My first experience starting back to geocaching was not successful.
Our first episode to follow treasure hunt clues for a cache had failed.
I did not want to finish our geocache hunt empty handed.
I was certain I had loaded the coordinates or treasure hunt clues correctly into the GPS.
I was not going to lose my confidence because I did have a good idea of what I was doing.
Self-doubt is not a good thing while following treasure hunt clues for a geocache.
I went home resolved to figure out what had prevented us from finding the cache.
I let the unsatisfied adventure rest for about a week and then again went out following the treasure hunt clues with new determination.
As I followed the treasure hunt clues on the route, I thought of where I would have hidden the cache.
I carried a small metal flashlight that resembled a small geocache container and thought where I would hide it.
This train of thought started to help me become more imaginative about where and how to pursue my treasure hunt clues.
I soon arrived at my location and started looking around for signs of unusual piles of rocks or sticks.
I scanned the trees for anything-unusual hanging on any of the limbs or low branches.
Then I began to use my little flashlight as a geocache and placing it in various hiding places.
My thought process was to get my eyes and mind to be more observant to small, hard to notice changes in the environment.
There were two trees with elaborate root systems protruding out of the side of the hill.
I had searched the area before following the treasure hunt clues but realized that I had not been as thorough as I should have been previously.
I shifted my attention to various nocks and hollow pockets among the roots.
This conditioning of my eyes helped me to pick out very subtle differences among the roots.
I repeated the process a few times and asked my self again where I would place a geocache in this root system.
I had followed the treasure hunt clues to the one tree that had the most interesting exposed root system.
I stood back and noticed a most obscure but easy to access depression among the root system waist height.
No sooner had I placed the little flashlight down in the depression than I felt the geocache.
At last, I had over come my disappointment and found the geocache.
I could return home knowing I succeeded in finding this geocache.
My simple, true story illustrates some important points to geocaching.
One needs to be careful and record accurately the coordinates or treasure hunt clues to the geocache.
If any clues are available, review them before leaving the geocaching website.
Next, do not be over confident but study your information so you can have trust in your set route.
Lastly, have an open mind and be willing to learn new tricks that sharpen your skills for following treasure hunt clues to your intended geocache.