COINTEST - Geocaching itch!

January 25, 2009

Today I woke up with a itch, the itch to go Geocaching. Mother Nature however didn't want me to go Geocaching today. It was a very cold, wet and rainy day. But I still had the itch. My GPS didn't want me to go Geocaching either, my download cable has vanished (probably taken by the gremlins who steal socks), so I had to enter all the Cache coordinates by hand. But still I had the itch. So I put fresh batteries in the GPS, entered the coordinates to some local caches and out into the cold rain I went. Treking through mud and snow to my first find of the day, Yay!!! Now on to the next..... Whats this my GPS has shut down and wont turn on... Check the batteries, it works again! on to the second find.... 30 feet from cache, GPS goes out again, DRAT!!! But I still manage to find the Cache. Get the GPS working once more.... Headed to the third find, Trek up muddy hills and down icy slopes... 300 feet to cache.... GPS goes out again! Try and try to get it to work, but it wont... but the GPS last showed the cache was in that direction... walk about 300 feet through mud and slush, and behold, I find the cache (after a bit of searching). Head back to the jeep covered in mud and drenched head to toe from the rain. Replace batteries in the GPS again, but this time it is dead for good! Looks like my Caching day is over. :-(

And I still have the itch....

So, until I get a New GPS, To satisfy the itch... I want to hear your Caching trials and triumphs.

What have you gone through just to satisfy your Geocaching itch?

The Rules are simple -

1. Only one entry per Cacher

2. Winner will be chosen by me

3. Cointest will last until Jan 31st

4. Winner will be chosen on Feb 1st

Winner will receive a set of Celtic AE Geocoins (1 Celtic Sun AE, 1 Celtic Star AE and 1 Celtic Moon AE)

Edited January 25, 2009 by Sofi and Holmbiorn

1.2k · January 25, 2009

Let's see, to satisfy the geocaching itch it really depends on the circumstances. We live in a cache poor area and we've found most of the local caches so most of the time it's a pretty good drive to find a cache. That makes it tough to scratch the itch, especially when the roads are icy and the temps are zero or below!

If the weather is too bad to allow us to drive the longer distances to find a cache we will drive around and perform maintenance on our own caches. Sometimes we have to hunt for them just like we would others hides so it's always fun.

If the weather is too bad to allow us to get out at all I spend a LOT of time in the forums. Especially the coin forum but also the cool cache containers thread where I've found some great ideas for future hides. I also put together new caches when I'm stuck at home. At any given time I have at least dozen micros, a couple of smalls, and some regulars ready to go, I just leave them in my car until we run across a good spot. I have partially camo'd caches scattered all over the house. My husband doesn't even ask about the strange looking piles of stuff anymore, he just accepts that I'm camo'ing something!

Sometimes though, nothing helps except finding a cache. When that happens we just do whatever it takes to find the time to go. Even if it means driving 3 hours (one way!) for one or two caches, or running around in sub-zero temps and snow above our shoes, or going out in a wind and rain storm in the middle of the night, or running around in slippers on a foot that's so bruised and swollen it won't fit into a shoe, or caching the day after having surgery on a broken wrist.

Everything geocaching related is fun but there is no substitute for actually signing a log.

4.9k · January 25, 2009

MOSQUITOS!!!

Yup, them and the Black Flies up here in Maine are Thick as Pea Soup. You can hear them Chuckling as you get closer to the woods edge and then, as if crossing an invisable line, They're there. Thick and loud. Imune to the doses and doses of bug spray that have coated your lungs as well as your skin. Tugging and pulling at the Net Shirt and Hood that garauntee to protect you in the Dense, Dark, Muggy Holes the shelter that simple Metal can , that produces a treasure trove of Silver and Gold and Platic and Paper. And a pen, that doesn't work but you sign your name in your own blood, squeezed out of the mosquito that drank it from your own veins.

Then after stashing that Ammo can back into the hell hole it came from, you run, yes run out into the clearing and into your car. And as you look at yourself, bleeding ,scraped and bruised, You smile and know that NOTHING can stop you now!!!!!!

Opalsns

January 25, 2009

There was this cache in the area known to be hard to get, it was crazy. It was located under part of the city, I crawled on my belly into the sewer system at night with nothing but a small pen light. The trick was there was 2 ways in, and only one way would take you to the cache.... it was a 50/50 shot and I picked right. 1/2 mile on your belly in the muck on stones, and all kinds of other washed down the drain stuff to find victory. Not to mention nails sticking down from above every 2inches so there was no room for error to hit your head.

When I saw the light..... literally, the cache was hung about 4 feet below a drain under the lip so it couldnt be seen from above, enought room to stand, nice.... then once I got out the cops were there waiting to fing out why I was there... someone seen me go in.

And this was was around for some time.... archived not long ago.. I enjoyed it.

Lucky I was not alone, a buddy went with me who was a caver and kept me calm, im scared of the dark HAHA and creepy crawlies.

I do have a photo of this nightmare.

------------------------------------------------------------

To bad I cant submit my one of 200feet off the ground on a ledge about 1/2 inch wide nothing to hold on too and the ground 50feet above me.... but thats a story for another day.

PrinceShoko

2.2k · January 25, 2009

Here is my entry, as recorded in the logs for Jackalgirl, my "trackable ka", after a string of night watches that had left me totally exhausted by the last day of them:

Okay. So it's the last night of my first group of night watches -- 12 hours of watch, all night long. When I'm done, the plan is to go home and sleep -- to sleep the wonderful sleep of the dead, because I'm not feeling particularly lively.

But wait -- what's that? A new cache posted?

SCENE: AT HOME

[ DOOR OPENS. HAGGARD WIFE (that's me) ENTERS. ]

HUSBAND: Mommy's home!

CHILD: [ LETS OUT A CRY AND RUNS OVER TO MOMMY FOR A HUG ]

HUSBAND: How was your watch?

ME: [ PICKS UP CHILD AND CARRIES HER ON HIP AFTER A QUICK HUG AND KISS ] Meh. It was watch.

HUSBAND: I'll bet you're tired.

ME: I'm exhausted. [ PAUSE ] Can we go geocaching?

HUSBAND: Today? When?

ME: Right now.

HUSBAND: Now?

ME: Please? Pretty please?

So yes, there's nothing to do but pack up the child, get dressed and ready, and go geocaching. While the husband's in the shower, I'm madly printing off maps and notes. The cache hider makes much ado about mud holes. I leave my steel-toed boots on.

We go driving. It's a nice drive. "Turn....HERE!" Good thing the sports car behind us was paying attention. We turned into a terribly narrow street and found a stub of...well, I don't know, it's probably meant to be a pull-off for cars, but is only big enough to handle one of the typically mini-minicars that the Japanese have. We are, of course, in the Gaijinmobile, a big blue Grand Caravan. Patrick makes it work, though.

He wanders off into the adjoining park with Summer while I hunt around with the GPS. For a while, I'm thinking that I have to be wrong and the cache has to have been hidden in the fallow cabbage field on the opposite side of the road ("What a terrible place for a cache!" I'm thinking. "But if there are mud holes, they'll be here."). Nope, this can't be right. It's somebody's field, for cryin' out loud. Back across the road. Finally I find the cache. Yay me!

Meanwhile, Patrick and Summer wander back. She'd lost a shoe and had walked on for about 25 feet before Pat noticed it. "Her foot is soaked," he notes. Still, it's not too cold, so after I'm done with the cache, we go looking through the park.

Patrick notes that, as ever, we have picked the most difficult place to park. "There's a great parking lot right over there!" Of course. And the park is very nice -- it'll be a great picnic spot in the summer. It's part of "Maple Town", a collection of parks in Rokunohe, so we'll definitely have to be back when it's nice enough to sit out on the grass and have a picnic.

We load up the girl-child into the van and head on home. What a fun run this was -- everyone had a good time!

January 25, 2009

Well, today I add and itch to go geocaching, even though my geohubby You Ke Té told me it was -20C adn with the windshield factor -32C!!! That's about 25F, very windy and very very very cold. So we did only 7 caches, the easy ones and still we got snow up to our knees for two of them.

I think my itch was satisfied...for now

oups! no no no, still there, so I will hope tomorrow is milder.

1.2k · January 25, 2009

Ah yes, the itch of wanting to do a cache and for various reasons you just can't get out and do one. Been there, done that and have the teeshirt to prove it............

And the reasons for not being able to get out can be many ~ equipment malfunction, misfunction, broken, needs replacement, etc., personal/physical malfunction of illness, injury, lack of time, etc., family constraints of ball games, work, children/spouse illness, etc., weather constraints such as to much snow, rain, mud, cold, wind, heat, etc., and as we know the list can go on and on.

How do you satisfy the itch? - there are a couple of ways.........take the time to fine tune your caching skills and study. Learn new skills and information - such as, how to better utilize PQs, fine tuning paperless caching, using Macros with GSAK, track your milestones, learn about Earthcaches and the Earthcache award program, learn about Waymarking and work on expanding your knowledge base around GC.com programs. Last but not least you could always take your time to fine tune and spiff up your cache pages and/or TB/geocoin pages.

And for finding caches - there are Geocaches still out there called Armchair Geocaches. That's not an "official" title but the caches are like puzzle caches - some folks say they are not "ethical" because you don't "physically" visit the site........that being said - they excercise your brain, usually, and you can get a smilie if you complete the excercise and want one. A google search for this type of cache will give you a long list.

This brings me to my next idea - spend time to work on solving puzzle caches in your area. Although sometimes a challenge - they are a good workout for the brain. And once solved - you will be ready to go find the final when times are better.

If all the above doesn't satisfy the "itch"........think about what you can do to help your local caching community. Your contribution to the work of Geocaching through your Geocoins is significant - but is there more work to do?

