Box That Watch Found Read Free Page B

of one of the hiking trails in the Pine Ridge Recreation Area?”
    “I think it is,” Henry said.
    “Then I’ll bet the cache is hidden somewhere around that trail,” Violet said.
    “I wonder if there are other caches hidden in the same area,” Jessie said. “If we go out to Pine Ridge, maybe we can find several caches at the same time.” She glanced up at the computer screen, then clicked on “find other caches nearby.”
    The Aldens downloaded the information into Grandfather’s GPS. And the next day, after a good hearty breakfast, the children loaded up their pockets with small trinkets for trading and set out for the Pine Ridge Recreation Area on their bikes.
    They locked their bikes to the bike rack in the gravel parking lot, then Henry got out the GPS. He turned it on and set it to find the Squires Point cache.
    “It says the cache is four-tenths of a mile north of here,” Henry said.
    The Aldens turned toward the north. They saw a dirt trail at the edge of the parking lot. A brown sign read, Squires Point Trail.
    “That’s it!” Benny cried. “Come on, everybody. It’s down that trail!”
    The Aldens started down the Squires Point Trail. Benny carried the GPS.
    “I don’t know if we want to stay on the trail,” Benny said when the path curved to the left. “The arrow is pointing straight into those trees.”
    “How far are we from the cache?” Jessie asked.
    “It says .14 miles,” Violet read over Benny’s shoulder.
    “Then let’s stay on the trail for now,” Jessie said. “This trail curves a lot. I’ll bet in a little while the GPS will be pointing straight ahead again.”
    So they stayed on the trail. And sure enough, after a little while the trail curved back the opposite direction.
    “How far are we now?” Henry asked.
    “We’re 133 feet away,” Benny said. “And it’s straight ahead.”
    The Aldens kept walking. The path curved again toward the lake, but this time the Aldens followed the GPS and walked off the path.
    “The GPS says it’s 82 feet straight ahead,” Benny said as they made their way through the brush. Dried leaves crunched beneath their feet. “Now it’s 67 feet … 42 feet … 30 feet.”
    They could see the lake through the trees.
    “It’s got to be around here somewhere,” Henry said, looking around.
    They checked logs, tree hollows, piles of brush, the same sorts of places they’d found the Walk in the Woods and Edge of the Forest caches.
    But they weren’t able to find the Squires Point cache.
    “It’s not here,” Benny said sadly as he sat down on a log. They’d been searching for fifteen minutes.
    “Maybe this one is harder to find,” Violet said.
    “Why don’t we look for another one nearby,” Jessie suggested.
    “There’s supposed to be one called ‘Muffy’s Hideaway’ right around here, too. It’s over that way.” Henry pointed back the way they’d come. “Let’s see if we have better luck finding that one.”

    So the Aldens set the GPS to find Muffy’s Hideaway. Then they turned around and headed back to the path. As they walked, they watched the numbers on the GPS get smaller and smaller.
    “It’s probably over here,” Jessie said, leading the way to a stand of trees.
    The children searched every tree and rock in the area. But once again they came up empty.
    “It’s not as much fun when we don’t find the caches,” Benny grumbled.
    “There’s one more we can look for,” Henry said. “I think the ‘Chipmunk Challenge’ cache is going to be down that other trail across the parking lot from where we parked our bikes.”
    The children tromped back to the parking lot, then crossed over to another dirt trail.
    Henry peered down at the GPS. “It looks like this one is about a quarter mile straight ahead.”
    The Aldens followed the trail up and down a hill, over a small wooden bridge, and into a thicker part of the woods.
    “It should be right around here now,” Henry said.
    The children split up and checked