Bring a Friend!

David and I went caching today with a friend of David's. It was Carson's first time going out, and I do believe he had a good time. While they were playing in David's room, I gathered up 4 caches that were close to each other.

Three of the caches were all in the same area - Ringtail Ridge. It's a 40+ acre area that's been somewhat developed as a hiking/biking/walking trail. It's either somewhat overgrown, or not completely cleared, because there are some areas where it was a bit difficult to navigate. Nothing seriously difficult, just a bit tough to maneuver, especially for two 7 year olds.

We pulled into the area, which if you weren't going there specifically, you'd probably never find it. We gathered our gear, and started hiking. We saw a lot of cactus.


We also got a lot of what I've always called Stick Tites. You may have had some - they're little burrs that stick to your socks, shoelaces, shirt, shorts, and most especially to leg hair. They don't hurt, but they are a real nuisance.


We let Carson be the guide, and he did a really good job. Until a point. The point, pictured to the left, specifically. It was here where we needed to diverge from the trail, and into the brush. Either Carson didn't notice the change in direction, or didn't want to exit the trail. I think it was just because he was new. And that's fine.


Thanks to Carson's error, we got to see a neat little pond. It was a sort of scummy pond, but it was a nice pond. Probably not a nice swimming pond, though.


It was here where we had noticed Carson's mistake, so we doubled back to the point we needed to get off the trail. Sort of a funny thing, we had stopped to take a picture by the cactus, and then moved on. The cactus is where we needed to turn!!! You can't see it in the picture, but to the left of that tree in the background is where we needed to go.


After navigating what the boys would probably later on call Treacherous Territory, we found what we were looking for. An ammo box tucked under a tree. Now, most caches are hidden fairly well, to keep 'muggles' from stumbling across it. This one wasn't hidden at all. Once we got to the tree, I could see it plainly. But, to be honest, if someone gets off the trail at that point, they deserve to find it! 


We signed the log, exchanged prizes, and headed back to the car. We were all three hot and needed to take a swig of the Gatorade we had brought. Plus we needed to get all the stick tites off. We stopped at a bench momentarily and I got as many off my legs, shirt, and shorts as I could. I also got a lot off of David. I noticed Carson didn't really get any on him. Lucky Carson!

We made it back to the car, drank up, and hit the trail again. This time, the trail had no gravel, and was not much more than a dirt footpath. The sign suggested bikes, but I am not sure it was so bike worthy. At this point, the boys pretty much gave up on carrying anything - so I had the camera and the GPS. I think Carson was carrying the back pack at this point. I saw that we were fairly close to the cache, and suggested we cut across an area rather than sticking to the path. It wasn't bad, but the boys didn't care for it. Lots of stick tites and just general unhappiness. We did see some pretty flowers, though. 


We trekked on, and found the path before the boys had mutinied. It was a close call. I wasn't sure they would make it.

Even though Carson wasn't carrying the GPS, he was quick to find the cache. We had gotten to the spot marked on the GPS, but David and I couldn't find the cache. Carson suggested we take a look in a specific area, so we did. BOOM. It was there. Go Carson!!! 

One final cache in the park and we'd be done with this particular part of the mission. We stuck to the path, and got to see some curious things. One of them was a nest of Daddy Long Leg Spiders. I was worried that the boys might be afraid, but they weren't. I didn't push the issue by pushing them into it to fully test the theory. We also came across some poop. Not sure what kind of animal it was, but they sure did have a lot of seeds in their poop. 

Soon we were at the spot, and I found it quickly. I knew I had to keep the boys off the thirst and heat. We signed and exchanged prizes. Then we put the cache back and marched on to the car. I had hoped that we could just go forward to circle around. The boys wanted to double back. I'm bigger; I win.


We came across another pond. At first, I thought it might have been the same pond, but it wasn't. A little victory pose, and we made our way back to the car.


