Tue, Feb 16, 2010

Dan White is the creator of the webcomic 'Geo Trackers'

Dan, tell us a bit about you.

Ok where to start? I'm Dan White, 22 from London, UK. I spent 3 years in NJ, USA getting a degree in Graphic Design. During those 3 years, I learned a lot that has helped me with my strip, like drawing, color theory and anatomy. (Even though I'm still not very good at it, lol) I came back to the UK about 2 years ago, and began looking for my dream job, Graphic Designer, unfortunately that hasn't come off yet, so I'll just stick with a job for now.

How did you find out about geocaching?

My uncle (Steve) got me into Geocaching late last year. He found it online and had a few days off work, and decided to take me with him. Our first adventure was up a very, very steep hill (I would say mountain, but I might be exaggerating), we made our way to the top and found our first cache. The other caches that day were less easy, up and down hill (mountains) all day. We both had a good time and since then we have been out quite a few times, not as much as we would like to, but we definitely have a lot of fun when we do.

One of the things I personally enjoy so much about geocaching is all of the opportunity it can afford people to be creative and to share that creativity with the community. How did you come to express yours through a webcomic?

While in the USA, I discovered webcomics and instantly loved them. I quickly become a regular reader of quite a few, PVP online, Sheldon, and of course Penny Arcade and a few others. Without really knowing what to do, I started my own called Larry & Gary and put it up on a free server. After a few weeks, I realized I needed to do some research and stopped Larry & Gary and began reading everything, watching all the videos and learning as much as I could about creating webcomics. When I came back to the UK, I still wanted to do a webcomic, I just didn't know what about. I didn't think I could carry Larry & Gary on for years like some of the pros have done. Then, while Geocaching on that steep hill, Steve said to me "You should do a strip about this!" 2 months later my first strip was up.

How well has your webcomic been received so far?

I posted on the Geocaching forum about it and to my surprise; a fair amount of people went and looked at the strip. We did have big problems with the free server because visitors were getting pop ups and the geocaching people complained about that. A few days later, Steve called me and said "I've got an early Christmas present for you...a new website!" This was great news, as it meant no more pop ups and no complaints. Since then the site has undergone a lot of changes, When we started I was only going to do one strip every two weeks, that quickly changed to one every week and a few weeks ago that changed again to two strips every week. I have also done a couple of story lines that have lasted a full week, most recently the Star Trek one.

I've really enjoyed the enthusiasm and humor you've shown in your strip. You've got some likeable characters and put them in situations many geocachers find themselves in.

How do you see your characters and your strip growing in the future? What are your dreams for them?

Well the 2 main characters are based on my uncle and me, so as long as we are having fun geocaching then there will be new strips. As for the future, I have big plans for the strip, such as expanding the site, a Geo Trackers cache in the real life geocaching world and possible a few new 'full time' characters too. My dream for the strip is for it someday to become as popular as some of the 'mainstream' webcomics out there, as for now, I am very happy with where it is for the short time it has been up, and would like to thank all the geocaching (and non-geocaching) people that have made that happen.    

Thanks Dan! We wish you a lot of success and a long future for "Geo Trackers'

Visit Geo Trackers at www.geotrackers.co.uk You can leave comments and tell Dan how much you like his strip. A little encouragement goes a long way!

Sat, Dec 12, 2009

Hopping along from cache to cache,
Dropping eggs as my sparkly stash,
Pop open the egg
and here’s what you seek
For you have discovered,
This coin to keep.

The Easter Geocoin Bunny

Hello, come on in! I'm glad you could stop by, I was just thinking back a few years on something I did that was fun and special. Would you like to hear about it? You would? Wait one moment and I'll put on some tea.

Ok, where was I? Oh yes, a very special time:

In the winter of 2006 while snuggled up in my den, I thought of the coming season and how few egg hunts were in hopping distance and I so wanted to make children happy everywhere. Contacting many cachers, I laid out my plan to them. I'd send them mystery Easter egg coins to hide in their areas

.

  One moment. Here we go. Yes, it does smell delicious, a special blend of clover and hops. Would you care for sugar? Cream? You're quite welcome.

  Now all of the geocachers eagerly accepted and Easter Geocoin Bunny coins were mailed out to each of them in February, each package contained four plastic eggs on a carpet of green grass, with each egg containing one of four kinds of egg geocoin (pink\green, blue\red, lavender\gold and a special edition: light blue\red). Over the next two months 300 glittery Easter egg geocoins were dropped into geocaches around the world.

   Oh do have a scone, I know this lovely bakery that make marvelous scones. I like to go there each Thursday afternoon. Yes, oh, sorry I'll get back on track.

Together with the eggs were Easter Bunny stickers for my helpers to help mark the logbooks of the caches the coins had been dropped into, I specifically wanted them placed in kid friendly caches for young ones to find. A forum thread was started when the first egg appeared in a geocache in South Carolina, found by a darling little girl, Bella, and soon more people found coins and told of the smiles it had brought. People drove 100's of miles to get to the dropped eggs, writing about their experiences of finding one in the forum thread. As the days passed I logged into the caches where the coins had been dropped, so I could look at the smiles on a map. Each coin was a gift to a lucky finder to keep.  Each finder was another smile for me. A few weren't logged or came up empty, but for the most part people had fun. There were many thanks and happy faces in the forum. Here, I've found a few, please take a look.

I took a few years off after that and tried some different work, like designing apps on facebook, (I still like hiding things.) But you never know, I just might be back this spring. It's sure been fun remembering about it.

Say, here's something a friend sent me that might interest you, think he can make it in hip hop?

Now Easter Bunny's been in the game, hiding eggs, that is his fame

Long before the first geocacher, fun to hunt, he was a master

Now he's found a brand new thing, filling caches in the spring

He finds them all with gps, to place an egg, as in a nest

For little girls and boys to find, theirs to keep, he doesn't mind

Twist it open little folk, find inside, the sparkly yolk

A geocoin the Bunny hid, he made you smile, I saw he did

And your smile is all he needs, as he hops off, through the weeds.

But you can thank him anyway! Let him know, it made your day!

It's kind of embarrassing, but it made me laugh too!

Oh, it is getting late I'm afraid, but I'm glad you could stop by this afternoon. Yes, my pleasure and please do come again!

 Hmmmmm hippity hoppity!

Easter's on its way!!

By Photo Submission   Sat, May 23, 2009

By Photo Submission   Sat, May 23, 2009

Have you ever been "on the hunt" and felt like you were being watched?
 I don't mean in the middle of muggleville, while you're "tieing your
shoes for the fourth time looking under the park bench for that blinky
cache.  Out in the woods, all by yourself, and that burning, someone's
out there feeling comes over you.  Jewell Park, in Bellevue, Nebraska
is one of those places where you ARE being watched nearly the entire
time you're searching for the numerous caches hidden therein.  Only
some of the eyes watching are animal.  Locals say the place is
haunted, but you shouldn't believe them...or should you?

By vartan84   Wed, Mar 03, 2010

^This video may be a spoiler if you cache in the Southeastern Pennsylvania region.^

Chester Creek Cache-
My second episode of geocaching comes from my first day of the geocaching hobby. We drove to this site just five minutes from episode 1's location just after making my first find ever and so I'm still fresh to how it all works. Once again my friend Jimmy picked a great cache to help introduce me to geocaching. The bridge the cache is located under is located by the entrance to the great Westtown School, and the river by which the geocache is located goes into a manmade reservoir aptly named Westtown Lake. I really like this episode as it illustrates some of the main reasons I love geocaching: it takes you to great places you otherwise never would notice, you see some pretty nature like the waterfall next to this one, and we ever got to interact with a few creatures who call the site home. You'll see all of this in the video, and if you saw episode 1 you'll recognize the way with which we decide to wrap up our hunt!

By catsnfish   Fri, Feb 26, 2010

This was one of my guardian ideas that I just never got around to doing till now. I decided it would be a good idea to share the process and a few things learned along the way.

We'll start with a bit of background, several years BC (before caching) I wanted to give my children something handmade and different for their birthdays. Didgeridoos came to mind because I had bought one at a big Boy Scout event that was made of PVC pipe and I figured 'I can do that!' Firing up my grill and heating up some tube, I made my first one with twists and kinks in it like the one I had bought, to create the back pressure that was needed to efficiently play a didge. Doing more research over the internet I found various techniques to sculpt the PVC pipe, creating knots and bumps and bell ends and came up with some realistic looking "hollow tree branches." With Vic adding the painted details, we had some unique instruments and when we donated two to a charity auction, they brought in a combined total over 250 dollars. Not bad for a 25 dollar tool investment and less than 4 dollars worth of material.

How to make a cache critter from PVC pipe

First you'll need a heat source, my first didges were made using charcoal in a hibachi grill, but a heat gun used to soften and remove paint is a much more efficient source. The material is the 1 ½ diameter thin wall PVC that you can buy in some hardware stores for around 5 dollars per 12 foot tube. You do not want to use the schedule 40, thicker walled pipe as it is much more difficult to work with. Cut off about a 3 foot section with a handsaw and smooth the cut end. Measure the circumference of the pipe and mark ½ that distance on a piece of paper folded lengthwise.

 That distance will be the widest you can make your template. You'll notice there are 2 different templates in the photos, after making the first cobra I decided to tweak the pattern a bit for a more realistic look. I made the pattern for the hood, head and fangs a total of about 8 inches, the length of the paper I used. The hood was full width and the base was equal to half the circumference.

Using a coping saw make a "smile" cut to about half the depth of the pipe, keeping it as even on both sides as possible and make a pencil line to the end of the tube centered on the smile like this (------. In the photo's you'll see the first trial without the smile cut and the second with it. The cut will allow you to flatten the tube much better and gave a smoother flow to the transition from body to hood. Use the heat gun or other heat source to soften the PVC and use a razor knife to carefully split the tube along this line. Spread open the tube, we used the end of a baseball bat to get it started, and flatten it as much as possible. By using leather gloved hands and pushing onto a smooth surface as the heat is applied you can get it pretty flat.

 A word of caution here, as we were doing this part my son, Jens, had braced the tube against his upper thigh, after a few moments he said "Dad, Stop!" and ran through the door to grab a handful of snow to cool himself off. Super hot air travels down the tube quickly, so be careful where you put the other end. Heat guns can generate 1000 degrees f. Keep your hair covered and away from the heat, as hair can quickly catch fire at those temps. One last warning, unless it is turning brown or melting, PVC does not 'look' hot but can burn you badly; always use leather gloves when shaping it.

After the flattened end has cooled you can trace your template onto the PVC. Cut out with a coping saw or scroll saw with very fine blades. Clean and smooth your edges with a file, sandpaper or a sanding drum.

Now to form the PVC, you'll need to gather some tools to use. We used a large metal serving spoon and a crescent wrench. Jens held the gun as I moved the center of the hood area back and forth in front of it, when the pvc was soft enough I pressed the handle of the crescent wrench into the back side creating a squarish ,raised central 'body' for the cobra. As I held the tube and wrench, Jens grabbed some snow to 'set' the PVC and cool it off to retain the shape. The next steps were to fold over the head and pinch the sides of it together and give the fangs a nice curve, trying to keep everything symmetrical and as realistically shaped as possible. Each time I was happy with a shape we cooled it with snow, but ice cubes will work well too. Using the spoon, we repeated the heating and pressing/stretching process to shape the hood.

Now to give the cobra's body a nice S curve, in a section between your gloved hands, heat until it is warm enough then give it a slight bend. Do this in several spots, the PVC stretches and will flatten some when bending this way. Be careful not to overheat the tube or bend too much as that will burn or tear a hole on the pipe, and if you let it straighten out before it is set a wrinkle may form. If any of those occur, don't worry, it can be fixed but it takes a bit of effort. It was just such a tear on our first attempt that leads me to come up with the next step. The actual cache container for this will be a preform marked 'antivenin' that would use a wire hook to hang on the inside of the body. The hole in the prototype cobra was almost at the same depth the preform would sit at and I thought of pushing a piece of the waste PVC into the hole to create a shelf for the preform to sit on, eliminating the need for wire. I could then use an epoxy putty to fill the hole the same way that I have repaired holes on didges I've made. This putty comes in a plastic tube and has a layer of green hardener surrounding the grey putty. Cut off what you need, mix and knead the hardener into the putty till you have a uniform color, then apply directly to the PVC and feather the edges as much as you can. Enough of the putty will go through the tear to help lock it in place when it sets and if you can reach it inside you can smooth it down as well. Working quickly, you can use wet fingers to help smooth it down and after it has set it can be worked with a file and sanded to blend it into the PVC surface. Another layer can be applied if necessary too.

Go back over all of your cut edges with a fine sandpaper to smooth them out and go over the surface with fine steel wool to prepare it for painting.

We decided on a more abstract look rather than trying for a photo quality cobra representation, in the hopes it would blend a bit better with vegetation. After painting, we give several coats of a matte finish clear coat to protect the paint job without making it too shiny.

And here is the finished Cobra Cache!

I haven't addressed how the cobra will be mounted because I haven't checked with my reviewer yet to see if pushing the tail end into the ground would go against the guidelines no digging rule, or if I would need to make a base for it to sit on.

If you would like to make your own cobra or other PVC sculpture, practice and get a feel for the different techniques and limits, the material is certainly inexpensive enough.

By TheAlabamaRambler   Mon, Feb 22, 2010

FTF Geocacher is a bi-monthly print magazine catering to the geocaching community. It is a paid subscription and ad-supported publication, but as advertising and introduction the premier issue has been published free online as a .pdf file. Read it at http://ftfgeocacher.com/FTFGeocacherMR.pdf

Check it out... if this first issue is any indication then FTF Geocacher Magazine will be a valuable and entertaining resource for all geocachers!

By Gwyn Calvetti   Fri, Feb 12, 2010

Winter is never an excuse to stay inside and let the Garmins collect dust, at least not at our house.  A new snowfall covering the landscape along a stream, hoarfrost on the branches, no bugs, especially no deer ticks.  Perfect!  Winter also brings another kind of caching fun, one that allows you to walk on water for those five star terrains.

Our favorite caches are usually adventures, ones that challenge us physically and bring us closer to places of natural beauty.  Coming to geocaching as already active outdoors people, we have all that extra gear.....snowshoes, cross country skis, chest waders, a canoe, a kayak.  We love paddling adventures, taking us along riverways or across lakes to islands, watching the loons dive in front of us as we ply the waters to our goal.  So why in the world would we want to take on a five star cache in the winter?

Two words: fuel costs.  If we're going to haul that canoe or kayak a couple hundred miles cross state, our gas mileage will drop.  That's not such an issue, but having to figure out shuttling to our start point is.  At least once, we've dropped a bike at the ending point to ride back to where the car is parked, and after paddling the river all day, pedaling the road loses its appeal.

Some might say walking on the hard water is taking the easy way out.  Sometimes, it is. But others......

We'd had our sights set on a cache near West Bend Wisconsin, Cedar Creek Cache (GCGW8Q).  We've been trying to fill up our D/T grid with caches that qualify for the original California Fizzy Challenge and this cache was one of those.  Some had found it in the previous weeks, so we met up with caching friends from around the state, Seth of Team Honeybunnies and Marc, also known as marc54140.  The day was bright and clear, but not too warm. "Not too warm" is a good thing when seeking caches on islands or across rivers.  We headed off for the cache, located in the Jackson Marsh state hunting grounds.  The first challenge was the road itself.  Having received a significant snowfall early in the season, much of that had melted away after recent heavy rains, rains which then froze solid all over everything.  The road was a bumpy ice rink, but we managed somehow to get to the parking area and not fly off into the swamp.

We looked at Cedar Creek.  Some frozen areas along the shoreline created a large broken shelf of ice on the banks angled down a good 45 degrees or steeper.  Not at all conducive to getting onto that ice layer to check strength.  Now what?

"How about we just walk upstream a bit to find a better spot?"

"Good idea."

"Look, there's a nice deadfall that spans a good way across."

"With open running water just beyond it, are you crazy?"

Checking out the ice

One member of our group was not to be convinced. 

"A hare-brained scheme is good for the soul," taunted Seth, while the rest of us were ready to move on to something less dangerous.  A skirt lifter in front of a good local restaurant, perhaps?

Seth wasn't giving in.  Gathering up a large deadfall, he set off to create some kind of bridge across the two feet of open current in the middle of the best crossing point we'd discovered.  What could we do?  The rest gathered equally solid deadfalls and the bridge was laid.  Still uncertain was the actual ice thickness on either side of the bridge, but where current is involved, it was safe to assume it wasn't terribly thick.

Trekkin' and marc54140 carry big sticks

Handing over his Garmin and his cell phone, Seth prepared to cross.  Trekkin' grabbed onto the crosspieces to prevent them from tipping into the current, and when everything was set, Seth got down on all fours and scuttled across like a waterbug.  With a well placed toss, his Garmin was back in hand and the rest of us watched safely as he walked toward ground zero and freed the cache from its ice-encased location.

Making the passage across

The whole process was reversed and he was able to return dry and warm, with a smiley to be logged later that night.

We congratulated him on his brave and probably foolish move and headed off for our next adventure, all of us agreeing that this cache would have been far easier to reach by kayak in June.....with bugs, though!

For those who think accessing a five star terrain cache in the winter is the easy way out, think again.  It gives a whole new meaning to the concept of "walking on water."

Thu, Feb 11, 2010

The Kearney event was coming up and I had offered to hold a mini class on Earthcaches since someone suggested seminars and classes would be a nice change from event caches and games. What had I done to myself?? I may talk a good game in my stories but in real life I’m a quiet guy not prone to public speaking, and enjoy listening much more than talking and especially if the talking is done in front of a group.

  I had made the offer, not because I think I’m an expert, but because of the great experiences Vic and I have shared at EC’s and I feel strongly that Nebraska needs more of its landmarks developed as EarthCaches. So I would be teaching about what they are, what they can be and how to develop them for submission. Beginning an outline and starting to fill it in, I thought wouldn’t it be great if the cachers at the event could visit an EarthCache as part of the class? But what could I develop around there? The event would be held in a state park with manmade lakes, nothing very geologically impressive there but a great place to camp, with fishing and swimming lakes and nice shaded areas to pitch your tent. Tent stakes can be pushed with your foot into the sandy soil and don’t have to be pounded in like… Sand! Why was it there? I had the beginnings of my EC.

    Writing up the page describing depositions of sands from a widely meandering Platte River, I find an article about the construction of Interstate 80, saying material had to be quarried nearby to make the roadbeds. It went on to say, that this material is taken from what is called a borrow pit, (I have a title now) which obviously leaves a big hole in the ground. Knowing the water table would fill those holes; these pits were dug with the intention of creating recreational areas and fishing lakes. Hmmmm, water tables? Well, now I had my logging requirements too!

  After receiving permission from the park superintendant, I sat on the submission for a bit, trying to time the publication of “Borrow Pits” with the event. There had been a large number of EC’s worldwide published in the last few months and the workload was causing some delays in approving and publishing EarthCaches. I sent it in to geoaware about 10 days before the event and made handouts of what would be the page in case it wasn’t published in time, so that we could discuss it.

Of course the subject of fritters came up, both between Vic and I and Sioneva as well, while making our plans to attend. It had become a bit of tradition for us to bring a donut or two for Sioneva whenever we both attended an event, whether a frigid flash mob in the middle of a river or a sweltering summer picnic, we did our best to provide her donut fix. I had been talking up the fritters to her (she normally enjoys frosted cake donuts, but we had been priming her for these) and would make sure she got a “Kearney Fritter”. Vic decided we would buy a few on Saturday morning to share with Sioneva and GeoDad and at the same time place our order for 2 dozen more to be picked up Sunday to take home and freeze.

I was as ready as I ever would be to teach my class and Borrow Pits had just been published! Great! People could visit and log it during the event. Two days to go.

Originally planning to camp until the likely prospect of heavy rain was predicted, we made reservations for Friday and Saturday nights in a motel and offered our previously reserved camp spot for Sioneva’s use. Getting off work early, I was told I would be driving, something to do with Vic being sick of driving after only 2400 miles or so a few weeks previous, no problem, I can step up when needed, if she is ok with my hawk watching while driving. Cloudy skies but no rain, eh, this won’t be bad. About halfway there the skies open up on us, everything is dark and the wipers are struggling to keep the window clear and passing a semi trailer makes them lose the battle altogether and we drop into an abyss at 70 mph. The whumpa whumpa of the wipers and the thrumming din of the rain on the roof combine in my mind to make the sound of screeching, groaning metal and I picture bolt heads zinging off followed by fantail sprays of high pressure water, the glass cracks on a dial and begins to drip as the dark interior of the van starts closing in on us as the needle on the  fathometer reads deeper and deeper.  Whoa..bad time to daydream!! Get your mind back on the road, Joe!!  I’d have to pay attention and do without the imaginary sonar. Traffic slows but doesn’t stop and when the storm lets up a bit, everyone is back at or over the speed limit. We had multiple waves of abysmal conditions, interspersed with the merely torrential, the rest of the way to Kearney and we listened to the wind howl and rain pelt the windows of our room through most of the night.

Then a new day dawned and it was sunny, reflecting its sparkly brilliance from puddles and ponds of standing water that had yet to seep away in the sandy soil of the Platte River valley. With the promise of fabulous fresh fritters, we start our day. A leisurely morning, we didn’t even go caching and rolled into the campgrounds just a bit early (still working on that) with our pasta salad that had aromatically enhanced our motel room in a most delicious manner as we combined the fresh ingredients. (Yahoo, my sniffer works again! and onion smells w o n d e r f u l ! !) Placing the gladware container on the serving table with a blue ice block underneath to keep it cool, we mingle a bit before chow time.

There is a pin the flag at ground zero game going on and the registration table has a box for trackables to be discovered or moved along. One trackable that hadn’t been able to fit in the box was a painting of a very familiar crow, an opalsns WOA TB, in fact the original one. About a week or so before Kearney, I had noticed a painting (?) in the geocoins listings on e-bay and had recognized the name of the seller from the geocoin forums. Thinking of the magazines reader’s, I thought ‘there’s a story here’ and contacted opalsns to do a short interview about this novel twist to trackables. After some correspondence, the interview was published in the new ‘Spotlight!’ column of The Online Geocacher magazine. Having only published the story a few days earlier, I was really tickled to find and discover this caching crow at our event.

Another traveler that didn’t fit in the shoebox was to appear in a little bit and when it did it was green and about to croak, no it wasn’t that hot out, it was …………Signal the Frog, who had hopped all this way just to be a discoverable part of our event and proved to be a well photographed visitor with as many adults as children, handing off cameras to “take my pic” with Signal…myself included.

The next activity was lunch and everyone lined up to sample all of the potluck goodies. I wasn’t seriously dieting this year, so naturally I didn’t eat much. Actually, Vic and I had a fritter each for breakfast and a bit later in the morning we gave into temptation and split one of the two fritters we were going to give to Sioneva.  Now these fritters are, without any exaggeration, a bigger diameter than most dessert plates and a tad over an inch thick, of fruity, dense bread like dough. Fried crispy outside, tender inside and drizzled with glaze, they weigh what seems to be a full pound, and are a meal, or more, to less accomplished fritter critters than ourselves. We later found out the fritter we had given to Sioneva had fed her and her father with a bit left over. Back to lunch, it was all good and tasty and my tummy was satisfied.

