Saturday, June 30, 2012

Geocache Launch Party and Cool Cachecam Video

Dave DeBaeremaeker finds adventure wherever he goes! From the Original Stash to Groundspeak Headquarters he has a way of making his trips special. This carries over to his own turf as well. Although he had to travel quite a distance, that's nothing in comparison to sending a cache into space. Put on your adventure caps kids and let's join Dave at this every special event from his blog Only Googlebot Reads This Blog.

Today I had one of the most interesting and unique experiences in my geocaching career, for today I witnessed a geocache get launched into space. (Ok, ok ok, so technically not actual space, but it did go pretty high up - it is just cooler to say "in space" than "low earth inner-orbital flight")

I attended an event called Geocaching In Space "L.E.I.F." MMXII Launch Party ( GC3M45Z) at a local airport in Carthage NC, about 3 hours from my house. The basic idea is that a group of cachers attached a geocache (and a bunch of cameras) to a weather balloon and release it. When the balloon reaches approx, 100,000ft it pops (by design), and the geocache floats down to earth on a parachute, and lands... somewhere. The cache can then be hunted down and signed.

The geocache's flight was tracked via a GPS tracking device, so its location is broadcast to the cache owners during flight, and when it lands. During the flight the current location of the cache would be relayed to the cachers via text messages, so we could all track it to the landing zone, locate the cache, and sign the log.

At 3:30pm they released the balloon, and in just a couple minutes it ascended into the great blue yonder and disappeared from sight. The entire flight was expected to take about 2 hours (one hour up, one down), and it would take an hour before the first tracking data would be distributed, so most of the cachers headed off to do what cachers do best: eat. Specifically we headed to the airports local restaurant, the Pik'n'Pig, for some food, cheer, and trail stories.

Where the cache lands depends entirely on the wind patterns in the area. This is actually the second time they launched a geocache, and the last time the cache travelled over 100 miles and ended up in the north east corner of the state. Because I was already 3 hours away from home, and the winds would carry the cache farther away, I was not sure if I could go on the 'chase' to retrieve the cache. If it went as far as it did the last time, I couldn't go on the chase.

So it was with bated breath that I waited the hour to get the first location data, and an idea of how far the cache may be travelling (luckily I had chicken wings to distract me). When the first coords came in, it was still in the air, but just 8 miles away. So I piled into the van and headed off to those coordinates (the logic being that, although the cache wouldn't be there, I'd be 8 miles closer to its eventual landing spot).

For the next hour I received updated coordinates as to the cache's current location, and I drove from coord to coord, chasing down the rapidly falling geocache. Eventually it landed and we all ended up in a muddy, grassy lot just south of Fayetteville. The cache travelled about 38 linear miles.

As I was driving to GZ a severe thunderstorm rolled through the area. And by severe, I mean downed trees, tree litter all over the roads, hail, winds, torrential rains - the works. So the area was quite soaked by the time we started hunting for the cache. (Think the movie Twister without the funnel clouds and floating cattle)

So as you can imagine the landing location is not planned, so it could land literally anywhere. My good fortune of landing close by was traded off by it having landed in the middle of the largest briar patch I have ever seen.

From the closest parking, the cache was 0.28 miles away. Between us and it was a solid wall of the worst kudzu, sticky vines, blackberry bushes, and ever other sort of evil bush that North Carolina has to offer. Lucky for us it was also now drenched in water from the storm.

I teamed up with some cachers, and we blazed a trail through the briars, and what seemed like a long death march later (0.28 miles is a short stroll through a park, but when you can't see more than 10ft in front of you for most of the journey, it feels like an eternity) we finally ended up at ground zero.

We were, however, among the first cachers to show up and sign the log. They are going to leave the cache where it fell and make it a proper traditional cache, so soon you will be able to sign the log too.

They had cut up the remnants of the balloon and handed out pieces of it as souvenirs for the cachers that made that trek in to find it. It was, by far, the hardest bushwhacking that I have ever done, by a long shot. It felt amazing, almost victorious, to finally get my hands on that cache and sign that log book.

We stood around for a few minutes, took some pictures, and talked about our adventure, then we headed back to our cars. As is typical in these sorts of things, the trek out was easier, as a cacher had located a deer trail that led to the nearby highway, so we took that trail, and walked along the clearcut highway shoulder back to parking.

