Adventuring in Chiniak

Went in search of 3 caches today, and guess what??? We found all 3!

The first is called, "Thing 1"

It was a road trip day. We packed a lunch and headed down the road, past the base. This one was just past Mayflower Beach and before the stop sign. Easy parking, super short hike, and a great hide! Accessible in the winter. If you can drive there, you can find the cache. Supposedly there's a great view there, but it's so incredibly foggy today that we can't see far at all. The flights into Kodiak have been canceled today due to the fog.

We took a wounded warriors keychain and a wooden lady bug. In its place, we left a butterfly pin and some "@" symbol paperclips.

Big day ahead...time to find the next cache. "Pony Express."

Who knew Chiniak had its own post office? Tiny as it is, it's still cool.

After not too long of searching, Jeremy found it!

We took a CG whistle, and left a toy car and a Windows keyboard button.

Last cache of the day led us deep into Chiniak. We parked along the road and had a half mile hike to the war bunkers which we never knew were there. I so wish it wasn't foggy out. I'm sure the view would be spectacular. This cache, "St. Peter's Head, Battery #1" is a rather new cache placed only a couple of months ago. We're the third party to find it. It's a terriffic cache!

Very well hidden, very great condition, with awesome stuff hidden inside! We took a tiny knife and an official geocaching keychain, and left a toy car, a rock from Massacre Bay on Attu Island, a Wounded Warriors keychain, and a pinecone from the Willamette National Forest in Oregon.

It was a wonderful day geocaching, and now I want to come back to see what kind of views we missed because of the fog.

Until next time...Happy Geocaching!

Retrying "Horny Bird," Then "Welcome to Kodiak" "Garbage, Deers, and Trucks, Oh My!" & "Captain's Family Fun"

Another Day, Another Caching Adventure:

Our first stop of the day is back to the Buskin Beach to attempt to find "Horny Bird" again. It's a wonderful day outside so the views were gorgeous, but still no cache after much search. I think we're calling this one expired. It's a shame because it's such a wonderful area for a cache. Well, off to the next ones...

"Welcome to Kodiak"
Very close to our house, we pulled in a little gravel drive and parked. It's a bit mucky back in the trees where the GPS led us, and we didn't see anything after a few minutes of searching. I feared it was going to be another epic fail day. As I was heading back out of the trees back to the car, I spotted it...

SPOILER AHEAD...INCLUDING A PICTURE:

I must comment on how I found it. I was looking at the ground for it, and I shouldn't have been. I looked up just to scout out my path out of the trees and I saw a camo thermos hanging from the backside of a tree stabilized by bungee cords. It was such an awesome find I was giddy with glee that a geocacher could hide a cache so nicely to where it's not easily muggled, it would be hard for the elements to carry it away, and it's sturdy and not impossible to find.

END SPOILER

We took a tiny blue car that looked like Max (Jeremy's car), and we left a beanie baby alsong with a new logbook because the other one was full.

Off to the next location, "Garbage, Deers, and Trucks, Oh My!" It's somewhere on Sergent Creek Rd. It's a busy street, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that the cache was nicely hidden off the road enough that muggles wouldn't think to get to it.

We took a little bag of beads and left a truck shaped cookie cutter.

We're on a roll today!!!

Next and last on the list for the day is "Captain's Family Fun" off of Russian Creek Rd just a tiny ways down the main road.

Again, luck came with us and we found the cache near a public park. As other cachers have commented on the website, it's surprising it hasn't been muggled because it really isn't hidden.

SPOILER PICTURE AHEAD:

END SPOILER

We didn't take or leave anything because the inside is really mucky. Everything has mold on it and a couple of the items weren't even recognizable because they were COVERED in mold.

It was a great caching day. 3 out of 4, I think it's safe to say, "We're Baaaaaaack."

Retrying :"The Pill Box." Trying: "Sometimes" & "KOC - Kodiak College"

It's back to Ft. Abercrombie, back down the trail, and back through the bushwhack bushes to the cliff. We came prepared with spoiler hints this time and we found the cache within a minute. It was a great hide! The wind wasn't blowing today, either, so that made the find that much nicer. It is a bright and sunny day, however, the water has an eerie layer of fog on it...

SPOILER AHEAD:

We had searched high and low, but we didn't search underground. To the left, there's a hole near the ledge of the cliff. Didn't think to look there before because we didn't see it before. Have to be either on your hands and knees to get it or on your stomach to get it. Awesome hide.

END SPOILER

Anyway, it's rejuvenating to finally find a cache again. Yay! It's a nice little ammo box filled with a bunch of goodies. We ended up taking "Luke's Blue Earth Geocoin" and a little army man. In its place we left a beanie baby, and a bottle of hand sanitizer.

