New Midnight Cacher FTF geocoin and cointest!

[+PengoFamily]

So, how obsessed are you about being FTF on a cache? Have you ever gone out in the middle of the night to get a First To Find on a geocache? Is there a local cacher in your area that always beats you to it?

 

I am sure we all have some really funny and crazy stories when it comes to FTF hunts. I know we do. That was the inspiration behind this really fun geocoin design. Designed by PengoMommy and minted by HogWildStuff. (Thanks so much Steve!!)

 

The coin is a unique diamond shape, 1.75" in diameter and 3.5mm thick. It will be for sale sometime soon on HogWild's site. (Don't know pricing info as of yet.)

 

I have a few available for trade too.

 

 

 

Shown above is Antique Nickel with soft enamel fill and Nickel with immitation hard enamel.

 

Now for the fun cointest part:

 

Post a story about any of your FTF attempts...did you get it? Did you go out in the middle of the night??? Did you DNF? Anything funny, crazy happen?

 

One post per cacher/person/family name please

 

At 6PM EST on Sunday, Oct 21st I will use a random number generator to pick 2 winning posts. I am giving away one of each finish and will make it until Sunday to give everyone a chance to post.

 

Have fun!!

[+lagrac]

There is a cacher in my area, the infamous Zuma!, that is an FTF machine. I think he has something like 400+ FTF's so far. Well, I was attending an Event at his house this summer, as everyone departed, it was only me and one other cacher sitting around the fire just chatting and enjoying each others company. All of the sudden, Zuma comes out to the fire and ask us if we wanted to go get this cache that was just published. 'Well yeah, I can't think of nothing better to do at 1:30am' So we drove to the park looking for a micro in a swamp at 1:30am. Did I mention the coords were WAY off. Zuma was walking out in the water as I was searching in the nettles. All in all, it took the 3 of us about 25 minutes to come up with the hootie. Keep on caching in the free world!

[+keewee]

A couple of months ago I saw a new listing pop up. It was 8pm at night; I had already put rattusbaggus to bed and so was eagerly awaiting my wife to get home from work so I could rush out. Being mid-winter it was already dark and it was a very cold night - there was frost starting to form on the ground already.

 

Wife got home, and I was out the door. I got to the site, which is quite public as it is a small park bounded by roads on all sides, and started to search - occasionally stopping and trying to look innocent as people walked or drove by. Hard to do when you are on your hands and knees, in the dark, with a torch, scrounging around in a drain!!!

 

I did find it, after a bit of searching. YAY - a FTF!

Edited October 18, 2007 by keewee

[+intolerable]

I wanted my first event (the WA Geocoinfest) to be a milestone (first thought it would be #100, but ended up being #200!). Not wanting to go over 200 finds, the day beforehand I needed 4 more caches to find, which I figured I would make on the way to the event.

 

The night before, around 9:30-10:00, a series of puzzle caches were posted. The first three included parts of the coordinates to the final.

 

I needed 4 finds, there were 4 caches... and it being later in the evening, maybe those four leading up to the 200 milestone could be all FTFs (hey, once the ball starts rolling...)

 

I set down to tackle the puzzles and as more time pasted ended up enlisting the help of my wife, especially as I'd never done sudoku and one of the puzzles involved that.

 

Finally had the answers in hand about 11pm and off I went. The first two were FTFs and went very fast, so at about midnight, I found myself where I thought the third cache needed would be. Searched for well over an hour in the dark in the woods looking for the thing, with no luck. After the first two finds being FTFs I was determined to make all four so, so just kept looking and looking. Thinking that maybe my coordinates were off but I was in the general area and seeing that the description noted that you didn't need to leave the path, I walked the entire length of the path (over a 1/2 miles) and back on the other side of the path, looking for the thing.

 

Never found it, and sadly, after looking way too long, I headed home.

 

And then I read how to do sudoku. My coordinates were totally wrong, but had still landed me on a path and somewhere where I would totally expect a cache! I came up with new coordinates and then very early in the morning sent a mail to the cache owner asking if he could verify the coordinates so as to avoid a repeat of my first attempt.

 

A few hours later I got up. No mail from the owner (it was *really* early). Decided that I could either 1) wait for confirmation or 2) get out and try and find that cache!

 

Off I went. Found it immediately at the new coordinates, but unfortunately, two more names were before me! Off to the final I went and ended up being STF there.

 

Was a bit disappointed at first about not having #196-199 all FTFs, but got over that pretty quickly. Went to my first event, met a bunch of cachers (previously had only met one other cacher and that was when me and my 4 year old son scored his 3rd FTF!), saw tons of excellent geocoins and became absolutely addicted, etc etc.

 

We get pretty excited about FTFs. When something nearby is published, me and my son are usually out the door asap, with him chanting FTF all the way. He also demands we listen to Podcacher on the way because they talk about FTFs. We always end up having plenty of fun regardless of whether we get FTF though :-)

[+keewee]

Then, about 4 weeks ago, there was another new listing pop up locally. It was just after 10pm on a extremely foggy Saturday night.

 

Hummed and hared for a bit then decided to go for it. Got my gear together and jumped in the car. By this time it was now 11pm. It was out in the country, so I headed up country... The further up country I went, the thicker the fog got... it got to the stage that I had to slow right down as I could only see about 10m ahead of me.

 

I finally realised that I was headed up the wrong side of the Ashburton River!! There are only 2 bridges over the river - one in town and on way up near the foothills... as I was now closer to the foothills bridge I continued on... the fog got thicker still... what a mistake!

 

I finally made it to the inland scenic highway, crossed the two river bridges and turned to start heading back down country... Fog was still very thick...

 

I finally made it to the right country road (unsealed) and turned down it... as I got close to the first GZ (it's a multi) I saw a far vehicle slowly pulling away from what was obviously the site... I slowly pulled over in to the site whilst watching the farm vehicle driver slowly down the road... All these questions flying around in my head... Was he going to turn around and come back and question me? Why had he been to this remote site at this time of night in the middle of no where? Had some one beaten me to the FTF? What was I doing out here alone!?

 

Finally the farm vehicle turned and I lost sight of him. Grabbed the cache sheet, pen, torch and gps and rushed into the site to find the GZ. Got it - started deciphering the clues... a=x, b=y.... wait... I have two 'e's... and they are different numbers... Oh... I have no 'c'... Oh... someone’s made a mistake on the listing...

 

OK - I know what I'll do... swap one of the 'e's in a the c, and then swap them over to have 2 co-ordinates to find... hear off back up the road in the car following the needle on the GPS...

 

It put me on and even rougher country road... in thick fog... I crawled along slowly... 500m... 400m... 300m... 250m... a corner... 200m... 250m... 300m... 900m... Finally a road heading in the right direction... and the distance is dropping again... but this road is worse still and the fog is getting REALLY THICK. I know I am heading directly towards the river... and I a little nervous about that... I'm only drive a sedan... Looking at my map I see a small farm track coming up another 200m down the road... and the cache must be 300m down that... At this point I call it a night... turn around and head home. Conditions were not holding up well for me. I was in the wrong type of vehicle, heading into the foggy unknown... this can wait for another day.

 

And lucky I did... as I later found out that neither of my coordinates would have put me at the right spot!! The missing 'c' was neither of the 'e's! Got home, logged the DNF and then saw a FTF pop up... three of them caching in a 4WD - well done. Shot a friendly, pock-fun-at, hassling email off to the cache owner - my brother. LOL

 

Quite an exhilarating night - nothing hones the senses more than a bit of danger and the unknown

[+ByrnedFish]

Only story i have isnt that exciting, but i went after my first FTF (my 25th cache) on thanksgiving morning, on a bike, in the snow. i found it just as a local FTF shark crested the hill. he's like "who are you?", cuz he knew all the other FTFers in the area. he was suprised to be beaten by a newbie. it was pretty cool.

