Geocaching with "thepaytons"

Yesterday, on January 9th, we decided to try a new hunting ground.  Nearby, there is a group of ballparks paid for by a local Lion’s Club.  The first cache we sought was quite properly named "Entrance to the Lion’s Den, II"  We did some searching around, but didn’t find it.  Part of the problem was, again, I didn’t make a note of what we were trying to find; this time, another micro. 

There are two other caches near the park, so we moved on.

The next we tried looking for is called "Take Me Out to the Ball Park", and it’s in the woods at the back of the park.  We ventured down a small embankment, got our bearings, and started searching.  We did this for about 10 minutes in the light-snow-dusted woods.

At one point, my older daughter stepped on something that didn’t seem to be the ground or a branch.  She bent down, and realized she’d found it.

We now knew what an "ammo box" looks like; another common storage for caches (durable and rather weather-proof).  We opened it up and sifted through the contents. 

In keeping with the name of the cache, there were a number of balls in it (tennis, baseball, wiffle ball), as well as some other items.  Generally speaking, you’re not going to find incredibly valuable items in a cache.  It’s more the thrill of the hunt, and seeing what is actually in it.  You typically bring something to put in and take something out.

We noticed a wooded coin that said "Semper Gumby / See You Down The Trail" with an image of the old Gumby cartoon character on it.  On the coin was written a number and a date, likely a unique number and when it started circulating.  We thought at the time that this could be one of those trackable items that can be moved from cache to cache, and it’s progress can be tracked on the geocaching web site.  (I found out later that this particular one was not actually trackable, and was likely a special signature item that one particular geocacher places in caches they find.  I also found out that "Semper Gumby" is intended to mean "Always flexible".)

One interesting thing that we almost took was a film canister that held a plastic garbage bag, and a label on the outside saying that this was to support the "Cache In Trash Out" project.  The point was that you would take the bag out of the canister, clean up the area around the cache with it, then take the canister home, put a bag back in it, and put it in some other cache.  Of course, the CITO initiative suggests cleaning up around any cache, film canister or not, but it was an interesting way of keeping it fun.

But we took the coin and left a Christmas wreath ornament that includes two nails in the shape of a cross.  We then signed the log and posed for a picture at our first find that included stuff to trade.

Fresh from this, we decided to take on one more, the Lilburn Liar’s Cache.  The description of the environment around the cache and how to retrieve it is rather funny.

This cache is hidden in a completely inaccessible portion of the park. You will need to bring climbing gear, spelunking gear, rappelling gear, a submarine, and some extreme cold weather gear.

Even during the winter, you should bring a rocket launcher
to shoot down mosquitoes that are the size of small dogs and come in swarms capable of sucking all blood from a cow in less two minutes. You may wish to wear a full chemical/
radiological/biological contamination suit (MOPP 4) and approach this cache via air with an Apache helicopter.

This cache is also guarded by a giant serpent, for REAL!

Good luck and I hope you come back alive.

Well, we used the GPS to get us to the general location and started rooting around.  At one point, however, my older son decided that that the line "This cache is also guarded by a giant serpent, for REAL!" probably meant something, so (without giving any spoilers) he returned to a spot in the area that looked like it fit the description (a spot we’d previously passed by) and instantly found it.

In this we found another "Semper Gumby" coin, so we just traded the one we found with this one, and thought we’d be able to add entries for two coins.  (Though, as I said, not really.)  We again signed the log (I did, with my frozen hands), put it back, and enjoyed the fact that we’d found two caches in one day.

Lots of fun for the whole crew.  Yeah, most of the stuff is dollar-store-type things, but it really is mostly the hunt.

I went out the next day (December 28th) with 3 of my 4 kids.  (The youngest was staying overnight with cousins.)  After exchanging a few e-mails with the cache hider, geomuse, we went back to the greenway.

As an aside, at this point I’ve only e-mailed this one person, but if she’s any indication, those who’ve hidden caches are willing to be helpful.  We asked a couple of general questions (didn’t want it to be too easy) and she reminded us that what we’re looking for is small.

So off we went.

We even posed for a picture when a “muggle” came by.

Yes, “muggles” is similar to how it’s used in Harry Potter; it’s someone who (presumably) doesn’t know about geocaching.  If they walk by and you’re digging around, examining light posts, or reaching into some bushes, they’ll think you strange (at least) or report you to the police (at worst).  Also, you don’t necessarily want to alert folks to boxes of interesting stuff lying nearby.  “Muggles” might take the cache or vandalize it, so it’s best not to make them aware of it.

But finally we found stage 1.  Actually, I think I was the one that found it.  But we all enjoyed the thrill of the find.

(I’ve smudged the latitude & longitude in the picture; gonna’ have to find it yourself if you want the clue. 🙂 )

As we approached the new coordinates, the kids, already thinking like a cache hider, immediately found stage 2 in (what I later found out is called) a “bison tube”.

Inside were a couple of laminated pieces of paper with the next set of coordinates.  We decided to come back some other time and look for stage 3.  In the meantime, off to downtown Lilburn to find the one there; one of the “Downtown / Main Street USA” caches.

It took a bit of time, and we did find another “muggle” walking around, but figured they would be much of a problem.

But finally my younger daughter found it.  No picture of the location (no spoilers), but here we are after signing the log on our first actual cache find.

It felt good to get a few finds under our belt.  We updated the cache’s web page, and logged our first cache find.

I went out with my older son on December 27th to try to find a couple of nearby caches.  We live near Lilburn, GA, and last year the city put in a “greenway” along the train track and creek that was otherwise unused land.  They made a wonderful biking/running/walking path about a mile long going out from the center of town.

Since the kids like to bike down there, I though we’d look there first.  Now, I figured that starting your geocaching hobby with a 5-stage cache was probably not the easiest way to start, but I decided that it would just be fun for the kids to find out that there have been things hidden along the trail they’ve used so often.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that typically the first stages of a multi-stage cache (all but the last stage) are typically “micros”.  We were looking for something much bigger.

But first, a few definitions.  A “multi-stage” cache is one where the location on the geocaching website is just to the first stage.  That stage should provide a location for the second stage, and so on.  Sometimes it’s just a simple latitude and longitude, but I’ve read about some where you have to solve puzzles to find the next stage.

A typical cache is something that can withstand a bit of weather; a metal ammunition box, a Tupperware container, etc.  However, a “micro” is something small, which may contain only a log book to sign, or, in the case of a multi-stage cache, just big enough to hold the next location clue.  (And I’ve heard “nanos” referred to; extremely small, I suppose.)

We tried looking around where the GPS was telling us, but to no avail.

We gave up and decided to do the cache that was in beautiful downtown Lilburn.  I picked up the extra hint from the web page, but not even that helped us.  Again, no luck.

We gave up, and thought we’d come back the next day with more kids.

I’d known about the Geocaching hobby/sport for a couple of years, but didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a handheld GPS to do the searching.  When I got a Blackberry, I found that there was free software for it (BlackStar) that could point you in the direction of a particular latitude and longitude, which you need to find these caches.  I got my family away from the computer games for a bit (yeah, including me) and got us in the outdoors for a really fun hobby.

“Geocaching” has been described as using multi-million dollar satellites to find Tupperware.  The main web site for this hobby/sport, Geocaching.com, describes it this way:

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.

People hide them, give a lattitude & longitude, perhaps clue or two, and off you go, with either a hand-held GPS or free smartphone software.  We’re new to this, and it’s been a load of fun right from the start.

On the Geocaching.com website, our handle is “thepaytons“.  We started this adventure on December 27th, 2009, and this blog will chronicle our adventures in geocaching.