The Adventures of Sassy the GeoDale Mystery Cache
The Adventures of Sassy the GeoDale
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Sassy the GeoDale was out doing her favorite thing. She was taking her human, Sunshine, out geo-caching today and a fine day for caching it was. All week she had been waiting for her human's home-days (or what her human Sunshine called "week-ends," whatever that meant) and the home-days had finally begun. The sun was out, the wind was full of exciting scents and smells and Sassy was feeling fine. Sassy had let her human pick the spot, as she usually did. It made Sunshine feel important and making her human happy was what Sassy lived for.
As Sassy scouted the trail ahead of her human she picked up the scent of another dog that had recently been right where Sassy was standing. She sniffed carefully around, spying the little paw-prints that were a little smaller than her own and finally she figured out what had made them. A Coyote! Sassy sniffed a few more times, marveling at the wildness of the smell and then realized her human was catching up to her. She looked up at Sunshine, woofed an excited "Hello!" and then continued up the path. She ran on for a few hundred yards and then was brought up short by yet another smell. This one she knew instantly though for the life of her she couldn't figure what it would be doing here, so far from the Jungle. It was the smell of a Leopard! Sassy shook her shaggy head in wonder and looked around. Why there would be such a smell on her chosen path? Sassy barked excitedly. Her human, Sunshine, smiled as she walked up and scratched Sassy behind the ears. Sassy enjoyed the scratching for a minute or so and then set off down the path again. She had to keep her human moving along! She had the feeling it was going to be a strange and wonderful day! Sassy followed the path down a gently sloping hill and emerged from the tree cover into the bright sunlight of the day. As her big brown eyes blinked, adjusting to the sudden sunlight she realized she was seeing an amazing sight. There was a Sasquatch sitting in the center of a little pond off to Sassy's left and it was scrubbing it's back with what looked like a mossy tree stump! Beyond this, on the far side of the pond a Catalan Sheepdog stared back across the water at Sassy with an expression on it's face that literally sang "are you seeing this too?" Then, with a quick flip of it's tail it turned and disappeared back into the trees across the water. Taking a final look at the bizarre bathing ritual taking place in the center of the pond Sassy turned and continued along the path, looking back over her shoulder now and then to make sure Sunshine didn't wander off and get lost. Her human was wonderful but was always straying away from the path looking for things under rocks or hanging in trees. Humans were so funny sometimes! There was a sharp, rusty cry from overhead and Sassy looked up in time to see a Bald Eagle flapping it's wings as it came in for a landing in it's gigantic nest high up in a tree. In one huge talon It held it's lunch; A large Beaver with a broad flat tail dangled for a moment from the edge of the nest and then was pulled out of sight. Sassy felt bad for it, but that was the way of the world. Everything needed to eat. Thinking about eating got Sassy's tummy rumbling and she wondered what kinds of treats Sunshine had packed in the green bag her human always carried on her back when they went walking. As she was considering this a Raccoon trundled it's way across the path and sat down next to a nearby stream to wash it's weird, human-shaped paws. Sassy snorted disdainfully. These types always thought they were special. Opposable thumbs...bah! Paws were where it was at! Sassy waited for Sunshine to catch up to her and laid down next to a large flat rock, inviting her human to sit and rest for a minute. Sunshine, who had trained easily and well as far as Sassy was concerned, did just that and dug into her green bag, producing half a wrapped sandwich and a little bag of Sassy's favorite dog-food. Sunshine chewed on her sandwich and seemed content to Sassy, who stretched out in the late morning warmth and crunched happily on her own food. Next Sunshine produced a water-bottle and after taking a drink and giving Sassy one as well she tucked it away and ruffled Sassy's fur. "Are you ready girl?" Sunshine asked, all of her white teeth showing. Sassy knew this was the look humans used when they were happy and she was feeling pretty darned happy herself. She barked, licked Sunshine's nose, trotted a few paces down the path and then stopped. She looked back to make sure her human got the idea. Sunshine laughed and got to her feet. Walking together they started down the path again. Sassy ambled down the path slowly, sniffing the air and listening to the sigh of the wind as it soughed through the trees. She caught the scent suddenly of something new along the trail and trotted over to where it lay. A Fish was laying a few