Jean Of mArc

One thing that I’d spent some time doing during University was hiking. Whether it was Blomidon, Cape Split, Keji or even in the Alberta Rockies, I definitely spent more time just walking through wilderness than I ever had before. But I have to admit that even so, I’ve never been wildly motivated to do it. It’s not that I don’t enjoy anything about it, but rather it’s not something that I get fired up to do. Why? Because when we get to the destination (if there is one), I don’t always know what to do! Some people say that the hike itself is the motivation, or the scenery once you’ve arrived somewhere. But although I am able to appreciate those things and feel good afterwards, I don’t have the drive to go do it like other outdoorsy people have. I like to DO things. I like to keep my mind mentally occupied with things to consider, weigh options, and execute solutions. So on hikes, rather than spending time just absorbing whatever is around is around me, I often spend a lot of time thinking over a particular matter, usually something that I had been doing before I went hiking, so that I am eager to return home or work or whatever to try and execute those thoughts. This is why things such as programming and games are very appealing to me: they involve a lot of mental thought. They involve goals and things to do, and (the best part) coming up with ways to get there. Of course, the flip side to this is that I do enjoy being around people, so often that is one of the main reasons I’m willing to go hiking: just to spend time hanging out somewhere else.

Why am I going on and on about this? Because I want to bore you!

No, actually it’s because I’ve realized that geocaching changes everything for me! What is geocaching? Basically, people from around the world hide little boxes of “treasure” in various places, usually in a key spot in the wilderness. The treasure consists of small items from the dollar store, coins, logs, etc. Then the location of the cache is posted online so that everyone can download them to their GPS-enabled devices. So anyone from around the world knows where to search for treasure! Once you get to it, you sign the log, take a picture of yourself there, exchange a new item that you brought for an old item in the box, and then be on your way.

This works perfectly to motivate me to go hiking!! Now there is a goal!! There’s something to DO when you get there, not just something to look at!! It’s quite rewarding too, because you don’t always know if the treasure will still be there, or what it will be exactly, until you get there. And then you get some new little trinket and leave your own behind, and sign the log and post a picture of you with it online for other people who have been there to look at. It’s probably especially rewarding for the person who hid it initially to see people actually making treks out in the wilderness just to find the bobble-head they hid in a box under a rock. This may seem silly to most outdoor enthusiasts, but for me it changes everything! It’s like a game now! A treasure hunt! An adventure! It even involves some technology, which is a plus for me!!

As you can tell, I’m excited about this discovery. Steve (a friend from Acadia who is also an Aomori JET) and his girlfriend Helen and I went out geocaching on Saturday and had a really fun time! The first place that we went to was actually not in the wilderness at all, but rather in this somewhat off-the-road location that just had a leveled field next to a forest with some construction going on. The description was that it was hidden under a large rock in a triangle of trees. The location was super-easy to get to: probably only like 20 meters from the car, but we still had to search for like 30 minutes. Why? Because there were quite a few “large rocks” and none of them seemed to contain any treasure under them!! There was one rock which looked like it ought to have something special under it, but no luck. Helen even had to lift some of the rocks so we could look under them:

So, that was rather disappointing. On the upside, though, there was a slide!! Here is a picture of Steve and I being 5 years old again:

Also, we stopped at a random combini (convenience store, though “combini” is a much better word) and they had delicious sandwiches and cinnamon buns!! Bikurishita!! (I was surprised!!) Such things are rare treats here in Japan, so it was delightful to have found it. In fact, for me, that was the treasure we were looking for!!

Next stop was also not the wilderness, but actually a look-off. It was a tower sort of deal which you could climb up to get a good view. However, it was way up in the mountains. Although it is spring here in Hirosaki, and the snow is gone, this is not yet so up at higher altitudes. So this look-off was still dump-covered with snow!! We had to climb a big wall of snow just to get into it, and even then it was very windy, cold and dangerous because the snow was mixed with wet ice, which isn’t a welcome sight when you’re trying to climb steps!!