[+DresselDragons]

One of our more memorable FTF was on a Yime cache this summer. We arrived at the parking coords and went slipping and sliding down a hill of mud. We arrived at the first stage and had no trouble finding it. The problem was the puzzle it held. I don't know how long I sat on theat log trying to figure it out between raindrops (luckily the rain was light and the trees made for excellent cover). Finally, I gave it to Brenda...she solved the puzzle that made my sore brain. Thankfully, it stopped raining in the amount of time it took to solve the puzzle. When I punched in the numbers, my first reaction was "you have got to be kidding". More mudsliding. When we arrived at the parking coords, we had a a lot of time between our arrival and Brenda's yoga class. After the puzzle, and navigating the mud, we had put a significant dent in our free time. We reached GZ, and I began to think that we were going to have to abandon our search. We could not find the cache, and time was ticking away. Luckily, we found the cache with no time to spare. Then came the long walk back to the car...we made excellent time, but we were all covered in mud. Thank goodness Brenda had a change of clothes in the car...Heather and I were quite the site walking into the yoga studio!

[+Nochipra]

Well, we have never been cachers to go for a FTF before but it just so happened that not too long ago there was a cache that popped up called Park It! close to where my parents live about 10 miles away. It was late when I saw it around 1:30 a.m. on gc.com and saw that noone had got it yet. I told Chip about and thought well we might go get it tomorrow since this had probably been published earlier but I just had not seen it. To my surprise Chip said "Let's go for it."

 

Now Chip is not really one who really cares if we get a FTF or not, I am more so like that so of course I said Let's Go! Now I have a good idea where this cache is since I used to live in the area and it is a parking lot used for people who work at the shipyard and who catch the bus there. It has woods around it but I figure the cache is probably not too far into the woods or possibly more out in the open. On top of this, we had not gotten gas the day before and were sitting on E. We get our stuff together and take off out the door around 2 a.m. We have to go across a 5 mile bridge to get there and the whole time I'm praying that the gas station across the river is open otherwise we may be stranded. We get across the bridge and quickly stop at the station (thank God it was open) and get gas and race a couple more miles to the cache location.

 

We drive up to this deserted parking lot and Chip brings out the gps and gets out with his flashlight doing the "drunk bee dance" trying to get a reading while holding his walking stick. Now you have to picture that, I am disabled and use a wheelchair so I'm in the van with the cell phone ready to call 911 if necessary. Chip is visually impaired with poor vision due to diabetes so he is squinting at the gps and I watch him head toward the woods. UH OH! He hesitates because there is a huge ditch with tall grass to cross to get into the wooded area. He hollers and tells me to keep my cell phone close and crosses the ditch into the woods in the pitch dark. I can barely see him at the edge of the woods poking around with his stick trying to hear a clang of a ammo box. He continues to do this for a couple of minutes until we both come to our senses and decide that this is crazy! What if he did gets hurt? I couldn't get to him to help and we would have to call 911 for help so he jumps back across the ditch and we figure it would be better to be safe than sorry and decide to get it later. We even thought about going for some other urban caches in Smithfield and wait til light to come back but we were both tired and decided to go back home without the FTF.

 

That was our first and only attempt at a night cache and a FTF all in one. When we got home we asked ourselves "What in the world possessed us to go after that one at that time of the night and how dangerous it could have been but we now laugh about it all the time now. That will probably be the only attempt at a night cache for us but we will probably still go after a FTF, only if it is something that can be gotten easily and safely. The ironic thing is, We Still Have NOT Gotten That Cache, LOL!!!

[+plumbrokeacres]

I have two late night FTF stories the first is my first ever FTF the listing popped up at 11:30pm so I raced out to get it. It was located in downtown Prince George not far from a bar 12am i arrived and was able to scoop it there was not a muggle in site the next morning it was gone [].

 

another late night FTF involved leaving home and driving into the middle of nowhere of the side of a highway my buddy and I started looking at 10 pm in the darkness with a couple million candle power flashlights looking for a small cache buried in the woods( did not realize it was buried at the time). my buddy hung his GPSr on a tree near where the cache was supposed to be then we fanned out from there next thing I know my light is dieing fast and my buddy is no where to be found! he had wandered off into the bush without the GPS. so I drive my Cache Wreck into the bottom of the ditch to shine the headlights into the bush honk the horn a couple times finally after about 20 mins. he found his way back we kept looking around midnight a truck pulls up and out come 2 conservation officers wondering why we were in the middle of no where at midnight looking through the woods with a couple high power flashlights the day before hunting season. after 45mins of explaining Geocaching and having the truck and surrounding area search they left we finally gave up around 1:30-2am without the cache

[+Mr.Explorer3]

This was a FTF on a cache that I suspected had a signature item from the hider. It was activated the morning after an 18 inch snowfall and in a steep series of ravines. The hider of the cache only logs with a "Thanks" on all the caches they find. This was my log from that day.

 

April 18, 2006 by Mr.Explorer3 (931 found)

I ask myself

Self, do you want to go find a new cache that may contain a treecharms signature item?

Me, I think we should go (even without our morning coffee).

Self, let's go without reading the cache page or any preparations also.

Me, (with keys and gps in hand) I will race you to the truck.

 

After parking .20 away from the cache, it wasn't until I was past the point of no return (walking .40 each way due to gullies) that I realized I was walking in two feet of snow that must have been placed all over the area by the hiders of the cache as camouflage.

 

I am surprised that I never knew that there could be thick mud under so much snow.

 

How long can someone look in an obvious spot (1.5 difficulty) and not find the cache? Well, for me it was about 40 minutes. By the time I found the cache, the sun had been out a little while and all the trees that were covered with melting snow were glad to lend me some (several feet) of the excess moisture.

 

To make a short story long, I found what I had come to look for. I took a treecharms signature item and left a fiver and a wrist band in its place.

 

Or in the immortal words of treecharms and bballchick

 

Thanks.

[WI_Robin]

My FTF experiences also involve the "infamous" Zuma, who now has 456 FTF's. There has been more than one midnight hunt with him due to the text message ding on the phone notifying us of a new "FTF opp".

 

The one that I love the most though is the one I beat him to - when I was still caching as onesearching2find. I left work early and went 50 or more miles out of my way taking the round about way to a meeting to beat him to it. Imagining the look on his face when he opened the log book and found that I had beat him to the cache still makes me chuckle.

April 7, 2006 by onesearching2find (939 found)

Yeah - FTF! I was sure Zuma would beat me here (he must have slept in)! I had to chuckle a little bit thinking about how surprised he would be when he looked in the log book and saw that I was here. Found after leaving a little early from one work on the way to the other work (well, kind of on the way - you can get there from here anyway). Great location. Even though it was sunny, it was a bit chilly this morning. Made the mistake of thinking that you were talking about big boy toys and left a telescoping mirror. Oh well, I am sure a little boy would find that fascinating also. TFTC!

[view this log on a separate page]

 

 

April 7, 2006 by zuma! (5230 found)

First to log, but I got aced out of the FTF by onesearching2find.....Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. First she says she cant go cachin with me today, and then she beats me to a FTF chance that she knew I was heading for. Sadly, she beat me by 3 hours. I was very shocked when I opened the log book, and it said she stopped here "on the way" to work. (It was only 50 miles the other direction.

Anyway, this is a cool cache, and very scenic. The coordinates were within 10 feet, which is plenty good.

 

The other memorable FTF experience was on our way back from MWGB. We where traveling with Team Honeybunnies when an early morning check of the local caches revealed there was a new series placed, the Box Box series - north of Chicago. 13 FTF opps....... we had to get there now!! We started kind of in the middle and got 3 FTF's right off the bat. Then we went to the begining and found we had two local cachers, lele2 and flydad, ahead of us. A few caches in we found out that flydad stopped for a breakfast break, but lele2 was still in front of us. We met her at Box Box 6 and it was quite literally a race to the end!!! To make things more interesting flydad joined back in. The tides turned at Box Box 9:

July 23 by Team Honeybunnies (5287 found)

We made the trek to the 2007 Midwest Geobash, caching our way to and from, and this was one of our stops. As we followed lele2 and flydaddy toward #9, we chose different paths toward this one and the race was on! We arrived near ground zero to find them already there, and they must have been taken aback to see me jogging across the field giggling and whooping away. We all proceeded to hunt and I scored the FTF in short order. TFTC Kengi. Be cool Honeybunny!

 

Since we already had done Box Box 9-11 a FTF for the final Box Box 13 was a sure thing. In the end it wasn't the number of FTF's that mattered, it was the great race that made the memories!!

