Category Archives: Wildlife Wednesdays

Wildlife Wednesdays: DNF Geocache and duckies

by in Geocaching, Wildlife Wednesdays

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! 

 

 

 

Wildlife Wednesdays: City vs. Country

by in Cedar River, Wildlife Wednesdays

I have lived in many places. I have lived in Florida, Oregon and Washington. I have moved several times within those states. I have also stayed for bouts of time in New York (city) and Ohio. I would not want to live in a large city like New York, I felt like the air was toxic and the shops were crowded. I wouldn’t necessarily say I want to live in the “country” but I love where I live right now. I live on the river in a cozy cabin. Jealous? If you look closely at the picture from my back porch you can see the elk crossing the river. I am right in the midst of nature, green grass, a racing river, and a  small pebbled beach. A 1/2 mile walk gets me to the gas station, tiny convenience store, liquor store, breakfast place, auto mechanic, and produce stand. I am only several miles from shopping centers, including the local Walmart and Costco. I live in the wild but close to civilization. As my dad would put it, “I’m living the dream.”

Wildlife Wednesdays: Cover Your Cache

by in Geocaching, Wildlife Wednesdays
Wildlife Wednesdays: Creatively Camo Your Cache
The other day I told my friend I was cruising Amazon for fake poop. Not only would it be a great gag but I was intent on getting some as creative camouflage for my geocache. Other ideas I can think of are fake chewed gum to cover those tiny magnets that are placed under park benches.
Here are some of the more creative cache camo’s I have found. The crab was on the beach and the container was attached to its underside. Clever and I was afraid to touch it at first because it was semi-realistic.
This is one of my favorites and quite clever. I actually met the owner of this cache.

 Though not a natural covering, I liked how this one was decorated.

Wildlife Wednesdays: A hike

by in Maple Valley, Wildlife Wednesdays | 2 Comments
Wildlife Wednesdays: Wilderness Creek Trail

My friend can attest (quite heartily in fact) that I am notoriously bad with directions. I have gotten lost in buildings, parking lots, and whilst driving. Finding the Wilderness Creek Trailhead was no different. The little parking lot was tucked away and not very visible to either side of the road. However, I was quite proud that I only passed the entrance once.
I quite liked how this trail was ripe with miniature bridges such as this winding one and the more standard one pictured below.

 

There were also many choices for side trails. The only thing the trail lacked was a spectacular view from the top. There was an indicated “end” or top but the trees were too tall to see anything spectacular. There was, though, a geocache just waiting to be found at the two benches you can sit on while trying to peer between the massive branches of the trees.

Wildlife Wednesdays: Light-Skirt Caches

by in Geocaching, Wildlife Wednesdays
Wildlife Wednesdays: Light-Skirt Caches
Recently I was looking up blogs about geocaching to follow. I found a link to a website that talked about light skirt caches. They are quite popular but they can also be dangerous, I found out. Check out the blog:
His picture of an electrical burn victim was quite gruesome and most intriguing. Could that really happen during my happy geocaching adventures? Johnny Geo points out that light skirts are there to encase the housed electrical equipment and even though most of the time if you lift up the skirt the wires and electrical bits are contained, it doesn’t mean that it is safe.
I am a big geocaching advocate but this is a concern. Check out his blog for more in depth information and some grody and disturbing photos.

Wildlife Wednesdays: The DNF

by in Geocaching, Wildlife Wednesdays
Wildlife Wednesdays: The DNF

 

 Sometimes time and space align to bring you a moment of irony. Some call it “perfect timing” while others refer to this phenomenon as hilarious.

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.

 

Wildlife Wednesday: The Stump Geocache

by in Geocaching, Wildlife Wednesdays

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