Turkey Mountain Geocache Madness

You know how Harry Potter has a messenger owl? You thought that was make believe? Shows what you know. I have a Messenger Mutt. Messenger Mutts are for people like me who are too cheap to buy an owl. My Messenger Mutt was given to us. Her name is Abby. Isn’t she a cutie? She is not as cool as an owl and she barks a lot but like I say I got her cheap.

DSCN1842

Well the Messenger Mutt had news for me, bad news, about a combination Geocache and Letterbox that son and I have on Turkey Mountain here in Tulsa. A cache called “Boys Night Out – Firefly Swamp.” This is a geocache that has been on Turkey Mountain since Logan and I put it there in 2007. Apparently somebody took the cache container and left the cache contents in the hiding place. This is very strange since usually thieves (aka “Muggles”) take the whole thing. Well dang it I said to myself, “Why would somebody do something like that.” I had a few other choice thoughts but some of my readers are on the genteel side and might take offense at my choice of words. So i told the Messenger Mutt to disable the cache and I’d fix it.

DSCN1848

So Wednesday night after work I headed out to Turkey Mountain to replace the cache. First I went to Target to get a new container. Turkey Mountain is an urban wilderness and part of that is that there is a Target handy. The only thing handier than Target for geocachers is Walmart. Neither one of them is a discount store though. They sell cheap stuff cheap. Why is that a discount store? Hey just saying.

DSCN1849

And speaking of cheap I found me a plastic box for $3.97!!! WTG Target!

DSCN1850

So, I paid for my new cache container and headed out to Turkey Mountain. I changed into my running duds in the parking lot. Nuff said about that.

DSCN1851

And then opened up the back hatch and built me a cache. Everybody has camo duct tape in their car for building geocache containers right?

DSCN1852

The finished product. I’m thinking of getting into fine handcrafted Amish furniture. Whaddya think? You want to buy a sideboard from me? You see my Swiss Army Knife, no geocacher is ever without one. See the corkscrew? No Gas Supply person with a gas company is ever out one of those either. But that is another story.

DSCN1853

So with my running duds on and a geocache container tucked under my arm like a true trail runner nerd  down the Yellow Trail I went.

DSCN1854

Remember, if you get lost just go the direction that the yellow arrow points.

DSCN1858

To ground zero, the cache site. Sure enough the ammo box is gone and all the contents are in a plastic bag.

DSCN1860

And looking at the log book the turkey who took it was nice enough to write a note. Thanks yourself dude or dudette. Don’t let the screen door hit ya where good Lord split ya is my response. It is kind of hard for me to get mad at this. And they did leave the contents undisturbed which is important for the letterboxers among us.

DSCN1859

So I packed up everything nice and tidy. Everything that I couldn’t fit in the new box or was just miscellaneous trash I put in the plastic bag and hid it underneath the cache so I could pick it up later and dispose on my way out. People put weird stuff in caches. One guy put a used brillo pad in a cache I owned in town. When I asked how stupid that was he took offense. He said he thought it would be funny.

DSCN1862

Still a nice hide, so off I went on the rest of my run.

DSCN1865

Along the rocks and through the rocks.

DSCN1867

Through the woods.

DSCN1869

Underneath the beautiful Oklahoma Sky. I looped back to the cache and picked up the trash I stowed their earlier and headed back to the parking lot.

I hope that it lasts another seven years.

10 thoughts on “Turkey Mountain Geocache Madness

  1. Lois

    I can’t believe that thief left a note about stealing your ammo box! At least the contents were still there. That last shot of the sky is gorgeous!

  2. Sylvia K

    I agree with Lois!! Leave a note about stealing??? What a hoot!! You do have more fun than any other man I know — well, any other one of the same age, you understand!! And you have made my day!!

  3. Lois Evensen

    Yep, a really weird person for sure. But, I guess it could have been worse if the stuff inside was also missing.

    Your posts are so much fun. 🙂

  4. genie

    You Geocachers are the best. Bud and I are just Letterboxers and they can be pretty rough themselves. What happened to you is something I have never seen in these parts. I am shocked that they left you a note. The pictures of your hike are so nice. A place my Bus would definitely like to be walking.

  5. Leedslass

    You live such an exciting life and I’m so glad you draw us in in such a humorous way. Please don’t get your knickers twisted re. the lost/stolen box – perhaps the poor thief was in desperate need of a souvenir from you? They could lust after you from afar??? Just a thought…..

  6. Sallie (FullTime-Life)

    That’s almost funny (almost) that the thief would leave a note. That is a fascinating hobby. I read something about people starting virtual geocaches instead of the real ones in some places because wilderness areas are getting trampled to pieces. (Loved to death it said). Sure wouldn’t be very good exercise though would it.

  7. Barb

    I thought you were going to say you apprehended the thief, wrestled him/her to the ground, and demanded an apology. What you did was OK too…

  8. Sandy Carlson

    Saigon Sam’s in Jacksonville, NC, has ammmo boxes to spare and for cheap! Might want to pop that info into your cache in case the ammo-box-envy sufferer is just ethical enough to order one. Sam delivers.

    You make being robbed a happy adventure. Thanks for taking us to your cache.

  9. Ellen

    Why in the world would anyone take the box and leave the rest of the stuff? Crazy! I don’t know if you should go out in the woods by yourself. Over the weekend we had a young guy out hiking by himself without any ID who fell down a ravine to his death. Really sad and it took several days to identify him. Just a lesson in hiking by yourself (now I’ll stop acting like your mother).

Comments are closed.