There is a night geocache hidden on Eglin Reservation near Niceville that I've been wanting to hunt for a while now.
But it's been too cold, or the Island King's had to much work so we kept putting it off.
Until last night.
Yesterday afternoon late we ordered pizza for the kids and were off to the woods.
Looking for the Crystal Skull.
Here's the story from the Geocache page:
"The Legend of the Crystal Skull"
"A long time ago in Crystal Lake located very near this cache, a hunter was taking a swim late at night after a day of hunting. He got out and had started a fire for warmth when he was approached by an ugly old crone. She asked him if she could share his fire as her bones were old and the cold sapped at them. Repulsed by her appearance, he drove her from the fire and back into the woods where she disappeared into the darkness. He thought nothing of it until near midnight he started seeing ghostly apparitions and disembodied skulls floating in the woods around him. A hideous voice cried out from the darkness, 'You have trespassed on my land, have killed my animals and have no compassion for others....for this I demand your head!" The hunter grew frightened at this and moved closer to the fire. The ghosts approached closer and closer until the meager fire went out and the hunter was seen no more.....
Some say that people walking through the woods late at night will occasionally get a glimpse of the skull of the hunter shining with an inner glow like a lit piece of crystal as a warning to be courteous and respectful to land, animals and people.
Cache is not at the posted coordinates. Follow the skulls from the starting point towards the final GZ. The skulls will alternate in color and each should be visible from the previous skulls placement. Please do not rush down the paths as several waypoints will require a 360 degree scan of the area. The final will be located off of the main paths so some bushwhacking may be necessary. Please make sure that the container is re-assembled correctly and placed back in the same place."
Sounds like a fun cache and we were off to find it.
We started after it got good and dark walking along a sand road running into the woods.
Immediately, we saw the first skull and knew we were in the right place.
As we wandered the trail white and red skulls would appear in the darkness.
The skulls led us on and off of the trail and turned us around several times.
The Island King stopped at one point and asked how we'd know where to stop and look for the cache.
I told him I had no idea but that I was pretty sure we'd know it when we saw it.
Not long after he stopped walking, turned off his flashlight and said "Look down there."
We could see something glowing - without our flashlights.
Us being relatively intelligent and all, we decided that the cache we were looking for was probably around that eerie light in the woods.
We went closer and found the Crystal Skull.
This is a really cool clear plastic skull sitting on top of a 2x4 that's been set in the ground.
The cache owner has placed a bright battery operated light inside and you can see that sucker glowing through the woods for a long way.
So we are standing there looking at it and both of us are convinced that when we pick that skull up something will come swinging out of the trees and scare the living daylights out of us.
We spent a minute using our flashlights, looking for things in the trees that could come swinging down and trip wires but didn't see anything.
We debated who was actually going to pick the cache up and the Island King tells me this is my mission and that I have to pick it up.
I was really nervous but lifted the skull and that was it.
Nothing screamed or jumped out at us.
I unscrewed the lid, signed the log and then put the skull back on the 2x4.
We followed small dots on the backside of the trees back to the trail and then hiked on back to the van.
It was a really fun cache but I was a little disappointed that nothing happened.
The glowing skull out in the middle of the woods is really cool but if we'd hit a trip wire or something and a ghost came swinging out at us it would have scared us both.
On the way home the Island King started making plans for turning a cache we have up in the woods near Freeport into a night cache and making it scare the tar out of people.
Can you imagine if we could put one of those night cameras hunters use out there so we could watch people's reactions?
It would be hysterical!
The only problem is that the cache is pretty far away and for something like that it's better to be close because it would need to be maintained more than a regular cache.
But it's not impossible.
So now we're thinking about it and if we can work some things out it just might happen.
I'd love to be scared by my own cache!Labels: Done
