Happiness...is a fun hobby!

I am always looking for fun things to do outside and recently I found a new hobby that allows me to combine a few of my most favorite things: hiking, treasure hunting, and photography. 

Geocaching is basically a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game that uses GPS-enabled devices to locate caches hidden inside bags or containers all over the world. Players navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates provided on the website or phone app and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location. You can check out the website (www.geocaching.com) for more information.

Caches can be hidden anywhere and I had no idea there were so many hidden so close to home! I also had no idea what a fun adventure it would be!!

Cache #1

So, after a backpacking adventure in NW Arkansas last weekend, we decided to tackle our first hunt. We picked a relatively easy one to start with, 1 star each for difficulty and terrain. (Caches are rated on a 5 star system for difficulty and terrain.) The first one we chose was hidden in Tharp Cemetery in NW Arkansas. Apparently hiding caches in cemeteries is fairly common. This cemetery was very old and quite possibly a Do-It-Yourself location.

 Navigating to the location was fairly easy with the aforementioned handy dandy app I downloaded for the low, low price of $9.99. Not only did it provide a map and driving instructions it also included a compass! A great investment I'd say.  

After arriving at the cemetery we headed off for the ground search, using the compass to get to the correct coordinates. (see what I mean...handy!) Caches are located inside anything from a Ziploc bag to a large container depending on what type it is. Since this particular one was listed as "small" we figured we were looking for a bag.

We read the hints and log notes and basically just wandered around looking for it. It was interesting seeing how old some of the grave markers were, many from the 1800's. It was fun to imagine what life might have been like back in that time and what might have brought them to this final resting place. 

In what seemed like no time at all...success! We found the cache inside a tree! (They can be hidden anywhere, just not buried.) It was indeed a small Ziploc bag with only a tiny log sheet inside, rolled up like a scroll. We signed the sheet and patted ourselves on the back for finding it so quickly.

Cache #2

Of course this just whetted our appetite for more and we quickly used the app to search for another one in the area. There were a lot to choose from and we picked one nearby at a place called "Finger Park". 

This geocache was rated at a 3 for difficulty and a 3.5 for terrain but we did not let that slow us down and off we went!

Quick lesson...when a cache is given a 3.5 for terrain be prepared to walk (a lot) and climb (a lot). 

Perhaps we were a little over zealous. Or maybe 

we just should have read the map a little better, but instead of driving to the park and starting at the trailhead as suggested, we took off through the middle of the park without benefit of a trail, basically bushwhacking our way through the woods. 

(I'm guessing after the early morning bushwhack out of the forest we figured we were experts in this category. Note: we probably weren't experts.)

This is what it looked like starting out...it didn't get better. We were undaunted however. So, on we hiked...and hiked...and hiked. Thankfully, it was a beautiful area and the trees kept the temperature lower than the predicted 85 degrees which actually wasn't bad for mid-August. 

(picture, r.)

 This hunt lasted several hours and took us up hills, down hills, across dry creek beds, over barbed wire (another quick note: that probably was an indicator we were off course) and eventually we circled a pond on private property (see picture, l.) but it sure was pretty. 

Undaunted we made our way through a pasture, dodged cow patties while keeping a wary eye out for the "Beware of" dog, climbed another barbed wire fence and wandered through more woods before discovering we had somehow passed it. So, back we went...

Long story short, we did not find cache #2 but we had a great hike in a pretty sweet little  park and even managed to find the trail on the way out, complete with steps!

Even though we didn't find this one I'm pretty sure we were close and maybe once we have a little more experience we'll give it another try. 

Cache #3 

This was a multi part hunt called "Gangsters in Joplin" and the clues were all around Bonnie & Clyde and various other gangsters that inhabited Joplin, MO at various times. We found the first location pretty quickly but then ran into GPS/navigation problems and had to abandon it. We'll go back and finish it when we get a real GPS at some point.

Needless to say we had a lot of fun and think it will be a fun new hobby and way to combine a love of hiking with some treasure hunting! I highly recommend it and can't wait for the next hunt!