A Series of Fortunate Events
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (118442)
Gainesville, Florida
January 21, 2017 7:51pm CST
The title is a play on words from the movie 'Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events' (which my daughter happens to be watching as I write this), but it applies to the fun my son and I had today.
For his birthday in March, we are planning a long backpacking trip through pristine wilderness along the Florida Scenic Trail in northern Florida. Since we will be backpacking for about 6-7 days, we will have to carry all our gear, water and food with us as we hike. That means our backpacks will be loaded down and heavy.
To prepare for such adventure, my son and I are taking 'practice' hikes each weekend to help us build up strength and get used to carrying the heavy backpacks. Each week, we try to hike a little farther than the week before. We are doing this in local parks and nature area in our city.
Today, while on our practice hike, we accidentally stumbled upon a hidden geo-cache. Upon opening it up, we found directions to download an app to seek and find other geo-caches in our area. My son was instantly interested, and so we downloaded the app on his smartphone, and then finished our hike with our heavy backpacks.
After returning home to drop off our packs, get some lunch, and cool off, we then decided to set out on an adventure to find more geo-caches hidden throughout our area. We spent the afternoon and evening discovering one cache after another as we explored around town (through the assistance of the app, which provided us with GPS coordinates and hints and clues).
Our last geo-cache discovery of the evening (before we ran out of daylight), found us near the bat houses on the University of Florida campus. Being that we showed up to find the geo-cache right at sundown, we were treated to an awesome spectacle of watching hundreds of thousands of bats take flight from the bat houses. It was a really awesome experience to watch!
To conclude our evening, we decided to have dinner at Culver's, which just opened their first restaurant in our city.
Have any of you ever geo-cached before? Or for those that haven't, have you ever witnessed bats take flight at sunset?
23 people like this
19 responses
@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Jan 17
What a great day you had. I'd like to like bats but I find it really difficult. Why are they provided with bat houses? Don't they just roost in trees and/or caves? We saw fruit bats when we visited Queensland but we rarely see them here.
5 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
The university was having problems with the bats roosting underneath all the education buildings and sports arenas and stadiums on campus. Although there were no structural issues with the bats living in all these buildings, the main issue was the smell and all the bat guano that was everywhere. So, university officials first built one bat house and relocated the bats to it. As the bat population continued to grow (we have lots of mosquitos for them to eat), they had to add a second bat house. Right now, they are currently adding a third bat house, so the bat population must be thriving!
2 people like this
@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Jan 17
@moffittjc What does a 'bat-house' look like? Like a dove-cote perhaps or just a big shed affair?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
@JudyEv I don't think there is a standard design for bat houses. They can be of any shape or size.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
Although I have known about geo-caching for quite a while, this was the first time I ever partook in the activity. My son and I had a great time searching for each hidden cache. He is now enthralled with creating his own geo-cache to hide, and has been busy this evening putting together his stash of objects to hide.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
@paigea Although we found about half a dozen within walking distance of our house, we also had to drive around to find others. But we did notice from our GPS map that there are literally hundreds of them hidden all over our community.
@paigea (35693)
• Canada
22 Jan 17
@moffittjc Yes, I want to hide one too. We live way out in the country and it is surprising how many are hid in the general area. Have to drive to find them though.
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
22 Jan 17
Sounds like such fun Jeff!! I have never done this, but would love to! Many years ago I have watched bats as they took flight from their homes. Lately this seems to be less and less a sight due to our area being plagued with white-nose disease. Hoping that soon our bat population will once again be plenty.
2 people like this
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
22 Jan 17
@moffittjc my sister-in-law is known as the bat lady in our area. Her job requires her to check on the bat population. She goes into attics and barns to count and check bats for disease. Not a job that I would want!
