The first cache that I ever found was on the 6th of January 2009, and
it was attached (sort of) to the building that I work in.

This is not about that cache, nor is it about the last cache that I
found in that same year, which was in a park across a field of waist
deep snow from where I parked.  I might write about those caches
later.  This is about some of the caches that a certain unnamed hider
(Bosac) has hidden, perhaps with a couple of others thrown in.  Don't
worry Bosac, I won't spoil any locations.

Shortly after I started geocache hunting lunch became the time of
choice to search for caches.  I was working until 4:30 pm, and I had
to pick up my son from school, so that left little time to look for
caches before sunset.  Weekends were available, but I knew there were
several caches close to where I worked, and I wanted to do something
at lunch other than eat.  I spotted a cache on the map called "Swamp
Thing -- Hides of Horror" and thought, "that sounds cool."  When I
brought up the listing, it was a story.  I love a good story, so I
read it and decided that this was the cache for me on this day.  I
borrowed a coworkers Nuvi to take along with my own ETrex, since I was
looking for a replacement, and thought I might as well test his out.
I approached the area not sure what to expect, and parked on the
street to the northeast.

I was, by now, a geocacher with a month and a half experience.  I was
ready for anything.  So far everything I had found was on flat ground
(does Nebraska have anything but...?).  So I had a game plan.  I would
walk down the street until I was directly east of the cache, then walk
directly west to the hiding spot and find the thing.  Easy, right?
Somewhere, Bosac is laughing already.  I found that spot and walked
toward the cache.

Whoa there Nellie!  (who's Nellie, anyway?)
I stepped across the curb and noticed that the ground sloped away into
the woods...no, that's not quite accurate.  The ground DROPPED away
into the woods.  I was looking down a pretty severe hill.  Suddenly I
liked this cache even more(when I was in the military, I learned rock
climbing in the Rocky Mountains)!  I started down the hill with nary a
thought about my slick souled work shoes, but only for the first
couple of steps.  Remember what time this was? February 2009?  Yep.
We had had a pretty good snow, and then a couple of warm days.  The
hill was slick, and I was goin' down!  I reached out my arm
instinctively(read:in a panic) and caught the first thing going by.
That little tree redirected my descent and twisted my body around and
suddenly I wasn't falling anymore.  I looked around again, and chose a
different path to the bottom of the hill, where I knew the cache had
to be now, and headed down again without incident.  I reached "Ground
Zero" a few minutes later, after walking around in circles while the
two GPSr's had a fight over where that was, and the cache wasn't
there.  I turned off the Nuvi, concentrated on the ETrex, and walked
around a little more.  I understand it's called the Geo-chicken-dance,
or some such thing.  When I got to a place where the GPSr said the
cache was located, I looked around for a minute or two for a likely
hiding spot.  I located the cache in about the third place that I
looked.  It was the coolest container that I had found to date, so  I
knew I need to find the rest of the "Hides of Horror."

By JETSchmidt

A native Nebraskan (grew up in Elkhorn), I live in Bellevue with my
Lovely Wife and Son.  I've been a pilot and flight instructor
since 1988, but work in Information Systems to pay the bills.
I became obsessed with Geocaching in January of 2009, although I had
heard of the sport way back when I bought my first handheld
GPSr, a Garmin ETrex, when they first were introduced.
My favorite caches are the ones that take you somewhere off the beaten
track.  The one's out in the woods, or in hidden parks,
and the one's that someone took a lot of thought into creating.

--
---The sky is not a limit,
It is home.
-Terry Schmidt

Comments(1):

1. Falling for GeoCaching Part 1

   I know what you mean about those steep hills. I went on a hunt yesterday. I knew just where the detail sheet said to go. Problem was that the "path" that was the way to the cache was a 50degree down angle. Started down very cautiously due to melting snow resulting in slick clay mud.Missed a step and landed on my rear, slidding down and landing in the river. So now I am cold and very wet and have to get UP that very steep hill to get backto my car. When I got there I was freezing and covered in mud from head to toe. Who says flat states don't have dangerous terrain?? digitalgoddess Kansas

   Wednesday, February 03, 2010 Colleen