Some of the things which I have found were a triumph are - to help a geocacher who put out caches with the wrong published coordinates (due to using the wrong datum) correct her coordinates, to replace cache logs (for ones which were full) in caches which I found, to help locate and recover missing TBs/Geocoins, to present with another Geocacher a presentation on Geocaching at the local library through a speakers bureau and to ask, as a Geocaching advocate, and successfully obtain permission for Geocaches to be placed on all Conservation land of our Town, to accept Geocaching as a superior mental and physical outlet to lifes trials and tribulations when my husband was in the hospital for emergency surgery and diagnosed with Cancer, and the list of triumphs could go one.

Some of the Trials were, to publish my first cache with horrible and inaccurate coordaintes (but I met a wonderful, life long, Geobuddy through that error ;-) ), to realize my eye site is really getting a lot worse, to recognize with degenerative arthritis there are only so many trails you can hike and I am not longer physcially able to hike a long distance on tough trails anymore, to want to travel more and be limited by the economy and to sometimes be grossly misunderstood - but know that is part of life.

Overall, geocaching has been a positive experience in my life. I spend over 20 years showing dogs and still enjoy the commadre of that community. Geocaching, however, is totally different and offers you a diversity of staying connected, even when you are not and/or can not actively participate "in the field or on the trail".

Thanks for the cointest!

January 25, 2009

On Dec 22nd, I had outpatient sinus polypectomy surgery. Due to the extent of the polyps, the surgery took twice as long as expected and wasn’t totally completed. I will have to go back to have it finished sometime soon. The recovery was very rough and it took a long time before I could stand up or nibble some toast. Finally, I was deemed fit to go home 11 hours after arriving for what was going to be a 2 hour surgery. Right here you’re thinking they stopped to get a cache on the way home. Nope. But the thought did cross my mind and if it was up to me, I probably would have. I don’t think my wife would have agreed if I had mentioned it and besides, she had already called someone to help her get me into the house. Just because I shuffled along supported by 2 people doesn’t mean we couldn’t pick up an LPC somewhere.

A night of being woken by pain 30 minutes before I could take more meds and a general weakness from blood loss convinced me getting out looking for caches wasn’t in the cards for awhile. We did however, drive 90 miles one way on the 23rd to pick out our new puppy we’ll train to go caching with us.

New Years eve I finally had the bleeding under control enough to not have to wear a gauze moustache and I was antsy from inactivity so we loaded a few nearby caches and bundled up to go out into the sub freezing weather. I wore a scarf over my nose and took a pain pill just before getting in the passenger seat of the van. The first cache wasn’t too bad, it was cold out but a quick find. I was a bit wobbly on the next one, but we found it and drove on to another cache which was only about 20 feet from where we parked. The next one was 250 feet from the parking and my scarf was beginning to slip off, and then I slipped on a sun melted patch of mud, twisting my knee a bit. But hey, I’m on pain meds I’m good to go!

We hadn’t brought or mapping software along with us and we had trouble finding through streets to the next cache. Finally arriving, we set out to look for an ammo can. I had taken off my scarf because I figured this would be a quick find and it wasn’t staying up very well anyway. If you have ever been tucked in a nice warm bed and then experienced the shock of cold hands or feet on your skin, try to imagine that same feeling concentrated in a space behind your nose and under your eyes. After the shock of the cold air in my sinuses, it burned and it ached.

Limping slightly we walk across a field to a wooded area and begin our search along a creek bank. We didn’t have any luck and after a few minutes we had to call it off because my head was throbbing and felt like burning coals were tucked behind my cheeks. I had been a cold, rough day that I probably wasn’t quite up to, but we had our 4 smileys that I not only itched to get out for but ached as well!

2k · January 25, 2009

whoa!! another chance to win you beautiful coins,, i love it!! i had that same exact thing happen to me,,except my gps did not die,, it just kept turning off,,and today i was susposto go,, but i feel asleap at the computer loading the gps...oops......zzzz.....zzzzz....zzzz

one night a few weeks ago,, Cass offered to go ,,and drive,, I said ok! lets go! we got to our first cache,,and it was covered in construction, and they had put up gates,,unless i wanted to jump a 12 ft gate , it did not look good, so we decided we couldent get that one,, the next clostest one was 5 miles west,, so we went... we got to .20 miles from the cache, and had her pull in a park, so i jump out,, head towards the cache, i get to the street and realize its on the other side,,so im looking around and see a walk thru tunnel under the street,, so i dart off,,,,,, i get to the other side and im still .19 from the cache!!! so im walking along the path and its wineding this way and that ,, and im walking...and im walking,, and i look at the gps and im .22 from the cache,,and im going ,,what the heck...??? so i decide to cut offf the path towards the cache,,meanwhile cass is still at the car and zariah too, because its cold out they did not want to get down,,,,, so im walking thru the brush,, and im getting closer and i look up and there is another main road and im about a mile or so from the car,,now,,so i decdie to call cass on the phone,, i explain where i am and what happened and tell her ill meet her at a hotel thats neer by,, so i put the phone in my pocket and run right into some barbed wire fence!! riped my sweater up,, and luckly no blood was drawn,it was rusty!!! mind you its dark out and im navagating with my flashlight.