Time for the awards and ceremonial logbook signing, I believe the Nebraskache group had 14 golden ammo cans to distribute to achievers of a thousand finds and several coins for those who had multiple thousands . Next, the Delorme and 93 County Challenges and both of those cache owners called up those who had completed them and asked each to say something about their experiences. When we were called up I said “Read about it in the magazine!” no actually I didn’t say that, I had pre written the log for Vic to enter into the logbooks (she has much better penmanship) and made a short remark based on that, but we all knew I would eventually (6 months later) write about our adventures.

Shortly after that people began to disperse. Some would go caching and others would stay for the presentations. I was scheduled to give mine first and setting a time for everyone to be present I began to gather my handouts and courage.

Slipping on a red clown nose found as swag a few weeks ago I began:  “A caching friend from the Netherlands dared me to wear this clown nose today, and it’s actually kind of fitting, So here goes, EarthCaches are fun and like my nose says, they are “The Greatest Show on Earth!” the Earth itself.”  And after making sure we got a pic to prove it to my friend, I took it off so I could be understood and introduced myself; “I’m not a geologist, although I get to play one while visiting EarthCaches. I’m also not a teacher but I did stay at a Comfort Inn last night. Beyond that stellar resume, Vicki and I are platinum EarthCache masters with visits to over 30 EC’s, 5 that we have developed and more in process.” We covered the submittal process, what makes a good EC, the masters program, and good locations in Nebraska that could be developed. A few questions and my time up front was over. The class had gone over well and my jitters dissipated, oh, about the time I answered the last question.

  The next class began with “I am a teacher but I didn’t stay at a Comfort Inn last night.” His class on mystery caches would explain the 9 different types that fall within this designation and go on to discuss creating and solving puzzles. He had brought a large classroom sized pad of paper and needed the help of someone to hold it as there weren’t any handy places to prop it up. A young lady from the audience volunteered to come out front to hold the pad up and turn the pages as needed. She had stepped into Vanna White’s shoes easel-ly and did a good job of it. Vic and I listened closely as he went over tips and tricks for solving and some examples of different puzzles.

After the presentations, we took a very short drive to the site of “Borrow Pits” and met a group going for the EC smiley at the swimming beach. Vic didn’t have her swim suit on this time; I guess she prefers spring fed waterfall showers to lake bathing. It was warm enough it would have been quite refreshing though. Stopping to remove sandburs and discussing why some of us had walked right through the patch of burrs while the other, smarter spouse went around them, we realized it was almost time for the chili and soup dinner that was new this year for the event, so offering a ride to the group of walkers, we all headed back to the shelter.

 You can work up a good appetite sweating out a group presentation, so I was ready for the chili and especially the potato soup someone had brought. Enjoying some conversations, the time flew by and I began to smell charcoal coming from a corner of the shelter. A few more people began showing up and soon it would be ….cobbler time!! Tantalizing wafts of pleasant peach, aromatic apple and cherry fragrances teased me as the fruity delights bubbled in the Dutch ovens, and promised another outstanding finish to the Kearney event.

Lingering the next morning over the continental breakfast, we planned out our day. Find a few caches, go home and do laundry. But first……..pick up the 2 dozen fritters we had ordered. Setting them out of easy reach from the front seats, we go off to find a ball field bison and a huge Wells Fargo wagon. We had a few others that we dnf’ed and decided to call it a day, we just didn’t have a great drive to find any caches since our big push to complete the three challenges in time for this event. We’ll get it back though. After all, Geowoodstock is coming up.

By vartan84   Sun, Jan 31, 2010

^This video may be a spoiler if you cache in the Southeastern Pennsylvania region.^

My long-time friend, Jimmy comes from a family of geocachers and he had been telling me about the hobby for a little while. Finally one day he was back in town and we decided it would be the day I would finally experience geocaching for the first time. We picked two caches which looked liked they could be fun in the area and headed up for an early afternoon of caching. On my way I decided to bring my camera, and that's what turned into this video. I start recording within 50 feet of the cache after a quick walk into a local park to get there and my geocaching series is born.

Thu, Jan 28, 2010

We have all done it, whether we admit it or not... We’re out caching some distance from home and we have a list of caches in the area. We do quite a few caches and think we are having a pretty good day. Overconfidence sets in and we start to get a little cocky. Being well aware of my limitations this never happens to me, but the wife seems to be inflicted with the disease.

We had just done “Dakota’s Cache” and saw that “The last Boy Scout” wasn’t that far away. The woods we were in had several paths going up and down large hills. It took a great deal of effort to get the wife up the hills to the top as she is hindered with a bad back and walks with a cane, but she is a trooper and we managed. As we followed the trail from “Dakota’s Cache” to “The last Boy Scout” I saw the needle on the GPS pointing ominously down into the valley. When we got to where the trail descended down to the river I knew we were in trouble. It was a good three hundred foot steep drop down the hill to the river bank below.

Me: “The GPS says its 500 feet down there..”

Wife: “Well we’re a long way from home and we are here so let’s go get it.”

Me: “You’ve got to be kidding? How do you think you can get down that narrow slick path? Not to mention getting back up.”

Wife: “I swear, sometimes I think I married the biggest sissy one could find. You don’t hear me complaining, do you? Stop worrying, we’ll manage just fine.”

On the way down we found the path not only narrow but it consisted of a clay that was like walking on oil. Luckily as we slid down the mountain I would bounce off of various trees which would slow our decent to a less life threatening pace. I must have looked like the metal ball in a pinball machine. What really helped was the wife shouting words of encouragement.

Wife: “Slow down. Can’t you be more careful? That last branch nearly took my hat off.”

How we managed to make it down without going head over heels was nothing short of a miracle. I would be psaltering with the truth if I were to say getting down to the cache was easy; but it was nothing compared to getting back out of that godforsaken valley. We found the cache then planned our strategy to get back up. There was no way we could go back up that slippery path so we had to make our own way. I started climbing the mountain at an angle and would switch back every twenty or thirty feet trying to lessen the incline. It was a long and arduous task. I could appreciate the efforts of those who had scaled Everest. After what seemed like days which was actually only hours the gods smiled at us and mercifully we crested the hill. Slowly we made our way back to the car.

Shortly after the paramedics arrived they were able to get my breathing back to normal and my heart rate to less dangerous levels. The one good thing that came out of doing this cache is that I was able to see how much the wife was concerned about me.

Me: “It was touching to see how worried you were about me.”

Wife: “Well, who else would be stupid enough to carry me up and down those kind of hills?”

Me: “Its just nice to know you care.”

Wife: “You’re welcome. Now wasn’t that fun?”

By JETSchmidt   Tue, Jan 26, 2010

This one isn't about one of Bosac's caches, although I did drive by the hide location for one of his this morning and decided to bypass digging in the snowdrift.

A week or so ago I went "Winter caching," and found a couple of caches in the snow.  It was quite the challenge.  Getting one cache un-frozen from it's hiding place took longer than finding it.  It was fun because I dress for the weather, which allows me to search a little longer before getting cold.

Today I had a few hours before work, so I decided to hit four or five caches.  The first one I drove by was the aforementioned Bosac cache, the First  "Curse of the First to find." A micro in a snowbank?  Nah, let's proceed West.  The second was easy to find, so I was encouraged to head farther west toward 72nd street, where I knew there to be a multi, a small, and a couple of micros.  The first micro was also under a snowbank, didn't feel like digging.

The next challenge was in a park right off of 72nd street.  It looked easy enough, so I parked the car, grabbed the GPSr, and headed toward "One Walked over a Cuckoo's Nest."  I figured it would be a quick find.

I arrived at ground zero and spent a short time looking around before thinking about the cache's name.  Hmmm, it would make sense to me to put it there.   I headed toward where I thought I might get a better view of where the cache might be hidden.  The ice looked thick, it was, after all 15 degrees out, the weather had been below freezing for some time.  There shouldn't be any liquid water down there, right?

Well, I was about halfway across when my foot went right through the ice, into the water below.  I pulled my foot out, cursed my stupidity, and headed back toward the top.  The ice, by the way, was pretty slick, so it was a good thing I had something above to hang on to.

I grabbed my GPSr from where I set it down, within 4 feet of GZ.  I did that so I had a reference to search by.

Are you aware it takes about 15 steps for pants to freeze solid in 15 degree weather?  Thank goodness for Jeep heaters!  My foot never got uncomfortably cold on the drive back home to change.

Now it's off to work!

Make sure you watch your step!

By catsnfish   Sat, Jan 16, 2010

Using a Spreadsheet to Create Ciphers

In January a few years ago, I had proposed to our local group that we collaborate in placing a themed set of caches. The Hides of March was born and the theme would be Roman, Latin, Caesar or none of the above. All caches had to be placed during the month of March. Of course a Caesar shift cipher would work perfectly within the theme. I had decided to add a twist however and came up with this cache description:

 U? V?.. The Hides of March

The Roman alphabet as written had no u, so v did double duty. Certain architectural styles, mostly government buildings, have examples of this. Check ovt the DOVGLAS COVNTY COVRT HOVSE, vvhere ivstice is served. Hmm, I gvess there are some other missing letters as vvell. To solve the coordinate pvzzle use the classical Latin alphabet of 23 letters for a trve Ivlivs Caesar shift cipher.

This is a high mvggle area, so exercise cavtion. You are seeking a nano container.

There are plenty of ROT13 and Caesar shift websites out there but I didn't know of any that used the classical alphabet so I set out to make my own cipher sheet.

To make it work, I set up a table in Excel (Open Office Spreadsheet should work as well for this) and wrote lookups to that table. The table was the Roman alphabet which doesn't have J, U or W and it was repeated on the next line but beginning with B instead of A and continued in that manner until there was a complete alphabet both vertical and horizontal.

Adding a number designation to each row, I could write the lookups. Allowing a cell per letter with empty cells between words, I typed in my coordinates, spelling the numbers out.  A few rows below that I added this formula =IF(AA3="","",HLOOKUP(AA3,$A$4:$W$26,$Y$2+1,FALSE)), AA3 is the cell 2 rows above the formula and the dollar signs ensure that the formula always looks to the  alphabet table and rotation value. The other values would change relative to their position, always looking 2 cells above to the text that you want encrypted, when it is copied across as far as needed for both the North coordinates and the West coordinates. By changing the number in the grey (Y2) cell, the letters would change as the alphabet shifted by that amount.  You'll notice that the coordinates don't use U or W for this alternate alphabet. Of course for added difficulty you could forget to mention it is a non standard alphabet.

This same process can be set up to use a symbol substitute for each letter and follow the same process as above. Variations could be a progressive rotation for each word, alphanumerics, or plain text backwards then ciphered. Vowels can be omitted or words garbled but still readable before encrypting.

By JETSchmidt   Sun, Jan 10, 2010

Ok, it's the 25th of February.  I've found 4 of the Hides of Horror, all very cool containers, all in out of the way places right under your nose that you might never have wandered across without a purpose to go there.  Ah, that's on of the things that's made this such an obsession for me.  The logs are out there for you to read, but I also keep a journal for caching.  I don't write every cache adventure in the journal, but this ones in there.  The cache; The Mummy -- Hides of Horror, GC1GK8H.  The time, lunchtime.  I start the journal entry:

"This was to be a quick, lunch time find.  A 3-part multi-cache in a park.  Find the first part, take those co-ordinates to go to the second part, then the last co-ordinates to the final cache.  The find logs all talked about tough terrain, but I wasn't too worried.

I should have been.  The first find didn't take too long, but the second took me to a place where I had to climb down a very steep hill.  The second part of the hide was more difficult to find.  It took nearly my whole lunch hour to find the first two and in the process, I fell and got my pants and shoes muddy.

No more multi's at lunch, or else I just have to do them one part at a time."--end of journal entry.

Actually, part two would not have needed to take me down such a steep hill, had I approached from the right direction (heh heh, I think I'll leave that pretty detail out).  But I made the note and went back to work with muddy pants.  My co-workers got a chuckle out of that.

The next day was not conducive to searching(very muddy), so I had to wait until the 27th to go after the final.  By now the ground was quite frozen and much less slippery. I had this one in the bag.  Stop laughing, Bosac.  I found parking near where I could go into the woods and get the quick find, and started off into the park.  Wow.  There are some steep drops in there!  I circumnavigated around the park for some time, choosing not to try to make a bee-line to the final location.  It actually was a good decision, although my initial start was all wrong.  I felt like a billy goat back there.  I found the cache after quite the walk.  The container was another one that had taken a little effort and imagination, and I just had to take some photos of the thing.  I got a couple of the container out of it's hiding place, one remote picture of me with the cache, and then I put the cache back into its cover and grabbed my camera to take one last picture of the hide.  Now, I'm somewhat of an amateur photographer, so I was framing the shot just the way I wanted it.  Moved around a little to the right, a step back to get the whole thing in...

Honest, there was a path there just a moment ago.  When I stepped back, my foot found only open air.  I threw my camera and tried to get my balance forward, but I was already gone, over the edge, and down the hill.  When I finally settled at the bottom, I looked up and said, aloud, to nobody, "that could have been much worse," and got up and climbed back up to pick up my camera and my other stuff.  Then it was back to work.  I did get that picture, but I'm not sharing it here.  I don't intentionally spoil hides.  The trek back to the Jeep was much easier, now that I knew where the steep stuff was.  On the way, I spotted a group of deer, something I did not expect to see in this area, but they were too quick for me to get a good picture of.  Oh well.

Sat, Jan 09, 2010

Hi, tell us a bit about yourself.

   I am a recent college graduate now working a regular job and looking for some more interesting things to get involved in. As you might be able to tell from my videos, I live and cache in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area which is where all my videos have been filmed.

   Geocaching came along when a high school friend introduced me to it in September 2008. I embraced it and started caching after work and then on lunch breaks until I had found most of the caches within a 15 minute radius of my job. I recall hearing about geocaching once and visited the website years ago, perhaps as early as 2002, but at that point I didn't know what a GPS was or how to do the hobby. I actually still don't own a GPS myself (yet), and have to thank my next door neighbor- another fellow geocacher- for letting me have hers on a long-term loan. We've cached together a few times as well and once went out very early in a morning to get our first FTF.

   If this hobby had existed when I was in elementary and middle school I know I would have loved it. In my school's yard at recess my friends and I would make certain areas our own special part of nature, would enjoy the trees and sometimes even hide things in it. I really liked the idea that these things were out there- and that I knew that it was there but without others really realizing it. It's sort of hard to explain, but I think you can see the clear parallels to caching! I immediately loved the idea that in geocaching you can have a can hidden way back in the woods where it feels like no one has ever been and that if all goes well it will remain there for years. I often drive by a location where I've found a cache or know one exists and enjoy the secret knowledge that there is something there, sometimes practically out in the open, that almost everyone walking by has no idea about. In reality it isn't that big a deal, but I suppose it sort of gives our otherwise everyday world a bit more magic.

   I've actually been making my own videos for youtube since 2006 (on another channel) where I'd make episodes of my own series based on the world created by a popular youtuber at the time. I also just like to capture interesting things I do on tape, so based on this history I suppose it was just natural to bring my camera along as my friend Jimmy took me on my first geocaches ever. I don't know if I had even decided that I would upload the video or not, but since it was such an enjoyable experience I felt why not upload it? Episodes 1 and 2 were filmed consecutively and are two random caches we picked to find that afternoon. We ended up having a great time finding them, so we really got lucky with our choices. Jimmy had just been visiting the area for the weekend, so even though he had to leave after those finds I continued the hunt on my own and threw myself into the hobby. I didn't film any of those hunts though because I did them alone and I feel like another person being there really adds to the episode. Finally two months later I got to take two other friends on their own first cache hunt in a state park and those hunts turned into two more episodes for the series. Whenever I go on a hunt with somebody else that I feel like is going to be a special one I bring the camera along just in case.

I’ve seen a few of your videos, I like them but they’re a bit of a spoiler aren’t they?

   You know I've had a couple viewers leave me comments like this, that I'm ruining the sport by systematically showing others where caches are hidden, but I don't see it that way. First I've only made 9 episodes, and there are (tens of? hundreds of?) thousands of caches out there- so even if one wants to see my video as essentially "ruining" the cache- I've only ruined about 0.000001% of the hobby so far. Second, I don't see my videos as any different than the potentially-spoiler comments section on each cache's page. People often give away some of the secrets of the cache down there and so people know to read those with caution. I think it is only natural to view a video of finding a hidden cache with the same sort of caution if they are planning on finding it. Also, I found it funny because one of the people accusing me of ruining the sport was from Oregon. I asked in response if they had ever been to this corner of the country or are ever planning to cache here. The vast majority of my viewers come from all over and odds are will never cache anywhere near here to have their hunt ruined by my video. Even if someday they do, there are so many hundreds of other caches in this area, and I really doubt that at that point they will have remembered the exact details of a video they watched months or years before.

  I met the cache owner of the cache in my first episode at a geocaching event a year ago, and she said she was really glad to see I made a video dedicated to her cache. She actually had suggestions for other caches of hers I should make videos finding. Of course not every owner might feel the same way about this, and in fact I've sent links to the respective owners of each video's cache. I either got no response or a positive one. I even discovered that for one of the owners that I had inadvertently made not one but two of my nine episodes with caches (he has great ones!) and he is eager for me to make a video about one remaining cache to complete the set. So while no owners seem to have a problem with my videos now, there is always the chance a future one might. I would be willing to discuss some sort of compromise with them in that case- such as perhaps taking out the last 100 feet of the discovery or mixing it up to make it less easy to determine how to get there. They did place these caches out in nature though and opened them up to the public, so I feel like one more of less lose control over what others do with it at that point. For example muggled caches are a part of geocaching life, so while I'm sure there's some cache owners out there who might not like the "spoiler" aspect of my videos, there are certainly worse fates for caches than someone taking the time to make a video dedicated to it! Two words: Bomb Squad.

  I am totally amateur in this respect. With my original youtube series which I mentioned before, other people would all use webcams to record their videos but I didn't own one, so I devised a method of using my digital camera propped up on a desk recording video to mimic a webcam. As for the geocaching videos I just carry around the digital camera on record and then use very simple editing software to splice together the funny or important moments of the hide. What I'm using is merely the Windows Movie Maker, so I can't do anything special with it, but it serves its purpose. Same for the digital camera, it'd be nice to get a real professional camera someday but for the most part the digital one does a sufficient job.

Thanks! You certainly made my job as interviewer easy. I'm looking forward to sharing your videos with our readers.

Find The Geocaching Adventure Series on Facebook

Sat, Jan 09, 2010

   Well here it was finally, the oft put off, long awaited passage through the panhandle which after completion, would take us most of the way to finishing the Nebraska 93 County challenge. We were ready for it, Vic had finished summer school and I had taken 8 working days off. We would be tent camping. The van was packed to the gills with tent, chairs, air mattress, clothing, cookware, cacheware, food and other necessities and niceties for travel.

   We head out along I-80, bypassing 6 counties south of there, which we would pick up at a later date and since we had cached along this route before we didn't cache along the way. Arriving at our first nights camp spot, Johnson Lake, we setup our tent, a screen house and got the raised queen size air mattress blown up. May as well camp in comfort! Then it's off to find a few caches and collect our first 2 counties of the trip with a short drive around the lake. One cache near a marina looked on the map to be in the lake but turned out to be on a finger of land that jutted out into the lake. After finding that and getting back in the van I noticed we were getting a wi-fi signal. Telling Vic to stay put, I needed to check email, which can be quite a slow process for us at times, but I had submitted 2 EarthCaches a day or 2 before we left and wanted to see if they had been published yet. Nope, so I pop onto the forums, when Vic notices that she indignantly tells me we're not just sitting here while I count cheese in off topic, cause she is hungry and we need to get back to camp and cook dinner. Spoilsport!

    We've tried to think everything through ahead of time and be as efficient as possible in camp so we had more road time. We were using a propane stove, with tried and true camping meals, not only quick and easy to cook but minimal cleanup as well. We would eat and enjoy outdoor time in the relatively insect free screenhouse.  We had gotten an electrical site and had brought 2 fans to keep Vic cool and non grumpy and a coffee maker to keep me caffeinated and there was one other item we would be using for the first time, a bucket privy.

   It proved its worth the first time it saved Vic a hike in the dark to the facilities several hundred yards away, what didn't live up to expectations was the air mattress, we had used it before and was quite comfortable, but between then and now it had developed a slow leak, so if either of us got out of bed to use the bucket the other would get bounced around and towards morning time it had leaked enough air that when one got up the other fell down to hit the ground. Not a great experience but this was the only day of the trip when Vic didn't want to linger in bed until late morning, not that I let her do that of course!

   Popping out the plug and letting the remaining air out I strip off the bedding and start to empty the tent, while Vic starts cooking breakfast, ziplock omelets!! They were ready about the time I had the tent rolled and back in its bag. After breakfast we threw our trash (not much, ziplocks and 2 paper plates, plastic flatware) into the bucket and changed out the liner and added new kitty litter. Then came the fun of trying to fold up the screenhouse, it was the first time we had used it and we hadn't figured the best way to fold it yet. It did end up back in its bag, but we still haven't figured it out. Once that was done all we had to do was toss the bags in the van, head for the showers and hit the road, eager for our first full day chasing the challenge. Later in the day we made sure to buy two twin raised air mattresses when we finally found a Walmart.

   This trip I would truly be the navigator, choosing caches and routes to most efficiently achieve our goal of a cache in every county in the western 2/3 of Nebraska. If we DNF a cache, I had to get us to another one in the county and set us up for the next county. We discussed much of it and some particular caches or locations were on again off again and we didn't really know where we would go next till we found the previous one. The only exception to this was Hayes County; there was only one cache in the entire 713 square miles of this county. It was a "Do or Die" cache, find it or fail. Down some minimum maintenance roads where we spot a red fox crossing warily about 20 yards in front of us, he watched us from the roadside until we turned the corner. Pulling into a lake area, I'm sent off to find the cache and follow a turkey into the wooded area. His gps must have been reading different satellites than mine so our paths diverged. I came up with the cache but don't know if the turkey found what he was looking for. When I came out of the trees, Vic had our sandwiches made and chairs set up facing the tree bordered sedimentary exposure across the lake. After a pleasant lunch, we scratched off Hayes from the list and drove towards the next county.

   At Lake McConaughy we drove over the dam and around a bit to get to the little lake in front of the dam, the big lake being on the other side of the dam. Dam, that word comes up a lot here! As we approached the coordinates for the cache there is a flock of 14 buzzards just ahead of us and we get close enough I don't need my cheat sheet to tell they are not regal eagles. They took off as we tried to get some more pics of them. I wonder what the collective noun for buzzards is. I know that it's a murder of crows, a wedge of geese, and a bevy of doves. Ok, I gotta know, and googling tells me it is a wake of buzzards, makes sense to me.  After locating and signing the cache log, we spot some distant pelicans and do our best to get some good pics of those impressive birds. I won't worry about the pelican collective since they weren't grouped together...<Jeopardy theme>..Hmmmm, Google says... a pod or a scoop of pelicans; curiosity got the better of me.

