How not to Geocache
My mom loves to geocache. She even has a bag she keeps in the car that she can grab and geocache on the go. She tries to take Elsa whenever they get together, and this visit was no exception. They went out while everyone was napping and had success! They even found a trackable that originated in the Netherlands:
We thought it might be fun to take the boys out after dinner for their first geocaching experience, and we were planning to top the evening off with ice cream at Addie's afterwards. Everyone was excited. Elsa really pushed for the boys to be in coats (instead of just sweatshirts) and it was a decision that ended up being quite a blessing.
We started out to the "easy to find" cache at a cemetery about 10 minutes from our house. We searched and searched and came to the conclusion that it was no longer there. We had promised the boys the joy of finding a treasure, so we searched on the geocaching app and found one 2 streets over. It was a level 3 terrain and tucked away in the woods, but we were game!
We hiked and hiked through the woods as the sun was setting and we all learned what a level 3 terrain really means. Probably not suited for little ones, and my mom and I both took a few spills. Ha! Before we entered the woods, we had the choice of either trekking down an insane grassy hill or following a somewhat path in the woods. We chose the path, which ended way too quickly and left us hiking through the woods on mud covered grounds. The kids were such troopers! In the woods it was so dark we had to use flashlights, but we finally found the cache!
This was a great find with enough treasure for all! Each of the boys had brought a little treat to leave behind and we decided to leave quickly, but not the way we came. It was too dark to go back through the woods, so we crossed the bridge and found a path that quickly brought us out into a clearing. We still had daylight! The path dumped us out at the bottom of two gigantic hills. One to the left and one to the right, surrounded by woods on either sides. I thought I had a pretty good idea of which hill to take to hopefully get us back up to the path which would lead us back to our van, but with the winding mess of a path we took to get here I wasn't even sure if either of these hills would bring us back to our vehicle.
We hiked up that steep hill (that had weeds up to the boys waists) for 15 minutes and finally came to a clearing. Chase was a mess. He cried the whole way up that hill. Elsa carried Noah for almost the whole hike and Easton was such a good boy, going it alone! Once we reached that small clearing we knew we were in trouble. The sun had set and we were losing light very quickly. Our path was not there waiting for us, and we had very sketchy cell service, but at least we finally had some. Our options were to keep climbing through weeds up another hill (which we knew was not taking us where we needed), try to go through the woods which were pitch black by now, or to stay in the clearing. We thought our wisest choice was to wait, especially with the little boys. We settled everyone on the ground, and Elsa and I ventured into the woods with my cellphone flashlight to see if we could find an obvious trail that might take us back to the cornfield path, but it was a no go. We were definitely lost and no where near our car.
I called the only person that I thought could find us, Jon (my brother-in-law). Thankfully he answered the phone and was up for the task of finding us. He made sure we were safe and warm and told us to wait there, before he set out at 7:50pm to find us. Within 10 minutes we were sitting in pretty much complete darkness. The boys were such troopers, and as the temps dropped I was more and more thankful Elsa insisted on the coats! We first prayed for safety and a quick rescue, and then we went around to say what we were thankful for. Chase kept telling me that this was a bad idea, and that he never wanted to come. He insisted he had wanted to stay with Michael at home. It wasn't long before Chase settled and was enjoying the stars and such. Noah kept asking about that ice cream we had mentioned before, but he soon fell asleep in Meema's lap. Easton was as good as gold the whole time, just waiting to see what would happen. As the light left us, we heard many rustlings in the woods and the tall grass surrounding us. It was a bit freaky, especially with all the local sightings of bears!
I started getting texts and phone calls from Jon around 8:40pm. He would let me know he was going to whistle so we could be listening for it. We couldn't hear it. I would whistle back, but he wasn't hearing us either. It was a good feeling too know that Jon was aware of the situation and that he was out looking for us. We got a text from him asking us to text him the coordinates again because "I'm standing about where I thought you were" and we still weren't hearing his whistle. The final text we got was "Phones dying whistle every 2 minutes". With his phone dead, and ours dying I made the decision to call 911 at 9:30pm. They were very helpful and I explained that Jon was already out looking for us but he wasn't able to locate us off of our GPS coordinates and that his phone was dead. After discussing the situation, they dispatched two Sheriffs to the coordinates that they had had gotten off of my cell phone call. About 10 minutes later 911 called me back and said to listen for a siren. We could hear it, but it was very faint, but at least they were close to where we were! It was a little after 10pm when we started to see the first sightings of flashlight activity coming up that insane hill. It was Jon, Luke, and Micah! Once they got to the top of the hill we found out we would have made it to the path to our car had we taken the other hill, so down our hill we went. Elsa carried Noah and Jon carried Chase. The Sheriffs met us on our way up the other steep hill, and before we knew it, we were back to the path towards our car. They were very gracious and I was thankful for their quick response.