so Im walking along the barb fence and i come to the area where you duck under the fence to cross and step right in a rocky hole,, scrape my leg all up , and lost my shoe when i pulled out,, so i get my shoe unstuck in the rocks,,, and i go under the fence,, climb the hill and back down the other side,, finally i find the cache,, 10-20 mins after i call cass,,,,, so i decide i beter call her again, mabie have her come get me........but....no phone!!!! i dropped it somewhere,, so back up the hill i go,,, and down the other side,, thru the barbed wire fence ,,,,,over the hole in the ground...along the fence and boom there it is, right where i called cass the first time,, i think i missed my pocket when i went to put it back. so i call cass and say i just wannna go home!!!!! she says ok and comes to get me,,, but not before,, i have to walk along the fence ,,over the hole,, thru the fence ,,up the hill,, and down the other side.....whew all that for 1 cache,,,i new better then to try another for the night,,,for me if the first one dosent go well then usually the ones that follow dont go well eather...

thank you for the cointest,, i love your coins!!!

January 25, 2009

A few years ago, there was a multi-stage cache in our area. Once we found all the stages, we hurriedly headed off to find the last stage and declare victory. After searching for about 30 minutes, we realized much to our surprise (ok, actually it was more like, "much to our HORROR"), that the final stage was under us! Underneath the slightly raised street where we stood, was a canal tunnel that connected two lakes. We pondered and debated how we would retrieve the cache and who would be the "lucky" one to go after it. We almost gave up, but we had a severe "geocaching itch" that needed to be scratched......and scratched it was!

We jumped in the car and raced to K-Mart. No inflatable boats there! Just a large selection of inflatable pool rafts....we considered it for a while, but decided that would just be plain crazy! We grabbed an air pump and off to Target we went - - - no luck there either! Then a light bulb went off in the littlest F's head and we took off to Sports Authority. That's were we found exactly what we were looking for! The pictures below tell the rest of the story...

All of us working feverishly to get the boat inflated as quickly as possible!!!

Almost done! You can see the tunnel we had to go into in the background (underneath the white concrete wall)

Okay...this was quite a hilarious sight! A big guy and a small girl in a small inflatable raft and NO OARS!!!!

No turning back now!!!

GOT IT!!!!

YAY!!! Welcome back!!! Geocaching itch - - - SCRATCHED!!!!

Edited January 25, 2009 by The 4 F's

1.2k · January 25, 2009

A few years ago, there was a multi-stage cache in our area. Once we found all the stages, we hurriedly headed off to find the last stage and declare victory. After searching for about 30 minutes, we realized much to our surprise (ok, actually it was more like, "much to our HORROR"), that the final stage was under us! Underneath the slightly raised street where we stood, was a canal tunnel that connected two lakes. We pondered and debated how we would retrieve the cache and who would be the "lucky" one to go after it. We almost gave up, but we had a severe "geocaching itch" that needed to be scratched......and scratched it was!

We jumped in the car and raced to K-Mart. No inflatable boats there! Just a large selection of inflatable pool rafts....we considered it for a while, but decided that would just be plain crazy! We grabbed an air pump and off to Target we went - - - no luck there either! Then a light bulb went off in the littlest F's head and we took off to Sports Authority. That's were we found exactly what we were looking for! The pictures below tell the rest of the story...

All of us working feverishly to get the boat inflated as quickly as possible!!!

Almost done! You can see the tunnel we had to go into in the background (underneath the white concrete wall)

Okay...this was quite a hilarious sight! A big guy and a small girl in a small inflatable raft and NO OARS!!!!

No turning back now!!!

GOT IT!!!!

YAY!!! Welcome back!!! Geocaching itch - - - SCRATCHED!!!!

Unbelievable - this is the best! You are the best and what a team effort ~ just gotta' love it!

8.8k · January 25, 2009

My dear friends! I am sorry about your GPS! maybe moisture or cold is the reason for not working! If it is possible, open it and check it inside! Clean the metal that connects the bateries with clean alcohol...

Thank you for the cointest and the chance to win beautiful coins!!!

Hmm.. only one post per geocacher... so what I story shall I choose???

I am quite stubborn and if I want to find a cache... nothing or almost nothing can stop me!!! :blink:

I got injured but kept geocachng, even if I was with blood, my athletic form and my shoe was destroyed and I had so many huge thorns in my body..

An other time I just desided to climb a mountain even if the wind was so strong that I couldn't walk straight... and I am 100 kilos!!!!!

Anyway, the best example to show you how stubborn I am and my geocaching itch is.....

Let me tell you the story.....

My island is quite poor in caches! Actually my country is poor in caches! there are not many greek geocachers, and...

Anyway, I just wanted to find all the caches in my area! I had done that, (at that time, ok? Now I am missing 2 newer ones!), but I was only missing one cache that was only for premium members! I was just a geocacher, so...I coundn't see anything in the cache's page!!!!

The only thing I knew was that it was a multi cache!!

Hmm... Difficult to find..... but... I had to find it!!! Nothing could stop me!!!