This particular cache was a nano-cache (about the size of your fingernail) and was described as being hidden “under a chair”. This could have been a major problem, because half the chairs were still covered with tons of snow, and we didn’t have a shovel… Not to mention that even if we did, it would have been very hard to find such a small item.

Thankfully, though, Helen found it!! It was under a bench at the very top of the tower, but was not under much snow because of the way the roof was built over it!! So we got lucky with that one. We signed the tiny bugger, which finished it off and was the only one signed in winter, put it back, took a picture (which I don’t have) and headed off on some more adventures!

Next we went to a jazz cafe/restaurant, which again was located out in seemingly nowhere. It seems to me that a lot of places here are in obscure locations, but maybe my idea of “nowhere” is broader than necessary. Anyhow, it was a very nice wooden cafe with a fireplace in the center and a stage complete with jazz instruments, waiting patiently to be played. I enjoyed some expensive “Pizza Toast” while other more Western-style dishes were enjoyed by the others. It would have been really cool to be there if something had been going on too.

Finally, we came to a wilderness cache. This was the “big” one. The whole wilderness was covered in snow. Deep snow. Probably about thigh to hip deep the whole way. Lucky for me, I happened to be wearing my winter boots, and I was dressed pretty warmly, so I was set. The other two, not so luckily, only had their sneakers and jeans on. But they are both good sports and we went ahead to get it anyway!

The first obstacle was that to begin there was a very short but steep hill to climb, which might not be so bad in the summer, but in the winter provided more of a challenge. This hill alone took a good 10 minutes or so to climb. We mostly just grabbed on to trees to use as leveraged and hoped for the best. After that, things got easier. The rest of the way was a climb, but a very moderate one. The hike there probably took about an hour, since trekking through snow is obviously a lot slower, especially when you sink in to your thighs every few steps. I led most of the way, since I had the best footwear for the job, with Steve’s Android as a guide. There were obviously some people out skidoing at some point because there were visible tracks along the way that we could follow to make things easier here and there. And then we finally made it: it was at the end of a river which became a lake, and from a certain angle the mountains went up on both sides, which reminded me of Lake Louise! Minus the tourists. This place actually had signs and such, and our clue was that it was by the roots of a tree about 6-8 feet away from one of the trees with a sign. We were talking the whole way about what a disappointment it would be if it weren’t there like the first one… but then I spotted it!! It was cuddled in the root of a tree!! And then we did a victory pose:

Inside were little trinkets, out of which Steve & Helen took a geocoin (which lets users track their coins as they travel from place to place) and I took out a wooden puzzle. We put in a Mario Kart coin holder, some Canadian coins, and a mint. The mint was mine. Yes, it is lame. It’s all I had to put in though. Except for a cough drop. But that’s just as bad.

We enjoyed a good laugh when we were deciding what to put into the box:

Steve: “Let’s put in the nickel.”
Helen: “Okay.” *Takes nickel and puts it in the box*
Steve: “Wait! No! Let’s take the nickel out and put the penny in instead!”
Helen: “Why? What’s the difference?”
Steve: “4 cents!”

Anyway, so we signed the log, took a break, discussed our victory, and then look some pictures of a us next to an oddly-spaced tree:

Actually there were many oddly-spaced trees in that forest. It seemed like there was some disease that was affecting a lot of them, although many were surviving regardless of their illnesses, but were quite twisted as a result.

Then we headed back. One of the biggest advantages of having done this in the winter was that it was impossible to get lost as long as we followed our own tracks (the ONLY tracks). It was a lot easier because of this, and also a lot faster because we could just step in our own footsteps, it was down-hill, and we slid down a lot of slopes penguin-style to speed things up:

Finally we got back to the car. Mission successful!! On the way back, while winding though the curved sloped mountain roads, we were ALMOST hit by a sports car who was coming at us in the wrong lane. He we obviously trying to race/dare his friend, who also was driving a very expensive car in the CORRECT lane. Thankfully, Steve’s reactions were quick and he blared the horn, though unfourtunatly in my experience horns don’t cure stupidity.

Anyway, just wanted to share that fun adventure with you guys. I hope that in your own way, you were able to live out the experience in your own minds. If not, get an imagination! And try geocaching yourself!