Lucy, Sally and I have still been working on scout work!! A bit ago we completed almost all of our geocaching merit badge. One last step we could not complete at the time was to actually go and find a cache. Until recently, we didn’t find it safe to go find a cache or there weren’t any available. A few days ago, we went to complete the final part of this badge.
We found a small list of caches on the islands we were planning on visiting. Once we made it to one of these spots, we decided it was safe to go into a beach (with no other humans in sight) and try it out. We set up a hike time with the two other boats in our group, 7 pm. Unless you get up before the sun, chances are it will reach over 100 degrees during your hike. So we went in the evening, still mid to high 90’s but much better without the blazing sun directly overhead. We started down the trail and less than a minute in came to our first obstacle. Water. Most of us were wearing sandals, flip-flops, or other water shoes but a handful of us were not. We decided that those who didn’t want to ruin their shoes could make it through barefoot. The trail continued on, the water staying constantly at my knees. It made for slow going but lots of giggles and splashes.
We made it out of the water and back to the traditional desert rocks, sand, and dust. Now with squeaking, slippy shoes we continued our journey up the side of a large hill. With only a few cactus pricks and a few confusing trail markers we made it to where the cache was supposed to be hiding.
We were looking for a large, dead cactus with a pile of rocks near the base. As we neared the exact location of the cache, the only thing looking like a cactus was a log shaped, rotting, piece of wood. There were also a lot of rocks. A lot a lot of rocks. So we started lifting up the rocks near what we thought was where the base of the cactus would’ve been. After about half an hour of looking, Dad made it down the path, the adults were chatting at the top while a few of the kids searched. Within 30 seconds of glancing towards the many piles of rocks, he spotted it. We opened up the cache, swapped out a bracelet for a beaded necklace, wrote our name and date in the logbook and hid it for the next adventurers. This cache was placed in 2006 and we saw names and dates from many years ago written on the logbook which was really neat to see.
The sun had started to let up some of its heat and an evening breeze settled in as we made our way back to the dinghy. It was a gorgeous sunset walk and a fun way to complete another merit badge.
you did good!