One last cache at the Jaycee's park and we headed over to H-E-B. I thought for sure Carson would constantly remind me of his thirst. If it had been David, I probably would have told him to can it, but Carson wasn't annoying. Probably because he's not my son. We got drinks, played a little H.E.Buddy, and headed home. 


All in all, it was a great afternoon - despite the stick tites. I think that Carson may be a convert to 'treasure hunting.' 

It's been a long time...

After Christy and David got home from church (Zada, Quentin, and I stayed home because Z and Q were sick), I took David out for some "Treasure Hunting," aka geocaching.

I started to look up more caches at GeoCaching.com, but realized we still had several printouts from the last time we went out.

David and I input the waypoints into our GPS and got ready and headed out. David was pretty good at reading the number to me while I put them into the GPS. He also was watching Bee Movie at the time. We grabbed the backpack and headed out.

I forgot to take the camera with us - something I like to do is always take pictures of our adventures. And we would have gotten several good pictures today!

Our first stop was called "Grin and Bare It," which is a play on the name of the establishment that is near this particular cache. David and I parked very near it, did a little searching, and within a few minutes had our first cache of the day. He swapped out treasures while I signed the log.

Next stop was "A Walk in the Park." Because the printout was old, it didn't have any particular info, such as where the entrance to the park was. Had I chosen "San Marcos Open Spaces #2," I would have found the spot immediately.

We parked in a place that seemed somewhat appropriate, and trekked down a trail that met with the park. We followed the main path to the entrance, and then turned back around to go find the cache. Once we got off the path, we found 3 deer! David saw two of them, because the first one ran off before I was able to pick David up. The grass was about as tall as David!

It didn't take too long for us to find the cache, so David swapped some trinkets, I signed the log, and we were on our way to the next one.

Fortunately, the next one was nearby our entry/exit point, so we searched in the area we thought it would be. David looked, but didn't see it. I looked, and after a few seconds, found it. I didn't point it out to David, but there was a little nest of daddy long legs under the rock. It was really cool looking, and I really wished I had brought the camera for this.

Back to the car. David had been marking off our finds from the notebook, so he did it one more time. Three down; three to go.

Next was a fairly simple park and grab. David and I parked at an apartment complex, crossed the street, and after a couple minutes, found the cache. Again, Deezo swapped prizes and I signed the log. Back to the car.

Nearby there was another one, but a little harder to get to. We trekked through the brush and found the "Tunnel of Trees" between N. LBJ, Chestnut, and Sessom. We got a little lost on the way back, because we over shot our turn and found a 'campsite.' We kept pushing on, though - didn't want to disturb the area.

Back to the car. Update the notebook. Off to the last one.

If I had planned this better, we would have done a lot less backtracking. I also would have updated the printouts. The last one we had passed at least once. So we parked, and started walking. I found the spot where the cache was, but didn't find it. Mostly because both of us were tired and ready to be done. Also, because they had moved the cache from the original post - from the wall to a tree. If I had read the updated cache, I'd have known to look at the tree, not the wall. Oh well...

We got back into the car and headed home.

Now if only I could remember how I signed David up on Geocaching.com. It's been almost a year and I have no idea what email I used for him!!! Dang it!

Hopefully we'll do some more geocaching soon, and not wait 10 months!

It was on the way!

We were heading over to visit Christy's mom this afternoon. I knew there was a cache on the way.

I put the GPSr in the car and it officially made this our first "family" cache.

It was really easy. Christy looked at the GPS and told me where it was. I got out, grabbed it, and hopped back into the car. I signed the log, showed everyone, then put it back.

Then we were back on track to Nee Nee's house.

The 5th of July

David and I started out a little after eleven this morning. I wanted to try 2 caches we missed on a previous outings.

First stop, the San Marcos Nature Center. This was the second cache we looked for in San Marcos, and the first one we didn't find. I don't know why we didn't see it the first time, but today it was pretty easy to find.

