Our vacation this year was November 28-December 5 on Hilton Head Island and so glad the days have been so nice. There is no way to predict the weather this time of year. It was perfect fall temperatures with low humidity so I was glad that I went on geocaching.com and printed several cache data sheets prior to hitting the road. I brought my box of geocaching stuff, GPS, extra log sheets, Bug-A-Boo eggs, lots of loot to exchange, cameras to document finds, and a travel bug to drop off. I knew this would be the best time to introduce Robin to geocaching. I wanted her to know what I was talking about when I spoke of looking forward to the day that Isaac and I could go out together to find caches.
On Monday we headed to Sea Pines to visit Harbor Town then headed to the closest cache which as at the Banyard Ruins. I taught Robin to navigate with the GPS and to read the compass when we started our walking search. It was exciting to find the first cache and glad it was a larger one so we could go through the contents. This picture shows Robin's hand as she was going through all the contents of the cache! Afterwards we spend time reading about this historical site. We also visited Compass Rose Park where we learned about the history of Hilton Head Island. The modern development here started in the early 1950s where there was careful planning to have a blending of the environment and man-made structures.
We both enjoyed this so much that we found eight caches over the two morning we spent geocaching. Locating these caches took us to some of the the many parks and recreational areas on the Island that we would not have visited. I have found that this sport takes you to many special locations that otherwise would have been missed. We enjoyed finding the larger caches the best but found ourselves seeking some microcaches as well. This is a picture of our first find of an aluminum micro-cache capsule purchased from geocaching.org. If you are a member of geocaching.com (free) you can view our logs to learn about places we visited and see the pictures we submitted.
Logs for glenngurley Hilton Head Geocaching: 
| | 12/1/2009 found Dead End [log] | | 12/1/2009 | found Meadow Micro [log] |
| 12/1/2009 found Crossings Park [log] |
| 12/1/2009 found Land Locked [log] |
| 12/1/2009 found On Gator Pond [log] |
11/30/2009 found Peligro:los lagartos [log]
| 11/30/2009 | found Compass Rose Park [log]
| 11/30/2009 | found Erkeno's Ruins [log]
 | 12/1/2009 | retrieved Emily's Friend?
(Travel Bug Dog Tag) from Land Locked [log] |
 | 11/30/2009 | placed Mr. Buckeye--EAGLE
(Travel Bug Dog Tag) in Erkeno's Ruins [log]
| 11/30/2009 | retrieved Smiley the Geocacher
(Travel Bug Dog Tag) from Erkeno's Ruins [log]
The summer of 2009 will be remembered as the time I started geocaching as an active interest; I had access to a GPS and account on geocaching.com. I went online and was surprised to find two caches in our neighborhood park in Coulwood! I quickly printed out the two guide sheets, entered both waypoints N 35° 18.436 W 080° 56.484 and N 35° 18.412 W 080° 56.593 (sets of coordinates for locations of the geocaches) on the GPS, and headed out the door! It was not long before I discovered a few important things that a geocacher needs to consider before heading out on their first adventure.
I did not realize that you actually have to go off the main path and into a wooded area to retrieve a cache. As I walked the Coulwood Park trail and reading the direction and distance on the GPS, I thought, "Am I suppose to actually leave the walking trail and go into those woods?" After going down the trail different directions and not getting closer to the cache, the answer was, "Well yeah if you are going to find it!" There I was in shorts and flip flops! I watched every step I took on my trek to the hidden cache. Having to look down, I found myself running into a few spider webs and bushing into some plant branches. It was evident that I am more cautious in my old age.
I am extremely allergic to poison ivy so I know what it looks like and can spot it at a distance. I have found that when you geocache in the summer in North Carolina you will see an abundance of poison ivy. It is VERY IMPORTANT that every geocacher can identify poison ivy and poison oak. They both have only three leaves , are shades of green, and found in various sizes . We also have an abundance of Virginia Creeper, pictured on the right. It has five leaves like the fingers on your hand so it is safe to touch.During my hunts I have found that it is evident that some caches are put out in the winter then when summer arrives, they are surrounded by poison ivy. The hint on the data sheet for one of the caches I planned to find was Base of Tree. It was the tree pictured below. Needless to say, I passed up retrieving this cache!
I have enjoyed being a member of the geocacher's community. When it comes to technology, I look for ways various digital tools can be used in the educational setting. This spring I created a project called Geocacher Surveys and finally opening it up for participation. I wanted to wait until the end of the 2009-10 school year which is a good time to prepare for use during 2010-11 and beyond.
It is my hope that you can participate in this project or send on to someone who you feel may be interested. Post replies to this post if you have other project ideas using geocaching! 
