Thursday, April 16, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Pretty misguided NY Times article (if u ask me)...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29wwln-medium-t.html
wow! talk about missing the point: of being outside with your family, enjoying nature, picking up trash, understanding that treasure can be in the details, and rejecting consumerist culture!
wow! talk about missing the point: of being outside with your family, enjoying nature, picking up trash, understanding that treasure can be in the details, and rejecting consumerist culture!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Stone Barns and Cache's
Truly BEAUTIFUL Saturday and off to Stone Barns for the first time. Wow, what a place! Free to roam the property that abuts the Rockefeller Preserve we were struck by the casual nature of the place and the wonderful farming practices on view. Free range, solar, renewable, organic, sustainable. All right out in the open for close inspection and the delight of the kids. The massive pigs randomly placed throughout the woods were a huge treat.
It was all smooth sailing till we got to the "Cafe" situated in a beautiful courtyard that looked like an Italian hilltop town center. We met some friends there and waited on the line for almost an hour. The register was interminably slow and it was as if the cashier was programing the Space Shuttle coordinates when he took our money.
We bought cookies, brownies, muffins, amazing salads of curried turnips, beets, egg and greens as well as tuna sandwiches and baloney presumably from the pigs on the farm. We had coffee, sparkling juices and ate and drank as the kids ran around the yard making snowballs from the last remaining grey piles scattered around the courtyard.
I was determined to hit a cache on this sweet day so I convinced the gang to follow me to a spot that sounded like an easy one on a lake on the outskirts of Tarrytown. We took a left from the north at Main Street and headed up the hill past some nice Victorians and toward a parking lot.
The GPS pointed us down the road but we opted to follow the path in the opposite direction around the lake toward what was described as "New York's version of the Everglades". Well, not quite. More like NY's version of a dump if you ask me. There was trash everywhere and we employed out CITO (Cache In Trash Out) techniques of grabbing a cardboard Bud Light box and filling it with cans and paper from the woods on either side of the path. The 12 cans from the box were literally on the ground near the empty container having been tossed within inches of where they were consumed, some having been thrown in a briar patch so that it was impossible to retrieve them without shredding ones skin on thorns.
We were most amazed by the sight of plastic bags filled with excrement. It seemed a common practice to pickup ones dogs poo and place it in a plastic bag, tie the top, and leave the bag on the path. I refused to pick any of these up and told the kids to steer clear of them. It is thought that plastic bags take up to 500 years to decompose. If that poo was out of the bag it would be gone in days. We all joked about the post Indian Point meltdown, the only thing left in Southern Westchester being petrified dog shit.
Back to the cache task at hand we continued toward the marker and as we approached the stone wall mentioned in the directions a small mongrel jumped up and began barking at us. It was a cute little mix of what looked like a boxer and a chihuahua. He actually looked like that half human half dog in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake and I expected Donald Sutherland to walk out from behind the wall with his mouth open. We never did see the dogs owner but the beast backed down and allowed us to walk around to the other side to look for the cache whose hint was un-encrypted as "near a tree at the base of the wall". Love it when it's clear and descriptive like that.
It was an easy one and we let the kids find it and did the usual signing the log and giving and taking. TFTC! Welcome Kiki, DD, Nickster and Tony P!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Snowy Monday
The March Lion came in the valley last night with loads of the white stuff and a snowday for the kids up here and the first one in NYC in 5 years. Bloomberg blew it by closing the schools last minute pissing off loads of working parents who couldn't find anyone to watch the kids before work. I'm surprised the phone lines didn't fail with all the calls to 1-800 watch my kid this morning. Bloomie said "all you had to do was look out the window to know there was no school". That's pretty nearsighted given the fact that it's been five years if u ask me.
We did a cache hunt on Saturday up at Nana's place in Orange County. Only three recruits participated including me on the blustery day and I put in the wrong coordinates to start and we ended up on some persons private property, having parked on the side of a busy road and a wild goose chase followed to say the least. My wife wisely chose to stay in the car while me and The Noodle foolishly trespassed realizing half way in we were totally off track.
