By Allan Olson
If there was ever any doubt, this past weekend
confirmed that there are lots of crazy people out there, just like us – that is
to say, crazy about geocaching! We were part of the large crowd of geocachers
who attended the 2nd Annual Northstar Geoseekers Event in Park Rapids
over the three-day weekend – and it was a blast!
Late Friday afternoon, we reached our camping
destination at the Tractor Club grounds on the east side of town (known locally
as the East 40). We set up camp and then headed over to the potluck dinner,
while the kids headed off to play. We visited with some people we had met
before, and talked with others who were new to us. That evening, after I sent
the youngest three to bed, Nikolai and I grabbed our flashlights and headed out
with a large group of others in search of two night caches that had been put out
for the event.
At the first cache, laser pointers and night
reflectors were used to guide us to the cache. It took us up a steep, rocky hill
where more than one person slipped on loose rocks while climbing toward the
final location. Once we arrived, we found a large (fake) human-sized bat hanging
upside down in the tree to greet us. While heading to the next location we took
some wrong turns, and several people (including Nikolai) headed into the
thickest part of the brush while trying to get to the next stage in the five
stage cache. Once we
finally arrived back at camp at about 1 a.m., we were sweaty, dirty and tired –
necessitating a trip to the shower. We were finally able to crawl into bed
around 1:30 a.m. – several hours past our normal bed time. A few hours later, we
were up and having breakfast, as the first event started at 8:30 a.m. on
Saturday.
That morning, after struggling with GPS
coordinates (we figured out Sunday a setting on our GPS needed to be changed),
we were unable to get the FTF on any of the 15 caches placed on that race. We
were back to the staging ground at 10:30 a.m. to get coordinates for the next
contest, and while we didn’t shatter any records in completing the 15 caches, we
did manage to find them all. While searching for those caches, Alivia managed to
find two that I couldn’t, and Marcus found one that I wasn’t able to, so it’s a
good thing they were along to help.
We headed back to base and attended the prize
drawings, played a couple games, and then went to our campsite for a little down
time before attending the pizza event that evening. After supper, we came back
to camp and someone decided that a fire was in order. We sat around the campfire
until dark, when a bunch of us headed out for another night cache just outside
the campground. This time Nikolai and Abigail both joined in the fun. We found
the first stage just outside of the campground, then headed down the road for
the next stage. After walking at least a mile, we completed that stage and
exited the woods. Just then a police officer came quickly cruising up to us.
Apparently we had been called in as a bunch of kids walking around and messing
with things. I would guess that if the average age of the seekers taking part
was calculated, it would be older than mine, but I suppose it is safe to say we
were acting like a bunch of kids. Anyway, someone explained what geocaching was
to the local officer. He appeared a bit confused by it all, but he left us be,
and we all headed back to camp.
Just prior to midnight, we (including Nikolai
and Abigail – the other two kids had already crashed) headed to main street Park
Rapids for a flashmob, where we acted like a bunch of idiots in front of their
web cam for 15 minutes. Once again we crawled back into our camp beds well after
midnight.
The rain woke me up early on Sunday morning, and
I didn’t sleep well after that, wondering what I had left out that was getting
soaked. But I was too tired to get up and remedy any potential problems. We
finally got up at about 7 a.m. and had the van packed by 8. We attended the camp
pancake breakfast event before heading for home about 10 a.m.
Along the way, we stopped in the Paul Bunyan
Forest, where the letters NSGS were spelled out in the woods with 79 geocaches.
I managed to find the first one of those, and we found a second, but Alivia
managed to get stung by a wasp as we were heading to another one, so we called
it quits and headed straight home, finally making it back around 2 p.m. We
decided we were too tired to unpack the van, opting instead to take a nap for a
couple hours before returning to that task.
In all, the weekend was tiring but lots of fun.
Next year’s event is planned to be much closer to home, and I’ve already been
put on notice that I will be recruited to help organize. Sounds like
fun!
Our plans for this coming weekend are uncertain;
there was something mentioned about a birthday party for a couple soon-to-be
eight-year-olds, and we’ll play the rest by ear.
Please be safe while enjoying your favorite
outdoor recreational activity and on the lakes, and remember to take pictures to
preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! For
more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.
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