Found a Letterbox Too

This was a multi-cache in one of our favorite parks. While we were looking for the cache, we came across a letterbox too. Letterboxing is like geocaching, but without the GPSr. People use clues to find hidden boxes that contain a log and a stamp. Then they stamp the letterbox stamp into their own logbook and stamp their stamp into the letterbox's logbook. We've run across a couple in the past.


We did manage to find the cache we were looking for, and it was filled to the brim with toys for kids, as well as a geocoin and some travel bugs. After doing some leg lifts on the exercise course, we replaced the cache and let the kids play in the park for a while.

Cool Park!

Is this a cool park or what? We will have to bring the kids to this park sometime because they would love it! The cache was hidden nearby very well and very cleverly. It's hard to believe the cache doesn't get accidentally found in its location, but it seems to be doing very well there!

First California Cache

This was a neat little park with new things for the kids to play on. We did a few caches before beginning the second leg of our trip to California. We had to outwait a few muggles before making this find, and Ryan found it after I made a suggestion. This is our first California cache!

Steep

This cache was one of the last in our area that we wanted to find, but for a while it was taken offline. Someone dumped a dead body in the vicinity of where the trail begins for this cache, and there had been lots of activity by police and new crews. So the owner wisely took it down until it was safe to go back there without fear of messing up a crime scene or getting questioned by the police about what you were doing in the area.


Abby wearing the light-up goggles she got out of the cache!
When they opened this back up we finally went to hunt for this cache, I was unprepared for the hike it turned out to be! Wow, it doesn't look like much at the beginning, but once you turn that corner, the hill gets steep in a hurry and we had to take a couple of breathers on the way up! The picture looks like a flat path, but it actually is about a 70-degree angle, STEEP.

Never Enough Playtime

When we are out geocaching, we like to find hides in parks so the kids can play while we hunt or after we make the find. It was getting late when we found this cache, so the kids didn't get to play long enough to suit them. We'll have to come back to this park some time so they can play all they want to.

Cute Idea

I have heard of these kinds of caches, and when we saw one in the area where we were going to be geocaching, we had to try to find it. The idea is to give everyone a First To Find, only you have to be creative and think of your own first to find acronymn. Mine was FTFWPLGTC or First To Find With Plastic Leaves Glued To Cache! Get the idea?

Pretty Funny

This cache is located at the other end of the same park from the last cache, and it's a beautiful park! We will definitely have to bring the kids back again to play, swim and even fish.


This was supposed to be a puzzle cache, but before I even was completely out of the van, Ryan was holding up the cache with a triumphant, "I found it!" It saved us from having to actually use our brains figuring out a math problem. Way to go, Ryan!

Local Park Cache

This one is in a favorite local park we frequent a lot in the summer. Hubby got his first First to Find on this one! I've been forgetting to take pictures lately, but we really did find it...really we did!

Neat Hiding Place

This was a fun and easy cache full of lots of goodies for the kids. The best part though was the big "cave" the trees made. What a great place for kids to play in!

Finally!

This has been our most difficult cache to find. We hunted on four different occasions and even emailed the owner for some hints. Not long after we got our hints, we noticed that the owner moved the cache, so we went back and looked again. Much to our surprise, Ryan found the cache entirely on his own! We were looking for something else based on the hints we were given, and as it turns out, they no longer applied. He was so proud of himself! He usually complains if we go looking for a micro cache that is just a log-only with nothing to trade, but I think now he "gets" the excitement of the hunt!

Beautiful Trail

We were going to do this cache yesterday along with all the others, but this cache was about a mile walk roundtrip so we waited to do another day. Also, it was placed by the same person who had a skewed sense of terrain difficulty, and we weren't sure what kind of climb we might encounter. I would love to bring our bikes to this trail and ride around the lake sometime. It's a very nice, paved path with beautiful views of the lake. The cache was easy and the terrain much better than the last. We forgot to get a picture at the cache site, so we took one during a break on the way back to the van.

Easter Theme...in August?

Some caches have themes, and this particular one is supposed to have an Easter theme. It's pretty hard to find Easter things in August, so we traded other items, as did most everyone else since there were very few Easter items left in the cache. It was located along a gorgeous trail that winds all the way around Dorena Lake. It was our last cache of the day, and we enjoyed the scenery very much.

Another History Cache

This was the second cache we did in a series based on the Native American history of the area. This tree is called the Wedding Tree, and when they would get married they would split the tree. If it survived, they believed their marriage would survive as well. Clearly it did survive and looks pretty peculiar now.


In addition to the tree, there was an old train bridge we had to cross to get to the cache site, and while crossing the bridge we got a look at yet another covered bridge a little way down the river. As an added bonus we got to play with a teeny little lizard that my hubby caught climbing over the cache site.


The kids get a little impatient with caches where there is only a log and nothing to trade, but even they enjoyed this one with the walk over the train bridge and river and the little lizard.

Cute Cache

This one took us much longer to find than it should have. This is the second one with this particular disguise that we've seen, but it is still cute the second time around. We had fun exploring the nearby creek as well!

Last One of the Day

I love drives in the country, and this last cache of the day took us on a lovely scenic ride. We found the cache with minimal looking, and then headed for home.

Third of the Day

You know one of the best things about geocaching with the kids is? They will stick their hands into the holes you don't want to! This was a very easy find, and Ryan had fun trying to do a better job of disguising the hide than the previous person did. This was our third successful cache of the day. We got stumped on the first one months ago and tried again today. We came up empty again, and we're ready to ask for some hints!

Another Find on His Own

We pointed him in the general direction, and he found it on his own. He's getting pretty good at this, and we may have to turn the control of the GPS over to him soon. It is in a neat little park almost completely enclosed in blackberry bushes...yum!

New One Locally

We're always excited when someone places a new cache right in our local area. One of these days maybe we'll be the first to find, but for now we contented ourselves with the thrill of the hunt. It was a familiar area and an easy find.


We even got to watch a Mama Osprey and her babies. I'm glad we have a decent telephoto lens and that we had the binoculars in the van!

No Time To Sign

It took a little bit of time to find this cache, but not too long. The kids loved playing in the park while we hunted, but just as we found the cache, Ryan decides he needs to go to the bathroom NOW! Also a group of kids came to play basketball, so we hastily put the cache back before we could sign it, snapped a picture which didn't turn out, and left in search of the nearest bathroom.

Fun Family Cache

We were caching along Highway 30 today, so we stopped at a local restaurant we often visit when we're out this way and then went to find the cache. It is located in a park that we have let the kids play at in the past, and they had fun playing again today. There is also a Veteran's Memorial in the park, so it was another good stop for our Memorial Day weekend.


This is the first cache we have found that wasn't actually hidden, kind of a unique attribute. It was clearly marked and easy to spot. After you locate it you have to answer a couple of questions in order to open the lock on the cache. It was full of travel bugs and other goodies for the kids. We are going to remember this one whenever we're traveling to the coast so we can hit it again sometime.