at Riverfront park. One of those caches had a travel bug in it too. So I thought I'd go after that one. Plus its a traditional ammo can! This is perfect. I've never seen a travel bug, so that will be cool. I've only found 1 traditional cache, but never a ammo can! I couldn't wait.

I took off on my lunch hour and tried to hunt it down. I'd have to make it pretty quick, since I only have an hour for lunch. It took me about 15 minutes to drive there. I parked and hit the trail at a pretty decent clip. I found the area that I think it should be in. I started looking around. Nothing. I ended up looking for about 30 minutes with no luck. I didn't think an ammo can would be this hard. I looked at the clue and I'm pretty sure I'm in the right area. Again, no luck. I took a stick and poked around in various areas thinking it might be hidden under sticks or leaves. Again, no luck. Are ammo cans really this hard to find? I guess I expected the ammo can to be next to a tree for the opening. But I suppose since this is a fairly popular park, it couldn't be that easy.

I had to give up in the end. This sux because it's been at least a week since I cached last. A little disappointing to come up with a DNF. Now that I look at the cache page, it says to hide it well for the next geocacher. So I guess I'll really have to prod a bit more. I guess I was expecting something a little more straight forward. But this is my first attempt at this kind of cache. I was trying to decide whether to log a DNF on the cache. But I think I'll hold off. I'm such a noob and it's probably much easier than I'm making it out to be. Uggg. I'll try it again. There's several more ammo cans nearby. I'll try those, then come back to this one. Perhaps a little more wise, this time.

One Puzzle Down!

NBA Legends
GCVY0M
Found it after a bit of searching!

NFL Legends
GC107EW
Bailed on this one due to construction!

MLB Legends
GCXQ4Y
Gotta check my coordinates a 3rd Time!

Went back for a second try! I redone the Legends series puzzles and ALL of my numbers were off. When I first solved them, I tried to do it all in my PDA. This time around, I printed the puzzle and hand wrote everything. That seemed to work a lot better. At least for the NBA Legends.

The NBA Legends lead me to another spot. This one made much more sense than the front yard of the neighbor I found yesterday. It took a fair amount of looking before I found it. It was kinda fun. I signed the log and took off for NFL Legends that was only a couple miles away. But that came to a halt because construction was blocking some roads. I didn't want to hassle with finding a detour. My limited lunch break doesn't allow me for such luxuries. So I put that on the back burner.

The MLB Legends puzzle, I'm not too sure of. I got some more coordinates and I looked around for a bit, but I found nothing. I was running short on time and there were players practicing, so I didn't look super hard. I guess I'll have to check those numbers for a third time. Hopefully the numbers are OK and I'm just not seeing the cache. I'll give it another go tomorrow.

Raining on my Parade

MLB Legends
GCXQ4Y
Double check my puzzle coordinates. Be Back Later

NBA Legends
GCVY0M
I gotta redo these coordinates. Will return.

"I C U"
GC112JR
Cache needs maintenance.

Wow, what a lousy outing. Today I decided I'd try a few caches on my lunch hour. It was nice, but overcast with rain here and there. I decided I'd push on.

First, I went to MLB Legends. I solved the puzzle and had the coordinates that lead me to the area I think it should be. I looked all around the area, but with no luck. I couldn't spend too much time there as there was some City Park workers around and I felt I looked too suspicious. So I think I'm going to double check the puzzle and make sure my coordinates are good. Then I'll come back again when it is a little less busy with city employees.

I then took off to find NBA legends. This was also a puzzle cache. Well, the coordinates I came up with lead me into the lawn of a homeowner. I can't imagine this is correct. So I'll have to double check my puzzle coordinates again.

