The day started out innocently enough. "Let's go caching" Goss says, "Yeah, Let's do the Caches by the dam". So we agree to meet there at 10:30am. I get there around 11:00am; Nice start. I had to print out the sheets and tried (for about 20 minutes) too figure out Lost in the woods. I gave up trying to figure it out for the time being and left all paperwork, probable coords and picture laying on my desk. This will be important information later. As we're at the trailhead, I realize I left my hiking stick behind. I go back to the car and get it. With DAP following my every move, I go back to the trailhead (where Goss is Patiently waiting) and realize my Legend is missing the page change button. @#%*! I go back to the car and get my Garmin V with the external antenna, walk back to the trail head. We start walking and @#%*!, I realize I really need the other antenna, so of course I walk back to the car and get the other antenna. DAP is getting frustrated,(not to mention so am I)I head back to the Trailhead. As I reach Goss still waiting there patiently (but now tapping her foot), @#%*! I can't remember if I locked the car door and since I left the auto remote in the car, I go back to the car. DAP is now running back and forth between Goss and I in a panic thinking "Is this all we're going to do?" I return to the trailhead meet up with Goss, ask her to put the printouts in my pack and check that I have everything. DAP is now jumping up and down furiously and Goss is asking me if I have everything. I determine that I am finally ready and off we went. If you think that was bad, When I tried to leave the house it took me 6 trips back and forth from the car!

We head to go do the first cache, since I had already done Hand Down Your Head Tom Dooley, The whole tree was the closest cache. About 100 yards out We notice something where it shouldn't be. I realize that its Tom dooley and it is not where is should be. I notice it and continue walking toward it. I didn't want to bring attention to it because I didn't want DAP The Cache Wonder Dog to go over there. But Goss hollers "Hey! There's a Cache over there!" At which point DAP dashes over and starts nosing it. I notice movement in the leaves And I start hollering for her to Come back. But Goss keeps on about "Look there's a cache over there!" so DAP keeps going back to where Goss is Pointing. I see the movement in the leaves again. Now I'm Freaking out. I know the snakes are hibernating but with the way things have been going, I am not leaving anything to chance, It could be a rabid chipmunk for all I know. So I tell Goss there is something over there, Call DAP back and investigate the situation. I don't see anything but DAP moves around and the leaves move again. It's a root that she keeps kicking. Yeah Yeah I know I'm a big worry wart. After the year I had last year plus the fact that I'm with Goss, you can understand why I'm a little jumpy.

Goss returns the cache to where it's supposed to be and then off to Whole Tree.

To be continued...

But wait...there’s more!

After we left A Whole Tree (which was really neat...it reminded me of a Trail Tree, but doubt it actually is one. Someone has created a locationless cache for them, too.)

So we decide to head to the next cache, 30K. I tell her that there is a trail leading right to it from the main trail, the only problem being that part of it is very, very narrow and carved onto a steep hillside, and is already slippery enough when it hasn’t rained!

So, trying to be ever-so-sneaky, we decide to creep down the hillside, bypassing the trail all together. But no...instead, we end up on the trail, right at the part where it gets really ugly!!

So we pick and peck our way until the cache is in sight. I see the cache, but Slay doesn't. I pointed it out, and she still didn't see it. I pointed it out again, with a "trust me", and she still didn't see it. I think she's spooked by those words comming out of my mouth. So we monkeyed our way down, and meanie Slay wouldn't let me come close! She made me stay away while she retrieved the cache, signed the log, and then threw it to me.

I never said catching was my strong point. The logbook bounces off my hand, against the branches and down below, prompting an "Oh <censored>!" in unison. God bless the ziploc!

Standing from my exiled position, I threw my bag of trade goods toward the cache- score! Right in the box. Slay only spoke two words, and one of them was "you".

