Easter Geocaching
When Darrell and I made plans for this past weekend, they were pretty simple – get the boat out on the big water. After monitoring the weather all week we had hoped to hit Lake Ontario on Saturday, which meant the boat motor would need to be checked over by Friday to make sure everything was in good working order. And of course, that was a dead end. Sitting in the house I could hear the boat motor running and I jumped up with excitement and ran outside…only to find out that the water pump was broken and the thermostat housing was cracked and leaking water. With it being Good Friday there was no way we could buy the parts until Saturday, and our fishing plans evaporated.
While the parts were eventually procured and the repairs completed, there was no time left for us to hit the water. To help me get over my disappointment, I decided we should hit a trail with the dogs and do some geocaching.
It was a little wet out, but all-in-all, a really nice day to go for a walk.
I had been hoping to visit this particular trail since it had a series of geocaches hidden along it. It would give us a chance to hone our cache-spotting skills, while letting the dogs run and stretch their legs.
A light rain started to fall as we left the car and in a few short minutes we reached the location of the first cache. The cache was easy enough to spot, but getting to it without getting wet could be a problem. The recent thaw had resulted in a good stream of water rushing by the cache location, and I wasn’t all that eager to see just how deep that water may be.
My reluctance to walk through that little stream stems from an incident several years ago. My dog had run off through the back fields and in my attempt to find him I came across what appeared to be a wide, but shallow, stream. There was grass sticking out of it and the topography all around appeared to be quite flat. I took one step in, then another, and with the third step I sank into the freezing cold water up to my waist. It was March. My boots became rooted in the muddy bottom and I’m not quite sure how I would have made it out of there if it hadn’t been for the lone rock in front of me that I fell onto and used as an anchor to pull myself out.
Since Darrell and I were just beginning our walk, I decided we would skip that cache for the time being, and attempt it on the way back.
The caches were evenly spaced along the trail and we quickly learned the rough distance we had to travel between each one. As we got close to the next location I would pull my phone out and navigate to the correct spot. I’m amazed just how accurate the phone works, as it did get us within 5 metres of the cache each time, and showed us which side of the trail we needed to investigate.
Darrell really has proven to have an eye for spotting the caches. While I stand there and gaze around at all the possible locations (in this case, it involved staring at a lot of trees), he was able to survey the spot and find the cache almost instantly. It’s like having my own bloodhound!
Just one of the many caches along this trail.
At each cache I would complete the logbook and we would take a look through the variety of stuff that was left in each container. From magnets to bouncy balls, hockey cards to small toys, there was a real interesting collection of stuff to choose from. However, if you want to take something from the cache, you must leave something behind. Since I had forgotten to bring along some items to switch out, we restricted ourselves to signing the log and moving on.
Despite being outside and getting to run around and investigate new smells, the dogs seemed to have some objections to our geocaching mission. Each time we would stop to find a cache, Jack would come running back from his spot further up the trail and bark at us. I guess he didn’t like the frequent stops and wanted us to keep moving.
Burr check. Jack (the blue merle Aussie), really hates getting burrs in his hair and starts throwing himself on the ground, trying to scratch them off. Molly doesn’t mind them at all.
I had almost forgotten just how addictive geocaching is. When you go a stretch without searching for a cache, you forget how much fun it is to spot that little treasure and record your find. After the first couple of caches, I was hooked again and could not wait to find the next one. Some were hanging low in trees, others were higher up. Some involved jumping over a fair bit water, while another involved scampering down a steep hill. I wanted to find every cache on that stretch of trail, but time was running out since we needed to get home and start prepping dinner. There’s a few caches left that we will have to return for.
Caches come in a variety of containers.
As we neared the car I decided to attempt that first cache again. I was wearing rubber boots so I wasn’t worried about getting wet, as long as the stream was only as deep as it looked. This time I got lucky, and the stream proved to be shallow, no cold, waist-deep dip for me! I signed the logbook, replaced the cache, and scrambled back up to the trail. Jack was too tired to complain about the stop at that point.
Although I really wanted to spend Easter weekend out in the boat, I ended up having a great time. We had a wonderful dinner with family, built a new patio table, repaired the boat motor, and had a fantastic time geocaching. However, now that the motor is working, I had better be on the water next weekend!
argosgirl
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Sounds like a great day. What will be next – another day of geocaching or a day on the boat? Maybe a combination of the 2?
I love the idea of combining geocaching and fishing! I have been considering hiding a few caches along a stretch of river I like to fish. Providing the weather cooperates, the boat will win out over geocaching this weekend. I need to get on the water.
Yup – geocaching is addictive, which is why combining caching with another fave outdoor activity is always awesome! I just found your blog and have been enjoying reading about your adventures – especially considering the locations you post about are pretty close to home for me. Literally!
I just read your post about geocaching at Puslinch – I’ll have to add that to the list for this summer! It does seem that we frequent the same area for adventuring – there’s so much to do around here!