That was a Great Day! Mystery Cache
Rock_Harder: no longer a great day
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The cache is not at the posted co-ordinates, but is within 2 miles of this point.
I have found that since I have been attending the monthly NRG events throughout the region, I have been sharing stories of some of the great caches I have done with the newer cachers in the area.
I remember one such story that I shared with some newbies about an epic day of caching.
It was back on May 15th, 2011.
I had heard about this must-do cache that was almost a rite of passage into the geocaching world. To do this cache, you must have stamina, determination, guile, perseverance, a good group of cachers to go with and about 9 hours to spend looking for this cache.
The day was overcast, a slight drizzle coming down, but cooler temperatures for that time of the year. The trail was dry, but at some parts, the creeks had swollen due to the previous days rainfall. The trails were inundated with the excess water of the creeks. So we had to choose..turn around, or press on. Of course we took our shoes and our socks off, and proceeded barefoot through the cold waters. Once on the other side, we put our socks and shoes back on and continued on our quest.
This happened about 4 times throughout the day, but it was a welcome addition to the fun day.
Sometimes we even smelled shawarma....how weird was that?
As we proceeded north through the trails which wound through the woods, we were welcomed with other caches to find along the way. An earthcache here, a traditional there, and even a puzzle and a letterbox.
I wonder how some of the other cachers who had found this multi did it by themselves. People like 1701eh who hiked it alone. Other cachers had partners to hike with like Tri_again and DDTKR. But others like Grayelm just had their faithful companion to talk to along the way.
As we proceeded through the trails and the water covering them, I managed to slip and tweak my lower back....oh the pain...and here I am not even halfway through the hike. I couldn't back out because I organized this day, but with the great group of cachers with me, we pressed along and the muscles worked themselves out and it was forgotten after another mile or two.
Throughout the trek, the rain started again, and stopped, and just drizzled on and off for hours. This was too much for some who joined us, so off they went to go home and enjoy a nice relaxing drink in their dry pajamas, Periodically, she would text us to let us know how cozy she was on her couch. We greatly appreciated the updates.
As we started coming around and finding ourselves in the last few miles of the hike, we turned west and started to hike with a new sense of invigoration. The end was almost in sight and the prize of a cache well earned was appealing to us all.
I could just imagine how those other cachers felt while along the same stretch and knowing that their cars were close by.
I remember hearing that PumpklnOneA was hobbling the last few kilometers, while btchiker enjoyed her 9 hour trip with friends. ElectroQTed made this his 1000th cache milestone, while it was Dreadnaught's 2000th milestone. Even some cachers tracked the distance they hiked like saf47 who managed to hike 23.9kms in almost 8 hours on the first day of December!!
Caches like this one make this hobby so satisfying. You really get a sense of accomplishment after pushing your body and your mind to the limits. When I first started geocaching back in 2005, I never once thought that I would ever hike that far for any reason....especially not to find a camo'd container with a logbook in it.
At the end of that day, we had found 24 caches, hiked almost 28 kms, spent 9 hours doing so, and had 5 relative strangers, share a bond that you just don't feel that often.
That was a Great Day!
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