Quoted from the log:

"fter everything was signed, traded and replaced, we went back to the main trail. I ..er...went down a little faster than intended. Slay accused me of making a social trail, but I said I was just leaving the universal symbol for a slippery spot in the trail (skid mark!)...it just happened to be a little wider than my foot. Ok...so it was a LOT wider than my foot."

The next cache was Sloop John B. So off we went.

For some reason, I don't feel so bad having the mother of all hangovers yesterday.

Then again, maybe that 'splains why slayerette couldn't figure out where she wanted to be - here or there.

In response to 30K:
I was being a "MEANIE"for a reason. Someone broke their arm a few months ago (HMMMM...I wonder who???) and not wanting to deal with any re-injuries I felt it would be safer if you didn't come any closer. I thought since you were at a more steep and slippery vantage point than I, a tumble down the embankment would incur many more dirty words than is allowed in a National Park.

I thought it might be easier to just cut and paste my log entry from Sloop John B. I will expound where needed though.

The E-Team (Gossamyrhh, D-A-P and Me)leaves 30K and starts heading towards this cache. We start by following the trail North next to the river. As we get closer to the cache, the hills on the East side of the trail turn into cliffs and the needle starts pointing EAST! No way am I climbing anything straight up. We start to head back towards where we started to hopefully find a more level spot. "Let's walk on the River Trail" (usually they are a little more established than the one we were walking on) Ok, I'm up for a walk by the river, could be pretty. We start encountering some heavy growth. D-A-P is about 10 feet ahead trotting along the trail barreling though the growth. All of a sudden I hear Crunching noises and then THUD! and then a BARK!. I bolt towards her bark and find her at the bottom of a 10 foot ravine and She can't get back up. I then start franticly looking for a way down or a way for her to get out. AHA the ravine gets shallower about 50 feet away. I try to get her to jump a log but she can't another log is blocking her. I take off my pack, hand over my gps and pack to Goss. I get close enough to her so she can see me and with one big run and jump she Jackie Chans (bounces off the side of the ravine while climbing) her way out. No small feat for a Dog-A-Potamus. She seems OK, more mad that I didn't let her go to the hooch to get out and swim.

After that, I'm not willing to take any risks. So we head for a more level way to get to the cache. There is a less steep way of getting to the cache, we found it as we were leaving. It is still a trek in and up no matter what you do. Sidenote: I think if we had continued on the trail we would have come around to the backside of the MOUNTAIN this cache is on. This is a great cache, I like the idea. I have seen one like it before, won't say which one though.

I found the cache first this time. WooHoo! And I let Goss find it before opening the box. After we did the trade good - sign log thing it was time for a break.
This Christmas the best gift I got was a Camelback - Mule. I have dumped the old backpack and carrying bottles of water. This hydration system/pack is great. It is big enough to carry 3 liters of water and all my gear. I am not a big water drinker (fear of pottying outside) plus I forget to drink it, but DAP is an AQUA-HOUND! And She can drink from the Mule too. If I lean over just a bit and squeeze the end it creates a stream that she drink from and with minimal waste of water. So we all rested for a bit and had brownies (brought by Goss) and water. We started contemplating our descent. Goss was all excited because it was all down hill and she was all for taking the "Booty Express" down. Not something I was willing to do for several reasons:

• 1.)Though it sounds fun in theory, there is stuff under the leaves I didn't want to possibly get caught on
• 2.)DAP being so enthusiastic, I didn't want her taking a header down the hill
• 3.)I didn't want to spend the rest of the hike with a wet tush and a giant wedgie!

I start moving slowly but trying to maintain the lead because I happen to be with the most bushwack loving, steamrollering hiker buddy(Goss). The plan is if I can keep her behind me she will have to follow and not as usual lead me into who knows what. It kinda works. Though she isn't too happy about it taking twice as long to get down as it did to go up. And the fact that we ended up back at 30k. I just remember my legs didn't hurt as much when we got to the main trail.
Now off to the next cache Garbeology!

