Moon’s Eye 3, Grottoes 1
It has been a while since I last went geocaching. … Too long have I sat on the bench and watched my handheld GPS device collecting dust.
In the time that has past, friends of mine in Germany have left me in the dust with their own finds and widened the gap that seperates us to over 100 in difference.
Even though I woke to find the rain falling outside my window, I chose to not let the wet stuff keep me on the bench any longer.
Armed with my GPS, iPod Touch and explorer’s pack, I turned my car towards the small town of Grottoes where I hoped to find some yet undiscovered caches.
You see, I am running out of things to find here in the Staunton area — the price of living in a small community.
As I entered the Grottoes community, I turned on the iPod touch to access the information I stored on the caches I wanted to seek out.
The problem encountered, however, was that for some reason the Geocaching.com program only stored the basic information (ie name and cache size) and not the actual descriptions, recent logs and available hints.
This left me with a choice. … I could either return home and consider the trip a bust or grit my teeth and go on a hunt using nothing but the name and coordinates.
I chose the latter.
Today’s searching began at Mountain View Park where three small caches lay hidden.
With a name of “Treehugger,” I made a quick guess where the first one might be hidden.
There was a lone tree along a fenceline, near a paved walking trail that was located on the otherside of a small pond.
It seems I at times choose to not do things easily as I chose the direct path which carried me across the middle of that same pond.
Luckily, the water level was low enough that there was a stretch of semi-dry ground … well saturated soil … that cut across the middle of the current two bodies of water that comprised the pond.
Low and behold, the first cache was where I thought it might be.
Setting my umbrella to the side along with my backpack, I made quick work of signing the log before moving along on the next hide.
Following the trail as it followed the perimeter of the park, I listened to the sound of the rain pattering on the umbrella while enjoying the walk.
My doctor would be proud as I was out getting a bit of exercise.
All I had to go on for the next find (besides the direction of the GPS) was the name “Grottoes ‘Cache In Trash’ Out” which is actually all that I needed.
Sometimes the best hides are those that have those very subtle names with the hint hidden among the words.
Finding number two was simply a matter of filling around and keeping my eyes open to where I would hide the cache if it were me doing the placing.
The added bonus turned out to be that it was hidden in a small container featuring NASCAR driver Tony Stewart … a driver my sister would have felt very appropriately hidden!
Turning my GPS in a new direction, I finished signing the log and set off again.
This time, the search was for a micro that unfortunately I was not able to find.
After literally beating the bushes for several minutes, I decided to save this one for a future trip when I could come back armed with the cache description and hint.
So when I left the park, the count was 2 found and 1 not found with the clock winding down towards the time when I would have to return home.
Consulting the available finds still left in the area, one stuck out in name as one I had a feeling I knew where it was hidden.
And because of the possible location, I had the feeling it would require a quick lift of a skirt to complete the find.
The GPS pointing me right where I thought it might and placed me in the middle of a parking lot.
And although I had a feeling I was right about the skirt, the real challenge was in scoring the find without being spotted by a steady stream of muggles moving all about the area.
Actually, it proved quite fun as it reminding me of the thrill I hoped others get out of my own “Beware The Muggles” series.
In the end, I made the find and signed the log before heading home with a score of 3 finds to 1 DNF.