   One place Vic had wanted to see was the corner of the panhandle and the virtual cache located there but it was a bit of a detour. No problem, we're here to see the sites. The monument was quite interesting with plaques and benchmarks in each corner, 3 for Nebraska and one for Colorado. Vic really wanted her pic taken in Colorado; we discussed picking up a cache in Colorado before the trip, but decided it was too long of a detour. What??? Okaaay, yes, I will..... Vic says "show em the pic! Oh, wait you can't, you deleted those pics!" looks like she's still a bit miffed about that. We were taking a lot of pics and I started to worry about running out of room on the 64k XD card. So I started downloading the pics each night and deleting the images from the card. I missed downloading a few before deleting and when she realized it, I wasn't allowed to delete anymore until she had gone over the pics each day. Anyway it was a neat place and I wish I could show you the pics. "Yes dear, I told them it was my fault."

   Taking a drive around the campgrounds at Minitare State park, we scout out a good site. The first area we drive through is kinda swampy and we continue on only to find out that is the only electrical camp area. A beautiful lake with cliffs and wooded areas and even its own lighthouse and the camping pads are only 5 feet above water less than 10 feet away. Oh well, we decided to stop at the lighthouse before setting up camp and I climbed to the top while Vic stayed in the parking area. The lighthouse is really an observation tower, there isn't a light in the top and being only 55 feet tall, the spiral stairs were built rather narrow to keep the proportions looking right. There are several little benches set into the central wall as you go up but those are more to allow someone coming down to pass another coming up as there is no way to fit two on the steps. But it was a nice view. Back to camp, get everything set up, dinner cooking as we watch a storm start to roll in and it looked to be a nasty one, hmmm maybe there was a need for a lighthouse here? As it turned out the storm blew itself out and we only had light rain for about 20 minutes. Waking the next morning we find we have a young goose we named Alf that has decided it liked us, we tried to feed Alf some popcorn, he didn't seem interested in it but he did like the van's tires. He stayed in the immediate area the whole time as we packed up and got ready to go. Driving off as carefully as we could, not being able to see the silly goose, we make it to the showers, look back and see he appears to be injured. Before we can check him out he waddles off into the water, we certainly hope he his ok, because we would not like to see Alf lack for anything if he was injured.

   We stopped along the roadside on the way to Courthouse and Jailhouse rocks to go after an ammo can, I had read a few of the previous logs and decided to take along our walking sticks, something we rarely use but always have handy on our trips. We went past a small hillside cemetery heading towards some rock outcroppings and I was in the lead as I have a faster walking pace than Vic. I was within 20 feet of where my gps put the ammo can we were seeking, when I heard a dreaded sound, the raspy ratchety shake of a rattlesnake's tail. The rattle was a much softer sound than movies had led me to believe, but still instantly recognizable. Acting on instinct, I jumped back hard enough to land on my butt, then quickly got up and took a look around me to see where it was and spied it slithering off in the brush. Looking back I told Vic to stay back and to get on top of a nearby flat rock. Her reply was "what??" but she quickly realized the situation. Taking a moment to calm down, I started ahead, slowly, swinging my walking stick like a blind persons cane hoping to startle up anything that may be in my path. I made my way to the far side of the large flat rock to find the prize. Poking around with my stick and hooking the can back to where I could safely reach it, signed the log and traded for an angel ornament before replacing the container. Repeating the cane tactic back to where Vic has been anxiously waiting, we make our way to the van.  She said she hadn't heard anything until I told her to stay put, I said" yeah, you can't scream like a girl if your heart is up in your throat!" The angel went right onto the rear view mirror and has stayed there ever since.

   A bit after that we arrived at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. After a quick tour of the visitor center, where a Native American was doing beadwork, we decided to make the walk to the excavation sites. The path was a wide concrete walkway that wound up to a lookout spot and then onto the site. There was a fair grade to it but nothing bad for someone who is in decent shape, so we took our time and made use of the couple of covered benches along the path so thoughtfully provided by our park services. At the beginning of the walk way was the now familiar warning to stay on the path, this is rattlesnake country.  Along the way we heard a rattle rattle SNAP sound and when we first heard it, I froze until I saw what had caused it. Grasshoppers, we were scaring up grasshoppers from the edges of the pavement and they flew off with a sound similar to my earlier snake encounter, only louder. After a few seconds of flight there was invariably a loud snap that sounded like those little paper teardrop snappers that are thrown on the ground to make their distinctive noise on the Fourth of July.  After a few more minutes and several more of the firesnapper grasshoppers Vic noticed that with each snap they changed direction almost as if the sound was them being swatted and sent off in a new direction. At one point along the path there were enough to make us think of a roll of Chinese firecrackers, snapping and jumping and traveling down the line as we walked.

   We met another couple coming down as we went up and exchanged comments on the heat and the tough walk up, but I noticed they fairly bounced off as we started trudging up again. At our last stop before the sites, there were blooming prickly pears for us to photograph and few plants that looked like burnt pineapples. Onto the site which we explore for a bit and take a timer photo of ourselves together. I screwed that up though by having a rock in the frame and the camera focused on it instead of us. Taking some parting shots of the view, with a teeny tiny visitor center lost in the panorama we do our best to change that perspective in a hurry, it was lunch time.

   After sandwiches, chips and lots of water, we head for the EarthCache here. It was quite near the entrance, we had passed it on the way to the visitor center. Pulling into the parking area, Vic tells me I'm on my own; she is done in by the last few miles. Grumbling, I tie a cooldanna around my neck and taking along a tripod for the EC pic, shuffle off up the hill. Passing an interesting ripple rock formation I round the bend out of site and soon find a bench and a display behind plexi-glass of the fossilized corkscrew burrows that are the subject of the EC. Taking a pic and making a note, I almost turn back, it is hot and I am tired too, but the gps says it's still a quarter mile away, so I decide to press on and finish the trail. Off in the distance on a flat top bluff I see a silhouette of a pronghorn antelope and try to decide whether it is a plywood cutout (we had seen similar cutouts in other places on this trip) but looking up again after a short walk, I watched it crowhop to the other end of the bluff. Rounding another turn I find the cased daemonalix fossil and set up for the pic and count spirals for the logging requirements. The van looks so far away once it finally comes in to view. I'm exhausted when I get there but not grumpy at all, what I saw was worth the walk in the heat and I was cooled off and ready for more by our next stop.

   Carhenge, sacred tourist trap of Nebraska lived up to its name with a mostly full parking lot and people oohing and aahing at autos painted rock grey and stacked on top of each other in a circular semblance of Stonehenge. Many were saying "I used to have one of those!" as they looked over the variety of vehicles. I was tickled when I spotted an AMC Pacer just like the one my mom used to have. There were other attractions as well with an 'auto'graph where you were asked to sign a car standing on its tail. There was the Conestoga'd station wagon and my favorite sculpture the "Salmon." Near the visitor center was a Subaru Outback with dot painted boomerangs and kangaroos. Making our rounds with an occasional glance at the gps, we narrowed down the search grid until Vic spied the container. It would be difficult to retrieve and sign the cache here without tipping off muggles, but with a loud cry of "Look!  A Pontiac Solstice! Over there!" while waving toward the entrance, Vic was able to grab it. She replaced it after I walked away as all the people kept their eyes on that strange man who carried a tripod and shouted at imaginary cars. Grabbing a cool drink as we waited in line for the single restroom, we fed the sacred tourist trap squished penny machine (4 different images!) You know if there is a squished penny machine, the place is at least revered, if not sacred, in bringing home those tourist dollars! Maybe they should sink a few of those dollars into more plumbing.

   Scotts Bluff, I never expected it to be as big as it is. There is a whole range of massive rock bluffs we gawped at as we drove toward them. We grab a cache or two before checking for our first motel stay of the trip. Catching up on current events and getting a good cool nights sleep, we rollout in the morning a bit later than I had wanted but it ends up we could have tarried a bit longer. Arriving before opening time at Scotts Bluff National Monument we take a little stroll around the parking lot. The visitor center opens and we watch the short film on westward expansion and this landmark, then remark on the stuffed rattler on the desk, "yeah it was about that size, Vic" before buying a hat pin. The gates are open now so we drive up to the summit and enjoy the view. On the way back down we get a few pics of a deer in a grassy area. Wildlife and history and rocks and a view too, what more could we ask for?

   Next stop Chimney Rock. We toured the visitor center and discussed walking out to the rock but decided against it because of time (it was a long walk and warm) and warning signs (we would hate to poison a snake by letting it bite us!) There was a nearby cache and we got a nice view and pic of the Chimney from there.

   Pulling into the Fort Robinson State park, we cruise around looking for a place to camp and they are filled to almost capacity. We find a non electric site and go to register at the office. We park, plop, post and pitch and soon our camp is presentable. Vic decided to make use of the post pool to cool off and after driving there we find out it was closed for another hour. Detouring back they way we had come, we stop at an old gymnasium that now houses the Clash of the Mammoths exhibit. These two full mammoths had been found near Crawford Nebraska. The curving tusks had become locked up in a fight and they had gone to their death bound to each other. The display separated the larger mammoth and used it in a standard museum pose. Beyond this big boy was a large flat raised area representing the field where they had been found, lying on their sides. Using the bones of only one mammoth, the two combatants were recreated. Quite a remarkable display.  After a quick look around the gift shop, we head up for an hour of relaxing coolness in the pool. Waking the next morning we quickly break camp, pack the van and go off in search of bison and mushrooms.

   Making our way down gravel and dirt roads we follow the map and gps to a very thoughtfully placed cache at Hudson Meng Bone Bed. It was thoughtfully placed because it was published just before my last pocket query for the trip and allowed us to find the location with our electronics instead of a paper map. Pulling up to the gate, it is locked, but still before the posted opening time, so after collecting an FTF on the thoughtful cache, we wait for the arrival of the gatekeeper. Pulling into the parking area, it was still a quarter mile walk to the building where a portion of the bone bed was displayed and it was dotted with informational signs. We took pics of every sign because I wanted to develop an EarthCache here. Entering the building, we were greeted by a very pleasant woman who would be our tour guide. Asking about the entry fee we were told it was a fee-free weekend. Man we timed this one right, FTF on a five day old cache, fee-free tour and a very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful geologist giving us a tour for the next 45 minutes. During that time I was furiously tapping text into my palm to use on my EC. After getting contact information, our guide invited us to go on a buffalo hunt with an atlatl. My prey was a plywood bison, roughly 20 yards away and my weapon was a five foot long aluminum shaft made from several modern arrow shafts fitted together. This was the "dart" to be thrown with the atlatl, a flat, narrow piece of wood about as long as my forearm with a raised spot that engages the hollow end of the long arrow shaft and a loop on the other end so you don't throw it along with the dart. Using this, the Paleo-Indians were able to throw further and with more force. My first attempt flew a few inches above the back of the silhouette, I over corrected and threw low on my next try, a few more tries that never did bring home the bison bacon and we give our goodbyes and thanks to our guide. Onto Toadstool Park next, we could walk a 3 mile trail from here or drive several more miles roundabout to reach the same place. The scenery was stunning as we drove to the park. There was another thoughtful cache near Toadstool as well, although it had been placed well before our trip and we DNF after a short search.

  There were a cluster of signs under a roofed area, inside of a loop drive.  We took pics of these signs also, for the same reason we did at the Bone Bed. There were a few groups of people coming back as we went through the gate armed with a self-guided tour pamphlet. It was beginning to warm up as we walked armed with walking sticks and a tripod up the slope. At first glance the slope appeared to be a loose gravely material but it was weathered stone underfoot and solid. What a fascinating area! Toadstool formations the size of pickup trucks, rows of stone gazing balls and wrinkles from rivulets running down the soft stone faces. You could easily imagine being back in time with the dinosaurs or on another planet.  Many of the formations had narrow veins of a smoky, grayish crystal and some areas had crystals laying all over the surface. It was heating up with the sun beating down from a nearly cloudless sky and reflecting up from the light colored rock underfoot and I asked Vic if she needed to hurry back to the ac of the van and she said " I wanna look around more" so you know it must have been quite a place. There was so much to see in the short space of a mile hike, this was probably our favorite spot on this trip, although we appreciated each location we visited for what it was.

   One of those mornings where you just want to lay in bed a little bit longer, I watched a good sized caterpillar's shadow creep up the tent wall behind a dozing Vic. It got to a bit above where Vic's elbow was when the tent wall suddenly bulged in as a bird picked off the easy meal. All at once, its wings or claws made a bonk, frrt frrt kinda sound against the fabric and Vic bolted out of bed with a wild look. "What was that?" after explaining about the caterpillar we noticed another inch up the tent and again a bird came along to fill its tummy with a tasty tidbit.  "Cool!!" we could see each outspread wing feather distinctly as it beat its wings and rebounded off the tent side. Getting dressed and keeping an eye on another brave climber working its way to the safety of the tent's rain fly summit, we wait until he is safely out of reach from hungry birds before we start our own breakfast. When I took the tent down, I picked the lucky fellow off and set him down at the base of a tree since we didn't want any hitchhikers on our trip.

   While planning this trip we had selected certain things we would both like to see and visit and a few things one of us wanted to see. I was getting frustrated and apologetic for the meandering routes I was taking us along trying to catch up every county and Delorme map page. Meandering? More like gyrating at times. I offered to pass on visiting the Museum of the Fur Trade because of how long I thought it would take to go through its displays. Vic said I had let her go to the handle of the pan so we would visit the trappers. The building was smaller than I had imagined but made excellent use of floor space to exhibit the huge amount of artifacts from the period. There was a colorful temporary display about French voyageurs that included some beautiful assomption sashes, fingerwoven with vivid lightning bolts, chevron stripes or the impressive ceinture' flechee' arrow sash. Someday I will learn to make those. We spent about 45 minutes in the museum but could have spent days among the Hawken rifles, plug tobacco, camp kettles and traps and other such truck needed to hunt beaver,  well not Vic, but I could have. As we left to get back on the road, we searched for a thoughtful cache placed here but call it a dnf after 10 minutes.

   We stopped for the night in a small town and decided to hit the restaurant next door for real, not prepared under the hatch of the van or propane heated food. Soon after we were seated it began to fill up with big hats, big belt buckles and boots as it became apparent folks were making their way in for the Thomas county fair that would be in a few days. Our steak dinner was excellent, around here they know beef.

   Most of our planned visits had been completed and we were on the homebound loops. Two places were on again, off again as I adjusted the route to color territory, Happy Jack Peak and a small town where I have relatives. We had visited the chalk mines at Happy Jack a few years ago when we had vacationed out this way, pre caching. Neat place, the only room and pillar mine  in the U.S. that people can visit, but we didn't have time for the tour and Vic said climbing the peak was a once only thing for her and she wasn't going back up to log a benchmark. I told her there was a cache on the peak too and she growled at me. We did pass that way and collected another cache that was in the parking area and had even gone onto Scotia to refill coffee and soda and to look at another possible EC, a building built of chalk from the Happy Jack mine. Later, just before dusk we pull into a little dam site in my relatives town and search for a keyholder over our heads. Vic really shined here as she made a caduceus of our flexi mirror and flexi light and quick work of eliminating possibilities while finding the decoy. I made the find, purely by luck. No time to visit, a few more counties in the dark and we could at last go home. We had been moving, driving, caching for 16 hours today and traveled well over 700 miles.

   We had earned some rest after that last day and we planned to complete the challenge in a few weeks.  I went back to work on a Wednesday and Vic began to settle into her summer routine. On Thursday, Vic told me," We're gonna finish this!" and once again I ran queries and Vic repacked the van for another overnight trip to collect counties. A few of the biggest highlights of a very enjoyable little trip was a clown nose I found as swag and had made good use of for the rest of the trip, ("All I have is a red clown nose, but it's not for blowing..It's for honking through."), the murals and the country's smallest police station of Friend and the final resting place of Willy Wonka.

   We were close to 1000 finds and after a few in town caches, and a run with Sioneva, we went for #1000 at an EarthCache. We had now become a triple threat with the 93 county challenge, the Nebraska Delorme challenge and a thousand finds. We would sign the official logbooks and receive our Golden Ammo Can at the annual Nebraskache event in Kearney. Cobble gobble, here fritter, fritter!

Thu, Jan 07, 2010

The first cache that I ever found was on the 6th of January 2009, and
it was attached (sort of) to the building that I work in.

This is not about that cache, nor is it about the last cache that I
found in that same year, which was in a park across a field of waist
deep snow from where I parked.  I might write about those caches
later.  This is about some of the caches that a certain unnamed hider
(Bosac) has hidden, perhaps with a couple of others thrown in.  Don't
worry Bosac, I won't spoil any locations.

Shortly after I started geocache hunting lunch became the time of
choice to search for caches.  I was working until 4:30 pm, and I had
to pick up my son from school, so that left little time to look for
caches before sunset.  Weekends were available, but I knew there were
several caches close to where I worked, and I wanted to do something
at lunch other than eat.  I spotted a cache on the map called "Swamp
Thing -- Hides of Horror" and thought, "that sounds cool."  When I
brought up the listing, it was a story.  I love a good story, so I
read it and decided that this was the cache for me on this day.  I
borrowed a coworkers Nuvi to take along with my own ETrex, since I was
looking for a replacement, and thought I might as well test his out.
I approached the area not sure what to expect, and parked on the
street to the northeast.

I was, by now, a geocacher with a month and a half experience.  I was
ready for anything.  So far everything I had found was on flat ground
(does Nebraska have anything but...?).  So I had a game plan.  I would
walk down the street until I was directly east of the cache, then walk
directly west to the hiding spot and find the thing.  Easy, right?
Somewhere, Bosac is laughing already.  I found that spot and walked
toward the cache.

Whoa there Nellie!  (who's Nellie, anyway?)
I stepped across the curb and noticed that the ground sloped away into
the woods...no, that's not quite accurate.  The ground DROPPED away
into the woods.  I was looking down a pretty severe hill.  Suddenly I
liked this cache even more(when I was in the military, I learned rock
climbing in the Rocky Mountains)!  I started down the hill with nary a
thought about my slick souled work shoes, but only for the first
couple of steps.  Remember what time this was? February 2009?  Yep.
We had had a pretty good snow, and then a couple of warm days.  The
hill was slick, and I was goin' down!  I reached out my arm
instinctively(read:in a panic) and caught the first thing going by.
That little tree redirected my descent and twisted my body around and
suddenly I wasn't falling anymore.  I looked around again, and chose a
different path to the bottom of the hill, where I knew the cache had
to be now, and headed down again without incident.  I reached "Ground
Zero" a few minutes later, after walking around in circles while the
two GPSr's had a fight over where that was, and the cache wasn't
there.  I turned off the Nuvi, concentrated on the ETrex, and walked
around a little more.  I understand it's called the Geo-chicken-dance,
or some such thing.  When I got to a place where the GPSr said the
cache was located, I looked around for a minute or two for a likely
hiding spot.  I located the cache in about the third place that I
looked.  It was the coolest container that I had found to date, so  I
knew I need to find the rest of the "Hides of Horror."

Fri, Jan 01, 2010

Thu, Dec 31, 2009

Hiders of caches seem to try to bring you to places they themselves have enjoyed.

You know what I mean... you discover a well maintained park and you think to yourself "wouldn't this be a nice place for a cache?"

I remember once being on top of a hill overlooking Wabisis Lake. Of course I had to put a cache there. I was happy when people logged their finds and expressed their gratitude for bringing them to such a beautiful spot.

I have seen videos of people in various states documenting their search on top of mountains. The scenery was breathtaking. You come to appreciate the thoughtfulness of others as they go out of their way to share their everyday experiences.

The point I would like to make is we should be thankful. Not everything may be to our liking and we may not have gone to these places without the benefit of a cache, but still you have to appreciate the fact that owners are trying their best. The wife doesn't feel the same way about these particular caches and I think she is being unfair. Let me present the evidence and you be the judge.

A cacher in our area had placed a few caches that ran along a theme. We've all seen it before; a series of light poles, a group on guardrails, maybe several on bridges. This particular theme seemed to be strip clubs. The owner had place three caches at three different clubs. After the wife and I had finished doing all three caches, I wrote this log.

"First Parkway Tropics, then Sensations and now Lady Godiva. Well done! By the way, if you ever need anyone to help you to place your next cache, I would be more than happy to tag along and help you in your research for another location in context with your theme of"... Excuse me one moment.

"What's that Dear?"

"I'm just logging our cache."

"What?"

"Oh no, Dear."

"I wouldn't think of it, Dear."

"Of course, Dear, I understand completely."

"I couldn't agree with you more. It is disgusting."

Me again. I just looked at my schedule. Unfortunately it appears I'm booked solid for quite some time. So forget what I was saying about the research... Thanks anyway.

Now don't you agree with me? Isn't she unreasonable? Unfortunately the owner of the caches moved back to Alabama. He claimed he couldn't take another winter in Michigan. The wife seemed far too pleased about his leaving. I'm not so sure she didn't have a hand in it. As for his series of caches...

Me: "Wasn't that fun?"

By Shrek & Fiona   Sun, Dec 27, 2009

Shrek from team Shrek & Fiona posted a note to do a cache that is not visited very much.  It is on the lonely cache list.

  Two teams (the Balks and Team Raslas) responded that they would be interested in the challenge to go find this cache. We set a meeting time and place and when we got to the area we did not think about the past weather and all the rain we recently had.  To our surprise, the very small creek is now a raging river!  We looked for a place to cross upstream and at that point we thought about giving up before getting started.  We thought about that for about 30 seconds and all agreed to go get this cache one way or another.

   As a group/team we moved downstream looking for a way to get across--but nothing looked promising.  Now it is time to get serious!  Shrek found a dead tree and pushed it over. This will make a good bridge.  The Balks found a down tree, now it is bridge building time.  Our first try it floated away.  Our second try, the Balks' boots got filled with water when he stepped onto our second bridge,  On the third try, two people made it across the makeshift bridge, but after the second person, the bridge fell apart and floated away. Now what are we going to do--2 people on this side of the river and 2 on the other side.  We still have the dead trees that are now floating away so we made our way through the brush to catch up to the trees in the water and retrieve them.  We let them float farther downstream till we got to a narrower spot, but now the river split and there are two to cross.  We lodged one tree and crossed to the next spot.  We did the same with the next dead tree and made our way across.  Then we thought we better pull that one on land so it doesn't float away.

 The four of us are all together again to continue on our way to the cache. A few steps and the ground is all flooded under the tall grass.  We are now an hour into this adventure and our feet are cold and wet.  The water was deep enough to get into our knee high boots but no one was willing to turn back.  So through the wet marshy area we went stumbling and getting more wet.  This went on for another hour.  We are worn out when we finally get out of the wet tall grass area and back onto some hard ground.

 We rested for a couple minutes and thought how foolish this was, but how much fun we were having as a group.  Now for the easy part--into a small wooded area and out the other side to make the find.  We got the cache and signed our names.  A short rest there and then we looked at the fence that was only a few feet away thinking how we could get over that and walk up to the road just a few more feet away.  But then reality set in.  We can't cross that fence because it would put us on the interstate and there was no way anyone would stop and pick up four wet dirty and rough looking geocachers.  We put our back to the fence and our nose into the wind and headed back. It took two hours to make the quarter mile in and one hour to make our way back out stumbling and falling in the tall wet grass, crossing the makeshift bridges and returning to the cars for our group photo, wet and ducking behind open car doors to change out of the wet clothes. Now it was time to refuel our bellies and go home--but wait it was only noon so we couldn't waste the day and headed into the Black River Forest to hit some more but easier caches.

written and submitted by Shrek & Fiona

Sat, Dec 26, 2009

*Editors note: This is the story that was the source of "A Cachers Carol" that appears elsewhere in the magazine. It has remained unpublished until now. The caches described have been archived and the story is no longer a spoiler.... for those caches!

