Missed Log

Today I went out to the local park near the Yellowstone River. Its a great wildlife refuge with nice hiking trails. I knew there were a couple of caches that I have yet to hit in this area, so I thought I'd grab it.

The first was a quick park 'n grab. It took a bit of time to track it down, but when I found it, I felt a little stupid. It was a film canister and it was full of water. The log was soaked. But on the plus side, the log had a lovely blue tie-dyed look! Anyway, I spread the log out on my car. Since it was in the upper 80's, I figured I could probably dry it out while I searched for another cache.

I found one in the GPS and it looked familiar. But why would GSAK list it as unfound if I didn't find it? So I stared to go after it. I took the hard route and bushwhacked to the cache, only to find out that I have already discovered it awhile back. My name was in the log book. Well, I thought it was a GSAK bug. But when I got to work to double check if I logged it, I realized I didn't. Lucky for me, I had this blog to back me up. I looked for my log entry in the blog so now I know the date I discovered the cache. Log one more for my numbers. It only took me two trips to log it!

When I got back to the car, the log from the park 'n grab was dry. I signed the log and put it back where I found it. I guess that's my good deed for the day!

Scheduled Caching

Well, we got back from our little vacation yesterday. I racked up 3000 miles on the car. As I stated before, it was a family trip and geocaching would be limited. I ended putting 2708 caches into the GPSr and my Palm. I was hoping that if I was in an area, I'd be able to see if there was a cache nearby. So you'd think with that much info at my fingertips, I'd find a lot, right? Nope. I found only 2.

I was expecting to find most of my caches at rest stops. I was a little surprised that the majority of the rest stops didn't have any caches! I thought those would be prime cache locations. I guess not.

Instead, I ended up getting a couple of LPC's in LA area. One was in a grocery store parking lot, and another was in a mall parking lot. Say what you like about LPC's, but when you are in a pinch, hurting for numbers, or just need a quick fix, LPC's are where they're at. If it wasn't for LPC's, I would have found nothing on this trip.

So my vacation was lacking in the geocaching department. I'm a little disappointed despite the fact we had a great time on the trip. I just wish I could have gone out and grabbed a few more. I guess next time, I'll have to schedule some caching time for myself. Otherwise I won't get any done. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Ready for a Road Trip

It's been a busy last few weeks. We are preparing to go on vacation to CA. So we've been getting all of our ducks in a row, including getting our garden and yard in shape before taking off for 2 weeks. What does that mean for me? Yup....no geocaching! :(

Well, we're taking off tomorrow for our long road trip. Last week, I got our itinerary and started mapping our our route in Google Earth. I want to do a pocket query along a route. It looks as if the pocket query can only do 500 caches, but I wanted more. I wanted as many as I can have in my GPS so that if we stop somewhere along the way, I can look to see if they're any caches nearby. So I ended up breaking my trip from Billings, MT to LA, CA into 8 segments to look for caches .5 miles along my route. I ended up with 2400 caches! Hopefully I'll find a few in the reststops along the way. I also did some pocke queries on the locations I'll be staying. So perhaps I can grab a few on an evening stroll.

I'm looking forward to it. This isn't a caching trip. It's a family vacation with our schedule jammed packed. So all my caching will be done if I happen to be at the right time at the right place. Hopefully I'll bag a few. Wish me luck!

Birthday Caching

Yesterday was my birthday! So, naturally that means I get to take the day off work and do some geocaching! I went out at 9am and cached for about 3 hours. There was a travel bug that I wanted to get my hands on located on the Rims. Plus there are a bunch of caches up there too. So I thought that would be a great place to target. What a great area. I haven't been up here in 7-8 years. They have really nice paved paths. I think I'm going to bring my family up here in the near future.

Anyway, the first 25 minutes were a bust. The first few caches were beyond the Rims and in the valley. Since I have no interest in plummeting to the bottom, I had to write those off. But it wasn't long until I found the caches I could get to. I think I ended up logging 6 new caches. I probably attempted 10 or so. There were some that were in a dangerous area, a puzzle cache, or I had no interest in getting to (micro in the woods don't appeal to me).

I had a really great time. It was only 3 hours. But for a lunch time cacher, that is a very successful day. I brought my camera with me and took some pictures of some wildflowers.

Since the Rims are all sandstone, the trees sometimes have a tough time finding their rooting. I saw this crazy tree practically growing sideways.

I was also able to get a couple of pictures to use for my ginormous travel bug I'm playing host to. I'm going to doctor the pix up a bit in photoshop to make it a bit more fun before moving on.

