Geocaching

One day, our dad came home and asked my sister and I if we wanted to go geocaching. Confused, we asked him what geocaching was.

“Geocaching is a worldwide game where many ‘caches’ are hidden”, explained my dad, "You enter the longitude and latitude of the cache into your GPS and go find it. Also, some caches hold presents. You take the present and put in another one so someone else can find it”.
That night, we spent hours on the Internet searching for geocaches nearby. On the weekend, we bought a hand held GPS and mini gifts in case there was a present.

Right after we bought the GPS, we hurriedly entered the longitude and latitude of a nearby geocache and went our way. Half an hour later, we found the geocache. Sadly, there was no present and no pencil to log our name. However, we were still very exited to have another go so we begged my dad to go again and he agreed to take us the following day.
That was so easy, I thought as we walked back.

The next day, my sister and I woke up extra early and entered three geocaches into the GPS. Finally dragging my dad out the door, we ran to the first cache. Just as we approached the hiding place of the cache, we halted. There were two enormous dogs behind a fence that growled and barked at us savagely. Tiptoeing around the fence, we tried to find the cache but the two dogs kept staring at us menacingly and tried to scare us off. After a few more minutes we gave up.
Oh well, I though while walking towards the second cache, we still have two more caches.

Humming, we skipped along the trail while imagining what would be inside the second cache. Suddenly, the GPS beeped, signaling that we were almost there. We walked a few more steps and encountered a deep rushing river with sharp rocks jutting out that prevented anyone from crossing. We walked along the river, trying to find a way across.
“There must be a bridge nearby”, I said.
We kept walking but there was no sign of a bridge. Once in a while, we would climb on top of a hill to scan the area but we caught no sign of a bridge.
“Let’s look for the third cache”, I suggested.

We kept walking forward until we saw a bridge. I looked down at the GPS. The cache was right across! We scrambled across the bridge and began searching. We turned over every rock, searched in every tree, looked under piles of leaves, and under every bench. Still the cache was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, my sister cried out.
“I found something”, she called out while waving a piece of paper in the air.
I jumped up and ran towards her. That could be a clue! Sometimes, when the cache was too difficult to find, the company would give clues or hints. My sister carefully unfolded the piece of paper and her smile faded.
“Under maintenance”, it read.

“Let’s go back and look for the second geocache”, my dad said cheerily, “We already crossed the bridge.”
I looked down at the GPS.
“It’s too far away”, I muttered as we walked into a nearby forest.
Luckily, there was a trail of flattened grass leading the way into the forest. There were signs of human activity everywhere. There were broken branches that were tossed away to clear the path, empty bottles and cans and scattered food wrappers. There was even a put out fire. Fifteen minutes passed and we were still walking. The path of flattened grass was becoming narrower and was fading. My boots began to sink into the ground as branches began to block the way. Suddenly, a hare jumped out and I recoiled in shock while my sister laughed. However, soon, there were no more squirrels or chipmunks running around and the birds stopped singing. The towering trees leaned over us threateningly and moaned ominously. We tripped and stumbled over hidden tree roots and the branches clawed at us and blocked the way.

Suddenly, I stopped. Beside me were two enormous trees that were leaning against other trees. Their roots were ripped out of the ground and swayed limply in the wind. The wind had to have done that because barely anyone ventured this far into the forest. What if we couldn’t find the cache? We tried finding two others and something always went wrong. Even on our first try, there was no pencil. Plus, the wind could’ve blown the cache away. If these two gigantic trees were blown over, what chance did a little box have? What if a blown over tree crushed the cache or perhaps trapping the cache somewhere so we could never get it?
You’re never going to find it, I told myself.
But you are so close, my other side said.
But something always goes wrong, the little voice said again.

Yet I still walked on, and the GPS told us we were getting closer. After 10 more minutes, we reached a hill. According the GPS the cache was right on top of the hill. With one last effort, we climbed to the top. Before us was a tall sturdy tree. My sister let out a squeal.
“I found it!” she exclaimed, pointing at a box.
We quickly opened the box. Inside was an assortment of little toys and a notebook. After a few more minutes, we climbed down. I took a step forward. I looked left, then right.
“Umm…”, I asked, “How are we going to get back?”