A Llama Obsessed : Geocaching and the 100 Day Project - 1/100 Coan Park

“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that.” ― Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

The winter has finally started to fade here in Atlanta. This last week has seen 60+ temperatures with sunshine and dry ground. Anyone who has lived in Atlanta knows that when the weather is this nice in March you grab it with both hands and wring all the glory out of it because it's entirely possible that tomorrow will be a shitshow of rain and 30 degree temps. My social media feeds are bursting with pictures and status updates of glorious hikes and photo shoots and long drives with the windows down. It's also been awash with #100DayProject posts. I was inspired.

Geocaching combines the love of a treasure hunt with the interaction of social media. Also, several things I'm really into: hiking, getting lost, finding my way out and discovering little bits of happiness stuck in the trunk of a dead tree.

The premise is simple: a registered user hides a cache- usually a small container that is marginally weather resistant- somewhere it can't be easily seen by anyone who just walks by (the users on Geocaching.com call them 'muggles' which I hate) and then records and posts the coordinates to the website. Users can then use their GPS to find the coordinates and the container, sign the log, take/leave schwag and enjoy the utter accomplishment of finding it, filling it out and putting it back, without anyone noticing.

Many moons ago I tried to get into geocaching but this was before smart phones were common place so finding geocaches meant using a (then really expensive) handheld GPS. Now, there is a app for that. Many of them actually. Currently, I am trying out the c:geo app for Android. So far, I'm impressed, but there will be a review later.

If you are a fellow geocacher, I'm NerdLlama on Geocaching.com. Friend me!

I've made my 100DayProject a race against myself to get to 100 caches found in 100 days.

My partner, Robert, suggested pipe cleaner animals to leave as markers of my 100 project and I think that I am going to take that advice and number them. I might just have to go back to the 3 I have already found and leave them new presents.

Geocache 100 Project - 1/100  Coan Park

I've been to Coan Park many times, they have an EXCELLENT playground and huge open fields, as well as outdoor tennis and basketball courts.

This cache took me to a side of the park where there is a great stone amphitheater with these neat wooden xylophone-type instruments you can play with big, heavy wooden mallets. I spent several moments making the dog crazy with them.

The cache was expertly hidden and getting to it required picking up some garbage and sliding through some mud, but it was well maintained. I took a baseball card, which I plan to leave in another cache at some point and left a weird little fake flower I found during my walk to the park.

The walk from my house took me through parts of Edgewood that I am already pretty familiar with. I attempted to pick up another cache on my way, but there was a guy standing on the little bridge and he wouldn't walk away.

Through out this part of Atlanta there are volunteer flowers and plants that have washed to odd areas. This time of the year it jonquils and daffodils and with all the rain and snow we had over the winter the city is covered in them. I love them. They make me sneeze, but are still my favorite part of spring in the South.