A Walk in the Park

Unfortunately, all the finds here were made when the kids weren't with me, and I logged two DNF's (Did Not Find) when they were. After an hour or two at Chuck E. Cheese, we went down to Morris K. Udall Park to stroll around and do some geocaching. I took a few tokens with me to place in the caches.

WARNING: The following blog entry contains spoilers to the caches listed within. If you feel you may be caching in Tucson anytime soon and don't want to ruin your hunt, please proceed with caution.

An Amaze-ing Woman

Well, we looked and looked for this one, but we couldn't find it. At first, we thought it was this plastic egg, which had been vandalized by muggles (non-cachers). Nikki found it cracked open. After looking at the logs of the previous cachers, I see that it's a nano (very tiny), and it's magnetic... and it's not a plastic egg. There was a cool labyrinth with the statue of a Native American woman standing guard.

Lady of the labyrinth.

 This is not the cache. I put it back together, thinking that it might be.

Nikki and the kids got bored and tired, so Nikki sat, while the kids played on what looked like more of an exercise area for adults, than a kids' playground. I quickly set off to try for one more cache.

YUP, Another Micro

I was in a rush and couldn't find this one as well.  :(  Looking back at the visitor logs, I see that the cache coordinates are off by 20 feet or so. I actually just got an email from the cache owner, stating that someone moved the cache because the trees were being trimmed near where the cache was. While this is a very considerate thing to do, it's nowhere near the newly-posted coordinates. I fully intend to revisit this one once it's moved back.

At this point, Nikki wanted to go home because she was tired. We left, and I was somewhat despondent. After only finding two caches during the weekend prior, I didn't want to leave with only DNFs to report back. I decided to drop off Nikki and the kids (who were interested in playing with their friends anyway), and go back to seek the rest of the caches in Udall Park. Ironically enough, all the finds from this point on were quite easy.

Walk in the Park

This was located in a dirt and cacti area between the park itself, and a nearby neighborhood street. I found it really easy. It was a welcome relief after my problems with the other caches today. What I found really neat was the flat stone with a "handle" attached. The cache was directly underneath it.

I took some items for the girls: A notepad with "peace" and "love" logos on it, a Santa Claus maze toy (you know the kind with the little metal ball inside?), and a pin with a crowned heart on it. I left a 20-sided die, a Chuck E. Cheese token, and an action figure of a monkey.

Baseball Season is in Full Swing

Nothing to do with baseball, but I did find the cache rather easily. The container isn't the best (with the neck being slightly smaller than the rest of the container), and it was missing a lid. I took a toy lizard, and left a die.

I found this strange-looking plant (a cactus?) on the way to the cache site, and took one of it's fruits as a souvenir.

 Yes, I'm wearing a skort.

Roundabout # 6

I don't know about roundabouts 1 through 5, but this one is pretty interesting. Strangely enough, I didn't take a picture of it. Here's a photo taken from one of the previous finders of this cache. The javelina isn't real, of course, but neither is the cactus!

After looking at the artwork for awhile, I looked for the cache, and found it straight away. It was getting late (and dark) by this point, so I called it a day after this one. I took a dolphin pin, and left another die and another token.

Caches Found: 28

50%

WARNING: The following blog entry contains spoilers to the caches listed within. If you feel you may be caching in Tucson anytime soon and don't want to ruin your hunt, please proceed with caution.

Some geocachers have a "signature item" that they like to leave in the caches. For example, there is someone who lives around here who goes by the handle of "Dominoes." He tends to leave a domino in the caches he visits. This sounded really neat to me, and I racked my brain for a few weeks, trying to come up with a signature item for myself. It had to be small enough to fit into most caches, and of course, non-perishable. Being a Dungeons and Dragons fan since at least the late `80's, I thought, "Hey! Dice!" And there is no more iconic die out there but a twenty-sider. I was able to find a lot of 100 on eBay for $15, including shipping. And they're purple. Take a look...