I then drove the 4 hours back home. Utterly exhausted and wet to the core I dragged myself into the house.

This was, definitely, hands down, no question, one of the most interesting and amazing geocaching experiences of my life. When I look back on the day, I can honestly say that it felt like science in action. It felt like a reality show. It felt like a grand adventure.

It felt like geocaching.

HERE IS THE CACHECAM AND VIDEO POSTED BY
HEADHARDHAT ON JUNE 26, 2012

Friday, June 29, 2012

That Cache Was Da Bomb!

"Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb. You gonna arrest me? Bomb bomb bomb bomb! During the war I was a BOMBadier!"
-Greg Focker

We've all heard about it at one point or another. Perhaps you've seen it on the evening news. Maybe it's even happened in your home town. I even made light of it a few weeks on this very blog. Unfortunately, it's become commonplace with geocaching, and every once in a while, it rears its ugly head. I'm referring to the Geocaching Bomb Scare. Someone goes out to find a cache, and gets caught a "perfect storm" of sorts- he or she shows up with the wrong muggle sitting in the parking lot, notice his or her every move, who then notifies the store personnel. The store manager, undobutely looking to do the right thing, for his own good conscious, or peraps chomping at the bit for a promotion, calls the local fuzz. Here comes la policia, guns-a-blazing, and before you know it, you have this:

Geocaching Game Blamed for Wal-Mart Evacuation in Mid-Missouri

By William Browning | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Jun 22, 2012

A Wal-Mart store in Marshall, Mo., was evacuated Wednesday because of a suspicious tube-like object made with electrical tape and a metal tab on one end. A bomb squad was called in fromWhiteman Air Force Base.

* The Marshall Democrat-News reports the object was not a bomb. Instead, the small package was part of a geocaching game.

* A store employee noticed the bright orange object hidden near a guardrail by the automotive department around 5 p.m. Wednesday. After looking at three male individuals acting suspiciously onvideo surveillance cameras, the store manager decided to evacuate the store.

* Two bomb squad units from Whiteman arrived around 8 p.m. After about an hour, the team determined it was harmless.

* Bomb-sniffing dogs searched the inside of the store for any possible explosives. X-rays were taken of the device by a robot before the crew determined the device was not a bomb.

* The harmless object was part of a geocaching game. However, the problem is that federal charges may be warranted. Marshall Police Chief Mike Donnell told the Democrat-News "it's a federal offense to create any device that appears to be a bomb."

* KOMU reports there was a scroll noting where the tube had been located in the past.

* The Associated Press states authorities will review the surveillance video before deciding upon releasing any more information on the three males acting suspicious. The store was evacuated for more than four hours.

* The device looked so much like a bomb the Air Force crew decided to keep it for future use as a training device.

* Geocaching is a game by which small objects are hidden. Directions are then given for GPS trackers to find the object such as a small box, a tube or other nondescript thing. Often these geocache finds are marked with stickers or tape.

* Participants navigate a set of GPS coordinates to find containers. Game players often detail their experiences using blogs and social networking sites.

* Often there are objects in geocache containers. If participants find an object, game etiquette states a similar object of equal value must be left inside.

* Geocaching has been around for more than 12 years when GPS satellites became much more accurate. To test the new upgrades, enthusiasts starting hiding objects in the woods to see if they could be found using GPS tracking data.

* The Marshall Democrat-News reported a day after the incident that local authorities are working with geocaching enthusiasts to insure something like this doesn't happen again.

* A bomb scare occurred in 2010 at a popular geocache site near Marshall. At the time, players were asked to mark their containers with stickers to identify them.

* Marshall is a city of slightly more than 13,000 people in between Columbia and Kansas City in central Missouri.

William Browning, a lifelong Missouri resident, writes about local and state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Born in St. Louis, Browning earned his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Missouri. He currently resides in Branson.

First off, I understand we live in a post-2011 society. We so often hear "If you see something, say something". Heck, I can't even blame the store, much less the authorities, for taking proper measures to ensure the safety of the general public. From what I've read about this incident, the cache not only looked like a bomb (from a distance), it looked like something someone saw in a previous incident.