  We had been Geocaching a month or so when a local mystery cache had caught our eye, but it was rated at a 4.5 D/4.5 T so we figured to get some more experience before going for it. Oh! Let's be honest, the logs had scared us off. A previous log spoke of the hardships and medical trauma incurred during the search for this cache which included an infected foot from stepping on something sharp while crossing a scummy pond, a brown recluse spider bite and a hand that was flayed wide open from grabbing a branch during a fall. The log included very graphic photo's of each of these injuries. Very graphic and frightening. Wow! what a bad day caching. After reading the log Vic sent a get well email to the injured cacher.

   Prior logs also spoke of great difficulty solving the puzzle and retrieving the various legs of the multicache. Personally I never could make any sense of the puzzle and soon gave up trying. Vic is better at solving them than I am but she gave up as well. We put this cache on the back burner and in our watch list.

     There is a perversity in human nature that makes us want to show the extremes of our chosen activities. Maybe it is trying to appear more than we are, or the vicarious bravery we have by taking part in those "possibly dangerous" activities. Whenever we spoke about our new hobby to family and friends and there was a computer handy we would show them the logs and photo's for this cache. Yes, we were taking on a high adventure, potentially disastrous, exciting new hobby.

    A week or two later and we had come across a log on another cache that was near a town west of us. It was written by the owner of the local cache we were watching. It was a very long log and we had discovered the fact that longer logs on a cache generally meant a more fulfilling cache experience. Lamp post caches usually get a TFTC but caches that provide adventure got whole paragraphs. This cache had a lot of paragraph logs on it just like the cache in our watchlist.

    His log spoke of a difficult approach to the cache, dragging a fire extinguisher with him. It detailed a water crossing and using the fire extinguisher to remove the leeches from his skin and other tribulations. Right after finding the cache and logging it, he met up with his wife and dog both of whom, not having to obtain the coordinates to the next leg, took an easier path. At this time they were approached by an angry individual of a stereotypical backwoods type, a redneck or as the log calls him "the bubba." bubba had his scattergun with him and was loudly cursing the cachers and ranting about "no one's gonna have no meth labs in my neighborhood!" The cachers tried to explain what they were doing but bubba wouldn't listen saying he was gonna hold em till the law got here. The cacher offered the use of his cell phone to call for them. In the time before the deputies arrived the cachers were getting pretty bold in what they said to bubba considering he kept the shotgun trained on them the whole time. Even the dog showed his disdain by giving a hind leg salute right on bubba's boot.

     With the arrival of the law enforcement officers, the situation was defused with the cachers explaining caching to one officer who had previously heard about it, while the other disarmed and arrested bubba for unlawful incarceration. The log ends with the explanation that they would have to return to testify in bubba's trial.

       Vic and I talk about this one and we really can't picture the cacher, whom we had met, saying what he did while a man held a gun on him. Never know though, what can happen when you are under duress. We also talked about this cache log to family and friends. Yup, this was quite the hobby we were taking part in!

         Several months later, literally out of the blue, I came to the realization that the local cache was not as it seemed. I don't know what triggered the thought but there it was. This was a cache of fabricated logs, cacher's constructions, finder's fiction. In short, this was a "liar's cache."  I laughed out loud and Vic asked what was so funny. When I told her, she just said "noo" with an incredulous look on her face. We had both heard the term liar's cache before but were just at this moment putting it all together in our heads.

  We reread the logs with our new found understanding and yep it was glaring at us. Too many inconsistent details. We were picturing ourselves in conical caps on tall stools in the corner, when after doing a Google search on brown recluse bites, we find the exact photo that was in the log. We find another of the posted pics as well. And Vic had even sent a sympathy email to the "injured" writer of the log!

   I can tell you our mouths were stretched out really wide from being hooked so hard. We looked up the bubba cache as well and sure enough the logs had all the same traits. We had been taken in totally and completely!

    So how did we feel about this? shocked at the deception, relieved our new hobby wasn't that dangerous, wanting to somehow strike back at those who fooled us. Sure, but mostly we laughed at ourselves, letting out a big chuckle whenever we thought about it.

      We had begun placing our "Guardian Series" of caches last autumn. It was a series inspired by the time Vic reached for a cache and grabbed the fur of a snarling, needle toothed, possum that denned up next to the cache. Shortly after that we began to hide our own caches and came up with the Guardian idea featuring animals or insects that could potentially keep someone away from a cache. I had a whole bunch of ideas for containers and I still have several in the series that need to be placed.

         On one of the warmer late winter days when it seemed you just had to get out caching or go nuts, the cache owner of the local liars cache found several of our guardians. His logs said they were nice quirky containers but he wished more ammo cans and regulars would be placed so younger cachers could trade swag.

   We were miffed! We had put all that work into the containers and the cache pages and finding the perfect spots for our cache critters and we're told the containers should have been bigger! Did he not understand our series?

      Well, we calmed down and realized, he was a good, highly respected cacher who was just stating his opinion and a valid one at that. We can take critiscm. There was no need to bear ill feelings, just as he bore none against us. And in that calmer, more serene state of mind we planned our revenge.

   We decided upon a 3 prong attack, a fully coordinated, synchronized assault upon the vulnerable salients of his fortified domicile. Sending in sappers and our elite Guardian insect troops through the front and sides as a diversion while the reptile Guardians would make the main thrust into the rear and overtake the occupants. Then they would know beyond all doubt that not all Guardians can carry ammo cans!! Yet they can still be an effective fighting force in the war on unfound caches!    

   Or

  We could be a bit more subtle and stealthy and advance our cause through the very heart of his opinion. We would place ammo cans. Not just ordinary ammo cans, mind you. A Generic Ammo Can with a message! (Those of you who have read other stories in this column will recognize the "ANNOUNCER."  The following cache description was the first time he made an appearance in my writings.

.................................................................................................

Generic Ammo Can

Read all of the following, out loud, in your best Radio Announcer voice, with enthusiasm! Also read the fine print very quick and monotone.

 The pitch:

    Introducing... The Not another micro in the woods! The 16 gauge industrial steel, built to government spec, stout as a log, alternative to Tupperware. The surprise under the unnatural pile of sticks! The weatherproof, all terrain, keep those trade goods dry .......Generic Ammo Can!!!!  Camouflaged to blend in with its surroundings, it holds a treasure trove of swag in its spacious 461.3 cubic inch interior. Perfect for the family outing!! And talk about your travel bugs, this baby has room for them, keeping them safe and dry in between journeys. Come out for a test find today and see if you don't agree that the Generic Ammo Can is the best caching experience around!

                                              The fine print:

 Taxes, title and license waived, 50 cal version covered with optional camo upgrade, must seek from hidden stock before muggled and archived, thanks to mastercacher  for  this container ,that we won  at the "Geocache the Bluffs" event. Original contents include: children's puzzles, fast food toys, Sacagawea dollar.   Cache description inspired by the thought "How do I sell another Generic Ammo Can?" Please rehide as found, trade even or trade up, please log your visit in a cheerful, fun loving manner. Don't log it was an easy find, of course it is, it's an ammo can under an unnatural pile of sticks in the woods. Coordinates may be Gitchie when the tree cover fills back in. Watch for wildlife of all sorts, enjoy the surroundings, and take some time to appreciate the riparian forest ecosystem. Did you know that Sacagawea lived in this immediate area after the Lewis and Clark journey? Don't listen to, or spread urban legends, no one was ever lynched here and albino's live in houses like you and I, not in trees. Cache in trash out! Unfortunately, the amount of trash dumped here is scary. Help to reclaim this cacher's playground for future generations of cachers to enjoy. Thanks for listening to me ramble and spout, now... go out there and find those caches! Don't you just love this hobby? Wasn't it fun to play announcer and use your big voice like that?

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    So how is that for a retaliatory strike? I had also picked at a few other nits in there, but they don't come into this story. We weren't done there though. We had another guardian (Don't' Worry be Hoppy!) log stating a regular would have been a better choice from this same cacher. This guardian wanted to live under a bridge. The bridge he lived under was over a creek flowing through an urban park. Tough to find unoccupied bridges in this town, the trolls have claimed almost all of them, so he snapped it up. But because of the nearby wooded areas along the banks, let alone the unnatural yet unoccupied, pile of sticks only yards away, I could once again understand the cacher's point of view. So once again we turned to an ammo can to redress this affront to our cache hides. 

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Howdy Neighbor

Hoppy, GC18CY7 was so pleased with the area his guard shack is in that he invited his friend, Howdy, the horse trader,(they can't all be Guardians) to build his cache barn nearby. He took him up on the offer and built a fancy red barn just down the road a piece. There's plenty of room for a trade or two and non-trading visitors are welcome also.
Howdy and Hoppy both, would like to say "Happy Trails to You" as you cache off into the sunset.

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   Subtle, but we felt our point was made. And in a very neighborly un-confrontational manner. Now it might seem that I have wandered off a bit from the beginning where I was talking about a liars cache. Well, just like when I'm out caching I wander some, but eventually get to where I need to be. That don't mean I see the cache, but that I got to where I need to be.

 Time to claim the liars cache and post my final act of revenge upon this outspoken cacher. I had worked several days on my log and felt it had believable details, ok, mostly believable. I had learned a long time ago at work, that if you make something up, do it to the fourth decimal place and it usually won't be questioned. The beginning had a dream sequence that was followed by the fictitious account of my hardships in tackling this challenge. After finding the actual cache and sitting down to log the find, Vic talked me out of posting the dream sequence saying something about burying the hatchet before someone gets hurt. Actually, she didn't like it, plain and simple. She used the hatchet to cut that part out. And I was hurt! What a critic!

And now for the first time in print, the uncut catsnfish Liars Log.

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   Well we finally got around to working the puzzle for this one and after several days and late nights we had it solved. It was too cold and late for the attempt so I called and talked to my nephew about prusik knots because my monkey skills are not what they used to be. A last minute check to make sure all my gear was assembled and off to bed anticipating the effort it would take to get this cache.

         It wasn't long after falling asleep that Wedge woke me up,  whining like she wanted to play with something but couldn't get to it. I'm tempted to go back to sleep but my tummy is rumbling (darn diet) and I figure I would raid the fridge. Going to the kitchen wedge is wagging her tail while looking at the wall, silly dog. Anyway, I have a look in the fridge hoping for some leftover tidbit to tide me over till morning.

   I hear a low wavery "catsnfishhh" and turn to see a spectral figure appearing out of the wall. It seemed to be a man, clothed in khaki, wearing a back pack, and an old ball cap. As the figure became more solid I noticed he was spraying something from a can all over himself and that he was followed by dozens of ammo cans strung together on a chain. Ok the "Christmas Carol" bit, I'll play along. Not recognizing the Marley in front of me I ask "Who are you?" As he replaced the can into his pack he replied "I am the Missing Cacher,  by the way you have termites, can't stand termites ughh, worse than ticks!." O ..K, After he took a moment to bend down and play with wedge and even slipped her a dog biscuit, I said "Can we move this along? I'd like to get back to bed" with a long sigh he began his lecture, "This power trail that I'm lugging behind me are the regular caches I did not place in my life. Too many nanos, key holders, yada yada, you get the picture. You, Catsnfish, have a much longer train of cans since you have never ever placed an ammo can!" "So? " I reply "So Repent! What do you think this dream is about? You'll have the standard three spectral visits to show you the error of your ways." "Gotcha O K uh" I didn't know what to say. "Don't just stand there slack jawed, move, so I can go out the window, I won't go through that wall again, can't stand termites! You will be visited by three..." and his voice trailed off as the ammo cans clunked after him.

   I awoke in my bed and thought 'how strange?' the exterminator was here just last year. Hmm maybe the yogurt I had last night was expired. Darn diet!

   Wedge woke me by nudging her cold nose against my hand. "Ok ok I'll let you out, quit drinking so much before bedtime." She bounded into the other room and when I turned the corner into my living room, I stepped into a bright,  boulder strewn, mountain meadow with butterflies flitting and birds chirping and a cool pleasant breeze swaying the wildflowers like a chorus line. 

   Not 20 yards from me was a slender man, again dressed in khaki, sporting a large white handlebar mustache and pith helmet tipped at a jaunty angle. He was leaning over a five gallon bucket that was tucked in between a couple of large rocks. In one hand was a teddy bear and the other a nalgene bottle. Dropping the bottle into the bucket he replaced the lid, and made sure that it was well sealed.

    Turning to look at me, I addressed him "Are you the Ghost of Caches Past?" "Why, yes I am!" as he bounded over and began shaking my hand. " Catsnfish! It's so jolly good to meet another cacher, there's not many of us you know. Maybe one should create a cache to meet other cachers at? Eh what, yes, yes, that would do! Oh dear!, Wedge, I didn't see you. What?" and he flipped a biscuit towards my dog. Seems we have a character here. Reluctant to turn the mood by getting down to business, I hesitantly ask "Aren't you suppose to show me how things were better in the old days of caching before nano's and bison's?" Taking on a very Charlton Heston type demeanor, he stated "Look around, Son, you've found this cache but the next one is in that valley over there, a good eight hour hike away. On that hike you'll see wondrous sights, a bugling elk, beaver in their ponds, boulders from the dawn of time, even a herd of them bison you asked about. This is adventure for those stout enough to seek it! And treasure, the treasure is right here" he said pointing to the chest of the teddy bear. Now I was confused, should all caches be long hikes in glorious settings and have teddy bears to trade? I asked that and he replied " Listen, Son, the adventure is what you make it to be, whether in a wilderness or a back alley.. the treasure's in your heart and what you take from the experience." Beginning to fade as his message was said, his demeanor changed as the British accent reemerged and he began mumbling as he strode off "who'd want to seek a bison? Bison move around. what? Hmm a moving cache! No, wouldn't last, I dare say, what?" I could hear the faint echo of "Tally Ho the Cache!" as I once again found myself in bed.

      "Yes wedge, who is here this time? Let me guess, another ghost?" Whoda thought that? Tail wagging, she leads me down the hallway. The hallway seems endless and is changing as I walk along. By the time I reach the end it has become a bridge and there is a small roundish person dressed in black, standing at the end of it. "Are you the Ghost of Caches Present?" "Do I look like a ghost? No. I'm the Troll of Caches Present!" I should have known better, ghosts wear khaki. "Take my spare Magellan so we can give you the guidance you need." " I can't I'm a Garmin man!" I  exclaim. "You'll be forgiven that, ..maybe, now take it!" he then rocked a little on his feet and popped off like he had been stuck to the surface. As I am pulled along behind him I catch a glimpse of Wedge snapping up a milkbone.

   All was black until little teeny lights began to glow and fade and glow again all around us. In that glow I came to the realization I was upside down with quite a start." Just keep your feet flat you'll be ok" he said noticing my discomfort. Relaxing a bit  I asked about the lights." Those are blinkies! And my Magellan makes them light up, can your Garmin do that?" "no" I said weakly and he gave out a great big guffaw and said "I wish it could, I'd hunt nano's at night all the time. Nope this is a dream, Catsnfish, and they are glowing to make a point." Ok, feeling better that my Garmin wasn't  technologically inferior, I ask "What's the point?" "Why , that there's a bunch of em! What else?" It's kinda peaceful and pretty watching the blinkies while hanging upside down under a bridge. Looking around, I spot a lonely green glow off to the north and ask if that's the nuclear power plant over that way.  "Hmm" he growls as he pulls a logbook from under his hat and flips through some pages "Let's see, .. here it is, the color code for this dream is... nano's are red, reactors are blue, ammo can's green and so are you! Poof" with that last poof,  he pointed his finger at me and we promptly disappeared .

    Back at home, I hadn't turned green at all, that guy was a real kidder. Between worrying about developing a chartreuse hue and the anticipation of the last and most worrisome of the spectral visitors, there was no way I was going to sleep. Making a pot of coffee and grabbing another yogurt, I settle down to relax, wishing I had a big gooey fudge brownie instead..

   In a short while Wedge, who was at my feet, hopped up and started wagging her tail. Slowly a few people came into view, materializing along with some chairs and bistro tables. There was someone in a uniform writing on a tablet, I think he was taking orders, cause I heard something about a tri tip of bison and a side of bananas or maybe it was I'm tired of bison's and signing damn nano's. Somewhere else I catch "natural carrot sticks" or was it unnatural pile of sticks? Hard to tell when there are so many conversations going on at once.

   I heard the words 'ammo can' and perked up, that's what I'm here for! Down at the far table sat a woman in a red flannel shirt, a fishing vest and boonie hat, looking at a palm pilot in her hand, could this be the Ghost of Caching's Future? She must have carried some influence with the assembled crowd because when she cleared her throat and tapped the palm everyone got quiet. "Welcome Catsnfish! I am the Moderator of the Caching Future topics. Everyone here has an opinion on what caching should be. On what to hide and where it should go. How big it must be and what's a no no. Can't hide in the woods, it must have trade goods! Don't place it too high or make us all lie. Must sign in the log, can't sign if a dog! No bargain buys for FTF prize!"

 The waiter stepped up and she turned to that side " He'll have the house special, cut extra wide."

"Stop it!  Stop it! I say! Knock off the verse before it gets worse. Sheesh, the Breakfast at Moose with Seuss on the Loose? Stop it! I say!"

   Incredulous faces looked toward me, then shifted their gaze to the Moderator. Slowly, the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile.

" Whew! that's better. Thank you, Catsnfish, those Off Topic forum games are addictive! Even for us moderators." As the varied conversations began to renew around us, I was motioned to a seat on her right. "As I was saying, everyone has an opinion of what caching should be. Part of the appeal it has for many cachers is the variety. A steady diet  of ammo cans or nano's for that matter, can be as boring as well,  eating yogurt for every meal. There is room for all types and cachers can go where their preferences take them. How to play is not written in stone. Partly for this reason, it is open to interpretation and opinions. Sometimes the expression of these opinions becomes heated, agitated, and even nasty at times. That's where my job comes in. Keep things civil and the forums can be a great source of new ideas that add to the experience of caching. So remember everyone has an opinion, the right to feel strongly about it and to express it in a civil manner for others to agree or disagree with. Got it?"

"Yeah, I think so."  A big grin lights up my face "I'm right they're wrong, but they're entitled to be wrong and all our post counts go up!"

   With a shrug of her shoulders, the moderator mumbled something about 'job security.'

       Right after my last statement, a turtle brownie, drizzled in goo arrived, as I reach for my fork, everything begins to fade away. Figures, Darn diet! Nooooo!!

   At last the visits are over and I can get some sleep! Hmm, Wedge is gnawing on a big rawhide bone that I've never seen before, "Wedge, did you have anything to do with this?"

She just cocked her head in a quizzical look  and went back to her rawhide, wagging her tail.

    Aah, the day begins, I felt rested and strangely refreshed and ready to tackle this long put off cache. The plan was for me to plunge in and Vicki and Wedge would follow along to pull me out of trouble if need be. (Wedge has done that before, literally) I thought the water crossing was safe, but slipped on the ice and tore up my pants on a rock. I checked for lacerations but it was just bruised and scraped. I kept on going and recovered the clue and did the math. Limped on to the next stage. I tossed the rope over and made it fast and tried to climb, but my knots kept slipping. So Vic called my nephew and described the problem. He told her I had to use a flat webbing not a round rope for the prusik knots. Luckily, Wedge's leash was the retractable type and had plenty of length for my needs. Come to think of it, her pinch collar wrapped around my boots would have kept me from slipping on the ice. Oh well, we learn by adversity, hmm, that might be a good subtitle for this cache. Ok got those coordinates and it's on to the physical cache, I knew there were some nasties protecting it from reading past logs, and I figured I could dash in grab the cache and roll on past it to a safe distance to sign the log, but they must have been huddled up for warmth and left me alone. Good thing because I didn't have a plan to rehide the cache. Well by this time my fingers were so stiff and painful from the cold I had to put them under my armpits to warm up. Finally, able to open the container and maneuver my pencil, I signed the log for catsnfish and wedge the cacher, who, being a dog and leashless came bounding up without any trouble at all. Dropped off Everglades 3 Geocoin. SL. Good luck to the next person foolish enough to try this one.

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And now I expect you're looking for a moral to the story. I think the Ghost of Caching Future pretty much summed it up, that and fight cachers with caches.

In a humorous manner of course! That way we all win.

Fri, Dec 25, 2009

There are some days that they are so beautiful!!! The weather is clean, the sun is shining and you can’t wait to go out for geocaching or a picnic, under the trees, in the nature…

You were probably making plans for this day for a long time ago and you were anxiously waiting this day to come! And… when everything looks great… some strange events makes you realize that this is definitely not your day!!! Everything goes wrong and the hits are coming like waves….

That happened to us one geocaching day too…..

Oh… only God knows how much we wanted to go for geocaching… the last days, were not so good, it was raining. It was windy… so when we saw that this weekend the weather was going to be fine we started making plans!!!

….. Oh… we will go for geocaching, we will change a cache from micro into a regular and then we were going to have a barbeque near the sea… sausages and hotdogs…. Everything was going to be perfect…. or not???

My sister and my brother in law came with their car and took us! We were holding bags etc like we were going on a cruise! 

Everything was so perfect! We decided to go first to find a cache in Prasonisi, which is at the end of Rhodes and change a cache from micro to a normal size (I am co owner of this cache!)! Prasonisi is a small island that is connected with Rhodes with a sand road! Of course during winter, this road is not always above water!!! Many times the island is not connected! The stream there is quite strong and in older times accidents happen there, so….

When we went there we saw that it was impossible to pass the road and go to Prasonisi! The sand road was under water and we were not dressed properly to pass…

So… we decided to go back to an area some kilometers back, where a cache was! We wanted to find it quickly and then to eat near the sea…

Our parents couldn’t follow because the place was rocky, but they had no problem at all! My mother saw that the area was clean and that she could relax, see the beautiful view, and maybe collect some snails!

Oh yes! She loves to eat snails!!! Hmm… I do not!!! 

It was not summer anymore, so we had to hurry! We started our way and some meters away we realized that the area was a snail paradise!!! WOW!!! Ok, we couldn’t stop geocaching for them, but we were collecting all the snails that were ok, in our way!

Of course we were following the red spots the area had, marking the way! The owners of the cache had done this to help the cachers to find the way!

There were some goats there guarding the area! They looked surprised to see us there!

My brother in law started telling us to hurry up a little… collecting snails may take more time than you can imagine!!! Anyway… we came in the area where the cache was…. But.. Where was the cache??? We started searching the caves there because the hint was saying that it was hidden in a small cave! My brother in law, walk a little farther, and he continued to see red spots…. I knew that the geocachers who placed the cache there continued their way but… I started having thoughts that we were searching the wrong place… but… the stone arch that was in the cache area was there… the GPS was saying that we were in the destination…..

We started searching and searching but the only thing we could see was snails! 

We climbed on rocks, we went close to the edge of the rocks (it was tall enough and the cliff ended in a rocky area in the sea!!) Unfortunately we couldn’t find it and we realized that the sun was leaving! Night was coming!!! WOW! We were away for too long!!! We started our way back disappointed for the DNF, and we were so hungry… Cold or the moisture started falling and we were talking about my parents… oh… they will be worried and hungry too!! I was saying… how we will eat now? If night falls…. Well there was some light left, so if we were in a hurry… we could eat….

After some time my brother in law turned to us with fear in his eyes!!!!

- Where is my mobile phone???

- Where did you have it??? Isn’t there???