[+Rockin Roddy]

I woke up early and was sitting in front of the computer one morning when 2 new caches pop up about 25 miles away! Knowing we had a good chance at FTF, I woke KAboom up and away we went...on the motorcycle!

 

That wouldn't be bad normally, this time the temperature was around 55 degrees with a heavy overcast morning "misty" sky. We get about halfway there and it starts to sprinkle? No problem as I've got on my leather overpants and coat...but KAboom has only denim pants and jacket with a leather vest. About 5 miles from the cache and the sky opens up!! It pours down a very cold and pounding rain that makes visibility poor at best!

 

We get to the cemetery (of all places for these caches) and just pull in under a tree to wait out the downpour, an officer pulls in right beside us! "Now what" is all I could think, but he just pulls under another tree and turns off his lights...phone call time! Luckily, the cache was a bit further off and we were able to make the FTF without being seen...except I forgot a pen and don't have one on the bike, unfortunately the cache was a micro! We made a spot with mud (was plenty about) and rode on to the next in a nearby cemetery.

 

We get to the second cache, KAboom is cold! He's wet from head to toe save the vest area, he's not complaining but you can tell he's not having fun! We walk up to the new cache only to find a second micro w/o pen(cil). I took a piece of bark from the tree and make a mark...but wondered how many would believe us...

 

We get home, KAboom is freezing, so he jumps in the shower while I peel all my leather off. I make breakfast, we eat, I shower and then remember to log the finds. Yep, someone else signs as FTFs! I log our adventures and make note of the smudges and wet spots, the other cacher realizes I was actually the FTF and it's all good!! Someone even signed the log for us when they visited a day later!!

 

Or, there was KAboom's first FTF.........

[+Vegas Gamblers]

My FTF experiences also involve the "infamous" Zuma, who now has 456 FTF's. There has been more than one midnight hunt with him due to the text message ding on the phone notifying us of a new "FTF opp".

 

The one that I love the most though is the one I beat him to - when I was still caching as onesearching2find. I left work early and went 50 or more miles out of my way taking the round about way to a meeting to beat him to it. Imagining the look on his face when he opened the log book and found that I had beat him to the cache still makes me chuckle.

April 7, 2006 by onesearching2find (939 found)

Yeah - FTF! I was sure Zuma would beat me here (he must have slept in)! I had to chuckle a little bit thinking about how surprised he would be when he looked in the log book and saw that I was here. Found after leaving a little early from one work on the way to the other work (well, kind of on the way - you can get there from here anyway). Great location. Even though it was sunny, it was a bit chilly this morning. Made the mistake of thinking that you were talking about big boy toys and left a telescoping mirror. Oh well, I am sure a little boy would find that fascinating also. TFTC!

[view this log on a separate page]

 

 

April 7, 2006 by zuma! (5230 found)

First to log, but I got aced out of the FTF by onesearching2find.....Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. First she says she cant go cachin with me today, and then she beats me to a FTF chance that she knew I was heading for. Sadly, she beat me by 3 hours. I was very shocked when I opened the log book, and it said she stopped here "on the way" to work. (It was only 50 miles the other direction.

Anyway, this is a cool cache, and very scenic. The coordinates were within 10 feet, which is plenty good.

 

The other memorable FTF experience was on our way back from MWGB. We where traveling with Team Honeybunnies when an early morning check of the local caches revealed there was a new series placed, the Box Box series - north of Chicago. 13 FTF opps....... we had to get there now!! We started kind of in the middle and got 3 FTF's right off the bat. Then we went to the begining and found we had two local cachers, lele2 and flydad, ahead of us. A few caches in we found out that flydad stopped for a breakfast break, but lele2 was still in front of us. We met her at Box Box 6 and it was quite literally a race to the end!!! To make things more interesting flydad joined back in. The tides turned at Box Box 9:

July 23 by Team Honeybunnies (5287 found)

We made the trek to the 2007 Midwest Geobash, caching our way to and from, and this was one of our stops. As we followed lele2 and flydaddy toward #9, we chose different paths toward this one and the race was on! We arrived near ground zero to find them already there, and they must have been taken aback to see me jogging across the field giggling and whooping away. We all proceeded to hunt and I scored the FTF in short order. TFTC Kengi. Be cool Honeybunny!

 

Since we already had done Box Box 9-11 a FTF for the final Box Box 13 was a sure thing. In the end it wasn't the number of FTF's that mattered, it was the great race that made the memories!!

 

Now I know that I have to offer up the wood and do the dance to become a ZUMA groupie.

[+surteb]

Oooh, I love attempting a First to Find. This area has a numero uno First to Find cacher named Dr. Evil. He has oodles of FTFs and has even been referred to as Dr. FTF. So, earlier this summer a cache four miles from my house was posted. It was already dark, but how could I pass up the chance? Out I zoomed with my Maglite in hand. Pulled up to the area, "Yes," I think, "this will be a cinch. It's a guardrail cache!" So I search for a magnetic keyholder, find nothing. I decide to play with all the bolts. Nothing. Ok, so it's dark and I decide I need the sun. I even post a DNF.

 

The next night, Wife of Surteb says, "I want to try for the FTF." She calls a geocaching buddy, and by the time they get going, it's dark and they are also searching with flashlights. No luck for them either. The next day, they decide to try again. They look for a super long time, declare that the cache is absolutely horrible and decide to call it quits. Then the geo-bud says, "Well, there is that screw on that sign that doesn't go all the way through. I can't reach it though, so that must not be it." Wife of Surteb says, "Hmmm... Interesting," climbs on the guardrail, pulls out the screw and voila! Leg #1 is found. They did a happy dance for the entertainment of all passersby and went on to Leg 2. This required another happy dance since here was the unsigned logbook and proof they were FTFers. And, another happy dance ensued when they logged the cache and saw that Dr. Evil had also been out they very day of the find and they finally beat him.

 

I should also mention, that was a good FTF weekend. I managed to get four the next morning.

[wwflover13]

I got home from school the other day to see that there were not one, but TWO brand new caches less than a mile away from my home coords! So I checked out the listings and they are both rated 5 for terrain, since they're supposed to be kayak caches. In case anyone doesn't already know, the triangle area of north carolina is having a very bad drought and everyone is on harsh water restrictions because of the low water levels. So I decide we don't need kayaks and can just walk the newly dried-out bank to them. Twenty minutes later my dad and I park on the side of the road and sneak past some road workers and down to the edge of the water. So we hike around the bank, cutting through a couple backyards, and come to the location. Luckily we found that one pretty quickly, FTF too! Still awhile to the next one, but hey - it's another FTF! So we cut through a few more backyards and around stored canoes, and bingo! Two FTFs right after school! Thanks PengoFamily for the cointest, pretty cool coin!

[+Team JSAM]

I had not been able to do a FTF run in months when a cache got listed. It was about 12am and I thought what the hell I go for it. I rushed to the cache site and searched for about an hour looking for the darn thing but got a DNF. The next day I looked again for about 20 minutes but still a DNF. The third time I brought my wife.........she found it in about 30 secs, I signed the log and claimed the 3rd to find.

[+derschlings]

10:30 PM. Younguns tucked away. DING! "you've got mail". The missus knows what that means, rolls her eyes, and says,"GO FOR IT". Punch in the coords on my way to the park I know the cache is in, praying that there's no gate. Get to the gate...RATS there's a gate... buWait! the gate's open...sign reads: Park open sunrise to sunset.

gate open...park closed...gate open...park closed. So I knock the little angel off my shoulder and drive on in... actually almost make this a drive-up cache. Have to walk the last 100 feet down a grassy slope. Of course the coords are off 27 feet. GeoSense prevails. Nail the FTF in about 3 minutes. Smack a couple dozen skeeters and head back to the truck.

 

uh-oh.

 

what are those flashing red and blue lights? hey someone's checking out my ride & that someone happens to be wearing this shiny gold badge. I stuff my GPSr in my pocket and try to look real non-chalant as I stroll up and unlock the truck with the remote (have my million candle power light kinda beside and behind my leg) and very non-chalantly say, "oh that's MY truck, no problem, I was just grabbing a first-find behind the ballfield, thanks for looking out for us, see ya later." The officer is looking really puzzled as I get in and start her up. He looks like he's trying to process what I just said, & says, "what's a first find? you know you almost spent the night in here? I had the gate locked when my spot hit your truck. What's a first find?" To which I reply, "oh just a small part of a game a bunch of wackos like me play... g'night"

He looks even more puzzled as he steps aside and I pull away.