The cache in question was GC1MJ5M-North Pole. (You can see a photo of the cache container here). If you've ever searched for a cache in the parking lot of a retail store (you know you've done it, even if you don't want to admit it, but it's ok, we're still you're friends), you can probably understand what these three cachers were thinking. Yes, a Walmart parking lot is going to be a high muggle area. I don't know about the one in Marshall, Missouri, but my local Walmart ALWAYS seems to be packed. They knew they couldn't avoid being spotted, so they attempted to create the best subterfuge they knew-go in the store like they were there to shop. Unfortunately for them, they did themselves more harm than good.

Might as well strap a ticking clock on it.

To me, the cache looked like a container which, at one time was fine, but appeared to be in need of some TLC. My guess is local cachers attempted to help out the cache owner by doing some patchwork on the container. A little tape here. A makeshift lid there. To the average geocacher, this screamed "Needs Maintenace". To the average muggle, though, this screamed "OMG BOMBZ!!!"

Thank you, Bill Clinton!

Folks, the real crime here is the image in which the contributor in this Yahoo article, William Browning, portrays geocaching, both locally in Marshall, Missouri, and in general. Browning cites a report by Emily Allen at KOMU.com, in which she writes the geocache contained a "scroll nothing all the places the object had been". Ms. Allen noted the Marshall Police Department felt the geocache met the criteria of an I.E.D., which prompted the bomb squad to be called in. This is completely fair, yet Mr. Browning fails to mention this reasoning in his article. He also says geocaching has been around for more than 12 years, when GPS satellites became more accurate. This only paints a picture for half the story, but that's another arguement for another time. I don't know the inner workings of the Yahoo Contributor Network. It appears to be volunteers, or barely paid independent contractors, plucking snippets from local headlines, putting them in no particular order, then slapping the "Yahoo!" logo on an article. While I can understand no article of its nature would say "A bomb squad blew up a geocache today. Geocaching is awesome! Here's how to play!", a little research would go along way. If William Browning took the time to do some research, as this volunteer author did, he would have realized permission had been granted, at one time, to place the geocache. Unforunately, knowledge of the permsission was lost at some point. The permission was given by a store manager, who at the time of the "bomb detnation" was no longer eomployed by the company. He also would have learned the three individuals in question went in the store, left (to search for the cache/bomb), then returned to the store. The fact they re-entered the store went along way toward creating suspecion, not the acticity at the guardrail alone.

Look! This cache hasn't been anywhere yet!

What is your input on this situation? Do you feel the store overreacted by calling in the police? Did the cache owner "get what was coming to him" for placing yet another guardrail cache? Does anyone want to invite William Browning to their next geocaching event?

Thursday, June 28, 2012

CAN YOU HEAR THE MUSIC?

By: Big Al

When you're outside what do you listen to?

WELCOME TO THIRSTY THURSDAY!
Grab a cup of coffee, or tea, sit back and LISTEN carefully.

The other day my wife was reading a book on music and something she said really hit me. It was “Can you hear the music”? I began to think on this thought for a while and then I reflected on my hiking and caching experiences. Many times while out hiking or caching I see people coming along the trails and as I look at them I see that they have these things hanging out of their ears. Now I know they seem to be enjoying themselves as they beebop along, but are they really? It seems that everyone wants to hear the latest hits, or listen to the newest movies, but they are missing out on some of the greatest music ever created. Of course the music I’m talking about is the symphony of the outdoors.

As you walk along the trails listen to the sounds of the creek as it meanders along, or the call of the Rose Breasted Grossbeak as he tries to attract a mate. Do you hear the coos of the Mourning Doves as they talk back and forth to each other? If you listen hard enough you can even hear the clatter of the squirrel’s claws as they run up and down the trees. I’m sure too that after they’ve seen you they’ll start announcing to everyone in the woods that you’re there. At least they always do this to me during deer season.

Then as you approach the top of the hill you’ll feel the gentle breeze as it whisps along your face and you can hear the trees begin to talk as they sway back and forth. Once in a while you might even hear the distant gobble of a wild turkey; gobble, gobble gobble.