What It's All About

Today was pretty overcast with nasty looking clouds. It has been raining off and on today. But I haven't been caching in like 10 days, so I thought I might as well get out and try one. I was going to do a quick Park 'n Grab, but there were too many muggles around. But there was a cache not far from here along this trail.

What a neat area. I never knew this spot was here. It looks like a nature preserve much like Riverfront Park. It has some nice maintained trails that snake around this island in the middle of the Yellowstone river. Such a cool spot. I think I'm going to have to come back and hike around a bit more. I'll bring my wife and son so we can enjoy this area a bit more.

I would hear interviews of cachers and they say they enjoy geocaching because it shows them places they never knew was there. This is one of those moments. Did I find the cache? Yup. It was a nice cache. An ammo can with lots of goodies. It was definitely a fun find. But the real treat was discovering this area. A place I would have never known was here, and I found it through geocaching. I guess that's what it's really about. I hope I find more like this.

Big Plans

Last week, I've been covering for a guy I work with. So that means that I had to work through lunch each day, which means no geocaching :( I was hoping this weekend I might pick up one or two that popped up near my house. But our chores got in the way of that. So again, no geocaching.

This week, I should have some time to go out during my lunch time. So that will be cool. Perhaps get a few under my belt. I'd also like to get the travel bug picture taken this week so I can drop him off and pick up a new one.

On the plus side, next week is my birthday! It falls on a Tuesday this year. I'm going to take the day off of work and go geocaching. I'm going to the Rims to get a few up there and maybe into the Heights where they are a little out of my reach on my lunch hour caching. I'm hoping to get a travel bug that I have my eye on that's located up there as well. Then I'm going to go home, smoke a cigar, drink a beer and BBQ. I'm really looking forward to it. Birthdays rock.

Godzilla's Heart

Last Thursday, I decided I'd drop off my GeoCoin I've had for the last couple of weeks. There was a travelbug hotel near by, so I thought I'd exchange this coin for one of those so I could play with it a bit. The hotel was off the road near a bridge. I parked in a city park near by and decided to walk to it from there. It was a nice walk. I discovered a really nice path that I didn't know was there along the Yellowstone River. I think I'm going to take my wife and son there next weekend for a picnic and hike.

At any rate, the ammo can was pretty easy to find. I was expecting a bunch of bugs in there, but only really saw 2. There was a laminated photo of a bridge. It was kinda a lame travelbug. The goal sounded cool as it would like to visit and get pictures of other bridges. But a laminated picture? I bet there's a better bug that could have been used other than a picture. It almost looked like it was cut out of a magazine. Needless to say, it didn't strike my fancy and decided to leave that one behind.

The other travel bug was this giant stuffed cartoon heart. The thing is massive. Probably the size of a small cantaloupe. It was the only interesting travelbug in there, so I grabbed it in exchange for the coin. In hindsight, I shoulda left it behind. Something that big would be a bugger to find a cache to place it in. But since I have it, I'll play with it a bit.

I'm trying to think of a good place to take a picture that represents Billings. Problem with Billings is that it doesn't have any real landmark of note. The pictograph caves is just a hole in the cliff. Little Bighorn Battlefield is just prairie. Plus they're really not apart of Billings. I think because this travelbug is so big, perhaps I'll do some photoshop work and make it look like it's huge like Godzilla destroying Billings! That would be fun, I think. I guess we'll see.

On my way back, there was another cache near where I parked my car. I only had 10 minutes to find it. I decided I'd go after it. It was pretty easy too. This one was a Tupperware container that had a few items in it. The container had a hole in it. It cracked or broke somehow. The contents were completely dry. I guess that's the drawback to some cheap Tupperware containers. It's easy to break. But then again, it's easy to replace. The container had a few items in it. Mostly junk. I took a signature card and I decided I'd throw a few toys in there. A few bouncy balls and a few key clips. Just to boost up the swag a little for the next finder. I'm going to have to find some better swag myself. I'm going to try to avoid the cheap garbage and use something I'd enjoy finding. Probably geared more toward kids. Perhaps I'll put in a toy and a signature item. That way the adults would be interested in signature items, kids would be interested in the toys.

It was a fun lunch hour cache.

Permission or Not...

