Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Geocaching Adventures Part 12

March 2, 2009 - SNOW DAY!

First let me say that I didn't even know it was supposed to snow. My wife mentioned over the weekend that we might get a little rain, maybe even a little bit of freezing rain and a flurry or two. But by the time came around for the Sunday forecast, our area, here in southern Maryland, was expecting to get hammered! It has been quite some time since we have had even a couple of inches of snow but to get close to 8 or 9 inches was such a surprise! I spent the morning watching the snow still come down. And while checking the email I received notice that a new cache had been published about 14 miles from the house. Should I try it? Our road hadn't be plowed really so why chance it? I went outside with the family and enjoyed sledding and throwing snowballs. Then we headed in for lunch. While eating the snowplow went by. I could see the road surface... Was it time?

I called a good geo-friend and asked if she wanted to head south and try for the new cache. It always seems when I ask - she says "Yes" no matter the conditions. I picked her up and we made our way down to St. Mary's State Park. The area was gorgeous! The snow on the pine trees was sparkling like diamonds. We got out of the car a little discouraged since there was another car in the lot and many people had been here before us today. Had we missed the First To Find? The trail was magnificent even though we followed tracks for most of the two-tenths of a mile. But as the needle on the Magellan began to turn we saw NO tracks. We made our way to a likely hiding spot about 150 ft away and began scratching around. Again there was 9 inches of snow on the ground. But we finally came up with the cache. Upon opening it we found the log book and knew that we were indeed the FIRST TO FIND! We signed the log happily and rehid the container as best we could. We then walked around a little to try and cover our tracks and not give away the true location of the cache. And then we headed back to the car. After warming up a little we decided to hit one more cache that we hadn't done yet. That one entailed a quarter mile walk across a field and then into the woods again through thick snow. We found it and signed the log and headed back to the car, exhausted!!

To be completely honest about the day I don't think that my joy came from being the "First to Find" at the first cache of the day. But I think it came from being able to enjoy our world in a way that I don't get to very often. Yeah sometimes snow can be slippery and dangerous. But you have to admit that it can really make the world a beautiful place!