When I am out in the woods I try to get the kids to listen for different sounds that they hear and see if they can identify them. Sometimes it’s fun just to sit for a bit and see how many different sounds you can hear. Like the little mouse who’s crawling through the leaves and sqeaking to his mate for her to follow him. And there are countless times I’ve heard the beating of the drums that start out slow and then becomes faster and faster. Then you realize it’s the Ruffed Grouse who’s beating his wings as he stands atop of an old log calling to any young lady passing by. If your quiet you might even hear his mate as she slips away from the nest trying to pull your attention away from where she has been sitting.

What’s really neat is if you’re out first thing in the morning you’ll begin to hear those birds and animals as they wake up. Chick-a-dee, dee, dee. Chick-a-dee, dee, dee. Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo says the Great Horned Owl. Listen, was that a buck snorting at us? Then there is always the little peep, peep, peep, of the spring peepers as they tell us spring is hear to stay.

Isn’t this music more along the lines of what we need to hear? Everyday you can put those things in your ears and listen to your version of whatever.

For once, while you're out in the woods, leave the mp3 player at home, leave the iPod in the car, and turn your cell phone to vibrate and listen for the greatest symphony you’ll ever hear. I’ll bet if you're quiet you might even here the special call of the Geocacher. It goes something like this: Wooohoooo, First-to-Find. Yeah, baby. (Dancing usually follows.)

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

WHY NOT WEDNESDAY ~ I present to you, THE CACHCRAZY.COM GIRLS!

Little did these contributing authors know that someday they would become huge stars in the video music category here at CacheCrazy.Com but their dream has come true! There is nothing more to say except, enjoy some CacheCrazy authors with some really smooth moves.

eCards at JibJab!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

TNLNSL???????

As a responsible cache owner I recently did my regular maintenance on some of my hides either by myself or have emailed friends to assist and report the findings
(thanks guys).
You know, make sure the cache is not negatively impacting the immediate area, check out the container, make sure it’s dry, replace the log with a new one or make sure it has enough room for another 30 or so visits and replace the pen/pencil. Then comes my favorite part, I add some swag and look through the swag that others left for some neat stuff.
But wait, where’s the swag????

I make damn sure when I place a cache that it’s filled to the brim with treasure. After all it is a treasure hunt, right? You can imagine my disappointment to see half of the swag gone and not many different items other than what I put in them. I suck it up, fill them up and move on but I ask you, “Whatever happened to trading up? Or, how about even?"

I’m cool with a TNLNSL log, BUT it appears that in many cases the TN is FALSE, the LN is TRUE and the SL is accurate most of the time (however, I have seen some inconsistencies and you know who you are)

My expectations as a newbie were awakened by the reality that about half of all geocaches are either not maintained well or/and that they have been robbed of most of their swag. You hit a good one now and then that’s really filled and it’s actually a refreshing change from the frustration of getting skunked.

You would think that after awhile you would get beat down and just give up but guess what? I'm still going to continue to load up those caches because I know that some little kid out there is going to open that cache and go "wow, awesome, look at this and that" and I have received emails from folks who appreciate it.
Let's face it guys, this sport is pretty cheap. I mean once you get the gear, you're pretty much set. It’s not like golf where you can drop $100.00 in one day no problem (one of the reasons I do not personally partake in that sport. That and chasing the little white ball around, I don't know, not for me).To go to the dollar store and spend $20.00 for a bag full of stuff is actually part of the fun to me. Adding items that I think little and big kids would like is my personal touch to a cache be it mine or others.

Let’s never forget, IT’S A TREASURE HUNT! Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not all about the trinkets but, some little kid who just walked what was like 10 miles in his/her mind, got scratched, bumped, yelled at a few times by Mom/Dad/Both and for what? Junk! Next thing you know the kids don’t want to go any longer, so you can’t go either because there is no one to watch the kids, the caches don’t get found, so hiders give it up and then before you know it, it’s history.

My Daughter Andie saying to her child, "And this is your grandfather and me when I was 9 years old.
We use to do this thing called Geocaching. It was fun but no one does it anymore. We were Team Bloodhounded"

Don’t believe that the youth drive the future? Just ask the ex-CEO of a burger franchise named Jack in the Box who said 25 years ago, “We don’t have to compete with the youth market. McDonalds can have them”. That coupled with the 1993 E.coli breakout that killed 4 little kids and made 600 more seriously ill, pretty much put an end to the company. This from a company who had a more aggressive marketing strategy than today’s top dog McDonalds but, just didn’t think that kids and food safety were all that important. Think about that the next time you drive by the Dollar Store.

