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.