Lost GPS at Horse Skull

[Hunabku]

If anyone visits HorseSkull and finds a Garmin GPS up top please let me know and I'll provide a reward and shipping for a return.

It's a GPSmap 62Csx.

Figured its worth a try

[trogman]

Did you post this on TAG-Net? Might get a little more exposure there. If you aren't a member, I can post it for you.

Nice unit- wouldn't mind having one myself. In fact, if I lost it, I'd be spending a LOT of hours in the woods up there looking for it.

Trogman

[Hunabku]

I'm not on TAGnet. I can look into signing on though.

Or if you don't mind a post in kind would be appreciated.

It is a nice unit. I might not be in TAG until the Cave In to go and look.

[UnderGroundEarth]

I actually live only a few miles from there... IF I have some spare time later this week, I will hike up there and see if I can find it for you.

Kelly
^V^

[KWW]

Ouch! That sucks man! With all the rain we have had recently how was the swamp walk to the cave? I hope you didn't drop it in the swamp......

[Hunabku]

No swamp walk. We called the property owner and he gave us directions on where to park. we followed his directions and all of the landmarks fell into place, but we never could find a trail heading up the hill.

I had GPS numbers for Horse Skull, High Hole, and Jacks Hole and they didn't look to far away so we took off on a bush wack. When we got to the numbers for Horse Skull there were no signs of karst so I plugged in the numbers for Jacks Hole. That got us into a ravine with lots of karst, but no caves. We searched everywhere and finally resolved to follow the ravine down the hill and hope we spotted some flagging or a sign of a trail.

Bingo. We spotted flagging and followed it back up the hill to what we figured from the orientation of the entrances and our map to be Horse Skull. At that moment I started to set a waypoint for the location, but somthing happened and during that we decided to sit down on the log and have a drink of water.

That was the last time I saw the GPS.

We explored every nook and cranny of the cave. There was a lot more to it than I expected. I loved the area with the breaakdown pile, domes, and little pits.

After we were done and out of the cave we packed up and started walking down the trail. About 20 yrads down I said "wait! Where is the GPS?" neither of us knew so I walked back up to the log and looked around but didn't see it. Assuming it just got stuffred in my pack somewhere we decided to follow the trail down and see where it came out at.

It came out no where near where we parked. There was a farm house and a small parking area with an SCCI sign. We thought we could maybe follow a game trail through the brambles back down the powerlines toward where we had parked. That painfully took us into the beaver swamp. So then we decided we would force our way back up to the tree line and make our way through the woods back to the Jeep. That didn't work out either as we encountered a blackberry bramble choked ravine.

So then we just cut back the other way on the mountain side, intersected the sccci trail, and took it back to the farm house parking lot.

A mile long road march later and we were back at the Jeep. Back home in Florida as I deconned and packed away all of our gear I realized that we did not have the GPS.


It has to be right around the mouth of Horse Skull.

If anybody finds it just drop me a PM or email me at president@rivercitygrotto.com and I'll provide a nice reward for its return.

Thanks!

David Obi, Jr.

[Hunabku]

Well a good amount of time had past and I've had several friends go back and look for it with no luck.

Then Thanksgiving weekend I was leading TAG trip for River City Grotto and HorseSkull was on the list so I would get a chance to look for myself.

When we got there there was another couple there and I ask:

me "anybody find a GPS?"

them "You the guy that lost the one here"

me "Yep"

them "Haven't seen it but we have looked"

At that point all hope was lost, but I still kicked around some leaves for the heck of it. Nothing.

That evening we eat at a mexican restaraunt and one of the guys on the trip introduces me to Andy Z. Nice guy. Seems I had met him before too.

Two days ago I get a call out of the blue:

caller "did you lose a GPS?"

me " yes! at HorseSkull"

caller "I found it right by the mouth of the pit"

Turns out it was Andy Z. Small world!!! Thanks for everyone that has looked!

When he turned the GPS on I guess my name and number popped up. I don't think he had seen this thread. Looks like I will be getting it back shortly.

[trogman]

Awesome! Merry Christmas!

Trogman

[UnderGroundEarth]

Nice. Glad it finally made it's way back to you....

Andy is also the preserve manager at Horse Skull...

[graveleye]

And poor Andy knows what it is like to lose precious things too.
He lost his beloved ski-pole hiking stick last year and was pretty down about it.

Maybe it too will show up one day.

[UnderGroundEarth]

And poor Andy knows what it is like to lose precious things too.
He lost his beloved ski-pole hiking stick last year and was pretty down about it.

Maybe it too will show up one day.

He also lost his own GPS a few years ago and it was never found :(

[KWW]

We were the other couple at the cave when you guys came up, and we really had looked for it. We were even there the next weekend and looked for it again. Glad to hear it was found. That's crazy we didn't see it!