This last weekend, my wife and son and I went to Bozeman to visit some friends that were in town. So I brought the geocoin that wants to visit universities with me. My intention was to take a picture of the coin with the University sign before dropping the coin off in a local cache. Well, I was able to get the picture just fine, but I wasn't able to drop off the coin. My son was very cranky. I tried to find a quick one, but he didn't cooperate. I had to get on the road. That sux. I really wanted to move this coin along. But at least I got 3 pictures to upload to the coin log. One for MSU-Bozeman, one for MSU-Billings, and one for Rocky Mountain College. I think I'll drop off the coin at a travelbug hotel that's nearby. I'm hoping that it will move along. If not, I'm heading to California this summer. Maybe I'll pick it up if he's stuck in B-town.

I came across a muggled cache last week. I emailed the owner stating that film can was thrown to the side, but no log in sight. I took the film can with me, as I didn't know where it was originally hidden and there was no log. He got back to me on Saturday and asked that I put the can back and he'll put in a new log. Unfortunately, I didn't see where he was referring to. I gave him the info where I found it. So hopefully that cache will be active soon.

Since I was out and about, I decided I'd go after a cache. This one was near an entrance of a business. So there's all kinds of muggles. I spot checked around, trying to act casual, but with no luck. If I stuck around too much longer, I'm sure somebody would get suspicious. I don't think I'm going to go back for this one. I guess this is why many people don't like urban caches. I don't like the ones on business property...permission or not. I like the ones in parks or any other area that's easy to get to without dodging the muggle-gaze.

Oh well. I think I need to find a few caches to log. I haven't been doing so hot lately. Uggg.

Campus Tours

Today, I decided I'd get those pix for the GeoCoin I have. The coin wants to visit a bunch of Universities. So I thought I'd take a picture of the coin next to university signs. I went to Rocky Mountain College first. Not technically an university, but it does a regular 4 year degree programs. While there, they had this really great tree. It must have been there for a 100+ years. Huge trunk and really great looking branches. There are a couple of places on that tree that has a hole where a branch use to be. I might look into putting a cache in there. I love cool old trees like that. I should have taken a picture. I had my camera, after all. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Then I went to Montana State University - Billings. The only sign I saw was kinda lame. It was in front of a parking lot. I wanted something with a bit more flair. I'll have to go by and see if I can find any other signs with a decent backdrop. I want to show off the beauty of Montana. Can't do that with a parking lot! Oh well. "At least there is a cache near by," I said to myself. So I pull into the visitor parking, pay my 50 cents for parking and went to track it down. First of all, I must say they have done some BEAUTIFUL landscaping since I attended the University. What a great area. If it wasn't a campus, I'd go there for a picnic and a bottle of wine and while away the hours looking at the sky. The area I was looking for the cache was in a water fall area. They had a really nice creek with waterfall. So cool. But there was maintenance guys hanging around. Fiddling with wires and valves and whatnot. So I couldn't go hunting for the cache. I guess I'll have to go back one evening to see if I can't track it down.

Man's Best Friend

I have this new interest in travel bugs. There's a travel bug that I want to recover, but I specifically have to block out some time to get there. Not that it's hard to get to. It actually looks pretty easy. But I can't casually get to it if I 'happen to be in the neighborhood.' At any rate. It's purpose is to get pictures of your K-9 friends. My dog is really getting old and probably won't last much longer. So I think I'm going to get the travel bug and have my picture taken with my dog and the travel bug. I also bought a travel bug tag. I'm going to look for a toy dog that looks like her. When she passes, I'm going to launch the travel bug in her remembrance. I'm not sure what her goal will be. But I thought it would be a good sentiment.

Moving Right Along

I decided to go after a cache from my favorite park. It's a clever idea. The idea was to put a quarter in the cache. If the cache already has 5 quarters in it, you take 4 of the quarters and the process starts all over again. It was pretty easy to find, but I really enjoyed finding it. I like these interactive caches. Something that asks you to do something in order to log it. Any of the caches that I plan on placing will have something unique to make it special. I have a few in mind, and they'll be interactive. I just want to log a few more finds before attempting a hide.

I also decided I'd go after this cache because it had a geocoin in it. I recently got a lot of interest in geocoins and would like to start collecting. This one is a Geocaching-U geocoin and already registered. It has a goal of visiting different Universities. I think I'm going to grab my camera and take some pictures of the coin with the local Universities. Namely, MSU-Billings, MSU College of Technology, and Rocky Mountain College. Then I'll move it along to another cache. I'm going to Bozeman, and I thought I'd get a picture of MSU-Bozeman as well, before dropping it off in a Bozeman cache for the next cacher to move along. I think I'm going to keep an eye on it for awhile. I'd like to see what happens with it. Besides, it's my first geocoin I'm moving along!