2 Puzzle caches attempted...2 Puzzle Caches Failed! Well, I didn't have much time left on my lunch hour. But there was one on the way back to work. Hopefully I can find it pretty quick. This one was called ICU. It was very near a ditch over a bank. It was a neat area. A place I would probably hide out at as a kid. I found the cache after a couple minutes looking. But unfortunately, the cache was waterlogged. It was nothing more than a baggie in a plastic cup with no lid. So the rain/snow just went into the cup and seeped into the baggie. I drained out the water, but I didn't have a replacement log. Perhaps I'll start carrying a few. It also needed a new container. This container was obviously not working. I emailed the cache owner to give them a heads up. So hopefully they'll fix it so I can go back and log it.

So there you have it. 3 caches. 3 busts. Hopefully I'll have a better day tomorrow.

My First Dime!

Sacajawea Cache
GCTEFA
Found! Creative Container!

Berg In The Morning
GCVJAE
Being Hunted By Another Cacher. I'll Be Back!

Grand Daddy Green Leaf
GCVJAE
Found!

One of my other hobbies is playing board games. Within that community, people tend to own quite a few games. I personally own about 130 games. So when people have a large collection, they like to keep track of how often a game gets played every year. They will put out a "Five and Dime" list at the year's end. Basically meaning which games they have played 5 times that year and which games they played 10 times that year. If a game makes it to the "Five and Dime" list, they're pretty much a favored game. Call it a yearly milestone for that game.

Well, in this game of GeoCaching, I'm pretty new. So my milestone is my 10th find. Yup. This afternoon I hit 10 finds.

First I went to find the Sacajawea Cache. I kinda knew where this one was, because I tracked down the general area a few days before. But unfortunately, a muggle planted his carcase under the spot I needed to look. But since today was cold, there was nobody to bother me!

This was a really cool container. I spotted it pretty quickly, but it is very well disguised and a lot of work obviously went into it. That was really fun to see. This was the first creative container I've seen. Well done digger&friends.

So now it's off to my 10th find! Woo Hoo! I decided to go to Berg In The Morning. I found this one a couple weeks back with my wife, but I didn't have a pen to sign the log. So I decided I'd go back for it today. Well, the car in front of me was going to the same place. The EXACT same place. In fact, they got out of their car with a GPS! This is the first time I saw a geocacher in the wild! I debated whether I'd stop by and chat with them a bit. I'm not really that good at meeting new people and decided against it. Perhaps next time. But I'll put a watch on this cache and see who logs it next. It'll probably be the people I saw. I noticed they had Washington license plates.

Spoiler Warning:
Well, so much for that one. On the way back to work, I decided I'd try to find Grand Daddy Green Leaf. I wasn't real confident I'd find it as I only had a short time to look. But surprisingly enough, I found it with relative ease. This one was in a really crazy looking tree. I always love interesting trees. This one was no exception. The cache was tucked inside a hole in the tree. A wire connected the cache, so you can fish it out. It was pretty neat. But It got me wondering if this hole will be used for nesting birds. It was pretty deep and it looked like grass is inside it. Looking at past logs, it looks as if kids knew where the cache was and messed with it quite a bit. Perhaps they stuffed grass in the hole because that's what kids do. And since kids probably play on the gnarled old tree, birds might not nest there anyway. But I think we all should keep in mind the natural habitat of animals near our caches. Make sure you're not going too disturb their homes or potential homes. Holes in trees are places where birds often nest. So, please keep that in mind when placing your caches.

Lunch Hour Caching

Who's Got The Button? GCKDD9
Found

Meadowlark Millace GCMMP6
Found

Home Away from Home GCQ6DH
Be back another day.

OK. Now my GPS has a bunch of caches loaded now. It took me awhile to figure out how to get the coordinates to my GPS from GSAK, but I got it. I went off on my lunch hour and parked my car next to a park that had my first cache I wanted to visit. My GPS lead me right to the cache and found it pretty quickly. It was a micro, but after looking at pictures of caches on geocaching.com, I spotted it pretty quick. I grabbed the Micro and sat myself under a tree. Man, what a beautiful day. The park was empty and I had half a mind to stay there and relax under this tree for awhile. But no. There was one more cache I wanted to visit before heading back to work. So I signed the log, rolled it up, and put it back. Off to the next cache.