David was excited that we found it, but more excited that he was able to trade items. He left a plastic army man and took a little yellow parachuting ninja. We put the cache back, loaded ourselves back into the truck, and we were on our way to the next cache. It was one we had missed before on a cloudy day.

A few days ago on our 2nd outing, David and I tried to find this one. It was a little overcast that morning and we had a hard time finding it. I thought that the cloudy sky may have caused the GPSr to be a little off on its location.

Turns out, I was wrong. We just couldn't see it very well. We ended up in the spot we had ended up on June 30th, but today we were able to see it! Must be the time of day and the light. Or maybe we're just getting to be better cachers.

There was a small paper umbrella in this one. David wanted it, so he traded it for one die. I prefer to put the die in pairs, but there's no way that two dice would have fit into the container. I think next time I'm out, I'll bring a trash bag, because this area was a little trashy - not a lot, but a few cans and things here really detract from the view.

We tried to find that benchmark again, but to no avail. I've seen pictures of it, so I thought I had a good idea where it was. The GPSr was still pointing to a place I knew it wasn't. David and I looked for it where I was pretty sure it was, but couldn't find it. I assume that the recent rebuild of the train bridge may have knocked this one off the playing field. I'll go looking for it again sometime, hopefully.

We trekked it back to the truck, hopped in, loaded the next cache and we were on our way.


Our next stop was a cache in the front yard of a fellow geocacher's home. The name of it is "Heartless," and in the picture, I'm sure you can see why.

Unfortunately, we didn't see the actual cache here, and I was unsure if there was one. Sometimes the caches are just "get a picture and post it" types. So I snapped a quick picture after we searched for a few minutes, and we moved on.

This one was near the Shipley's Donut Shop, and David then informed me how hungry he was for donuts. Nope, son. No donuts. I sure could have used some coffee at this point, but I was willing to forego just to avoid donuts. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy donuts, but it was hot, and they would have just been... nasty.

The next cache was on the west side of the Texas State campus. I had never been over to this part of campus, but I knew that there was a Frisbee Golf Course over here.

There were some people over here when we unloaded, so I talked to them. They were familiar with Geocaching, but hadn't done it themselves. They did, however, do letterboxing, which is not unlike Geocaching. My cousin said she has done it as well. After a brief conversation, David and I continued on.

We went the wrong way at first, staying close to the building that was there. I realized that we had to double back and go on the lower grass path to get to the actual cache. Once we got close, it was fairly evident where the cache was.




I didn't realize that there were thorny vines near the cache, but luckily neither David nor I got hurt by them. There was a little plastic spider in this one, and David wanted to trade again. We put a sparkly, fuzzy bracelet in the cache for trade. We put it back and we were on our way.

We climbed into the truck - literally, because the passenger door doesn't work, so David climbs into it, over the console, and into the passenger seat. Loaded up the coordinates to the next cache, and headed out. The bad thing about this cache was exiting. The street you get on to get back onto RR12 is at an odd angle, and because the traffic isn't consistent, it was tough to get onto RR12. But we did. And we were on our way to WONDER WORLD.

If you haven't been to Wonder World, you should probably go. I went once when I was about 13 or 14 with my parents. The thing with the place is that when you leave, you "wonder" why you went. I guess it's a bit of a tourist trap, but it's not so bad. David went this year with his class, so I suppose it has some value.

When we pulled in, David looked around and asked, "Have I been here before?" I sort of chuckled, and told him yes. "Oh, I was here with my mommy. And my class." Yup. You got it right. I eyeballed the place and had a pretty good idea where the cache was. I had parked under a tree for the shade, and when I opened the door a branch slapped me in the head. OUCH. Just glad it was my head and not my eye.

We headed over to where I thought the cache was, and walked a little bit. David likes to just scope out the area, it seems. And of course, the GPS coordinates aren't always so accurate. I think my GPS4 has gotten down to about 14ft accuracy, but even at 14ft, that leaves a fair amount of options when you're out and about. But, my hunch was right. We found the cache and it had stuff in it.