Thanks for reading......
Bloodhounded

Monday, June 25, 2012

Guest Blog ~ Meet Conni from MrsMamaHen.com ~ My First FTF!

Today we will start this wonderful week off with introducing a new guest blogger and her awesome story of her first FTF! You're going to love this!
~~~~~
Conni Smith is an Army Wife & Food Blogger who currently lives in Alaska. She is a homeschool mom, and of course, a geocacher! You can learn more about her on her blog http://MrsMamaHen.com

In geocaching, like all things internet...there is a lingo to be learned.

You see many things like...

"TNLNSL!" = Took Nothing, Left Nothing, Signed the Log"

"TFTC" = Thanks for the Cache!

"TFTH" - Thanks for the hunt/hide

"DNF" = Did not find

and the best of all, "FTF!" = FIRST TO FIND!!!!!

On Geocaching.com I am known as "The Skirted Cacher" - but we used to be "The Smith Mountain Explorers" - or SMXers for short. (Note: Geocaching.com changed it to where you could change your name...so guess who I am now? Yep! MrsMamaHen!)

Several years ago, when I first started geocaching, I had been going around finding caches that had already been found by others. One day, there was a new cache that had been posted. No one had found it yet, so I decided to go after it. If I was the "FTF" it would be my very first "FTF" as well as my very first "Multi" (multiple step) cache.

This was my first log for that particular cache:

August 25, 2004 by The Skirted Cacher

Yesterday I went for my usual 10 mile hike. When I got done, I thought to myself. "Hmmm, I have my GPS with me. Hmmm I have my PDA with me and Hmm it has the GPX file on it with that NEW multicache in Fayetteville! Hmmm, I have 3 hours until I have to get home....Let's give it a go!"
So I headed towards the first coordinates. NO PROBLEM! It is just up the road from one of ours.

Headed off to the second set. Stopped at a nearby office so I could park and get a good look at the location. Well the man that owns the office happens to be a native to the area, and happens to be a HUGE history buff, AND a member of the Cape Fear Historical Society. He gave me a tour through his office, that practically doubles as his own private museum.

Headed off to the third set. Got that with no problem as well and thought, "Hmm, I have gotten all three so far in just a matter of a few minutes. I have 2 more hours to find the final, this should be a breeze!"

HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Following my GPS, I drove and drove until I got in the general vicinity. I circled around residential areas until I found myself at the edge of the area, and on the verge of the WOODS. Hey! I am only .38 of a mile away, NO PROBLEM!

DOUBLE HA!!!!!!!!!!!!

.38 of a mile AS THE CROW FLIES! I headed off down the slope, through the woods, determined to get there. I battled my way through briars and brush, and mud and sludge. I came to a little lake. Okay, the lake is in my way, I have to go AROUND IT. So off I go. I battled the blood-sucking bugs, thankful I had brought my 29%DEET bug spray with me in my pack. I got myself within a few feet, and circled and circled and searched. I thought, "I KNOW IT IS HERE!" Checked my coordinates. GASP! I mis-entered one digit. Okay no problem, it was a smaller one, and only set me off by a few yards. I head off, and again find myself circling and searching, searching and circling. I look at the time.

OH NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had to go. Unfortunately the KIDS would be home, and they might not appreciate being locked out of the house. So I hang my head, and I head back to the car--which I remembered to mark!

Back around the lake, back through the mud, the bugs, the briars, and up, up, up to the car.

I emerged from the woods, huffing and puffing and bleeding hungry and filthy. Those two peices of toast and 1 cup of coffee had burned off somewhere around the first 10th of a mile. But that luke warm water I still had from my morning hike was SO GOOD. I guzzled it down praying I wouldn't give myself a cramp.

I went home and checked the map, thinking there HAS to be another way of getting there. There was. checked the coordinates, and UGH!!!!! I had mis-entered ANOTHER number as well!!!!

I laid in bed last night, sore and exhausted, but all I could think about was "THE CACHE" and how it had TAUNTED ME!

* * *

The second log:

August 26, 2004 by The Skirted Cacher

Part 2

I have decided that I have some sort of illness. I hike and walk for miles and miles. I go to bed, but can I sleep? NO.

Why? I can't get "THE CACHE" off the brain!!!! After 2 hours I get up and take some Tylenol PM. My body is sore, but it won't sleep. I NEED to go to sleep, or how will I have the energy to go after "THE CACHE" in the morning?

