Private Geocaching for Fun and No Profit

Jae was thankful the school picked one of the warmer days of the month for a class camping weekend. The cold didn't bother him so much as it used too, but that didn't mean he was immune. The teen made sure to bundle up in his color-block jacket and black gloves and ear wrap. He held a topographic map of their search area, a location that encompassed the northern lake shore and several acres of woods above. Today's outdoors project was the brain child of several science teachers. They thought it would be fun to send students on a geocaching hunt to finish the weekend. It was fun, Jae could admit.

He and many others stood on the lake shore, locating their partners and heading out. Jae got the map and gps from a teacher, then scanned the lake shore for his partner. Jasmine seemed. . . off last night after their fortune reading. He hoped she slept well as he wasn't able to talk to her during breakfast. It wasn't long before he spied her blond hair, and approached with a small smile. "I got our things. Ready to, uh, hunt for the caches?"

@Kada

Jae turned on the gps, and got their first set of coordinates easily. "Looks like our first cache is. . ." He ran a finger over their map, squinting at the small numbers that designated latitude and longitude. "Not far. Just in the woods and down. Perhaps a stream bank?" He did not comment on how tired she looked, but he wanted to. Jasmine looked like she hardly slept a wink, and it worried him.

He lead the way into the woods, and gave Jasmine space to finish her coffee in peace. As they walked Jae mulled over the previous night. Things were good until he brought out his tarot. Jasmine was clearly uncomfortable with it, he should have put them away at the start. Whatever question Jasmine had in mind, the answer the cards gave wasn't what she wanted.

Their path eventually crossed a worn down embankment with a stream running lazily through the center. Jae checked their map again. "It should be. . . yeah, it should be around here somewhere." What did the cache even look like? "Oh, there's a clue on the back of the map. Marker. . .?" Beside the word stream was the word Marker. Like, a marker you draw with? A trail marker? "I guess we look for a marker."

A little flag should be easy enough to find. While Jasmine checked out the stream, Jae scanned the trees and bushes for any sign of a marker. Nothing stood out to him, just the same bare trees and shrubs repeated. Thankfully, Jasmine spied the marker, and Jae joined her in the stream. He did not wear water proof boots, but didn't mind the soggy feeling at all. It was nice actually, the water wonderfully refreshing.

Attached to the orange flag was a plastic tube that contained their next set of coordinates. Jae pulled out the map. "Looks like. . . um, it's north of here." According to the map they would have to get back on the trail and take it north towards a hilly area. "This is fun. It's like treasure hunting." Jae said, hoping to bring back some of the easy conversation of the day before, and offered a small smile.

Asking about last night didn't seem right, but he could help her feel comfortable and relaxed today.

Jae nodded along, familiar with the American scouts. A friend in Hawaii was high up in the scouts, and planning his big Eagle Scout project. Had he finished it by now? Jae was uncertain, but it mattered little, as he lost contact with all his old friends after moving to Manta Carlos. "Scouting always seemed fun." He said, "I think I would have liked the hiking and camping parts."

Jasmine gave a tired smile, and Jae took it as a good sign. "I haven't done anything like this actually." he added, "Uh, they saying is a first time for everything, right? But I'd love a picnic at the end. A hamburger sounds great after all the camp food we've eaten." Just add a fire they could sit around while they ate, and the picnic would be pretty perfect.

Jae climbed the other side of the embankment, his shoes squishing with each step. The trail was easy enough to pick back up, and it went on in a gentle incline towards their new coordinates. "I take it you liked the scouts?" It seemed to him that she had a lot of good memories attached to it.