I don't know what's worse: the fact that this is the first log to this cache in the 1565 days since this cache was first placed by the founder of OpenCaching Canada (if I understand correctly the history of this site)....or the fact that we are not actually the first to find!

On to my story: the three Coffee Peddlers cachers around London have been on my to do list for some time, since really getting into OCNA earlier this year. We stop in, or pass through London a number of times each year. Today it was the annual trip to pick up a family member in London for Christmas, and a little extra time combined with record-breaking warm temps for Christmas Eve meant a perfect time to stop for one of those caches. It was a toss up between this one or the River View cache. This cache was less out-of-the-way and sounded easier to reach, but I was doubtful about finding it given the clue and elapsed time since last heard from. So I was planning to do the other one, but in the end we found ourselves west of London.

Upon arriving on scene and taking a look at the area, I was convinced the cache was gone. There was a bunch of small shrubby trees and a lot of broken and buried concrete on steep slope. Signs of fresh digging by some critter. No where to tuck a cache into. We tried approaching "GZ" from several angles and just couldn't see anywhere to securely hide a cache. Surely the cache had tumbled down the hill long ago, perhaps knocked down the hill by some animal or more likely pushed down the hill by the heavy snowfall of the last couple winters. And soon the kids lost interest in the search and were more interested in getting mud all over their clothes down near the river. I stood near GZ, just looking but not really seeing anywhere to hide a cache. And that when I notice the cache, sitting there, right there in the open, painted just the right shade of brown to match the dirt of the hill, partially covered in leaves...and in really great condition. Opened it up to see contents in great shape, dry, and the log sheet...signed? Well, not exactly signed, but dated: "Found on Oct 25, 2014" it read. Found? Found! By who? My guess is it was just found by accident, and the finder followed the instructions and wrote that on the log sheet.

This was the only geocache we found today (we also found two letterboxes on-route to London), passing by a few thousand groundspeak caches along the way. It's just not the same. It's a whole different game, almost. Geocaching is fun because you find something hiding, something everyone else overlooks but you know about the secret hiding place. Except hundreds of other cachers in the area also know about it, the site is visited many times each month, there's a well-worn trail...found it - surprised? Not really. But when you get to find a cache that few care to find, and know one really knows if it's going to even be there - it's just different. So thanks London-area cachers for ignoring this one.  Merry Christmas.

Looking forward to those other two Coffee Peddlers caches! Maybe they're still there, maybe their gone. But it's worth the hunt. Because it's not about the numbers.