Hike #3: Blue Job (Redemption)

Last Friday night, I sat in my room, bored and not really wanting to do anything. I was in crappy Mike mode. Then, reading some of "A Walk in the Woods," a book about hiking the Appalachian Trail, I had a moment of "dude, what are you doing?! GO OUTSIDE!" and decided immediately that I needed to get outside, and quick, since I only had a few hours left of daylight. What better place to go then to tiny and local Blue Job, I said, and raced there. I went up the opposite route that Josh and I went, which, to someone in shape, is nothing, but to me was much harder. I got to the top amidst a wall of bugs, sprayed bug spray in my mouth by accident (never think it's a good idea to spray bug spray on your head when you're out of breath), and hiked down the other side. I followed what looked like a really awesome bike trail off the main trail, and instantly turned into explorer Mike. And it paid off.

I was being kind of sketchy because I smelled death. I smelled death and I was trying to find the source, searching through the woods like a bloodhound to find some sort of carcass or at least some sweet bones. Yea, I'm weird. The scent seemed to be strongest in a small clearing. And then I saw this:

ok...

awuh?

My first thought was "is there a dead body part in there?" My second was "is this someone's weed stash?" Turns out, I had found a geocache box. These are apparently all over the place, hidden on mountains and state parks, and "geocaching" (I'm stealing this directly from the website) "is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online. " Apparently, I just find them. I found one last year in a tree at Wagon Hill in Durham, just completely randomly. 

Inside, there were toys and a notepad where you are supposed to write how you found it, what you took, what you left, etc. In both cases, most of the signatures were from families and little kids. In Wagon Hill, Rich drew Fatsquad characters. I was getting attacked, so I had no time for that. Here is a sheet about it, what was inside, and what I wrote. 

click for a larger version of course. Gotta promote!

It was neat finding this. There were weird fleas everywhere and I was covered in bugs and bug spray/spit-from-bug-spray-in-my-mouth, but for some reason, other than the exercise, the feeling of being outside and doing something, and seeing a beautiful sunset and having a nice drive, this made this trip worthwhile. Lesson learned- go outside! (but check yourself for ticks after/during)

I'd say this view was worth a half hour of hiking.

The parking lot when I got back- is there something other people do on Friday nights?

I'm a tad jealous of whoever lives in this house.