Purple nails, purple dice!

We found two for two last weekend. In other words, we got only 50% of the caches we sought out to find. Bogus, dude. Interestingly enough, they were all hid by the same person. No car this time, we just walked from one cache to another. My two older daughters and I had a nice walk around the neighborhood.

BAZOOKA!

I'm not sure why this is called, "BAZOOKA!" I thought it would have something to do with the gum. But then again, the cache instructions did say that this was in a temporary container. We started looking in the wrong place at first. My GPS seemed to be a bit confused.  Once we were in the right area though, the find came quickly. It was under a bunch of rocks! We took a foreign coin, and left a domestic penny and a 20-sided die.

Right after we found the cache, a woman and her dogs came over to say hello. We stealthily hid the thing until they left.

Savannah (L) and Sarah (R) with the cache. My trusty GPSr is in the bottom right-hand corner.

Bubbles&Alfonzo

This is one of a series of caches in which the cache owner talks about various cats he's known over the years. As far as I can tell, the caches themselves don't resemble anything catlike. But then again, we only found one of them. You can click on the links to read the stories. This one was in a Ziploc bag. One of the previous cachers found it without a lid, so he or she bagged it to protect it from rain and such. We found this behind a rock. We took nothing and left a twenty sided die.

I'm holding the teeny tiny cache in my right hand, and the rolled-up logsheet in my left hand. I was using that brick to lean on while writing.

Ashes and Niners

This was our first DNF (Did Not Find). The clue is, "rope is your friend" We did find a length of cable, but couldn't figure out how to use it. To climb, I suppose? The cache might have been up a tree (which may have trouble supporting most people's weight), or in a hole on top of a high concrete wall. Then again, maybe there's another way to it. I don't know. It does have 4 out of 5 stars for difficulty. I'll try this again one day, with a ladder or something.  ;)

Hallow and Murphy

Our second DNF. This was in a very prickly area. Cacti all over, and two nasty trees. One cut down and strewn on the ground, and the other one standing tall, waiting to prick someone. Sarah and I got quite a few cactus needles stuck in our skin, with nothing to show for it. After some kids asked us if we wanted to play in their clubhouse (I told them I'm a bit old for that, ha ha!), we gave up on this one. I see notes from others now, indicating that it may be easier to attack this one from the south. We didn't come from that way, so I'll give this another try at some point.

And that's the sum of our adventure for the weekend. I'm used to finding more, so this was a bit of a bummer. Luckily, we aren't graded on geocaching. I would definitely have come home with a bad report card on this one.

Caches Found: 25

The Treasure, The Power... The Journey!

WARNING: The following blog entry contains spoilers to the caches listed within. If you feel you may be caching in Tucson anytime soon and don't want to ruin your hunt, please proceed with caution.

We headed out again with Samantha for another afternoon of geocaching. Some interesting finds this time.

Sentimental Journey

The first cache we visited was one that we had looked for twice and never found. I never mentioned it on this blog, for we only looked for it in passing. It's located at a 50's style establishment called Little Anthony's Diner. We ate there a month or so ago, and looked for the cache really quick before going home. No luck. Then Samantha came to visit Tucson, and we decided to bring her along and dine there again. Again, no luck. The hint said, "Fill `er up," and there was also a mention that it was a few feet from the patio dining area. There's also this picture:

We looked the car over, and up and down. We walked around it until we got dizzy. We thought it would be under the license plate, but that was bolted down on the top side. We could still see under it, only to see that nothing was there. Now that I think of it, the plate did seem a bit bent. Probably caused by fellow cachers! So we were left saying, "Ummm... where's the gas tank? What does this car run on anyway?"

So Nikki and I cheated. We asked her father where this fuel intake might be. He tells her, "Check under the tail light." Really now? Okay...