2 hours later, I finally fall asleep. An hour later, I am awake again. "THE CACHE!" I decide I am obsessed.

Finally I fall asleep for good.

I awaken to the smell of coffee being held over my sleeping, half-dead body. I had turned the alarm off without even realizing it, and "Mr. S.M.E." was so sweet as to bring me a cup of jump-start.

I drag myself out of bed, and prepared my pack for the day. I checked the site to see if any overly ambitious cacher had claimed it since I collapsed into bed the night before. Nope. "YES!", I think to myself, "I WILL GET the FTF!" Bwahahahahahaa!!!!!!

So I get the kids off on the bus...waiting in the CAR with the engine running....for them to leave. They get on the bus, and I am OFF! I beat the bus out of the housing area.

THIS time I went to the RIGHT place to begin my adventure.

I headed out full of energy and anticipation of getting the FTF. THIS time with the RIGHT coordinates leading me the way.

I passed a lady out on a walk. I am not worried, because I am just getting started and a long ways away from where I am going. I walked and walked and walked, enjoying the great scenery. Thinking, "This is so cool, I have to come here again!"

What is that I hear? Voices. Ahead. Close to where I am going. OH NO! Fellow Cachers?????

I watch as I come upon the source of the voices, and breathe a sigh of relief. No, it's some moms out pushing baby strollers...no GPS or caching gear in sight.

FINALLY I see the area again. I pause long enough for the GPS to catch up. It is overcast so it takes it a moment.

I begin to head towards the area 50ft......40ft.....What's that noise?

A truck. I get out my camera and take pictures of trees, and wave as the driver goes by, looking at me like I am nuts.

He's gone.

40ft......30ft.....20ft......10ft....

AAAAHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I RUN to the cache, I fling it open, snatch out the log book, and hastily look through for any other logs.

THERE. ARE. NONE.

I run back out and do a happy dance!!!!!!

I sign the log and place it back.

I take a d-ring flashlight, and leave a wood calling card #28, an Appalachian Trail flashlight, and a "Support Our Troops" wooden nickle.

I take several pictures and walk back to my car, and a blissful cloud.....The sun even came out as though it was happy for me as well

I GOT THE FTF and I have DEFEATED THE CACHE!!!!!

Stede Bonnet, thank you for a GREAT Hunt!!!!!

The pictures from my log posts:

The End.

Awesome job Conni and I can most assuredly tell you, you are cache crazy my friend!

Thank you for the awesome post and sharing your adventure.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Geocaching with Miragee ~ Hot hike up and around Mt. Woodson

The week before, when it was getting up to 107° in the Ramona area, Auld Pro, "lostguy", and I were going to hike Mt. Woodson. Thank goodness someone, Auld Pro, decided going closer to the coast was a better idea for that day.

So now, a week late, I met up with "lostguy" and Auld Pro in Spring Valley for our Mt. Woodson adventure. Shortly after piling into "lostguy"'s truck, I realized my GPSr was missing. I'm glad we didn't go back to my car for it since it turned out the GPSr was sitting on the ground where it fell off my pack as I put it in my car back at home.

The parking "area" for the Mt. Woodson trails is right along the busy 67 Highway, and we saw piles of broken glass, just like those at the Iron Mountain trailhead, where cars have been broken into by slimeballs who take advantage of people out hiking the trails. We made sure nothing was visible in the truck before locking it up and starting out.

My companions were very generous to me today because each of them had found nearly all the caches along the trails, yet they stopped at each location for me to look for the cache. Fortunately, the caches were easy to find, or Auld Pro would make sure I found the container, so it didn't take a lot of time for me to sign the log, except for one fairly long side-trip we had to take to get to "Ramona Breezes" where I took this picture of my companions.

I took a lot of other pictures during our many-mile hike. This was of the pond where a new cache "No Waterskiing Here" had been placed since Princess Toadstool and I were here in 2005 to find the "original" Woody caches.

The views were hazy today, but the panoramas we saw along the trails were frequently spectacular.

I really love the huge, spheroidally-weathered boulders that are found all over Mt. Woodson and which make the hike a fun one.

In the area that burned in last October's "Witch Creek" fire, there were many wildflowers blooming, flowers that don't get a chance to emerge in the dense, fully-mature chapparal.

