Belize Geocaching Adventure

For my senior class trip in highschool, we went to the country of Belize. It was a two week long mission trip in late-April 2007 that consisted of building a school classroom for the first week, and then hanging out on the island of Caye Caulker.

Well, the highlight of my entire trip was getting to be dubbed an international cacher. Their was a total of six people from our group that went with me on an extreme jungle excursion. The following is the entire account of our experience at the cache called Sunset Travelers

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"This cache proves to be one of the most adventurous caches that I have ever attempted in my 3 years caching sofar. I have been through some serious stuff while finding caches that made memories, but this expedition will account for one of the most unusual and notable of all time in the history of Super_Nate.


First of all I will say that this cache is my first find outside of the United States. I was here with my senior class from Nashville, Tennessee while on our senior class trip in Belize. This cache was the closest one to where we were staying for the first week of our trip, and I started to put my feelers out to the class sponsors to see who was remotely interested to get a “quickie” 4.5 miles down the Western Highway. On Friday night, while a bunch of us guys were sitting on the porch of our “house,” the Geocaching topic arised and I talked 6 people into tackling “Sunset Travelers” sometime before our departure to the islands.


It was agreed that we were going to attempt this cache on Sunday after breakfast since we had nothing to do but rest from the workweek until lunch. We figured that we were going to have an hour-long absence from the place we were staying due to the fact that it should be an easy find. I was optimistic, but I did give a disclaimer to the departing group that since it was indeed a foreign country to us and due to the fact that I was unsure how caches were hidden in Belize, we had potential for mysteries and surprises.


There were a total of 6 of us that went. It was myself as the leader of the cache group. The principal of our school and his wife went. One of the gymnastics coaches from our school and his wife went. And one of my classmates went because he said there was nothing better to do on a dull Sunday. So we set off in the hospital van in search of the described resort in the cache listing. I will say that I was a little nervous on how far off Western Hwy. the cache was according to my GPS map of the area. So that meant we were going to have to gamble on which 2 mile long resort driveway off of Western was the right place to contain a cache.


About 2 miles from the cache location we saw a great big sign that pointed off from the main road that signified a resort. The cache listing said their was food nearby, and the big sign said “food and drink” along with a bunch of other things that would make this be a place that “a family would fall in love with immediately.” So we went for it. The road into this resort was no different from a typical Belize road full of ruts and bumps that digest food faster than you can say, “I’m full.” It was about a half a mile long and ended up at a modest resort. It was a nice place out in the middle of nowhere, but not dreamy like we were picturing. Upon looking at the GPS, we were still well over a mile away from treasure. So our first order of business was to find Ben. Looking around we found a reception place that was locked. Music was playing nearby and we saw someone down a little ways away so we went off to do some asking. She was a nice person, but she was positive that there was no Ben that worked there. She called up to the owner of the place (which was not a Ben) and thought he might have some insight as to what we were here for. I was alright with this as the cache has been active for well over a year on the internet. Since nobody has ever found it, (according to the GC logs online) the former Ben might have left, and let the new owner know about the cache existence. After a few minutes, the resort owner showed up and soon gave me a wave of assurance that we were at the right place and that he knew exactly where the cache was located. He said that it was down a 3 mile loop trail which he pointed the trailhead out to. We thanked him for his kindness and we were off.

At this point, I was feeling great because the owner of the establishment assured me of the correct location…and a mile on a trail through the jungle can go by fast if you have a direct line. We entered the jungle on a very clear trail. About a tenth of a mile into it, the trail forked. The needle was pointing for us to go right so we did. It took us up a very steep hill. As we were ascending, the trail was getting more and more narrow. At the top, the trail disappeared and there was no way for us to want to bushwack. So we went back down and took the left approach at the fork, which was going away from the cache. The next time that the trail turned enough to cause us to gain on the cache location we had already backtracked .5 mile for a grand total of 1.5 miles left to walk. Anxious to find a Belize cache we trekked onward. For the next full mile of walking we went from full, perfectly maintained trail down to a full case of bushwhacking on a so-called path that was probably better classified as a leaf-cutter ant trail. We had fork after fork, and multiple tree-hopping experiences that contributed to misery. The question was asked several times that we hoped we would find our way back, but I had the track-log feature turned on my GPS so we could follow it if needed after finding the cache.