Cool.

Bagged another FTF.

Dodged getting arrested and sleeping in a park.

Who says GeoCaching ain't exciting!

It ain't ALL about the numbers... but it sure is cool when they start rackin' up.

[+0newithwild]

went out one nite at midnight!!on work night!!was in my sweat pants ,sandles,&nite shirt!!!,tought this would be easy .i pulled up near the cache area,wow ground zero was in the middle of the road hmmmm,then i noticed a tunnel that a small creek went under road ,oh no!!!glad i had sandle's on!!! walked up creek to the start of tunnel,about foot of water in tunnel,every little movement &noise echoed in tunnel made my hair stand up.then must of been couple kids on bikes up on road,laughing echoed trough tunnel,im thinking am i going to be dinner for someone,ahahhh,finally reached center of tunnel couple feet water here,seen crack in wall woooh there it was!! pulled cache out & yeah FTF,very spooky cache,cache name was psycho down under!!i should have known by the cache name !!!

Edited October 19, 2007 by 0newithwild

[+Anthus]

Here is my FTF story it is also my first FTF. It also happened to be my only find without using a GPS. Also, learned my lesson not to cache in dress pants and high hills for a cache in the woods. Here is the orgional log entry Bonnie Highlands Cache ...

 

Wow! Our very first FTF! I was at work this morning when Mr. Anthus sent me a message asking (joking) if I wanted to try for a FTF on this new cache for lunch. I replied to him that I didn’t have my GPSr on me. Mr. Anthus had his GPSr but couldn’t go. So, he had someone “courier” his GPRr to me. He also sent me a good aerial picture of where the cache was. I am pretty familiar with the area so I thought this one might be doable if it wasn’t raining at lunch time. I no sooner got the GPSr when a fire alarm went off at work. Several minutes later, we were cleared to go to lunch so I figured what the heck why not try this one since I had already been standing out in the weather for the past ½ hour and we weren’t permitted back in the building yet. All I was able to grab on the way out of the building from the fire alarm was my coat which had my car keys in it. The GPSr was already in my hand. So I drove to the location from what I could remember from reading the cache this morning. I turned on the GPSr and wouldn’t you know it....Mr. Anthus didn’t put in the coordinates. And I didn’t have any of the cache papers nor a cell phone to call to get the coordinates (my purse was still in the building). But, I gave it a try anyway. Let’s just say I earned this FTF. Going off memory of the aerial and the surroundings, I narrowed down the area to about 100ft and started combing it. Fortunately I read the clue this morning or I would have never tried this without a GPSr. I searched one side of the trail for a tiny bit and then searched the other side of the trail for a lot longer. Finally I went back to the other side and there it was. I had walked past it when I first started searching, go figure!

All that was in the cache was a glass bead, the log book, and a pen. I signed the log, took the bead, and left two kid toys. Luckily the Anthus kids left some fast food toys in the car or I wouldn’t have had anything to trade with. I really wish I had our backpack with me so I could have filled up the cache box.

 

This was my first lunch caching expedition and my first solo cache. I don’t think I’ll be doing anymore caches for lunch....dress pants and high heel boots do not make good geocaching gear !

....Anthus

[Theotokos]

Well I'm going to have to take these 'lessons learned' and store them away for future reference since we have yet to have a FTF. We've tried but no luck. We've been Second to Find 3 or 4 times so far. The last one we went for we missed by all of about 3 minutes - we met the FTF group when they were coming out and we were going in....I keep telling Betterhalf that if she hadn't stopped to go pee before leaving the house we would of got it.

 

With a team of 8 and 1 K-9 getting out the door quick isn't reallu an option...so I think it will be a while before we get that FTF - we're just too slow.

[+BRoKeN W]

When we first started geocaching over a year ago a puzzle cache had published in the area. We figured we would never get there before the FTF hounds so we waited until later. When we noticed a note had been posted that someone had made an attempt but backed off do to the rain, we decided to head out for it. This cache was in the middle of the desert, and it was pitch black out and raining. But none the less we were determined to get the FTF and the FTF prize. So once we drove within 250 feet of it, I hopped out of the truck and headed for it. Who knew rocks were slippery when wet! LOL! I slipped about a dozen or so times even though I was wearing boots. Determination prevailed and we got the FTF!!!!

[+Red Otter]

I started caching last November and quickly got hooked. It also didn't take too long for me to discover the joy of being FTF. Most of the caches in the area Ilived (Rhode Island) were published at about 10PM, leading to quite a few middle of the night night FTF runs.

 

My most memorable one had to be a cache in Jamestown, RI called Git-Er-Done. This was a 5 stage multi cache on a cold January night (as most January night's in New England are!!). I made it through the stages with no major problems. As luck would have it, the final was hidden in rocks. I personally think that rock hides are the hardest in the dark. You can really only see under one rock at a time using your flashlight. I searched for about 30 minutes at the final before finally making the find right at midnight! And, I got a great Red Sox magnet out of the cache.

 

I was thrilled to see an empty log - I was convinced that someone would be along at any moment to snatch the FTF away while I was looking for the final. I signed the log and headed back towards the car. As I approached, I saw a couple of flashlights shining my way from the area where I had parked. I felt bad for whoever it was that was trying for the FTF as well.

 

But, as I got closer, I noticed that there were some more lights by my car. In fact, the flashlights didn't belong to cachers, but to police officers. There were two cruisers parked by my car. I think they were especially suspicious because I had NY plates (you don't change license plates when you move if you are with the military).

 

I explained what I was doing and showed them the cache listing. They were very nice and seemed genuinely interested in geocaching. I think they also thought that I ws nuts to be out there at midnight just to get a Red Sox magnet out of a plastic jar!!!

 

Anyways, out of my 106 FTFs so far, this was one of my most memorable. It was definitely my most memorable middle of the night FTF.

[+ShmilyNMe]

We have a FTF whiz in our area; this fellow caches 24/7 (but he isn't starving or homeless, so he must find some time to work, eat, and bathe)! We recently had a cache posted that evaded him for a whole day, so I convinced my caching partner to go out with me to nab it. We found the general cache vicinity, but no matter which road we took we couldn't get to the cache (it had a terrain of 1 so we knew it wasn't in the woods).

 

We were watching the cache online (thank goodness for wireless) so we knew it still hadn't been found, when we finally found our way to GZ. We found the cache...FTF! Aw nuts...another cacher beat us by 15 minutes! We probably were within 50' of him when he signed the log!

[+Stellar Jr.]

There are several cachers in our area that are real FTF'ers. One person in particular has over 330 FTF's, and it's usually a mad rush to get a FTF. Some caches have been found within minutes of getting published. The most memorable cache that I was FTF on was one that my mom and I did in the dark about 9:30 at night. It was in April, and I was getting ready to go to bed for school the next day. I was checking email on the computer and saw a new cache come up. It was only 6 miles from our house, and I begged my mom (who is a geocacher herself) to go to the cache. She didn't need very much convincing, and we were out the door in a few minutes. We got our flashlights and jackets, and were out the door in a few minutes. My mom knew exactly where the park was, and even though it was 6 miles away, it really took longer because it was up a windy mountain road. We got there in about 20 minutes. It was really dark out, but at least we had a full moon. When my mom opened the car door, our really big powerful flashlight fell out and didn't work anymore, turns out the bulb was broken. At least we had 2 small flashlights, so off we went into the woods. The cache was called "Peep", and as we walked through the trail in the woods, we could here the spring peepers at the nearby pond. There were really loud and it was a bit creepy, especially with the shadows from the moon. The cache was about 0.36 miles from the parking area. We continued walking down the trail, tripping over a few tree roots on the way. Heard some more weird noises, but my mom said it was only an owl. Then we heard some other screeching sounds, I thought it might be a bobcat or something. We were finally about 150 feet from the cache when I suddenly got a nose bleed. I don't know why this happened here and now, but it did. My mom only had one nose tissue, so I had to use it sparingly. It seemed like a long time, but after a few minutes, it finally stopped. We were so close, we had to continue on. We got to GZ and searched for a few minutes, not finding anything. It was pretty hard walking along the side of a hill, full of leaves and branches. We expanded our search and I finally spotted the cache. Both my mom and I signed the log, but when we tried to put the lid back on the cache container, it wouldn't stay on. We must have spent about 10 or 15 minutes trying to screw the lid back on, but it kept popping off. My mom had a plastic bag with her, so emptied the contents into the bag, stuffed the bag in the container, and jammed the contiainer back in it's hiding spot, with a rock on the lid to hold it closed. Now the 0.36 mile walk back through the dark woods, with the owls hooting and the spring peepers peeping. Heard some rustling in the woods, my mom said it was probably some deer. We kept talking loudly to scare away any animals. We made it back to the car, locked the doors, and left. On the way home, we stopped at the Wendy's drivethrough and got a celebration snack. Got back home and went to bed for school the next morning. This was my 3rd FTF, now I'm up to 17. Had a ball beating out the other FTF'ers in the area.