My brother in law made a mistake! He had his mobile hanging from the belt of his banana bag (the bad we wear around our waist…)

Oh and where the mobile phone had fallen???? Why he didn’t put the phone in the bag??? Questions like that were coming in our minds but we did not expect any answers…..

My brother in law wanted to go back but it was late enough! He asked if we could call his number so we could hear the ring…. Then we realized some unexpected things…. My sister didn’t have her mobile phone with her, she had forgotten it at home, and my mobile phone had low battery!!!!! Well… at least did we have any flash lights??? Nope!!!!

We decided to go to the car and see because my brother in law said that the mobile may had forgotten inside!

On our way back, I found a relic of WWII! It was an iron head of a mortar shell! WOW! I picked it up for my millitaria collection! It was not something dangerous so it was ok! It was quite heavy!!!

When we reached the car it was almost dark! Our parents were so worried…. They asked us what happen and we told them the whole thing!

Nothing was in the car, so we had to see what to do!!! It was dark, it was cold and we saw that heavy clouds were coming in the area!!! Oh boy…. If it started raining…. The mobile was going to die!!! Ok, it was in a leather mobile case, but the water….

So… everyone decided to go back home, take jackets, mobile phones, flashlights etc, and come back! There was no time to eat now! Even if we were starving, we had to rescue the mobile phone first! After all… it was a very expensive one!!!!!

We reached home and we started our preparations! We left my mother at home at least to cook something for later, and we left to go back! Me, my brother in law, my sister, and my father who brought a strong flashlight and his mobile phone too!

On our way it started raining!!! What a heavy rain!!!!

My brother in law was desperate! He was saying to go back and forget the mobile phone, but we insisted!!! We brought the car as close as possible, from another road, and we were waiting for the rain to pass! The area was very dangerous to go at night, so it was extremely dangerous to go with or after a rain!!!! When we reached the area we had left the car the first time, it was raining cats and dogs! We couldn’t see clearly, so we decided to wait until the rain stops!

While we were waiting in the car, we made our plan…. Me and my brother in law were going to search for the mobile phone, and.. My sister and my father would stay in the car and my sister would call my brother in law's phone number so we can hear it if we were close! Since the mobile was dark colored and…in black leather case…..

There was a little problem with that….

Ok, my brother’s in law mobile battery was full, but…. With all that rain…. The mobile phone might not work anymore….

Well. We didn’t have any other choice… did we?

After about half an hour, the rain stopped! It was time to move…time to go and find this mobile phone!

We put our jackets (it was cold after the rain), we opened our flash lights and left the car! WOW! During night, the area looked so different!!! Because of the rain it was very slippery too! One wrong step on the rocks…

My sister was calling the number all the time and we were trying to hear the mobile ringing! I hoped that it was somewhere close!

Snails were everywhere now! Everything was wet, there was no sunlight, so it was the best time for them to come out and eat! We couldn’t avoid all of them when we were walking… I still remember the sound of their shell breaking because we stepped on them!

We took a path but after a while we realized that it was a wrong one! Instead of going to the arch, we were going up on a mountain! So, we went back and started again, and this time we were on the right path!

We passed a wire fence and after some time we had to climb down a little… there, I slipped on a rock! I didn’t fell but from that time my anklebone was hurting me….

Where we started seeing the arch we heard a strange noise… a song!!! Oh boy!!! It was the ring tone of the mobile phone!!! We went quickly to the area we were hearing the song louder and YES!!!! The mobile phone was about 30 meters away from the place we first heard the ring tone! It was close to a rock, and that actually saved it!!!

There were only 2 – 3 drops of water on the case!!! WOW!!! We were lucky!!!

My brother in law was so happy! He took it in his hands and thanked God!!! He saw that the battery was running low! After so many calls from my sister (counted more than 100!!!) the battery had only one line….

At that time the phone started ringing again! My sister didn’t know that we found it so she was still trying…. 

My brother in law answered it but he changed his voice! My sister didn’t recognize him and when she asked who was answering the call, my brother in law told her….. “It’s me… the goat from the mountain!”!!! My sister was a little shocked but after some seconds of silence, she started laughing! We were all so happy!!!!

Now we could go and eat!!!! 

On our way back, I had once again a small accident! Jesus… Why all these things happen to me????

The area was full of wire fences, but one of them was so strange… it was tall like it was not there to keep animals out, but humans!!! I didn’t see it in the night and I fell on it! The wire with the iron thorns was on my throat but didn’t hurt me… thank God!!!

We were close to the car when we realized that the sky was clean!!!! Clean??? So it rained only to make things harder???? Hmmmmm……

In our home, my mother prepared food to eat! My sister called her from the car and told her the whole story! Yammies!!!! Plates with spaghetti were waiting us on the table!!!! We ate so quickly!!! We were starving….

I took a shower and then I opened my PC to se if I had any emails and to log the DNF! We were not feeling ok with that and we agreed to go back the next Sunday! This time we were going earlier to find the cache!!! 

The owners saw my log and helped a little with the hint photo! We were waiting the days to pass and Sunday came! This time nothing was going to stop us!!! We went in the area and we found the cache quickly!!! ….Yes!!! We collected some snails again!!! 

This time things were different! We had time to eat and relax after geocaching, in the area near the sea…! 

Now that all these passed, we remember them and laugh…. WOW!! What a day!!! Hey… we went there at night?? …does this considered to be night caching??? 

This game is so fascinating and all you can have adventures all the time….but… isn’t that the salt of life??  After all… everything that is valuable…hurts and is difficult….

Sat, Dec 19, 2009

You know how it is. You've been cooped up most of the winter. Caching is almost nonexistent because deep snow has made it almost impossible to find anything. Then spring comes and you get these deceivingly nice days. The sun comes out, the snow recedes to a few inches and right away you get antsy to go try your luck. That's exactly what we foolishly did.

Me: "There's a five-stage multi with a bonus cache off Cascade Rd we could do."

Wife: "I like multis, let's do it."

Off we go. We arrive to the park and start on our quest. The first stage is under a boardwalk in a swampy area.

Me: "Okay, give me the mirror."

Wife: "Oh, did you need it? I was primping on the way here and left it in the car. If you want I can try to lay on the boardwalk and lean over to see the cords. Of course my back isn't as good as yours seeing I had the operation and..."

Me: "All right, all right, I'll do it."

There was still plenty of snow on the walk so my clothes were getting wet. I'm not sure if the wife was listening, she says I don't speak clearly, but after repeating the numbers to her many times we finally had the coords right. Of course my head was dipping into the water which added to my enjoyment.

Wife: "Sometimes you can be so testy."

Me: "Just give me some more of your tissues so I can dry my head."

Wife: "Don't use them all I'll need them."

The second stage was uneventful so off we go to the third. The third stage was a fairly quick find for the wife. The fourth stage was very difficult. We were about to give up when the wife made the find.

Wife: "There it is. How could I have missed that?"

Me: "Maybe because you had us looking in the wrong area. You had the GPS and we were looking way over there."

Wife: "Its not my fault you're too cheap to get a better one."

We use an E-Trex we got from Marlboro when we used to smoke. It had sat in the drawer for a few years because I couldn't figure out how to use it. Those instruction manuals can be very confusing. Finally someone at work introduced me to geocaching and showed me how to use the GPS. It has worked well, even though I have to admit it can be temperamental at times.

Me: "This one works fine. By the way there's another cache by this stage. It should be a quick grab."

We put in the coords and looked for about an hour.

Me: "I don't know who found this last but I don't think they wanted anyone else to find it. I think they took a shovel and buried it."

Wife: "Here it is. That was sure hidden well."

Me: "Good now let's go to the final of the multi."

Wife: "The GPS is pointing right down there. You go that way and I'll go this way. That way we'll cover more ground."

Me: "Good idea."

I'm not saying it was deliberate but she did make the find awfully quickly.

Wife: "Here it is. Let's get the coords to the bonus."

We get to the location of the bonus and it doesn't make any sense. There doesn't appear to be anywhere to hide a cache. Finally we uncover the mico.

Me: "Didn't you read the cache page on the Palm? This must be a multi."

Wife: "You told me it was a quick grab bonus so I didn't bother because I thought you knew what you were talking about. I'll know better in the future."

We find the first stage and grab the coords to the final. The coords led us to a path which meandered between two swampy areas. When we arrive at the final I didn‘t like where this was leading us.

Wife: "It's pointing out there."

Me: "You surely don't expect me to walk out on that log over the swamp, do you?"

Wife: "Sometimes you're such a baby. What are you afraid of? If it wasn't for the fact that I walk with a cane, I'd do it myself. That log is wide enough to ride a bike across. We're here now, and I know the cache is right over there on the end. Quit your crying and go get it."

Me: "Alright, but I just know this is a bad idea."

I work my way across without incident and find the cache right away.

Me: "You were right. Here it is."

I signed the log and started my way back. Have you ever noticed how you can have just walked on a log and it seems sturdy and safe with no hint of danger? I think it is luring you to become careless. I hadn't noticed that the bark was about to fall off at the slightest touch but sure enough that's exactly what it did. Even though this was the nicest day we have had all spring, I found it difficult to enjoy the weather soaked from head to toe with muddy swamp water. I looked up to see the wife howling.

Me: "I told you this was a bad idea. What's so funny? This is not humorous."

Wife: "It is from over here."

Even walking with a cane she can move pretty fast. She easily beat me back to the car with me hot after her. It took a while to convince her to unlock the doors but when she saw I was no longer red hot but more deep blue from the cold she relented. In the car on the way home.

Wife: "You're taking those clothes off in the garage. Wasn't that fun?"

By TheAlabamaRambler   Wed, Dec 09, 2009

Here's a nice article on planning your geocaching using Google Earth. Locations aren't accurate enough for actually finding them, you'll still need a GPS for that!

http://www.ehow.com/how_5724808_locate-geocaches-using-google-earth.html

Sat, Dec 05, 2009

Thanksgiving week is usually my chance to go on a solo trip somewhere and get away from civilisation for a while.

I've gotten back into the habit after a bloc of years where I was prevented going away for a week from work, even if 2 of the days were given as vacation.

Last year was Death Valley, one of the great wonders of the west. There were a few Virtuals still maintained there and one traditional which was archived shortly after my trip because someone noticed that it was now within the expanded park boundaries.

This year was 6 nights camping at the Grand Canyon, with 3 nights in the canyon itself. The first full day I hit several of the Virtuals along the South Rim as I prepared to venture below the rim on the third day. The Virtuals were quite interesting there, in particular GCF17A - Peace on the Rim, what some park employees did in the line of maintenance in the late 60's.

GCAF3E - Grand Canyon Explorers required reading a memorial which most people just walk around or are photographed in front of. GCF1BC - Abyss Disk was quite novel, while GCF1C0 - Trail's End Rest passed on a nugget of information I was unaware of. The big game I was after, though, lay below the rim.

9:30 Tuesday morning, with 20 Kilos of gear on my back I set off down the South Kaibab Trail into the canyon for 2 nights at Bright Angel campground and 1 night midway up Bright Angel Trail at Indian Garden before emerging from the canyon Friday afternoon. The weather was clear and I had my camera to take photos for memories and Virtual cache requirements along the way, though a smaller camera will be part of the gear next time. The Nikon D70s was quite the nuisance to extract from my fanny-pack and then replace.

The first day I needed photos of myself at two locations (for GCFA7D South Kaibab to Bright Angel) along the South Kaibab trail as I descended into a realm of sandstone mostly ever seen from above. It's quite a different experience being down among the monuments of the abyss, trekking beside, around and below as the sun moved across the sky, changing the play of light in this surreal land.

By 3:00 PM I was 4,700 feet down and across the Colorado River, wedging my pack from my protesting shoulders. A lighter, more compressable sleeping bag is also on the agenda for the next big hike. The tent was more than sufficient but not overly heavy. I had packed well and my meals were enough to propell me around, without running out of steam, (though by the end of the trip I could feel that the canyon and gravity had worked on me, making me more fit than when I had started the trip.)

With camp set up and thoroughly knackered I went off for what seemed to be short walk to find GC5F1 - GCNP Bright Angel. The walk turned into a mini hike as I crossed the second bridge, the Silver Bridge (having crossed the Black Bridge on the last leg of the South Kaibab Trail) and proceeded along the River Trail to where it turned into the Bright Angel Trail to find the cache at a neat location, just across one of the creeks pouring into the Colorado. The walk back was facing light disappearing from the upper reaches of Zoroaster and Brahma temples, an amazing sight.

Wednesday was leisurely, late breakfast and stretching out the tired and sore muscles around Phantom Ranch, with a couple more photos for GCFA7D (whatever was supposed to be on the ground I just don't know, unless it was supposed to be mule poo, which could have been taken just about anywhere along the trails but here.) Mule deer were everywhere and food needed to be stored securely to prevent unwelcome ventilation of tent and/or backpack. Relaxing in the afternoon sun on the beach on the north shore of the Colorado I accepted the donation of a few Oreos from a river rafting expedition and enjoyed the warmth of the lower canyon.

Wednesday also included meeting many of my fellow hikers - brothers and sisters on this less traveled road - and sharing tales of the hike, explanations of geocaching and attending a couple Ranger talks. Ranger Mandi Toy first talked of the California Condor population living in the Grand Canyon, to provide a separate population to carry on the species should some contagious and deadly disease wipe out those living in California. After this I would keep an eye out for very large black birds with numbers on their wings (though mostly I only saw ravens.) The second talk by Ranger Toy was on the Harvey Girls, young women hired by Fred Harvey to work at his chain of high quality dining houses along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. Afterwards, with the assistance of a UV flashlight we saw a few young Bark Scorpions prowling rocks in the dark. Quite fascinating.

The two virtuals down by the river GCB609 - Grand Canyon Techno Trivia & GCGB0K - GCNP Rees' Tragedy were easily logged, if a bit somblerly for the latter. If life with a symthetic backpack on, with lightweight materials and packaged food seems difficult, it behooved the backcountry hiker to consider what life was like 80 or more years back.

Thursday morning came too soon and camp was up and on my back as I made my way about 1,500 feet up from the river, through Devil's Corkscrew, into Indian Garden. Camp set up and the mandatory photo at the sign for the GCFA7D cache and I was off to Plateau Point along perhaps the most visible trail from the South Rim. The net distance from where I had camped the night before was only 0.6 miles as the raven flies and 1,500 feet vertical, but the views spoke louder than numbers. It's a highly recommended visit about sunset for the reason of the spectacular views.

Overnight temperatures were a bit cooler and the wildlife was even more eager to share in my evening's repast. Considering the golden color of the cottonwood leaves, Winter was about to pound on the door and every last minute bit might help.

Friday morning arrived as a touch of grim reality. I hadn't much trouble with the 1,500 foot climb the day before, but this push would be over 3,000 feet up with a mostly still full pack. One virtual to acomplish about half way, while hiking switchbacks in the shade. The shade with its 40 degree temperatures is a mercy for hiking back up to the rim. I was wearing only a polypropylene shirt and fleece jacket and was quite warm. About 3 mile ??house?? I was encountering the casual day hikers who want to scamper a ways down the trail for a better view, without considering how far back up they would be going. It's a bit despairing to see people going down the trail in sneakers, carrying a sack of junk food and a tiny bottle of water or soda. Many of them will suffer on the way back up and never want to do it again, and will only hold memories of how they narrowly avoided grim death-by-extreme-chafing from their blue jeans.

I did better than I thought and emerged at the Bright Angel Trailhead at about 2 PM. A helpful tourist snapped a few pictures of me to help complete GCFA7D and I was on my way to setting up the tent for the final night, and a hot shower and dinner at the cafeteria in the market plaza.

The only down-side of the whole experience came this night as I tried to sleep after the rigors of extracting myself and belongings from the canyon and was kept awake until midnight by people in the campground with too much beer and too little sense.

All in all, it was a good trip and a lot of fun. The caches were the icing on the cake. I'd love to do it again and already am scheming to go again next year.

Sat, Dec 05, 2009

It was our first cache in a while and while it was exciting to try and find one that was both near our homestead and in the beautiful Rothrock State Forest near central PA, I was slightly hindered by the fact that there seemed to be no possible trails leading to it. Since I normally fail at reading the description and just want to get to the juicy part (the cache!) I missed the right of way there. Instead I looked at an old map of mine and took the most undesirable path to the the stash. A steeply inclined path leading strait up the slightly exposed side of the mountain.

Unaware as I drove I arrived at the parking lot which was quite full, obviously because it was a Saturday football weekend. I walked along a pavement path, bordering the water reservoir. I made an immediate right onto a thick tree that had fallen over the small creek (picture). I knew this was a path, since blue blazes were on the trees surrounding. For on tenth of a mile I followed the pristine creek, before jumping left onto a dried up creekbed. It was on my map so I wasn't being stupid, or so I thought. Then there it was, the demon trail.

It loomed over us like those two hippies sitting right next to it. God only knows what they were smoking. Within seconds I had lost the trail and I scrambled through the rhodedendron. The ground was moist and the blazes disappeared. I was on hands and knees with only one direction in mind: up. For about ten minutes I was surrounded. I know it dosn't sound long, but It showed me what I would develop. I finally advanced through the foliage to be greeted with a view 100 feet above the forest floor. The only thing that separated me from it was a few feet and a sheer drop. Blazes reappeared, I stubbornly followed them. Yet even as I went up the trail, it did not back away and the view just became higher and higher. It turned from a sheer drop to a bunch of sheer drops with little flat areas in between. Ouch, that would hurt. In the final climax the trail turned near vertical over 225 feet above the trees. One missed step and I was a goner. I then took a look at my GPS at what I would call the pinnacle. One huge rock jutting 30 feet out of the mountain. Another half mile to the cache. That half mile was pretty uneventful as I walked the ridge with views into the valley. After finding the cache I realized that it's not the cache, it's the places you visit, that make the fun.

By topgun117   Sat, Dec 05, 2009

I got into caching in 2006, just before my son was born.  I saw an article about it in the local paper and had never heard of it.  It sounded like good family fun and sure enough, it has been.  At the time, I was in my first rotation as a detective at the local police department.  About a year later I was back on uniformed patrol.

I've introduced several officers to caching and my best caching friend caught on like fire, very rapidly passing me up in finds.  We used to go out on foot patrol, when there was a serious lull in activity of course, and grab the caches in the city limits.  It was great cover, after all, who is going to go up to the police and ask, "What are you looking for?"

After knowing where the caches were, I would always be on the lookout for any fellow cachers, but, since I worked at night, finding them was rare.

On one occasion, there was a cleverly disguised newly posted cache that I had just found a few days before.  I was on patrol and saw a couple near ground zero.  "Could they be?" I wondered.  Then I saw the male make the non-chalant grab of the "container."  Yes!  Finally!

I drove my black and white up near them, put on my rear warning lights and put on my stern "what are you doing?" cop face.  I got out of the patrol car, maintaining eye contact and began walking towards them.  They looked at me and I could see in their eyes they were trying to think of what to say.  In my commanding cop voice, I said, "Excuse me!"  Then, I broke into a smile and very happily said, "Is this a great cache or what!"  The relief on their face was totally worth it. 

It was great to meet the folks.  We spent a good 15 minutes talking about local caches and they even invited me to join them on their next hunt.  Since it was a little busy, I couldn't, but I apologized for scaring them and was happy to meet them. 

Next time your caching and the law walks up, just remember, he could be a cacher too!

Cache Safe

TopGun117

Tue, Aug 18, 2009

Sat, Aug 15, 2009

Geocache GC1W53Y Bat Cave Cache

August 9th, 2009

Here is my latest pieced-together geocaching video. I had to cut out a few sections because I was over the time limit for YouTube.

The round-trip hike is about 3 miles if you go to Beaver Creek and back to Hauser Dam. It’s a nice workout but nothing too strenuous if you’re in relatively good shape. The hike goes along the Missouri River and lots of people head to this area for some blue-ribbon trout fishing.

During the August month, Kokanee Salmon migrate to the Dam where they spawn, lay their eggs and die. The Osprey are heavy in the area during this time because it’s a feast, along with Bald Eagles. If you’re lucky you’ll catch a glimpse of Mountain Goats. Plenty of deer in the area and lots of bird-watching and small critters scampering around.

I really enjoy hiking out here and many times I just hike along the river because I love the sounds and the scenery. Cache Across America is also located along this hike and is the toughest cache to get to because of all the boulder/rock climbing.

I know I enjoyed getting out and spending time with Mother Nature, I hope your weekend was pleasurable also.

Enjoy the video ;)  tsun

By TheAlabamaRambler   Wed, Aug 27, 2008

By TheAlabamaRambler   Sun, Jul 27, 2008

By TheAlabamaRambler   Fri, Jul 11, 2008

By TheAlabamaRambler   Sun, Apr 20, 2008

This is YOUR free magazine, created as a gift to the geocaching community to provide you entertainment and enlightenment. The Online Geocacher is an online medium for geocachers to publish all things geocaching. The Online Geocacher is everything you wish to make it but only what you make of it... submit content and it will thrive!

It is up to you, the geocaching community member, to provide the content!

Who? Me? You talkin' to me?

Yes! We're talking to you! The impetus for this magazine came from a topic on the forums of geocaching.com wherein several geocachers expressed a desire for a geocaching magazine. There have been and still are several attempts to create such a magazine. This magazine is provided to the geocaching community not to compete but to present a free alternative. Choice is good. This is but one.

The basic concept here is that we will provide the magazine structure, editing and management - Geocachers who wish for there to be such a magazine as this will provide the content.

For that to work YOU have to be willing to write something and submit it to this magazine.

Yes, your stories and experiences are important. People want to read them! You do not have to be 'a writer', anyone can tell a story. If you want help with your writing, we will be glad to provide whatever level of help you desire. If you want your story told in your words, that's fine too.

When we say that this is YOUR magazine we mean it literally and personally... without your input we have nothing. Write something, anything, and my bet is that you will enjoy the experience so well that you will continue to do so! Before long you will have a readership eager for your stories... Voila! You ARE a writer!

Well... "Write something" is a pretty broad request, can you be more specific? No. Write about whatever is on your mind! I know that doesn't help much, but it goes to the heart and spirit of what this magazine is all about... geocacher's stories and content. The volunteer staff of The Online Geocacher stands ready to help you develop your content, but we do not want to guide the magazine in our direction... we want you to take it in yours!

Sun, Nov 29, 2009

Mon, Nov 30, 2009

We enjoy doing multi caches.  Sometimes we will skip light pole caches but seldom do we pass on a multi.  We had been in Edmore Michigan and we were headed south on I-90.  Little did we know what evil lay before us.
 
Me:  "There's a multi just ahead we could do."

Wife:  "I'll check it out on the Palm and load the coords."

When we got to the first stage I was nervous because I had been stung by bees twice in the past and sure enough there were bees in the area.  After a short search I was able to see the stage and there were no bees on it.  I got the coords to the second stage and loaded them into the GPS.  At the second stage things got tense.  The coords brought us to a small trashy wooded area.  After a lengthy search we could find nothing.  Finally the wife could take no more.

Wife:  "Are you sure you loaded the coords right?"

Back to the first stage.  Yep, the coords are right.  We went back to the second stage and found the "not here" fake but not the coords for the third stage.  I was getting tired of rummaging around so I sat down on a rock to rest while the wife continued to search through the trash.  My hand bumped into something which moved.  I naturally thought was a vicious animal of some kind so I jumped away.  As I was running to safety, I looked back to see what peril was behind me.  To my surprise I saw the coords for the third stage.  After my heart settled down to a safe range, I called to the wife.
 