I found a link that may be helpful for you about the disease:
USGS Home Contact USGS Search USGS Search NWHC: Search NWHC: National Wildlife Health Center ...advancing wildlife and ecosystem health You are here: > Home > Disease Information > White-nose Syndrome White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emergent disease of
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
Is white-nose disease curable, or survivable for that particular species of bat? Here in Florida, we have many different species of bats, from all over the world, so I don't think we have to worry about our overall population declining. If anything, I think the population is actually growing.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
@ElusiveButterfly It is pretty scary to read how fast the fungus is spreading across the US and Canada. It says that is prevalent in hibernating bats, and the fungus is a cold-loving variety, but when you look on the map of where infections are occurring, there are several hot spots in the south. This is very discouraging.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
22 Jan 17
I've never geo-cached. I have done my fair share of backpacking. The closest I've come to witnessing bats at sunset was the time a colony of bats took roost in the ceiling of the gym at the school I used to teach at and when the PE Coach turned on the light, wow, they all started flying around and running into each other. Their echolocation didn't work in the confined space.
Do you have a water filter to take on your extended camping trip? I used to have one, and it made life easier not having to carry so much water.
4 people like this
@DWDavis (25812)
• Pikeville, North Carolina
22 Jan 17
@moffittjc You will be glad for them. At a pound for a pint, water gets heavy very quickly, as I'm sure you know. In the Army, on long road marches, we would carry a gallon with us, two one quart canteens on our equipment belt and a 2 quart canteen on our ruck. That's 8 pounds just of water.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
Funny you mentioned the water filter. Up until now, we either carried our own water supply, or boiled any water we found out in the field. But just today our new water filtration devices were delivered to my house (we ordered a couple from Amazon). Those alone are going to allow us to take a bunch of weight out of our packs now, since we won't have to carry our own water supply.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
@DWDavis I always carry a gallon jug whenever I hike, and sometimes a canteen or camel back as well, but now that we have the filtration devices, I may decrease the amount of water I carry. I want to make sure I still carry some water supplies, because I never know if we will come across a water source on our adventure or not. But, being that I live in Florida and there is literally water everywhere, I really have not come across that problem yet of being able to find a water source.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
@sol_cee No, bats don't fly in V formation. They zig-zag across the sky chasing after mosquitos and other insects, so there is absolutely no pattern as to how they fly. And when they take flight at sunset each night, they swarm together and it looks like a giant black storm cloud moving quickly through the sky. It's a pretty awesome sight to see!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
No matter how many times I've witnessed the bats take flight at sunset, it's still an amazing thing to watch! We were treated to another surprise last night as well, as apparently two red-tailed hawks have discovered that they can catch an easy dinner by sitting on the top of the bat houses and waiting for the bats to emerge!
@sol_cee (38223)
• Philippines
22 Jan 17
@moffittjc The bats. Let's talk about them. Did they do the V formation?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jan 17
I just ate at Culver's for the first time this past week. Let's just say I will be going back to that place many more times in the future!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
3 Feb 17
@just4him I cannot stand McDonalds. I feel sick just seeing their food.
1 person likes this
@just4him (306239)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
30 Jan 17
@moffittjc I agree. It's a great place to eat, much much better than McD's.
1 person likes this
@jhechorain (1198)
• Susanville, California
5 Feb 17
This sounds nice. It's a good hobby for some bonding time and also it will help with your health. I wonder how far I could hike with a backpack and the gear. I don't think it would be too far.
2 people like this
@jhechorain (1198)
• Susanville, California
5 Feb 17
That's a lot of hiking already! At least stretched out though. 2200 miles ... I can't even imagine how long that would take.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 Feb 17
@jhechorain It takes the average hiker 7 months to complete the journey. Only about 12,000 people in the entire history of the trail have completed the journey from one end to the other.
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 Feb 17
The most I have ever done was 52 miles on the Appalachian Trail. We hiked it over the course of 7 days. My ultimate bucket list goal is to hike the entire Appalachian Trail (2200 miles) from one end to the other.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458091)
• Switzerland
22 Jan 17
@moffittjc It does not sound the best day to go outside. Here is still very cold, but sunny.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
@LadyDuck It is definitely not a good day to go outside. To me, I think it is a good day to lay around the house and be lazy and take a long nap! haha
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
My son made up a really nice geo-cache box last night, and today he wants to go out and hide it. But it looks like we are going to have some very severe weather here all day today (thunderstorms, tornados, hail, etc), so I don't know if we'll be able to venture out. He will be so disappointed if he has to wait.