This time David found another parachutist. It think this guy was just your normal jumper, not a ninja or a pirate or a zombie. I forget what he traded, but I think it was another army man. Seemed about right.

There was an added bonus to this cache. It gave us coordinates to another spot near the cache and said if we took a picture, we'd get a bonus. So we found the spot and snapped some pictures:


After that, we were on our way to the last cache of the day.

The name of this cache was, "Hey! It's Over Here!" and the point of the cache is to introduce people to Prospect Park. I had never been out here, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was getting hot, because it was after noon by this point. But we trekked on, undeterred by the blistering sun.

Prospect park is really neat. There is a maintained trail, and a 'natural' trail. We opted for the natural trail, because I felt that if we were going to find a cache, it wouldn't be on the more popular route. After we had gotten into the park, I started to think that I should have 'marked' our parking spot. I didn't think we'd get lost, but that idea was in my head. Being out in the hot sun and lost - plus we left the water in the truck - wasn't a very nice thought.

We walked on, and when we were close, I paused. I looked around, but didn't really see an easy path to the cache - and the directions in the posting said it was an easy cache. We walked a little more and made a turn. We went through some tall grass, avoided the plentiful cactus, and found the spot where it was close. I spotted it immediately, but it was up high, so David didn't see it. And again, there were things for trade in this cache.

David wanted this little red thing. I have no idea what it is. But he wanted it, and we traded. We traded blue sidewalk chalk. The chalk is sort of big, so we've had a hard time finding caches big enough to hold it. We put the cache back and headed back to the truck. Fortunately, it wasn't as difficult as I had feard. After getting back to the park entrance, we sat on the benches and cooled off for a couple of seconds. Then we got back into the truck and headed out.

We made a quick pit stop at a coffee shop - I for my headache medicine, and David for his 2nd round of chocolate milk of the day. We got back to the house and were feeling pretty accomplished for the day!

A quick outing...

After our last hunt, I remembered that my dad had given David a little backpack last year. Turns out it's the perfect size to be geocaching pack. I put a pencil, our notepad, and the 'treasures' in it. It even has a little pocket that's great for the GPS unit.

I needed to go to the post office this evening, so I thought it'd be a great opportunity to knock out a couple of caches in the vicinity of it.

I realized once we were underway that I had forgotten the camera and my cell phone. I also didn't look up the caches' info before we left. Guess I was a little too quick to go this time around...

After getting done at the P.O., I parked by campus. I really should have read before we left. I could have parked really close to this one, but it was a good opportunity for David and I to get some walking and bonding in.

The first one was really easy. In fact, I can't tell you how many times I'd actually walked by this one while I was going to school. As soon as Iwe got close, I knew exactly where it was. I told David to look and he pulled it out. We sat down and filled out the log. Since we brought prizes along, we put a couple of dice into it. David really enjoyed it.

The next one was a bit tougher... sort of.

There's a statue of LBJ on campus. And I knew that this was the cache, due to the name of it, and the location on the map. But again, I didn't read the page first. So David and I spent quite a bit of time looking around the area for an actual cache. We gave up, bought a Sprike (what my kids call Sprite), and headed home.

It was warm this evening, but it was really nice. David had a great time. He had just as much fun getting there as looking when we got there. I'm really enjoying this time with him.

The next day

Both David and Zada liked caching yesterday, but Zada said she didn't want to go again. But David was raring to go.

I loaded up several caches last night and printed out a few this morning. David and I soon hit the road in search of a few caches.


The first cache was off of a trail near the river. We looked and looked, but we really couldn't find it. I didn't report this one as a DNF (did not find) because I was assuming we were off (it was cloudy) and the area was very thick with brush and trees. We'll try this one again later when the sun is out.