This one was another easy cache-n-dash, but I decided to walk it since it wasn't too far from this one. Besides, a day like this needs to be enjoyed. This one was in a shopping complex. The area was pretty descrete and really didn't see anybody around. This too was pretty easy to find. It was a small Altoids can. Had a few small trinkets which was fun. I thought the theme of the cache was rather clever. I didn't take anything or left anything but my signature on the log. I put it back and I decided I'd try to find one more cache before heading back to the grindstone.

This one I've seen on Google Earth and Google Maps. I thought I knew where it was, but the maps showed it was in a different landmark than I origionally thought. My GPS pointed to the correct area. Unfortunately, there is a lot of construction nearby and the workers were eyeballing me. Since this was a micro, it would need a lot of careful searching. So I left. I'll come back after hours.

My First Caching Adventure!

Cinco de Mayo (GCVRTK)
Difficulty: 1.5/1
DNF

Wag The Dog (GCTMV0)
Difficulty: 1.5/1
DNF

Thanks! BGCG (GCQ6HW)
Difficulty: 1/1
Found

Well, I got my GPS yesterday! I spent all evening reading through the manual and checking out the cool features. It was very exciting to see all the stuff it can do. I think I'll have to get some of the maps to put on. It'll be great for traveling!

Anyway, when I got to work this morning, I organized the caches I want to visit. I spent a good part of the morning flagging the ones I wanted to transfer to my GPS. When I hooked it up, however, the coordinates wouldn't transfer. I think its due to the fact that I don't have a microSD card installed. So instead, I entered about 17 caches into my GPS by hand and printed out the info pages. What a pain! I guess I'll have to get one tomorrow!

The GPS seems to work great. I get a strong signal and lead me right to the cache! No hassle at all.

So how did my first afternoon caching go? Well, I went caching on my lunch break. So after I ate, I only had about 30 minutes. I attempted 3. I tried to find Cinco de Mayo first. It lead me to the right area, but I felt self conscious hunting around. I just paced back and forth a bit, hoping I would see something that would catch my eye. I think it's probably under a bush or something, but like I said, I felt self conscious about really looking. I felt I looked suspicious.

I gave up and went to Wag The Dog. Well, the description says its on private property. I didn't feel right poking around a business during these times. I think I'll try that one when it's after hours or on the weekend. So I kinda know where it is, but didn't really hunt for it.

The last one was Thanks! BGCG. I only had 15 minutes left on my lunch hour. But I thought I'd give this one a go, anyway. I knew where it was. It was in a remote area, so I shouldn't feel self conscious about trying to find it. Before, I was using Google Earth to find the general area. I attempted to find this cache numerous times, but with no luck. Well, my GPS lead me to the exact spot I thought it would be. So I gave it another look and found it right away! I felt so stupid because it was right in front of me the entire time. It was a micro in a clever container. Well, I thought it was clever, but I only have one other cache to compare it to. So what do I know. I signed the log and put it back, and logged it on GeoCaching.com. At least I found one cache before I called it good for the day!

DNF: Thanks! BGCG (GCQ6HW)

Thanks! BGCG (GCQ6HW)
Difficulty: 1/1
Did Not Find

This is the second time I went out to find this cache. I went right after work. I'm only using satalite maps to locate these caches, so I'm working at a disadvantage. But from what I can tell, it's the back corner of a store by the meters. The clue is "It Will Drive You Nuts." So I'm assuming it is a modified hex nut to hold the cache. It's a micro, so that sounds reasonable. They also said it was an unusual container. But I looked and couldn't find anything. So this was my second attempt, and I failed. I'd like to try again, but it's hard to search without looking suspicious. It would be really hard to explain to a cop that I'm GeoCaching without having a GPS in hand. So I look really quick while pretending to be on my cel phone. I poke around for a short time, then head on out.

I think I'll try another cache this weekend. Perhaps something easier.