Since I was in the park, there is a multi-cache there as well. I got the first leg done, but it lead me near a place where young children were playing. I decided I'd come back when it was a bit more quiet. A grown man hanging out near playground equipment is not a good idea. Perhaps I'll bring my wife and kid along for the next leg.

Even though I only found 1 cache. It was still a good geocaching day!

I'm NOT Stupid!

Well, it looks like I'm not as stupid as I thought. The ammo can that has been giving me trouble has been muggled! I looked up the cache info page and sure enough, it has been listed as unavailable. I'm pretty new at this and being that I have never found an ammo can, I just assumed it was me being inept. I feel a bit better, now. I was debating if I should log a DNF on this cache or not. In the end, I chose not to thinking that it was just me. I suppose I should have. Perhaps it would bring this problem to light a few days earlier. Oh well. Get a few more finds under my belt, and I think I'd be comfortable logging DNF. One thing that sucks it that it had a travel bug in it. I feel bad for the little guy. Never gunna see his goal. Maybe the muggle will be kind enough to contact the owner. I guess we can hope.

On the plus side, it looks as if the cacher who placed the cache will move it to a more suitable area. I hope it's an ammo can again. I'd like to give it another go.

Rain Rain, Go Away

Robins Roost
GCV0P8
Quick Find

ditchtunnell cache - www.bgcg.info
GCJMD3
Found

It's been pouring down rain today. But there was a little break in the weather. Just in time for lunch, too! I wanted to go back to Riverfront Park and look for those ammo cans again, but I could just imagine the mess there is now. Being knee deep in mud isn't my idea of a good time! So I decided I'd do a couple Cache 'n Grabs.

Spoiler Warnings!
The first one I found without any trouble at all. In fact, it really could be only one place. The container was spray painted brown, but no other camouflage. It was fairly large container for a micro too, which was surprising. I figured since it was a muggle heavy place, either a smaller container or better camouflage would be appropriate. But what do I know. I guess we'll have to see how long it takes to be muggled.

The second was next to a walking/bike path. Literally next to the path! Not hidden. Just a container by the path. I thought this one was silly. Anybody would probably mistake it for trash. Previous logs had noted that it was in plain sight and they buried it under some leaves which is where I found it. At least they tried to make it a little better. Several others noted how poorly it was hidden. From what I could gather, the original coordinates lead you somewhere else. Perhaps it was a better hiding spot. But for some reason, they had to move it. Anyway, I signed the soggy log. The last few logs stated the log was wet and has been since February! I guess the hider doesn't care. Oh well. Tally one more for my stats.

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.

Gone Paperless

The weather has been most disappointing this last week. On Friday, we got 9 inches of snow! But the next day, it was 60 degrees and it all melted. Everything was muddy and certainly isn't good for any Geocaching. Its going to rain and snow all week, so I pretty much write off Geocaching this week, too. But I'm hopefull there will be a break in the weather soI can jump in and get a couple of caches under my belt.

But the lousy weather didn't stop my from adding to the hobby. I was tired of going out caching only to find a cache nearby, but no info. I have been printing out pages before going out, but this certainly wasn't working for me as I would need a huge binder to keep organized. So I jumped on eBay and bought myself a Palm IIIxe. It ended up costing me about $29 for the Palm, Software, Cradle and Priority Mail Shipping. I got the Palm on Saturday and I quickly installed CacheMate onto the palm. It took me a little figuring out, but I finally got it and I think I'll really like how it'll work with my GeoCaching.

I use GSAK to organize the caches and load the waypoints to my GPS. GSAK also will shoot the information directly to CacheMate on my Palm. Now I have the waypoints on the GPS and all of the information for each waypoint on my Palm Pilot. I also like the fact I can write notes on each find so I can enter them later onto Geocaching.com. Pretty slick way of doing things, in my opinion. For under $40 ($30 for the Palm, $8 for CacheMate), paperless caching is certainly the way to go. I feel much better equipped and I'm not wandering aimlessly, hoping to stumble across a GeoCache.

Park Hoppin'

Rosebud Revenge
GCW5Y7
Challenging find, but I got it!

Sacajawea Cache
GCTEFA
I'll come back when no one is napping under the cache.