Me:  "Here it is."

Wife:  "How on earth did you find that?"

Me:  "I guess its my "never say die" attitude."

I hate it when she looks at me like that.  I can't exactly describe it but its not a "my hero" look.  At the third stage there was nothing again.  Obviously it had been muggled.  I was hot and tired so I found something to lean against and suddenly by some miracle the stage appeared in my hand.

Me:  "I've got it."

Wife:  "What a clever hide.  I can't believe you figured it out."

I ignored her jealous barb and moved on to the fourth stage.  Again there was nothing.  I put my hand against the sign and something poked me.
 
Me:  "I think I have something.  Yes, this is it.  What do you know."

Wife:  "How could such a dimwitted...never mind."

I felt the need to defend the owner against this kind of ridicule.

Me:  "I think you are being unfair.  This owner is actually very creative."

Wife:  "That's what you thought I meant?"

We drove to the final.  Since I had found the first four stages I was feeling a little playful.  

Me:  "You might want to wait in the car.  I'll quick find this and be right back."

Wife:  "Give me that GPS."

She yanked the GPS out of my hands, stormed out of the car, and raced to the cache.  She beat me to ground zero and made the find before I had a chance.  Not very sporting of her I thought.

As we drove away from this very well done multi...

Wife:  "I knew you couldn't find the whole thing without me.  Now, wasn't that fun?"

By MrsB of the Blorenges   Sat, Nov 21, 2009

 
You know how it is when you’ve had a cache on your Watchlist for years, you’ve been enjoying reading the logs from other cachers who’ve been there, fallen in, got bruised, got scared, got wet, done it and got the T shirt? And you say to yourself, “That looks fun… must do that one day” but you don’t actually do anything about it? Then what happens is some cacher who’s a bigger nutter than you suddenly bounces into the local forum and puts up a topic calling all those interested to arms, to tackle the cache and… suddenly… you can’t come up with any let-out clause why you can’t do it and there’s that little voice still muttering “That looks fun.”? 

 
 
The river Severn flows from its birth springs in the Welsh mountains, meanders down the west side of England and finally after 220 miles it flows out to meet the sea in the Bristol Channel and joyously drops its load of river mud along the way: It was this alluvial silt which we were soon to become closely acquainted with. The river is also famous for having the second highest tides in the world and at times of the Spring and Neap tides the difference between the high and low water is approximately 40ft. This truly is a boring fact because the Severn has a well-known river bore (Earth cache GCN6EP) and many visitors come to view the Severn bore wave, the more intrepid ones canoe and surf on its crest as it heads north-east up the estuary.
 
 
So we (that’s us Blorenges plus an assortment of other caching friends from south Wales and nearby) ended up on the banks of the river Severn estuary, where it flows into the Bristol Channel, ready to tackle “Flotsam and Jetsam extreme” GC15J1D – After all, what else would anyone want to do on a pleasantly mild Sunday afternoon other than spend several hours wading through mud? The tide tables had been checked… and checked again… and we were all in fluorescent Hi-Vis vests (as advised by the local Coastguards). Our first task was to get down the slippery slope of the river embankment onto the rocks and pebbles – some managed to fall at this first hurdle – then shoes were removed and it was time to experience the full gloopiness of what we were going to walk through. It had an excess of gloopiness: the mud was dark grey and very slippery and varied in depth from 3” to 12” and more if you happened to wander off the recommended track. Once it was past your knees then that was the clue that maybe you should re-trace a few paces and take a slightly different bearing.

 
Using various techniques to keep upright (walking pole/flailing arms/clutching another cacher) we all made it to the first waypoint about a third of a mile out to the water’s edge. Then we had to walk along parallel to the shore for a quarter mile to locate the next waypoint and take some photos. Then the real fun started…

Various small streams flow off the land into the river and where this occurs they form their own mini river valleys across the mud. Here the mud depth gets deeper and the cache owner had carefully contrived this cache so that we had to cross one of these mud valleys. Thanks, FollowMeChaps ;-) By this point most of us had fallen or slipped and were muddy to lower thigh anyway so with great gusto we… well… some of us stood back and waited for the taller and longer-legged members of the group to scout ahead and decide on our best method of attack. Once a couple of the guys were across and we were happy that the mud the other side was OK (none of them had disappeared up to armpits) another planted himself firmly in the bottom of the stream so that the rest of us could use him as a ‘rock’ to pull ourselves through the mud and water and then the others hauled us up the opposite bank.

Onwards to the final objective – the wrecks! (Not us lot… nautical rusty hulks)
During the Second World War a couple of old barges were sunk in the Bristol Channel to be used for artillery practice and we had to get to the remains and answer a few questions to collect the vital numbers. We squelched our way onwards, following the waterline for what seemed ages, passing bits of rusty iron, some unidentifiable, others still retaining the shapes of old artillery shells. After about three quarters of a mile (and an hour and a half of plodding from our starting point) we made it to the heaps of twisted, rusting iron and pulled on our beach shoes to give some protection from the surrounding rocks and general debris. There followed some cautious exploration around the wrecks and we were also glad of the opportunity to sit down for a break, enjoy our drinks and some fruity finger bars kindly provided by cachers Write&Mane. While viewing the riverbank half a mile away and then gazing westwards towards the mouth of the channel and the Atlantic Ocean I reminded myself of the chilling thought that in 6 hours the sea would be back and where we were resting would be under 40 foot of water.

 
After half an hour we were armed with the required figures and started the slow trudge back, accompanied now by the cache owner, who had come out to meet our group and spurred us on the last leg back to the shore.  Well muddied now, from toes to thighs (river mud migrates upwards) and with random splodges of greyness all over us, we scrambled inelegantly over the last lines of rocky pebbles and regained the river embankment. After washing off some of the surplus mud in convenient pools we all ambled off to find the final cache location which was back along the river bank towards where the vehicles had been parked, about a mile away. With great satisfaction the ammo can was uncovered, the log book signed, items swapped and signature items dropped. This was a great caching experience for us all – Some caches benefit from being tackled in a group and I feel that this was such a cache. Everyone had a laugh, we all supported each other… sometimes literally. Some caches will always linger in the mind – in this case, fond memories of “Mud, mud, glorious mud!”
 
Thanks to the south Wales geocachers for their company on this adventure and their great selection of photographs.

Fri, Nov 20, 2009

I started caching a few years ago.  The wife thought it was a stupid waste of time so she stayed home.  After I had found around ten I told her how much fun it was and suggested she try it once.  I would live to regret my indiscretion.  Now all she wants to do is go caching.  To give you an example I relate the following story:

We had been cooped up for a few days because of relentless rain.  It got to the point the wife could stand it no longer.  I finally succumbed to her pleading and off we went.  We should not have been out on a day like this.  The rain had been falling off and on most of the day.
 
I found a place on the map where there were some caches close to the road.  After we arrived in the area we found a few caches but not without getting very wet.  There was one more we wanted to try before we headed home.  By now the rain had decided we were too dry and wanted to correct this by really soaking anything stupid enough to be outside.  The wipers were going full blast but were losing the battle. We had a hard time seeing as we approached GZ.  I found a spot to pull over on Northland Dr. but I was still one hundred feet from the cache.

Me:  "I guess that does it."

Wife:  "You're not going to get it?"

Me:  "Are you kidding?  It's a monsoon out there.  Why don‘t you get it?"

Wife:  "With my arthritis?  Why is it you only think of yourself.  I can't believe you would let a little rain stop you.  We drove all this way and now you only have to walk a few feet.  Its not as though you're made of sugar and will melt.  Don't be such a baby and go get it."

Me:  "All right, all right, where's the umbrella?"

Wife:  "I didn't bring it.  It is so windy it wouldn't be any help."

Me:  "Good thinking.  I guess my spring jacket and hat will give me all the protection I need."

Wife:  "Quit crying and go.  The rain is letting up so stop whining."

I had to admit the rain had gone from a  monsoon to only a downpour.  I got out of the car and started across the gully to the trail.  I had to walk carefully, choosing high spots to try to stay out of the swamp that had developed.  Of course I did not choose wisely and the water filled my shoes.  I got to the cache and naturally walked past it.  The rain had been watching to see if I would be silly enough to leave the safety of the car.  I could almost hear it chuckle as it unleashed its fury.  After sliding around in the mud for a while I made the find.  I raced back to the car.  My jacket and hat were soaked so I thought I had better throw them in the back of the Vibe.  Unfortunately the wife had seen a suspicious-looking car go by so naturally she locked the doors.  My beating on the widows to get her attention only frightened her more.  She explained later that it was raining so hard she wasn't sure it was me and she wasn‘t about to open the doors to a raving madman.  When she finally did recognize me it was a terrible inconvenience for the her to unlock the doors because, after all, she was doing her nails.

Wife:  "Did you find it?

Me:  "That's it were going home."

Wife:  "Sometimes you're not much fun."

She was quiet on the way home until we drove past the multi we had found earlier.  I knew I had to say something to smooth things over or it was going to be a long night.  

Me:  "That was a good find you made on the third stage of the multi."

The rest of the way home I listened to her explaining how she had  been able to figure out where it was hidden.  When she finished she said...

Wife:  "Wasn't that fun?"

Thu, Nov 12, 2009

By Kabuthunk   Wed, Nov 11, 2009

It's been way too long since I last posted a story, so here's an interesting tale that came about this summer:
 
Today I had quite the agenda planned.  It was June 14th 2009, and I had planned on attempting to beat my old single-day record for number of caches found.  Now, given my previous record was a paltry 12 caches, this is still a fairly large number for myself.  Regardless, I figured one of the best places to do this would be a large, provincial park near the city.  Heading out in the morning with my bike in the car, I soon made my way over to Bird's Hill Park and unloaded my gear.  Once I had the bike and backpack ready, I was prepared to begin.
 
Most of the day went my fairly smoothly, finding a relatively uneventful 12 caches and one DNF before getting to the cache that decided to test my endurance a little bit.  Having just biked somewhere in the ballpark of 14 kilometers to get the earlier caches, I was understandably a bit tired, having been somewhat out of shape from not having done as much biking this year.  However, determined to defeat my old record, I continued onward.
 
I had just finished finding the nearby geocache, and found that my next goal was sitting to the Northeast about 500 meters.  Not bad, not bad, I thought.  I should be able to snag this one and then head back to the car.  The sun was slowly starting to set, and I had planned to hit several more caches on the way home to ensure my one-day record.  Climbing onto the bike yet again, I headed down the awesomely fun biking path that twisted and turned through the wilderness of the park. But what's this... the path keeps on veering me further and further West... even Southwest at times! On the rare few times it curves Northwards, my excitement that I'm finally going the right way is quickly cut short when the path once again curves back West again. Several minutes later, I was dismayed to find that this path in question had added several hundred meters to the distance required, and I was now 700 meters from the coordinates instead of 500ish.
 
Deciding that this path would have a decent chance of just looping back eventually to the start point to the South, and with no guarantee that it would eventually hook North to the cache, I decided to go off-road a bit and cross a wide, rocky opening through the trees. Taking my bike off-trail, I followed an animal-path for a short distance. I quickly thanked my decision, as I soon ended up easily making it to another path. Following it back East this time, it was slowly meandering me back towards the geocache at last. But what's this... it's pretty much dead-straight, and never curving to the North that I need!

Another 5 minutes later, I decided another detour was required, and headed down yet another animal trail. Once again, my gamble paid off, and the path led me back to yet another trail. This time, the trail was leading me about 250 meters Southeast of the geocache. Hey, at least I had managed to hack off a good half-kilometer with my past few detours. However, seeing no change in the trail's direction, I decided that since two detours had worked wonderfully, let's give it another whirl.

Bad idea.

Swinging the bike down an animal trail going gently down a slope into the forest, the forest quickly closed up on me, making it walking-room only with the bike. Soon after that, the "trail" (if it could even be called that any more) closed up even more, making it "walking with the bike hoisted onto my shoulder" room only. And what's this? Oh, great... it's closing up even more! By this point, I was about 75 meters from the coordinates, and over 100 from the path I came off of. At this point in my mind... I had committed myself to this trail, and was past the point of no-return. I had a GPS... I knew which direction to go... let's just bite my lip and give 'er.

By the way... I was wearing shorts and was biking bareback. And had sandals on. Just for the record.

At this point, I had given up all concern for my leg's well-being. Not caring in the slightest how badly they were gouged, scratched, or otherwise bleeding, I just plowed through the very dense bushes, praying to find a trail. In the end, I did... but I paid dearly for it.  I couldn't have counted the number of scratches over my legs, feet, and stomach if I had tried.  The vast number of mosquitoes didn't help either, but I'm fairly certain I DID lead them up to my by way of the trail of blood on the tips of every branch between that 'bike on shoulder' point and the actual, correct trail.  Six months later, I still have a few faint scars on my legs from where a particularly thick, pointy branch decided to gouge me.

At least the bike was still in good shape.  It may have picked up a scratch or two on the way when the branches decided to get tangled amongst the spokes or chains, but it made it through the ordeal in a lot better condition than me.  But then again, I had it held fully over my head for a few specifically dense bushy areas.

However... after breaking through the dense bush, I found myself at a trail... and then the cache. AT LAST! Terrain of 1.5? Oh, I cranked that fella up to a 4, minimum. And so, I proceeded to sign and drop my signature chainmail ball into the day's 13th find (lucky number 13, all right).

 
But the fun can't end there, now can it?  After I had broken through the bushes to the correct path, my legs were understandably tired and in pain, but my right leg in particular was feeling more hurt than the other.  I'm thinking my constant motion while hefting the bike over my shoulder had kept me going, but after my stop to sign the geocache and look through its contents, my right knee... simply decided that it had had enough.  About 20 meters away from the cache with the sun starting to set, my right leg outright refused to support my weight.  I tried walking while supporting myself with the bike beside me, but that only got me a bit down the trail before the agony started getting too great.
 
Quite worried now, I was a bit scared I'd have to call for help, or even crash in the car if I was unable to drive it home, assuming I got to the car!  I noticed that my leg hurt most when it was fully extended however.  Deciding to test a theory, I hopped onto the bike and slowly worked my way forward.  Using my left leg as my main force, I let the right leg just follow along without using the muscle at all.  It worked!  Not only was this significantly faster than walking, but since I adjusted my seat to have my leg extend as little as possible, it hurt a lot less too!  I believe it had an added benifit as well of getting some motion into the knee to keep it from seizing up.  It must have worked one way or the other, because by the time I got to the car (a good half-hour later... MAN that trail just kept on going!), I was able to walk with barely a limp any more.  I must have just pulled a muscle somewhat, and not actually torn any ligaments or anything worse.  Well, except of course for the multitude of scratches and gouges across my legs... which continued to haunt me in the hot shower after I got home.  Oh, the legs were not pleased with that, I can tell you that much.
 
In the end I was indeed able to snag another two caches on the way home after this one, making for a new one-day total of 15 caches (the logging of which probably took just about as long as finding them, since my online logs often need to be cut down to fit the 4000 character limit on geocaching's website).  I was pleased at my success, and brought home a story that will stay with me forever.  And one thing's for certain... I think I'll be cutting off future cachings to a limit of two detours.
 
Kabuthunk

By Skippermark   Wed, Oct 28, 2009

A year ago, if you had asked most cachers about Bangor, Maine, they proably couldn't have been able to tell you much, but thanks to Maine cacher Ekidokai, that's no longer the case. In June, 2009, Mike, as he is also known, spent 19 hours placing a series of 135 caches along an area called the Stud Mill Road, and now, Bangor has become one of "the" place for those seeking a lot of finds to visit.

People from as far away as New York and beyond have heard of the area and have or are planning on visiting.

A lot of numbers runs are placed in urban areas, but not the Stud Mill Road. With the exception of about 20 caches, most of them are placed along dirt roads. The area is mostly used for hunting, boating and logging, so there's not much traffic to deal with, and you don't have to worry about stop signs or red lights like you do in a city.

I recently had the opportunity to cache in the area with 4 other cachers, bubba42e, Skippermatt, Tree Man and zaverj. We made the 7+ hour trek up from Connecticut and arrived in Bangor about midnight. Of course, we cached and stopped for food along the way, which added to the travel time.

We stayed in a hotel in Bangor and got up early the next morning and began our journey. The first caches are about an hours drive from Bangor, but there are plenty of caches to find on the way. While doing this series, you are out in the back woods of Maine, and there are no facilities of any kind nearby, so you need to make sure you have food, water, gas and enough gear to make it for several hours.

The Stud Mill Road itself is wide and can easily accomodate two cars passing by. We were in a Jeep Cherokee, which has a stiff suspension, so the road seemed a little "washboardy" to me. I talked to a friend who did it afterwards in a Subaru Tribeca, and she said she didn't feel any bumps at all, probably because of a smoother suspension. Our Jeep got really dusty (inside and out) because it was quite dry, but others didn't experience that problem.

The downshoots are narrower and rougher, with some pot holes and other more difficult terrain. I've heard stories about the area "claiming" cars. A Connecticut cacher who recently visited lost his exhaust system and had to do an emergency repair at night. The repair held, and they were able to finish the series, though.

One of the greatest things was the wildlife and the views. We saw wild turkeys, moose, tortoises, birds and others. There are many lakes in the area, with magnificant views, and we stopped near one for lunch.

That's one thing we did. After doing about 1/3 of the run, we stopped for about 30 minutes for breakfast and hung out and just relaxed. It recharged us and made the next part of the trip enjoyable. We also stopped alongside a lake at a picnic area (complete with a picnic table) and had an enjoyable lunch, relaxing and doing nothing.

Overall, this was one of my favorite caching trips. Yes, it was fun getting so many caches, but the real fun was hanging out with friends, seeing a beautiful place that we wouldn't have known about otherwise and building memories. My son, Matt (Skippermatt) is nine and still talks about it. Oh, and wouldn't you know it. Now that we're back home, more caches have been and will be placed in the area.

If you'd like to see pictures of the trip, please visit my photo album of the area or the one by wandering4cache, and of course, if you have any questions that I can answer, feel free to contact me anytime.

Tue, Oct 27, 2009

Today I escaped the entrapments of a soccer family that spends Monday through Friday at the park, and I went Geocaching by myself.  My girls are only good for about 2-3 geocache searches before they start complaining about the heat, being bored, lack of bathrooms, and a myriad of other nasty complaints. I usually find a lot more caches by myself because I can devote my full energy to the addiction that I can't explain logically to my non-geocaching friends without seeming silly.

I really get into it. Lately, for the urban caches, I've started donning a reflective orange vest. When I wear it, I just become the generic landscaper, city worker, or whatever people think of people who work for a living, and have to wear one. I am literally invisible to everyone. Although, on a recent geocache hunt, some guy walked up to me and started complaining about the water pressure at his business. I told him to make sure to ask for a manager at the water company the next time he calls. Then, there was the guy who asked me whether I worked for the state while I was searching for a nano underneath a park bench. I told that guy that I was just making sure that all the bolts were tight because someone was suing the county for falling off a bench that had loose bolts. I always have a good chuckle in my demented mind after one of these encounters.

My favorite geocaches are hidden in the woods. I really love being in the woods! But, Southern California is home to a desert landscape that is called chaparral. So, unless I am at the top of one of the local mountains, you'll most likely find me bushwhacking through some dense chaparral, not that I mind it.  I love scrambling up hills, and rocks, and making my way through the brush. It makes me feel young. Kind of like when I was a U.S. Army Scout in my youth. I feel invincible in this kind of environment. Unfortunately, this is when my family complains the most. So, they don't usually join me for these searches. When I come home after one of these little adventures, I am grinning from ear to ear. I usually don't shut up for a while and talk endlessly about these trips. Heaven forbid that I bring back a travel bug that has been to Europe, or some other far-off destination because I will get my maps out and start giving my kids geography lessons. Geocaching is what brings me to these places, and it really brings pleasure to my well-being.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about my geocaching adventure today. I was planning on finding 20 geocaches for the day because my family wasn't going to slow me down. I went geocaching near Temecula, California. I was going through some dense brush when I encountered a large rattle snake. I was about 1 1/2 feet from stepping on it when it rattled. In that instant, a million thoughts crossed my mind, and one of these was to take a picture of it (bad idea when you are so close). So, I did what any MACHO man should do after thinking a million thoughts in an instant.... I jumped 10 feet in the air, and screamed like a little girl. By the way, that was my last geocache search for the day, #10. Is there a moral to this story?

Mon, Oct 26, 2009

By Error's Geo Adventures   Sun, Oct 25, 2009

I think point hunters will never believe this story.
They just think it is a fairy tail.
With blush to The Roots of one's hair, we must confess it is true.
We bite our self in this 5 star multi-cache with all the energy we had.
How addicted can you be?

We heard from other cachers that Engineering Nature, GC1FF01 was a great cache.
It was a 5 star cache and you must pretend you were a technician.
We were curious and decide after a day of caching to look for the
first waypoint.
At least we tried to look for to the first waypoint.
The area were we must find the first waypoint was forbidden for dogs.
 

So one of us go in and the other waited by our dog Error.
There was a bird watch house nearby the coordinates and we expect to
find the information there.
We also thought we would find the information in something made from nature.
I did not find anything, so Mr. Geo.Error went in and he came back with
nothing also.
All right, we are tired and we will come back.
We came back another time. [red cheek] and did not find anything.
The GPS point us in different directions but did not point us the right way.
The third time we had a new play toy [Oregon].
Now we find the waypoint for sure!
I went in with both our gps and they both pointed a  different direction.
I've got a 0 point with the Oregon but I could not find anything.
Mr. Geo.Error did the same but came back with nothing also.
How blind can we be?
We read about waypoints that were very difficult in the logs but they
never mentioned this waypoint.
If we have problems finding this waypoint, how difficult are the other
waypoints?
We decide to go back when our dog Error was not with us, so we can
search the area together.
So said so done.
There were many stinging nettles on the place were I got the 0 point with
my gps the other time I was here, so I say I will go seek there.
Mr. Geo.Error was going to look in a different area.
I was just talking to myself: "go through the stinging nettle it just tickle."
I did one step and Mr. Geo.error yelled: "I found it!"
Wwhottt, I could not believe it. We just work better as a team than
alone, this was the proof!
It was an easy hide at a place and we just had to bend for it.
We had looked there, but we were blind.
How did we not see it?
We were very happy in spite of we did not understand the task.
We went home, and we decide to go further the next time with this multi,
together with our Error. (because only for this waypoint were dogs not
allowed)

We still did not understand the task, we know what coordinates it
could be for but we did not understand what to do with it.
We googled for 2 weeks, learned a lot, but still did not get the right
coordinates nearby for waypoint 1.
We decide to get help from The cache–owners.
The cache–owners answered us quickly.
Was it just so easy? Did we make it too difficult?

We get the coordinates and we decide to check the next day to see if
we were in the right direction.
Yahoo, we found waypoint 2.!!!

the next puzzle was a difficult one,  you could solve it in the fieldbut we
decide to take it home.
Bugs were flying around our head and with all those numbers it is best
to do it calm at home where we can doublecheck it.
Next day, we had the coordinates and yes we went to check it again.
How addicted can you be?
They were the right ones.. yahhooo!!
The next task would be fun to do and we understood what they were asking. Poefff
So we went on to the next task.
There we needed some tools.