I started thinking a little about DAP's mishap and I think she didn't fall over the edge into the ravine, I think she tried to jump it and just didn't quite make it. The worse part is I think I told her (inadvertantly) to do it. She was about 15 feet ahead and then came running back. I thought she was just checking on me so of course I told her "Go On" and she did. I think I should listen a little better to her body language.

[This message was edited by Slayerette on January 02, 2003 at 03:46 PM.]

Uhh, has the E-team considered contacting Fox to suggest development of a new reality/sit-com series? At least two of you write like Bill Bryson - and I haven't read any of D-A-Ps log entries yet.

I have thought about putting a video camera on DAP - a DAP-CAM sorta thing. I don't think I would like the camera angle though.

Anybody happen to read the entry for sloop john b on geocaching? trez003 sez a ranger sez they're thinking about taking all caches out of the area?!? Not good.

So after we fish the dog out of the trench, we start to look for ways around the cliffs. I noticed a cleft between two hills, with a small creek running between. From there, we started our ascent. I chose to follow the creek bed, as the rocks made for a natural staircase. Someone else took the hillside, making it much harder (IMHO). The damn dog ran back and forth between us, wondering what was taking so long!

So we get to the cache, blah blah blah, trade goods, blah blah blah, replace the cache, blah blah bah...and then it’s time to get back down the hillside. Personally, I didn’t see the problem with going back down the way we came up. “No no no no...” she said, “We don’t need to climb up that again.”. Obviously, she was so scarred from her last adventure at Elatchee, she thought any movement along a hillside was “up” (I hold you responsible, Erik. It’s going to take years of therapy for her to overcome this.).

I would like to take the opportunity to clarify that I did not view the trip downhill as an opportunity to perfect my half-pipe routine. Slow and sane would have gotten us there, not to mention gravity wasn’t working against us. But noooOOooo....

And then we ended up on that *&^$#^% hillside by 30K.

And then we traveled along the blessedly flat terrain on our way to the second half of Garbageology.

I have a dream, it's a small dream, but it's mine all the same. It's to do a relatively uneventful cache and come out unscathed or traumatized. Though erik I have cursed you on occasion, at this cache I blessed you. Thank you for no muscle strains, encounters with wildlife, falls down cliffs, dog fights, trips in the mud or anything else that may constitute "eventful". I came. I saw. I signed. I traded. I rehid the box. Thankyou. And that is the dream come true part. Here is the almost part. Goss had already done Garbeology so she goes off to make in the bushes. DAP follows her to make sure she doesn't go too far off. Goss then starts to Yell at my dog and call her a CAT! DAP comes running back with majorly hurt feelings. Which could only be quelled with a Brownie. She and Goss are friends again.

We then start going to our next target Micro Cache-Final which happens to be mine. We walk and walk and there is the deer trail off the main trail that heads towards the cache. We have to cross over recently fallen trees to stay on the trail...

By the way for those who don't know Goss and I, I am 5' 5" and have short legs and Goss is 10 foot tall and has much longer legs. DAP is a heavy set (she says big-boned) yellow lab with Lab legs. Ok back to the story.

...Goss steps over the logs with ease. DAP jumps on the log and decides it would be easier to balance beam her way for a while. I start giggling at her cause I know whats coming next and sure enough SPLAT! She falls off. I am now laughing (she's ok, embarassed but ok)at her as I try to stepover the log and SPLAT! I fall face first into the mud. I am now laughing even harder while being attacked by the DAP who's worried I may have squished the brownies or spilt the water. I pick myself up dust myself off and start all over again. I comment that I have no idea where this thing is. Nothing looks familiar, except for the tree graveyard which now is everywere because of several storms that have wreaked havoc on the forest. My legs were so heavy trying to lift them over fallen tree after fallen tree. I had no idea where we were going because I had turned off my GPS to let Goss find the cache. What was I thinking when I placed this cache out here? Didn't I realize I would have to come back someday? We finally get to the river and an established trail where I can finally rest a minute. After following The Steamrolling Bushwacker, I needed to recover from all the branch smackings and thorny bush snaggings. Plus I needed to water my dog. I have little recollection of where I placed this cache so I pull out the printout and read the clue. I then spy the cache and water my dog. Goss finally finds it and she signs the log. The only thing I remember about this cache is that it's much easier to get out than go in, and we've done all the caches we had intended to hit, so I'm pretty happy we're going home. Thoughts of a Soak in a Hot Bath and a good meal bring a smile to my mud-caked face. That lasts for just a brief moment...

