Finding+the+Cache

So, as you may have heard, I was given an assignment I had never done before in my Social Studies Methods class... go geocaching. What is geocaching you ask? Well, its sort of like a treasure hunt but instead of using a map with an 'x' that marks the spot you use a GPS and coordinates to find the hidden 'treasure'. As I considered who I would like to bring with me on my first ever geocaching adventure I thought to myself, "who would be a better partner than my trusty dog Max?" He loves exploring and finding things, its probably his favorite hobby, next to pretending he is a lap dog of course. So I loaded Max into the car and we set off for our local community college to find a cache. Max was super excited. So once we arrived to the college I searched for nearby caches on my iPhone geocaching app and I found one that was 0.4 miles away. I decided it would be the perfect cache for us to find.



So we hopped out of the car and set off to find the cache entitled 'RCC Trail- Yellow'. Kind of a boring name, but finding it was far from boring. We began walking towards the trail when my dad called and asked if he could join us on our adventure so of course I said "yes, we need all the help we can get!"

When my dad arrived we walked and came across the point at which the trail entered the woods. We walked and walked until the GPS said we were getting close so we ventured off on a side trail to see if we could find the cache. I could tell we were close but the GPS kept saying I was one foot away then all of a sudden without moving I was 15 feet away... so confusing. So we spent a lot of time searching a giant pile of fallen trees.

We searched and searched and walked in circles for what seemed like hours, even though it was only about 20 minuets. Being the impatient person I am, I was starting to think we were never going to find it and I was wondering where else I could find a cache to complete my assignment. This picture accurately shows how I was feeling about searching for the cache.   After searching and searching and walking in more circles covering the same ground and hoping we would stumble across the cache I realized that the person who hid the cache had provided clues on the app to help people find it. "There is hope!" I thought as I read the clues to my dad. They said 1) 20 paces off trail (okay... we're about 20 paces off the trail, that's a good sign!) 2) Parallel to Yellow trail marker (I looked to my right... parallel to me was a yellow trail marker) 3) Look at stack of fallen trees. FALLEN TREES! That's where we've been looking the whole time! I relayed the news to my dad and we diligently searched the pile of fallen trees again. "There it is!" my dad shouted. I walked over to where he was pointing and saw a green string tied to a small waterproof bottle wrapped in black tape. (Look closely at center of picture)  We had found it! After searching forever (okay, maybe only about thirty minuets) we finally found the RCC Trail-Yellow geocache. It said it was a relatively simple cache to find but I might have to disagree. So after it was found I opened it to see what was inside. There was a log of people who had found it and a small marble with a cross on it.  Unfortunately, I did not bring a pen so I could not sign the log but I did comment on the geocaching app to let them know I had found it. After we looked at the items we put them back, closed the cache and placed it back on the pile of trees. I was thankful my dad came because my "trusty" companion Max who is "great at finding things" was too busy running through the woods and chasing a deer and basically anything counterproductive to help me find the cache. Although halfway through I was frustrated and ready to give up, I have to admit finding a geocache is pretty exciting and it may be some thing I do again.