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Sunny, 50°F. I felt a bit better today but my plan was the same as yesterday, i.e. stay home until mid-afternoon and then do a few geocaches before dinner. The first one was UnFairgrounds Park at Fairgrounds Park in Elsmere. The terrain of this cache is 3.5 so I knew something was up with it. When I got there, I saw why. It is a pill bottle tied to a branch high up in a tree. The most likely means of access is a leaning tree limb next to the tree. I started to climb up the tree limb when I realized how dangerous it was. I couldn't even get a good grip because the bark was peeling off the tree limb. Also, it looked a bit rotten.
Then I had an idea. Since I was only a few miles from home, why not go home and get the ladder. So I did that and returned to Fairgrounds Park. I carried the ladder across the field, into the woods, and across the creek to the cache site. I also wore my hard hat, not so much for protection, but so that people won't question why I was carrying a ladder into the woods. You see, people think someone with a hard hat is either a municipal worker or utility worker out making some emergency repairs on Sunday. One guy who saw me just waved. Anyway, once I got to the cache site, I set up the ladder and made a few adjustments until it was stable. Then it was just a quick climb up to get the cache.
Next, I went to A Calf Runs Through It at Calf Run Park in Wilmington. When I got to this cache site, I saw that it was the same setup: a small cache tied to a high tree branch. So once again, I returned to the car to get the ladder. This one was a bit harder because the cache site is in the middle of a bush. After a bit of tricky maneuvering, I was able to unfold the ladder inside the bush and lean it on the tree. I had to trim some of the bush with pruning shears (Yet another useful tool for geocaching. :) ) to make room for the ladder. Once the ladder was stable, it was another quick climb up for the cache. Both caches were a lot of fun to do this way and it was certainly safer to use a ladder than to climb up those trees unassisted.