November 2022 - After Dark Caching

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GCC November 2022 - After Dark Caching

Design notes from the artist:  Chris Mackey

 Caching is always an adventure.  Caching after dark though... that's a whole other level.  The light is fading, and you suddenly realize you're putting an awful lot of trust into some small light sources and praying your GPS or smartphone doesn't lose power and leave you stranded.  Is that shape in the shadows over there just another bush or something more sinister?  Wait... did it just move?  What is that noise?  Why do you feel like you're being watched?  What's out there between you and that cache? Your senses sharpen until you can feel your heartbeat pounding in your ears.  The excitement of night caching is hard to beat!  

Recently, I've been working on a series of classic monster movie icons for a PathTag set and I've been delighted to be reintroduced to some classics that started me down the path as an artist and designer.  I remember, as a child, the night I snuck down into the living room at night to watch the 1977 classic movie Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and the indelible mark it left on my soul.  The absolute magic of Ray Harryhausen's imagination and skill with his Dynamation led me down a path of love for monsters, adventures and fantasy art that would shape me into the professional artist I would become decades later.  I still believe in monsters.  They're out there in the dark.  Monsters waiting around every corner and the worst of them are sometimes all too human.

Of course, in November, the days are suddenly getting dramatically shorter and most of my caching opportunities come after dark.  It's my favorite time to go out looking for a cache.  A great time to sneak about hunting in the dark.  Sometimes, though, we're not alone in the dark.  I wanted to share some classic monsters from film, books and oral legends centered around the infamous and equally mysterious Jack the Ripper.  Gentleman Jack was known to prowl the streets at night below the glow of streetlamps looking for his next unwary victim. Man, or monster, there are dangers unseen in the night. So, when you're out there in the dark, hunting your next cache, don't discount that hair rising on the back of your neck.  Don't discount that mysterious sound that suddenly silences the crickets and night birds.  Sometimes, the hunter has become the hunted and the excitement of reaching that cache and getting back home safely to a well lit house is the kind of adrenaline pumping thrill every geocaching adventure should be made of!