We got back in the warm car and it was then I noticed the wrong coordinates (I really thought I had entered the right ones but this was not the first time) so we decided to continue on to the correct spot.
They took us to a typical residential area complete with ranch houses, McMansions and Muggles eyeing our car as we pulled into a small cul de sac on the banks of a river. We got out of the car and looked around seeing some kids on bikes riding back and forth over a beautiful train trestle that spanned the river. My wife said "hoodlums" under her breath as we walked on what felt like someone else's property and headed toward the arrow on our GPS.
We searched the entire trestle on our side. Every nook and cranny. Every possible hiding place. We kicked leaves revealing little blue dime bags (empty) and chunks of crumbling concrete from the bridge. We saw possible hiding places that would have been ideal had there been something there.
We were on the verge of giving up when i decided to go on the top of the trestle where the bikers had been. It was then that the vertigo I knew I had but rarely had the chance to test came rearing it's ugly head. I began to walk on the old rotting wood rail ties with gaping holes to the river below. I knew my 200+ pounds couldn't fall between them but I was still petrified. The person who hid the cache said the terrain was a 2 but "should be a 4.5". Yes, if your a total chicken.
I yelled to my son "don't come anywhere near me!" and crawled like a baby back to the path that led to the trestle. I looked at my wife and my look said we (I) had failed this hunt.
"Why do they make it so hard?" she asked me.
I wish I knew. Maybe I should have asked the hoodlums to help out.
We did a cache hunt on Saturday up at Nana's place in Orange County. Only three recruits participated including me on the blustery day and I put in the wrong coordinates to start and we ended up on some persons private property, having parked on the side of a busy road and a wild goose chase followed to say the least. My wife wisely chose to stay in the car while me and The Noodle foolishly trespassed realizing half way in we were totally off track.
We got back in the warm car and it was then I noticed the wrong coordinates (I really thought I had entered the right ones but this was not the first time) so we decided to continue on to the correct spot.
They took us to a typical residential area complete with ranch houses, McMansions and Muggles eyeing our car as we pulled into a small cul de sac on the banks of a river. We got out of the car and looked around seeing some kids on bikes riding back and forth over a beautiful train trestle that spanned the river. My wife said "hoodlums" under her breath as we walked on what felt like someone else's property and headed toward the arrow on our GPS.
We searched the entire trestle on our side. Every nook and cranny. Every possible hiding place. We kicked leaves revealing little blue dime bags (empty) and chunks of crumbling concrete from the bridge. We saw possible hiding places that would have been ideal had there been something there.
We were on the verge of giving up when i decided to go on the top of the trestle where the bikers had been. It was then that the vertigo I knew I had but rarely had the chance to test came rearing it's ugly head. I began to walk on the old rotting wood rail ties with gaping holes to the river below. I knew my 200+ pounds couldn't fall between them but I was still petrified. The person who hid the cache said the terrain was a 2 but "should be a 4.5". Yes, if your a total chicken.
I yelled to my son "don't come anywhere near me!" and crawled like a baby back to the path that led to the trestle. I looked at my wife and my look said we (I) had failed this hunt.
"Why do they make it so hard?" she asked me.
I wish I knew. Maybe I should have asked the hoodlums to help out.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Response to my Query
The geocaching peeps got back to me regarding their profits from the sale of merch in case anyone cares:
Thank you for writing in. While our profits help us to keep 25+ employees gainfully employed working on our websites and other projects, we also promote the practice of Cache In Trash Out within the geocaching community. I encourage you to check out our site on this initiative:
http://www.geocaching.com/cito/
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Best Regards,
xxxxxxxxx
Cache In Trash Out (CITO) is a great way to clean up the environment while your out caching. Basically just bring along a recepticle of some kind - eco-smartbag - www.ecosmartplastics.com - biodegradable plastic bags are cool from Amazon - and pick up trash you see along the route. They have events dedicated to this or you can just do it on every hunt.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Merch!
