I was out looking for a geocache that has given me fits for weeks
because it's rated as a relatively easy park and grab but yet no
matter how many times I looked for it I couldn't find it. The cache
owners are friends of mine so finally one afternoon I decided to call
the owners, Shalimargeosearchers, and ask for help.
He took pity on me and offered a strong hint. No luck. He and his
wife were laughing and in the end he basically had to put my hand on
the cache over the phone.
I was really relieved to have that one off my list and while we
were on the phone he told me that a group of cachers were going to
the north end of the county on Saturday to get a geocache named “It's in the … but the wife said I shouldn't.”
This cache is in some sort of drainage hole that is about twelve
feet deep and SGS said he had just the right tool for retrieving the
cache.
The whole idea sounded fun and since there is no way I'd go down
in the hole I knew the only way I'd ever get to sign that log was if
someone else got it and handed it to me. SGS actually wanted to go in
the hole so I was in.
I called my Dad and he wanted to go as well so he met me and the
boys Saturday morning in Holt and from there we drove on up to meet
the rest of the group.
One of the other people meeting us was already there so we pulled
over and were talking with her while we waited for everyone else.
And then this happened.
You just have to wonder how the day is going to end when it starts
with a talk with law enforcement.
Luckily, he saw us on the side of the road and just stopped to
make sure everything was ok.
Everyone else arrived and SGS brought out his handy dandy ladder.
This is the coolest ladder I've seen. He got it from Sherwin
Williams and it's an Xtend & Climb® Aluminum TelescopingExtension Ladder. It was definitely a great ladder for caching
because of it's portability.
Several people in our group had studied the site and determined
the only way in was on foot.
Through the woods, down a hill of rocks, across a bed of rocks
covered with vines (meaning you couldn't tell where you were
stepping) and then back up a hill of rocks to the hole.
It was a treacherous hike but slowly and surely we made our way to
ground zero.
Where we found this.
Seriously? How on earth did the man who hid this cache even find
this hole?
I was SO glad I'd come with a group because looking at the
pictures on the cache page were one thing but peering down into the
hole was another and you couldn't have paid me money to go down
there.
I am not afraid to admit that I am so scared of snakes there are
some things I refuse to do and going down into that hole was one of
them.
SGS on the other hand was roarin to go so they set up the ladder
and down he went.
He handed the cache up to us, we signed the log and then he
returned it to it's hiding spot. This is definitely my idea of how this cache
should be obtained.
We all managed to make it back to our cars with no broken bones but we were all covered in scratches and ant bites - which is standard for a caching adventure.
It really was fun going after this cache with friends and a huge thank you to Shalimargeosearchers for handing us the log!
Labels: Done
