Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Geocaching Afternoon

These are Geocaches. You use a hand held GPS device to locate these hidden treasure boxes. I thought you should see two that were hidden( top pictures above) and two that we opened. The left top one is the smallest we have found and in a perfect hiding place. We found it right off of a busy street in our town, right next to the CA. Highway Patrol. That's just to let you know that it's an accepted and legal seek and find game that all law agencies approve of. The larger the cache the easier it is to find. We went 4 for 4 today. We signed the record inside the containers and, if there was room, left a trinket. Then we put it back where it was hiding for the next person who comes along.
One of the biggest reasons that I love doing this is because you get to see places like this....
You have to drive down country roads, past old farms and California cows. It's fun, entertaining, and good exercise for two old retired folks that like an adventure that doesn't get too difficult but requires us to get out and walk or hike a bit. Each cache is designated with a degree of difficulty so you can pick the ones you want to try. There are lots of levels..., "easy" or " all uphill" or "better bring some food and water". You get the idea. The level is your choice. We are in the "easy" to "small hike" caches right now but we will try to up our game little by little. How could you not want to drive to beautiful places in Amador County and look for little treasures.
OK! This one was not funny. It was behind our Hospital, outside of town, in the staff parking lot. It was inside the casing of a light standard. I will have to say it was the most creative one that we have found so far but I'm sure glad that the Prospector found it first. I think I would have had a small heart attack or, at the very least, I would have jumped back a few hundred feet. This one took the longest to find. Then the Prospector leaned on the concrete to look down at the ground around the standard and the metal casing moved. When he lifted it up there she was..., the Merry Widow. ( That's what the cache was called. ) The comment told us it was "scary". It was. Inside her was a film container with a sign in paper. The little caches don't have trinkets but I'll bet that someone takes the Merry Widow home with them. It's a "treasure" all by itself. You're not suppose to take these things but we've been to places where we couldn't find the cache and no one had for quite a while. That's when you wonder if someone found it and took it. I hope no one takes this spider because it's kind of cool and a very clever cache.
We probably won't play this game in the summer because I would not want to open up a casing like this and find a Rattler coiled up inside, or under a rock, or waiting inside a tree root. Nope, I'm not that adventurous and about the middle of June those beautiful, hungry snakes come out of their Winter hiding places and start roaming around until late fall. I know this..., I'm on a first name basis with some of them.
Anyway we had a lot of fun this afternoon. Carl, the Pupster, was with us. He mostly stayed in the car because it seems he wants to "herd" everything that walks on all fours and makes a nuisance of himself with every cow, sheep, goat, dog and horse that he sees. He even barked at a Highway Patrolman in his car. Oh Carl, what are we going to do with you. Next time you may have to stay home.

I'm going to save the "What is it?" photo for tomorrow. I need to get permission from the owner, first, to post pictures of her farm . I haven't yet but I will call her tonight.
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9 comments:

  1. This looks like soooo much fun! It sounds like a great way to get out and get a little exercise without spending money. Good for you...;p

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  2. What fun! I think geocaching is something I would really enjoy doing... I'll have to bring the subject up with my husband!

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  3. This sounds like something my husband and I would enjoy. Love the spider one but like you I probably would have had a heart attach if I had found it. The pictures of Amador County are great reminds me of Nevada County, where I was raised. Have a great day Connie. Madeline

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  4. Very interesting post today. My hubby has talked about doing that a couple years ago, but we never did. It does sound like fun, unless you have to climb across fallen trees over a stinky swamp to get to the prize!!!

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  5. I love this, so you are saying that when I head up your way one day we can go looking for this stuff? The spider is just too funny, so real life like isn't it!

    Hmmm, I wonder if this goes on in my neighborhood?

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  6. EEEEEEEK, the spider would freak me out! My friend in Tucson says her DH & son geocache nearly every weekend, probably not in summer in AZ either!
    Fun to leave little extras.......

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  7. What a great geocaching day! That's the great thing about geocaching--it takes you to such interesting places. We've found parks in our own area that we never knew where there.

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  8. Loved your post today. I learned things I did not know. Looks like it is a fun thing to do and sometimes reap rewards. Thank you for your visit.

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  9. Sounds like you are having fun with this. There used to be one behind the cat clinic where I worked and it was called "Kitty uh, something, something..." Anyway I would find people rummaging around out back and ask them what the heck they were doing! That's how I first heard of it. Do you know about http://www.geocaching.com ?

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