365: Resolutions

Ange and I have resolved to eat less and move more this year. We aren't really new year's resolution kind of people; we're just doing it for ourselves. We've had some tumultuous couple of years (in a mostly good way) and we've just gotten out of good habits lately. Since we got back from Indiana we've been trying to work in daily walks when possible, even if they are only 10-15 minutes. We figure if we can squeeze in small walks a couple times a day, most days of the week it will do wonders for our health. Tuesdays are Ange's early days at work so she got home early enough that we could squeeze in a longer walk before it got dark. We ended up exploring our surrounding area for about 45 minutes! This is just one shot of many that I took on our walk.

Geocaching! Upper Bidwell Park

So we decided to get out of the house today and do some geocaching! This was our first time to do so in Chico and we were PUMPED! We decided we'd hit one at the top of our canyon road and then head over to the upper and eastern most parts of Bidwell Park and grab some of the caches and have a nice hike. 

Of course it would have behooved us to look at a map of the park before doing this, but why the heck would we do that? We instead made our trusty rusty geocache map and took off!

Our first stop at the top of our road was a bust. Looking at the logs it seems like someone hid this cache on private property and the coordinates were tying to point us up someone's driveway. Even if we felt like trespassing we would have had to climb over their fence labeled with "PRIVATE DRIVE - NO TRESPASSING" so we opted not to go for this one. 

We jumped into the car and headed off to the parking lot just off 10 Mile House Road. The first cache of this series (of 8) was supposed to be right at the top of the trail. Well we looked and looked and tried to avoid barbed wire and sticker bushes but we couldn't find it, even with a hint. We decided not to waste too much time and would look for it on the way back. Then we set off for the rest.

It didn't take long for us to realize that we'd selected a trail that went steeply down hill. Uh oh. Going downhill means eventually coming back up. Yikes. We decided to keep going and stay mindful of how far we were going and how long it would take us to get back up and just play it by ear. 

Only 5 minutes into the hike we had our first encounter with wildlife. Ange says happily "LOOK! A snake!" and I almost fainted. Luckily it was a very small snake, not that I wanted to see a snake at all, but it wasn't like it was a big fat rattle snake blocking our path. Because then this blog post would end here. I was on edge for quite some time after that, but I managed to calm down after a while. 

We found the second cache easily and then started hopefully off on a nice flat trail. After a couple hundred feet and consultation with our GPS and geocache map we decided we were going on the wrong path and we did indeed need to continue going down the steep incline. Dag. So we turned around and hoofed it down the path. We passed two guys pushing bikes up the path and after they passed questioned their sanity. We were being very mindful with our feet and we both had sturdy hiking boots on. And we knew we were going to die walking back up the path...why the heck would you push a bike up to the top???

After a bit we got to the third cache and by this time we'd taken a pretty long & steep stroll. We debated turning back. We checked out the fourth cache and it was only 0.11 miles away so we decided we'd go for it and then stop. The 5th cache after that was a bit away so we knew we wouldn't get to that one today. We got to the fourth cache and signed in and then started the long, sweaty hike back up. 

If I had to venture a guess, it probably took us three times as long to get up the hill than it did coming down. We're terrible at looking at the time so I can't say for sure, but we would go about 50 feet at a time, stop for a minute or two to catch our breath and then go another 50 feet. When you are chubby and not in tip-top shape, it's the only way to go! We'd set little milestones for ourselves, like "See the edge of that next shady patch? Let's make it there before we stop." Serious hikers would have killed us, but luckily, Ange and I are at about the same level of fitness and body physique so it worked well for us!

At some point during the hike back up we were passed again by the insane bike men who looked like they were about .5 seconds away from careening down the hill to their deaths. As they passed they said "I think coming down is worse than going up!" Uh, no shit dude (on a bike anyway). We could have told you that when we saw you the first time.

After a million years, we reached the top. We gave the first cache another try and still didn't find it so we trooped back to the car to strip off our hiking boots and throw on some sandals. We were both sweating like maniacs but were happy we made the portion we did! We fantasized about the shape we'd be in (namely, not round) if we did that hike every day. Then we snapped back to reality and giggled about the thought that we would commit ourselves to something so insane and jumped in the car to finish our errands for the day. (Sorry for the smelly sweaty messes you had to encounter if you were doing your Sunday shopping at Winco Foods!)

When we got home we decided to, hey! look at the freaking maps of Bidwell and lo and behold, we found out that we picked one of the hardest sections of the park to hike! Go us!

We figured that we did about 1.3 miles (round-trip) and went over about 500 meters of elevation. No wonder we were tired! But that made us stand a little prouder that we accomplished that big of a hike. Next time however, we'll be sure to do a little more research on the front end.

Geocaching Mania!!!

So about 3 months ago or so my mom urged my stepdad to get into geocaching. My mom's friend Justin (hahaha) has been a big geocacher for a while and it was something my mom thought Dale would enjoy AND it would get them exercising together. See my mom likes walking for fitness and Dale hates walking for no reason (other than fitness and living well I guess). So she thought if he had something to do while walking he would be much more up for it. Was she ever right...

So at this point you might be thinking, what the heck is geocaching?

Geocaching according to the Geocaching.com website is "a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment."

How do you get started?

Go to Geocaching.com to get started. There's all sorts of resources on the site to get you started. Mostly the only thing you need is a hand held GPS. You can find a range of GPS units from not too pricey to holy moly expensive. You can get them on ebay, Amazon.com, Best Buy or even your local pawn shop (each of the members of my family have gotten them from one of these sources). Also, iphones (or other Apple technology) has an app for it! Sign up for a Geocaching.com user name (make sure it's something fun and not just your real name) and find some caches!

