My First Night Cache

I have gone caching at night many times. It isn't that hard at this time of year since it is dark at 5 pm. Geocaching at night presents some problems and also some excitement. If you are like me then the likelihood of you dying or getting injured very bad goes up A LOT! I am very clumsy and trip over things easily. Which as you can imagine can be a pain in the butt at night.

If you are in the city caching at night you may get the cops called on you when you are looking around places with a flashlight.

Tonight, I went with Blue Crane and Kyle98632 (my best caching buddies!) to a real night cache (GC1Y1YW). It was the first one that I have found! What I mean by this is that the cache itself is designed to be found at night. The three of us got to the starting point since it is a mystery cache and we don't have the coordinates to the final cache location. We use our flashlights and search around for tacks on the trees to glow when the lights shine on them. They are a reflective material.

So we walked down the trail going from lit up tree to lit up tree. After a little bit we have to go off the trail into the woods. We were able to find the cache easily at the end because there is a large number of tacks on the tree the cache was hidden near. I really enjoyed this cache experience. I wish I had done one while I was living in Georgia.

Now to the exciting part! We were walking back to the car along the main trail when we hear a rustle in the woods. We shine our flashlights in the direction of the noise but we don't see anything. We proceeded to walk a little bit faster and we heard some more rustling in the woods so Kyle98632 (who is afraid of Sasquatch and other made up creatures!) started yelling and making noise so we didn't get attacked by this random animal. I got more freaked out because I kept hearing noises so we started running to the car. Once back to the car I had to get into the trunk and Kyle98632 kept an eye out for me. We all got in the car, caught our breath, and let our heartbeats slow down a little before we left.

Before we left Blue Crane started laughing and tells us that he was actually throwing things into the woods to scare us! All that fear for nothing! It was funny though. I still owe him one though. Blue Crane you better be scared!

Kyle98632, Mrs. Wheeler(me) of Wheelers of Fortune, and Blue Crane.

Blue Crane with the cache.

Geocaching Challenges

When it comes to geocaching I am all about a challenge. I get bored doing the same type of micro caches all the time. I also love having a list of things to do so I can cross things off and feel like I accomplished something. I don't always get everything done but I like doing it anyways. That is part of the reason I read books on book lists. Okay sorry getting off-topic.

Luckily, other geocachers put out Challenge caches. The main idea is to complete a theme or a pre-req before you can find the actual cache container. So it is not as easy as just going out there and making a find.

Just to give everyone an idea of what types of challenges are out there I thought I would share some of the challenges Craig and I have completed and some of the ones we are currently working on.

The first challenge we finished was called the Georgia Delorme Challenge. A Delorme is a type of atlas that breaks the state into a grid. Each grid square corresponds to a page in the atlas. To complete the cache you must find a cache on every single page of the atlas. Thus, we traveled throughout all of Georgia finding caches. Once we found a cache on every page the cache owner gave us the coordinates to find the final geocache. That was an amazing adventure for us. We saw so much of Georgia that we never would have.

The only other challenge cache we have completed is called "The Alphabet Soup Cache of Washington". To complete this cache we had to find a geocache who's title begins with every letter of the alphabet. So we found a total of 26 caches to qualify to find the final cache. That was an interesting challenge since we would pick and choose caches as we went based on which letters we needed to find.

Here are some challenge caches that we have finished the requirements for but have not gone and found the final cache:

• Cache by Numbers: Find caches with the numbers 0-9 in the title (3 of which must be spelled out)
• Fool's Errand- A Washington Challenge Cache: Find 150 caches in one month (plus, a special requirement based on what month you begin the challenge. Our special requirement was to find a cache in another state.)
• The Critter Cache: Find 25 caches with names of animals in the title (without repeating).
• The C5 Challenge: Cache for 65 days straight (We are currently at 72 days).

Here are some Challenges that we are currently working on (slowly):