[+wyohunter]

Mine is not quite as exciting but it was at night. WE have a little competiton going here on who can get the best hide. I hade one that took the FTF two days to find. So he wanted to get even. His ofcourse was done in the middle of winter. I am reading my email at night when I see his new Evil cache show up. It it -4 F but I had to try to beat the other guy to it. The wife said she is NO WAY going out in that temp! So out I go. This is about 9:30 PM and dark. The snow wasn't too bad but he must have hid it before the snow as there are no foot prints to be seen. I spent about 20 minutes looking for it my warmest winter coat and gloves. But I did get the FTF! As the owner of the cache said, it is not crazy, just dedication!

[+Pabloturtle]

This is the only FTF story I've got.

For twenty years I've hiked and explored a small creek which has carved the foothills of SW Idaho and N.Nevada into a spectacular canyon. The walls rise above you nearly a thousand feet and in spots the walls are no more than ten feet across. Primitive camp sites and numerous unexcavated rockshelters litter the area. Wild Horses, Desert Sheep, Deer and Cats migrate and hunt this canyon on a regular basis.

Shortly after joining the geocaching community in March of this years I discovered someone had just placed a cache in "My" canyon. At a local gathering of cachers I overheard a couple people talking about scoring this FTF, but were upset because one couldn't drive any closer. It's about a mile as the crow flies. About two miles following the creek and that's about the only way in. Two days later myself, four friends and three dogs made the trek starting early evening. After wading knee deep in water at times, climbing one rock wall and climbing two waterfalls we found the cache just as the light was weaning above us. Upon openning the cache we discovered there was no logbook. We ripped through four packs to no avail. I had to sacrifice my small sketchpad/notebook after ripping out half the pages. Upon replacing the cache we hightailed it out of there before loosing all light. Reached the entrance to the canyon about the time we had to dig out the flashlights. Victory may be sweet, but I'll leave the night caching from now on to downtown. To this day there are only two logins for this cache, myself and one of the crazy friends that accompanied me.

[+tsunrisebey]

I'm not really obsessed with FTF's but I went through a 2 week phase of wanting to get some, just so I could say I got 1 or more.

 

Beats me what caches they were, I was at school and before I was getting ready to leave for home, I decided to check for new caches. I was really nerdy for awhile and carried my GPS everywhere with me (ok, some of you probably still do that, lol). Anyhow I saw couple of FTF's available that were published that day and I was praying no one had already headed out there. I was dressed in my jeans, old cowboy boots and a long sleeve shirt. Did I mention it was the dead of winter? I drove out to the first site and parked. I was freezing my hiney off and I had to go down a steep decline. I fell down three times because my boots were so slippery and the first time really hurt cause I landed on my side as all my gear went flying. After the third time, I just slid down on my hiney. Then the worst part was the climb back up the hillside, I couldn't climb because it was so steep and my boots didn't have much for soles left. I litterally crawled back up the side of hill on my hands and knees. I was cold and wet and kind of grumpy, lol. The worst part was I 2nd to find So, I headed to the next one. This one was not as steep and I only fell down twice on the way up and the way down I dug through the snow with my bare hands but I was FTF! I headed to the third one and looked for about 15 minutes in the snow and couldn't find the cache, on my way back to the truck, I was still cold and grumpy and as I was rounding a corner I kicked a rock, and there was the cache, lol. FTF again! I have never cached in cowboy boots again

 

Thanks for the cointest.

Edited October 19, 2007 by tsunrisebey

[+stellarscapes]

I saw a cache come up early one evening during the month of June. It was about a 20 minute drive south of me, and I figured if I rushed, I'd be able to get there and find the cache before dark. I was also trying to beat several other cachers that usually get FTFs also. I got to the designated parking area and saw the sign that the parking is open from dawn to dusk. I also noticed a chain that they put up to close the parking area off. It wasn't dusk yet, so I had time, and I noticed another car in the parking area. I didn't recognize the car, it could have been another geocacher or it could have been a hiker. I rushed down the trail, and since this was my first time to this area, made a wrong turn at first. Backtracked a bit and then found the right trail. The trail led to a boardwalk that went through a swamp. Lots of bugs and mosquitos out at this time, but in a rush, I just swatted them away and kept walking. Got to the cache area and searched around for a few minutes and found the cache container. Opened the logbook and found out that I was FTF ! Great! Signed the log, traded a few items and replaced it. Went back to the parking lot and was happy that the chain hadn't been put up yet, and also noticed that the other car was gone, I guess they weren't geocachers. Got home, had to get my daughter to bed first, then logged the find in. I was so excited, got the FTF and beat out a local FTF cacher (who now has over 330 FTF caches). Little did I know at the time, but that cacher who has all the FTFs didn't see my log that night and got up at 3:30 AM in the morning. He got ready and left his house and got to the cache before 5 AM in hopes of getting a FTF. He got to the cache and saw that I already made the FTF the night before. Well, he did get the STF. Since then I have gotten several more FTF's. For some of them I did get up at 4 AM and search in the dark with my flashlight to make the FTF. Some people might think that's a bit crazy, but it is fun.

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Midnight FTF Attempt? Too funny! I've made many midnight FTF runs because I can never get up early enough to beat the early risers. A coin that commemorates this activity definitely brings a chuckle

 

You want a story? OK, here's the log from FlagMan's 2007 Fourth of July Cache

 

FTF! 00:30

 

When this cache came out, Ms. LLOT and I were wandering the hills northwest of Lakeside. We were looking for a stairway to heaven, but the one we found was apparently not it. By the way, due to making this hike on the afternoon of July 4th, Ms. LLOT says that I am no longer allowed to select hikes without some adult supervision. It was a tad warmish, I admit...

 

When we got home, it was dinner time so we had a nice patriotic dinner consisting of hotdogs. With dinner done, I decided to see if anyone had solved the puzzle and/or found the cache. Snake had solved the puzzle, so I figured that an FTF log would soon follow. It was about that time that I saw that the UDesignIt card was up for grabs. I was suddenly motivated to put some time into this cache (at least until someone logged the FTF and took the UDI card...) So I took a look.

 

Fortunately, I had been paying attention so it was easy to figure out the next step in the puzzle. It was gathering the data that turned out to be the real challenge. I spent the next couple of hours chortling over the adventures of "you know who" but without much luck finding what I was looking for. I was starting to doubt that I the right idea -- and then I found one of the six. Just then Ms. LLOT said "It's time for fireworks." So we gathered up our folding chairs and hiked up the hill to "Glick's Eternal View" and watched the firworks from Mira Mesa and points further afield.

 

After coming back down from the hill, it was back to work on the cache. The novelty was wearing thin. I was beginning to be irritable. Ms. LLOT wisely left me alone. I was especially annoyed at myself because there was a time when I had all of the information needed for this cache in an easily searchable form. I could have been greedy and kept it to myself but instead I had decided it should be shared with the world and so I put it into a cache somewhere. (It just goes to show you what magnanimity will get you...) If I could have remembered which cache I had put it in, I would have gone there to see if it was still there. But I couldn't and so I kept plugging away. Periodically, I checked the cache status hoping that someone would post a find and put me out of my misery. But no. The only logs were taunts by FlagMan. He changed the one piece of information I found. Great! Back to Square One. Then he posted that the "easily searchable data" was close at hand -- all I had to do to get it was go find this cache! Thanks, but this kind of "help" I didn't need.