Just arrived by mail: Geo Cache booty! Guess it's not the most consumer conscious thing to do (buying T-shirts off the web) but the stuff is cool and I just inquired if the profits go anywhere green or useful (except into their pockets - which is totally ok too). I got them for the whole family. Mine (pictured) is called the "Tech + Nature T Shirt" and my wife got the TFTC (Thanks For The Cache) shirt. The kids shirts are sweet and totally appropriate. One is a stick figure looking hiker walking off a cliff with a GPS in hand and has the word "FOCUS" in big letters. The other is a stick guy sitting on a log opening a cache with the word "BLISS" under it. They insisted on wearing them to school even though they were a few sizes too big.
Check it here: http://shop.groundspeak.com/
This whole thing has really gotten the kids attention. We were just signing them up for after school activities and having a hard time deciding between the sporty, the crafty, the theatrical and the outdoorsy when upon reading the description for the nature program they mentioned they would be going on Geo Cache's with the kids. They perked their ears up upon hearing that and the decision was made. Whew.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Rockefeller State Park Cache
Another sunny but cold Sunday and we dragged some friends who had spent the night to a GeoCache in the Rockefeller State Park preserve near Tarrytown. This is a beautiful park with amazing carriage paths and many unique bridges. Their website describes the park as;
Approximately 30 miles from the hustle and bustle of New York City, the Preserve is an idyllic spot for strolling, jogging, horseback riding, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing. With 180 recorded species of birds and its IBA (Important Bird Area) designation by the National Audubon Society, the Preserve is a must visit area for birders.
We drove on beautiful wooded roads to get to the coordinates which brought us to a parking spot on the side of the road where a number of other cars had parked. It was a bit cold and my hands were having a hard time holding the GPS, a bag of snacks and SWAG (Stuff We All Get) replacements, and my sons hand.
My wife and friends had gone ahead on a beautiful winding path over a ridge and were out of range of our yells so we followed the arrow to where we thought it might be. The GPS was having a hard time locating and kept running us in smaller and smaller circles till we felt we were within a few hundred square of our target.
My wife and friends noticed we had stopped and gone off the path down toward a small river that was on a steep incline. They wandered over and I got that familiar feeling of fear of disappointing our new Caching partners. The GPS was giving mixed signals to say the least and the hint was really vague.
Additional Hints ( Encrypt )
Move some rocks around near the stream - about 13' away from the thickest tree.
There were thick trees everywhere and there was one that had been recently cut down that seemed like it may have been the thickest at an earlier time. What was the date of the hint? Of the last entry? When am I going to get an Iphone so I can look this stuff up on the fly?
The description was this:
This cache is an ammo can with the usual trinkets near a regularly used carriage trail. Depending on day and time you may encounter joggers, dog-walkers, horse-back riders, and hikers. Area around the cache is often wet and slippery, so be careful. After you find the cache you may want to walk under the nearby bridge for some lovely scenery. The carriage trails here are popular with the locals - walk around to see why.
All of the above was true but helped little in finding the treasure. Luckily our friends were not the type to give up easily and they made a valiant effort picking up rocks and walking in concentric circles from what they thought was the "thickest" tree.
The kids were cold and complaining. My hands were raw with the cold and from picking up wet river rocks. The Cache was listed as large so where could it be?
Then the sweet sound of "I found it!" travelled through the woods and I turned and there was my buddy lifting a huge rock off a pedestal of other rocks and the kids running toward the site and the sight of a large ammo container being lifted lengthwise into the air and the usual opening and the musty smell of aged paper and mossy plastic and the taking and leaving and signing of a great cache moment.
Approximately 30 miles from the hustle and bustle of New York City, the Preserve is an idyllic spot for strolling, jogging, horseback riding, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing. With 180 recorded species of birds and its IBA (Important Bird Area) designation by the National Audubon Society, the Preserve is a must visit area for birders.
We drove on beautiful wooded roads to get to the coordinates which brought us to a parking spot on the side of the road where a number of other cars had parked. It was a bit cold and my hands were having a hard time holding the GPS, a bag of snacks and SWAG (Stuff We All Get) replacements, and my sons hand.
My wife and friends had gone ahead on a beautiful winding path over a ridge and were out of range of our yells so we followed the arrow to where we thought it might be. The GPS was having a hard time locating and kept running us in smaller and smaller circles till we felt we were within a few hundred square of our target.
