How to get lost in the woods while geocaching...
I recently shared a geocaching story with some friends that I don't think I've posted here before. If I have, sorry. But it's a good story ;)
My wife and I took a camping trip, and knew before hand that there was a geocache hidden about two miles from the campsite. It was a campsite that we used often, and I knew that there was a fire tower nearer the cache that would have lessened my hike to about 1/4 mile had I driven to it first. But my wife had other plans for the day, and I thought the hike would do me good. So off I went, setting the coordinates to my campsite before leaving. About 1 3/4 miles later, I come out of the woods at the fire tower. I take a break and give some water to our pup, which I had brought along on the hike. Then I head down another trail, which leads to the general area of the cache.
Experienced geocachers can see my mistake already, I'm sure. ;)
A little into the woods, I decide to let my pup off the leash since it's unlikely we'll encounter anyone else, and the pup is generally well behaved enough to stay close.
This proved to be my second mistake. Even though the pup stayed near, I still wanted to keep an eye on her. And she was running around like mad, which got me twisted to where I couldn't tell which way I had come. Plus tree cover caused intermittent interruptions of signal to my GPSr. So, there I was, in the woods, over two miles from my campsite, with no idea where, exactly, I was.
Five hours later, I gave up on finding the cache (which I promptly found) and set my sites on getting out of the woods. Had I programmed the coordinates to the fire tower, I would have been out of the woods within 10 minutes, with a familiar trail back to camp. Instead, I have to set a route to my campsite, over two miles away, and go in straight line until I find a trail again. The hike was so tough that the pup refused to jump over fallen trees. Every time I came to a log that blocked my path, I had to lift the pup over it before climbing over myself.
Moral of the story? Alway mark known waypoints before going into the woods. And don't trust the friends who hid the cache when they say it's an easy find.
My wife and I took a camping trip, and knew before hand that there was a geocache hidden about two miles from the campsite. It was a campsite that we used often, and I knew that there was a fire tower nearer the cache that would have lessened my hike to about 1/4 mile had I driven to it first. But my wife had other plans for the day, and I thought the hike would do me good. So off I went, setting the coordinates to my campsite before leaving. About 1 3/4 miles later, I come out of the woods at the fire tower. I take a break and give some water to our pup, which I had brought along on the hike. Then I head down another trail, which leads to the general area of the cache.
Experienced geocachers can see my mistake already, I'm sure. ;)
A little into the woods, I decide to let my pup off the leash since it's unlikely we'll encounter anyone else, and the pup is generally well behaved enough to stay close.
This proved to be my second mistake. Even though the pup stayed near, I still wanted to keep an eye on her. And she was running around like mad, which got me twisted to where I couldn't tell which way I had come. Plus tree cover caused intermittent interruptions of signal to my GPSr. So, there I was, in the woods, over two miles from my campsite, with no idea where, exactly, I was.
Five hours later, I gave up on finding the cache (which I promptly found) and set my sites on getting out of the woods. Had I programmed the coordinates to the fire tower, I would have been out of the woods within 10 minutes, with a familiar trail back to camp. Instead, I have to set a route to my campsite, over two miles away, and go in straight line until I find a trail again. The hike was so tough that the pup refused to jump over fallen trees. Every time I came to a log that blocked my path, I had to lift the pup over it before climbing over myself.
Moral of the story? Alway mark known waypoints before going into the woods. And don't trust the friends who hid the cache when they say it's an easy find.
Technorati tags: geocaching
My husband and I just recently started geocache. I love this activity!
I have learned to plot my tracks though so that I do not get lost.
Posted by
Still just me |
12:25 PM
This incident occurred many finds ago, so I've learned many things since ;)
My GPSr is pretty good at plotting my tracks. One of the problems I had was that I can't make a point along the recorded tracks into a waypoint. And it's much harder to follow your tracks that you'd think. It's a much better idea to mark a waypoint whenever you're leaving a trail or there's an obvious landmark that you can use to navigate.
Posted by
Wintermute |
1:37 PM