Whoo Boy. What a hunt. The closest AGT cache was 8.5 miles away in Forest County called Counterfeiter's Den. It was posted by Pirate & Crafty on the geocaching web site. The area we parked in was in a very out of the way area. When we got out of the van We could hear the creaking of big pine trees as the high winds gusted through them. We geared up into our hunter orange. Then let KC run. I looked at the GPS, and then the compass. We needed to go away from the creaking stand of pine trees, and into a brighter looking forest. “Look for a path” I told Niki. I did not want to bush whack in. I took my own advice. It was not long before a trail was spotted. I smiled back at Niki, “This must be the way.” and motioned her to follow. Even though we walked a narrow trail the going was tough for Novalee so I popped her on my shoulders. She protested lightly, but how can you argue with a mountain. I was the mountain. We walked along the trail a bit til it deposited us onto an old rail road bed. We could not figure out whether or not the trail picked up on the other side of the tracks. We decided to bush whack. I'm not sure how many hundreds of feet we were from the cache. I do know that it was too early for bush whacking but I did not feel I had a choice. We plunged into the woods in the direction the GPS indicated. We bush whacked for 5 or 6 minutes before we came up to another trail tripping and falling all the way along, the forest floor was very rocky. Fallen trees were everywhere. Eventually we stumbled back onto a the trail. The GPS counted down as we traveled this new trail so we kept going. Then before we knew it we were looking out over the forest from a cliff face. Probably a 10 foot drop. The vista was nice. The GPS was sort of all over the place. Niki searched up and down the ridge line. We almost gave up on this one. All Niki had to do is say the word and we were done. She however had greater resolve then I, for she said at one point, “I won't give up on this mission” Eventually I headed back down to the base of the ridge. I saw it down there. I had walked by the cache more then a few times earlier. I don't know how I missed it. I opened the cache box up. I stamped both Niki and my stamp book with the Forest County AGT stamp. Niki did not want to come down to the base of the ridge and I do not blame her for many reasons. I then signed the log book. I was hoping to find a treasure for the kids in the cache. Not this time though. I put the stuff back in the box and re-hid it. We headed back to the van in the failing light of dusk along a very poorly marked trail. You better believe that was fun. Eventually everything worked out and it was time to go home.
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