 

I began to get desperate. I began to explore alternate search techniques but kept running into dead ends. Finally, I figured out something that, while moderately painful, was going to be more effective. Using this technique, I managed to extract five of the six numbers I needed. By now, I was getting pretty punchy. Rather than continuing my current path to get the last number, I descending to the depths of playing Mastermind. Yep, eight of those misses are mine (at that point, I wasn't even capable of beating the averages on guessing...) At last, the word turned green! Whoohoo! So now it was midnight. Should I wait until morning? And let Snake snake my prize? No way. I had worked far too hard to let this one go. So off I went.

 

Arriving at the hill, I was relieved to find that there was a full moon. It allowed me to ascend the hill without showing a light. With all the houses around, I didn't want to attract any attention. As I ascended, I realized that I had been on this hill before -- but that was a long time ago. Arriving at the top, I found myself facing spiky sharp yucca and barrel cactus. I'm not sure how I avoided them but I did. It took several passes to find the cache.

 

Now the big question: Had someone gotten there before me. I rummaged around looking for the RJTB (I wasn't interested in taking it since it was the one I had gotten the mail a week ago but it would be a good indicator of whether I had the FTF.) It wasn't there! Could someone have gotten there before me? I grabbed the logbook and opened it. No sigs on the front page. No sigs on the back page. I fanned through it. No sigs there either. My thoughts (and I use this term loosely since I was far beyond any sort of activity normally recognizable as "thinking") turned to the UDI card. "Where's the UDesignIt Card? Where is my precious? It's here! My preciousssss....my preciousss..." Looking through the rest of the swag, I saw the disks. I should have grabbed one and sold it to the highest bidder but I didn't (did I mention my diminished mental state...?) I saw the coins and grabbed one of the flag coins (very, very cool!) and a benchmark coin (which I would have left had I realized it was unactivated -- it was not my intent to be greedy.) I left two TBs and a geobug pin.

 

Mission accomplished, I hotfooted it back down the hill and headed home. When I got there, Ms. LLOT said "Did you get it?" At least that's how I interpreted the half-asleep mumble that emanated from her side of the bed. I had. Life was good. Time for bed...

[+Geocaching-Geckos]

My story is slightly lame, I'll admit it but I'm gonna tell it anyway!

 

My all-time favorite FTF was my very first one - Honu Beach Cache [GC102CV]. Honu is the Hawaiian term for sea turtle. The cache site is at one of my all-time favorite spots on O'ahu as the Honu drag themselves ashore on a fairly regular basis at this spot and I'm a fan of sea turtles. Let's put it this way, I can't count the number of time we have seen turtles on the beach & only once did we go out to this beach and not find a turtle... It's extremely rare not to find Honu on this beach!

[+Steinwälzer]

I only have one FTF so far. A micro hidden at a church about 5 miles from my home. There is a metal donkey sculpture (live-size) in front of the church, and the coords were always pointing at that donkey But there was no way that a micro could be hidden there! I searched and searched and searched around it, then I read the hint. "The light will lead you". Hmm... there is a lamp, but no micro. GPS pointing at the donkey. After 30 minutes I decided to do a desperately try at another lamp that was totally off from the coords, and guess what, the cache was there Still FTF

 

Back home, I re-checked the GC-site, and they changed the description again (I had printed it out, so I can prove what I had with me), and now it said that the coords just pointed at the church (haha, they point at the donkey!) and not at the cache, and that you have to search the cache just with the hint, and not with the coords... Now everyone has a good laugh when he reads my donkey-FTF-story, and I have a first (and a little bit frustrating, but funny) FTF...

[+NeverSummer]

My favorite insane latenight cache run for a puzzle I just had to solve and shoot for a FTF:

GCTKOH, Hebrew Poetry:

 

"FTF. I am truly insane. Certifiable. I got home from work tonight around 11:30pm on 2/27 and went on to check caches. Saw this one up and decided to try and crack it a little before bed. Well...cracking it took me right back to my private schooled past and the memorization of Bible verses...one thing led to another and I had coordinates within about 30 minutes. I double checked the location and decided that it looked harmless enough to have an excuse to take the dog for a walk, and get a cache in the process.

 

Long story short, don't do this cache at 1:30am, in the rain, with a dog.

 

Long story longer, it looked easy enough on a map, but once I drove 20 minutes or so and saw the north approach I almost turned back around. But I didn't (enter insanity). I started walking with a good chunk of distance between me and the cache in the rain with dog in tow. I had a flashlight, a headlamp, a red bike blinker on my cachebag and the dog had on her collar lamp. Into the wild we went, and after losing sats to the rain a few times we found it. Thank God for geosenses! Luckily didn't get shot at or sprayed by a skunk. We were in there for a while, but it was ultimately a great decision:

Awesome puzzle (x10), great location, and officially one of my favorite caching stories. I'm crazy, yes, but I really needed to take the dog for a walk! Maybe I need an intervention..."

 

I'll still venture out late at night to try for FTFs, as our local reviewer does cache approval after 9pm. I've been out and about MUCH later than my better half appreciates, and too many times to really count any more. This cache was a long-ish hike down some abandoned rail tracks in the dark with a dog in tow. If it weren't raining, I'm sure a cougar or Sassquach would have attacked us...but the rain was coming down so hard that only an idiot would be out that late in the pouring rain, taking their dog for a walk...

 

Go figure, that idiot was me...

[+tw3nty3ight]

My first attempt was a nightmare. After falling three to four times into a swapy goo I finally got my hands on the cache. Very memorable for sure!

[+bluecherry]

Wow there have been so many late night cache runs. There are two that really stick out in my mind right now. The first was we had some friends visiting and staying with us. They knew nothing about geocaching and looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to explain it. Well just as we were talking about it a puzzle cache went live. They helped me solve it but did not want to go with me when I went to find it. I found the cache and came home. As soon as I came home another one went live so I was out the door again. When I returned they were all looking at me like I had lost my mind.

 

The other story is another puzzle cache that went live and the page said to try during the day because no lights avaliable and it is a micro in the woods. However, the husband and I determined to beat the other cachers in our FTF club decided to do it anyway. Well we got there and the cacher who had placed it was there and so where a few others. So we could not be FTF but decided to go get it anyway. Well it was midnight and all we had were flashlights. Of course the GPS is going crazy because we are in the woods so I start getting a little upset well the owner was laughing and I was cussing quite a bit. In the end the cache was found and I got a new reputation for my language. LOL

 

Alls fair in the FTF club.

[Ranger Fox]

Oh, wow, which story do I tell? How late at night do I want to confess I cached?

 

While I'm the local FTF shark, I try not going for everything that comes up. However, I am free to go for any sort of trail-based cache at any time of night because I know no one else will that night. Some times, it's as early as 10PM I'm out on the trails and at other times, I'm still out there at 2-3AM, being stalked by deer and who knows what else all the while. It was really difficult choosing just one story since I have so many and yet each one is not engrossing enough on its own. Therefore, I'll summarize a few stories. For the full versions, you can always look at my logs for those caches.

 

"Maggi's Multi" (GCYDGM) - 20060922

This is one of my favorite stories to tell. A few days prior, I did nine FTFs in a row, then had to RMA my 60CSx. Someone commented that would give others a chance to find caches. I didn't tell them my PDA came with a Bluetooth GPSr. Before this cache, I had never tested its accuracy, so it was an odd way to "christen" or test it--in the middle of the night.

 

This cache was on one of the lake trails. I drove to the parking lot and entered the coordinates. At the time, I had an Energizer flashlight that converted to a lantern. Very convenient, though the circuitry had died a few weeks before and I had to get it replaced.

 

I found the first stage of the multi with fairly little work. However, to find the second stage would be a multi-day affair. You see, I live in the middle of North Carolina and the next stage's coordinates pointed me more than a hundred miles off the coast into the Atlantic Ocean. Hmm... Another cache with misprinted coordinates... There are more these days, too. Anyway, the degrees was the only thing off, so I adjusted and walked the rest of the mile out on the trail to the final. On my way, a few things scurried across the trail, possums or such. Some times they make me jump because I don't expect to hear anything.

