Lovely Weather for Geocaching

Millions of people in the Upper Midwest got their first taste of spring today. Including us. It was 62 degrees - heavenly! It's the time of year when people don't know how to dress. You'll see some in shorts and t-shirts. Others are wearing jeans and sweatshirts.

But I'm sure you're not reading this for a weather report.

We took a walk down the Luce Line today to place our peanut butter jar hide. We went east this time. Not west, where we had placed our other Luce Line caches. Earlier today I had picked out a great hiding spot for the PB jar on Google Earth. Wayfarer wanted to get a good walk in, so we parked 1 & 1/2 miles from where we would actually place the cache, and started on our way. The sun was brilliant, and a soft breeze blew in from the south. Perfect walking weather! We heard several barred owls' warning calls. They are either on eggs or already have young in the nest this time of year. Their warning call is quite different from their "come hither" call. Very aggressive sounding. A whitetailed deer from across a wetlands spotted us. See if you can spot her.

Click on any image to enlarge.

How did you do?

When we got to the wooded area that I spotted on Google Earth, the woods were full of geo-beakons. Perfect! We could have hidden the thing in a dozen different spots. We settled for this one. Right there in the end of that downed tree. It's an OK hide, but won't be listed as winter accessible. One other spot really intrigued us. It was a tree that had the entire inside rotted out. A great place for a really large container. And the thing is, I've had my eye on an empty plastic container at work. It was one of those supersized things that you get at a warehouse foods place. It was full of pretzel rods. It's empty now, and that would make a great hide. And that tree would make a great hiding place.

Dilemma: should I leave the PB jar where it is and publish the cache? Or should I get the really big, pretzel rod jar from work and put it out there instead. Any suggestions?

While we were hiding the PB jar, another deer spooked and ran away. I snapped a quick picture through the trees, and caught her as she was in flight across a downed tree. Can you spot her?

How did you do?

Peanut Butter Jar Geocache II

To finish the affect, we stopped by Michael's and picked up some fake foliage.  They had the perfect sized sprig on the clearance rack for just $1.00. I snipped off a couple of twigs, stuck them to the container with a little epoxy, and it was perfect.

What do you think?

Now where should I hide this thing?

Peanut Butter Jar Geocache

As promised, I'm using an empty Peanut Butter Jar for a geocache container. You may have read about our spider geocache or our Oreo cookie cache. Here's some hints for the perspective peanut butter jar-hider that may make your job a little easier.

I stopped by the local hardware store on the way home from work and picked up a roll of camo duct tape. The camo of choice? Mossy Oak - only because it was the only one in the place. Hint: Get your camo tape from a hunting/sporting goods store. The roll I got was one of those great big things. It cost me $7.50! That's enough duct tape to hide about 5ooo geocacahes. I know I've seen smaller rolls somewhere.

Hint: If available, get something other than actual duct tape. The camo stuff that I got stuck very well to the plastic peanut butter jar, but would not stick to itself.

I had to do a little creative cutting so there were no spots where the tape overlapped. Either get tape that sticks to itself well, or plan your taping so there are no overlaps.

Here's a good shot of the open container. Click on it to see more detail. As I mentioned above, the tape stuck very well to the plastic. I think it will make a great hide. Tomorrow, I'm off to Michael's to get some leaves or fake bark to attach to it. Check back to see the results.

She's Got a Big Secret

You may not know, but Wayfarer has her own blog - and she's been up to some tricks. Read about her big secret.

New Caching for Cash Site

This is to announce a new concept in geocaching. It's called Caching for Cash. The idea is to get paid to seek geocaches.


Here's how it works. Everyone who is a member of geocaching.com puts $5 into each geocache they find. The amount in each cache is tallied by Groundspeak. When I want to go out geocaching, I look on the website and choose which cache has the most cash. Then, I simply go out and collect the cash. What do you think of that idea?