We had made the run to Monkey Mountain in the late spring, picked up two of the four caches that were located out there, and said that we would someday return and pick up the other two.  So, when we needed something to do as an outdoor activity, Monkey Mountain was at the top of our list of places to go geocaching.  So, with members and adults from the Crew, and two tag alongs ... we were on our way.

We are starting to learn that there is no such thing as an easy trek at Monkey Mountain.  Looking at the Satellite views of the area and looking at the fact that both of these caches appeared to be pretty much out in the open, it gave every impression of being a nice casual stroll.  Guess again.  

The initial 850 feet took us up 125 feet in elevation, and the trail was basically a water run off that people started using as a trail to get to the top.  From there it was a casual trek downhill through open fields where the grass was maybe four to six inches at best.  We stopped and played around on the hay bales before making the journey to the northeast corner of the park.  What we found was that last .4 miles of the trek to the Cache was going to be bushwhacking through the trees ... again.  The clearing under the power lines that looked to offer a nice casual walk to the cache turned out to be 1,380 feet of thorn bushes, hidden creeks, and who knows what.  So off in the trees we went, and we ended up dropping some of the adults as the terrain simply got to be too rough for them.

Naughty Monkeys (GCBF8E) was the furthest Geocache from our starting point.  When we found the location, what we found was a disappointment.  The cache was as I had predicted, it had been put up a tree.  Unfortunately, the tree had fallen over, and the cache had been exposed to running water on the ground, flooding the inside of the Ammo Can, and getting to the log, which was too saturated for us to sign.  I need to remember to carry spare paper with me from now on so I can replace logs, or leave logs.

East Monkey (GCH4W0): So, after trekking back out of the woods and catching up with the other adults.  After noting that we were starting to run out of daylight, I sent the Crew on ahead after the final cache.  According to all information, it was located on the edge of a clearing, straight up the hill from where we exited the woods.  No dangerous terrain, so no problems sending the crew off on their own after this one and the adults catching up.  By the time we reached the meeting point, the Crew had found the cache and were waiting for us, this cache being in good shape and able to be signed.

So, the Return to Monkey Mountain was a success.  We picked up the last two Geocaches we needed to log.  I went ahead and logged Naughty Monkeys even though we couldn't sign the log, and notified the owner that the cache needs maintenance.  Thank you to the person(s) that placed the Caches in this location, we had a great time bushwhacking our way through this endeavor.

As I stated in my profile, I am involved in Scouting as the Advisor of a Venturing Crew.  We have been looking forward to attending the annual Greater St Louis Area Council (GSLAC) Fall Fun Rally at the Beaumont Scout Reservation on the Southwest corner of the St Louis area.  Not wishing to waste a trip, I set up four Geocaches to stop, along with three or four crew members, and pick up during the return on Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunately, the one that would have been the start of the return home was missed, still talking about how much fun we had, I simply forgot that the first cache of the day was just outside the reservation.  Oh well, next time.

GC1Y7AZ - Wright City Westbound

First find of the day.  Along with three members of the Venturing Crew (Odessacrew), we worked our way out of the Greater St Louis area to the Rest Area just outside of Wright City.  Braden, a new member of the Crew, had never been Geocaching before, so we gave him a quick lesson of how it worked then headed out to find the cache.  Not a lot of muggles in the area at the time, the amusing part was after the log was signed for me and for the Crew, as we were getting ready to put it back, someone called out that we needed to make sure it found its way back to its hiding place.  I smiled after looking up and seeing two men walking at us, one of them holding a GPS unit in his hand.

It's not often that we run across another Geocacher when dealing with a location, and its always fun to talk to others who are involved in the game.  So we stopped and talked for a few minutes, then we handed them the cache and proceeded for Cache #2.  Oh, we shared our two "track this cacher" trackables with them before moving on.

GC25AJ2 - Exit 198 rest area motel

Next stop, the westbound rest area in Boonville Missouri.  When we arrived at the location, I looked at the GPS device and smiled as it was pointing across the rest area with a distance of .13 miles.  So, we were off again.  Two of us headed off on foot.  We were joined quickly by the new Crew member, and after a little bushwacking, our newbie made his first find!

