FTF vs LTL

In geocaching, there is a whole lingo that it takes a bit to get used to. TNLNSL means "Took nothing, left nothing, signed logbook", for example. Also, there is a great deal of prestige in being FTF ("First To Find") when a new geocache is first posted on geocaching.com.

Well, today I discovered the mixed emotions of being LTL. If FTF is "First to Find", then I'm declaring LTL as "Last to Log".

In the nearby community of Grand Bay - Westfield, there is a retired railway caboose. For a number of years, it was used as a tourist information centre, but has recently been sold to another community in the northern part of the province. Any day now, that caboose will be heading to Edmundston. Well, up until tonight, that caboose was also home to a geocache.

Another cacher had placed a geocoin (a trackable item that travels from cache to cache) in the container, and I was worried that it would get lost. After some emailing back and forth, I'd arranged to meet this cacher at the caboose, and so we did. I was the last person to sign the log for that particular geocache. The other cacher, on behalf of the cache's owner, has taken the cache home. It will soon be archived and no more.

I'm glad I got to find the cache before it was gone, and, more importantly, I'm glad that I get to help the coin travel, instead of it being lost along the road somewhere. But it was a sad feeling, watching the cache leaving its hiding-spot, and realizing that I'd be the last one to find it.

I'm up to 90 finds now, with just ten more to go before reaching my goal of 100 finds before the snow flies. I think I'm going to be cutting it close, based on the weather forecasts. but I should be able to do it. It was nice to meet another geocacher and chat about the hobby (okay -- obsession). He and his wife have only been caching since late July, so they're pretty new, like me. And they're just as hooked as I am.

All hail GPS! All hail geocaching!

I love this hobby.