We knew what we needed  to do and we did it but did we do it right?
We had a answer but we were not sure if it was the right one.
We had our little lap top with us and we checked the coordinates.

Sometimes you need to be clever if you are not smart. [lol]
We get 1 set of coordinates that was possible.
But we did not find anything there.
What did we do wrong?
The other waypoints were further away but let's check them.
You never know?
Nope, nothing.
Then we decide to go home.
Our Error loved this cache, while we were thinking, working at the
task, seeking, he could play.
This cache is sure his favorite, he sure loved how bungled we were.

Next day we saw our mistake, we thought like geocachers but we most
think as a technician..
We decide not to go back today because of the rain.
It is not good to take a lap top out in the rain.
But, you know what we did?
Yep, we went back in the rain to check if we were right.
We decided to do only one waypoint.

We find the waypoint and get a task we thought we  understood also.
The rain fell hard from the sky, many bugs were flying and attacking.
Shall we just check the other waypoint?
Yes, lets do that, just 1 waypoint.
And we had also that waypoint right.
We took our task, It was starting to rain harder, the bugs attack at our faces.
Shall we go home?
No, just let us try if we understand this task, if we don’t find
anything we go home.
We most find 3 signs and the miracle happen again, we did find the first sign.
Then we most try to find the other signs also and actually we did.
It rained harder and harder,  sand become mud and we walked further to
the next waypoint.
We found the right signs, and we could open the little box for a new clue..
It was a code.
We had to decipher the code.
This is way above our head, we are not such good spy’s.
We made a photo from the code and we decide to go home.
It was time because  the rain had won his fight with our gore-tex shoes.

There we were again sitting in the car, looking at the code and I saw
suddenly a possible answer.
Could the lightning has strike ?
This waypoint was nearby the other waypoint.
We could only know by checking it out.
There we go again….
We took the umbrellas and trudge to the possible waypoint.
Those annoying stable-fly’s keep attacking and one was so smart to get
in my jacket.
He had a good bite at me..

Oohh let's say it, the bugs need to feed also.
We saw the possible waypoint and we get self-confident.
Could it be so easy?
We found the next waypoint. it was difficult hide and it was raining
so hard it was difficult to make photos.
We could do nothing in the rain, so we decide to see later if the
photos were successful.We walked back in the rain, with enthusiasm, bugs and a still happy Error.
How much fun can you have with mud, water and enough sticks to play with?

There was much private property in the woods and while we were not paying
attention to Error, he decided to pay a visit to a husky farm.
When we called him back, the huskies started to cry (lucky all
of the huskies where in a cage).
It was a beautiful sound in the rain with the background of the huskies crying..

We were wet through to our underwear, the umbrella had also given up the
fight with the rain..
My caching bag had become a lake.
At home we saw it was a technical task.
It was difficult to make the task right because we most measure and
calculate the solution.
The photo did not give the right distance.
But Mr Geo.Error Try to guess the right distance and he get some Coordinates.
If it were the right ones, that was a mystery.
The next day we decide to stay home.
Our shoes and caching bag were very wet and needed to dry in the sun and wind.
I did not like this at all because I am a very curious woman and I
want to know if we could come further with this multi.
This multi was a challenge and I liked that challenge very much.
It was very exiting to find out if we did the tasks well.
But.. the wind and sun did a good job, early in the evening everything was dry.
Shall we go?
There we go again, the bugs were friendly this evening and it was
lovely weather..
And yahoo, Mr Geo.Error did a good job.
We find a good waypoint hide with a fun task.
Is a pity I could not tell what we must do here, but you may guess it
for yourself

We did the task right and got the information for the cache.
After a short walk we found the cache, yahhoooo we found the cache.. but
I also felt sorry we found the cache.
I had mixed feelings, happy to find the cache and unhappy because our
task was over.
The challenge to find this cache was defiant goal who we liked very much.
We walked easily back to our car, the huskies cried behind us and the
sun went down.
It was a nice farewell to a beautiful made cache.

By The Internet   Sat, Oct 24, 2009

Colonel H. George Cachington

I'm rather new to these forums of digital talk,
But I've been prattling on since before I could walk.
My colleagues informed me of this place on the 'net,
Where one can ship odds-and-ends off to Tibet?

These "bugs", as you call them, can be plastic or wood?
Or cast in a metal, so as I understood?
And these feature a code that may track their locale?
Which are registered by hiders and seekers, et al.?

Amazing, I say! What a splendid advance!
Perhaps I'll employ this when posting to France.
I shall straightaway gather some interesting things,
Like the wombat's tooth I chanced upon near Alice Springs.

I've rolled up a trove of such baubles and whatnots,
That my study's untidy. Now I'll clear a few spots!
I would hope that my ramblings are not taken as queer,
I shall check back again, when my head's gotten clear.

HGC

 ................................................................................

Colonel H. George Cachington

Please pardon my wonder, and rambling on,
I've been out of touch, and entirely withdrawn.
After a thorough degree of browsing about,
Perhaps my naiveté brought some lack of clout?

I'm simply curious to query the thoughts of this lot,
For it's peculiar to think what one'll do in a spot.
Do you move "bugs" along with unwavering respect?
Or must you fight off the urge to keep and collect?

 ................................................................................

The Moop Along

I move them along at all costs
As a traveler owner, I frown when they are lost.
I also collect, far far too much,
But other folks bugs are not prizes as such.

 ................................................................................

Colonel H. George Cachington

Happy to hear from an honest transporter!
'Tis essential for travellers to lie in safe quarter.
Some knick knacks are precious, or given in kind.
One may not quite realise the treasure they find!

And in speaking of treasure, I've a fondness indeed.
But my wanderlust is by no means driven by greed!
I've a particular fancy for the currencies of old,
Be they pieces of eight, or medallions of gold.

When perusing this website, when first I did join,
I saw mention of travellers in the form of a coin.
Since my queries here are not stimulating much,
Perhaps coins are favoured over trinkets and such?

HGC

................................................................................

ChannelFadge

Repeat the question, I must insist.
The point of this thread, I seem to have missed.
In the case of the geocoins, the trackable gem,
I prefer to find pathtags, so I can keep them.

  ................................................................................

Eartha

Hello there, I'm Eartha, and I'm doing fine.
There's so much info in my signature line.
If you look there you'll see, at least so I think,
The Groundspeak Knowledge Base website link.

Do not think I refer you to brush you away,
I hope you enjoy this and think you will stay.
We welcome new people with wide open arms.
From city slickers to back country farms.

Anything at all you might need to know,
Feel free to ask here, before you go.
Traveling bugs can be so much fun,
grabbing stories and photos, on their run.

If you think you like this tracking game,
There are also trackables by another name.
There's another forum you might want to join,
But beware of the addiction called "Geocoin".

You seem to require the geocoin forum,
and so without too much decorum,
I'll take this thread from the one we have here,
and move it to the ones we have there!

 ................................................................................

Pastor Jon

Bewildered, am I, at the tone of this thread,
for rhymes and neat verse do not spin in my head.
Perhaps I should exit, while still I have time,
for always I have such a hard time with rhythm.

  ................................................................................

The Moop Along

How nice to see this thread move over to join,
as travelers come in all forms, be they bugs or coins.
Here you will find all the information you yearn
about shapes, sizes, & collectors. There is much to learn.


Coins are my fancy, as most in this side of the wall,
as I can't help but favor the metal and enamel.
I'll sit back now and watch the others chime in,
as the experience garnered here is as vast as the friends

  ................................................................................

ELTADA

I got hooked on these metal pieces of art,
Every day a new design to thump-thump my dear heart.
I converse with my friends, I trade and I buy,
I only have a few that I have been able to let fly.

For coins that go out sometimes don't come in,
Whadyagoin'do? Shrug shoulders and grin.
For the travels they go on are astounding to see,
The ones that make it and allowed to roam free.

But I started my collecting with just a buy or two,
Then started to trade with different people much like you.
Why stop there and miss all the fun,
When you can mint your very own run?

Yes, that's right, a coin all your own to sell and to trade,
To go down in history as something you made.
It'll cost you some money, that is for sure,
But the excitement of your own - there is no cure!

So that's what I did, a coin that reflects who I am,
And others did like it, well I'll be damned!
I was able to sell, to trade and to gift some away,
And then keep a couple for me for a rainy day.

Whatever you do, you'll get lots of advice,
From the various posters here who are all just so nice.
Spend lots of time reading and you'll get the hang of it all,
Jump right in - we're all having a ball!!

WELCOME!

  ................................................................................

PastorJon

and if you're quite lucky, lucky like me
sometimes in these forums a cointest you'll see
where some trivia, or riddle, or simply a quest
will drive you to figure and guess at your best

if one of these cointests you're lucky to win
you'll rush to your mailbox and look all the way in
for there in an envelope, of padded manila
you'll find there a coin that won't be vanilla!

  ................................................................................

Odyssey Voyager

"QUOTE(PastorJon @ Sep 24 2009, 03:23 PM)

for always I have such a hard time with rhythm."

i am more gifted in rhythm than rhyme
but my obsession with geocoins leaves me no time
so i'll post this note quickly and with much haste
so your time and mine i do not waste

design them, collect them, and trade with a friend
to the possibilities really there is no end
admire them, cherish them, or give them away
geocoins can truly be all fun and all play! 

 ................................................................................

  DresselDragons

What a fun thread…we want to join in
But we dragons aren’t poets, but that’s not a sin.
So, we’ll do our best and try to stay in time
Man, it is tricky to talk only in rhyme

We dragons are drawn to the shiny, the bright.
Our first coin has us hooked…it was such a delight.
We bought them and traded and collected these treasures.
We placed them in caches; their travels we’d measure.

We made our own coin, to share with our friends.
And, thankfully, that is not where it ends.
We traded, and traded, and soon our collection grew
But the ones meant to travel, well, we’re missing a few.

So now our coins sit in binders, boxes and displays
They await for that time, for those special days
We drag them to events to show cachers what we
Have become addicted to, for other to see

If you have a questions just ask this group
They are good people…they’ll give you the scoop.
We are glad you have joined us, here in this thread
This was a nice distraction, 'nuff said.

  ................................................................................

Toojin

Ahhhh.... is this Colonel Cachington the man with the dragon?
Or are my thoughts in the completely wrong wagon?
Seems there were stories some time afore
Of a coin found near caches with scorch marks galore

 ................................................................................

Colonel H. George Cachington

Cor blimey! I say! What a smashing salute!
It seems that indeed, this lot favours the loot!
Such heartfeat helloes for a gobsmacked old bean?
I am honoured to enter your geocoin scene!

To Eartha, Delighted to meet you my dear,
Your name would suggest our most beloved sphere?
Oh goodness, I do beg you accept my regret!
I've twaddled, without introduction of yet!

George Cachington here. I am pleased to acquaint,
Me mum, she did name me for her patron saint.
I'm a seeker of sorts, and I travel the globe,
My work does intend to enquire and probe.

Not long ago learned of your clandestine sport,
I was naturally drawn, as the curious sort.
This caching, I'd heard, was a seeking activity,
To which, I indeed, have a hearty proclivity!

And so, I have dabbled in trying your game,
And found that our goals are quite often the same.
My recording of conquests does outwardly lack,
But I've often encountered a beastie attack!

Gadzooks! My dear Toojin, that indeed is my copper!
But I'm gormless to how and to where I did drop her!
How ever did you find that? I am truly aghast.
Shall I tell you the story of how they came to be cast?

I could ramble and pester for hours upon end,
But you'll find I may titillate ears for a bend.
Pray tell, my new mates, would you ask for removal?
For I shan't run my gob without first your approval.

HGC

  ................................................................................

anne.and.eli

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
I love those darn geocoins,
and I love this thread so much, too!

 ................................................................................

UFgatorgirl

welcome one and welcome all
join in the dance of our "geocoin ball"
we'll take you around the floor for a wonderful spin
after the dance we'll think of you as kin

i like the coins all shiney and bright
getting them from my hands will take some might
collecting them is my pleasure
i see all coins as treasure

  ................................................................................

ChannelFadge

Please Mr. Cachington. Do tell us your tale,
Of how your coin was minted, and how it then set sail.
Was is carved from finest giant oyster shell?
Or maybe it was forged in the deepest pits of hell?

I have my own geocoin, I made it from tinfoil
I painted it with horses tears and a little olive oil
Then what I did, you may think it quite a farse,
I rolled it up into a ball and shoved it up my... nose

  ................................................................................

Colonel H. George Cachington

No need to be cheeky, or for violence, Guv.
The goal is precision. No need for a shove.
But if you've got a spare, that'd truly be swell,
I'd hope you could place one up Rooney's as well.

 ................................................................................

forthferalz

walking down slowly
in plastic box no treasure

on fluttering leaves gold

 ................................................................................

Colonel H. George Cachington

Good mornings and evenings to those near and abroad,
I would fear that my poetry had been taken as odd.
Since my youth, I've enjoyed jotting notes down in prose,
I have found it quite jaunty and fun I suppose.

Nonetheless, previously, I had planted the seed,
To report on the origin of my coppers indeed.
But in order to properly fathom the pith,
I shall first give a bit of my history, herewith.

As you may know, I travel the world in my quest,
To make known the unknown, putting rumours to rest.
When I learn of a happening pertaining to myth,
I shall spring into action and set off forthwith!

I investigate mysteries, legends and lore.
Seek out destinations to bravely explore.
I've uncovered treasures gone for years undetected,
And had run-ins with beasties that were quite unexpected!

I maintain a journal, on my travels around,
It's at sixes and sevens, but it's solidly bound.
Some pages are tattered, and the ink has bled through,
Yet despite all the wear, every entry is true.

My tales may astonish, amaze and impress,
Or be branded as crap! I'd expect nothing less!
For I fully expect to be doubted and slurred,
But I'll go to the grave knowing all that occurred.

Now enough of my work, I shall move to explain,
Of these dragon-crest coppers, I've come to obtain.
They were gifts from a fellow whom I've known all my life.
In fact, he's the sod, introduced my first wife!

My oldest chum, Nigel, is a mischievous bloke.
He's the sort who will ask for, then snuff out your smoke!
Nigel often pokes fun of my hapless bad luck,
And the events of one day have resounded and stuck.

It was spring of last year, when a rumour got 'round,
That some old Roman coins were have said to been found.
Seems a farmer unearthed a small lot down by Horsham,
And he claimed that a "creature" had made off with his fortune.

I'd been gathering evidence, and from all my research,
I was certain of the place to best start up a search.
Later that afternoon, I set off straightaway,
And arrived on location at the end of the day.

For an account of what transpired, I'll provide you this *link*
You can see for yourself why I'd taken to drink!
And so, now you know what my work is about,
I'd certainly expect that you're still left with doubt.

After that perfectly miserable experience near Southwater,
Nigel commissioned "The Treasure" through a mate of his daughter.
He said "George, you shall have all of your loot nonetheless!",
Such a dadgum clever lark that I've sworn to redress!

And so now you know how those coins came to be,
They're a treasure of sorts, borne of tomfoolery.
I'll return once again to share more from my journal,
But for now, an adieu, from your good friend, the Colonel.

HGC

................................................................................

Colonel H. George Cachington

Now that I have told you of my copper coin's start,
I would fancy to hear how folks came to this art.
I'm simply enthused to learn more of this thing!
This modern-day reach for the fabled brass ring.

As I comb through this forum, note a common desire,
'Tis a passion for metal, to behold and acquire.
Geocoins, as you call them, are indeed then a treasure!
Their value determined by individual measure.

What brought you to seek them? Just why are you here?
Do start up a dialogue and I'll lend you my ear.
Despite my esprit, there's no requirement to rhyme,
And please, by all means, don't feel threatened by mine!

Please do not be shy, and do not feel inept.
For in my high regard, your responses are kept.
What types of these coins do most seem to prefer?
Are there gathering spots where this lot does confer?

HGC

................................................................................

The Moop Along

"QUOTE(Colonel H. George Cachington @ Sep 29 2009, 03:46 PM)

Now that I have told you of my copper coin's start,
I would fancy to hear how folks came to this art.

What brought you to seek them? Just why are you here?
Do start up a dialogue and I'll lend you my ear.
Despite my esprit, there's no requirement to rhyme,
And please, by all means, don't feel threatened by mine!

Please do not be shy, and do not feel inept.
For in my high regard, your responses are kept.
What types of these coins do most seem to prefer?
Are there gathering spots where this lot does confer?

HGC"


I note your speech up above, regards the theory to rhyme,
and I feel obligated to do so, if given the time.

However, since I'm on the road, and you asked. Well, I'll just respond I would love to tell you what inside me makes ooooh shiny hunks of metal so tantalizing. But I just can't grasp the concept. So I just roll with it. Something about the chase, the feel, the . . . Well. You've got a copper thing going, so I think you're getting the idea.

Maybe I'll have time to write later, but it's going to be a busy time. You see, Geocoinfest is coming up, in Salt Lake City. A few of the folks here on the forums will be heading out there next week, so don't be surprised if the responses to your questions thin out then That's where we all "confer" (besides here).

TMA

  ................................................................................

forthferalz

yeah ok good cause the whole sonnet thing was proving too much of a brain strain Perhaps 3 lines requires a little more explanation although others in the forum have heard my story before. 

 "QUOTE(forthferalz @ Sep 27 2009, 08:08 AM)

walking down slowly
in plastic box no treasure

on fluttering leaves gold"

This was about a walk back to the car through the rainforest, wet leaves a-glitter in the sunset and the mountain behind glowed as red as Uluru after a looong hike to a cache called Rolland in the Clouds. Personal milestone in 2006 for the difficulty level. At the top was a micro! complete with a classic broken plastic toy, awesome scenery all around and the most exhilarating feeling of achievement.

Done because i was desperate to win an Australian 2006 geocoin. This was a prize in a caching contest. It was one of several big hikes for this contest and the start of an addiction to harder walks as well as geocoins. I went off hikeless caches after that.

Another girl and i were doing these very hard caches, separately, battling it out for 10th place - although I drew the line at appalling weather Amy cached in the rain and lightening We both missed out by 'that much' on a prize. The coin lust stuck. I left her a Dressel dragon to commemorate the epic effort (" in every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks ") and graduated to minting the annual Aussie coin for prizes.cheers.

................................................................................

avroair

My pockets are a jingling
My feet don't want to rest
My body starts to tingle
At the thought of Geocoinfest!

................................................................................

The Moop Along

"My pockets are a jingling
My feet don't want to rest
My body starts to tingle
At the thought of Geocoinfest!"



Do we really have to comment on that mess? So you're tingling, ew. This fella gets a trial by fire, huh?

................................................................................

DresselDragons

"QUOTE(avroair @ Oct 6 2009, 12:06 PM)

My pockets are a jingling
My feet don't want to rest
My body starts to tingle
At the thought of Geocoinfest!"

I am feeling kind-of sad
for me no shiney coins to be had
at home I will stay
while at GCF my friends will play (& pay)

Seriously, Colonel...GCF will be THE place to be for geocoiners this weekend.

 ................................................................................

Colonel H. George Cachington

So a gathering this week in the States, did you say?
Where I'm likely to see metal treasures displayed?
Near the Great Salt Lake, a few days I could spend,
By all means, I am game! I shall surely attend!

I've once been to Utah, on a roadie through the West.
Oh what wondrous vistas! Your land has been blessed!
From the arches near Moab, to the towers of Bryce.
To see these once more, dare I even think twice?

No matter at all that the time is so short,
Let me query to find us a means of transport.
I've given a ring to my planner just now,
Good Gerta, she's been a most helpful old frau.

One needs a good friend such as she in a pinch,
She'll arrange my itinerary, and be done in a cinch!
Not a once has she quibbled at my impulsive ways,
I'll be off in a whirlwind, in a matter of days!

On the subject of impulse, I would tend to expect,
That this venue of coins has a wealth to collect.
Some shiny and polished, some tattered and worn.
Much akin to the one my dragoncrest does adorn.

Oh dear, I've been daft, and I've now realized,
That this tired old sod won't be at all recognized.
However shall you spot me in that large-scale soiree?
Just look for my dragoncrest, and you'll know straight away!

And so I must pack up and prepare for my outing,
Programme my device and then follow the routing!
I'll look forward to adventures to add to my journal,
Do be sure to stop by and shake hands with the Colonel!

HGC
................................................................................

UFgatorgirl

look forward to seeing you there
it should be fun, so don't despair

i do have a request for that time
when we speak promise it won't be in rhyme

................................................................................

Odyssey Voyager

rumour has it the colonel was seen
all dapper and dashing representing the Queen
the sighting was reported at the GeoCoinFest
can anyone verify, testify, or attest?

if the rumour is true, then colonel please tell
of your adventure to Salt Lake and please tell it well
did you encounter a beast or a monster or dragon?!
and treasures galore to fill up your wagon?

i await the tale, your story, your yarn
as i envy the journey you've made...oh darn!
i wish i could be there to live out that story
but for now i'll just read it and imagine the glory

can you post a picture or an image or two
to enhance the tale and more vividly view
the riches the colors the shine and the sheen
within this venue where last the colonel was seen?!  

Meeting this old explorer
Was the highlight of my trip
And when i saw his dragon coin
I almost (yes almost) did a flip!

 ................................................................................

The Moop Along

No prose here. I met the Colonel as well. He was quite a nice chap. Not as tall as I had pictured, but man his coin was gorgeous.

................................................................................

tsunrisebey

It took me a bit and I'm finally here,
a hug and a wink while drinkin' your beer.
A dashing young man who's into his prime,
much better than Depp or squeezing the Yime.

A studly mannered figure of obvious royal decree,
had the coiners all bowing and down on their knee.
The trumpets did shout in all your royal delight,
a flip of the cape, you shut down for the (k)night.

On to geopoker you traveled to sit with your court,
wild cards and fine chips that you decided to sport.
You were eventually beheaded by the deadly card's sword,
missed out on the prize of a pirates coin hoard.

While packing my gear to leave Salt Lake City,
I checked out my loot and saw the coin in the kitty.
While loading my truck, upon my window did appear,
a note from The Colonel with a wish of good cheer.

Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
oh, sorry, got side tracked, it just sounded kinda good

................................................................................

sweetlife

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
oh, sorry, got side tracked, it just sounded kinda good "

Now I dont know who you are, This is hellava funny Thanks for making me smile and laugh like crazy! I really needed that

 ................................................................................

Odyssey Voyager

"QUOTE(tsunrisebey @ Oct 12 2009, 10:16 AM)

Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
oh, sorry, got side tracked, it just sounded kinda good "

And Tsun was nestled all snug in her bed
While visions of shiny-coins danced in her head
But I heard her exclaim as she drove out of sight
"Happy Caching to all, and to all a good-night!"

(sorry, but it seems someone had an early Christmas...lol...thanks for the laughs)

................................................................................

catsnfish

I’ve come across this rhyming thread
While cruising forums from my bed
It made me laugh it made me smile
And made me think a little while
Though some rhymes are quite precarious
The end result has been hilarious
So I offer the dashing Colonel
May his spirits never sag
To place this thread within a journal
The Online Geocacher mag
To spread the fun and rhyme and reason
For readers there, it would be pleasin’
If you would agree to that
I would grin like Cheshire’s cat.
May all who’ve posted in this thread
Allow me to use what you’ve said
For if we had to take some out
Then the whole would lose its clout
Now that I have made my plea
I sure hope you all agree
.
.
A parting wish for you the colonel
May rhyming fun be yours eternal.

