My friend found a cache where there was a birthday card inside. It is a wonderful idea! To sign a birthday card and then when that “log” is full, it gets to be given to someone for their birthday.
Here are some links to birthday themed goecaches:
His premise is that “You must leave something you would put in a birthday card”
When you type in “Birthday” you get 330 hits!
And one you are supposed* to log on your birthday!
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| Ten little duckies and a momma and poppa duckie
44 DNF’s and 126 Finds for the Coulon Island Cache. I didn’t have much time to spend looking as I was on my way out on the lake itself. This is a high muggle area and difficult for much more than that because it is a nontraditional container! |
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| I added something of my own, can you spot it? |
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| “Will you marry me” |
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| No birdseed in sight |
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| Spot the Bird’s Nest |
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| Check out the geo-egg! |
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| Bird’s Eye View to the ground |
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| My very first geocache find! Micro magnet that took “2 hours to find” |
Though not a natural covering, I liked how this one was decorated.
I am a geocacher. It is one of the hobbies I pursue regularly and think about often. DNF’s or Did Not Find’s are nothing more than a challenge for the average geocacher. They present a learning opportunity, a chance to advance your craft, and a way to hone your finding skills. At times they can be aggravating, such as when the DNF signifies a cache that is actually missing, misplaced, or with wildly inaccurate coordinates. In all my geocache finds (200 now), only very few have I found when they were misplaced or far from the Ground Zero coordinates. Of those that I have found, I have looked for at least 50 more that I did not find. Sometimes I didn’t bother putting enough effort looking for these or the area was too muggle heavy and I planned to go back to look. Some of these, though, are truly missing. And here is the geocacher crux. I don’t want to assume that when I can’t find it, it doesn’t exist but I’m getting close to that point in my geocaching career that when I can’t find it, it truly is missing or buried in the forest without markings.
Here is the story of my favorite DNF:
At an undisclosed location in Washington State, two friends were hunting for caches in the area. She chose one and the hunt began. Behind a historic building at a sign was ground zero. It was fairly dark and the two friends whipped out their phone flashlights and swept up and down the sign and the surrounding area. After a thorough search, they looked up the hint, but still nothing. After twenty more minutes overturning every stone, they gave up. A week later she went back by herself and spent half an hour searching. She searched high and low and turned over every rock again. In the daylight, she was convinced that she was going to find it. She was fairly convinced, going over all the previous logs that it was on or very close to the sign but nothing. A week later they both went back, determined to find that sucker. He started perusing one side of the sign and she the other. Exasperated that it was difficult to find and obviously a creatively concealed cache, she said, “I’m convinced it’s on the sign but there’s nothing that comes off.” And with that she grabbed a chunk of wood in her hand to exaggerate her point and lo and behold it came off in her hand. They had finally found the DNF and could log it as a smiley.
What better way to get exercise and view what Washington state has to offer than geocaching! This activity is great for all ages and can be taken at whatever pace suits your lifestyle. You can pull an all day geocaching adventure or pick up a few here and there. I like to do both. I love the concept of geocaching from every angle. I enjoy finding something that is hidden. I love the creativity and planning that goes into most of the geocaches. I get giddy when I crack a harder than usual geocache whether it be container or location based difficulty. I especially find the places chosen fascinating. Both city, forest, and everything in between caches are enjoyable.
I’m beginning to get really into the stump geocaches. I’m not talking about piddling stumps where a tree was cut down but a humongous rotting specimen of prior grandeur randomly in the woods that only a geocacher or a serial killer would know about. For example:
This is one massive tree stump a friend and I found out on the Cedar River Trail near my house. It was out of the way of the trail, down a leaf-filled slope. The geocache was up and inside the stump, out of reach unless you literally climbed your way into the stump or shimmied your way over a branch that was like half of a scary-looking see-saw.
Here is the listing for this particular geocache, sorry for the spoiler!
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC3F7W1
Rachel Author Barnard 