 

At the cache site, I found the container without event. It was midnight on the dot. I hung the flashlight, in lantern mode, from a tree and signed the log. No sooner had I written the "x" in my handle than the light went out. No amount of clicking, shaking, or battery or bulb replacement would make it come on. The circuitry had, once again, blown.

 

Hmm... A mile out on the trail, no light save for a PDA, and critters are out and about. Not good. What to do, what to do? I tried using the PDA, but could only see five feet in front of me. Hmm... No, not good.

 

I finally decided to bushwhack directly out of the trail area about a hundred-fifty or two hundred yards, cross someone's back yard into the front, get on a street, and walk out that way. Did I go out in the woods after that? Sure; twenty days later I was back out and FTFed another at 10:15 PM.

 

 

The Furniture City Marathon (GCYP1H) - 20061022

This was released as part of an event. Everyone got into organized caching teams and hit the event caches. This was the coveted final. I should note the event began with breakfast and I also hit 1K at the breakfast event. We cached through the evening, FTFing more than this after the sun went down. Check out my log for GCYQZQ; we were out on those trails at 10:55 PM trying to scour laminated pictures for very small numbers. At that time, we were the only ones still running the marathon. In the end, we cleared the marathon final at 12:35 AM. A fun time indeed.

 

 

A Tale of Two Trails (GC109TH) - 20070114

This was an important FTF by many definitions. First, it was my 100th FTF. Second, doing this cache at night gave me an idea for a night cache that has immensely impressed the locals.

 

This cache was by one of our local masters of camo and was certainly not meant to be found in the dark. The first stage was somewhat close to the parking area, so I hiked out there around 10:15 PM and began looking for the stage. Fast forward an hour of searching and frustration and I found it. Because I went through all of that, I was certainly not going to let anyone else have the FTF.

 

I walked back out of the trail, drove the car around the lake, and walked a mile out on the second trail. I found the second stage easily at 12:25 AM and continued to the final. If you have ever seen areas in the woods of many downed trees, you know exactly what the final stage's site looked like. Tons of places to hide tupperware. In the end, I had to DNF for the night, giving up at 2:00 AM and walking the trail of shame a mile and a quarter back to my car. The next day, I went out and completed the find in the daylight.

 

The cache name made me wonder if I could create a cache that would tie the trails closer together. I came up with a way, a night cache that takes most people two and a half to three hours to do, "A Tale of Two Trails - Bedtime Story" (GC112D8). I do not think anyone has topped this one as of yet.

 

 

Sketcher's Vault (GC10CEQ) - 20070202

Whoo, this is a little fun story. This was the final to a series where some caches had correct coordinates and others were more than 100' or more off. There was even a nano in the woods, but by the time I did this cache, I had spent four hours on that one and could not find it. The cache owner was, at that time, known as the most evil guy in our area--a little background to frame the story. In fact, we didn't have all the information we needed to find this final. We had the coordinates, but not a key piece of information. You'll see.

 

Halfway through the series of caches, I teamed up with histryboy and shared information. We took his kids out a mile and a half on a trail one evening. The sun was still a little away from setting. We thought we would be able to do the cache in an hour or so and get out before dark. If anything, we could hack the cache.

 

What I am about to tell now is NOT in my log and only the cache owner knows of what transpired. A little bonus for those who enjoy reading along. So, shh!

 

I found the final and saw the four digit lock on it. We had some clues, but it turned out one of the other caches we had yet to find modified those. I tried all variations of the clues and the lock did not open. Hmm... What to do but brute force hacking? That's right, folks, I began with 7000 and tried each number one at a time! It took, if I remember correctly, 30-40 minutes to try a set of 1000 numbers.

 

Fast forward two and a half hours. It had gotten terribly cold and my hands were beginning to numb. Histryboy went off and found "A Tale of Two Trails" with his kids, returned, and built a little fire in a clearing. I took the cache to the fire and kept trying numbers. We had a good time chatting and the kids were very, very patient and well behaved.

 

Eventually, it was past eleven or midnight, so we decided to head out of the woods. I took the cache with us and back to my home, trying numbers there until I got it to open. We met the next morning, signed the log, and I replaced the cache on the trail in the afternoon. Believe me, no one was going to look for that thing for days to come due to the component caches' stages. After that, I told the owner the story and he said the find was invalid until we found ALL of the component caches. I had one left--the nano in the woods with the questionable coordinates.

 

I had searched for that thing multiple nights and could not find it. I joked with others about buying a metal detector and bringing it out there. The owner heard of it and spread nuts and bolts around the cache site. I heard of his action and went out and bought a metal detector because of that--at least I would know the roundabout location of ground zero. I cleaned up the metal and located the cache twenty minutes later, signed the log (FTF at 8:20 PM, very dark), and notified histryboy of its location so he could find it second and be able to log the "Sketcher's Vault" as FTF again.

 

 

One more, then I'll stop:

Happy Trails to You (GC12DWT) - 20070502 and So, Where are the Palmettos? (GC1120V) - 20070228

Both of these caches involve the same thing--local wildlife, the same trail, and both were found right around 9PM. There are other instances, but these two are the only ones I can think of at the moment. They involve deer. The locals, by now, ask me if deer stalk me after I complete an FTF in the woods at night. These two caches may have started that.

 

When I was finding the "Happy Trails" cache, deer began circling the area I was caching, just out of my flashlight's reach, but so I could see an outline and the reflective eyes. It was an entire family unit of at least five. They slowly paced a half circle from the trail on in as I looked and looked and looked for the cache, all the while trying to keep an eye on them. I had thoughts they might try to run me off. And still I looked for the cache. After forty minutes of this uneasy stalemate, I found the cache and left the area only to run into another pair of deer on the way out.

 

For the other cache, I ran into four of I don't know know what on the trail and had an uneasy time.

 

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Fun times and I hope people enjoyed the stories. I like to tell them. There are plenty more. However, I think the trail system filled up with caches some months ago and no new ones have come out there since. Too bad.

 

These stories are not to be confused with my through-the-night caching runs or the midnight FTF urban cache runs. And, yes, I do occasionally get stopped by the police for caching at two in the morning. For them, the truth is stranger than fiction.

[+Frozen Buns]

8:30 at night and I get notice of 2 new caches, whooo hoooo I am out the door, First is no problem, container behind a fence second is a night mare. 9:30PM and I get within a 100 feet of GZ only to realize there is a VIEWING going on in the funeral home. Do I stay or should I go? Don't want to be disrespectful but thinking if it was me they were visiting I could only hope a geocacher would visit:)

 

Try to talk myself out of staying but I think, well I just need to look in the bushes, don't think anyone will be out for alittle while. I am lurking around with my flashlight and using the headlights of my pickup going all up and down the row of bushes looking for a camoed plastic egg but no luck. I then go back to reread the info only to realize I have to be in the parking lot of the funeral home....

 

OK, drive around to the other side of the bushes, pull into the parking, climb out and start looking, a few folks having a smoke break kind of check me out , I do NOT have the right color of skin for this viewing...

 

Manage to get within 10 feet of the GZ and have wedged myself between the front bumper of a car and the row of bushes and out pour the people.

 

Go or stay what do I do? I am so close I can feel it, so I squeeze between the bumper and bushes and really start flashing the light up and down, people are starting to stare at the crazy lady crawling on the ground. Then BINGO I have the egg, rip it open sign the log and wedge it back in place just as the owner of the car opens the door of the car I am hiding in front of.

 

Lights go on, and I am like a deer caught in the headlights, ok, casually stand up, act like I had dropped something, shake my head as if I give up all the while I am dancing up and down having scored 2 FTF's in one night.

