For a hometown boy who has never left, I have a mean case of wanderlust, and geocaching feeds that better than just about anything else I’ve participated in. Any given weekend we can pick a direction, fill the tank and have an adventure in a part of the state we’ve never seen. Those never seen places are getting a little further between now, but we continue to find the pleasant little surprises.
I do remember that first cache find, and the thrill of knowing that someone put it there and that there were more to be found all over the world. And that first cache was a nice walk to a place worth seeing. That continues to be the reason we cache. Clever containers, smart hides and physical challenges are all great bonuses, but I think it will always be about the places we’re taken.
Our favorite cache in Arkansas continues to be a magnet on a garbage can. Really. But that garbage can was at an overlook on Mt. Magazine overlooking the Petit Jean valley, and fingers of late afternoon sunlight were shooting down through the clouds like the fingers of God. It was a moment that will never be duplicated, and we were there because of geocaching.
We continue to be surprised at the places caches take us on vacation, and I regularly use caches as a travel guide while planning. This fall we did caches while touring the Antietam battlefield, hiking up to Maryland Heights above Harpers Ferry, WV for one of the most incredible views we can remember, hiked around a lake filled with cypresses and visited the graves of Chang and Eng Bunker, the original Siamese twins. Some of those stops were planned and others were unexpected.
My need to see new places has dovetailed nicely with the DeLorme Challenge, and that has become my personal way of seeing America. It’s nice to get the challenge cache, but the journey is the destination. Puts me in mind of a certain Willie Nelson song…
Oh, and the Fizzy Challenges are pretty cool too. Or at least doing what it takes to get there. But that’s a whole other essay.
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