We were back to our car by 10:40pm, but I can tell you it felt much, much later than that. Ha! We are thankful for many things today; cell service, loving family, law enforcement, warm coats, no rain, no snow, and a God who kept us safe, especially from the bears!
We thought it might be fun to take the boys out after dinner for their first geocaching experience, and we were planning to top the evening off with ice cream at Addie's afterwards. Everyone was excited. Elsa really pushed for the boys to be in coats (instead of just sweatshirts) and it was a decision that ended up being quite a blessing.
We started out to the "easy to find" cache at a cemetery about 10 minutes from our house. We searched and searched and came to the conclusion that it was no longer there. We had promised the boys the joy of finding a treasure, so we searched on the geocaching app and found one 2 streets over. It was a level 3 terrain and tucked away in the woods, but we were game!
We hiked and hiked through the woods as the sun was setting and we all learned what a level 3 terrain really means. Probably not suited for little ones, and my mom and I both took a few spills. Ha! Before we entered the woods, we had the choice of either trekking down an insane grassy hill or following a somewhat path in the woods. We chose the path, which ended way too quickly and left us hiking through the woods on mud covered grounds. The kids were such troopers! In the woods it was so dark we had to use flashlights, but we finally found the cache!
This was a great find with enough treasure for all! Each of the boys had brought a little treat to leave behind and we decided to leave quickly, but not the way we came. It was too dark to go back through the woods, so we crossed the bridge and found a path that quickly brought us out into a clearing. We still had daylight! The path dumped us out at the bottom of two gigantic hills. One to the left and one to the right, surrounded by woods on either sides. I thought I had a pretty good idea of which hill to take to hopefully get us back up to the path which would lead us back to our van, but with the winding mess of a path we took to get here I wasn't even sure if either of these hills would bring us back to our vehicle.
We hiked up that steep hill (that had weeds up to the boys waists) for 15 minutes and finally came to a clearing. Chase was a mess. He cried the whole way up that hill. Elsa carried Noah for almost the whole hike and Easton was such a good boy, going it alone! Once we reached that small clearing we knew we were in trouble. The sun had set and we were losing light very quickly. Our path was not there waiting for us, and we had very sketchy cell service, but at least we finally had some. Our options were to keep climbing through weeds up another hill (which we knew was not taking us where we needed), try to go through the woods which were pitch black by now, or to stay in the clearing. We thought our wisest choice was to wait, especially with the little boys. We settled everyone on the ground, and Elsa and I ventured into the woods with my cellphone flashlight to see if we could find an obvious trail that might take us back to the cornfield path, but it was a no go. We were definitely lost and no where near our car.
I called the only person that I thought could find us, Jon (my brother-in-law). Thankfully he answered the phone and was up for the task of finding us. He made sure we were safe and warm and told us to wait there, before he set out at 7:50pm to find us. Within 10 minutes we were sitting in pretty much complete darkness. The boys were such troopers, and as the temps dropped I was more and more thankful Elsa insisted on the coats! We first prayed for safety and a quick rescue, and then we went around to say what we were thankful for. Chase kept telling me that this was a bad idea, and that he never wanted to come. He insisted he had wanted to stay with Michael at home. It wasn't long before Chase settled and was enjoying the stars and such. Noah kept asking about that ice cream we had mentioned before, but he soon fell asleep in Meema's lap. Easton was as good as gold the whole time, just waiting to see what would happen. As the light left us, we heard many rustlings in the woods and the tall grass surrounding us. It was a bit freaky, especially with all the local sightings of bears!
I started getting texts and phone calls from Jon around 8:40pm. He would let me know he was going to whistle so we could be listening for it. We couldn't hear it. I would whistle back, but he wasn't hearing us either. It was a good feeling too know that Jon was aware of the situation and that he was out looking for us. We got a text from him asking us to text him the coordinates again because "I'm standing about where I thought you were" and we still weren't hearing his whistle. The final text we got was "Phones dying whistle every 2 minutes". With his phone dead, and ours dying I made the decision to call 911 at 9:30pm. They were very helpful and I explained that Jon was already out looking for us but he wasn't able to locate us off of our GPS coordinates and that his phone was dead. After discussing the situation, they dispatched two Sheriffs to the coordinates that they had had gotten off of my cell phone call. About 10 minutes later 911 called me back and said to listen for a siren. We could hear it, but it was very faint, but at least they were close to where we were! It was a little after 10pm when we started to see the first sightings of flashlight activity coming up that insane hill. It was Jon, Luke, and Micah! Once they got to the top of the hill we found out we would have made it to the path to our car had we taken the other hill, so down our hill we went. Elsa carried Noah and Jon carried Chase. The Sheriffs met us on our way up the other steep hill, and before we knew it, we were back to the path towards our car. They were very gracious and I was thankful for their quick response.
We were back to our car by 10:40pm, but I can tell you it felt much, much later than that. Ha! We are thankful for many things today; cell service, loving family, law enforcement, warm coats, no rain, no snow, and a God who kept us safe, especially from the bears!
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