The New Market Mallers started caching in July 2011. The first cache we ever found was a spikerek hide called “Hang in There”. I was hooked after that and started realizing that there were many trails and parks that I had never seen despite living on Long Island my whole life. A couple of mmacgown caches in Cold Spring Harbor caught my attention early on. I liked the idea of going after a cache called “Worldly Cache” which had not been found in over one year. After walking up and down those hills we were exhausted and we learned fast to travel light.
Surfing through the listings on the geocaching site we quickly learned who the Long Island veterans were. Sakiman and his 8000+ finds has already been the FTF a couple of my caches, while my first cache was actually adopted from Zarah who has been caching since 2005. Squealy has been hiding caches since 2001 and seems to take enjoyment in making them tough. Every time that I would go after a Squealy-hidden cache it seems I only felt the thorns. One of the oldest caches I ever found was hidden by Bayonets4u who seemed to truly leave his stamp on geocaching on Long Island.
I am quickly learning how addictive geocaching can be. It is very easy to find yourself surfing the pages looking for different caches and places to go. Now when I go away, I find myself looking for caches wherever we are going. Sometimes I’m tired, sometimes I’m shot, but I still seem to find the energy to keep looking. The really interesting times are when I visit a preserve for the first time and I realize I must have gone a million miles away. However I keep going since I figure I will find my way back to the parking lot eventually…LOL.
This is the 4th cache that I have placed and it is already my 2nd puzzle cache. Of the first 300 that I found, 23 were puzzle caches. I really enjoy trying to figure out what the CO is trying to hide and how they are trying to hide it. On the really good ones you think you have it figured out and then all your choices made you change your mind. Your brain is running in circles until you finally have that A-HA moment. Then it's the best feeling I’ve ever known. That is of course until you get to GZ and actually find the cache.
Recently I have tried to get some of the kids in my family interested in geocaching. I mean, how many hours of Wii and Playstation can someone take? The problem is that if you go too far they start complaining, “But now I’m tired and I don’t want to walk anymore.” That’s why Tackapausha Preserve is a great place to take the kids. The terrain is relatively flat and there are plenty of places to enter and exit. I would walk the entire length of the preserve if I was on my own. However; when you are with the kids you can get just so much from a good thing.
One of my geocaching habits that is both a blessing and a curse is that I am usually very quick to be willing to bushwack. When it gets down to desperation you make the best of the situation. I always assume that I will find the trail again on the other side, so I like to take the shortcut as it were. I don’t care what consequence it brings. Of course sometimes that means I come out of the preserve in someone’s backyard!
So it’s nine o’clock on a Saturday and I start wondering, should I try some night caching? Of course it’s raining too, so the GPS will be bouncing all over the place. I head out to find some parking lot caches since I figure at least I will have some light. The problem is that the hint could mean about 15 different places in the lot, so now the search is on. The only thing worse than not finding a cache is the moment when you actually give up and get back in the car. I am very stubborn and I hate to throw in the towel. I’m not above going back to the start to find out where the heartache began, so I will circle that parking lot as many times as it takes until I finally track that cache down (or until the battery in the GPS runs out).
On the occasions where I do have to log a DNF, I will definitely think about that cache until I figure out what I was doing wrong. Going back to a cache site another time you have to go back with even more determination. The things I did not know at first I learned by doin’ twice. One time I missed a cache because I didn’t think it could be that big. Another time I missed it because I thought I found the perfect spot and so I refused to expand my search area.
Every once in a while my job calls me into the city. I haven’t done many caches in Manhattan, but they certainly are an interesting change of pace. Aside from the incredible amount of muggles, the GPS bounce is out of control at times. When I was looking for “Busman’s Holiday” the GPS had me three blocks away before geo-sense took over. Another time I wanted to find “Samo”, so I cruise from Houston to Canal Street and the GPS was even more useless. I am in the early stages of Five Star New York though and that one has me asking for reasons to come back into the city.
There have been plenty of highs and lows in my first 7 months of geocaching. There are so many elements that make it fascinating to me. I love solving the puzzles and finding caches that haven’t been found in a really long time. I even love the ones that I can’t find. Everyone goes south every now and then. You just have to buckle down and search even harder and smarter the next time. I just grab my MP3 player, hit the trails, listen to some classic Billy Joel and find the cache. Just like I want you to go and find this one.
“Good night Long Island! Don’t take any (((expletive))) from anyone!” --- Billy Joel
Final is a small L&L hidden close to the path. There is a log book and a pen, however I would always advise to BYOP anyway. Small prize for FTF that I found in a cache when I had just started caching.
NOTE: I have added some visual clues due to the GPS bounce that I kept getting when placing this cache. If you find the "second one" picture you are within 15-20 feet of the cache!
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.