Went out this afternoon to find a few micros in the parks. The first one really took me quite a bit of time to find. Man, I looked everywhere. Luckily, it was pretty deserted, so I could search without feeling self conscious. I finally found it though, after about 30 minutes of searching. It was a fun hide and a nice park that I didn't know was there. I might have to take my lunch hour there sometime. Perhaps stop by Subway and pick up a sandwich, and relax under a tree.

I had 3 other caches lined up, but the previous cache took up a good chunk of my lunch hour. So I went to the next park that was close by. 'Course today was absolutely beautiful and everybody wanted to enjoy the park too. Well, as discreetly as possible, I located the general area where the cache is located. Unfortunately, someone was picnicking in the exact area I want to search. Well, so much for that. I guess I'll try again tomorrow. Pick up the other two as well.

As an aside; I was just thinking that caching with somebody probably works better. Not only because you have 2 looking, but because you look less suspicious when there is two of you. You just look like you're being social. But when you are alone, people eyeball you a little closer trying to figure out what you are up to. Crawling around or lurking, people think that you are up to no-good. Or at least that's my perception.

My wife has shown casual interest in Geocaching. Meaning that she'll go out with me on occasion. Just tagging along because there's nothing better to do. But, she certainly wouldn't suggest the idea. But that's OK with me. I like doing something on my own. Besides, I usually only geocache during my lunch hour anyway.

Stupid Construciton Workers!

Elephant Nuts!!
GCRF9B
Easy Find

The last action Hero
GCM3Q4
I'll Come Back Later

Home Away from Home
GCQ6DH
Found On Sunday

I had 2 caches that I went out for today at lunch. The first one I found pretty easy. It was a lot of fun. This was a traditional cache with some trinkets in it. This was the first one of this kind that I have found. The previous ones were either micros or small containers that didn't have room for much more than a button or two. At any rate, it was a lot of fun to find the 'treasure.' I signed the log and looked through the swag. Not much worth taking, but I wanted to leave something behind. So I took some hand sanitizer and left a metal puzzle/brain teaser.

The next one I think I know where it is. But again, there's construction going on in that area. Too many construction workers giving you the eye. So I guess I'll have to do this one on the weekend when no one's around.

Yesterday, I got the elusive Home Away From Home cache too. This one was also near a construction site and couldn't search discreetly. But on Sunday, while at the hardware store, I slipped down and found the cache pretty easy! This was a micro as well. I thought it was hidden in a different area and felt pretty stupid when it was right in front of me the entire time. I tend to make things much more difficult than I should. But as I gain more experience, I'm sure I'll find them quicker.

At Least It's A Find.

Mall Madness (GCKM2D)
Found!

I had to get some new tires for my car. While there, I knew there was a cache close by. After getting my car taken care of, I went looking for the cache. It was pretty easy. Yup, a LPC. I grabbed it and signed the log. Unfortunately, a muggle was approaching. He was there to get something out of his car that happens to be right next to the cache location. So I couldn't discretely put it back. So I went into a local store and looked around for about 10 minutes with the cache in hand. When I came out, the muggle was gone and I put it back.

My very first cache that I found was a LPC. It was very exciting to find something that was under every one's nose. Now that I've found a few other caches (5 at the time of this writing), I find the LPC a little unsatisfying. But, at least it's a find. Tally one more for my record. Other than that?... eh. Do I hate the LPC yet? Yet is the key word here. I have a feeling it won't be long before I do. But right now, I don't hate them. I just find them a bit boring. That doesn't mean that I won't log it though! ;)

The Importance of Research

On my lunch hour, I decided I'd find a cluster of caches. This way I could park, and walk to 3 or 4 nearby caches. Unfortunately, I just found a cluster and my GPS and went with it. This cluster said it was about 7 miles away. Kinda far, but I could do it on my lunch hour. I followed my GPS compass and parked near an area that looked like a trail head. I thought, "OK, this must be the trail head I must follow." The trail looked pretty steep, but since my pocket query was set at 3/3 and below, I knew it should be relatively easy for a person to get. I started hoofing it up the trail. The stupid trail was between 20 and 30 degree incline! I walked a bit, breathing harder than I have in a long time. I'm in no shape for this! Geocaching shouldn't cause your lungs to bleed! I stopped and looked around. A little deductive reasoning between gasps of air, I decided it was probably on TOP of the Rimrocks instead of below. And I'd bet money you could just park on top and a easy walk later, you'd be there. So the moral of the story? Do your research BEFORE you decide to go caching. Look at maps and areal photos. I bet there's a great place to park. I bet it's easy to get to.

So no luck on my caching today. Tomorrow, I'm gunna do some research. Stupid trail.