 

Have other FTF's but this one awlays stands out in my mind, boy what some of us won't do for a FTF

[+LadyBee4T]

It was late in the evening and I see that a new cache has been published just a mile or so away. It is one of the new Harry Potter series of caches. I called Tom to see if he wanted to go hunt it with me and he is very, very reluctant! LOL I finally talk him into accompaning me on this hunt. I checked out the map but read the page wrong but eventually we find the path. It is pitch black out and then then we smell something--eau de skunk!! I decide to keep right on walking but making a bit more noise than before. We walk over something before we realize it was a bridge over a small stream. Still I'm not going to walk through this stream so back around we go looking for the right path with our dying flashlights. Its very hot and muggy and the mosquitoes are vicious. Still I trudged on. Finally get to the cache site and there it is a clean log!! Then the fireworks started!! How often do fireworks go off when you get a FTF and do the dance? It did this time because it was July 4th!!!!

[+Ble68]

There are several cachers in our area that are real FTF'ers. One person in particular has over 330 FTF's, and it's usually a mad rush to get a FTF. Some caches have been found within minutes of getting published. The most memorable cache that I was FTF on was one that my mom and I did in the dark about 9:30 at night. It was in April, and I was getting ready to go to bed for school the next day. I was checking email on the computer and saw a new cache come up. It was only 6 miles from our house, and I begged my mom (who is a geocacher herself) to go to the cache. She didn't need very much convincing, and we were out the door in a few minutes. We got our flashlights and jackets, and were out the door in a few minutes. My mom knew exactly where the park was, and even though it was 6 miles away, it really took longer because it was up a windy mountain road. We got there in about 20 minutes. It was really dark out, but at least we had a full moon. When my mom opened the car door, our really big powerful flashlight fell out and didn't work anymore, turns out the bulb was broken. At least we had 2 small flashlights, so off we went into the woods. The cache was called "Peep", and as we walked through the trail in the woods, we could here the spring peepers at the nearby pond. There were really loud and it was a bit creepy, especially with the shadows from the moon. The cache was about 0.36 miles from the parking area. We continued walking down the trail, tripping over a few tree roots on the way. Heard some more weird noises, but my mom said it was only an owl. Then we heard some other screeching sounds, I thought it might be a bobcat or something. We were finally about 150 feet from the cache when I suddenly got a nose bleed. I don't know why this happened here and now, but it did. My mom only had one nose tissue, so I had to use it sparingly. It seemed like a long time, but after a few minutes, it finally stopped. We were so close, we had to continue on. We got to GZ and searched for a few minutes, not finding anything. It was pretty hard walking along the side of a hill, full of leaves and branches. We expanded our search and I finally spotted the cache. Both my mom and I signed the log, but when we tried to put the lid back on the cache container, it wouldn't stay on. We must have spent about 10 or 15 minutes trying to screw the lid back on, but it kept popping off. My mom had a plastic bag with her, so emptied the contents into the bag, stuffed the bag in the container, and jammed the contiainer back in it's hiding spot, with a rock on the lid to hold it closed. Now the 0.36 mile walk back through the dark woods, with the owls hooting and the spring peepers peeping. Heard some rustling in the woods, my mom said it was probably some deer. We kept talking loudly to scare away any animals. We made it back to the car, locked the doors, and left. On the way home, we stopped at the Wendy's drivethrough and got a celebration snack. Got back home and went to bed for school the next morning. This was my 3rd FTF, now I'm up to 17. Had a ball beating out the other FTF'ers in the area.

That's my cache!! Lol

[+Ble68]

We only have one first to find (so far) but I think it deserves to be mentioned because it is a mile marker after all!! It was a yucky, rainy evening and I just so happened to check the recent cache listings. I saw a new cache that was published about 15 miles from our house. We were trying to decide whether to go or not because of the FTF fanatics in our area! Soon we rushed out the door. After a drive that seemed to never end we got there! (On the way we were even looking for the first to find usualls cars) Immediatly, we jumped out of the car! We were very excited! The cache was at a diner so we didn't have a far walk which was a good thing because it was pouring! The place was packed, there was a line through the parking lot (we were informed it is always like this)! So very casually we began to search! Some creepy person came up to us and was talking about lost keys or something! It seemed to take forever and we were sure it had been found, but then suddenly there it was! We snuck it to the car and opened it nervously. WOOHOOO there were no logs! We got the FTF! I thought it was a joke and later questioned it so i checked the logs over and over again! I must have looked throught the log book 10 times to make sure we definentally got the FTF! We re-hid it and we dragged our soaken wet bodies to the car. We wanted to log our first FTF on the computer! We had a lot of fun and were very excited! It brought out a whole new feel to caching! Unfortunaltely the next day we got an email... it said that the owner went to check the cache and it was gone. They wanted to know if we took it! (of course not!) We felt bad! The container was an awesome fake rock! The owners were very nice and said they would hide a new one at the same diner just in a different place! We haven't got a FTF since but we keep looking (next time maybe at a less populated area)!

[+Team_DDNight]

It was 11:40 (lunchtime at work) and we decided to work through lunch that day. All of sudden, my phone rang in and notified me of a new cache about 4 miles away! We didn't think we could make it there and back before the end of lunch at 1:00pm (Honolulu at lunch is terrible!!). The cache is GC12E8C - Crossroads of History.....

 

Here is the log from the find (my entry):

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WOOOOHOOOOO!!

 

I received the text on my cell notifying me of a new cache. As I sat at work debating on whether to hit it or not (to beat the usual FTFers), Ty-n-Lu talked me into it (didn't take much convincing).

 

Since it was lunchtime and we were debating up until noon, we determined we could make it there and back prior to lunch being over with.

 

Knowing we were up against the usual crowd (with bikes, nonetheless), I decided to drive!!! We flew....(didn't break the speed limit but once!).

 

SUCCESS.....A BLANK LOG BOOK! A co-FTF with Ty-n-LU!!!

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Here is Ty-n-Lu's entry:

 

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Co-FTF with DDNight! We made a mad dash for this one just minutes after it was posted. I haven't had a ride like that since I caught a cab in Korea! Thanks for the adrenaline rush Dan.

 

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[+GBOTS]

Back when we were fairly new to caching, our daughter, (punch buggy was her caching nick at the time), also fairly new to caching, told us there was a new cache listed that was not far from where live.

She had to get to work but sooooo wanted a FTF.... Well.....having found out about the cache, we also craved a FTF.....annnnd, we ended up packing up Punch Buggy's kids (we were babysitting them at the time) and ran out to score the first to find (our first, first ).

Thereby, griefing our own daughter out of a FTF.

[+fingers crossed]

Ooo - squeaked in here...

 

A couple of weeks ago, we headed out at midnight for a multi - 2 micros and a cache. We found teh 2 micros in the forest, but couldn't find the cache. We quit at 1am and the owners corrected the final coords with us in the morning

 

Oh well, still got the FTF though, well earned!

[+PengoFamily]

Thanks for all the great stories!! They were lots of fun to read.

 

Just finished with the random number generator, and the winners are:

 

#4 - intolerable

 

#37 - LadyBee4T

 

(Can you please PM or email your addys please)

 

Thanks everyone for posting!!

 

I have a few of these coins available for trade so if you are interested please contact me.

[+surteb]

Enjoyed reading all these stories. Congrats ot the winners!

[+BRoKeN W]

Congrats to the winners!

[+Nochipra]

Thanks for all the great stories!! They were lots of fun to read.

 

Just finished with the random number generator, and the winners are:

 

#4 - intolerable

 

#37 - LadyBee4T

 

(Can you please PM or email your addys please)

 

Thanks everyone for posting!!

 

I have a few of these coins available for trade so if you are interested please contact me.

 

Congrats to the winners. Email sent.

[+LadyBee4T]

Thanks for all the great stories!! They were lots of fun to read.

 

Just finished with the random number generator, and the winners are:

 

#4 - intolerable

 

#37 - LadyBee4T

 

(Can you please PM or email your addys please)

 

Thanks everyone for posting!!

 

I have a few of these coins available for trade so if you are interested please contact me.

 

 

This was a fun thread and some great stories here! Thanks for the cointest!

 

Email sent.

[+MustangJoni]

Congrats to interable and LadyBee4T!

 

And to the Pengos - That is a great looking coin!

[+stellarscapes]

Congratulations to the winners!

 

I enjoyed reading some of the stories.

Can't wait until the coin comes out.

[+wyohunter]

Congrats to the winners! Thanks for the contest. And thanks to all those who added the great stories!!