We went back to the cache, and found he was right! There's a micro hidden in there, held in place by a magnet. This is pretty neat. Here's a classic car, classic location, interesting theme that would take me back if I was alive back then, all adding up to a classic cache. Good job. We signed the logbook and headed on to the next.

Under Power

We finally found this amidst a maze of roads and houses. Since cutting through strangers' backyards is not an option, we had to go around. There was an argument between two of us and I got fed up and headed off on my own. The others got in their cars and headed down the opposite way. I still got there first.  :P  Samantha pulled up in her vehicle just as I pulled out the cache, asking me if I needed a ride. Oh, wise guy, huh? The Tucson Terrors followed soon after.

Nice spot. There were some rowdy dogs that seemed like they needed to be behind stronger fences, but they at least held out until we got the cache and got out of there. We took a tiny pumpkin eraser, a rubber bug of some sort, and a silly band. We left a horse, a dinosaur toy, and a Bratz doll. Oh, and it said there was a dead pomegranate on top, but it was actually a rock. Unless they meant the dead pomegranate tree... which is sort on top, being high up and all. Hmmm, whatever.

This is a shot from Samantha's camera phone, taken while posing for the picture at the beginning of this post. I think both came out rather nice, so I posted both. Got a problem wit' dat?

The tiniest Terror.

Treasure El Shaddai

El Shaddai is one of the Judaic names of god. It means, "God Almighty." So this cache is the `Treasure of God Almighty?' I'm not sure it lived up to that name, but it was a pretty cool find. I just want to throw this in:





I'm not religious at all. In fact, I'm agnostic with an interest in Wicca. But I've always loved Amy Grant, and this is a very pretty song. It's religious, but not gospel. (Can't stand gospel! Ack!) I hope I look this good when I'm 50!

But I digress. This cache was in an apartment complex, and contained quite a bit of clues. "Seek and You shall find a treasure under the shade of a tree. Near the bottom of the green pole near it. This is NOT in the courtyard but it is near the outside of building. Red Warning sign on the green pole look low near this and building. only a few steps off the parking lot."

It still took us some time to find this. First we headed into the courtyard. "Hey, wait, didn't the clues say not to enter the courtyard?" Oops. Anyway, we found the green pole, which didn't look like a stereotypical pole. It was much wider. The cache was under some small rocks near the base of the pole. We took a tiny pumpkin eraser (those things breed like rabbits!), a Cox tag of some kind, and a bag of three erasers. We left a rubber "J" charm, a lion stamper, and a Tootie Cutie clip. Sarah didn't want to want to write "Tootie Cutie" for some reason. I won.  :)

Samantha and I.

Now we're on to the DNF's (Did Not Find's). Ugh.

Allen's Happy Spot (aka Allerilla the Gorrila)

The hints/clues read as such:

"Come on Allen cache-up!
Gramma Betsy is kicking ya bup.
A namesaked (f.t.) find
So you are less left behind
& your spouse will grant you this trump.

It may seem unfair or cheap.
To create a cache within a friend’s reach.
But it’s a birthday, come on…
It can’t be so wrong,
Geocaching’s a skill that we teach.

Additional hint: Pull up!"

We were led by our trusty GPS's to the parking lot of an apartment complex. The coordinates corresponded to being under a carport. We walked around under there and felt up in the rafters quite a bit. I'm only 5'5" and I couldn't reach very high. I could see a rock sitting way up on top of the carport, but nobody could reach that! We gave up on this one.

I later went home and read through the logs of the other vistors, thinking maybe the cache was found by muggles or destroyed. It turns out that "Pull up" means pull your car up to the carport and stand on it! What if one didn't come by car? Kind of ridiculous, but we'll try this next time.

Electric Substation

We parked in a church parking lot and headed off to find this one. We came to a fence. It was by an electric power station, and the fence had a security sign on it. We didn't want to get arrested, or who knows, electrified by some stray current hitting the fence, so we left. I was convinced that the cache lay on the other side of this fenced-off area, and that one must approach it from another direction. Samantha verified this, and we'll hit this one from another way next time. If we get both of these DNF's, then Samantha will have made 100 finds. Nice!

