Thanks for bringing me out to a trail I didn't know about! That's one of my favorite things about Geocaching.
I was up with the dog at 5:15 this morning, then settled back into bed to get a couple more hours of badly needed sleep. But then I did a bad thing... I looked for new caches that haven't been found, yet ... so at 5:30 I decided it was worth a shot. I left the house about ten minutes later, after leaving a note for my better half with the GC code of my target cache. The drive was uneventful, but the moon was big and beautiful, setting to the West.
I reached the trailhead around 6:05, but there was a problem: the GPS on my phone was misbehaving (long story, suffice it to day I just have to deal with it) so I had to rely entirely on the satelite view to find the first stage. Then I discovered I forgot to bring my good flashlight! D'oh! 0 for 2, not a good start.
Luckily, my geo-senses were operating at high efficiency, today, and I found stage 1 with no trouble (dogs from nearby houses were definitely interested in my presence, woof woof). To subsequent finders: it would be easy for this stage to tumble away from its placement, so if you don't find it, widen your search a bit.
I plugged the coords for the final stage into my phone, and determined it would be around a quarter mile away, maybe a little more. I replaced the first stage and headed off. It took me a little while to recognize the surroundings and identify my relative position along the way, but once I recognized the dam in the low light, it was not hard to find GZ. Of course, about the time I made GZ, the GPS on my phone started working, again. Figures.
I surmised the cache would be in a particular spot, and sure enough, there it was! But was I the first?? That's what I really wanted to know!
YES! A fresh log! Woohoo!
I signed the log and recorded the trackables, replaced everything, and went to log my find and ... of course! No data connection! ARGH! My hands were cold, anyway, so it meant I'd be able to scribe a better log at home.
(I like to log it right away, so anyone else hoping for an FTF has the best chance to learn it's been taken before they invest too much time and effort ... it's only courteous)
I set off toward the parking area and just enjoyed the views and solitude along the way. Sunrise was setting up to be a nice one, but the smokescreen and the hill were kind of in the way. I do wish I were a better photographer, though, the moon scapes were gorgeous out here this morning!
Glad I brought my cool weather gear, it was needed!
So here I am, logging my find two hours later. Sorry .
Ř_null
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