Crazy Geocaching Stories, Volume II

May 30

May 30 Crazy Geocaching Stories, Volume II

**Loco-Motion Deja Vu, by 007 and the PI.**

Timothy Yee, pictured below relaxing after the find, submits this story, based on GC4D22.

Short Version

Walk the path to GZ. Take a left at the daisy rock. Make the two creek crossings & then climb up the hill. Carry waders & ropes/ climbing equipment. Gloves are essential.

Long Version

jhhwild and I needed this cache to clear part of our grids. As we walked along the Sacramento trail, we noticed how low the various creeks were. While we came prepared with two pairs of waders, we realized we probably weren't going to need them. The walk to the cache was a cakewalk. I pulled on my work gloves just in case & found a piece of dog food in them. This was a nice reminder of my geocaching witch pup, Ka-Boom! waiting at home.

A Cinch!

We could not help but laugh at MtnSteve & TrackerGma that this was difficult. jhhwild remembered that there was a big creek running across the path to GZ. When we got there, there was not even the slightest sign of water. We laughed as we approached Keswick road. While we could have turned left at the daisy rock, it was clear that we did not need to do that. To do so would have entailed us getting wet in the creek.

The approach from Keswick was clear. The cache was 300' from the road. jhhwild has 8,325 finds with numerous FTFs. I have 2,828 finds. We have both knocked off 300 feet so many times; this was going to be easy. I dropped the bag with my waders & up the hill we went.

Uh oh. What the heck did we just do?

Crawling on our Bellies

I hit jhhwild in the face with numerous branches. At least he has glasses. As we approached the crest, jhhwild noticed that there was a trail up there. We could have simply walked Keswick to the crest. Fine. Laugh at us, MtnSteve and TrackerGma. Laugh.

I climbed over a manzanita or mesquite or who the cares what the heck kind of tree it was. The bloody thing hit me in the ****.

We caught our breath and I was fine with the idea of walking along the trail to an easy ammo can. It was then that jhhwild said the most painful words I could imagine. "It's 118 feet back down the hill". He was pointing through scrub brush. We overshot it.

We Were Now Zombies

Our limbs hurt all over. We simply were on auto-pilot. The last 118 feet might as well have been 1,180. jhhwild is younger and faster than me so he was ahead of me. He let out a loud yell & I feared that he had fallen down the hillside. I called out & he reported that he had the ammo can. I took a muggle photo of the carabao statue in the cache. The carabao is a working animal in the Philippines and my favorite geocaching witch, green401k is from there. A good reminder. I left the statue but took the 30-30 that is for a muggle fireleg. C'mon, folks, this is a family game. No bullets.

jhhwild and I realized that climbing back up and down the hill was silly. As we relaxed and thought about our exfil, we noticed that the only other way out was down the hill and through the creek.

Two problems

(1) I left my waders on Keswick

(2) going down the cliff was suicidal.

We slid on our ***** to the creek with me taking the lead. In case jhhwild slipped, he would hit me and I'd stop his fall. We got to the fast moving cold water/ saw how to get across. jhhwild still had his waders, put them on, and off he went. At the other side, he lost his step and went in knee-deep.

He then threw me the waders while he put back on his shoes. I got across with no problems but, in order to avoid his slip, I climbed a rock which is difficult in waders. The hike along the path was interrupted by another creek crossing. Shoes/waders II.

The walk back to our broom was just brutal. I carried the bag of waders and they kept cutting in to my hand. The walk up the hill to the broom was incredibly bad. I stopped every few feet to catch my breath.

Yes, MtnSteve and TrackerGma, you kicked our asses and we are in world of hurt.