I was searching, and searching, and searching with no luck! I was reading the logs and I was watching the gallery photos of all the geocachers who visited my island and went to other caches in my area!

It was too much work because many tourists (and many foreign geocachers) were visiting Rhodes during summer!

In some cases, I had to translate what photos were saying... some logs....

Anyway.. one day I fell on a photo of the cache I was searching!!! Ok, the photo showed only a rock and a bush, but it was a start!

After that, the detective woke up inside me! I started once again to check logs and photos! I found somemore photos and then I started checking the time between logs!

Hmm... he went at that time to this cache, then he went to the one I am trying to find, and then after some time he went to the other cache....

I was counting minutes, I was trying to find the area the cache was....

Of course GPS was not helping at all becasue I didn't have any cordinates, and the other photos I found, were only shoing some other stages of the multi cache! They were not helping a lot!

After some days or hard and tiring work, My sister, my brother in law and me, went out to find this cache!!!

That was hard!!!!! We were driving in earthern roads that we have never been before! We didn't even know where we were!!! We were far away from civilization.... well, that was good because the cache's name was ALONE!

In a log I saw something about a St. Nikolas small church! that was strange for the place we were, becasue we have St. Nikolas as the protector of the sailors, so all the churches for him were near the sea! We were in a mountain!!! After some time we started seeing many small churches! None were for St. Nikolas!!!! We were so dissapointed!!!

The road had mud in some places and was making things harder for our tiny Fiat Punto!

then we saw the road was spliting in two! Which way now?? We took the wrong way and we realized that after half an hour! We went back again and took the right one! We didn't have much time, the day was about to end, but we wanted so much to find this cache!!!

We were going up and down the hills.... were we are going??? JESUS!!!

We were so hungry too!

My sister and my brother in law started saying to go back, but I kept telling them... just follow the road! It will take us somewhere... in the main road!! I was hoping for that.... otherwise....

In a turn...we saw a lonely small church! We were tired, so we agreed to stop for 10 minutes! Then we saw the label... St. Nikolas!!! YES!!!!!!!

We knew that we were very close!!! We drunk some water (we had bottles with us!), and continued! Not time to get rest! We only light a candle in the church, we prayed and left (we put out the fire of the candles first!). I had printed the photo that showed the buch and the rock but believe me, it was also saved in my mind!! after some minutes, and after a turn I screamed!!!! That's the rock!!!!!!!!!!!!

We found it at last!!!!! while I went to log, many tiny flies attacted me, but who cares!!! I loged but I knew that I couldn't log in the site too!

we left and continued the road and finaly leaded us in the main road! I was lucky! Night had come but we were so happy!!!

Hmm.. we were starving too, and desided to go to a tavern to eat! It was far away, but we went there!

Well... after all this luck, something bad had to come! We sat, and we were acting like children because of our find! We were full of dust, our hair were not in good shape and color, but we didn't care! We only wanted to eat!!!

Unfortunatelly the kitchen had closed!!! No food anymore!!!!

Oh boy!!!! well... we left and went in a place were making souvlaki and gyros!!! :laughing:

I can not say what we ate, but you can imagine!!!!

when I came back, I sended an email to the owner of the cache to let him know that I found his cache, how I found it and that I couldn't log it! I just wanted him to know!

He was surpriced with my find! Well....I was surpiced, but as I said... I am.....

After some months, the cache became ok to find for all the geocachers!

Guess what I did!!! I loged my visit!!

It was the hardest cache, but it really show that if I have the geocaching itch... nothing cvan stop me, not the weather, not the wind, not the rain, not even the difficulties I faced!!!

8.8k · January 25, 2009

Oups!!!

I just realised that I wrote too much!!!

My post is huge!!!

Sorry!!!!

January 25, 2009

Oups!!!

I just realised that I wrote too much!!!

My post is huge!!!

Sorry!!!!

No apology needed, That was a great story! Thanks for sharing it with us!

January 25, 2009

There are a few caches nearby- I have one within walking distance but its in the car park of a local archaeological park and I have been planning when to go there- but it's even open on a Sunday so I can't go then for fear of muggling... and I can't go when the park is closed- as it will be dark and I'm not keen on dark places lol....

Another one is near the art college where I have been working as an artists model- I don't want to find that until I am in the area- I fancy giving the locals a thrill by streaking naked towards it yelling I can't put the GPS in my pocket cos I haven't got any on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My other half isn't well (he's in hospital) and i don't want to go geocaching without him so I've been waiting.... so hard not to be able to get out there and find another one that I've been looking at armchair caches- I know I know but I want to keep up with the fun! I've been that desperate to scratch the itch I keep entering all these cointests so I will have a valid reason to get back out there and cache- so I can drop a coin off when I win one!!!!!!!!!

2.4k · January 26, 2009

We want to do a easy cache., we were beginners. [year 2006]

We most walk a walk path and then find some bolt with a sign to find the cache.

Oke easy you think....................duh

We find the wooden pales but did not find any bolt.

We looked and looked and looked..................nope nothing.

We walk disappointed to our car and say to each other let's look for places where the cache can be hide.