My wife and friends noticed we had stopped and gone off the path down toward a small river that was on a steep incline. They wandered over and I got that familiar feeling of fear of disappointing our new Caching partners. The GPS was giving mixed signals to say the least and the hint was really vague.
Additional Hints ( Encrypt )
Move some rocks around near the stream - about 13' away from the thickest tree.
There were thick trees everywhere and there was one that had been recently cut down that seemed like it may have been the thickest at an earlier time. What was the date of the hint? Of the last entry? When am I going to get an Iphone so I can look this stuff up on the fly?
The description was this:
This cache is an ammo can with the usual trinkets near a regularly used carriage trail. Depending on day and time you may encounter joggers, dog-walkers, horse-back riders, and hikers. Area around the cache is often wet and slippery, so be careful. After you find the cache you may want to walk under the nearby bridge for some lovely scenery. The carriage trails here are popular with the locals - walk around to see why.
All of the above was true but helped little in finding the treasure. Luckily our friends were not the type to give up easily and they made a valiant effort picking up rocks and walking in concentric circles from what they thought was the "thickest" tree.
The kids were cold and complaining. My hands were raw with the cold and from picking up wet river rocks. The Cache was listed as large so where could it be?
Then the sweet sound of "I found it!" travelled through the woods and I turned and there was my buddy lifting a huge rock off a pedestal of other rocks and the kids running toward the site and the sight of a large ammo container being lifted lengthwise into the air and the usual opening and the musty smell of aged paper and mossy plastic and the taking and leaving and signing of a great cache moment.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Our First Geocaching Part Three
Of course we had to push our luck and try for three in one day and this last one was at a favorite spot of ours right down the road in Sprain Ridge Park so we packed up and headed out of the Hillside Parking lot. Sprain Ridge Park is in a bizarre location situated on a ridge between the north and southbound lanes of the Sprain Brook Parkway. The Park consists of 278 wooded acres and a developed portion with a pool and picnic tables. The hiking trails are nice though one is constantly reminded of the highways on either side as well as of the massive stand of high voltage power lines overhead at the top of the ridge. The park also attracts some insane mountain bikers and is a major migration stop and breeding site for many birds including Wood Thrush, Orchard Oriole, Pileated Woodpecker, Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted grosbeak.
According to "Where To Bird In Westchester"
"The park is excellent for spring and fall passerine migration. Some hawk migration along the ridge in the fall. Sunny days warm up the edge of the power-line path and woods at first light, concentrating migrants there." They go on to say, "Great-horned Owls are year round and can be found in the pines in the southern section of the park and the Cedars can hold Saw-whets in the fall and winter. Wild Turkey is becoming common"
Back to the hunt. When we arrived there were a few cars in the huge lot. It seemed that a Westchester utility was using the lot to park their bucket trucks and there was a guy alone in his car smoking a cigar. They must get bus loads of kids in during the summer that take advantage of the huge pool and recreation area but despite having been there a handful of times we have never seen the place when the pool was open.
We parked and entered the coordinates on the GPS. This time we would let the kids lead the way so we gave them the programed the GPS and handed it over. This cache was a "Multi" which meant that there were two parts. When you found the frst it led you to the second which was the main cache. In this case the first was a "micro" but the second was an ammo box filled with goodies (or so we hoped).
The boys looked like staggering drunks trying to follow the arrow but we let them get us toward the general marker area before we pulled out the seeker page to check for our encrypted clue. It read: [Part 1] In a tiny cave on the NW side of the rock outcrop (facing the pool), near the top.
We walked toward the pool then went characteristically off the path and hiked up the face of the rocks. We were feeling confident as we had accomplished the previous two cache's that day and went right to the apex of the coordinate. It was among an impressive outcropping of rocks with potential "caves" all over the place. We stood staring at the area when we were almost run over by a group of mountain bikers. We were standing right in the middle of a proving ground where the bikers were accelerating to jump on to a huge log that sat across the top of the ridge. One of our boys looked like a deer in headlights as the bikes zoomed around him. I heard one of the bikers yell "he want's to ride our bikes!". I think he just wanted to run for cover.
