Geocaching in the Foothills

Geocaching in the Foothills

By Allan Olson

Another weekend flew by as the fun stacked up all day on Saturday and a moderately productive day on Sunday.

The weekend plans were made to hang out with other like minded individuals (geocachers) by starting out the day cleaning our 2-mile stretch of highway between Park Rapids and Menahga. With that morning event set for 9 a.m. knowing we would need only about two hours to clean the stretch of highway several of us made plans for the rest of the day. Prior to leaving the house that morning I stocked up on sandwich meat and water along with a few snacks, I also bought donuts that morning as a bribe for them not to complain so we were ready to cache for the day.

Our target was to finish off where we started last fall – back in the Foothills State Forest near Pine River. After some online discussion we finalized our plans and the route we would take. The plan would have us skipping several caches along the way – but doing this knowing we needed time to complete this series of caches. The phrase many hands make light work – proved true when it came to picking ditches 14 sets of hands made the work light and we completed it in 70 minutes. We stood around visiting for a-while and then headed out in a caravan to our destination.

Once we arrived at our first stop a public water access, a short search resulted in a quick find for the group and we headed out again. Since I had all four kids with me it wasn’t always easy wrangling them all in and getting them in the vehicle multiple times in a row – and trying to keep track of anything they brought out. One particular case we had gone after two different caches and at the third one – Abigail realized she lost her stuffed monkey. I was frustrated with her – I consulted my group, leaving Nikolai ultimately (it was good for them since he found the cache they were looking for at that time) with them to hitch a ride I took off with the other three in search of a monkey. We got to our last stop and Abigail and I began the search for the monkey – since this was at the Hubbard county line right off the road it should’ve been easy to spot – but it wasn’t. I searched the van for a second time and still didn’t find it – Abigail was really upset by this time – so I gave in and went back a couple miles further to our last stop. At this one – our group was unable to locate the cache, the coordinates were not accurate and we had traipsed all over a large area trying to find it but we finally gave up. Upon our return I had no intention of looking for the cache again but I was hoping we would find the monkey. Abigail and Alivia were in the lead searching an area for her monkey, when Abigail shouts “Dad did we find this one,” – “No” I said. “We did now,” she replied. A few steps later Alivia found Abigail’s monkey and we were excited we found two items we were looking for!

We loaded back up and found where our group had moved to and happily informed them that we had found the monkey and the geocache.

Our group went 16/17 out of that run of caches and then we lost four of our party who had other obligations. Our group had reduced to eight – with my van having the bulk of the people. I decided I better run the girls into town since to the best of our knowledge there were no bathrooms nearby and I checked in with their mom since we had no cell service for the last three hours. After our stop in Pine River we headed back into the foothills to attempt to finish the series of caches. We caught up with our party at the third stop and helped resume the search, Marcus made his first find of the day at the fourth stop and we were back in action and ready to move.

The day kept ticking by minutes at a time rather than seconds and the daylight faded almost as quickly, we kept our search up enjoying the new scenery as well as the peacefulness of the hills. As the daylight and time faded so did the energy, I stopped to take a photo of some loons on a lake and ended up getting separated for our lead party – thinking they were heading back to the parking lot I headed in that direction. We discovered them MIA – made some food while waiting and finally headed to home after leaving a note on the remaining vehicle of a party member. Apparently I didn’t see there was one more cache on the list that they had ventured off towards and they tried to find me again but we obviously missed each other.

The kids and I wanted a couple more caches but we were also tired – so with the exception of one stop for the girls and one stop for groceries – we headed straight home, finally pulling in the driveway just before 10 p.m. nearly 15 hours after leaving, and I logged over 22,000 steps according to my pedometer on my phone – about 10 miles, it was a fun time and even the kids had fun with minimal fighting.

On Sunday – I cleaned up in my yard and largely did little else, logging less than 5,000 steps, as I was still tired from the day before.

This weekend –I think we have plans for a quick trip out of town Saturday late afternoon or Sunday, but we shall see what happens.

Thanks to everyone for reading, and as always, 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. Remember to drive safely, and watch out for those buses carrying our children. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.