Next on the list is "KOC - Kodiak College" Thinking this may be another Too-Urban-For-Comfort heartbreak, we tried anyway. We parked at the College and walked down a path that led to a trail head and into off into some trees. Sounds very promising, however, after extensive search, we found nothing. There were too many good hiding spots and the GPS wouldn't give us a clear enough reading because of the tree cover. We'll have to try it again. Off to the next one...


The final cache on the list for today is on Sometimes Island. We didn't know our tide table offhand, so we were hoping that we'd hit it right. Sure enough we did, and we crossed over to the island. Us and the 2 Geodogs. We thought we had the coordinates in the GPS, but we didn't. Luckily, I knew a hint of where it is located, so we decided to try to find it without the help of a GPS. Sure enough, we found it! It was nicely hidden near an awesome historical area.

We took a CG personalized wooden coin from a captphil and we left a beanie baby, a pine cone from Oregon, and we also dropped off Luke's Blue Earth Geocoin. Very close to the cache is a spot you can view the path leading back to the main part of Kodiak. At a glance, it looked like the path was significantly smaller than it was when we crossed, and we really weren't on the island for very long, maybe a half an hour.

Anyway, Jeremy agreed we should make our way back to the car. We rehid the cache, and ran back to the beach. The tide must have been coming in quite fast. What had been room enough for two cars to drive over, now was close to being covered in water. Jeremy crossed the rising tide and I stopped to take a picture...I got it just as the two sides of water touched, making Sometimes Island an island again.

It was a good day Geocaching, and we now feel a bit more confident in our skills as cachers having found 2 of 3 today.

Beautiful Views, Still NO Caches

After yesterday's Epic Fail, as I regretfully like to call it, we went in search of two more today. One is at the end of a beautiful drive up Pillar Mountain, which is also the name of the cache. It's a beautiful day in Kodiak and a nice day for a drive if nothing else.

I had read the hints and other people's responses before we left and I knew it could be tricky to find. The coordinates were in a tree and it seemed to be the perfect hiding spot. I bet we spent over a half an hour looking through that tree and found nothing. We looked on the ground, under rocks, in the branches, in the surrounding bushes, under rocks near the surrounding bushes, and not a thing. It was just recently found, too. 0 for 1 today and 0 for 5 in the past two days. Are we as geocachers just bad at the game??? It's very disheartening. 

Tails tucked, we went in search of another one. "Lifesavers." Dedicated to animals and heroes. So we thought it may be next to Lily Lake behind the animal shelter.

SPOILER AHEAD:

We were close, but it is actually in the flower beds next to the vet clinic.

END SPOILER:

When we saw where the GPS pointed for us to go, we didn't even want to try and look for it. So 0 for 2 today, however we may have found it if we actually searched. Again, we just don't feel comfortable searching or "snooping" around a business. Too many people around, right on one of the only main roads here in Kodiak, REALLY??? Out of all the Rural and Suburban locations on the island that are prime areas for caches, they have to be placed in the MOST urban of areas?

So again, we go home not having found anything. Geo Morale low.

Until next time...

4 Fails = Epic Fail

After Jeremy's arrival home from a week in Attu, we optimistically went out in search of more caches today. We logged the coordinates for 4 that we wanted to try.

The first, is called "Horny Bird" located at the Buskin River about a mile from our front door. Convenient, no? The GPS led us to a little creek washout near the mouth of the Buskin. I love how this activity can lead us to places on the island that we would have never experienced. If we were to just have been walking down the beach, I would have never thought twice about where the water was coming from as you have to hunch over and step up a few rocks to enter the separate world of this washout. It's like going from the beach to a forest in a couple of steps. There are plenty of GREAT hiding spots for a geocache, but after extensive search, we came up with nothing. It's really a shame because it's such a clever area to hide one, and to come out not having found it is disappointing. On top of that, most of the pictures I took of the area got encrypted because our memory card is wigging out. I got a GREAT picture of a C130 coming straight towards us after just having taken off, and it turned out awesome, but when I transferred it to my computer, it didn't want to show up for anything. :(

Off to the next geocache. We went out to Ft. Abercrombie in search of "The Pill Box." The coordinates led us down the Wildflower Trail which we had been down on our own before. It's a beautiful hike. After a little while, it appeared we had gone too far, so we back tracked all the way to a little "animal trail" through a meadow towards the ocean. It's a bit of a bushwhack to get through the poky vines, but we made it. To our right there was a lone tree which we searched extensively through. We are right at cliff's edge and searching everywhere we can think of, but you guessed it from the title...no luck. It's also pretty windy out and it's getting annoying looking for it when we're on a cliff-side trying not to get gusted off to our death by the wind.

