ADVENTURES IN CACHING

One Cache Loop (with Four Stops)

Sam Houston National Forest

Montgomery, Texas

On the Houston Geocaching Society Forums, the owner of a cache called One Cache Loop (with four stops) announced that he was planning on visiting his cache to do some maintenance, and asked if anyone was interested in coming along. This cache, like its predecessor, the Four Cache Loop, which I have written about, is best done with company. If you remember (or read), the Four Cache Loop is close to a twelve mile hike (with the stops for additional caches along the trail) in the forests near New Waverly. The hike to this cache, the One Cache Loop, is approximately seven miles long.

In both caches, one has to find three different redirectors (like the decon container pictured on right) at waypoints within the forest to be able to get to the final location, at which awaits an ammo box filled with fun stuff. The reward at the end of this journey is a pathtag, which is a little collectable (untrackable on gc.com) coin that many geocachers like to collect. There is also the intangible reward of accomplishing the hike and making all the finds.

I saw the posting on the forums and was undecided on going, until my friend Elisa, aka "Georeynozos", wrote me personally inviting me along. She even offered to pick me up. It is close to an hour drive out to the parking area for the beginning of the journey. This time, I did not get lost. In fact, I showed Elisa a shortcut on how to get out there. The parking area is not far from where my best friend J lives (and now that I know there are more caches out this way, you better bet I'll be dragging J out there with me).

Elisa sweetly even bought me breakfast, and we had a nice little drive out to the parking area, where we met up with GGMorton, Kirbydox, Fendmar, Eric of FiskFamily5, and eventually the cache owner and his wife. It was a brisk Texas winter morning, with the temperature around thirty five degrees at 9:30 ish when we all started to collect in the parking lot. We took a group shot before heading out along the trail, which was marked with colored metal tags. During the hike, we changed trails once, and briefly went along another color, so the color of the tags was important to us.

There are 128 miles of trails in the Lone Star Trail System. The loop we followed is known as the Richards Loop to hikers. Part of it was the Little Lake Creek Loop, and the picture of the White Jeep on the top of this entry is from what I assume is the "little lake". It is a good stop for a brief break.

During the hiking of the Four Cache Loop, I had felt a little "out of the loop" so to speak about how we knew where we were going. I didn't understand how to follow the trail markers or guide myself from waypoint to waypoint very well. This time, I decided I was going to make sure I understood it all, so I led the party to the first waypoint. I looked for the markers during the hike, and tried to find every redirector myself, instead of blindly following the others and letting them lead.

I had lots of energy for about the first half of the hike. I talked with the cachers as we walked, although to the first waypoint, we were almost hiking just fast enough to not be able to talk as much. During the hike, I learned that Larry, aka "HoustonControl", set up the cache in the opposite order as the Four Cache Loop in terms of how the redirectors were placed. In each of the two caches, one of the waypoints is up on a tree that has to be climbed by the use of pegs. Fendmar climbed that tree for us. Another redirector is placed so that it has to be lowered with the use of a rope, and another is simply hidden in/on a tree.

The terrain was somewhat varied, although not as much as the 4CL. There were three water crossings, compared to the, I don't know, 30 of so on the 4CL. I forgot my hiking stick and Elisa let me borrow one, which was greatly helpful in keeping a pace and my balance. This picture on the right is one of the water crossings. Elisa, who is known for falling down when caching, only fell down one time, which I totally missed and perhaps they were only teasing her about that after all.

We saw no wild animals, although we saw scat from a carnivore, possibly wild hog, and deer and horse. Even though the signs along the way marked the trail as off limits to horses (and cars, which we thought was funny, the idea someone might try that), we did see two sets of trail riders when we made it back to the parking lot. I think some of the trails are for equestrians and some are for hikers, but horses had gone our way before us for sure, although some time in the past.

In the end, I decided that long hikes like this are a bit like sex. It always starts out as something that seems like a good idea and exactly what you wanted, but by the end of it, I am just ready to get it over and done with. The last mile was probably the least enjoyable. By then, the spot on my toe that bothers me on long walks was just starting to hurt, and I was just about done with the scenery.

I did end up leaving one of my coveted White Jeeps in the final. I thought it would make a fun thing for someone else to find, a great reward for making the long trek. Also, having that awesome icon next to the cache name is a good lure for some folks like me who love that kind of stuff, and will go find caches just to be able to move that Jeep themselves.

I kind of got caught up at the final. I had this idea that I could make it out of the brush and back to the trail a different way than the rest of the group took. Halfway in, I realized they were getting further away, and frantically I went back the direction they were instead of the way I was going. It is hard to explain what I did, but I still think my way would have hit the trail later, only I didn't want to chance it. This little adventure of mine put me way behind the others at the end, and although I was the first one out the gate, I was the last one to go back through it.

When I got home later and posted on Facebook where I had been, some non-geocaching friends expressed an interest in going hiking. I am going to plan an all-inclusive hike for people like me and my friends, who just want to get out and get some exercise, enjoying nature while doing so.

This next time, though, I am thinking about keeping it to around five miles. I think that sounds better!

I had a really nice time with this group. Eight is a perfect number for a hike like this. We made the whole trek in about three hours. At the end, Kirbydox pulled out a wonderful snack she had prepared for us all of toasted english muffins with chicken salad (with cranberries, golden raisins, and celery) and chips. It was really awesome of her, above and beyond. I also got to catch up with Elisa on the ride there and back, and somewhat along the trail as well. My friends I have met through this activity are just really good and interesting people.

Here is us at the end, just after finding the ammo can. Happiness is only a quarter of a mile away now (the end of the hike, our cars, and refreshments!).