Finally!

The weather and our schedules cooperated so we could cache this afternoon. What a terrific day! It was sunny and warm (for February) and we only needed sweatshirts. We took along a pile of plastic Cowboys and Indians (like green armymen) to trade for our trinkets. I think they will end up being our team's calling card.

After trying for our first microcache a few weeks ago and failing (due to an incorrect coordinate on our part), we went back to that location and found it! Hidden in an Indianola city park, this micro cache was a tough spot even though the correct coordinates led us straight to it. The log was rolled up tightly inside a 35mm film container. To make it even tougher to spot, it was wrapped in gray duct tape. It almost perfectly blended into the surroundings. Also inside were two teeny tiny pencils to sign the log.

Also on the agenda were three other caches hidden by the same geocacher, Smiley Guy.

The second one also turned out to be a microcache. It was hidden in another little neighborhood playground type park along the walking trail that winds through Indianola. It was another tough find. Those micros are HARD! Fortunately the park was empty even though it was such a nice day so nobody saw us crashing around the brush.

Part of geocaching is not being seen by non-geocachers known as muggles. Yes, they stole it from Harry Potter. Anyway, you are a supposed to be inconspicuous as you search and not let any muggles see you raid the cache. There are practical reasons for this in addition to making it part of the game. You don't want non-cachers moving or destroying the cache.

The next cache of the day was a traditional cache. This one was old ammunition box hidden in the trees along the hot air balloon museum. It was a pretty easy find which was good considering that we were trying for four caches before it got dark. We traded the C&I for a bendable toy.

The last cache was a hard one. Not hard to find, but hard to be secretive about. It was along the same walking trail but a slightly different area. We found it almost right away only about 50 yards from where we parked and started walking. The hard part was the fact that there were muggles EVERYWHERE! The trail was packed with walkers, bicycles, dogs, and kids. We had to walk past it twice before it was clear enough to grab it. There was no time to sign the log in the open, so we sat in the truck humming the theme to Mission Impossible and waited for the trail to clear. Jake sprinted in, grabbed it, and brought it back. We traded the C&I for an Oompah Loompah keychain that I'm especially fond of. He sprinted back and replaced it when the coast was clear.

These caches were our first "non-wilderness" caches. The micros were hard to spot and it was challenging avoiding the muggles. All in all, I think I enjoy the wilderness caches a little better, but these were fun too.