[ a funny game to play and btw i see every where cache places, very irritant ]

And what happen we find the cache.

ooohhhh we find the cache but not the bolts.

So we were proud to find the cache :lol:

We email when we were home the cache owner, he checked the route and everything was oke.

We were dumb blind geocachers. with sand in our eyes...........................oke :mad:

A year later there was there a other cache placed and again we looked at those wooden pales, and we did not find anything. [2007]

Daarrnnnnnnnnnnnnn, why do we not see them.

Bolt are big enough to see.

We were in 2008 also nearby those wooden pales and we did not see anything.

so we say to each other....a few weeks later......we go to that cache again and we will now find those bolt. :lol:

We walk the cache [the whole route]................and a miracle happen.................we saw the bolt............you don't want to know how big they were. :lol:

Every bolt we most find we did find.................wow................we had really sand in our eyes the last times we seek.

We were proud and we most laugh hard at ourself.................what a weird cachers are we.

January 26, 2009

Last summer, we saw this new cache, GC1F4K1, and decided to give it a try. To be fully honest, if it weren't for the cache, I would have deemed the trip to be far over my current level of shape. Yes, were it not for the cache, I would never have walked for over 5 hours in such steep terrain in high mountain. But I got the itch and just had to go.

Were it not for the cache, I would have given up right in the middle of that slope, after the mid-trip cache. I was like, ten steps, stop to pick and eat blueberries, ten steps, stop to drink some water, ten steps... All of that with no walking stick either.

At the lake, we noticed there was still snow up there (it was in August, remember?) And the cache was still further up. There, we took the most direct way to the cache, which is not the simplest way to the cache, I'm sure you all have already noticed And we found countless things under the skilift, things fallen during winter and lost in the snow. Treasure before the cache, yeah!

We finally managed to the top, found the cache, traded and logged. Now for the way back! I was beyond dead when we came back to the car. Couldn't walk for two days afterwards. Did I mention the cache was on a terrain and in a location which requested an effort far beyond my level of shape?

What you wouldn't do for a cache!

By the way, we're still the only ones to have logged this one cache, and it's been up since August!

Thanks for the cool cointest!

January 26, 2009

What have I endured? Hmmmm....

Take a look at the TITANIC thread.. then you decide if I have persevered to the extreme of Geocaching and/or Geocoins...

Regards,

~J

2.5k · January 26, 2009

There are numerous island caches in my areas -- caches on islands in the middle of lakes -- that are normally only accessible if you have a boat and can get it to the lake in question. In the winter though, many of them are easily accessible once the lakes have frozen over.

I started geocaching in 2007, so last year I eagerly awaited the freezing of the lakes so I could knock off the closest island caches. However, last winter was too warm and the ice never got thick enough to be safe.

A whole winter wasted!

This year, it has been bitterly cold (the ONLY time I have EVER cheered for cold weather!!! :lol: )

I started watching the website run by the city listing ice thicknesses. I could see that all the lakes were frozen over, but couldn't tell if it was safe yet. But the city website remained frustratingly blank. I tried going to one lake where the island was only about 100 feet from shore.

I walked out on the ice -- no cracking.

I walked a little further -- still no cracking.

About 20 feet from shore, however, I could FEEL the ice surface bouncing up and down under every footstep.

Back to shore!

Finally, two weeks later, the city finally started sending people out to test ice thicknesses and the website started showing numbers! The lake I was interested in said 11 inches! Nearly thick enough to drive on, let alone walk!

The next morning I got up early so that I could get to the cache on my way to work. Then I listened to the weather forecast: -22 degrees celcius (-7 Farenheit), -33 degrees with wind chill (-27 Farenheit).

That was the COLDEST 100 foot walk I have ever taken! Even with a pair of sweat pants under my jeans!

But I found the cache!

And then decided that one was enough, and went to work.

January 27, 2009

Great stories, Keep them coming. Once again this may be a tough one to judge!

2.4k · January 27, 2009

Sit down cause I have a dam little story to tell you... This story is about our adventure while doing a simple(LOL) p & g cache called Another Dam Cache II (GC12CKX)

This little dam cache off Dam Road by the dam got us into some dam trouble. After we went up to Publix to get ice and beer of course, Rob said hey there is a dam cache right there down Dam Road right next to Lake Manatee SP (where we are camping for 2 weeks). Our new Geo-Expedition is too dam big and too dam heavy for the dam sugar sand(it was dark I didn't see it) Needless to say dam we got stuck! Good thing Little "Ce & Do" were not with us, cause it would have been a longer dam night. We tried for a few hours to unstick the dam heavy SUV and with no luck it was time to call the dam roadside asst. Well the dam short version is: I called at 11:32 pm and the dam wrecker did not find us until 8:20 AM. Finally fell asleep about 3 AM and no more phone calls from the dam roadside to try to find us, slept in the dam truck (ouch my back, my neck, my back and my neck). Still can't figure out why when I told the dam people on the other end of the phone what our exact coords were (GPS & TomTom) they could not find us, guess that is what we get for being out in the dam sticks at night! So in the am when we woke up we got out of the Expedition and went right for the cache. Thanks for the dam stuck NOT so quick PAG!!! TFTC

