First Time Geo-Cacher

I know from asking my friends and family that there are lots of people out there that really have no idea what geocaching is.  But I also know that once they hear about it they all want to give it a try.  I didn’t come by my interest personally, I happen to be married to a man bitten by the geocaching bug.  He was much more into it than I planned to be, but he convinced me to give it a try and tag along with him on a trek into the mountains to find this elusive “cache”.  Ok, I didn’t totally understand yet, but I was willing to give it a try.

We had the basic equipment, GPS, coordinates to where the cache was hidden and helpful clues.  The weather was great and the mountains were beautiful, so why not give geocaching a try?  We loaded the coordinates into the GPS and headed off, blindly following the technology we held in our hands.  We followed many of the same BLM (Bureau of Land Management) roads that we had been on in times past.  The ride was enjoyable and so far I was having fun.  After a short time the GPS indicated we had arrived at our destination (or as close as it could get us….more on that later).

The clue told us not to “get stumped” looking for the cache.  So we knew we were in search of a stump.  Let me tell you, the mountains are FILLED with stumps.  We spent about 30 minutes down in a ravine checking out just about every stump we could find.  Keeping an eye on the GPS we’d get further away from our coordinates and then back on track.  I’ll be honest I was the first one to lose my enthusiasm, but even my husband decided we needed to try something else.  We got back in the Jeep and consulted the GPS again.

We made the mistake that many first timers make, we had not become good friends with our GPS!  We found that we could find our route via “roads” or “direct”.  We had it set on “roads” and that’s what it had done, it got us as close to the cache as it could following roads only.  So we knew we were close, we drove up the road a bit further and started the GPS again, but this time as “direct”.  Now we had a clearer direction to follow.  We got out of the Jeep and headed into the woods (remember to keep track of where you came from or use the breadcrumbs feature on your GPS).  We entered a beautiful grove of Aspen trees, it was amazing.  It was also obvious that a few cows loved that area, too.  So, walking carefully we continued.  We entered what had once been a lovely stand of trees, but now only stumps remained, perhaps the result of a fire years before.  Now the “don’t get stumped” clue made much more sense.

Even with our clue it took us a while to find the stump that held the cache.  I have to admit it was fun to actually find it.  To read the log and wonder about everyone that had been there before us.  What they were like, where they were from.  But that’s me, I can give an entire history to a name in a log of someone that I will never even meet.  We signed the log and put the cache back for the next searchers.

The overall experience was very worth the effort.  We spent time together outside in the beautiful mountains, got some fun exercise and were able to reach our goal.  While I’m still not a serious geo-cacher, I am more than happy to join my husband on his searches (and now even planting our own!).  If you have someone in your life that is interested, join them.  You’ll find places you’ve never seen before (like the old mine that we stumbled upon, it was so cool!), you get some fresh air and exercise and you might even get bit by the geo-caching bug!  Get up off the couch, gather your family and friends and follow your GPS on an adventure!  Then share your experiences with others!  Happy Hunting!