As a resident Floridian, a geocaching rite of passage is to locate the 2000 cache Christmas cache (GCFA). As the fall temperatures had cooled down to a mere 110°, I decided to finally make the trek down in the Everglades. I was worried about gators, but I should've considered Bigfoot's Floridian cousin as a more urgent concern. As I rounded a bend, I saw the legendary Skunk Ape.
He looked a bit like his cousin, the Woodbooger, that I met in Virginia several years ago. Whereas his cousin was a classic Sasquatch, the Skunk Ape had a particular Florida flair. He unfortunately smelt like a skunk, had local Spanish moss for hair, and shook sand from his sandy fur. Based on his clothing, he had just gotten off his shift at the nearby Publix. I was nervous that I'd have to tussle with yet another cryptid, but it turned out he was also interested in finding the nearby cache. Since the FTF rights were long in the rearview mirror, we agreed to search together.
The Skunk Ape introduced himself as Laughton, an Illinois transplant like myself. He mentioned that he was going to hide his first geocache near his forest preserve back home, and I agreed to post this listing for him since Bigfoot Code prevented him from using smartphones.
Anyways, we trekked deeper into the swamp. Laughton only had to wrestle 17 gators while I provided GPS directions and moral support. Found the cache in great shape- I signed with an ink pen, he signed with gator blood. We parted ways, and agreed to meet up with our mutual friend Mothman in Point Pleasant next year.