Hi, Shoob&Sheeb!

After our thrilling adventure of two weeks ago at “Gates of Hades,” all I could think about was doing another nighttime cache hunt. “Night Time at the Preserve” sounded perfect for this weekend. Our adventure began just before sunset. We easily found the first eye and the example of the green reflectors we would be seeking throughout our quest, but there wasn’t a clear path of green to follow from this point. Using a bit of cacher’s intuition and knowledge of the area, as we have in the past, we were able to deduce the correct path and we followed (and followed, and followed) it until we reached the gate—spotting two deer and watching a brilliant sunset along the way. We made the turn and continued following the path you had laid out for us. Here’s where things got interesting. We lost the trail of green and ventured first in one direction, then backtracked to investigate another possible path. Eventually we retried our first tactic and Rich then somehow spotted the blue eye.

Blue eye’s coordinates led us to another spot of momentary confusion. Where was the first red eye? Even though I searched all around the given coordinates, I never found the red eye. Meanwhile Rich, taking a slightly different path at a different angle, noticed more green reflectors. We followed that path until it too ran out, but again, no sign of the second red eye. Our flashlights caught a slight reflection of silver that turned out to be your second tag—the coordinates of the final cache. Still hopeful, we headed off deeper into the brush. Reaching the final coordinates was difficult, and once there I could not locate a single probable hiding spot. I began to wonder if we even had entered the correct coordinates into our GPSr. After a few more minutes of awkwardly hacking around in the brush and trying to avoid the nearby marsh, we decided to admit temporary defeat and head back to the car.

If we can confirm that we had the correct coordinates and can find an easier way back to that final location, I’d love to give it another try. Although this adventure didn’t quite turn out as we’d hoped, we still enjoyed an awesome hike together on a frosty Friday night. I suppose all’s well that ends … with pizza and beer. Thanks for the unique experience!

Howdy, Shoob&Sheeb!

Wish we could say we were successful on tonight’s hunt, but after finding all three stages we just couldn’t locate the cache itself. As a previous cacher has stated, some of the reflectors appear to be missing, in particular two of the red eyes and (possibly?) the last one. Since we don’t know how many green reflectors were placed, we can’t say how many of those are missing as well. It looks like someone actually pulled off the red ones! Overall, this was an interesting and mostly fun geocache. Loved the long hike, especially at night; but, for my part, wasn’t overwhelmed with the “thicketwhacking” at the last sections. I guess it’s a sign that I’m getting just a little too old when thrashing around in dense brush isn’t as appealing as it once might have been.

We lost sight of the green reflectors just before Stage 2, and only by luck did we find the 2nd blue eye along with the tag. We never found the first red eye at Stage 3. However, we got lucky again and spotted the last set of green reflectors. The red eye at Stage 4 was gone. We found the tag only by luck when it glinted in the beams of our flashlights.

After plugging in the final set of coordinates, it seemed like it would be a short walk to the cache. That’s where we hit the dense brush and the “swamp.” It was the tall, thick underbrush and the sogginess of the nearby area that discouraged us from spending a lot of time looking for the final cache. Zhanna and I each took turns working the GPSr (an up-to-date Garmin Oregon), which numerous times kept bringing us to within 4 feet of the coordinates, and still we couldn’t find any signs of a good hiding spot or even (maybe?) a last red eye.

We wouldn’t mind going back to finish this challenging cache hunt … once we can be sure that all parts are either still in place, or have been restored.

Thanks for the nighttime adventure. Afterward, we lamented our defeat with pizza and beer at The Library in Jessup.