A simple hide to commemorate ten years of being a part of the magical geocaching world.
WOW. So here we are: a decade. Ten. Whole. Years. So much has changed since my first find in a muddy little field in Dempsey. And yet, so much has stayed the same. Well, almost.
On a personal level, I’ve definitely gone through the eras. From being a student to entering the workforce and grinding it out. Career changes. Fatherhood. The list is long but the details are stories for another time.
Geocaching has evolved as well. Being able to witness the birth of Virtuals and Adventure Labs. The different styles of hides. The scale of events. And of course, the community. Not only has it grown, oh how it’s flourished.
But time and time again, my thoughts drift back to that first find. I guess it’s true what they say eh? That you’ll never forget your first.
Having stumbled upon this new geocaching thingy, I grabbed my bike and the first friend who accepted “I have no idea what I’m doing but here are some numbers for us to follow which leads to god knows what” as a reason to hang out and off we went, diving GPS-first, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed into a world unknown.
As you would expect, we got lost. Puzzled looks were exchanged. “Now what?” was uttered more than a few times when we reached GZ. Firing off an SOS? Not possible since there wasn’t an active community online.
What we were looking for turned out to be a simple Tupperware container hidden amongst the bushes. But it was something else— it was magic.
Lifting the that plastic lid unveiled a whole new hidden world. Boom. Suddenly, perspectives shift. Otherwise mundane alleyways become mysterious adventures. Everyday objects become clever hides. The best part? Muggles had no clue what was going on.
And thus began the geocaching love story. Some days I felt like a spy on a mission, operating with stealth as I honed in on the target. Other times, a wizard searching for horcruxes hidden in plain sight. And of course, those eureka moments after hours of geo-blindness. No… Wait, can it be? Oh yes it is the cache! As if I’d succeeded in catching a glimpse of Bigfoot in the woods.
And so, albeit a decade late, it’s time to give back to the community. An attempt to recreate (and perhaps remind us of) that magic and simple joy in finding a geocache; which perhaps time and experience has diminished.
A geocache which takes me / us back to our roots. And what I wished for in a cache all those years ago: something close to home, challenging yet not complex for a beginner and big enough to contain all that magic.
Enjoy!
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P.S. Unless otherwise stated, please do not remove all the “magic” you might come across so other geocachers can experience them too! Thank you!