A DuPage River adventure — July 17, 2016
There are some things you can plan when organizing a geocaching event: the route, the meeting place, the vehicle shuttle, and the caches everyone will be looking for.
The weather tends to handle its own arrangements.
On July 17, 2016, CanisMinor and I hosted Cacheyaking – The Floatella (GC6KW96), a day of paddling and geocaching along the DuPage River. We had put time into placing caches and getting the outing organized. Now we just needed people to show up—and the forecast to cooperate.
The forecast had other plans
I had spent the preceding week watching the weather. By Saturday, things looked encouraging: temperatures around eighty degrees, with rain holding off until later in the afternoon.
Sunday morning offered a different opinion.
Looking at the approaching storm front, I wondered how many people would still come. As my family and I arrived, several geocachers were already there, getting ready and visiting. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one unwilling to give up on the day just yet.
Our timing turned out to be fortunate. When the approaching storm let loose, we were busy shuttling vehicles between the launch and takeout. Most of us were in vehicles during the worst of it.
That didn’t mean the river trip began under a perfectly blue sky. Rain lingered into the early stops. Reetaville later described sheltering beneath a bridge at Cacheyaking – Safety Whistle (GC6KQ5D) while the cache was found.
Gradually, the showers eased, the clouds began to part, and the day improved. What had looked questionable that morning was turning into a very good day to be on the water.
A river full of geocachers
The plan took us from Eaton Preserve Park to the takeout at Riverside Park, approximately eight miles along the DuPage River. With roughly twenty geocachers involved, there was considerably more coordination required than picking a restaurant and telling everyone what time to arrive.
Leaving vehicles at the far end was particularly important. Eight miles sounds like a pleasant paddle downstream. It sounds considerably less pleasant when you imagine carrying your kayak back to the car.
CanisMinor and I had already spent time placing caches along the route. Every cache we’d put out for the Floatella offered the paddlers an FTF that day, giving everyone a little extra incentive to keep their eyes open.
The group included experienced paddlers and people trying something new. MamaDuck71 and Leader1 lent kayaks that allowed badlands and moodygrrl to join in. They were getting accustomed to hard-shell kayaks while also learning the finer points of finding containers from the water.
That willingness to help one another became a big part of the outing.
Watching our hides come to life
For me, this was a different way to experience a day of geocaching. Between caches I had placed, helped place, or previously found, I already knew much of what was waiting along the river.
Usually, after placing a cache, you wait for the online logs to tell you what happened. This time, we could paddle along and watch the searches unfold.
Knowing where a container is hidden also gives you a very different perspective on everyone looking for it. Reetaville later commented that she appreciated how little assistance we offered while the group searched. That’s a compliment a cache owner can appreciate.
The work was shared around. Some people spotted containers, others handled the retrievals, and the logs were signed CYF, short for Cacheyaking Floatella. pandababy427 and mjholley took on plenty of the getting-out-and-finding part, while the rest of the group contributed along the way.
There was variety beyond the usual riverbank search. Cacheyaking – Wildlife Encounters (GC6N2QQ) combined a wildlife crossword with a distinctive container. Reetaville liked the container enough to give it a favorite point, and LEGOexplorer singled it out in his log too.
At Cacheyaking – Paddle Safely (GC6N65K), the first stage became a practical pause in the trip. Reetaville recalled some people heading for a restroom while she enjoyed floating as the weather improved.
There was time to look around between stops, too. mjholley mentioned seeing turtles. Even lunch made an impression: in his account, badlands recalled MamaDuck71 producing a table at an island lunch stop. Apparently, simply packing a sandwich wasn’t the limit of everyone’s preparations.
My other job for the day
Knowing most of the hides left me free to concentrate on another part of the adventure: taking photographs.
I had a river full of subjects—people paddling, searching, helping one another, and enjoying an outing that had started beneath a threatening sky. Instead of concentrating entirely on the next set of coordinates, I could pay attention to the group.
It was an opportunity to combine two things I enjoy, and I think I came away with some great pictures.
The photographs mattered to other people too. Geo-Leopard later wrote about enjoying the pictures during the following week. pandababy427 liked the action shots, and CanisMinor shared the album in his announcement thanking everyone afterward.
Those comments were especially satisfying. The pictures gave everyone a way to revisit a day we had spent together.
Worth sticking around for
Reetaville had originally intended to paddle only the first half. Once the weather improved and she settled into the outing, she kept going.
By Cacheyaking – Take Out (GC6N6BT), she was glad to see the finish—and had the satisfaction of signing the group in at her last cache of the day.
That seems like a pretty good measure of an event: someone plans to leave halfway through and decides to stay.
For CanisMinor and me, the preparation had paid off. People had enjoyed the river and the hides, newcomers had been able to join in, and the group had spent a memorable day together. moodygrrl even wrote afterward that they were considering adding kayaks to their geocaching equipment.
I went home with plenty of photographs and a much better memory of the day than Sunday morning’s sky had suggested.
I’d happily organize another Floatella. I’d just prefer the weather to submit its plans a little earlier.
Field Notes
- Adventure: July 17, 2016
- Event: Cacheyaking – The Floatella (GC6KW96)
- Hosts: CanisMinor and spierson82
- Location: DuPage River, Illinois
- Route: Eaton Preserve Park to Riverside Park
- Distance: Approximately eight miles
- Group: Roughly twenty geocachers; attendance included people who stayed ashore
- Group log signature: CYF — Cacheyaking Floatella
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