smstout19

This is absolutely hilarious! I love reading these!!

While hiking/geocaching in Balls Bluff Regional Park, my husband and I narrowly escaped being struck by a gigantic falling tree! We were about 40 feet away when we heard a loud CRACK. We turned around and watched the tree come crashing down with a very loud CRUNCH. **whew**

These are hysterical! Very creative! This one is for real! http://www.gpsthemovie.com/

Here is our story - with two pictures to go along with it. This microcache was the most unique container we have found so far. A lot of fun... Early this morning my husband and I decide to head out to a nearby park in search of a geocache entitled: "It's Slo Go'in." With temps in the mid 70's and low humidity it was a good morning for a hike. Before heading out, we double-checked our coordinates against the printout and off we went. After parking the car, we began our trek, confident that this little microcache would be an easy find. Within a few minutes we arrived at the end of the road where we were unable to see any visible path into the woods. We stopped briefly, rechecked our coordinates and then hiked down an embankment. When we reached the bottom, we began walking along a path which paralleled the Potomac River. Our GPS indicated we were heading the right way so we continued on. After hiking a few minutes longer we realized this was NOT the right way to the cache. So we began to head back UP in search of a trail. (To me this is what makes Geocaching fun. Climbing, bushwhacking, exploring, getting a little lost. It's all part of the adventure.) Following a short trek to the north, suddenly we were in the midst of stinging nettle everywhere!! With no other direction to go, we had to trudge onward - and both of us were wearing shorts. Fortunately, after a few minutes of frantically rubbing our legs, the stinging finally calmed down.. Finally, after reaching the hiking path we should have taken, we knew we were close. Within a few steps, our GPS coordinates were dead on. We began looking around carefully and reread the hints which said: "The container is 'different', although I have used this style of hide before and it fits its surroundings well. The container is in plain sight and you don't have to move anything to see it." All of a sudden I looked over to my right where there was a small clearing and noticed something yellow sitting near a log. As I walked up to it, I noticed it was a plastic box turtle. How odd! And then I realized - this is the cache!! My husband picked it up and examined it for a few minutes trying to figure out how to open it. He then used a pen to turn the knob that was sticking out where the tail would be. After a few turns the knob popped off and inside was a teeny tiny vial. Upon opening the vial, out rolled the smallest logbook we'd ever seen! We took these pictures and then replaced the cache exactly as we had found it. As we headed out of the park, we used the trail we should have taken on our way in. http://www.flickr.com/photos/smstout19/673633386/?edited=1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/smstout19/672892147/?edited=1

Your instincts were probably right-on. What a relief that no one was hurt in spite of the fact that your vehicle was damaged and items were stolen. I have sometimes been a bit overconfident when out on a geocache quest because it is such a benign activity. You're right - the woods can be dangerous for many reasons. Thanks for sharing your story and for the reminder to be safe!