Team Markwell's GPS Adventures
Non omnes vagi perditi sunt
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April 2001

We tried to hit this one on the way down to Paducah, Kentucky. My in-laws were taking the oldest boy for Spring Break and Mattoon was a good stopping spot for lunch on the way. I ventured out of the car while my wife and two boys played on a nearby playground. I was very silly in this trial, with trying to go straight down a rain gully that was mid-thigh height in leaves. Once I realized that I could get bitten by a snake, I tried a different approach from skirting the gully. I eventually made it down to the location and got within 30 feet, but simply could not find the elusive ammo box anywhere. After giving up and finding a slightly less trecherous path back up, I got to the playground only to find a nice little paved path leading down to where the cache surely resided. We were out of time for this trip, but I'd be back in July.

Oh no! No GPS!

My 5yo went down over Easter Break to spend a week with my in-laws. They were intrigued by Geocaching, so I sent the GPS down with them, thinking that they might enjoy a little hiking in their area. I showed them how to use it, and input the coordinates for a really easy cache. BUT THEY DIDN'T USE IT!!! Two weekends without a GPS - I had the shakes sooo bad. Following weekend was Easter as well. MAN! I just couldn't win!

A retry of the closest cache to my house at the time, this time with my 10-year-old nephew Kyle. With corrected coordinates from the cache owner, we walked right to the cache. My nephew said, "Are they always this easy?" He has not been back out caching with us.

I was REALLY in the mood for a cache. Having been without my GPS for several weeks made me very itchy. This was the first find of an area to which I had never really been. What a beautiful location! The waterfall was especially nice, and the cache wasn't all that difficulty to find, although I did wish at the time that I had a compass. Best part of this hunt was that the GPSr actually zeroed out while sitting on top of the cache's location (Distance to Go = 0.00 feet). Admittedly, it didn't stay there, but it was still pretty cool.

Now I was cocky. I decided to try a little harder one. We started off on this hike shortly after lunch. The Oswego area was very pretty and it was a wonderfully sunny day. Unfortunately, the trails were extremely winding in this park - so that we easily got turned around. Still no compass, and it took quite a while to actually get to a trail that didn't have a deadend. We finally got to a great trail that was leading us in the right direction, only to halt us about 500 feet away from the cache. In between us and the cache was a murky swamp-bog. We finally started to leave frustrated, only to accidentally stumble on another path on the way back heading in the right direction. Another 10 minutes of walking and we were right on top of the cache. Even then it was hard to find. However, that wasn't the most notable portion of this cache hunt! Without a compass, on the way back, we got lost in the trails. I mean GOOD and lost. Tree cover was interfering with our reception, making the bread crumb trail on the GPS useless. I finally realized that our car was on an east-west road that skirted the whole north edge of the park. Don't panic and keep the lowering sun on your left. Eventually, that lead us to the road about 0.15 miles from the car. Whew! Went out next day and bought a compass.

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Last Updated: Thursday, February 21, 2002 15:00 CST