Multi-cache Means Never having to Describe Your GZ

April 21st, the day after the cachtastic cachathon on the 20th, was just as exciting as the day before. Unfortunately both Colette and myself had work so we couldn't stay out as long as we wanted, but the weather was fantastic and we had a good hike! My mother came with us on this outing and I believe this was the straw that has resulted in her getting her own GPS for geocaching!

Hog Island Fun
Our first stop was another cache hidden at a boat launch. Like I said in our last post we all really enjoy these and this one was no exception. As opposed to all the other caches we've found at boat launches this one was magnetic which made finding it tricky. After we picked it up and Co signed it we made our way to the edge of the water and did some skipping.

Pieces of Rail and Goldilocks and the three...oops..TWO Bears
Way back up north in Alburgh we stopped to the Recreational Rail Trail to attempt two multi-caches. This would be the first attempt at these since we stumbled upon them the first time we went caching. The basics of a multi-cache are simple. The coordinates in the GPS do not lead to the cache itself, they lead to step one. Step one is either coordinates to another location or a puzzle piece that, once solved, gives you the coordinates. Multi-caches can be any length but the two we did today were five and three steps. Typically the purpose of a multi-cache is to show the cacher the area or help them explore the terrain. These two caches took us on the majority of the rail trail and we clocked in close to five miles.

It's kind of hard to describe the events that took place because most of it consisted of walking on a very well defined and maintained trail, but we did see some interesting wildlife. We started Pieces of Rail and half way through it started Goldilocks. Pieces of Rail consisted of several puzzles where we had to use the environment to solve them. Goldilocks was more traditional, as it had us go to another coordinate where we found a cache that led us to the next. Both caches were very fun. Pieces of Rail also resulted in us logging our first Benchmark.
Benchmarks are markers or metal discs that surveyors use. Each has it's own serial number and as a result discovering them can be tracked on Geocaching.com. None of us knew much about them, but that didn't matter because Zoey ended up finding it! The final Goldilocks cache was full of goodies, unfortunately Pieces of Rail was not. While the swag is not the reason we go caching it is fun to find interesting stuff. As a result we've decided to start carrying more things with us so that others can have great swag to choose from!