Close by this cache was a benchmark - which is something that is used to gauge distances on the planet (I think, I haven't read up on them.) We didn't find this one either. We got close, according to the GPS, but it was either in the river, or near the edge. Either way, we weren't going to see it without getting wet. Maybe if we go tubing at some point.


Next up, one just off of Guadalupe, near the AutoZone. This was very easy to find (mostly because I've done this before) and we located it very quickly. The only issue was that after we wer walking back to the car, David said, "Hey, we could have parked right here!" Yeah, I parked about 90 feet too far away!

Then we headed to another one just off the square. Another easy one. We parked 10 feet from it, so David was glad. If they were all this easy, we'd be done in no time.

Then the batteries died. I put some rechargable batteries in yesterday when I got it, and I guess they don't hold a charge too long. Off to HEB (which was only 2 blocks away) to pick up some more. And sodas!


Off to the last one - a VIRTUAL cache on the square. David liked finding it, but seemed less interested in the history behind it.


Then we packed up, hit the post office, and came home.

Not bad for the second day. I think Zada would have liked this one, but she missed out. Maybe next time!

The first trip out

Last week, I ordered a GPS unit. It came in this afternoon. Apparently our postman doesn't ring the doorbell. Or knock. UPS guy does.

Little background...
Back in 2005, some friends of mine introduced me to Geocaching. We'd get together on a Saturday morning and follow the GPS unit to various destinations. We'd sign the logs and then post them online. It was really fun - especially when we couldn't pinpoint the exact location - some of those caches are extremely small!

Not too long after they introduced me to the 'sport,' we moved to San Marcos. And I just never did get a unit for myself. And technically, you could print out some Google maps with the latitude and longitude and go look for the caches, but for some caches, you really have to have a unit.

So after I played around with my GPS unit, figuring it out and programming some caches into it, I took David and Zada out on some treasure hunting. I was certain that David would like it, but I wasn't sure about Zada.

The first cache we did was really easy. A bit of a Park and Grab (PNG). We got out of the car, and David had the GPS. I showed him what we were looking for and we went right to it. They thought it was great.

Next up was a bit of a disappointment. We found the location, but didn't find the cache. It's possible that it got 'muggled' - some non-geocacher may have taken it. Hopefully not, but we looked hard for it.

So we packed up and headed out to knock out a couple more.

Fortunately they were relatively close together. The first was fairly easy to find, but the second was a multi-part. A multi-part cache is one where you're given some coordinates, and at those coordinates, you get more. I think Zada was really ready to quit on our way to the first leg of the multi-part, but she kept on and really was a trooper.

When we got to the first stop on the multi-part, I wasn't sure what to look for. Fortunately, there were some people that knew what I was looking for and helped me out. What was funny is that they didn't know what the numbers were for. Off to the second leg..

Zada had to pee. And peeing in the woods for guys is fine. Girls, not so much.

We ducked into a secluded area, and I did my best to help her no-go. I think she really doesn't like peeing anywhere that isn't a toilet. I don't blame her, but I sure didn't want her going in the car, and I knew she would...

We found the second part, and headed to the third part. Again, she needed to pee. Again, she couldn't.

The third part was easy to find, so we were off to the final part.

Unfortunately, it was across the water, so the kids had to stay on the bank. I waded across (I wore sandals, they wore shoes) and found it pretty easily. We headed back to the car, and Zada was good to go. Back to the house.

We made it back to the house without incident. The kids were tired. David had a great time. Zada had a good time, but she wasn't digging all the walking.

I had another cache in the GPS, but opted not to find it. It had mentioned hiking, and I know Zada wasn't into that. Plus, hiking in sandals wasn't the best idea for me either.

All in all, I'd say it was a success. I learned to use the GPS rapidly. The kids got to see things they wouldn't normally see. And we got to spend time outside together. And it really didn't feel too hot, either.

I did have one regret, though - for the multi-part cache, I wish I had taken a camera. Next time, I plan on taking it with us.