We checked all over. We looked in little rock crevices. In divots, cavities, openings, pit's, cracks, crannies, pockmark, chasms, clefts and certainly caves. Nothing. We were getting tired and hungry. We gave up.
It had been a great day. We were 2 for 3 and had discovered this great new twist on the oldest of pastimes. Walking. When I got home I looked online at the comments for this last failed Geocache. It said the following from July 4, 2008
"Spent about an hour and even with the hint, no luck."
I guess we weren't the first to have given up without location the first cache. But reading further the blog raised my hopes for a return. This one from October 2008 after someone mentioned they updated the hint to be more accurate.
"FINALLY!!!!
This cache has been giving us fits since we started caching 3 years ago, especially since we have never found this kind of multi until now (the ones we have found involve getting numbers from a spot and doing math to get the final coords). In that time we have made 2 attempts as a group and 2 by myself ("Ha") to find part 1."
We are definitely going back.
According to "Where To Bird In Westchester"
"The park is excellent for spring and fall passerine migration. Some hawk migration along the ridge in the fall. Sunny days warm up the edge of the power-line path and woods at first light, concentrating migrants there." They go on to say, "Great-horned Owls are year round and can be found in the pines in the southern section of the park and the Cedars can hold Saw-whets in the fall and winter. Wild Turkey is becoming common"
Back to the hunt. When we arrived there were a few cars in the huge lot. It seemed that a Westchester utility was using the lot to park their bucket trucks and there was a guy alone in his car smoking a cigar. They must get bus loads of kids in during the summer that take advantage of the huge pool and recreation area but despite having been there a handful of times we have never seen the place when the pool was open.
We parked and entered the coordinates on the GPS. This time we would let the kids lead the way so we gave them the programed the GPS and handed it over. This cache was a "Multi" which meant that there were two parts. When you found the frst it led you to the second which was the main cache. In this case the first was a "micro" but the second was an ammo box filled with goodies (or so we hoped).
The boys looked like staggering drunks trying to follow the arrow but we let them get us toward the general marker area before we pulled out the seeker page to check for our encrypted clue. It read: [Part 1] In a tiny cave on the NW side of the rock outcrop (facing the pool), near the top.
We walked toward the pool then went characteristically off the path and hiked up the face of the rocks. We were feeling confident as we had accomplished the previous two cache's that day and went right to the apex of the coordinate. It was among an impressive outcropping of rocks with potential "caves" all over the place. We stood staring at the area when we were almost run over by a group of mountain bikers. We were standing right in the middle of a proving ground where the bikers were accelerating to jump on to a huge log that sat across the top of the ridge. One of our boys looked like a deer in headlights as the bikes zoomed around him. I heard one of the bikers yell "he want's to ride our bikes!". I think he just wanted to run for cover.
We checked all over. We looked in little rock crevices. In divots, cavities, openings, pit's, cracks, crannies, pockmark, chasms, clefts and certainly caves. Nothing. We were getting tired and hungry. We gave up.
It had been a great day. We were 2 for 3 and had discovered this great new twist on the oldest of pastimes. Walking. When I got home I looked online at the comments for this last failed Geocache. It said the following from July 4, 2008
"Spent about an hour and even with the hint, no luck."
I guess we weren't the first to have given up without location the first cache. But reading further the blog raised my hopes for a return. This one from October 2008 after someone mentioned they updated the hint to be more accurate.
"FINALLY!!!!
This cache has been giving us fits since we started caching 3 years ago, especially since we have never found this kind of multi until now (the ones we have found involve getting numbers from a spot and doing math to get the final coords). In that time we have made 2 attempts as a group and 2 by myself ("Ha") to find part 1."
We are definitely going back.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
First Geocaching Part 2
After the success of our first Cache we had to do another so we dipped into the jello filled pack and pulled out a new seeker page with a whole new set of coordinates. The page read:
In a forested park in Hastings-on-Hudson. Minimal muggle activity, but close to roads and a school.