** to any other cachers going after this cache park on the dam pavement(unless you got a Jeep-guess we need a 2nd vehicle)!!** Team CeDo

January 27, 2009

Our biggest effort to find a cache was to perform a TB rescue. Someone had dropped two TBs at the top of a waterfall, at the end of a 12 km hike in the Rocky Mountains. They'd been there for over a year, because the cache doesn't get a lot of visitors. We knew a round-trip hike of 24km was beyond our physical abilities, so six months in advance we arranged for an outfitter to take us up the trail on horseback. We haven't ridden for over thirty years, so we knew it wouldn't be easy, but we hoped to have enough energy left after the ride in to climb the falls and rescue the TBs. When the weekend of our big adventure finally arrived we drove to the mountains and found a campsite for our trailer. We called the outfitter the night before, to confirm the time we'd meet in the morning, but he said he had no horses and we couldn't go! We were angry and very disappointed. After we calmed down a bit we decided we'd try to hike in anyway. Who needs horses! It took us four hours to hike up to the base of the falls, and we were a bit tired, but still doing OK. Then we spent an hour clambering up and down the side of the mountain, trying to find the best way to the top. We finally made it to the top of the highest waterfall, only to find out we were still about 50 meters below the cache. By this time we were really tired, and the cliff above us was just too steep for us to risk serious injury when our legs were turning to jelly. And we still had another 12 km to hike to get back to the car. So we sat there for a while staring at where the cache probably was, wishing we were thirty years younger, and then we turned around and made the long, tiring trek back. No smiley. No TBs. Definitely our saddest ever DNF. The cache owner eventually rescued the TBs, and his adventures are described on the cache page.

4.9k · January 27, 2009

Sit down cause I have a dam little story to tell you... This story is about our adventure while doing a simple(LOL) p & g cache called Another Dam Cache II (GC12CKX)

This little dam cache off Dam Road by the dam got us into some dam trouble. After we went up to Publix to get ice and beer of course, Rob said hey there is a dam cache right there down Dam Road right next to Lake Manatee SP (where we are camping for 2 weeks). Our new Geo-Expedition is too dam big and too dam heavy for the dam sugar sand(it was dark I didn't see it) Needless to say dam we got stuck! Good thing Little "Ce & Do" were not with us, cause it would have been a longer dam night. We tried for a few hours to unstick the dam heavy SUV and with no luck it was time to call the dam roadside asst. Well the dam short version is: I called at 11:32 pm and the dam wrecker did not find us until 8:20 AM. Finally fell asleep about 3 AM and no more phone calls from the dam roadside to try to find us, slept in the dam truck (ouch my back, my neck, my back and my neck). Still can't figure out why when I told the dam people on the other end of the phone what our exact coords were (GPS & TomTom) they could not find us, guess that is what we get for being out in the dam sticks at night! So in the am when we woke up we got out of the Expedition and went right for the cache. Thanks for the dam stuck NOT so quick PAG!!! TFTC

** to any other cachers going after this cache park on the dam pavement(unless you got a Jeep-guess we need a 2nd vehicle)!!** Team CeDo

Thanx for the Dam warning, If we have anymore Dam questions, we'll ask !!! LOL!!

Oh man, THE BEST DAM STORY !!!!

Hopefully, It'll only get Dam better from here.... You Rock, My friend, You Rock!!!!!

Opalsns

January 31, 2009

Last day for a chance to win 3 AE coins, Lets hear those stories!

January 31, 2009

I was shaking and in need of a coin fix last summer when I bit the bullet and drove about 300 miles round trip to retrieve a Mr.Jiffy summer meltdown coin Details of the adventure can be found in post# 131 of that thread in fact I fabricated a full story partly based on some truth of another adventure I had night Caching for an FTF.

Officer: shinning the light in my eyes “What are you doing?”

BrierPatch: “Ah, ah, ah sitting as you pulled me over”

Officer: “What is all this stuff in the front of your truck?’

BrierPatch: “Oh a gps and maps as I was geocaching.”

Officer: “You were geowhating?”

BrierPatch: “I was using my Gpsr to find plastic containers in the woods.”

Officer: “Have you been drinking?”

BrierPatch: ”No sir.”

Officer: ”Please Step out of the vehicle.”

This part of the story anyhow was based on an actual conversation with an officer who had pulled me over at 2:00am when I went out caching due to insomnia. This conversation is almost word for word the exchange we had. Fortunatly he eventually let me proceed on my way after running a liscence & Insurance & sobriety check.

4.9k · January 31, 2009

TEE HEE!

Watch out for sober, night cachers!!!

I'm glad you made it out OK,.. too funny!!!

Opalsns

8.9k · January 31, 2009

THANKS for the fun stories and the great cointest!!!

February 1, 2009

July 21, 2008 by zoesbrother (747 found)

I don't know how to log every thing that happened to me while finding this cache but here it goes.

