Eureka! We've found it!!

It's official, the Hendey family is now geekier than ever! This weekend, after Adam's fencing tournament, we engaged in our new family hobby - Geocaching.

For the uninitiated, Geocaching is kind of like a high tech combination of hiking and hide and go seek. You use a GPS unit to track, locate and locate a box full of "stuff". When you find the cache (i.e. the "stuff" box), you open the cache, sign a log, retrieve one of the many "stuff" items in the cache, put in a "stuff" item of your own, and rehide the cache for the next person who comes along.

Eric's been talking about this for over a year now, and used his recent birthday money to purchase a GPS unit. With our planned trip to San Francisco, he thought it would be the perfect family time to go on our first geocaching adventure. I told him where the tournament would be (Golden Gate Park, San Francisco) and set him loose on the Geochaching web site to locate a cache near the park.

I should have gotten my first clue to "beware" when we discovered that the nearby cache he wanted to go after was not in SF, but rather ten miles south in Pacifica (near Golden Gate National Park????). We made the drive south along the coast, taking in the stunning views. After a long day of fencing, sightseeing along Fisherman's Wharf and already one three hour drive, we arrived at the site of the parking spot for the cache. This particular cache had been ranked a 1/4 - one of five for difficulty in finding the cache and 4 of five for difficulty of terrain. We parked and looked up a hill covered with tall, dry grass and bushes, not seeing an obvious path in site. Eric consulted the GPS and determined that we were within a third of a mile of the cache, so we thought, "No problem, we can do it!". It was 4:45 when we left the car and we were sure we had plenty of daylight.

We've read the instruction manuals that say always hike in long pants, with a flashlight and water. We didn't have any of those - instead we had a camera, shorts on both boys, no water and one poorly charged cell phone. We hiked a third of a mile straight up through pretty rough terrain, scratchy bushes, and steep dirt. Adam started to falter - he'd been up since 5:00, had fenced nine bouts, and wasn't too thrilled about his brother's new hobby. Greg, Mr. Voice of Reason, began to be concerned with the daylight and the fact that we were probably going to have to slide back down the steep hill to get down. Mom was busy breathing in the ocean air and admiring the view. Consulting the GPS, Eric pointed due West, across a cavern filled with more bushes and treacherous footing and said, "Uh, I think it's actually over there...we're farther away now than when we started."

At this point, Adam and Dad were ready to turn around and head down the hill/mountain and call it a day.

They forgot how persistent Eric is - he said, "Go ahead, Mom and I will meet you back at the car." Greg glanced at his watch and the gorgeous sunset to which we were being treated. I could hear the wheels churning in his head. But somehow, he looked at Eric and knew how important finding the box of "stuff" was to him. We encouraged/bribed Adam to continue with the knowledge that the box was rumored to contain a small panda figurine.

Sparing you all the gory details, we ultimately located the cache and retrieved the panda, replacing it with a small leprechaun pin and a shark's tooth. Eric signed the log immediately after a 65 year old grandma who had visited the cache right before us - she must have been one tough grandma to navigate the climb!

We took a quick photo and then Greg decided on a different path down the hill. We had come up the direct, but unmarked path. He chose a well traveled path going downhill in the opposite direction from our point of origin. About 45 minutes later, we descended the hill and landed next to the highway. We had another half hour hike (albeit on a road!) back to the car. We stopped for gatorade and to wash Eric's legs (yes, he walked through poison oak to get to the cache!).

The walk back to the car was so uplifting - both boys talking about the importance of persevering towards a difficult goal. Adam said he would keep the panda as a reminder that when times get tough you shouldn't give up! Mom smiled ear to ear and Dad did too, now that he saw that we'd all lived through the adventure.

I'm not sure where our next trek will lead us, but I know it will be fantastic - the joy is in the journey, and in what you learn and experience along the path to the goal!