Ultimate Phobia Quest- Earth GC2W3ZT

 

We received a heads up from our good friend, obh, that there was going to be an attempt on this cache. Since it is so close to home, and a puzzle challenge, we certainly wanted to be a part of this group. Our extremely smart leader, Smarky, had solved the puzzle on where to park, so we met the group there. Also along for the adventure, is an extreme cacher from Mississippi that we had the privilege to meet for the first time, cotontop3.
We park and start setting up for the trek in to the entrance of the cache itself while we wait on obh to arrive. OCP is gearing up along with everyone else and I will stay back and be the “official” photographer. I am loaded down with camera and equipment along with several sets of keys, cell phones and backpacks. Smarky and cotontop3 had already checked out the entrance and determined it was “doable!”

Obh comes in and gets ready and as soon as he is, we take off. We come to the beginning and smarky and cotontop jump right in and take off, quickly followed by obh. OCP is waiting the necessary distance to join the others. He attempts to follow, but his “claustrophobia” has kicked in and he disengages. Oh no! We have to sign that log, or when would we get another opportunity?!  I quickly make the decision to go in! I unload as fast as I can and jump into a rain suit. Being the novice that I am, I didn’t realize that was useless! OCP keeps telling the group that I am coming and to wait on me. I plunge in and belly crawl as fast as I can to catch up to the group. I hear obh telling me I’m almost there. Finally, I reach him and stop to catch my breath! The others are patiently waiting for me and as I sit there, they point out a little night creature just above my head. I pose for a picture with him! We continue on and with cotontop in the lead, he quickly spots the cache. Wahoo! Smarky signs for all of us and we set up the camera for pictures! I had such a great time and obviously, I don’t have the 2 phobias listed on the cache page! LCP

Stratosfear - GC7BF1, Lake Guntersville State Park

Since we have purchased our kayaks, we are learning our boats on area lakes and Lake Guntersville is one of our favorite places to be.  This cache was also another reason we brought our boats here for the weekend. 

We did some area “land” caches before we put the boats in the water, hoping the day would warm up a bit first.  So, by mid-morning we were paddling towards this cache.  It was only 4 miles “as the crow flies” and we thought we had plenty of time.  Since we are new to the game, we didn’t factor in the many turns in Town Creek or the fact that there was a college BassMasters fishing tournament going on and the many boats it would bring in to the normal crowd of fishermen on the water.

We found ourselves paddling into the wind and dodging the many boats the tournament brought in.  We are also noticing all the damage from the April tornados, which detroyed so much of the beauty of the park.  We kept to the creek sides and really enjoyed the wildlife we saw.  There were turtles sunning on the many downed trees, herons fishing, eagles soaring above us, a beaver, and the many other birds we chased off by coming near.  The little black birds, that would run across the water, were hilarious to watch!

Our last mile, we poured on the extra energy to get there as soon as we could.  We found a good point to beach our kayaks and started our search.  The coords were bouncing a bit, so we resorted to the hint and found it quickly!  OCP opened the container and was surprised at the amount of water in the ammo can.  But, since it has been there undisturbed for over 3 years, it was understandable because the island looks like it keeps a fair amount of water on it at times.  We congratulate each other on surviving the first extensive water trip and rehydrate before tackling the 6 miles it will take to get BACK to the truck!  Thanks for our first kayak adventure and a tough cache to get to! We had a blast!