Diving into the Darkness...

Under the heading of "what the heck were you thinking"...

So I'm going to work in the early morning hours minding my own business when I notice on my Garmin a cache marker coming up in a mile or so. Now I have wanted to go to this particular cache for a while but it was still dark out. "Wait for a couple of weeks and then the sun will be up", I think to myself. Then that same voice goes, "then again it wouldn't hurt to go see where it is at least".

Now I had read about this particular cache (GC192JK) and on one side there is a steep hill that is about 10 to 12 feet high. A mall entrance road is on the other side. Most people when they find this cache climb up the hill and if they don't die in the process eventually make it to the right spot. I see another way. Looking to the left and then to the right I notice no cars; it's early after all. What the heck, do a quick grab and go and I will be on my way in a few minutes. What could happen?

The cache turns out to be a real kicker. First I had to bury myself inside a huge cyprus tree, you know the ones, usually full of hornets and spiders. I take my flashlight with me and start looking. Sure enough there is the cache right by the trunk (about 5 feet in - big tree). I think to myself, use the handy dandy grabber tool and this will be a piece of cake - wrong.. Tried several times and for some reason the container would bump into something and I couldn't twist it the right way to come out. Did I mention I was on all fours at this time?

Plan B - had to walk over to the steep edge of the hill, hold onto branches of the tree so I don't roll down the hill to the rocks below (being dramatic) or at minimum not break my neck. Climb to the point closest to the cache, on my knees and once again find myself swallowed by the giant cacher eating plant. Found out why the container only went so far. It's literally tied to the tree by a piece of rope but that is not stopping me now. I manage to get the lid off and look inside. Found a cute panda travel bug, stuffed it in my pocket and signed the log. Closed everything up and put back in place. Said a few swear words as I grab braches and swing back to the top of the hill. Go back to my car and make a quick get away before the security car made it to me to see what I was doing - phew!

After all this I realized how much fun that was. The element of danger, almost getting caught by security and doing this all at night. Took several minutes for my heart to quit pounding but what a rush!

Chalk this one up to "guess what I did today" and log it on the geocache.com website for another find. Just glad I won't have to do that one again. On to the next one...