Carpe Geocache!

Greetings to all who may read my other blog "Snoscootrs Wild Ride" I decided to branch off and make this more of some of our adventures and "misadventures", and leave the other one to cover more of the development of our land up north and our various trips snowmobiling.
Today's adventure took us to Miller's Pond State Park in Durham. We decided to go for a hike since the weather was forecast in the low 70's. We did a little research and found out there were some geocaches there as well. What are geocaches you might ask. Well Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. More information can be found at http://www.geocaching.com/ After sitting on my butt most of the winter, it was good to get out and walk and enjoy nature a bit. We arrived at the park and there were a few cars there, and a few people out and about. Down the less beaten path we went, GPS in hand looking for our first cache. We passed by the pond, which looked very inviting on this extremely warm day. Past trees, rock walls, and the occasional motorized vehicle deterrent we went, enjoying the beautiful fresh air. As we crested one small hill, we heard a strange noise, which at first was difficult to identify. It sounded a little like geese, but really. Walking further, the sound got louder. Still not sure what it could be, we rounded the next corner, and realized what it was. Hundreds of small frogs in a small vernal pool, croaking and jumping around. Here is a small video of them.

As we walked deeper into the woods, it became apparent the walk to the geocaches were farther than anticipated. Taking the red trail, we headed toward the closest one on the GPS. As we reached yet another hilltop, there was a sign informing us that the trail was a share biking and hiking trail. And based on the tracks we saw bicycles had been through recently. It appears the mountain biking community in conjunction with the local Department of Environmental Protection have worked on creating a biking trail within the confines of the park for them to enjoy. This was apparent very soon after seeing the sign as we came upon a man-made mountain bike obstacle, consisting of several trees with a portion of the trunks chopped and smoothed to make a flatter surface to ride the bikes on. Very cool stuff, but not for the balance challenged like myself.Over the course of the next few hours we would pass several more of these strategically built into logs, around boulders, and across small streams and wet areas. But finally we were getting close to the first geocache. We thought we would take a shortcut off the trail and do more of a line of sight path, as the trail was getting there but in a meandering sort of way. With the detour we were able to get a nice picture of a babbling stream, intensified by the spring snow pack melt. Up the hill on a parallel course to the stream, we finally arrived at the first geocache. It was a small container, a money safe for when you are swimming, painted brown to blend in with the environment. It was supposed to be in the tree (see the picture at the beginning), but we actually found it plain as day on the rock below its home. Apparently the last person who found it didn't put it back.Heading back along the trail, we searched for the next one, which wasn't too far away. This one was a regular cache, which consists of a larger container with multiple items in it. The first one was contained a log that you sign signifying the find, while the new one has items and the general rule is you sign the log, and leave an item and or take an item. We took a small zipper pull compass and left a Quebec snowman Christmas ornament. The hiding place was right on for coordinates as well.
We kept following the trail, as the GPS showed a few more ahead. The next one was a DNF or did not find. We searched for quite a while, but it seems like this one may have either been placed in the wrong spot or possibly "muggled" which means found by a non geocacher. We kept going toward the next one watching the time and track we were taking. We were actually heading even farther away from our starting spot. Deciding to change course, we started navigating back toward the parking lot, and part of the trail was flooded causing a detour from the detour. After portaging around the miniature pond, we were back on track, heading for the parking lot. We only hiked 3 miles, but it seemed like so much more. And finally we did see a massive tree down along the trail, which begs the question "If a tree falls in the woods...."