1. I looked survayed the water level. I was high but looked to be managable.

2. I parked the good ole geobike at the rack and locked it up.

3. Get ready for the water by taking off socks and moving anything valuable up into my camalback. (Phone, Cache pages and various other things)

4. Attempt #1 I decided to go along the area were the little water fall is. I get out there only to almost be washed down stream so I turn around and decide to make my way farther up stream and over.

5. Attempt #2 Went farther up stream and had a little bit more luck this go around I make it across only to find that I have to go across yet more water. So I climb onto a log and go as far a possible and then step onto the little falls again and suffle my way across to dry land. Only 300 feet from the cache. I make my way to the cache area do a little looking and find it. I then check to see if my camal back survived and it did. Phone still worked and off to find a way back.

6. The Return Trip One might think it would have been a good idea to return the way one came but I didn't do that I instead went down stream to attempt to cross and it almost killed me.

7. The final crossing All I knew I had to do was stay low and hang on. The river was a raging and wanted to wipe me down stream. I knew it would take all the energy I had to make it across. So I get half way and am doing okay so far then I have to start hanging on for my life and hope not to get washed. Everything is soaked except the camal back on my back I assume. In what seemed like an eternity I made it across with my life but I was soaked.

8. Drying out - I walked to a bench and attempted to turn on my phone but it wouldn't turn on. I sat and let myself dry out a little but I had to get back on the rode to find some more.

TFTC

The above is my attempt and determination to find a cache. I was getting it no matter what.

February 1, 2009

I have a problem...I sleep walk. You could say that it gets bad sometimes. Nothing can stop me from getting up and walking around. I can undo doors and locks, climb down from the top bunk of a bed, jump from the top bunk. Just last night I got out of bed walked into the living room and took the pillowcase of the couch pillow to use as a blanket and laid down only to wake up in the middle of the night confused. I've even picked up chairs and thrown them, crawled in bed with other people, and gone running around a Costa Rican jungle.

Well, probably the worst geocaching itch I've had was on a night when a few new caches were posted. I had seen them just before bed but decided it was too late to attempt them. I had class in the morning and decided I would go after. Unfortunately my sleep walking tends to happen under three conditions after drinking, being in a new place, or being anxious/stressed. Well I can tell you it wasn't the first two so that night I must have been just a little bit anxious about waking up and doing these caches. In the middle of the night at about 3am I woke up out in the hall of my dorm completely dressed with my geocaching bag slung over my shoulder and keys in hand. I tried to orient myself and figure out what was going on. Once I figured out what was going on I let out one of the sighs that happens everytime I wake up from sleep walking. Usually it means dang't not again. But tonight I was dressed and ready to cache. So guess what...I went ahead and went caching. I was 1 for 3 that night but heck how many times do you get to go Sleepcaching?

Great Cointest! I really like the idea and have read lots of interesting itches!

February 1, 2009

Great Stories!

Its been fun reading everyones entries.... Dare I say "Itch scratched!"

ok, I still got it!

But the good news is... I got my GPS working and my wife found our USB cable, so I can go geocaching again! Yay!

ok... its time to announce the winner.

There were several great stories that were high on my list, so it was a tough choice....

but there can be only one!

and the winner is.....

(Drum roll....)

The 4 F's

with their clever use of photos to help tell their story! I loved it!

CONGRATULATIONS!

And Thanks to all those who entered, it been fun!

2.4k · February 1, 2009

Congrats the 4'f :laughing: :huh:

And thanks for the cointest

4k · February 1, 2009

Congratulations to the 4 F's!

I really liked their story but still wonder why oars didn't come included with the raft :laughing:

2.4k · February 1, 2009

Thanks for the cointest!

I have to say that that story was VERY good and deserves to be in the winners spot! Congrats 4F's!

February 1, 2009

Thank you so much, Sofi and Holmbiorn!!! :laughing: :huh: We're really thrilled to have been chosen!!! That caching adventure remains as one of our favorites! We've had (as I'm sure everyone else has had) tons of fun and new experiences while caching!!. Thanks for the cointest! We enjoyed reading everyone's adventures!

February 1, 2009

Congratulations to the 4 F's!

I really liked their story but still wonder why oars didn't come included with the raft

We were in such a frenzy to get the boat, that we didn't notice that the box said "Oars not included". The size of the box should have been a big clue, but we were in such a crazed frenzy to get back to the cache, that no one noticed until after we had inflated the boat and the two F's were in it. At that point, my niece simply asked "Okay, so how are they going to paddle into the tunnel?" No choice but to improvise! They just used the weeds, side of the tunnel, etc, anything they could pull or tug at to get them where they needed to go!!! :huh:

February 1, 2009

Thanks Geo.Error, Laval K-9, and Team CeDo!!! :laughing:

1.7k · February 1, 2009

congrats to the winner..........we really enjoyed reading all the stories........

4.9k · February 2, 2009

Congrats to the winner.

Woo Hoo

What fun.

Thanx for the cointest

Opalsns

COINTEST - Geocaching itch!

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