feet off the path and Sassy wondered what it was doing so far from water. It couldn't have swam here, there was no water on top of the hill! Sassy looked around trying to find an explanation for something so strange and spied a Giant Panda sitting in a grove of strange trees and munching away on bark happily. Stranger and Stranger! Sassy had started out the walk with her human thinking today would be amazing and she had not been wrong! Sassy, with her human Sunshine in tow continued down the path. Sassy noticed that Sunshine was checking the little green block she carried with her on these walks and began scouting around with her nose carefully. Whenever her human did this it meant they were getting close to something Sunshine wanted. Sassy could smell new scents now, lots of mixed ones. Other humans had been here recently and, was that... the smell of... a Polar Bear? It couldn't be! Sassy watched as her human walked into the trees and became a little concerned. Sunshine's nose wasn't as smart as her own and her human never seemed aware of the amazing things that Sassy saw as they walked. Sassy would have to watch out for her extra carefully today. There were so many things about! Sassy trailed her human into a small grove of trees and watched as Sunshine began carefully looking in and around the trunks and then into the branches of the pines. Content that her human was safe for the time being, Sassy wandered a little ways away and found a Platypus splashing away in a small puddle of water formed by the stream at the edge of the pine grove. Sassy watched it splash around for a few more minutes and then went back to where her human was tucking something up into the branches of a pine-tree with a satisfied expression on her face. Apparantly her human had found whatever she had been searching for and that made Sassy happy. She lay down, panting lightly, her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth and then spotted Four Owls sitting side by side in the branches of a nearby tree, their eyes closed, seeming to be sleeping. As usual, her human took no notice of the strange sight and Sassy wondered for the millionth time if a humans' eyes and nose were just for decoration, so their faces wouldn't look empty. They certainly never seemed to use them! Sassy headed back down the path the way they had come, walking out ahead of her human as she usually did. What would Sunshine do without her? She would get lost, of course! Just then Sassy spied something else that must be lost. Two Tiger Cubs were playing in the grass not far from the edge of the path and their mother was nowhere to be seen. Sassy didn't know whether to be glad or sad about that but finally decided her humans' safety was more important and continued along back along the path towards where her human had parked their car. Sunshine was strolling along, looking like she was having the time of her life and Sassy saw no reason to spoil their wonderful day by scaring her. When they were about halfway back to the start of the trail Sassy spotted a large pile of snow that lay a few yards off the path ahead. She couldn't remember passing it on the way in and wondered where all the snow would have come from on such a warm day. This time her human DID see what she saw. Laughing like a little girl, Sunshine ran over to the big pile of snow and began to make a ball. Sunshine rolled the ball back and forth through the snow-pile until it was bigger than Sassy herself. Then she did this a second time and finally a third. Then Sunshine stacked the three balls on top of each other until they formed a sort of triangle shape. Still laughing and smiling Sunshine then gathered two sticks and eight small rocks. Sassy watched this, marveling at how humans seemed to be able to play with the silliest things and then saw what her human was making. It was a Snowman! Sunshine used the sticks for arms and the rocks to make two eyes, a nose and a big goofy smile where the face would be. Sassy barked approvingly. Her human could be almost as smart as Sassy herself sometimes! Sassy trotted over to where her human stood and together they looked at Sunshine's creation for a minute or two. Finally, Sassy barked that it was time to go and the two of them headed back towards the path and the car. The pair traveled along, back through the little patch of woods and finally reached the start of the trail where Sunshine had parked their vehicle. Sassy spotted the Dove just before it took wing. It had been sitting on the fencepost that marked the start of the dirt pathway and flapped it's wings as it gained height, finally disappearing above the trees and going out of sight. Sassy barked at it in happiness. It was the perfect end to the perfect day.
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Gratz to Penfield Party for the FTF! Good Job!!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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Chmmyr: Znfpbg
Chmmyr - zrqvhz Greenva - rnfl Svaq - Qvssvphyg