Getting Outdoors

Back before I was really into competitive shooting, I spent a lot of time doing day hikes, and geocaching all over the Triangle. Since I began spending more and more of my weekends on the shooting range, and more and more of my days off writing, and doing what my wife calls “blog stuff”, I’ve been spending a lot less time outdoors doing the things that I love.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day, even though it was about 25 degrees outside at the warmest. I decided that it was a perfect day to get out and enjoy one of my favorite places and check up on a couple of my geocaches that I hid several years ago.

I made it out to Durant Nature Park in North Raleigh about 2PM and headed out to find my first cache. Durant Nature Park is a cool place. It used to be a Boy Scout camp that was later purchased by the City of Raleigh, and has been left largely intact.

The first cache (GC1V46K) that I went to check up on was one that I hid in the park back in 2009. The name of the cache is “Order of the Arrow” which is named after the honor society inside of the Boy Scouts of America. The cache was hidden near the OA fire bowl at the old camp, and over the years it was great to see the logs pour in from other brothers as they came across the cache. Sadly, after spending about 30 minutes looking for it, I was unable to find it. It appears that someone may have stolen it, so now I have to replace the cache.

The second cache I stopped in on was another one of my own (GC1V46Z), and it’s in my favorite part of the entire park, back behind the upper lake near the beaver dams. This part of the park overlooks a little creek, and being that the trail dead ends, it doesn’t get too much traffic. This cache is a .30cal ammo can, and it’s been sitting in the same place for 4.5 years. It was actually frozen to the ground when I found it, but much to my amazement it was still bone dry on the inside.

I stopped along the way, made some coffee with my old Coleman Peak1 stove, and really enjoyed just being outside. I think there’s something to be said for getting out in nature to clear your head, and put you back on track. I’ve pledged to work smarter this year, and to spend less time behind the keyboard here in the podcast studio, and more time outdoors doing manly things. You can expect to see more outdoor gear reviews, and talk in addition to the stuff we already do here in 2014.