A five terrain, difficulty five geocache tops the extreme scale. They’re dangerous, by their very nature. This is a Lost & Found video of an attempt to log a 5/5 outside of Chehalis, WA USA. “* rivers and lakes” (GC6982) is rated 5/5. The rating on GC6982 is perhaps more than precautionary. Any hiker faces the real possibility of serious injury on this geocache.
View from near "* river and lakes"
A five terrain geocache traditionally requires specialized equipment. This cache requires study hiking gear, including tear-resistant gloves. Geocachers BrewerMD, DubyaDee and Towtrkdug, along with cache owner Slinger91 signed up for the adventure. See their hunt for treasure and the waterfall waiting at the end their journey.
Explore even more adventures of geocachers in the Geocaching.com Lost & Found gallery.
SDFD fire patch bug travels from coast to coast in the US
This is your chance to share your favorite Trackable stories. Trackables have completed missions to travel the globe, find famous landmarks and compete in Travel Bug races.
An example of an powerful Trackable story was recently sent to Groundspeak.
buttaskotch emailed the story of SDFD fire patch bug. She wrote in the log, “I am very thankful and honored that I was able to complete this Travel Bug’s mission.”
In January of 2010 caduckhunter placed the Travel Bug in a California, USA cache. It’s mission was to travel to New York City to be hand delivered to a FDNY. It traveled more than 7000 miles before fulfilling it’s goal on Septmeber 8, 2011.
SDFD fire patch bug route
Post a comment below telling other geocachers about your favorite Trackable experience.
The story with the most likes will be highlighted at the end of the week of September 12th, 2011. The author of the comment will receive a special gift of Trackables. Please leave your Geocaching.com username.
Editor’s note: Both Binrat and vante will receive a set of Trackables for submitting their Trackable stories. Thank you to all those who submitted stories. Look for Trackable Week again on the Latitude 47 blog in coming months.
Believe me, I’m not trying to talk you out of attempting a five terrain, five difficulty geocache. I’m just trying to keep you from acquiring any scars or a metal plate in your neck. Geocaches are ranked from one to five based on difficulty and terrain. Five is the most imposing. Let’s be clear — preparation is key. You should known the geocache rating before attempting the cache. The ratings exist for your safety. But, say you’re part of the “Lost & Found” documentary video crew? And it’s your job to produce a video on completing a 5/5?
This is one (tall/uncoordinated) Lost & Found video producer’s perspective on one particular 5/5 named “* river and lakes” (GC6982). Completing this 5/5 only really requires three attributes. They are endurance, balance and agility.
Lost & Found videographer Reid
I sorely lacked two out of the three. I’m a teetering 6’4” with the balancing skills of an unmanned bicycle. My default while falling is to land on my forehead. It’s a precarious landscape for anyone who’s crowning athletic achievement sits atop his refrigerator even now. (It’s a bowling trophy from when I was 11.)
The cache owner and three geocachers were all bush-whacking to the cache ahead of us. Lost & Found videographer Reid was capturing the zigzagging footfalls of the geocachers. The terrain we faced for “* rivers and lakes” is a Paul Bunyan-scale crisscross carpet of fallen trees, inches thick ecosystems of green wiggling moss and glossy boulders with the traction of ice.
The cache sits inside a U-shaped canyon at the base of a waterfall. It’s a near vertical descent through thorns and an inviting thorn-ridden shrub aptly called “Devil’s Club.” After a half hour, I’ve already realized waterproof boots are waterproof… unless your foot slips three feet into a stream and then the boots become sloshing bags of water.
A banana slug named, "Signal"
It’s about this time that I think a thorn catches my ear. Suddenly my ear is wet and it’s cold. I think I’m simply in a wonderful form of shock and that I’m bleeding. I reach back to feel the blood. I think, “This can’t be worse.” It is worse.
My fingers curl around “something” attached to my ear. I pulled it forward and stared eye-to-antenna with a giant banana slug.
I named the slug “Signal.”
This Signal was placed gently back into his or her habitat. It’s a relationship I won’t forget though.
The geocachers and Reid reached the cache moments later (relatively) unscathed. Then we had to hike back out, the same way. Signal didn’t make a repeat performance. I was left with just a few scratches and memories of a wet and cold kiss from a banana slug.
Most geocachers have similar stories. And like the Lost & found documentary crew, they’ll do it again. Why? You tell me. What keeps geocachers going back to the trail?
Soon, you can watch the adventures of the hardy geocachers who attempted this 5/5. The Lost & Found video is scheduled to post on Tuesday, September 14th.
The journey of geocaching becomes a metaphor for love stories and a vehicle for marriage proposals. See the couples who have fallen in love while treasure hunting and popped the question at a geocache.
Geocaching Love Stories
Geocaching.com introduces you to two such couples, with proposal and wedding snapshots from many more.
Some couples even decide to use geocaching as the theme of their wedding.
Share your geocaching love story in the comments below.
Explore even more adventures of geocachers in the Geocaching.com Lost & Found gallery.
One of the joys of geocaching is what you discover on the way to the geocache.
Geocachers searching for One, If By Land (GC16C0) are challenged to hike along the rugged coast of Maine, U.S.A. They’re rewarded with the skeleton of weathered shipwreck and, according to the cache page, greeted by notorious Maine mosquitoes.
More than 150 geocachers have logged a smiley on this geocache. It was hidden more than nine years ago in August of 2001.
Hardy adventurers have to travel to Sawyer’s Island, Maine. The cache reads, “The mosquitoes hope our cache you’ll seek. Under oak, fir and birch, go take a peek. Near water’s edge you will want to be. Just follow trail in clockwise route, past an ancient wreck, you’ll see.”
The Maine coast on the way to GC16C0
Cache owner BRLT adopted “One, If By Land” in 2006 and tells us that coordinates may soon be readjusted to bring geocachers even closer to the difficulty two, terrain 1.5 cache.
It might be the ideal time of year to search for “One, If By Land.” The leaves in Maine are just beginning to change color as the fall season approaches.
Your exploration doesn’t have to stop here. There are now more than 6000 geocaches in Maine, and nearly 1.2 million geocaches around the world. You can explore all the Geocaches of the Week here.
