8/22/2019 FunX 1000th Log by TOC

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First off Congratulations to our friends FunX (Times) on reaching their goal of a 1000 ON their 1

yearversary. Its not often you get to hear about people reaching THIS milestone ON their caching

anniversary. Congrats!

So we started the quest for this cache relatively late in the day. We dodged the rain heading to the parking

cords and by the time we arrived the rain had completely stopped. We geared up, sprayed down and

headed into the bush. There were 9 of us in total 2 from TeamOC, 10yr old Emily_OC, 7yr old

Logan_OC, 7yr old Caitlin_OC, 3yr old Gavin_OC, 3 from FunX including 4yr Braxton and then 60+

Nana from Nana&Gramps, who might we add has very bad knee and ankle problems. She was a trooper.

We headed up the trail/road made exclusively for Deer by Deer and we came to our first major obstacle;

The field of never ending thorns. Lucky for us we were following the Deer who knew how to avoid the

things, for the most part. We picked up the youngest (sos not to lose him) and we trucked our way

through the foliage towards the first cache on our route. Not too bad! We then headed towards the second

cache; this one was a tad bit more difficult with our crowd, but never-the-less we obtained the smiley.

From there our G-Unit was giving us fits as to which direction to head-in for the milestone.

After walking up one small incline it was clear we were heading in the right direction. We crossed another

field and again a special thanks to our Deer buddies. In what seems like no time at all, we came to the

third cache on our route. The smiley was perched high above so that one could see the whole forest from

there, well almost. At this point Nana thought she would hold the floor down whilst the rest of us went on

to the other caches.

The trip to the big arch was dry, as we took the high road to it. We spotted the arch from one side of a

valley and from there we couldnt quite see how impressive it was. It wasnt until we made our way down

to the creek and back up to the arch that we could appreciate the magnitude of the this free standing

structure. We hung out a bit there and then decided that we needed to high tale it to the rest of the caches

as it was getting late. It was at this point that we also made a fateful decision. We decided that instead of

going back the way we came, we would continue hiking out to the nearest road and then return by road to

our vehicles. This came as we knew how hard the journey had already been and that it was starting to get

a little darker. It was of course closer to the road than it was to our vehicle. So we retrieved Nana from her

former perch and we headed onto the next wonder.

By now its getting pretty dark and we almost couldnt tell it was an arch until we shined our light into

it. Not as impressive as the previous, but it was still a site to see, even at dusk. From there we were onto

an arch that reminded us of a tunnel near Niagara Falls. Again, until we lit the area up with our torches

we thought it was more of a cave like structure. After this one we were onto the milestone. When we

reached the area we werent sure where we should be looking. It was now dark as can be and we didnt

know what to expect (should have done a little more research, or at least looked at the pictures). Wesearched all of the little caves, by WE lets just say the kiddos did it because the rest of us were too big

really. Nothing! Then, as if the Mother Earth and Father Time hadnt punished us enough, the sky opened

up and the tears of Angels fell upon us in fashion that hasnt been seen in quite some time. The down pour

was torrential. We thought about leaving, then we thought NO WAY! A FunXer thought of looking

elsewhere because the G-Unit was directing us that way. We heard, I think I found it. He beckoned for

one of the smaller members of our group to come to his location and after she slipped and slid her way to

him she was soon standing in a room. We are now all soaking wet (at least it's rain and not sweat like it

8/22/2019 FunX 1000th Log by TOC

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had been), the G-Units were SOAKING wet and flaking out and we still had to find our way to the road.

Mr. OC thought we might be hit by a flash flood where we were so we decided not to waste any more

time. The little one signed us in (and hopefully placed everything back nice and neat) and we all headed

out. It was a good thing we did because the water was really starting to flow. After an hour of wandering

towards a road in a down pour and in pitch black darkness we spotted a street light through the woods. We

cut ourselves up even more as we slipped up and down the hill trying to get to The Light as it becameknown as. Finally Ms. FunX reached the light and proclaimed It is some sort of gravel road. At this

time it had stopped raining and it was like we were saved by the light. We all gather up on the road and

noticed it was a driveway. We walked towards the house that looked like either nobody was home or the

people in the home didnt want to be bothered by trespassers in the dark. So we turned away and started

towards the road. At this time someone came down this driveway to see all 9 of us on their land hunkered

under one of the lights. We told the gentlemen what we were doing and how we had happened upon his

land and he told us we had a MILE walk to the end of his DRIVEWAY, then a few miles up to the road

we parked on and then a few miles down that road. He wished us good luck and went home. So Mr. FunX

and Mr. OC started to make the walk to retrieve the cars. After about half a mile down the driveway they

turned to see a work van pulling up to give them a ride. The man decided that it was just too far for us to

walk and gave them a lift. On the way to the car he told them that he can walk from his house to the

parking location in about 20 minutes in daylight, but said he has never entered into those woods after dark

in his 20 yrs of living there, because its too treacherous. He was amazed that we made it out of there the

way we did.

Meanwhile, back at The Light Ms. OC tried to take pictures of the pathetic crowd after the milestone

EVENT only to be shocked by her camera that had been ruined/broken in the rain. When the flash went

off, SHE FELT IT! We later found out that the screen had been broken and some of the pictures on the

card were unrecoverable. Perhaps the shock that she caused and then the shock that the Mr. caused

damaged the card. We are trying to recover the images now and will post them all IF we can.

This will be an event that we will NEVER forget. The kids, though at times were fed up by the briars and

thorns, were troopers and in fact a big help. Nana, who was in a lot of pain at the end, thanked us for this

experience vowed not to tell Gramps what we dragged her through.

FunX, (Rob, Tricia and Braxton) thanks for the memory and congrats again.

Did we mention that this didnt end our day? We still had a cache at the parking lot and others in town,

LOL!