Little did we know that this adventure would prove to be a little scarier than what we were bargaining for. I don't remember exactly who told me about GeoCaching, but I do remember immediately going to the GeoCaching website after hearing about the sport/hobby. After reading about GeoCaching and what it involves, I knew it would be a blast. Within days I purchased a Garmin Etrex GPSr and was ready for an adventure.

My family and I began our GeoCaching escapade on July 4, 2002. My wife, my four-year old son, and I were excited as we prepared for a gorgeous day of hiking around the mountains of our home state, Utah. I found a number of appealing caches on GeoCaching.com and printed out the descriptions, grabbed a few water bottles and loaded up the van. We were off on our first GeoCaching adventure.

During that day we found several caches. The third cache, Of Patriots and Politicians by RogerB & The Cast Iron Boss, which is now archived, proved to be our first test. We learned that not paying close attention to the detail in a cache description can cost you. We ended up parking our vehicle and hiking almost a mile, in the mountains, until we realized that we were on the wrong side of a canyon from the cache. We reluctantly turned around, hiked back to our vehicle, and drove to the other side of the canyon and found the cache within 50 feet of our vehicle.

We were all ready for a rest after our third cache, so we headed home. After resting for about an hour or so, I decided to log our visits on GeoCaching.com. While on the website, I came across a newly hidden theme cache that had not been found. The description briefly described the first in a series of caches and said that the first person to find the cache could take a Star Wars action figure. I knew my son would absolutely love that, so I gathered the family, loaded the vehicle and we were off to find our fourth cache of the day. Little did we know that this adventure would prove to be a little scarier than what we were bargaining for.

This recently hidden theme cache, Jedi Test #1: Jedi Mind Tricks by Jubei and Petit Chou, which is now archived, was hidden in a canyon very close to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the first in a series of five caches that had a Star Wars theme. Knowing that we could be the FTF (first to find) for this cache really motivated me to get there.

We followed the road until our GPSr indicated that the cache was roughly 75 feet due south. Seeing that the road was taking us in an eastward direction, we hastily found a place to park on the side of the road and began our hike.

Upon exiting our vehicle and walking a short distance towards the cache, we came to the edge of a small cliff that led down to a creek. Seeing that we could not slide down to the creek from our present position, we walked about 50 feet east of the cliff until we were able to walk down the embankment, through some brush, to the creek. Once we reached the creek, we realized that walking through the creek would be the best way to get to the cache which was still at least 50-60 feet from our current position.

My family and I stepped into the cool, clear water of the creek and began walking in the direction indicated on our GPSr. Soon after entering the creek, we noticed that someone was walking towards us from the general direction of the cache. As we got closer to this person, we realized that he was another GeoCacher. He obviously recognized why we were there and said that he had found the cache but it was locked. "Locked?" I asked. After verifying what the man had said, I decided that since we had come this far, we would at least find the cache and confirm that it was locked. We couldn't understand why someone would lock a cache.

After walking about 30-40 feet along the creek, our GPSr indicated that the coordinates we were looking for were about 20 feet up the mountain from the creek. Unfortunately, there's an 8-foot embankment that we had to scale before we could move in the indicated direction. Knowing that my wife and son were not likely to be able to scale the embankment, I asked them to wait and I would find and retrieve the cache. After some work, I made it to the top of the embankment, walked down a small trail and quickly found the cache.

The cache, a standard ammo box, was definitely locked. On the side of the ammo box was a laminated note taped to the container. The note explained that there were other caches that needed to be found to obtain the combination to the lock on this cache. There were several sets of coordinates listed for the other caches. After reading the note, I recognized that if my son and wife walked around a bend in the creek, they would be able to walk up to my position....I heard the sound, a sound that I will never forget. It was the unmistakable sound of a rattlesnake's rattle. I yelled back to my wife and asked her and my son to walk further up the creek so they could join me. While they were making their way to me, I began entering the other cache coordinates into my GPSr.

My wife and son made their way around the bend in the creek to a clearing where they could make their way up to the cache location. My wife lifted my four-year-old up out of the creek and helped him gain his balance on a small fallen tree on the edge of the creek. She told him, "Walk up to your dad." As soon as he took a step, I heard the sound, a sound that I will never forget. It was the unmistakable sound of a rattlesnake's rattle. My son heard it too. He looked down, froze, and let out a blood-curdling scream. My wife, recognizing that something was wrong, looked in front of my son and saw the snake. It was coiled up and ready to strike. Instinctively she grabbed my son and pulled him back into the creek.

From my position, I looked down to see what was happening and saw a rattlesnake heading my way, trying to get away from my son. At this point, my options were to run up the mountain, which was most likely where the snake wanted to go, or to jump off the ledge I was standing on down to the side of the creek. I chose the latter. When I landed, I looked at where I was and realized that there was a good chance that there could be other snakes around my feet, which I couldn't see because of the brush. So, in a panic, I climbed up on some limbs of the fallen tree that my son had been standing on so I could see what was around my feet.

Through all of this, I still had the cache and my GPSr in my hands. I could no longer see the snake that had been heading my way but I knew it was most likely getting away from us as fast as it could.Since our little rattlesnake adventure, we always carry walking sticks with us when GeoCaching. We also try to make noise to warn any critters that we're coming. I was determined to get the remaining coordinates from the note on the cache so I balanced myself on the limbs that I had climbed up on and continued entering the coordinates to the other caches. Meanwhile, my wife and son were standing in the creek yelling for me to get out of the area I was in. I said, "I have to get these coordinates!" My wife thought I was nuts.

After completing the entry of the coordinates from the note on the cache, I wasn't about to walk up to where I had found it. I didn't want to take the chance of running across an already-petrified snake that could get me in the leg. I carefully tossed the locked cache back up the mountain to where I had found it and made my way back down to the creek where my wife and son where anxiously waiting to get back to our vehicle.

Upon returning home and logging this cache, I realized from the cache description and other logs, that had just been entered, that the combination to the lock on the cache was given through hints in the cache description. It pays to carefully read cache descriptions. Maybe our little run-in with the rattlesnake will serve as a reminder to pay closer attention.

Since our little rattlesnake adventure, we always carry walking sticks with us when GeoCaching. We also try to make noise to warn any critters that we're coming.

Although this was a scary experience, my family and I continue to GeoCache and have recently placed our own cache, just our little contribution to a sport/hobby that we have enjoyed for the past couple of years and plan to enjoy for a long time.