We put in the coordinates and it took us to of all places, the parking lot of Hillside School! We parked in the mostly empty lot noticing a neighbor, their old dog and their son were there playing on the jungle gym. We stood in the lot checking our familiar surroundings waiting for the GPS to charge (again!) while the kids ran over to have quick playground run. The dad walked over and jokingly asked if we were lost. No, we said, our kids are in the same class as yours, you knew that, then we explained the whole Geocache thing in a nutshell and invited them along for the hunt.
A bit worried that the hunt would take us on a wild goose chase or the treasure would somehow be missing or god forbid the GPS would die somewhere out in the woods we headed off in the direction of the arrow. It took us north up the trail on the side of the school where the woods start and we let the kids lead the way, excited now to be with another search party.
We reached the summit of the trail where there were some rock formations. Referencing the seeker page's encrypted message clue it read:
Take a moment to look around the area. Do you see evidence of the water tank?
It went on to mention:
This cache commemorates benchmark KU3665, which was at the top of a wooden water tank that used to stand near this location. The benchmark was first logged in 1930.
Like a trigger the words immediately materialized and we saw the signs of the water tank perched atop the rocky bluff. We knew we weren't far but the hunt had really just begun. The thaw had made the terrain quite slick and we were doing our best to stay upright at the same time making sure the kids didn't meet some terrible fate on one of the many rusted pipes and sharp rocks. The dad took a nasty spill after jumping off a high rock onto some very slippery moss and landed hard on his bottom.
I looked at our motley crew with muddy clothes and wind chafed faces and wondered if this wasn't such a good idea after all. We were right on the GPS coordinate but as I had learned there was no exact, fixed spot from which to search. The lat/long number, though incredibly exact was about a 4-600 square foot area within which we were left to search.
We jumped around the rocks a little more and the familiar feeling of disappointment set in. Mostly for our guests who had not had the pleasure of finding the cache from earlier in the day and considering how we had hyped it up (we know we're quirky but being new to Hastings the last thing we wanted was a reputation of being lame as well) we did not want to disappoint.
Standing back and surveying the scene; the kids jumping about, the old dog running from place to place and my wife chatting with our new neighbor, I noticed an old cast iron water pipe wedged between two large rocks. It looked like all the ones we had seen around the site but something about it's placement and positioning seemed odd.
I yelled to the crew and walked over to the pipe approaching it from below. It looked ordinary enough from that vantage but as the kids approached from on top of the rock, above where I stood, they all pointed and gasped. I scrambled up and looked into the crevice and sure enough there was the familiar black canister. This time it was round with a screw off top. It lifted right up and out of the space it was carefully wedged, everyone looking on, the dad with that "will you look at that" exclamation on his face. I'm sure he'd been thinking what a wild goose chase this was but there it was; the proof that there was something hidden in the woods around school, something that we actually found using a freakin' GPS device! My wife and I looked at each other with silly pride as the kids unscrewed the top and began removing the contents.
We advised that it may be best to remove the items; a log book safely tucked in a plastic bag, and some little trinkets, on a flat rock so they didn't spill onto the forest floor and get lost. The kids obliged and we did the requisite exchange of trinkets, signed the log book, included our new seekers in it and replaced the cache. Freakin' awesome.
In a forested park in Hastings-on-Hudson. Minimal muggle activity, but close to roads and a school.
We put in the coordinates and it took us to of all places, the parking lot of Hillside School! We parked in the mostly empty lot noticing a neighbor, their old dog and their son were there playing on the jungle gym. We stood in the lot checking our familiar surroundings waiting for the GPS to charge (again!) while the kids ran over to have quick playground run. The dad walked over and jokingly asked if we were lost. No, we said, our kids are in the same class as yours, you knew that, then we explained the whole Geocache thing in a nutshell and invited them along for the hunt.
A bit worried that the hunt would take us on a wild goose chase or the treasure would somehow be missing or god forbid the GPS would die somewhere out in the woods we headed off in the direction of the arrow. It took us north up the trail on the side of the school where the woods start and we let the kids lead the way, excited now to be with another search party.
We reached the summit of the trail where there were some rock formations. Referencing the seeker page's encrypted message clue it read:
Take a moment to look around the area. Do you see evidence of the water tank?
