Winter Adjustments

It was a good geocaching day. The Pot-stirrer lined up a pathless woods series, 9 total. We were on a time constraint, arrived at the Park at 10 am... and left the park at 1:34. We got 6 out of 9 and probably would have done all 9 if time prevailed.

Really my first time out in any depth of snow, and even though I thought I was properly outfitted, I can see there was room for improvement. Definitely should have put on the cammo bibs! I know they are ugly, not like anyone else was out there, but it would have kept the jeans dry! And when the jeans are dry...the long johns are dry....then the socks stay dry...etc ... etc.

The pot-stirrer HAD a plan.... AND a map AND re-assured me, that these caches were just off the trails. OK sounds good...until #2 We are surrounded by a blanket of deep white snow. There are no paths ( hence the name) but there are no trails either! The plan was to work counter-clock wise on her map. Hmmmm....we certainly got distracted from that plan by the 2nd cache. But, that was cool...we were not out doing the Amazing Race, we were just having fun, and turns out we incorporated a huge exercise program with it!

The hat came off, before I even left the truck! Hate hats! And seeing I had a hoodie back up, I was good. Of course, Good would not be the correct word here, seeing the only pic taken of me...was not good! All I needed was a shopping cart, and we would have a poster for homeless bag ladies! DELETE! DELETE DELETE! Whew...won't be seeing that sucker on the internet!

First 2 caches went smooth, Pot-stirrer pulled out a (?) bicycle horn and was blowing that when she found cache #2. Turns out the wizard has a whistle in that bag too. If we were in the Land of Oz, I guess she would say I was the scarecrow, but she definitely would be the Tin Man. Together we would make Dorothy ( lost) and all we needed was to have Toto! ( uh, no thanks!) It was after cache number 3 of the day, that things starting going down hill...and I mean literally. And once you go downhill....the next stretch is uphill! Great butt exercises! It was the sound of ice cracking....that brought to our attention that we were on some body of water. Doesn't even matter how deep it was ( thankfully, we did not find out) but it was just the idea. First thought...even though our combined body weight is not much....we should probably be spread out a little ! Second thought...we are definitely off "the trail" We passed over this cracking area...uh...several times, which also tells me we were going in circles at some point! Good thing I got the waterproof boots!

There may have been no paths, the trails and the water were completely hidden... but we did manage to find the sticker bushes! Those little suckers never die. And I really shouldn't call them little....I have been officially "stuck" everywhere! Even brought one home...got the tweezers and pulled that little trinket out this morning!

The "nice" thing about a hint, or perhaps trying to gather info from some other log... is...well... there WAS no nice thing about it! The dude from Michigan, looks like he did the same as us...came in the hard way from the road. Well, after reading that, decided we must be somewhere near this cache. Oh ya, we were, but just Like Michigan dude...we were on the wrong side! We made so many trips back to GZ on that one. Pot-stirrer kept saying, it was only a terrain of 1.5 ... so her thoughts that we were in too far. And seeing she likes to be right....she was right! On the other note....in the snow, nothing is a terrain of 1.5!

It WAS a good day. The jeans were wet up to the knees, and wet jeans are a real....( you know) Was able to post field notes from the I-phone....cool....downloaded some photos when I got home. If anyone is headed out there soon. Some advice... DON'T ... follow our footsteps! And if you see the "third" bench, or any benches at all, or even some brick building...let us know. We never came across any of that! And remember, the thorn bushes are hungry...and the "body of water" has already been cracked!!

P.S. wear some cammo bibs!