It was a cold October afternoon when the Treasure Hunting Expedition Team gathered at base camp. It was nearing 3pm, and they knew they had to start soon to reach the treasures and return to camp before dark. They quickly gathered their necessary gear, and headed out. They had a distinct advantage, in that they had a virtual map of where the treasures they sought were hidden. They also had several clues as to where to find them. The team consisted of three men, and two women. Between them, they had the experience, determination and will to finally find the treasures they sought.
After stumbling across their first treasure at the bottom of Pikes Peak, the team triumphed in what they had found. They held a celebratory toast to commemorate the find. It was a grand score, and they took only the most valuable possessions from the bounty, as to not tire them for the next leg of their journey....to the top of Pikes Peak. As they got further into this leg of their journey, they realized it would not be easy. The climb was steep, and even the cool October air couldn't prevent all the members from breaking a sweat. As they climbed further and further up the massive hill, their legs began to burn, their backs began to ache, and they questioned themselves as to whether or not the pain would be worth it. At least one of the female members of the party could go on no further, but the men were determined. She was carried most of the way up the rest of the hill, with a promise that the trip back down would be easier.
Once atop the massive hill, the team quickly learned that the treasure was not yet within their grasp. According to the map they had, it appeared as if it was hidden down a steep cliff to the south side of the peak. Hand in hand, they traversed down the hill, grasping whatever limb, rock or structure that they could hold onto to keep them from tumbling down to certain death. Just when they were ready to give up, one of the members looked up and saw what appeared to a military box nestled in some bushes. The team knew then that they had found what they had worked so hard to find. Another celebration and toast was now imminent. The youngest female member of the team walked away from that find with a beautiful silver necklace, worth more to her than any treasure she had ever found before.
Okay, so maybe I'm embellishing this story a bit, but after being invited by some close friends to an afternoon of Geo-caching in Pike Lake State Park recently, I learned what an adventure it can be. Our expedition team consisted of some close friends of ours from Hartford....Steve, Suzanne, and Garett Weis. They were joined by me and my daughter Lyndsy. As a matter of fact, Lyndsy was the expedition team member that couldn't handle the walk up to the top of Pike Lake's biggest hill, and had to be carried by her dear old dad (whew!). The silver necklace she received was actually just a set of silver beads from your typical parade, but to a 3 year old, it might as well have been made from pure silver.
For those not familiar with Geo-caching, I'll describe it rather quickly...using a GPS unit, you seek out caches that have been hidden in obscure places by other geocaching enthusiasts. People hide a "cache" somewhere, which is usually some sort of weatherproof box or container. In it are placed a bunch of rather meaningless trinkets, which are meant as rewards for anyone finding the cache. Note that it is customary for a fellow geocacher to leave something behind if something is taken from the cache. Also included in most caches is a log book and pen, so each party that has discovered the cache can document it. As for knowing where to find the caches, the originator goes to a website called www.geocaching.com and enters the GPS coordinates of where their cache is hidden. They might also include information such as clues for finding the cache, the difficulty of the terrain in which the cache is hidden, and a list of what has been placed in the cache. Once found, fellow geocachers can then log into the site and document their find for each individual cache listed on the site.
I have no idea how many geocaches exist in the world, but doing a search by the Hubertus zip code on the site revealed hundreds of caches within a few miles of my home. Seeing as how it is a worldwide site, I suspect there must be millions of caches hidden all over our planet! In the log book of one of the caches we found at Pike Lake (the Pike Powder Hike Cache) there was an entry from some geocachers from Ohio that stated this was their 1,000th find. That's pretty cool if you ask me!
Seeing as how I've always loved hiking, and that I love an adventure even more, I might just have to go and get a GPS unit and start doing this as a hobby with my kids. As my buddy Steve says, "If I'm going to go hiking and stumbling around in the woods, I might as well find something cool along the way".
And a quick update from my blog last week, those lots on Bark Lake that were listed on E-Bay each sold for about $8,000 each. Congrats to my neighbors, Bob and MJ Mann, who were the lucky bidders to purchase one of the lots!
G'Night G'Town!
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir
