Caching Camporee

Last weekend, the first busy one of October, marked a lot of geocaching. What fun! And almost perfect fall weather.

Started Wednesday after my doctor's appointment. Went down to Bysterveld Park near Dorr, where I'd recently attended an event in the pouring rain. Wanted to get the new caches placed for the event, so headed there. Most were fun, walking in the park caches. One in particular was a matchstick container called "just hanging..." Well, it was hanging. 20 feet up in a tree. Held in place by a crafted wire spiral, with a hook at the top and a loop in the middle. Had to use a very long tree branch to maneuver it down. Not as hard, just get ahold of the loop and lift everything off the branch. Getting it back up was the trick. Every time I tried to lift the container the loop would slide down the branch and it was time to start over. Not until I added a shield to the top of the stick did the container stay on the stick long enough to put it back into place. A fun challenge!

Friday morning I set off at 7:30 a.m. My destination was Camp Tapico near Kalkaska. Normally about a three hour drive. I did it in a little over 7 hours, arriving at about 2:45 p.m. We were expecting units early in the evening and I needed to set up my camp, etc.

Caching my way up M-66, most of the caches were typical quick hides. I did make one find that was especially satisfying. It was called a Dam Good Cache. Located near a dam, it was a nice little walk in the woods, with coordinates that were right on target and a nice container at the end. The container had the original log book, dating back to 2005 when cachers still left detailed written logs instead of just signing their names like is the tendency today. It's what caching used to be all about and it was my best find of the day. Another was an easy find, but it led me to this tiny wayside chapel which had two pews deep, two pews across for total seating space for four. I also found a Cache to Eagle from another council.

The camporee was fun. Set up my tent near the lake, made for a beautiful view. First time out with the new tent from last Christmas, not sure why the opportunity hadn't come up sooner. So a few differences which made it a bit challenging but I got it figured out. Then just sat and had some quiet time before the boys came. Had brought my own food, had a chef's salad for dinner though later I did have a bit of pulled pork that the rest of the staff had brought.

Saturday morning, I taught back to back sessions of Geocaching 101 to the boys and leaders, while the other half of the boys/leaders had actual work with the GPS receivers outside. I had hidden some micro containers in the room and the boys had trouble finding them, especially the bolt and screw with a log inside. If my sister Debbie ever reads this she'll know which one I mean! Anyway, had hidden that one on a fire extinguisher bracket and had to finally help them find it. Later, I was hiding the caches again and could not find that one. Someone had put it back somewhere nearby (on a screw that had been used to attach a sign) and I COULDN'T SEE IT MYSELF... Everyone got a kick out of how they'd fooled me in return! Also had a lot of examples of containers, swag, and travelers for the boys to look over. Used my new power point presentation which I think works a lot better.

After lunch (I had brought my sandwich, but must admit to breaking down and eating one small cookie...) we all met and I helped upload coordinates into GPS receivers for the boys. They could choose either a moderate course or two more challenging ones. After that (and receiving a hershey bar from our District Executive) I went back to camp and packed up since I needed to teach Sunday School the next morning and couldn't stay overnight again and still do that.

Needed to find at least one cache since it was a yet unfilled day on my caching calendar, but ended up finding 12 more. I had found 20 on Friday. Had decided to take 131 back down, it's two lane down to north of Cadillac but then freeway the rest of the way home. Faster. Got down to Cadillac and figured I'd better eat some dinner. I'd already eating half the chocolate bar, rationalizing it as my extra 150 calories for the day. So stopped at Big Boy and had a grilled chicken caesar salad while using their wifi. Good girl. Then got back on the highway. Discovered that there was another Cache to Eagle close by and, even though it was almost dark, stopped for it anyway. Then headed for home, arriving about 9 p.m.