We're not done yet.

Well, the whole plan was to slip away for a quiet, discrete, personal moment in the woods, but now EVERYONE knows what I was doing...

So we head toward Micro Mission. It's her cache, and she says "Gee...I don't remember any of this...". There is no distinct trail, just a "tree graveyard", hence the jumping and hurdling (or in my case, light stepping. ). We find it, blah blah, log it, blah blah, and then try to figure out how in the hell to get back to the trail. I swear to god, someone picked up everything and moved it around while we were at the cache, cos it was all DIFFERENT!

So we managed to find a trail. We weren't sure if it was the main trail, but it was better than we were. Time for (another) brownie break.

So we headed away from the river. The tedious uphill plodding soon convinced me that we were on the main trail.

Finished? Nah.

We tried Lost In The Woods. She's going to blame it all on me, but she jumped in just as hard as I did.....maybe I just got a little more "into" the hunt than she did.

I remember saying to Goss (several times I might add) that I knew Lost in the woods was in this same park and that I was not prepared to hunt for it. I also recall that I mentioned days before that if she wanted to do Lost in the Woods that she should have to her Math Inclined Boy-friend take a look at it and see if he could solve it. I have an idea how to figure it out but I needed more time to play with it and then have it confirmed.
BBBUUUUUTTTTT NNNOOOOOOOO! Goss wants to give it a try.
I have cached with Goss for over a year now and I have to say she has a keen cache-un sense(like my play on words there). So if I apply a little logic to her lucky cache sense, maybe we just might stumble over it. I first do some math calculations and then spend the next 20 minutes trying to convince her that the opposite of South west is North East. I then just start walking north east. She takes off in a south easterly direction but when we hit the tree graveyard, we end up standing next to each other. So we walk. Then we walk some more. Oh, for a change of pace, we then walk a little more. We come to a trail and it does not look familiar, but after a brownie break we trek up the trail. I am about 20 feet ahead walking with DAP, when Goss decides to play the Great RedHaired Tracker. Every now and then I hear, "that's a deer print", "That's a slip mark, Did you just slip in the mud" (Yes was the answer, but it was obvious cause I wasn't that far ahead) and my personal favorite. "One Step, Two step, Steady, now step down. You can see the footprints in the leaves. They are big strides, must have been a man. These are fresh, must have been today." I was waiting for her to tell me what size shoe he wore and where he bought them! I can't believe I'm Hiking with the female version of Jerimiah Johnson. We get to the possible area of where I have figured the cache might be and off she goes into the woods. We search and search going in circles with no luck and all the while She keeps asking me about what the cache page said,all about the hint picture, what the logs entries said not once but over and over. It now occurs to me she hasn't read the cache page or the logs or looked at the picture. So I say in a very sarcastic way "Let me tell you one more time so maybe that won't have to say it again." Her reaction was more in a look than words...Her eyes grew very wide and she shifted her weight to one hip as I repeated the answer for the sixty eleventh time. The last time I saw a look like that I ended up running from a whoopin'. Well, I thought it best to go my way and look in an opposite direction, so DAP and I went back up the hill towards the trail. Bout this time we remember that we have FRS radios and start using them. Mine sits so high up on my shoulder and with the nerve & tendon damage done to my thumb I can't press the button correctly. So Goss speaks on the frs and I occasionally reply at the top of my lungs when I can't push the button well. It isn't a very efficient use of technology but hey it works.

