This is a story about the (archived) GC20MHJ - H Wadsworth cache.
I am a 911-Police-Fire dispatcher.
Yesterday we got a call of a suspicious person hanging around the Cedar Av Freeway near 87th & Longfellow putting an "object" in a tree. We were told that it looked like the guy was strapping an "explosive" to a tree near the freeway.
While PD was "en-route" I sent them a message to their squad car computers that it sounded like he was hiding a "GeoCache" - I (of course) teasingly was called a geek, etc... But when the arrived and located said "device" and confirmed it was a "GeoCache". (The Street Sgt even admitted to never having heard of "Geocaching" before.)
I had assumed this person was hiding a NEW cache (as opposed to finding an existing cache). Seeing an opportunity for (my first) FTF, I signed off for "Break" and jumped into my car - thinking I had a chance at finding a new (and likely unpublished) cache!
As I stepped out of the office, I thought to myself that maybe I should check geocaching.com to see if it was a preexisting cache or a new unpublished - but I took my chances and headed out (without checking - and without my GPS)
By the time I arrived, PD/FD had cleared. With the snow on the ground, I started off searching for fresh tracks in the snow. I located the tracks (and what looked like a decent hide) but could not find anything...
I sulked back to my car (thinking for sure that I just ran out of luck) when one of the Fire Chiefs pulled up and yelled out his window to me that it wasn't there anymore... The officers and Fire Chief had removed the cache while I was enroute.
DANG! I missed that opportunity!
That was until I got back to work and checked Geocaching.com (which I should have done in the first place)... It has been around since 11-09 and found 26 times prior... it was a cacher LOCATING the cache (not hiding it like I suspected).
I retrieved the cache and contents from the officer that recovered it - with the promise that I would attempt to return the cache to the owner.
Yesterday we got a call of a suspicious person hanging around the Cedar Av Freeway near 87th & Longfellow putting an "object" in a tree. We were told that it looked like the guy was strapping an "explosive" to a tree near the freeway.
While PD was "en-route" I sent them a message to their squad car computers that it sounded like he was hiding a "GeoCache" - I (of course) teasingly was called a geek, etc... But when the arrived and located said "device" and confirmed it was a "GeoCache". (The Street Sgt even admitted to never having heard of "Geocaching" before.)
I had assumed this person was hiding a NEW cache (as opposed to finding an existing cache). Seeing an opportunity for (my first) FTF, I signed off for "Break" and jumped into my car - thinking I had a chance at finding a new (and likely unpublished) cache!
As I stepped out of the office, I thought to myself that maybe I should check geocaching.com to see if it was a preexisting cache or a new unpublished - but I took my chances and headed out (without checking - and without my GPS)
By the time I arrived, PD/FD had cleared. With the snow on the ground, I started off searching for fresh tracks in the snow. I located the tracks (and what looked like a decent hide) but could not find anything...
I sulked back to my car (thinking for sure that I just ran out of luck) when one of the Fire Chiefs pulled up and yelled out his window to me that it wasn't there anymore... The officers and Fire Chief had removed the cache while I was enroute.
DANG! I missed that opportunity!
That was until I got back to work and checked Geocaching.com (which I should have done in the first place)... It has been around since 11-09 and found 26 times prior... it was a cacher LOCATING the cache (not hiding it like I suspected).
I retrieved the cache and contents from the officer that recovered it - with the promise that I would attempt to return the cache to the owner.
A message has been sent.
