For the second year in a row, the Gamer Family traveled from Miami to Hendersonville, NC primarily to enjoy the amazing nature geocaches both North and South Carolina have to offer. Amazing climbs, amazing forests, amazing adventures.
One of our favorite activities while on a nature geocaching trek in the Carolinas is to indulge in rock hopping / creek wading. At half of the caches we visited, even though the cache did not require it, during the journey we would detour into creeks and indulge in getting our feet wet as we waded through the waters or hopped from rock to rock. The entire family LOVES this.
Surprisingly, while we encountered a couple of caches that necessitated crossing a stream, we could not find a geocache that REQUIRED visitors to indulge in rock-hopping and creek wading in order to reach the cache. Since in 2014 we had our first Carolina experience of creek wading & rock hopping on the SC trail leading to Falls Creek Falls...and since we loved it so much that we felt we HAD to return to the same beautiful area in 2015...we decided to hide our very own Creek Cache along the same trail.
Creek Cache requires seekers to enter the running water & wade and/or rock hop in order to get to the cache. Since you are looking for a green bison tube hidden in a forest where precise coordinate readings are more dicey, we are providing very detailed descriptions and spoiler pictures in order to help you find the cache.
To find the cache:
Step 1: Drive to the parking coordinates (provided under "additional coordinates" below). If you are seeking directions on a car-based GPS unit that doesn't understand coordinates, you can punch in the address for the nearby Palmetto Bible Camp (140 Fall Creek Road, Marietta, SC) and then drive about a block down the road to the parking coordinates and the start of the trail.
Step 2: Climb the hill at the beginning of the trail.
Step 3: After the trail levels off and begins a gradual downward slope, watch for the "LEFT TURN HERE" point on the trail (see spoiler picture #1 and #2 and the coordinates entitled "LEFT TURN HERE"). Note that you can also grab another geocache entitled [enivar] (GC2TVDV) along the way to the "LEFT TURN HERE" point.
Step 4: Walk down the "LEFT TURN HERE" quasi-trail to the nearby creek. Spoiler picture #3 (entitled "CHANGING ROOM") shows a good place to stop and change into your water shoes...and if you choose to leave your supplies behind before entering into the water, the large rock also obscures them from the view of people on the main trail. Spoiler picture #4 (entitled "ENTER HERE") shows the view upstream from "Changing Room Rock". Also see the "ENTER HERE" coordinates provided under "additional coordinates" below.
Step 5: Wade upstream until you get to the posted coordinates. HAVE FUN ON THE JOURNEY!! Note that the posted coordinates are what I feel were my best readings, but multiple readings led to North coordinates that ranged from 08.193 to 08.205 and West coordinates that ranged from 32.047 to 32.051. However, if you decide to use the remaining spoiler pictures, they should insure that you'll zero right in on the cache. Spoiler picture #5 shows a rock cave that you'll see on your right (would have been a great place for a large container...but that is NOT where we hid our micro). Spoiler picture #6 shows Mrs. Gamer pointing to the hiding spot. Spoiler picture #7 shows the cache location with the camo resting atop the container. Spoiler picture #8 shows the cache itself once the camo is moved aside. NOTE: Do NOT climb on the fallen tree that hosts the container!
After you've replaced the cache exactly where it was and after you've made sure to re-cover the cache with the natural camo so muggle water waders and rock hoppers won't accidentally spot it, feel free to continue walking upstream or downstream to indulge in the soothing yet adventurous joys this creek has to offer.
AND, after you've done that, if you're still craving more adventure, continue further on the trail for some steep mountain trail climbing, another great geocache entitled
Trust Me (GC4EAB, hidden wayyy back in April 2002) and the grand finale,
Fall Creek Falls itself!
I hope you enjoy finding Creek Cache as much as we enjoyed hiding it!
Cache on!