I end up standing on the trail waiting and dreaming of that hot bath while Goss searches for another 15 minutes. Boy I wish I had the Brownies. DAP wishes I had the brownies too! Finally the great tracker arrives back on the trail empty handed and we start walking to the car. DAP has slowed down considerably realizing it's time to go home and she too would get a bath.
All in all it was a great day. I had a very interesting adventure, a ton of laughs and some great brownies. Though today Both DAP and I are so sore. It was worth it.

North east! Yes, we want to head north east, but first, we need to get back to the dam trail! And also, when we decided to at least *peek* at Lost In The Woods, never once did the word "No" slide from her lips. It takes two to tango...although, it felt more like acrobatic swing dancing.

So we get to the area, and I do some monkeying with coords. I never heard the insult. I probably looked under every single leaf in that area, and realized that I was getting a little too close to a pond/bog/big a$$ puddle...who knows what's come out of hibernation with this lovely un-winterlike weather?

but the high point of the radio conversation.....

Goss: "Hey..where are you?"

(pause)

Slay: "I'm at the car."

Goss: "You are not!!"

Slay: "(giggle) I am too!"

Hmm. What to do?

Goss: "Well, then you better get your a$$ back down here and log this thing!"

Slay: "(gasp) YOU FOUND IT?!?!"

(pause)

Goss: "No."

(pause)

Slay: "Ok. I'm not really at the car."

So off we went, to the cars.

AND IT'S NOT OVER!!!

So we decide to meet at Steak and Shake. Just as I'm about to turn onto Buford Dam Road, she starts honking wildly. I pull over, she pulls along side and tells me she's gotta bail...she had forgotten about previous dinner plans. No problem, I say, and we agree to do Steak and Shake for lunch the following day.

So here it is, almost lunchtime! We opt to take separate vehicles, as I have a few errands to run. So here's the cell conversation:

Slay: "You better be on the road!"

Goss: "I am! I'm on the highway! Where are you?"

Slay: "I'm taking the back way, up McFarland. Winward gets hairy. What way did you take?"

Goss: "Winward." (a light goes on) "Uh...which Steak and Shake are you going to?"

Slay: "Cumming..."

Goss: "I'm headed toward the one at North Point..."

Slay: "<CENSORED>"

We never bothered to coordinate that particular detail. Thankfully, I got her before she was going the wrong way on the highway! We giggled our way through lunch, tormented poor Moss (he came along), and parted ways.

THE END
(for now.)

I think I now know more about Goss and Slayer than I ever wanted or needed.

[This message was edited by AllenLacy on January 03, 2003 at 08:32 AM.]

You never know when you may run into the two of us. At least now you know that if you hear us in the woods, (because you will hear us before you ever catch a glimse - Right phat.bak?)You should either A.) Run like the wind in the opposite direction or B.) Stay at a safe distance and enjoy the show.

Heck, I already knew that.

I am talking about the "fresh" information these forum threads and latest logs have added.

I have read a lot of travelogues wrote by bicyclist who rode cross country. None where as fun to read, or as detailed as this one day caching. I had been to these caches in the rain, but had a hard time just putting a short note in the logs. Great stuff you two.

Gosh..she makes me out as if I'd have my own hunting show on ESPN2.

Nine times out of ten I can't even find my housekeys.

But the terrain in your house changes much faster than the parks!

With the help of Goss and Moss I have gotten the coords for Lost in the Woods, So another Dam adventure is soon to come.

(devil's advocate) So Slay...feel like nabbing a cache on your Monday lunchbreak? (/devil's advocate)

I'm not caching with you in work clothes! I don't feel like explaining how I got covered in mud when I returned to work.

"I was walking around the dam, looking for a cache (then I would have to explain what that was)and my friend thought it would be funny to pay me back for calling her a 10' tall steamrolling bushwacker and she pushed me into a ravine."

No way Sister! I may have more guts and determination than Brains but I ain't stupid!