Kayaking…and…geocaching! Two of my favorite things. I decided it was my turn to start hiding some “yak” caches at Harris Lake. If nothing else, I’d at least have more excuses for making trips to the lake with my kayak. So, here are some photos and a video of the geocaches I hid.
Cache name: “Fuzzy Hotdogs”
I tried to camoflage this cache as a cattail plant which is commonly found around lakes and ponds. The orange dot is actually the cap to a small tube that holds the paper log for cachers to sign.
Cache name: “Funny Surprise”
Plastic decoy of a blue heron- old 35mm film container hidden inside. There was a real heron that watched me the entire time I was setting up this cache.
Cache name: “You’re gonna have to PULL!”
This one was hard to film with my camera and retrieve the cache at the same time. Just for reference, the tree it’s attached to is one that fell into the water following a tornado several years ago. The angle of the video might not make that evident but the pictures should help. I couldn’t get a pulley attached to the far end of the fallen tree so the five gallon bucket is filled with cement and was secured out in the water next to the tree.
Cache Name: “Orange Bullseye”
I started by standing a PVC pipe straight up in a bucket and filled it with cement. Placed a larger PVC pipe on that with the top section spray painted bright orange. Set it out in the water so that the bullseye would be barely visible under the water.
Cache name: “You want me to drink that?”
Empty bottle with waterproof container attached to cap (meant to look like typical trash left behind). Filled the bottle up with just enough water to make it bob up and down. Tethered it to a metal pole on the shore.
Cache name: “Cutting Trees”
Ammo can hidden under one of the downed trees from a previous tornado.
Cache name: “Just Below the Surface”
A camouflaged pvc pipe attached to a fallen tree- it’s clipped on the tree just under the surface of the water.
Cache name: “Where are we?”
Fake ‘NC Wildlife Game Lands’ sign (used to mark public hunting areas).
Here are some of the comments I got for my caches:
9/3/2011
Out on a paddle on a beautiful saturday morning, to up these 4 new ncparolelady yak hides. so how original is that never seen anything quite like it. well done! T4HT
9/10/2011
Fortunately for me a couple of weeks ago I got an email from Cliff’s Notes letting me know he would be in town on vacation visiting his parents and wanted to know if I wanted to go caching, via canoe. Well you bet I did. We scrapped the first idea due to car shuttle logistics, but I suggested this series because I had read such positive logs for them. They did not disappoint, all I can say is ncparolelady has significantly raised the bar for water access caches, awesome job which we got paid with real payslips.
10/2/2011
THANK YOU for your well-planned and developed caches on the water . . . it was challenging & fun – you did so well! We made the run on this Sunday (perfectly cool) afternoon. Incredible work on tis hide . . . WOW!
6/15/2013
Love this hide concept. Earns a fave point. Canoe grab on Shearon Harris reservoir. Thanks for find # 789.
10/20/2013
This was the sixth of seven caches that I found on Harris Lake today while kayaking and caching with Cary Ow following our attendance at the NCGO 2013 Wilderness Island CITO #2 event this morning at Jordan Lake. Great cache, really enjoyed the hide method! All is well with the cache. SL. Replaced as found. TFTC!
10/18/2014
Found it today- this was a really great one. Coords turned out to be right after all, and the camo is still holding up. Very nice, loved it.