Two of the caches I found in the burn area showed evidence of the fire. The other container and its contents, although it smelled "toxic" was in better condtion than the container for "Collette's Last View."

We took a different trail back that took us through many shady areas with mature oak trees and "healthy" patches of poison oak. This area was dangerous, but photogenic.

We emerged from the trail near the golf course, hot and tired, and somewhat anxious to see if the glass in the truck was intact. We had almost half a mile to walk up the busy road to see that it was. Thanks to Auld Pro, who sent me the tracks he recorded on his new Legend HCx, I have the Profile of our hike:

On our way back to the meeting place in Spring Valley, we stopped in Lakeside to get the recently-placed caches along the walkway in the River Park. There were ten caches along that trail, only part of which was cool and shady.

I wanted to be able to whistle for the truck and have it meet us where the trail emerged onto the road, but alas, it wasn't fitted with that option, so we had to walk, and walk, and walk back to it and the relief offered by its air conditioning.

All together, I found more than 30 caches today and it took a long time to log all of them as I attempted to write something unique for each cache.

I am very grateful to "lostguy" for doing all the driving today, and grateful to both "lostguy" and Auld Pro for their kindness in making sure I found the caches they had already found, even though I didn't have my GPSr. Since the location of my Vista HCx was a bit of a mystery throughout the day, I was happy to see it on the ground next to where I park my car back home. I'm sure glad when it fell from my pack it bounced away from the car instead of under it where it might have been crushed between the tires as I drove out at 6:45 in the morning . . .

Visit Miragee's blog here

Friday, June 22, 2012

I Found It! Then, I Found It?

You never quite know what you're going to find when you go out geocaching.

I recently went out to find a cache. The cache was GC3N43P- "Wheres the petrow crew #4." It was newly published, and at the time, sat, without a find, for a week. I didn't understand why, but it was located relatively close to home, and I had the time, so I figured I would give it a try.

The coordinates brought me to the site of the old White Haven Little League grounds in-you guessed it- White Haven, Pennsylvania. The ball field, and surrounding area, was overgrown with weeds, but there was a nice are with a pond and gazebo, and thankfully that is where ground zero appeared to be. I honed in on GZ, and it appeared my search was going to be centered around an old set of monkey bars, which too, was overgrown with weeds. The cache page listed the D/T as a 1/1.5, and the container size as small. With the abundance of metal at GZ, I was thinking "hide-a-key."

I circled the monkey bars several times, without any success. I thought, perhaps, the cache could have been placed on the ground, nearby the outer metal banister surrounding the monkey bars, but something told me I needed to climb the bars themselves. I strategically located my entry point from the outer banister, to the actual monkey bars. Although it was slight bushwhacking, I found somewhat of an opening in the weeds. Convinced the cache was located on the monkey bars, I began climbing. So much for that 1.5 terrain! I got down on my knees and felt under the metal platform on which I was standing. No cache there. I looked on top of the bars. No cache there. I looked to the left, and to the right, when suddenly something odd appeared to me. There were a series of holes in the vertical bars of the structure. There seemed to be something crammed into one of those holes. Bingo! There I found a small Cryotube, painted black, and filled with a log sheet. Correction-it was filled with a BLANK log sheet! Elated, I signed and dated the logsheet, and claimed my FTF.

Was this the cache...?

I placed the tube back in the hole, then contemplated my exit strategy. Carefully, I turned around on the platform, and jumped to the ground. As I made my landing, I noticed something at my feet. It was another tube. This tube was larger, and wrapped in cammo tape. Could this be another cache, and if so, how is this possible? I unscrewed the lid and pulled out the paper inside. What was on the paper? "Wheres the petrow crew #4." THIS was the cache, not the other container! Better yet, as this logsheet was also blank. I FTF'ed this one, the intended cache, as well! I signed the log, placed everything back in place, then headed back to the car, puzzled as to what just happened.

...Or was THIS the cache?