It went on to mention:
This cache commemorates benchmark KU3665, which was at the top of a wooden water tank that used to stand near this location. The benchmark was first logged in 1930.
Like a trigger the words immediately materialized and we saw the signs of the water tank perched atop the rocky bluff. We knew we weren't far but the hunt had really just begun. The thaw had made the terrain quite slick and we were doing our best to stay upright at the same time making sure the kids didn't meet some terrible fate on one of the many rusted pipes and sharp rocks. The dad took a nasty spill after jumping off a high rock onto some very slippery moss and landed hard on his bottom.
I looked at our motley crew with muddy clothes and wind chafed faces and wondered if this wasn't such a good idea after all. We were right on the GPS coordinate but as I had learned there was no exact, fixed spot from which to search. The lat/long number, though incredibly exact was about a 4-600 square foot area within which we were left to search.
We jumped around the rocks a little more and the familiar feeling of disappointment set in. Mostly for our guests who had not had the pleasure of finding the cache from earlier in the day and considering how we had hyped it up (we know we're quirky but being new to Hastings the last thing we wanted was a reputation of being lame as well) we did not want to disappoint.
Standing back and surveying the scene; the kids jumping about, the old dog running from place to place and my wife chatting with our new neighbor, I noticed an old cast iron water pipe wedged between two large rocks. It looked like all the ones we had seen around the site but something about it's placement and positioning seemed odd.
I yelled to the crew and walked over to the pipe approaching it from below. It looked ordinary enough from that vantage but as the kids approached from on top of the rock, above where I stood, they all pointed and gasped. I scrambled up and looked into the crevice and sure enough there was the familiar black canister. This time it was round with a screw off top. It lifted right up and out of the space it was carefully wedged, everyone looking on, the dad with that "will you look at that" exclamation on his face. I'm sure he'd been thinking what a wild goose chase this was but there it was; the proof that there was something hidden in the woods around school, something that we actually found using a freakin' GPS device! My wife and I looked at each other with silly pride as the kids unscrewed the top and began removing the contents.
We advised that it may be best to remove the items; a log book safely tucked in a plastic bag, and some little trinkets, on a flat rock so they didn't spill onto the forest floor and get lost. The kids obliged and we did the requisite exchange of trinkets, signed the log book, included our new seekers in it and replaced the cache. Freakin' awesome.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Our First Geocaching day
We were told about this by a friend from college who lives in Rhinebeck and went out with her five year old daughter on a Geocacheing hunt in the area and said it was loads of fun. Boy was she right. We may be a bit late in jumping on the bandwagon here as Geocaching has been around since 2000 when the removal of "Selective Availability" on GPS made errors less likely (originally to confound guided missiles!). Since then the GPS craze has most of us with one in our car and many of us (with older cars) with a portable one. When military technology hits the general public watch what happens (see alkaline battery and food preservation), hence the advent of this awesome "treasure" hunt called Geocaching. You can read all about it on Wikipedia, I just want to recap a bit of our adventure.
We had been looking for the right day for this and when the temps hit 50F on a Sunday we jumped on the computer, put in our zip, and headed to the first location. We printed out three "seekers pages" which are the GPS coordinates and the clues and instructions to find the canister.
Our first Cache was supposedly in the Lenoir Nature Preserve off Rt 9 (North Broadway). We knew the area well as the kids had gone to camp there so knowing we were heading in that direction we grabbed the out of date gallon of milk I had bought at the news stand that morning and planned on returning (note to self: don't buy milk at a newstand) and headed off. The kids had packed snacks (kashi bars, jello, juice boxes) as we told them we were going on a hike, that was also a treasure hunt, just to confuse them, though we really did not know what to expect either.
We read that each cache has a log book and some little "treasures" upping the kid appeal and your supposed to take something and replace it with something of your own So the kids grabbed some little trinket toys of which we have seventeen thousand and added them to their travel bag along with the Moleskine log book and snacks. First thing we noticed upon getting in the car was that the kid packed Jello had spilled in the ladybug bag with the Geocache paperwork but the sun was out, it was a mild fifty five and the driveway was thawing nicely.