After this, we headed on home, and Samantha treated us to Magpie's Pizza. What a doll!

...And So It Begins.

WARNING: The following blog entry contains spoilers to the caches listed within. If you feel you may be caching in Tucson anytime soon and don't want to ruin your hunt, please proceed with caution.

I bought my Garmin eTrek Legend GPS about 5 years ago or more, and never used it. For one reason or another, I just never got around to going geocaching. Now that I have a family to share this with, and an area where the weather is almost always sunny, I decided to take up this little hobby. Here's a picture of the GPS that we're using.

Pantano River Park

So we set out to search for our first geocache. This one was near the Pantano wash. For those who don't know what a wash is, it's used to divert water away from homes and roads, etc., and out into the desert. It usually looks like a dried-up river, but it can turn into a raging torrent when the monsoons hit Tucson, which can happen in July, August or early September. First we looked on the east side of the wash. We walked about 18 meters, only to discover that we needed to go west. The GPS was telling us that the cache was down in the wash itself. The sides of the wash were way too steep to navigate, so we had to go alllll the way back. Once in the wash, we walked about the same distance. The GPS again told us to go west... as we were standing on the bottom of another steep wall of dirt. We went back again, and ended up on the west side of the wash this time. There we found it... finally! To be specific, Savannah was the one who spotted it. Here are some pics:

This... is the wash. Water flows from left to right. Well, it would, if there was any.

Walking down the east side of the wash. I love looking at the mountains here in Tucson. I wonder how long I have to live here in order to stop gawking at them.

Now we're inside the wash. Are you coming, honey?

 Javelina footprints. A javelina is a large, hairy kind of pig, somewhat resembling a warthog.

This is not the cache. It's an old cassette player with the lid missing.

We found it! It was in that old stump to the right. I'm holding the old can that is our first geocache, and the kids are holding up the little goodies they got.

Micro Mania 13

We later tried to find a cache behind a CVS, to no luck. There were a bunch of trees in the area, and they were confusing the hell out of my GPS. I'm wondering if there's a GPS available that will work better with trees overhead. Since many caches are hidden in or around trees, this is pretty important.

Stump Juice

We found one more cache in a stump by the Hilton Hotel parking lot. I didn't take any pictures because it was pretty dark by the time we found it. It was a pretty easy find, though there were a bit of brambles and pokey things about.


The next day we headed out again. Nikki was very achy and sore from the trek on the day before, so she stayed behind, as did Skylar. I took Sarah and Savannah with me, and we found a bunch more caches. It was some good quality time with my two older daughters.

Homeless Cache

This is so named due to certain homeless people that bed down in the area. Luckily, the place was deserted when we got there. This wasn't far at all from the Pantano River Park cache.

Sarah found this one. It was in a Bath & Body Works container. Savannah got a tiny bowling pin and Sarah got a bell.

Kodak Cache

"We're here searching for the infamous Kodak Cache. It's so named for the old film container that is the cache itself. What do we have here? A part of this metal fence looks suspicious..."

"Crikey! I found the bugger! It was hung inside the post, from what looks to be a straightened-out safety pin!"

"Ain't she a beauty!"

Chomping Grounds 2

Here's another cache that was stuffed under the very rock that I'm sitting on. Unfortunately, these tiny caches don't have room for any swag -- errr, items.

If anyone has the wherewithal to invest in this hobby, I would recommend it. I heard that Tucson is a very cache-rich area (hooray!), but there are geocaches all over the world. Speaking of Tucson caches, here's a map illustrating the placement of these caches in my area. Just look at all of them! You can enlarge the pic a bit by clicking on it.

So has anyone reading this ever gone geocaching before? Would anyone like to try it?