Geocaching, the Previously Alluded to Treasure Hunt

I first discovered the world of Geocaching by way of the movie Splinterheads. (note: I highly recommend this movie to any fans of Juno or Will Ferrell movies.) For those of you who haven't seen the movie or learned about Geocaching from some other source, I will explain it. To participate in Geocaching, one must own a GPS and create an account on the website www.geocaching.com. Once you have an account, you can search for cache locations in your area. A cache is a small treasure chest made from some sort of container. Many of them are in army issued ammunition cases, but caches can come in any shape or size as long as they can be effectively hidden.

My first cache, a camouflage peanut butter jar.

After watching Splinterheads, I was inspired to join this worldwide, technology-driven treasure hunt so I followed the above steps and was led the the J.C. Phillips Nature Preserve featured in my previous entry. The preserve is a gem in and of itself, but I also loved the search for the cache, and have revisited that cache on several occasions. In fact, until a few weeks ago that was the only cache I had been to, repeatedly though it may have been. Finally, a few weeks ago, I gathered up a strapping team of eager new Geocachers and headed out to explore the areas surrounding Haverhill that hide hidden treasures.

Just as I told Tim the snowbank was solid...

Unfortunately, Tim Keehr showed me up and was the individual to discover both of the caches we were searching for because he is faster than I am and had his own GPS. Oh well. We also had a tick scare getting in the car after the first find of the day, and Adam Johnson was practically begging to be dropped off back at school. (We didn't let him off that easy, although the poor kid had at least eight ticks on him that we pulled of. Yikes!) And the man who we followed to the Plugg Pond entrance told us that some kid got murdered there and that the castle is haunted (before asking if we went to Zion Bible College....weirdo!) while his daughters shook their heads from the backseat.

I will say that despite all of these unfortunate circumstances, I had a marvelous time and the fresh air felt lovely. We did not encounter any ghosts and nobody except for some ticks tried to murder us all day. We did look up the murder as we drove out of the park after our adventure and learned that some kid was murdered there...TWENTY years ago! Sheesh.