Disappointed, we left and went in search of number 3 of the day, "Walk This Way." Not knowing this was amongst many muggles, we were led to a public walking/bike path on one of the two main roads here in Kodiak. Feeling optimistic, however, we found a place to park and went in search. As you can clearly guess, we found nothing but litter. There were some decent hiding spots, though.

At a score of 0 for 3, we started doubting our skills as cachers, and we thought surely we can't not find another one. So we went in search of our 4th cache. "I see a buoy" is it's name and we were led to the marina along another public walkway between businesses and houses. A few park benches and some bushes later, we found nothing and decided that the urban caches are too risky to find because of numerous factors. First of all, the bushes we searched in are upkept by either the houses in the area or the city itself. Meaning, it's someone's property that shouldn't be messed with in the first place. Kids play in the area so a kid may have found and kept it, or a maintenance person may have thrown in out thinking it's litter, or the wind...or the tide water may have displaced it. All I know is that 0 for 4 is disheartening and these urban ones are no fun. It seems like a sport that means getting back to nature, not snooping around people's property lines. I, for one, don't really want to be approached by a police officer asking what I'm doing snooping around some bushes. The only thing we did see was the buoy.

First Hide...Attu Island, Alaska

I wonder how long it will be before this Cache is found. It's such a remote area with nothing but mountain terrain. It's a WWII historical spot, but there are no residents. There was a USCG Loran Station there, but with new technology, loran isn't needed anymore, so they're packing out.

Anyway, Jeremy is one of the people disconnecting all the technology.

He and the rest of his station here in Kodiak helped put together this cache. It's mostly CG themed with a few gaming and office supplies. It's a pretty cool box...worth going to find for those die hard geocachers out there.

It's not officially posted on geocaching.com yet, but in the next week or two it will be.

The cache is an ammo box filled with all sorts of goodies.

Amongst the small items - super glue, stamp, expired ID card, razor, batteries, Allen wrench, and paperclips - there are some cool collectibles - special PS2 controller, Mario energy drink can, and a Donkey Kong energy drink can - and of course some coast guard memorabilia. With the USCG items, this is a big deal. Besides the USCG mini rubber life tube, the ESU Kodiak COIN is a high honor to receive. Normally given to an active duty CG who does something outstanding, the Chief at the ESU decided it was worthy to be put inside a geocache box. Whoever finds this box must consider themselves very honored if they decide to take that coin. Also, there are two Chief Stripe Patches in the box previously belonging to a USCG Chief. These are also USCG special treasures to not be taken lightly if removed from the box.

If you are a die hard geocacher, this is a MUST to go find this box. It's worth your boat or plane ride to this deserted island. Be the first person to find a geocache in the farthest Westward point on the map. Take something very cool to leave as there are many great treasures to be found in this cache.

I'll leave the rest up to your imagination...

HAPPY CACHING!!!

Springy Moss

You guessed it...the next cache on our list is titled "Springy Moss."

Right after we couldn't find "Tripple 7," we drove to the next location NEAR Ft. Abercrombie on Parkside Dr.
 

The hike was easy, but a bit lengthier than the last two. Again, I never knew this hiking trail existed. It's more in a residential area it seems, but it is a public trail.
 

Anyway, we came to a beautiful viewpoint where the GPS told us to stop. Only a few paces off the trail, and at the right angle, it's EASY to spot this geocache, but if you're a muggle, you probably won't find it. ;p

SPOILER PICTURE AHEAD:

Inside we found many little matchbox/hot wheel cars, some pins...nothing spectacular. We took a little toy tractor and a little rubber snake and left a fortune cookie fortune from lunch earlier in the day, a few stickers from my scrapping supplies, and the 62 'Vette Tracking Bug.

So ended our first day of geocaching. Two found, one not found, about 64 more to find...on Kodiak that is.

Fail

Once we realized how much we LOVE this activity, we went back home and recorded the coordinates of the next two places we wanted to find a cache.

This one is called "Tripple 7"

 

Not very far off the main road is where the GPS told us to go, however, after searching for several minutes, we found nothing but the remains of a vagabond's campsite. It's possible that we just didn't see it, but our guess is that since it was so close to the main trail and there were several camping remnants, a non geocacher found the box and took it.

There is a word that I know which I have heard other geocachers use to describe non-geocachers. Since I am a HP fan, I will adopt the word and also use it to describe non-geocachers...AKA: Muggles.