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
22 Jan 17
@moffittjc I know some of my children went through a phase of wandering the local area in packs, eyes glued to their phones... nothing new there than, I hear you think! ;)
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
Yes, Pokemon Go was a perfect example of virtual geo-caching!
1 person likes this
@jillybean1222 (6408)
•
23 Jan 17
I have not geo-cached, but i have friends who used to do it a lot. it think it sounds fun
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
23 Jan 17
It is very fun, because it's like a scavenger hunt that you can engage in pretty much anywhere in the world. Also, you never know what kind of fun things you will find in the cache once you find one!
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
22 Jan 17
What an interesting day you had with all that! There are bat houses on the campus? That is great!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
In the southwest section of the campus, it is mostly conservation land around a beautiful lake. University officials built the bat houses in a field across from the lake, so that the bats would be able to find an easy meal with all the mosquitos in the area.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
29 Jan 17
@JamesHxstatic As huge as the UF campus is, and as large as the student population is, campus officials were very forward thinking in setting aside so much conservation land and nature areas on the campus. It makes for a very beautiful campus!
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
23 Jan 17
@moffittjc What a great thing that is!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
The boy and I are always trying to find fun outdoor stuff to do each weekend!
1 person likes this
@DianneN (246849)
• United States
22 Jan 17
@moffittjc That seemed like one of the greatest.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
22 Jan 17
Negative to both. I have a friend who geo-caches, but it doesn't really interest me. It seems like too much hard work!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
22 Jan 17
It can be hard work, especially if you can't find where the geo-cache is hidden (or if it has been removed by someone who didn't realize what it was). My son and I checked out 5 geo-caching sites today, but we were only able to find the geo-cache in two of those sites.
@MarymargII (12422)
• Toronto, Ontario
9 Feb 17
No and until the end of your story- I only had a slight idea what it was- If I was there I would have put something over my head and screamed when those bats came out---LOL!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
9 Feb 17
I will admit that everybody who gathers to watch the bats take flight are leaving their heads exposed to falling guano from the bats, although I have never seen anybody get hit with the stuff! Lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 Feb 17
@MarymargII I'm sure none of us would want bat guano caught in our hair! haha
1 person likes this
@MarymargII (12422)
• Toronto, Ontario
9 Feb 17
@moffittjc Ooh yeah- didn't even think about that- yuck- would worry they'd get caught in my hair although- I know it's not founded!
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (48958)
• United States
28 Feb 17
It sounds like you and your son had a wonderful time. I have heard of geo-cach, but never done it.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Mar 17
We try to hunt down at least one geo-cache every weekend, if we can. Some are really easy to find, some are more difficult. But we have fun no matter what. It's like doing a big scavenger hunt!
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
13 Mar 17
I have witnessed bats going out of their homes for the night, I have not been geo-catching but someone from my past life on line was an avid searcher, it might have been from Gather.com that got me on the internet back in 2005. (its not there anymore) I hope you are ready for that treck on the trail. It good that you practiced. My sister and I were not prepared and failed our first trip and our last trip. It was a lot harder than we thought it would be...I might have to write about that experience...
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118442)
• Gainesville, Florida
19 Mar 17
Our big backpacking adventure is coming up in 4 days, and we are both getting really excited. Today, we pulled out a big map of the forest and went over our itinerary for our daily hikes. Interestingly, we realized today that about 7 miles into the hike, the trail comes very close to a creek that we never noticed on the map before. So, this year, we are going to try and find the creek and camp next to it, so we'll have a supply of fresh water. The worst part of backpacking is having to carry all your water with you.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
19 Mar 17
@moffittjc in NY you can't drink mountain stream water because of the raccoons pooping in the water and they carry a disease that people can catch.
My kids who do wilderness treks a lot bought the hikers water purification that they carry when they hike. I would highly suggest you get one too if you don't have one.
https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthlinkbc-files/giardia-infection
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
19 Mar 17
and here is another...
What is the best water treatment system for backpackers and campers? To find out, we tested 15 of the best, latest and greatest backpacking water filter systems and compared them i...
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40055)
• Laguna Woods, California
10 Feb 17
Two of our grown daughters entertain their kids by going geo-caching whenever they are on trips. They all have a lot of fun with it. I've done it once and thought it was fun!
