Sunday, August 24, 2008

Just Like Old Times

Yesterday, we went geocaching. Now, as y'all know, we have had our share of adventures when geocaching. For some weird reason, we ALWAYS find ourselves in the middle of the woods when daylight runs out.



But yesterday, that wasn't going to happen. This was a nice, relaxed caching day. We did a few caches and were having a great time. One or two more caches, things were going so well.



This cache was new and didn't have much information. Something about a nice hike with great views, it sounded good to us. We had some trouble finding the parking, but eventually located a promising stop. Got ourselves out of the car and prepared for the hike.



Water bottle. Check. Trading items. Check. GPS. Check. Flashlight? Nah, it's so light still and it's not a very long hike (about a kilometer) to the cache, so no reason to carry flashlights all the way up. Not to mention that I hadn't even brought a flashlight. I mean, my go study and my Korean study books were enough, I wasn't going to take an unnecessary flashlight!



We found a trail. Hiked up for a while. Then the trail stopped. And it was going in the wrong direction anyway. Shucks! Let's backtrack and try to find a better trail. Well, at least that wasn't too hard. Apart from half of the trail being washed away after The Summer Without Sun But With Plenty of Rain.



We hiked. And noticed the trail was going up. And up. And up. And more up. And then it went up. We kept ascending. A lot! Way more than I wanted to ascend for a nice relaxed cache hike. Well, at least we were promised a great view. That would make it all worth it, wouldn't it?



The cache wasn't getting closer as fast as we wanted to. Not only that, we were hiking FARTHER away from the cache. Only one way to solve this. Bushwhacking! It wasn't totally dark yet, but the sun was setting fast. Not sure why the sun suddenly was in such a hurry to leave us. I would have liked to see it for a bit longer.



So it was getting dark, we were bushwhacking, we didn't have flashlight, we hadn't found the cache yet, and we were being eaten by mosquitoes. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Much explanations to the cache owners how they hid it all wrong and made the trail too steep too!



But we persevered and found the cache. I might or might not have said 'If you find it just TELL me!' and that is just what happened. It was a small cache too, instead of a huge cache full of wonderful trading items after a long hike. Can you tell that I was a tad annoyed by the fact that we had to work so hard for so little reward? Grown-up about things, I am.



We took a trail back, and found ourselves in a familiar meadow. Ah, there finally was our view which had been promised, but never got delivered. And there was another few miles hike back to the car, since this was not the same way we came in, but both of us did NOT want to go back into the woods in the dark. Maybe next time, I'll bring a flashlight. One day, I'll figure it out, right?



We rewarded ourselves with a Mexican dinner and some booze. We had earned it, darnit!

2 comments:

Jody said...

That looks delicious.

I love reading about your cache adventures. Not bringing a flashlight lends extra fun and excitment to the story........but next time, bring a flashlight.

Annelies said...

LOL, nee, dan mijn wandeling door historisch Enkhuizen.. dat was een eitje vergeleken bij jullie barre tocht....
*memo aan mezelf: zaklantaarn voor boscaches*