The Longest Find—225 Weeks

I just finished the longest geocache find in history—at least my geocaching history of 6 years. Dru Morgan’s GCDD22 Walk of Fame was first posted on March 1, 2003. It is a multi-cache that required walking the Hollywood Walk of Fame to figure out the final coordinates for the cache. I did the legwork soon after the cache was approved. And this morning, 225 weeks later, I finished the cache. I have found 2849 caches between starting and finishing this cache. I’m not sure why I avoided finishing the cache, but it is now a done deal.

The Curious Case of the Invisible Geocaches

Yesterday, 5 new caches were approved along the Los Angeles River Bikepath, not far from work. I figured that I could easily find them during lunch. First stop was LA River Bikeway - Oso Park–a nice pocket park near the LA River. I found several likely hiding spots for a cache, but came up empty. I walked from the park to LA River Bikeway - End of the Line. I got to the end of the line, but again, no cache to be found. I returned to Oso Park, looked a while longer, then gave up and drove over to LA River Bikeway - Elysian Valley Gateway Park. With the GPS and the hint, I found the probable hiding spot, but no cache. I figured after 3 Did Not Finds, I wouldn’t push my luck and quit for the day.

When I got back to work, I learned that Oso and End of the Line had both been found that morning, but no one had found End of the Line. That just added to the frustration. I wrote rammd and he let me know that I was looking exactly in the right places. I returned this morning and found both caches within seconds—they were exactly where I was looking yesterday. Well, sometimes, that’s how geocaching goes.

#3000

After some time off, I’m back with an update.

On May 31, 2007, I logged my 3000th cache, Reed All About It.

When Elin (EMC of Northridge, CA) found her 3000th cache, I joined the celebration. So I figured there would be a little symmetry if I found one of Elin’s caches for my #3000. And I didn’t want to find a lame lamp post cache for the milestone. Elin had recently placed a cache on a trail, so I stopped by on the way home from work and picked it up. The cache is in my right hand. At least the bottom of the cache is pictured. I didn’t what to show the entire cache because that would give it away.

The trip to 3000 has taken about 6 years. However, after finding my first few caches, I took about a year off. So it has really been about 5 years. It has taken me to some very interesting places across the country (14 states–see the map below, ignoring KY and IL and adding NV), some strange parking lots, a few pairs of torn pants and wrecked shirts, and too many cases of poison oak.

I really don’t want to know how many miles (or gallons of gas) I’ve traveled. I have enjoyed to journey, proving that “not all who wander are lost.”