Back In The Saddle
Mar. 6th, 2011 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deaneA combination of crappy weather and a heavy workload have conspired to keep me from geocaching for almost two weeks. But today the conspiracy fell apart and I was able get out and find four caches.
If I'm lucky I'll find one interesting cache on an outing, but today there were two.
WARNING: There are spoilers below so don't read on if you ever plan on visiting these caches.
The first one said in its description that it was "two meters from the edge of the parking lot". That put it on the slightly raised berm that separated the lot from the woods beyond. But there was nothing there except dirt, small rocks and the occasional tuft of grass.
Stumped, I read the hint, which was "Reddish/Orange". The only thing which matched that description was a small rock about half the size of a computer mouse. It wasn't nearly big enough to hide a cache inside but I grabbed it anyway and sure enough, attached to the rock's underside was a metal tube, about 10cm long, which slotted into a hole in the ground beneath the rock. The metal tube screwed off to reveal the log tightly rolled up inside. Very nice.
The second interesting cache was named "The Friendly Giant", which was the name of a children's TV show when I was growing up. The description said, "There is no need to remove the cache from its hiding place. The log and the cache contents can be accessed by taking the plunge."
My GPS brought me to the edge of a duck pond, still partially frozen over. I was concerned that the comment about "taking the plunge" meant that one had actually to go in the water to retrieve the cache. If that was the case then I was going to have to pass.
The hint for the cache was, "What the Friendly Giant Says", which I took to be a reference to the start of the show, where the camera would initially be pointed at Friendly's feet and he would say, "Look up, waaaay up". So I started scanning the trees and eventually spotted, waaay up, one of those plastic owls that people buy to keep birds from shitting on their patios.
I made my way over to the base of the tree and found a loop of rope clipped to a lanyard, which could be used to lower the owl. The base of the owl was plugged with the end of a plunger. Removing that (thus the reference to "taking the plunge") revealed the log book and other goodies. I couldn't help but smile.
So while it was a short outing, it was quite an enjoyable one.
My cache count is now 224.
If I'm lucky I'll find one interesting cache on an outing, but today there were two.
WARNING: There are spoilers below so don't read on if you ever plan on visiting these caches.
The first one said in its description that it was "two meters from the edge of the parking lot". That put it on the slightly raised berm that separated the lot from the woods beyond. But there was nothing there except dirt, small rocks and the occasional tuft of grass.
Stumped, I read the hint, which was "Reddish/Orange". The only thing which matched that description was a small rock about half the size of a computer mouse. It wasn't nearly big enough to hide a cache inside but I grabbed it anyway and sure enough, attached to the rock's underside was a metal tube, about 10cm long, which slotted into a hole in the ground beneath the rock. The metal tube screwed off to reveal the log tightly rolled up inside. Very nice.
The second interesting cache was named "The Friendly Giant", which was the name of a children's TV show when I was growing up. The description said, "There is no need to remove the cache from its hiding place. The log and the cache contents can be accessed by taking the plunge."
My GPS brought me to the edge of a duck pond, still partially frozen over. I was concerned that the comment about "taking the plunge" meant that one had actually to go in the water to retrieve the cache. If that was the case then I was going to have to pass.
The hint for the cache was, "What the Friendly Giant Says", which I took to be a reference to the start of the show, where the camera would initially be pointed at Friendly's feet and he would say, "Look up, waaaay up". So I started scanning the trees and eventually spotted, waaay up, one of those plastic owls that people buy to keep birds from shitting on their patios.
I made my way over to the base of the tree and found a loop of rope clipped to a lanyard, which could be used to lower the owl. The base of the owl was plugged with the end of a plunger. Removing that (thus the reference to "taking the plunge") revealed the log book and other goodies. I couldn't help but smile.
So while it was a short outing, it was quite an enjoyable one.
My cache count is now 224.
