Glory Seeker

:huh:I'm wondering if I'm the only cacher out there who couldn't resist writing some silly/serious verse about my new hobby/obsession. I've been looking for an appropriate place to share, since my local caching buddies have been encouraging me to go public with this silliness. Anyone else who'd like to 'publish' (clean verse only please) is welcome. Generous and kind reviews are encouraged. I wrote this after another of a series of Monday (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) mornings coming into work with new adventures to report and new injuries to display. Weekend Report I walked into work this Monday morn Bandaged and bruised, my skin was all torn. My co-workers said, "What has happened to you?' We had a great weekend, but what did you do?' "I went geocaching," was my reply "And a low-hanging branch gave me this black eye. I tripped on a root and bumped into a tree, Stuck my stick in a hole that was all full of bees." "I got nettle-stung reaching under a fern, Forgot my sunblock and got a sunburn. I bruised both my legs when I fell climbing rocks I got dirt in my shoes and burrs in my socks" They all looked dismayed, but nobody spoke, As I showed them the rash from the poison oak. And how all up and down my legs and my arms Were mosquito bites and scratches from thorns. After seeing my wounds, my co-workers said, "You shouldn't be here, you should be home in bed!" "We'll bet you won't want to go do that again!" But I hunted for twelve, and I only found ten. So right after work, I'll be out there once more, Looking out for those two and at least one or two more. ----Glory Seeker (It's not so much the big injuries, it's all the little ones added together. I haven't actually suffered every discomfort mentioned here, but would be embarrassed to admit how many I have experienced or come close to. Nothing that would keep me from going out again! )

Wow, I never considered that...Now I'm remembering all those times out geocaching when I realize the whole afternoon is gone and it only felt like a couple of hours...Could be we're really having 'lost time' and the geocaching thing is really a smokescreen for alien abduction....All these trips out into the woods....And the government is in on it...yes, that's the ticket....geocaching is all a government plot.... They're in league with the aliens And they're out to get me! Whew!

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. my signature item is a small glass angel half an inch long, or one of several other small glass figures. I often leave it in the log book bag so it doesn't get lost in the bottom of larger caches, like ammo boxes. I hope cache owners wouldn't be so sensitive as to object, after all, we're all doing this for fun, aren't we?

I'm pretty new at this and didn't know until recently that others besides myself were using signature items, (Though it seemed natural) I've been leaving mine almost since I started. I found nifty little glass stars and crescent moons in the floral department of the craft store with the floral marbles. I made a rubber stamp with a sun moon and star on it for letterboxing, which I started at the same time as geocaching, so it went with that. Since then, my husband found little glass figures, about the size of one of those erasers you stick on the end of a pencil, and now several of our family are leaving those. I leave angels mostly, but will leave a bee, frog, alligator, heart, shell, ladybug or butterfly depending on the cache. We have found a bead store that will sell us these in bulk, 25 for $4.50. I leave one or more in every cache I visit that will hold one, and that is most....My intent is first to let other local cachers recognize I've been there, and second, I hope some finders will like them and want to take them. (They are quite detailed and clever) If you want to contact our source, there are even more types, like ducks, teddy bears....To contact the place we are buying these from e-mail lois@wynwoods.com -Glory Seeker

How about this one? We'd finally found the first waypoin in a multi-cache and my cell phone rang. It was my boss-"Where are you?" "Um, I'm on a log in the middle of the woods...WHAT TIME IS IT!?" Turns out the evening staff meeting at the school where I work started 15 minutes before....I could have sworn I still had a couple of hours before I had to be there....So I raced to the meeting, but not before finding the cache.....I got a write up in my file for it. ...When three people in three days use the word 'obsessed' in the same sentence with my name and 'geocaching' .....

As far as trespassing signs, I should add that there was a gate for vehicles further down the fence line that did have 'do not enter' on it....we rather foolishly reasoned that since the pedestrian gate wasn't posted, maybe they only wanted to keep cars out....Also, this hunt took place in the Puget Sound area of Washington state...

Our group were all fairly new to Geocaching (not that long ago) when we wandered into men in black country. We were 200 feet from the parking waypoint when we stopped, but didn't worry since we were in a large parking area by the local fire and emergency services headquarters. The GPS navigator pointed us down the hill on the far side of the headquarters building and through a chain link fence. That seemed to fit since the description said the cache was near a school, and this looked like a training area for emergency rescue. There was an unlocked gate with no sign forbidding entrance, so we went on through, and entered men in black country. There were streets named with street signs, wrecked cars, school buses and a helipad. It almost felt like a movie set. We joked about the men in black showing up, and sure enough, when we found our way blocked by the far side of the compound fence and turned around to retrace our steps, there were two uniformed men standing on the hill above where we came in looking and pointing at us. Soon we saw an official fire official car head out, and we figured they were coming down to see what we were doing in their training area. We nervously started double timing it back toward our entry point. Bissy insisted they'd never arrest a mom carrying a baby, a grandmother, and several young teens, but I wasn't so sure. We were relieved to get on the other side of the fence without being confronted by anyone. It turned out the parking coordinates were actually a short way down the main road from the fire station, where a trailhead led us .2 miles to Swamp Dog Hollow and a rewarding find. Lessons learned, we won't consider entering any official compounds without permission in future hunts!