Geocaching ~ Summer Bucket List

A couple weeks ago, we decided to get out of the house and playing in nature for a while.  There are a couple of Earth Caches in a preserve that isn't to far from us (one that we had no idea existed before geocaching lol).

An earth cache is different from a traditional cache in that you aren't looking for a hidden box filled with stuff but you are looking for a specific piece of earth, or something pertaining directly to mother nature.  I LOVE these types of caches.

The first cache we went in search of was a ruler in the middle of the creek.  To claim a find for this cache you were supposed to observe how high the water level was take a pic and post it on the cache page.  Well...as you can see, it seems the recent massive rains and flash floods took the ruler for a ride.  Still, it makes for a more interesting pic even if we couldn't find out how high the creak actually was.

The next cache we went in search of was more interesting by far (though if the ruler had been in place it would have been neat to take the girls back during a dry spell to physically see the difference in the creek level...)

To claim credit for this next cache we had to find (and photograph) some fossils and observe (and photograph) the different types of rocks in the creek.  I was pretty amazed at the number of fossils that were out here, I guess the girls were a bit young to understand the significance of the fossils, but it will be neat to bring them back there in the future.  We brought a couple specimens home with us, but we left most of what we found exactly where we found them.  And the different rock formations down here are just awesome to look at, its just amazing to think of the glaciers moving over the earth and making everything we see today.

All in all it was a good day, though I think we adults got more out of it than the girls did at this point.  Still it was fun to get out and explore.  Plus the girls got to see some fish and collect some new rocks, even if they did have hot a melt down all the way back to the car.

Also as a side note, C is becoming quite the little cacher, she saw some PVC pipe attached to a tree and pointed it out saying "Look!  I found the treasure!" and yes there are quite a few caches out there that are PVC pipes disguised as tree branches.  These, however, are something else, not quite sure what though.

Can't wait for the weather to cool down a bit so we can get out again!!