About .85 miles from the cache we suddenly saw a very clear opening in the woods. It was a welcome sight to see light, so we went toward it. It turned out to be a 20-foot wide grass trail that was boarded by jungle on the left, and barbed wire fence on the right. It led as far as the eye could see directly in the direction that the cache was located. We walked on it, and we were very happy to note that by the time the next turn came it had cut off .3 miles to the cache and we were down to .5! Soon we came upon a pasture and a trail that led around it. Since we didn’t want to go through private property to continue the bulls-eye streak, we took the trail around the pasture. This trek added .15 walking in a parallel fashion of the intended target. Once we were finally on the other side of the trail and back on track we re-evaluated which direction the cache was, and found another trail that followed the directional logic. About 100 feet into the trail that we chose to take, it did a 180-degree turn in the opposite direction of the cache for about 300 feet. That was hard for us to see the arrow pointing behind us, but we were going to trust the trail that it would right itself eventually. It finally did when we came upon yet ANOTHER connecting trail that took a rather sharp turn to the left that righted quite beautifully for us. This trail was about 200 feet straight down a very sharp hill ending at a road with some people. We had a ray of hope as we found our first bit of civilization to come across since starting at the first resort.

At the bottom of the hill we came across two people. One looked to be a guard, and the other was driving a truck. The biggest disappointment of the entire day came when these people were from a different resort than when we started out from. We told them the story thus far and their eyes got wide. They were in awe that we had just hiked from such a long ways away. They said that we had well over 4 miles under our belt and that it was a 7-mile drive back to where we started. At this point we had major discouragement from every single person in our group…myself included. I knew we had worked hard for the past three hours bushwhacking through the thick jungle, but we had gotten way off the beaten path and everything that we had just hiked we would have to do again after finding the now worthless treasure.


We grimly thanked them for the information and stood staring at the GPS. We were .20 miles from the cache, but I was already giving up. It was 90+ degrees outside and I just wanted for it to be over. Becoming an international cacher was not appealing to me anymore. Two people in my group were dead-set on finding the cache whether it meant dying first. “C’mon Nate, it is only .2 away!!! We CAN’T QUIT.” So we started shuffling down the road. With every step that we were taking, we were getting more and more discouraged! It didn’t take long though before we were seeing a major thing happening on the GPS screen. It was counting down by feet before we got to the cache, which meant that we were less than 528 feet away. What’s more, the road we were on turned to a nice gravel path pointed directly toward where we were supposed to go.
About 300 feet from the cache, the gravel trail opened up to one of the most beautiful jungle resorts that I think I have ever seen. It was one of the most welcome sights for some very weary eyes and tired legs that our group had. We were a little disoriented due to the fact that this was a different resort then when we first started and that we were going to have to hike all the distance all over again to get back. To see civilization though was well worth the push to get the cache before turning and walking back.


So, what the heck…lets see if this is the place where Ben works! We walked to the closest building and found a guy sitting at a desk and we asked him if there was a Ben that worked there. It turns out that he was Ben, and we had indeed found the correct spot. What a relief! We spilled out our story and he was amazed that we had gone through all that work to find this cache. As if we were at near death, he brought forth some of the best lemonade that I have ever drank in my entire life for everyone in our group. He was also kind enough to show us down to the cache. Laying my eyes on that cache container was the most beautiful sights that I had ever seen. All the work paid off, and we had come in for the prize. Of course we had to take pictures….I will post them on this log when I get them. To put the icing on the cake, after we were all done with the logbook signing and the story telling and the trading and the picture taking, Ben went out of his way to drive us back to our van at the other resort 6 miles driving distance away. WHAT AN ADVENTURE!


So it would seem like the story would end there…..well, it doesn’t! We found this cache on a Sunday. Our class went to Caye Caulker on Monday through Thursday. On Thursday we boarded the plane in Belize City bound for the states to conclude our senior class trip. Lo and behold if I don’t hear a familiar voice while waiting in the ticket counter line in Belize City saying “Hello Super_Nate….” as I turned, I was shocked to see none other than Ben himself. To make it even more unusual, Ben was on the same airplane that we were on to go to Miami! All I can say is, this cache was worth 100 smilieys. It will go down as one of my all-time favorites. I met a really good friend, and you can bet that the next time I am in the Belize area I will visit and trade more things in the cache.


The moral of the story: This cache is located less than 250 feet from parking! If you feel like you have to hike at all you are in the wrong place….keep looking!

I placed three trackables from the United States into this cache. To the next people who come upon this cache….please take the trackables and move them to another cache soon!

Had a lot of fun…thanks for the adventure and the outstanding cache and hospitality.


~Super_Nate
(Chattanooga, Tennessee … United States)"