Why do you want to do this nerdy thing?

1. It's soooo much FUN!
2. It promotes fitness! Who doesn't want to be more fit?
3. It promotes bonding! Whether it's with your whole family (like mine) or with a boyfriend/girlfriend/partner (also like me) or to make new friends geocaching is a great time to bond and spend time with other people. You can also do it with children so it's a great bonding and educational experience for families.
4. It gets you outside and more aware of your surroundings. It is a great way to get to know unknown parts of your city or state, can be a fun activity on vacations, and plain old gets you off the couch and away from the tv!

So Dale and my mom started the band wagon and I was the first to jump on it. I went with my mom and Dale a few times around Bloomington and I was hooked. Ange was totally making fun of me and thinking I was such a nerd, but I knew I'd soon convert her. It just so happened to be right before my birthday so I dropped some not to subtle hints to my family and lo and behold I got a GPS for my birthday!


My sister and brother-in-law got Dale an eTrex for the help he gave them fixing up their investment house and as you will quickly learn, there are always better GPS units on the market and if you are as nerdy as us you'll always want something better. Leslie and Clint picked out a reasonable priced one that had lots of good reviews and seemed to be user friendly. When I was looking for one, I went a step up from Dale's to pick out one that had a few more features (and put it on my Amazon wishlist so my family could easily locate and purchase it for me, haha). Dale later had been itching to upgrade and visited a few local pawn shops and found one that is a step above mine for only $50! When my sister jumped on the wagon she found an awesome one on ebay. My favorite part of it was our conversation.

Leslie: So I got my GPS today.
Lindsay: Cool. What kind?
Leslie: It's a Magellan.
Lindsay: Oooh, Magellan's are nice.
Leslie: You know me, I tend to get the fancier electronics.
Lindsay: Jealous.
Leslie: When I turned it on it had all this stuff about geocaching...
Lindsay: WAIT. What kind is it?
Leslie: Uhhh, an eXplorist...GC?
Lindsay: GC stands for geocaching you nit-wit! You go the one SPECIFICALLY made for geocaching!!! It's expensive! Now I'm really jealous!!!
Leslie: hahahaha, I didn't even know!

So that's how dear sister got her really awesome one--dumb luck! Hilary came home from Michigan for the week and we went geocaching yesterday and I mentioned that there was an app for geocaching.com that she could download. She downloaded the basic (free) version and it seemed to work pretty good. It was limited in searching capabilities but worked well to try it out. You can purchase a more fully functioning version which seems like it would work better.

In-between the upgrading and other people getting on the wagon, I managed to convince Ange to keep an open mind about it and join me on some expeditions. This was going to be a bit of a job at convincing because Ange HATES looking for things. Whenever she asks me where something is in the house, unless I give her the exact spot she will just say she can't find it. "On the kitchen table" is not specific enough. She looks at the table and will say "I don't see it." Unless I'm like, "It's on the left side of the table, approximately 4 inches from the back, under the water bill" she won't look. So a game all about looking was going to be a hard sell. However, the fitness and bonding and being out in nature part of it I knew she'd like. And I'll admit, I thought if she could get good at finding geocaching, maybe she could get good at finding my keys on a 3 foot round table. Bonus.

The first time out we went with my mom and Dale. The weather wasn't great and Dale likes to look forever and ever and my mom finds geocaches the fastest. Ange wasn't a big fan that night. I told her we'd go just me and her and maybe it would go better. We finally got around to it one day and I was right! She loved it and was hooked! Now she wants to go every day that she has off.

I was pretty sure Leslie would dig it, we just had to get her to go with one of us a few times and she'd be all over it. She's now hooked and has a snazzy GPS unit.

Hil was our last hold out, mostly because she now lives in Michigan. She's been here for a few days and while Leslie, Ange and I were out with her she downloaded the free app to her iphone to try it out. She loved it and has big plans to geocache all over Michigan.

So basically what I'm trying to tell you is to get on it and start geocaching. The only drawback I realize is buying the GPS unit. Keep your eyes peeled for deals and hopefully you'll be able to find one in your price range.

A few other tips for newbies:

1. Start collecting trinkets. Some geocaches have "treasures" for trade when you find the cache. These are usually not valuable but more fun little things. Think about the like 25 cent machines at the grocery store. Like that, but you get to choose. If you take something you should leave something.
   
2. Think about where you are going if you are going alone. Some places can be a little dangerous (unintentionally) if you are by yourself. If you are hiking around and fall and break your leg and you are by yourself it could be bad. If you are somewhere you might get lost it could also not be great. One thing we never really thought of, specifically for men, is that you are more likely to look like a creeper. Dale was out at the park one day geocaching and there happened to be a group of elementary students doing some kind of nature day. The park rangers stopped Dale because frankly when you are looking for a hidden treasure and trying to be discreet about it (watch out for muggles!) you can tend to look like some lurking creature who could possibly be a Chester-Molester and that's not great.
3. Always have a pen on you to sign the log book. Some caches are too small to house a pen, sometimes they get lost or sometimes they stop working.
   
4. Take a look at some of the caches available on the geocaching site or on ebay. I think one of the hardest things at first is to know what you are looking for. Once you get an idea of the variety of caching containers it becomes easier to look. Some are easy, some are tricky. You never really know what you are looking for, unless they give you a really specific description in the log.
   
5. Have fun!

A recent trip that Ange and I took:

Ange spotted the cache from above!

She had to dig down deep to reach it.

She got a good grip on it and pulled it out!

Yay! She finally found it and got it out! Success!