So...it is very possible that a muggle found the cache and took it, not knowing that it was part of a worldwide game.

Our Very First Find

     On the geocaching website, you can input your location and it will tell you the coordinates of all of the geocaches in your area. Today is day one of our geocaching adventures and we started out by looking for one.

     The person who originally hid the box created a name for the geocache. It's called "Around We Go."

     The website gives you a general area of where to go to look for it, but once you get to the street or area, the GPS is your guide. All we knew when we left our house was the coordinates and that we needed to go to Near Island. Once there, we found a place to park and embarked on our journey. The GPS took us on a winding path. We came to certain spots where it looked like we'd have to venture off into the brush, but then took us to another side road.

     Eventually we ended up at a picnic area sponsored by the local rotary club - a quaint little spot with a beautiful view that we NEVER would have known existed.

     From there we took a hiking trail which was quite refreshing. Anyone who can walk a mile could do this easy. After winding through the trail a little ways, the GPS led us off the path a little ways where we began our search for a little object that looked out of place.

SPOILER AHEAD:

On the backside of a large tree, buried under a few rocks in the root of a tree there was a zip lock bag with a Tupperware container inside. Our first Geocache: FOUND.

END SPOILER.

     It's almost like Christmas. We found all sorts of little goodies inside including a little iron man figurine, a smoky the bear pin, a wooden geocaching coin, and a 1962 Corvette Travel Bug, among some other small items.

     Of course we HAD to take the travel bug. We have to send it on it's way; it's on a race to see who can travel the farthest between a guy, his son, and his brother. The bug originated in Florida in June, 2008, and from there, traveled to Georgia, Oregon, California, back to Oregon, and is now doing a stint in Kodiak, Alaska as of August, 2010. 

     Besides the 'Vette, we took the Smoky the bear pin. In their places, we left an Oregon pine cone from the Willamette National Forest, and a USCG pin.

     During our venture back to the car, we discussed the rush we felt after finding the treasure...we decided we're hooked and would love to try and find all or most of the 67 in Kodiak, besides hiding a few of them ourselves.

     It was a wonderful first Geocache and a great start to exploring the island...even though we've been here over a year now.

Geocaching...What an Awesome Idea!

WARNING: BLOG MAY CONTAIN TYPED AND VISUAL SPOILERS TO GEOCACHE LOCATIONS.

Bold info retrieved from www.Geocaching.com:

Getting Started with Geocaching

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache.

     What a fun idea...I think I had heard of it before, but never really felt interest in pursuing it until the other day when my husband, Jeremy, told me he was placing a cache box in Attu, Alaska - the little island at the end of the Aleutian Chain. He said it will be the first geocache Box on the island, and the farthest West you can go in the North American Continent.


      Then he told me that there are 67+ caches on the island of Kodiak alone and that we should go try and find some. So what we did yesterday was went out in search of a couple. Out of the three we were looking for, we found two, and now we're hooked. What a perfect opportunity to get out and see parts of the island that we never thought to explore before. And with the help of GPS, we won't have to worry about getting lost...just eaten by a bear. And with the Coast Guard giving us the opportunity to live in exciting new places every few years, who knows how many locations we can find these little treasure boxes in?

     How it works is you find boxes (usually a Tupperware container or other leak proof container) hidden in places that the geocacher would think to look, but the common hiker, passerby, or cleanup crew wouldn't. Inside the box, there are a bunch of little treasures (like a novelty coin, a matchbox car, key chain, stickers, etc.) There's also a log book where you write your name and a few comments and what you took from and left in the box. You want to leave something of equal or greater value than what you took. Then you place the box back in it's hidden home and leave it of the next geocacher to find. You can choose to keep a treasure you found, our you can move it to the next box. Then you can log your find on the internet just like you wrote in the log book to let people all over the world that you found a cache. Occasionally, you'll find what's called a travel bug or geocoin. These are little individual key chains or coins with a tracking number on them and it asks you to log that you found it and also log when you put it in a new cache box. These treasures are not for keeping as the original owner(s) of the tracker usually has a goal for the item to travel great distances and see many places and possibly make it back to them in the future.

     This blog will be all about our adventures geocaching together...In addition to logging our findings on www.geocaching.com, I'd love to blog about it in hopes to get more people involved in this awesome adventurous activity! And please take note if you already are a geocacher, this blog may contain spoilers and pictures showing the hiding spot of certain caches. If you find one of these little treasures and you don't geocache, please don't take, alter, or hide it somewhere else. Keep this a fun family activity.

     Enjoy our blog and happy hiking!!!