I received several emails from readers about geocaching from the previous column.  Some were from participants and some were wanting more information about starting.  I heard from the reader who brought the Geocoin from Alaska to Grand Caverns Park about which I wrote.

So kick back, relax and listen to my first geocaching adventures.

My in-laws came to visit on the weekend.  We were all going to the “32nd Annual Fall Mountain Heritage Arts & Crafts Festival”, Harpers Ferry, WV.  Well for those of you who know me, you also know that I can’t really enjoy craft shows for more than 15-20 minutes.  I talked them into letting me go with them to the fairgrounds and then running off on my own to find some caches for the day. 

I had loaded several sites into my GPS for that area.  It was neat to find out when we got to “Sam Michael’s Park” that there were three caches hidden there.  The first which was rated “3.5″ (1=easy to 5=hardest) I found after about 45 minutes.  It was great!  The cache was hidden in a heavily wooded area under a large stone.  It was a two quart plastic container.  It had some trinkets inside but I didn’t care – the challenge was met when I found it!

I couldn’t get to the other two at the park as I wasn’t clothed to negotiate the head tall briars, stickers and brambles that were there.  So I quit there and moved on.  Next, I went into the woods behind a large subdivision. 

This hunt was good until I was under a heavy canopy of trees which blocked the satellite signal to my GPS device.  All I knew was that I was within 25 feet of the cache.  I never did find it but I did almost loose my lunch.  A very large sounding Doberman appeared, then quit suddenly about two feet away on the other side of a fence.  The fence looked way to small to contain him for long so I left…quickly… the cache forgotten.

The last one was in the same neighborhood.  I was searching around a large water tower.  The coordinates were about 200 feet from where I was, but I was bumping up against another fence, sans dog.  I stood on an old log to look over the edge of the fence to the woods behind it, saw nothing and left; stumped again.  As I left I saw two teenaged boys looking at me and talking.  I figured that maybe they had hidden the cache and were talking about how I overlooked it. 

Well it was now time to grab a snack so I went to a sandwich shop about 3 blocks from the water tower.  When I came out a really large guy came over to me with fists in the cocked position wanting to know what I was doing looking around his house.  I had to muster up a bunch of courage as he looked like a weight lifter and had 15 years on me.  All I had was a pencil, paper and my GPS.

I told him I wasn’t looking at his house.  He proceeded to explain that he saw me looking over his fence and wanted a good reason why and quick!   I told him that he must live next to the water tower which he acknowledged.  Well, against all geocaching rules I had to tell a muggle what I was doing.  After examining my GPS and paperwork he believed me.  He left with a warning that he didn’t want to see me in his neighborhood ever again.

I left – what a day…and yes I will be doing it again, just not around “his” water tower.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.