Has anyone had a similar experience? Have you ever searched for a particular geocache, only to find another geocache near that one? I've heard of cachers dropping temporary caches for cache owners on missing caches, but this was a brand-spanking-new cache. Well, both were. I'm thinking, perhaps, someone placed this cache and abandoned it without bothering to get it published. What are your thoughts?

Thursday, June 21, 2012

A FATHER'S DAY MILESTONE

WELCOME TO THIRSTY THURSDAY!!

Today I am pleased to have my wife share a guest blog. Sit back and don't get to close to the edge.

He says that he didn’t do it on purpose. I’m not sure if I believe him. But if he was trying to make my 100^th and his 300^th cache-find memorable, he totally succeeded.

Everyone knows that on Father’s Day it is Dad’s turn to decide the activity of the day. Being Rob (bigal437), he chose to go geo-caching. Once we returned from church and had lunch we headed out to take our daughter to work, leaving one tired teen at home napping. That left us with our youngest son Levi (cacheking1998) to accompany us.

After doing some caches in the area we headed on to the ultimate destination, a virtual cache in Honesdale. This is a quaint little town nestled in a narrow valley. We found a place to park as near ground zero as was navigable with a car. Finding the trail we were to follow was a little harder. It was barely discernible… and it was STRAIGHT UP.

Now, I grew up on a Pennsylvania farm where nothing is close to level, and the only means of transportation I had was shanks horses. I did a lot of hiking over the hills around our farm, but nothing prepared me for what I was currently looking at climbing. As I said, it was straight up with loose dirt and pebbles and camouflaged with dead leaves and tree roots.

But I was thankful for those tree roots. They weren’t placed there to trip people up, as they usually are. Their purpose was to give one a handhold to pull up to the next step or to keep from slipping and sliding back down to the starting place.

The GPSr said that the hike was 0.13 miles. Normally I would consider that hardly a walk at all… but on this incline I was forced to stop to catch my breath frequently. I was definitely getting my exercise today.

And what of our son? He was nimbly skipping up the path like it was level ground. He would patiently stop every now and then and wait for us or take pictures of us as we sat and panted. How sweet of him!

But we did get our reward for our labors. Eventually, we could glimpse a clearing up ahead. That gave us the incentive we needed for the last few feet. We climbed up the side of a huge rock formation embedded into the hillside and came out onto the greatest scenic overlook for miles around. From our vantage point we could see the entire town of Honesdale with its creek and bridges and its church spires rising above the town. And then we could see across the valley to the mountain rising on the other side of the town. It was a gorgeous sunny day and we could see as far as the mountains permitted. And on the far horizon we could make out the windmill farm against the skyline, counting at least forty windmills.

The guys thought it would be really cool to take pictures of themselves standing near the edge of the clearing where it dropped off into… nothing! Being afraid of heights, this was not my idea of a fun activity. But, after all the work I had done to get up to this height, I figured I had better at least try and see how close to the edge I could get before panic set in.

I began a slow patient walk toward the edge. I figured if I looked down at the ground by my feet instead of out at the town below, I stood a chance. The guys thought my performance was humorous, but I succeeded in inching my feet to the same spot where theirs had been.

VICTORY!

An interesting discovery we made at the summit was that we had stumbled upon an actual park, Gibbons Memorial Park. There was even a road that was navigable by car, but it seemed to come up the mountain from the opposite side. We never did get a chance to find out where the road began so that we could have driven up. But driving up really would have taken the adventure out of it.

And so, after all of our picture taking, we turned to reverse our steps… very carefully… down the mountain, using saplings as ropes to keep us from taking the rapid route down the trail. We discovered that downhill was just as difficult, and probably even more dangerous, than the trek up had been.

But we did safely reach our car and the comfort of turning on the A/C full blast! This will always be a Father’s Day cache to remember. So each of us has accomplished another milestone. Craftimom: 100 caches and Bigal437: 300 caches. Where's that next cache?