• Washington State County Challenge: Find a cache (small size or larger) in every county in the state.
• Washington Delorme Challenge: same as described above but with the Washington Delorme Atlas instead.
• A Baker's Dozen Challenge Cache: On a given day find a certain # of caches 1-13. No more no less. To make it harder though at least one of the caches must be a mystery/unknown or multi cache. (We only have #12 left..so sometime when we have a chance we need to go out and find 12 caches in the day and have one be a multi or unknown.)
• Challenge of the Century: Find 100 Multicaches
• Challenge of the Century: Move (not discover) 100 travel bugs or geocoins
• ABC Challenge: Same as the Alphabet soup challenge but this challenge is for Oregon and all the caches must be found in Oregon.
• Color Challenge: Find 7 caches in Oregon with a color in the title. (2 of 7 completed)
• Counting Counties in Oregon: Get a cache in every county of Oregon (haven't started working on this one yet).
• Oregon Delorme Challenge: Same as above but in Oregon. (Haven't started this one yet either)
• Oregon's "Well Rounded Cacher" aka Oregon's Fizzy: Find every single difficulty/ terrain combinations (81 possible) and you must include one of every cache type.
• Oregon's Century Plus One Challenge: Cache for 101 days straight.
• The Oregon History Challenge: Find all the caches placed in the first year of geocaching (still active) in the state of Oregon.
• Washington History Challenge: Find all the caches placed in WA during the first year of geocaching (still active).
• Well Rounded Washington Challenge (Fizzy Challenge): Find all D/T ratings (81) including all cache types but must be in the state of WA and placed before 11/30/08.
• Washington's Double Century Challenge: Cache for 200 days straight (not sure if I am going to try for this one or not).

Many of these caches we are slowly working on. We usually just go geocaching and if we happen to find one that helps us complete the challenge then it makes it even better. The only one that we are truly working on is the 101 straight days of caching. I am the one that wanted to try and get this cache so it is mainly up to me to cache every day but Craig has helped out on a few occasions when I didn't have time. Since we are a team. I enjoy the work that we put into finding these challenges and completing them. It makes the final find that much sweeter. Craig and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment when we signed the log for the Georgia Delorme Challenge. Not many people can say they have done the same.

Maybe someday I will get burnt out on doing Challenge caches but I have a feeling I won't. Especially since we do them so slowly. I will try to keep you updated on whether we finish any of these.

Geocaching.

I think that it is about time that I talk about geocaching because it is an important part of my life. I will try to explain geocaching in case you have never heard me talk about it or have heard of it on your own. Geocaching is a sport/hobby in which you use a handheld GPS (global positioning system) to find hidden boxes. That is the basic info. You go to the website http://www.geocaching.com/ and sign up for a free account. Then you search for geocaches in your area and load them onto your GPS. Then you get in your car, on your bike, or in your walking shoes and go find the cache.

When you go to the website and sign up you will choose a geocaching name. Craig and I cache as a team and our Geocaching name is Wheelers of Fortune. When you find the geocache there will be a log book. To claim the find you must sign the logbook (with your geocaching name) and then go online and log it there also. But you HAVE to sign the physical logbook. When you find the cache depending on the size there will be items for trade. You are able to take something if you want. (Usually items are inexpensive).

There are several different types of geocaches. You can read about those on the geocachingwebsite. My favorites are probably multi-caches and mystery caches. Multi-caches are caches with more than one step to them. For example you will go the coordinates for the cache and use some information at the location to answer a question. There will be info in the cache information to tell you how to turn the answer into coordinates to go to the next step or to the final. A multi can be just two steps or more. Mystery caches usually have a puzzle for you to solve before you can get the coordinates to the cache. Another option for mystery caches is that you fulfill a requirement before the cache owner will give you the coordinates to the final cache.

There is some basic etiquette that you should know before you go geocaching.

#1 Trade up. If you take an item out of a cache you always replace it with another item. Preferably with something of equal or higher value.

#2 Cache In Trash Out. Clean up cache area. If the surrounding area is trashy, then pick up. No one wants trash laying about.

#3 Rehide cache better than how you found it. You want to make sure that it is well hidden for the next cacher.

#4 Don't hurt the surrounding environment. Don't step on nearby plant life. You don't want to leave any trace that you were there. Once again you want to preserve the natural environment.

A few reasons I love geocaching:

I love to spend time outside seeing the world.

I love to go to little known spots and see things I never would have otherwise.

I love to find caches while on a road trip. (A great way to take a break)

I love to having a hobby to enjoy with Craig.

I love it.

A few of my favorite caches:

Can you guess where the cache is??? Yep, up the lion's butt!

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=4e43e00f-4957-40f4-9938-bdda7e90df6e

This is a plaque placed where the original geocache was. And it is right outside of Portland, OR.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=a79d6f50-74a6-4c85-b18c-86dd8b7313ab
Our 500th cache!

I got to feed a donkey!

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=15db1edd-d9ac-46cc-b21e-6df3df629c8c

This is Craig gettin ready to go look for the final cache of the Georgia Delorme Challenge. This cache took the most work on our part.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=3eefa0c3-8c78-4c71-8d77-d8edaf726e3d

I am sure that I will post a lot more info on geocaching and such but here is something to start off with.