Now, this is listed as a travel bug hotel, and there are five bugs listed for this location ... but they are not there.  In fact, we are not the first visitors to point out that the travel bugs are missing from this location.  So we signed the log, and as we were putting it back where we found it ... well ... our two friends popped up, having worked their way down to that end of the rest stop as well.

GC14W1R - Knucklebuster

We stopped in Kingdom City and grabbed a quick bite to eat.  We figured that if our two new friends had this one on their list, we would give them a chance to get to it first (since they stated that they were heading the same direction we were and grabbing caches along the way.)  We pulled into the rest area, worked our way around to where the arrow pointed towards another bushwacking adventure (tall grass and weeds), and three of us headed up the hill to find the cache.

Find number two for the new guy!  A magnetic that was pretty well hidden, he managed to come up with it.  Checking the log, I was surprised that the two men who we had previously encountered, had not been to this location yet, and for all we know, they may not have planned on catching this one.

The trip home from the Beaumont Scout Reservation outside of St Louis was an excellent opportunity to introduce another Scout to the fun of Geocaching, and he walked away excited about having been involved, and looking forward to doing it again.  Better yet, he walked away with two finds as a member of Odessacrew.  If he keeps it up, if he gets his own GPS, we will have to get him started with his own account on Geocaching.com.  All and all, we came home 3 for 3 of the caches we searched for, and 3 of 4 of the caches I had programmed for the trip.

I introduced Geocaching to my Venturing Crew.  It was a way to get them out onto the trails, to teach them how to follow a GPS device from a starting point to a specific location.  We started off with a simple one, a walking trail out a Lake Jacomo where someone had hidden a couple of nice caches.  Then we did a little light bushwacking for the last two caches of the trip.  But nothing like what we would encounter at Monkey Mountain.

Monkey Mountain is located outside the Kansas City Metro area, just to the east of Grain Valley Missouri.  It is one of several small parks maintained by Jackson County Missouri, and is used not only by horseback riders, but Scout Troops from around the area.  For the most part, there are no trails.  There is a trail that leads up a steep hill and then back into a rocky area that people use to camp, and there is the horse trail.  After that, its bushwacking through open grass areas, groves of trees, and a lot of prickly brush and thorn bushes. 

We apparently took on the two hardest of the four caches located at this location.  I handed the GPS off to one of the Venturing Crew members and told them to get tracking.  The first one was simple enough, just a bit of a climb.  It was hidden in the camping area.  But the second one was .8 of a mile (direct line) across the park, and we got a good look at all of the bushwacking obstacles this location offered.  We crossed creeks, we walked through and around patches of thorn bushes, and through swampy areas in our quest to reach the second cache, and then work our way back out.  To make matters even more interesting, rain moved in while we were back deep on the trek, but it never got to be any more than a light rain that didn't bother us while back in the trees. 

Overall, we put in just at three miles that afternoon.  We went in after all four caches, but after the walk we did to find the first two, and looking at the time, I told my Crew members that we would have to come back and get the other two another day.

Back home, it clearly appears that we had taken on the hard one in our second cache.  We went after it from the furthest starting point, the parking lot on the south side of the park.  The remaining two, which are on our list of places to go, appear to be a lot friendlier terrain, but what does that matter.  Venturing is about adventure.  Its about challenge, and these two Geocaches taught the crew members a lot about bushwacking.

Geocaches Found:

#1 - GC12D5 - Monkey's Retreat
#2 - GCBFCD - Monkey See, Monkey Do v2

Lake Jacomo is located between Lees Summit and Blue Springs in Jackson County Missouri. Over the years it has grown from a place to go fishing and sailing to having several walking trails and a wildlife reservation for Elk and Buffalo. The part of the Jackson County Missouri Parks Department has become the home to numerous Geocaches, and the Crew and I decided that we would take off one Sunday afternoon and go after four of them. 

#1 - GC2C835 - A Strange Place for an Oyster
#2 - GC2N30V - Rock Cliff Lookout
#3 - GC1B3MH - Squirl's Crazy Nut
#4 - GC238D - Fleming 2