+TeamK-9 Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 When you saw this topic, I bet you thought I was gunna ask how many people cache with their dogs. Except, I wouldn't do that because it's already been discussed here, and here, plus about a quadrillion other places in this forum. Really, it was just an interesting ruse (sp?) to get you to read my little essay that I handcrafted on the way home today after a caching experience. Okay, so today, I went geocaching at a local state forest, I was with my mom and my dog, and I tried to hit three caches, but I had printouts for about twenty in the area. Anyway, the first one, my mom ended up hanging back with the dog while I risked life and limb climbing on an icy ledge, trying to get to where I thought the cache might be. In the end, was I anywhere near to being successful on that cache, hell no. In fact, I turned back with ten feet to go, even though my cache senses were tingling. The second cache was actually two caches that were probably as close as they could be while still following geocache regulations. I walked down an icy trail to get to an area that was actually completely bogged out. In getting to where I thought would be closer to the cache, I stepped in three sinkholes. Eventually, I figured I was too far away to salvage that one without walking the whole way back up a hill and trying a different trail. And so, I went after the other identical cache closer to my location. I went through 100 feet of snowdrifts before I came to a big rocky hill, the cache was supposed to be somewhere on one of these boulders. My mom and I walked around for an hour or so at times even lifting out golden retriever up onto rocks and over tree branches and in the end we found nothing. After three hours trudging through swampy woods looking for three separate caches, we trudged back to the car. (Sorry trudger, if I'm over-using your verb) Anyway, the ride home was an interesting drive back down the mountain, and during that time, I talked with my mom and petted my dog as if I was still enthusiasticly awaiting a cache adventure. And yet, I wasn't, I had just suffered through my worst caching day ever, (that's one out of three for your info.) I had a great day, just walking through the woods with my dog, on trails that I'd walked hundreds of times before. What was different? Nothing really, but today I had bonding time with my dogs and my mom, and it made me think. Everyone, who's anyone, who's a real geocacher says that geocaching isn't about the find, it's about the hunt. And after today, I truly believe that, I spent a whole day walking through the woods trying to find a geocache, but I didn't, but I had a great time, and not once did I notice how unsuccsessful I had been. I guess this is sort of in response to the thread about cheating, and just about can somehow be related to every thread in these forums. It just goes to show you, that certain cachers may have hundreds and thousands of finds, whereas you only have one, but the question really isn't how many finds you have, it's how much fun you had, and I guess that's what Jeremy and TPTB are trying to show us by not allowing advanced stats or anything. Really, this is my New Years Speech, every year for the past three years, I've picked one of my forums to just write a post sort of writing one thing that caps off the whole year. And if you read this post really carefully, you'll sort of notice how it fits into every major conflict in the last few months. Anyway, happy new years, and if anyone like snoogans or sparky decides this will be their thread of the year to mock, I'll kick your proverbial butts... Quote Link to comment
solohiker Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 Wow, the original post was off topic! Dogs are OK, but not many dog owners are not. Quote Link to comment
+TeamK-9 Posted January 1, 2004 Author Share Posted January 1, 2004 I knew somebody would have a joke before the first reply. LOL... Quote Link to comment
+El Diablo Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 I admire you for getting more out of the experience than most, myself included. Sometimes we get tunnel vision trying to reach a goal, when the real goal just passed us by with out being noticed. El Diablo Quote Link to comment
+TeamK-9 Posted January 1, 2004 Author Share Posted January 1, 2004 Yeah, as corny as my whole spiel is, I love the fact that geocaching gives me a way to use my creative talents (making sig items) my love for gizmos (using GPSr) and is a great bonding experience... Quote Link to comment
+Bill D (wwh) Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 I failed to find the micro at the first stage of a multi a few weeks ago. On Saturday after Christmas I went back to try again, with a dog that belongs to friends who were away for the weekend. The micro is on or close to a canal towpath, and when we got there it was far too busy with walkers to even think about looking for a micro. So I took the dog for a long walk. When we got back to the spot I hunted until dusk but still failed to find it. So what? We had a great walk on a beautiful day. And that wasn't spoilt even when a few days later a newbie with no previous finds found the whole multi, micro included! Quote Link to comment
+JMBella Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 Nice post K-9. I go back and forth (maybe I'm bi-polar) sometime I get frustrated when I can't find the cache, other times I just chalk it up and still have a great day. A couple of weeks ago I drove to NJ, from LI NY planning on finding about 7 or 8 caches. I found 2. Ya know what? I had a great day none the less. The medication is working. Quote Link to comment
+Johnnie Stalkers Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 Better you are bi-polar than your GPSr (and so we are on topic) or your dog. Quote Link to comment
+Snoogans Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 Anyway, happy new years, and if anyone like snoogans or sparky decides this will be their thread of the year to mock, I'll kick your proverbial butts... Great story up to that last part.....What's THAT all about? BTW- I love dogs. Sn gans Quote Link to comment
+wray_clan Posted January 2, 2004 Share Posted January 2, 2004 Great post. It is hard to take your mind of the goal of finding a cache & just try to have a good time. I'll try to think of this thread at our next DNF, which come somewhat often. Quote Link to comment
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