When we arrived at Lenoir which is a located on Dudley Street in Yonkers (914-968-5851) there was one other car in the lot and an older man with a even older dog who said we should be careful of the icy conditions. According to westchester.gov:
"Lenoir Preserve is a 40-acre nature preserve comprising woodlands and field habitats. It is situated near the Hastings-Yonkers border, adjacent to the Old Croton Aqueduct on slopes overlooking the Hudson River. The property formerly home to two Hudson River estates, features magnificent copper beeches from Europe, as well as native sugar maples, red oaks, hemlocks, pines and tulip trees. Many kinds of wildlife, including woodpeckers, owls and bats, find shelter at Lenoir."
Our GPS was low on batteries as I had just updated it at garmin.com and forgot to plug it back in to the lighter so I was in no rush to get out of the car. I asked my wife to read me the coordianates which are listed at the top of each seekers page. You MUST sign up to get this information so don's skimp on the free membership and be stuck out there without your location.
We put in the numbers which to my surprise were very close to the numbers of our current location. This made sense I soon realized the GPS tells you where you are by using the latitude and longitudinal spherical coordinate system and we were close to our target in a relative sense considering the size of the earth. Again check wikipedia for details on this but what struck me was the realization that everywhere I stood on earth was represented by a number coordinate. It was a bit big brother for me but it was really fun to try and explain it all to two six year olds.
The GPS took the numbers, I hit "go" and we began to follow the yellow arrow. We walked up the path on the right which is not the way we normally would go to camp but it seemed the device was taking us in that direction. We were wrong and it seemed that the GPS was just getting it's bearings and it took us back to the left. According to our instructions there was supposed to be a bench involved somewhere (to rest) but we didn't see it. We headed up past the Nature Center and up a hill and then off the path which felt a little wierd. The guides always mention going "off the path" and remaining somewhat secretive when on a hunt. They even mention Muggles as in innocent bystanders I guess or the uninitiated. The whole thing felt very Harry Potter or like the quest for the Illuminati's Lair.
When we reached the top of a clearing a beautiful old Locust tree stood with arrows on it pointing in different directions. These were trail markers but the kids mistook them as part of our quest so we followed them a little. The GPS was pulling me east but the wife and kids thought otherwise and we headed over to the south back down the hill. I was afraid the GPS would die so i turned it off for a while while the instincts of the others led the way. We could see Rt. 9 from where we were (as well as a large posse of Whitetailed deer) and the clues mentioned some old ruins made of brick. We were definitely in the wrong spot so I turned the device back on, agreed to the terms of service that say you shouldn't mess with it while you are driving (yea right) and called in the troops.
"I think we should trust the GPS" I stated.
"Just don't walk up ahead and leave me behind!" Lil' G yelled at me.
"He does that to me too" my wife said.
"I'm sorry but I'm just really excited to find this thing."
I slowed down and we held out the GPS and began walking toward the arrow. My wife suggested we try zooming in the map to get abetter idea of where we were. It worked and the map said to walk south east five hundred feet to the location. We hurried through the woods and started to see bricks and the remains of an old foundation. We were close! But where could this canister be? On the guide they have keys that tell u the direction, difficulty level, the terrain, and the size of the cache from "virtual" which could be a monument or building I guess to Micro which would be easy to hide say in an urban area (there are caches in NYC) to small, medium, large and even multiples. I failed to look on the seekers page so i was not sure what to look for and I didn't un-encrypt the hint that said "Among the roots of a large tree, concealed with sticks." I was not feeling optimistic.
We staggered around for a while looking under leaves, up in trees and on the ground and I began to get a bit more frustrated, (we were right on the arrow!) when a large tree caught my attention having grown directly in front of where I was standing. I circled the trunk and saw there was a stick somewhat purposefully placed in one of the above ground roots where there was an opening. Under the stick I saw a black box and some writing. Suddenly I had the most wholesome feeling of accomplishment and a real delight in having made this discovery. I called over the gang and we looked down. The pictures tell the rest of the story as we signed the log book (first to sign in a year!), took some cute items (stickers, a clip for a notebook in the shape of a bee) and replaced them with our own things (a toy horse, a toy car) carefully closed the lid and put it back exactly where we found it.
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