Sunny outside ✓
Warm weather ✓
Doors off Jeep ✓
GPS ready to go ✓
We set out this weekend determined to find some of the geocaches we had to forego on Valentine's Day. Last weekend, we stopped because it was getting dark and we were not entirely confident if we could even reach the other geocaches on the west side of the lake. Once again, there was a gate blocking our way to the trail, but this gate is an important gate since it blocks the road to the gun range. We were wary about crossing this gate because we didn't know where the gun range was located and we enjoy not being shot. After studying our maps, we decided that the gun range must be to the left of the road and the hiking trail is to the right. Therefore, it was completely safe for us to walk around the gate and hit the trail.
The trail that is about 7.5 miles long.
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| it just kept winding and looping forever |
So away we went hoping that our friends on the rifle team are as good as they say they are at hitting targets. There are six geocaches hidden along the Orange Trail and as much as I would like to say that we found all six we only found three. The last three geocaches we are saving for another time when our friends can accompany us.
It took us a good two hours to even reach the first geocache, Maggot Brain. Gross name, right? Of course, it most likely would have taken us longer if Creed hadn't taken us through a shortcut. We climbed our way over rocks and steep inclines. Kept a lookout for thorns or vines that could trip us.
Or at least Creed did all of that. I, on the other hand, suffered the wrath of nature.
He had gone on ahead without me and I was attempting to keep up while ensuring my camera didn't get broken. Plus, he had worn his adventure pants, aka cargo pants that protected his legs from brambles, thorns, and poison ivy, and hiking shoes. While I had worn shorts that don't protect me from anything and chacos sandals. Needless to say, my legs and feet are torn up from thorns and I'll be buying a pair of adventure pants for myself very soon and wearing my hiking boots in the future.
Oh, and I fell into a ditch covered in fallen leaves too, so that was a fun shortcut.
Once we hit the geocache zone, I made sure I hadn't gotten any serious cuts or bruises while we rested a bit. The description of the geocache claims that from a certain perspective this area looks like a brain, but we didn't see it. However, I do agree with the owner that this area must look amazing after a rainstorm. All those dried streambeds we hiked across must come to life after a good rainfall. It didn't take us long to find the geocache hidden in the base of a tree. It had some pretty neat stuff hidden in it as well like a box DVD set of the Beatles, which has probably been destroyed by the rain but cool nonetheless.
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| area around Maggot Brain |
From there we stayed on the trail since I was a little sore from falling in a ditch. It's a fairly easy trail to hike, but there are some points where it gets extremely rocky and steep. I always enjoy these points in the trail though because the roots of the trees form little steps and it's almost as if nature is building a stairway for people to go explore.
Our next geocache, Hootie, wasn't that far away and was so adorable. The trail led us right along the lakeshore and I took several pictures along the way much to Creed's slight annoyance. I reminded him though it was in his vows to always pose for photos. Plus, he should have known pictures were going to be taken if the camera was brought along for the hike.  |
| at the lakeshore |
The hint for this cache was "Hoot, hoot" so it was obvious that we were looking for some nocturnal bird. Some geocachers will hide the caches inside bird decoys, which not only makes it a cool geocache but also prevents muggles, non-geocachers, from noticing the caches. This cache though didn't go the typical bird decoy route. It was much cuter than that.
Creed noticed it first and waited till I walked over to point it out to me. There might have been some girly squealing on my part on how cute I thought it was since I was expecting an ugly, old decoy.
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| hoot hoot |
See how cute that is?! Just an adorable little owl chilling in an old tree. I'm really surprised that this cache has lasted out here this long without someone taking it. It was at this point we debated about whether or not we should venture on to find the rest of the geocaches along the trail or if we should only find the next one and then head home. Since it had taken us three hours just to get to this point in the trail we decided one more was good enough.
The description for the next geocache, Sleepy Hollow, had listed a few ways of traveling to the geocache. There was staying on the trail or taking one of two shortcuts because the Headless Horseman is right behind you (at least they stuck with the theme of the geocache).
We stayed on the trail. Headless Horseman only comes out at night hopefully.
Walking up to this area was amazing. The Sleepy Hollow tree clings to the edge of some moss covered rocks with its exposed roots tangling around each other. It leans over the small valley carved out by rainfall making its way down to the lake. In order to get down to this geocache, I had to carefully climb down the rocky edge. Camera was given to Creed so I didn't potentially break it if I fell.
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| confused by the items in the geocache |
After trekking back up the rocks to the trail from the geocache zone, Creed proposed another shortcut back to the beginning of the trail so we could get home faster. He promised there shouldn't be any thorns or brambles along the way, so away on the shortcut we hiked. It wasn't a bad shortcut either since in reality it was the service road for the lake staff. Before the road there was a little pond full of bullfrogs and cattails and we stopped there while Creed attempted to catch a bullfrog. The sun was beginning to set around this time so we didn't stay long at the pond and started off down the road to the beginning of the trail. The temperature was beginning to cool down from the 80 degrees it had been that afternoon. It was a peaceful walk with the prairie grasses blowing in the wind and the birds chirping along the way.
We eventually made it back to the Jeep and traveled back home. Hopefully, the hiking out to the last three geocaches will not take as long since next time we will know where we are going. Then we can find the geocaches on the east side of the lake.
Look forward to next week's post when we hopefully take Mom and Dad Bukky geocaching at Keystone State Park!
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