Geo-something

I don't suppose hardened geocachers would think much of the excursion I accompanied on Friday, but there it was - my first stab at finding something using a handheld GPS.  Truth be told, it wasn't my GPS (or Bob's Forerunner, for that matter) but a midline Garmin owned by Terry in my office.  He had been smitten by this machine for a while now, and when he discovered that there were a few caches hidden near the office, he wanted to go and have a look at lunchtime, and to bring anyone interested with him.  John and I volunteered; we printed out some details and off we went.  The first one was pretty easy - just off a well-defined walking trail visible from the office.  Heartened by success, we delved further into Mount Pearl in search of... what, we weren't quite sure, but how hard can it be to find something in Mount Pearl?  

We decided on a cache Terry had marked - no details or hints, just a lat/long - and discovered a walking trail in the woods near Evergreen Village.  We followed it across a bridge, then discovered that the goal was nowhere near the trail, but in the woods along the river.  Your undaunted heroes marched off into the trees and went around in circles for at least half an hour, getting rather twiggy, muddy, tree-sappy and sweaty - a temperature sign we passed on the way back said "32°C", just great weather for beating around in the woods in the noon hour.  Lots of beer bottle detritus, plastic bags, and bugs, but no obvious treasure chest.  Not real clever woodsmen, mind you - we breathed so loudly the cave troll could have shot us in the dark.

We finally admitted defeat - after all, it could have been anywhere, buried, in a tree, we didn't know - and streeled back into the office to change and wash up as best we could to look halfways decent to finish up the afternoon.  It's too bad Mary wasn't around or the character-defamatory wisecracking would have been continuous.  (We made up a few ourselves but it wasn't the same.)  Verdict: it's not something I'd cancel anything fun to do, but playing with the GPS is cool - watching the values of distance-to-target, speed, and direction change as you walk or drive - not to mention it sure makes a summer Friday go faster.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hpatey/sets/629430/">Pictures</a> taken with the horrible Walmart camera I bought to tide me over while the Canon is... guess where?  (Another tale, to be told another time.)