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!