I am strangely not surprised that Columbus, Georgia has it’s first geocache before it has it’s first Starbucks. (I’ve been told that there is a Starbucks in the new Barnes and Noble, but I have no idea where the new Barnes and Noble is located.)

The name of the geocache, Flat “Pet” Rocks, instantly gave the location away- Flat Rock Park. The park is a local institution, a vital part in the coming-of-age rituals of Columbus youth. I spent many, many hours at the park during my teenage summers.

The park’s main road is one-way, and approximately four miles long. The entrance and the exit of the park intersect with the main road, the exit coming first. One can make a right-hand exit from the park, drive a few hundred feet, and them make another right-hand turn back into the park. Naturally, this facilitates “cruising”. During the summer, traffic would frequently back up for the entire four-mile loop. When tired of cruising, one could select a location within the park and strategically positions themselves in order to maximize seeing and being seen. My mother tells me that this ritual has remained unchanged, except for car bodies and hairstyles, for many years.

So, when finished with my visitation rounds, I headed straight for the park...or rather, I tried to.

About halfway there, I realized that A) I no longer remember where anything in Columbus is located, and B) It wouldn’t matter if I did, because all of the roads have been changed! I followed my GPS’s arrow for about a half-hour. I saw a few familiar landmarks while driving, but since I really had no idea where I was, they didn’t do a damn bit of good.

I finally got to the park, and parked at an area that was .12 miles away from the cache (it seemed to be located roughly where I thought it would be). I hoofed it in over bumpy terrain and buzzed across approximately 150 feet of underbrush to put distance between myself and a stranger on the trail (who watched for a bit, and then left).

I searched...and searched...and searched...and found nothing. I was puzzled- my GPS was zeroing out, but there was nothing in the area that would have been suitable for hiding a cache, save a few tree stumps. Not a bit of groundcover was disturbed.

Then comes the difficult part...you don’t want to leave the hunt, but you realize that you have probably plugged a coord wrong, and it would take you less time to go back to the car and double check (because you forgot your sheet) rather than inspect every nook and cranny in the woods....but you really, really don’t want to go back to the car.

Which I finally did....and OOOOOH yeah, did I bungle that baby! I corrected the information and charged back into the woods, somewhere along the line encountering a low-hanging tree branch. If you hunt the cache and find a branch with a huge tangle of red hair- it’s not the Blair Witch Project, it’s just me.

.....and finally, I found the darn thing! It was well hidden, save for the fact that the previous hider put a lot of effort into re-covering the cache; too much, in fact...sticks don’t naturally line themselves up in neat little rows! I re-covered the cache a little more “naturally”, and headed back to the car...and tried not to leave any more hair behind!

quote:

---

Originally posted by gossamyrrh:
About halfway there, I realized that A) I no longer remember where anything in Columbus is located, and B) It wouldn’t matter if I did, because all of the roads have been changed! I followed my GPS’s arrow for about a half-hour. I saw a few familiar landmarks while driving, but since I really had no idea where I was, they didn’t do a damn bit of good.

---

Welcome, sadly, to "getting older". I was cussing like a freaking sailor today when I was trying to locate a cache and saw what a recent "neighborhood development" had done to the woods I used to canvas as a kid, restomped as recently as 2-3 years ago. (Sorry, mom, for giving you an earful, not your fault).

quote:

---

I finally got to the park, and parked at an area that was .12 miles away from the cache (it seemed to be located roughly where I thought it would be). I hoofed it in over bumpy terrain and buzzed across approximately 150 feet of underbrush to put distance between myself and a stranger on the trail (who watched for a bit, and then left).

---

At least you weren't naked, riding a horse. Dude might not have left. Just an idle observation.

quote:

---

I searched...and searched...and searched...and found nothing. I was puzzled- my GPS was zeroing out, but there was nothing in the area that would have been suitable for hiding a cache, save a few tree stumps. Not a bit of groundcover was disturbed.

---

Gee, they all look like that to me.

(rest snipped)
Good luck finding your hair, snipped not a pun. Ain't like it used to be, never will, but damn, will anything stay the same?

quote:

---

At least you weren't naked, riding a horse. Dude might not have left. Just an idle observation.

---

That might have sent him running away from the woods in a screaming panic...especially if I borrowed Erik's thong.

Familiar landmarks have a way of changing or disappearing overnight it seems. I've taken wrong turns trying to follow Hy. 20 through Cumming 2 times in the last 2 months because of the new City Hall. My head knows I'm supposed to go straight, but it's not talking to my arms, because they're turning the steering wheel to go right.