Lessons Learned So Far

I'm sure there are more to come...

I've been Geocaching for 15 days in a row now and here are some things I've learned:

1. I'm not a woodsy person. This could become an issue with Geocaching longterm ;) I've gone looking for a few caches in overgrown areas, and I get nervous about spiders, snakes, poison ivy, mosquitos! and all the other things out there that can get me. I also can accept my limitations, and don't go for something that's more than a 2-star terrain rating.

2. Don't sign logs with a marker. I started out bringing a purple highlighter to sign logs because it was the smallest pen I had and my pockets were getting full. Then I thought it was kind of different and cute. I signed maybe 3 or 4 logs with it before I learned that if a log gets wet or even humid, it's soggy and any marker on it runs. Plain old ballpoint pens work best and are still legible on damp logs.

3. Don't use paper punches on logs. Another thing I thought would be my "signature" was to use some of my scrapbooking paper punches with different symbols next to my name on cache logs. I think I only did it once. The first cache I found in August had a soggy log and I knew that ahead of time. I brought along a couple pieces of paper stapled together. I used my pawprint punch in the corner and saw immediately that I wouldn't be able to use that on other logs because it was too big. I switched to one with a musical note, but even that was a problem--not only that it's still big enough to take up a lot of space especially on micros, but a lot of logs are written on both sides of every sheet, so a punch takes away a lot of 'real estate'. I ditched the punches.

4. Just keep caching, just keep caching, just keep caching...I've been 0-for-whatever a few times now, but there are so many caches out there I just have to keep looking. Yesterday I found one with just minutes of daylight left and felt great to get the find! Yes, I know nighttime caching is a thing, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet.

My streak is still alive and I have high hopes that I can complete the month-long challenge, but it is becoming more and more of a challenge as I cross the easier closer caches off my list.