The Path We Walk: My First Geocache Hide

Looking back on September 7, 2009

I waited several months before hiding my first geocache. I’d started finding them in May, and before I put one out for the world to find, I wanted to try a few different kinds of hides and see what made each one fun to look for.

By September, I was ready to give it a try. I remember being a little nervous when I went out to hide the container and again when it came time to have the listing published. I wanted to do things right.

A trail we already walked

illustration of a neighborhood trail like the one where I hid my first geocache.

I picked a park district trail close to home that we used often. There was parking nearby, and people could walk or bike the trail. I tucked a small seed tube just off the path and called it The Path We Walk (GC1YCGH).

The listing went live on September 7, 2009. At 9:58 that night, KINGEVO got the first-to-find. He said the coordinates were right on and the cache was well hidden. After worrying about getting my first hide right, that was a pretty good first log to read.

Four days later, djpd1023 wrote that he’d driven past the trail more than once and wondered when somebody would put a cache there. This was the first time he’d walked it. I already knew that stretch of trail well, and a little seed tube had finally given him a reason to stop and see it for himself.

Keeping it in play

The following July, a string of DNFs sent me back to check on it. The container appeared to be missing, so I temporarily disabled the listing. Nine days later, I posted a short update. “Back in play.” That was part of owning a cache, too. Once people started looking for it, I had a reason to keep going back.

A familiar path and a new friend

On July 31, 2011, the trail was part of my first outing with CanisMinor. He’d contacted me out of the blue after seeing people look for a geocache near the parking lot at work. He thought I might live nearby, and he was right.

We went over some geocaching basics that day, and he found The Path We Walk along the way. He thanked me for a day of “gc101” in his log and described the heat as “Crispy!” It was fun to meet someone who was as interested in geocaching as I was. We’d go on to spend a lot more days caching together.

I still got a kick out of seeing who came down that trail. In April 2014, Cavermarkk logged it while out on a bike ride with his son. They’d had a few searches come up empty that day and were glad to get this one. I’d mentioned in the listing that you could bike the trail, and here was somebody who’d done just that.

Making room for a new hide

By June 2021, I’d decided to let the cache go. It was our first hide, and it had done what I hoped it would. People had come to walk or bike a trail we already enjoyed. I liked the idea of making room for someone else to try a new hide in the area, or giving myself a chance to try something different.

The listing was archived on June 29, 2021. Today marks twelve years since it went live, and I still remember how nervous I was about that little seed tube. I’m glad we picked that trail for our first hide. I’d be just as glad to go back and look for whatever somebody hides there next.

---

Field Notes

• First hide — The Path We Walk (GC1YCGH), placed and published September 7, 2009.
• Type and container — Traditional Cache, micro seed tube.
• First-to-find — KINGEVO, September 7, 2009, at 9:58 p.m.
• First outing with CanisMinor — July 31, 2011.
• Archived — June 29, 2021.