Kabutroid: Alas, this cache is most definitely no more at this point. After many months of countless attempts to go check on the cache only to be thwarted by some other event that requires my presence, I finally was able to make the trip out to the cache to confirm whether it still existed or not. Much to my dismay, as the last cacher has noted, the cache container was most certainly gone.
Now, when I was heading over to the cache, I was expecting one of several possible outcomes. The cache was still there, and the last cacher found something else that resembled a tether (unlikely), the tether rusted through or broke, and the cache would be found nearby lodged in the rocks due to its weight (also unlikely, but what I had hoped for), the tether rusted/broke, and the cache was swept away (most likely), or the cache was outright stolen (possible, but less likely). So after stopping at my mom's place, I made a run for the cache before heading back to chillax there some more. Thankfully the lack of rain made the dirt roads leading up to here very dry, so I had no worries about sinking or getting stuck. Once again stopping at the intersection (I use that term loosely) on the South dirt road, I stopped the car and hopped out for fear of bottoming out further than that. A few minutes of relaxing hiking later, and I found myself at the oh so familiar cement pad.
As I near the pad, I hear a hissing sound and stop, looking at the source of noise and movement. About 6 feet from me stood a raccoon, clearly displeased that I had disturbed his rummaging through the rocks. He wasn't moving, and I wasn't moving. I cautiously took out my camera and snapped a few pics before trying to make some noise to scare him away. This didn't work as well as anticipated, since he decided to just curl up under a rock and keep watching me. After a bit more noise, he scurried off a little bit. In the direction of the coordinates, of course. I eventually scared him to the far side of the rocks, and began the hunt.
In no time, I had found the chain, and was very dismayed to find the clasp end sitting free of a cache container. It wasn't rusted through. The links from on the cache container side weren't attached (implying the plastic said links were around broke). The cache was undeniably, unequivocally stolen. It appears as though some individual felt that he deserved a camouflaged Pelican container far more than all geocachers combined.
As sad as I am to see that it was stolen, I'm even more sad to see that I need to archive the cache at this point. I'm a firm believer of the thought that once someone who steals things finds a place where cool/interesting things are placed, they will continue to return to that place in hopes of finding replacement cool/interesting things to continue to steal. For this reason, I'm very saddened to have to log this as an 'archive' [:(].
I thank all of those who have found the cache thus far for visiting, and hope that you enjoyed the area. I wish I was able to introduce more people to this location, but clearly theft is more important to others than experiencing new places. I never received an email or was otherwise contacted, so it clearly wasn't someone who may have actually innocently stumbled across it and wanted to set things right... it was simply outright stolen by someone who steals. Thankfully at least, there was no travelbugs in here to be permanently lost.
And with that, thus ends my very first geocache. For the sake of completion, I will jot down the remaining log names on the website not already photographed and add them to the [url=http://www.zebeth.com/planetzebeth/stuff/geocaching/cache2.html#logs]others[/url].
Thanks all! I hope you don't forget about the cache anytime soon... I was quite proud of that camouflage... both times I had to make it [:P].