................................................................................

Odyssey Voyager

if the colonel issues a Royal Decree
i have no choice but to agree
and agree i do that this thread is quite funny
it made me laugh like bees make honey

 ................................................................................

Tortoiseshell

I stumbled across this Cachington thread
When I should have been tucked snugly in bed.
But I felt I had to embellish these tales,
By flagging up Cachington's frolics in Wales.

Newcastle Emlyn is a fair place,
With cafes, and banks for drawing cash.
And follow Twm-y-Tonnau's chase,
To GC11JCN, (a cache).

"The Last Welsh Dragon" - the listing name,
A "multi" of high degree, I'd say.
But last year, it attracted fame,
Because of one rogue log attained in May.

A "DNF" - but full of riddle play,
By "Colonel George H. Cachington" (0 found).
And hark at GC146JA!
The "Colonel's" struck on Merlin's mound!

Last year. to note the colonel's pranks,
I launched, a geocoin for him
Now in Reading, near the Thames' banks,
It sits there. somewhat out on a limb.

I hope this item will be picked up,
To reach the "Colonel", by road or rail.
It comes in peace, it must move up,
To OXFORDSHIRE. ITS MISSION MUST NOT FAIL.

................................................................................

DJ.J.ROCK

wow!! how cool of this i must say
oh pardon me mister,, my name is Jay
i rope in music and coins all the time
im a young fellow, and i like this rhyme

i dj and spin when ever i can
i have a small child and a family man
my girl is 2 and shes so much fun
she loves some coins and weighs a ton

your tales of dragons and travel i read
your coins of copper and quickness and speed
your way of writing is really quite cool
i must say i could get used to this too

its 2 am and i must go sleep
just thought id chime in and make a small peep
seems by your rhyme your quite the guy
i talk to ya soon , take care, bye bye !!!

................................................................................

57chevy

Fall is here and winters near,
The cold wind is a comin.
It won't be long till the song,
Of the carols we'll be hummin.

The seasons gonna be here soon,
And good tidings will be in fashion,
Just take some of your holiday,
and do a little cachin'.

By catsnfish   Thu, Oct 22, 2009

                                                                          EarthCaches

  A neat 19 century springhouse in the middle of the city, a bedrock outcropping near the river, a peaceful spot for reflection where two rivers meet. The perfect spot to view a waterfall, iconic landmarks from the Old West trails, the swimming hole at the old quarry, the big rock that just doesn't seem to belong where it is. We've all been to places like these to find our traditional ammo cans, bison tubes and nano's. All of these places could be EarthCaches as well.

   So what is an EarthCache and what makes it different from traditional caches? Here is the definition from earthcache.org "An EarthCache site is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. Visitors to EarthCache sites can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth."

   Hmm that could cover a lot of different type places. Ok I have a place in mind, how do I go about submitting an EarthCache? There are guidelines and requirements on the earthcache.org website, from there it could involve some research and planning. The research generally isn't too bad with the vast amount of information available on the Internet, but deciding on your "educational task" may be a tad more difficult. Visitors to an EarthCache need to show that something has been learned at the site. Looking at how similar type EarthCaches have done this can be helpful. Another requirement is that sites need to have contact information from the owner of private lands or the management agencies for public lands. This is to ensure that the EarthCache description meets their approval for accuracy and that the additional traffic to an area is acceptable. These agencies can also be very helpful in correcting any mistakes or an oversight in the descriptions, such as forgetting to mention that park permits are required or what hours the site is open.

Great! Just got the agency approval and I'm ready to submit the cache, how do I do that? Because an EarthCache has specific requirements, the Geological Society of America must approve them before being published on geocaching.com. In fact, what happens is that you fill out the form at earthcache.org which is very similar to the geocaching.com form and submit. It is then reviewed and published with geoaware as the cache owner. Then geoaware will send you an adoption request. Just accept the request and you have your very first published Earthcache!

Well, it sounds like extra work, what do I get out of it? What do you get out of placing traditional caches? Praise for a job well done, being entertained by reading the logs, developing a clever idea and making it work, being creative? An EarthCache can give you most of those, but it also has its own rewards program! By finding as few as 3 EarthCaches in 2 different states you qualify as a Bronze EarthCache Master. To qualify for the next step, Silver, you need to develop one EarthCache and find 6 from 3 different states. The Gold level requires 12 found in 4 states and 2 developed. For each of these levels you are awarded a badge that can be added to your geocache.com profile. The Platinum level, 20 found and 3 developed has an award of a pin, in addition to the badge, to signify your accomplishment. Personally, we found our first EarthCache in September of 2007 and since then have planned our mini caching vacations around EarthCache sites. We earned our Platinum EarthCache Masters in July of 2008 and have enjoyed both the sites and the lessons of all that we have visited, with some of them leaving us simply amazed at the wonders of our world. So far we have developed six EarthCaches, with more in the works, and both encourage and offer help to those that would like to develop their own EarthCache.

For more information on earthcaches go to www.earthcache.org

By MrsB of the Blorenges   Thu, Oct 22, 2009

When the U.K. cacher Tavisman decided to do his first event he wanted to do something different… but what?

Inspiration came from the availability of his brother’s small art gallery situated in a converted coach house in Worcester and when you have an art gallery then all you need to do is find some art to fill it…right?

I must admit that I’ve never thought of geocaching as being a particularly artistic hobby but the wide range of exhibits, both those created especially for the event and those submitted from various geocachers world-wide, convinced me that geocaching can be a very good outlet for creativity and flair.

Moulded, sculpted, constructed, plaited, painted and photographed, there were geocaching ‘items’ of all shapes and sizes on display. Hand-crafted TBs provided plenty of inspiration: The largest ones on display were the “TB Memorial” (TB2R1V2) for those wishing to pay their respects to departed travel bugs and the amazing “Atomic Sub-machine cache gun” (TB2R1XR) designed for blasting 35mm film cans into hedgerows at high speed - one of the U.K. reviewers who attended the event is particularly concerned about this innovation! There was a variety of cache containers, from the huge Bookcrossing cache trunk to a homemade nut and bolt with a good ‘rusty’ paint job done on it. The cacher Lime Candy had made plaited scoubie bracelets for those attending and Tavisman provided commemorative wooden nickels for visitors to take away with them.

Around the gallery walls we found an array of geocoins which included some detailed work sheets showing how coins are designed and the various stages before production. There were pathtags and wooden nickels (which are not so commonly seen here in U.K.), Signature “calling cards” and interesting Signature items.

When we visited around lunchtime there was a steady flow of cachers wandering around viewing the displays: Many had come some distance to attend this event – the most ‘distant’ being The Glowing Wombats from Victoria, Australia – admittedly, they were on a family visit to U.K.!

It was very enjoyable to see this different sort of caching event: All credit to Tavisman for the effort he put into collecting the exhibits together, organising them and displaying them so effectively.

Thu, Sep 17, 2009

"I need a name! Batboy, Nightwing, I dunno. What's a good sidekick name?"

Batman Forever

I hardly know what to say. I hardly know what to DO. Here I am, used to adventuring alone, and suddenly... not one, but two... TWO... fellow adventurers.

Help.

Here they are:

Sioncat the Trackable GeoKitten                                       The Untrackable GeoDad

Sioncat, as you see, has wasted no time in subjugating all lesser beanie babies beneath her. I could not bear to watch how completely she broke their spirit. That poor turtle is scarred for life, and the purple platypus still wakes up screaming from nightmares.

GeoDad wears a mask, prefers walking on the beach., and absolutely refuses to be trackable.

I will figure out what to do with them. Sidekicks are supposed to handle all the grunt work.... Right?

"Leave all that can be spared behind. We travel light. Let's hunt some Cobbler."

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (sort of)

Sioncat's supernatural power seems to include precognition. When she informed me that there was a high probability that COBBLER would appear at the 6^th Annual Kearney Geopicnic, I alerted the Geodad, and we laid our plans. Only thwarted by bad weather, we set off at 7 a.m. Saturday morning to conquer some caches, vanquish the cobbler, and somehow get our tent up, sometime that night. Our chosen route was I-80, which parallels the Platte River for most of the state.

The picnic was scheduled for 11:30, and the drive was about 2.5 hours... leaving at 7 AM, that did not leave my hondacar much time for unexpected detours. But it tried hard all the same! We found two caches on the way up. I was tempted to stop in Lincoln for an EarthCache, but told myself I would find it on the way home.

ETA at the Kearney picnic site - roughly 10:30 a.m. Cachers were already gathering....

... but I had some business to attend to first.  Of the catsnfish Earth-Cachy variety.

"As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured"

Jeremiah 22:33

Well, they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In that case... I'm about to write a 4000 word novella.

These were taken at the new Borrow Pits EarthCache, out by Ft. Kearny State Recreation Area. Near sunset, actually - after the picnic, but well before the cobbler. I was not first to find, but I guarantee I was first to write 'Sioneva' in the sand. Notice the butterfly in the flowers. It wasn't easy, catching him in the picture!

The EarthCache was done between picnic and cobbler, like I said... more food then any hundred people could eat - we counted 105, actually, and there was still plenty of food left over. Good conversation, speeches, awards, and a Nebraskache exec meeting made up most of the day.

We did meet an unexpected guest:                          And took a walk across the Platte at sunset:

Night time is traditionally reserved for chili, crockpot soup, and the cobbler of course. Everyone comes back, and stays until nearly the wee hours. No night caching for me this year - geodad was not up for it, and I was pretty tired from being up early. I suspect Sioncat snuck out for a nightcatnip and a late night mouse, but I can't prove it.

"Are we going home now?"

"That's right."

"I don't want to go home."

Father Goose

7:30 a.m. found me awake and ready to pop out of the tent to visiting over camping cachers. Geodad rolled over and went back to sleep for another hour, but was eventually willing to emerge after I tempted him with promises of coffee, donuts, and breakfast casserole! We hung around until about 10, but then had to be on our way - had to be back in Bellevue by 5, and there were caches crying out for me to find them.

Except one. On the way home, I stopped to try to find the oddly named "Do Not Find This Cache." I... well, I have a hard time listening to instructions, usually, but um... I DID NOT FIND THAT CACHE! Curse you, Red Baron! I DID, however, find the nearby "Don't Waste Your Time On This Cache".  We made it home an hour ahead of schedule (unusual for me), and spent the rest of the day unwinding!

Oh, and that EarthCache in Lincoln I meant to get? We never managed to get on the right roads to the entrance to the park. Pretty sad, when you score on a DNF on an entire conservation center. I ascribe it to my encounter with Dr. Horrible in Kearney.

By il imperiestro   Mon, Sep 14, 2009

In my article about the cache-a-thon (July 09) I already mentioned the idea of Hammer of Doom to go out for a caching-the-night-away 'event'. It was the second challenge of his list (the one that remains is a 100 kilometer cyclo-caching). The general idea was to start at 10pm and to stop at about 6am. That way it would be dark enough all the time for the genuine nightcaches.

Friend Hammer of Doom took care of all the preparations this time. He searched for all the nightcaches in Belgium and in the south of the Netherlands and made a selection of caches that weren't too far away one from the other. At the end he came up with a list of 6 nightcaches in the neighborhood of Antwerp with a maximum of 35km in between two caches. He also found two caches that could be used to fill up the time in case this would be necessary. Both were caches that could be run at night, but that weren't indicated as real nightcaches.

So things started to add up and a date was put on this challenge : the night from last Friday on Saturday. That would give us the needed rest in the weekend :-).

The first thing to do was to spread the news that the 'event' was going to take place. It's always more fun to go out caching with a group, but for nightcaching it's more like a must. You never know what's going to happen and just the idea that someone could break his leg in the middle of an unknown wood.. So we hoped we could form a group of three or more for security. As it turned out, we were four : Hammer of Doom, Freggie, Searchjaunt and myself. So that was great.

I picked up Freggie, Searchjaunt and Hammer of Doom and we were gone to count the stars with a GPS in our hands. Hammer of Doom had added another cache to his list and we decided to tackle that one first : “GC1RTT2 My Haunted Castle...”. It isn't a real night cache, but the title suggested it could bring us in the right mood :-).

It was a fun cache to do and the castle itself turned out to deliver its promises.

When we arrived back at the car, we had learned something though : this was a 3km cache and it had taken us an hour and a half to complete. We spend a lot of time searching for the metal tags and it wasn't always that easy to find the small paths between the waypoints.

So already a first learned lesson if you want to go out caching at night : look out for the genuine nightcaches. They are made to find at night and that way you don't spend 15 minutes searching for a tag in the darkest spot of the wood or near the water.

We don't regret having chosen this multi though, because the castle really was worth the visit !

The next cache on our list would be ”GC12G4G Tussen de Huisjes”. Now if you're in Belgium and you want to go out nightcaching.. this one is a must. The owner put lots of effort in it and the result is phenomenal. It was in my opinion the best one of the lot.

The other caches we did were “GC12MJP Prunie & K3D Wet Night Schot”, “GC1XZJ5 DVD's in de nachtelijke voorkempen” and “GCYXXK Blackmail”.

All these caches make use of little reflectors along the way, so the search in the dark remains limited.

I'm not going to tell you much about the caches themselves. You have to do them to know what they are like. The group was unanimous though : GC12G4G was the best one.

The quest stopped at 6am, after having found the blackmail cache, so we followed our planning.

Now what were the lessons learned from this night event?

Well the most important one has already been mentioned : go for those caches that state that they are nightcaches. It really makes things a lot easier and more fun.

We also noticed that, if possible, it's better to choose caches that aren't situated near houses. We became really embarrassed when we passed a house and the two guards started to bark.. at 3 am.. and when the loop of the multi was finished, we had to pass the same house again.. so another serenade at 4:30..

Since we went out for a whole night, there were some things we really had to think about : take enough (warm) drinks and food with you. Hammer of Doom had a thermos of coffee with him and that was well appreciated by the group :-). Also think about taking enough spare batteries for the flashlights, GPS, camera...

A good flashlight also helps a lot. We were equipped with those handy lights you can wear on your head. That way your hands are always free to carry the cache description and the GPS or to search if needed. Searchjaunt had a special flashlight with him that was many times more powerful than ours. It was a small light to keep in your hands, but it shined like the main lights of a car !! That really helped us a lot, since the reflecting items we had to search for, shined up really nice that way.

Another lesson learned is that, even if you're walking in the woods, it's best to wear some reflecting clothes. If someone looses the grip of the group, you just have to shine around with your torch to know where he or she is. Freggie wore a reflecting jacket (easy to find him on the picture :-)) and that really was a good idea.

To stay with the clothes : everybody knows it can cool off at night, so take warm clothes with you. Another thing is to wear good shoes. Since you don't always see where you put your feet in the dark, it's best to wear some boots that protect your feet. A little poop-check before stepping into the car again can always be handy too :-D.

I might add a personal note as well : my garmin automatically changed to nightview and I really didn't like the colours. I had some trouble finding the paths. So I changed the view to dayview again. It's something you'ld better test out beforehand.

So that was a small story about our caching-the-night-away. I hope you enjoyed it and if you're planning a similar quest :  Hammer of Doom treated us in the morning with a breakfast you couldn't even find in the best hotel. So a last tip is to find somebody who wants to do the same for you :-).

A last thing to mention though : whilst stepping one of the caches, Hammer of Doom launched a question into the group : “what would be the best time to start if one would like to plan for a 24-hour caching trip??” I think he might have some new plans for next summer :-).

Some more pictures and the impressions of Searchjaunt about the caching-the-night-away can be found in his blog http://searchjaunt.idizaai.be/nighthawks/#more-635

Fri, Sep 11, 2009

opalsns, that's kind of a sparkly, colorful name, how did you come to choose it?

In a nutshell, opals are my birthstone.

 Wow, nutshells make for short answers; can you give us some more detail in the next question? Just teasing! Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm a 49 year old artist, born in RI to strict parents, with great work ethics and deep religious convictions. I have a 25 year old son who has always worked hard since he was 18 years old and has a great job, big truck and beautiful home on 15 acres in Maine. I have 2 older brothers and have a great relationship with my oldest Bro, thanks to geocaching.  I love to draw and paint. I love living deep in the woods in Maine. I love animals and have a great wild animal show here daily. These are a few of my favorite things!

Sounds like you're about to break out in song! Must be a great place to live. What do you enjoy most about Geocaching?

The absolute BEST thing about geocaching for me is the relationship that I have with my brother now.
We see each other more now than we ever did. He comes up to Maine several times a year to cache, go to an event, or just to hang. I love it!!!

That's pretty cool that caching could do that for you! You've hosted quite a few missions and cointests in the geocoin forums, could you explain what those are and why you do them?

I've hosted more cointests than missions, (only 2 missions under my belt).
Cointests are a Blast. It can be anything from a puzzle, to a guessing game. Basically, you offer up a free, unactivated geocoin of your choice to the first one to complete a challenge, for example, name that geocoin or answer a question correctly, such as what am I holding in my hand right now?,  or pick a winner, like my NASCAR Cointests. These are all fun to watch, enter, or host.
 I once entered a cointest where many of the answers could be found in the stories in The Online Geocacher Magazine. That one was the best!!! It really held your interest!

I'm glad you liked it; it was a good way to introduce people to the magazine and my stories. What can you tell me about missions?

Missions are created and organized in the geocoin forums as a fun way to send gifts and geocoins to other cachers, (or cacher's pet). The host will set up a mission for a holiday or birthday, get participants to sign up and then the list of names is taken by the host and he does a name exchange and issues one participant to another. They're supposed do a little research on the person they are sending to and put together small package of "gifts " and add a geocoin or 2 that the receiver may desire. Send it off and wait for theirs to come in from someone else.
In My missions, called 52 Card Pickup, I'm sending around a deck of cards, to folks that signed up for the missions. The person gets the package, takes the coin sent to them, picks a card and writes their caching name on it. They put half of the card back in the package with another geocoin and send it out to someone they choose from the list. After it has made its way to everyone on the list, it will be sent back to me and I will pick a card and the person whose name is on it will get a geocoin from me. There was enough interest in this mission to send out 2 decks of cards!
It's a Mission and Cointest in one.
And by using a coin code, I've made it trackable so we can map its travels.
It was a very neat idea, if I do say so myself.

Definitely sounds interesting and it must be a lot of fun getting surprises like that in the mail. Do you have any other hobbies besides geocaching and geocoins? Do you find they have taken a backseat to geocaching?

Yup, NASCAR , oh and I like to do crafts and I like photography and gardening and fishing and carving walking sticks.

Actually in the summer, Geocaching takes the backseat. I'm allergic to bug bites so I stay out of the woods, this summer, I've painted and carved and even started to carve deer antlers again. I do swordfish bills also.

And NASCAR takes a backseat to nothing!!!!!

I ran across something a bit different recently while browsing in that e-place. There were paintings done by you... of crows, listed as geocoins. What can you tell me about those?
 
Well, awhile ago, I painted a Large crow and added a real Travel Bug to it. The painted crow held the real chain and TB in its beak. I called it "Cachin' Crow" It was to be an " event crashing TB " You know, one of those obscure, huge, heavy, ugly TBs that show up at events , hopefully,  taken by another cacher to another event. There's everything from a cinderblock, - Cindy, to a giant stuffed Wyle E Coyote, to a full size vehicle.
 My brother took my Cachin' Crow painting to an event in RI and it was picked up and has travelled across the country and even made it to an event at Groundspeak Headquarters.

  I had been reading in the forums of a rash of geocoin thefts or disappearances from geocaches and events lately and with that in mind, thought of creating paintings that could be tracked. They are unique and would be harder to steal or misplace, but could still travel all over the world collecting stories, in more safe, hand to hand type movements, so, I came up with WOA TBs , Work Of Art  Travel Bugs.  My crow paintings with an unactivated geocoin incorporated into the picture.

Your profile photo, geocoins and WOA are all crows, why are crows important to you?

 I love to paint and began painting crows after my husband's younger brother passed away. He was a bass player in a musical group named Raven St. Band and after his death, a huge crow started hanging around the house.
After learning about geocaching, I created the Cachin' Crow TB I was telling you about. My brother loved it and came up with the idea to create geocoins with that image. We are now working on our 3rd coin in the Cachin' Crow Geocoin Series.

Well opalsns, you gotta forgive me for this, but that's something to crow about! Thanks for talking with me today and good luck with the WOA.

By Error's Geo Adventures   Mon, Sep 07, 2009

Sometimes you encounter a special traditional cache.
A traditional cache that is worth  more than a mention, a cache that has given you a
lot of  fun or has just a beautiful view or is hidden in a special
way.

Die bearenhoehle GCJWEN was such a cache for us.
We went for a few days for holiday to Kleve Germany.
After searching for caches with a beautiful view or caches that were
very  special to visit, we found this cache.
This cache was recommended by some dutch cachers, so we were very
curious as to what we would find.
The cache had a difficult terrain and we needed a pocket-torch and
wear clothing that you don't mind getting dirty.

We walked through a beautiful wood in the direction of Die Baerenhoehle .
It was a pity our Error was not with us, he would enjoy himself by
running up and down the hills.
When we came nearby the coordinates we saw it, it was a big and
beautiful old tree.
Under the tree was a big empty hole surrounded by the big roots of the tree.
There where two entrances.

One where you most climb up the hill to the tree
 and one that was behind the tree.

There were 2 micro caches hidden in the hole to give cachers a chance
to find one of the caches.
There were so many roots that it was a big puzzle in the hole.
So we had two chances, actually Mr Geo.Error had 2 chances because I did
not dare to go in.
Bumble-bees came in and out the hole  and I sure wasn't going in together with them.
Let’s say I watched the hole in case the bear returned. [lol]
Mr Geo.Error climbed first up to the tree and try to find the
cache but he saw nothing.
Then he tried the hole behind the tree.

After careful searching with a pocket-torch, he found the red cache.
It was a mean cache hide, they hid the micro cache in a wooden box
specially made for the micro.
The cache was hidden behind a root so it was difficult to recognise it as a cache.
But he found it !!. WWWHHHOOOOTTTT!!
 

When we walked away from the beautiful tree , we had a feeling the
tree smiled at us.
Do you think he was just as proud of us as we were with ourselves?

By TheAlabamaRambler   Sun, Sep 06, 2009

See the story here

Wed, Aug 19, 2009

"Where are we going?"
"Where they went."
"Suppose they went *nowhere*?"

"Then this will be your big chance to get away from it all."

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Why do all my planned trips to Des Moines (and beyond, in this case), start out at oh-dark-thirty? I think it's a conspiracy! It's got to be the black cows, working their insidious, evil will, undetected.

In any case, my alarm went off on time this time, promptly at 4:15 a.m. The automatic coffeemaker was already busy at work, creating that oh-so-necessary beverage that makes the world go around. The snooze button worked very well, too, but I only hit it once. Couldn't afford to miss this trip - it was time to visit the GPS Adventure Maze at the Putnam Museum in Iowa! I had heard so much about it from others who had gone before. I had a rendezvous in Omaha at 5:30 a.m. to keep - with 8601delphinium (henceforth known as 8601d), jlondon1963 (jl), and the male half of Shadow Chasers (sc).

It started to rain very hard as I approached 120^th St. I should have taken it as a portent, and perhaps have turned back, but 8601d's house was far closer then mine was, and I was too tired to consider driving back. Besides... THE MAZE was out there! Arrived promptly at 5:30. Nice timing, go me!

I stayed awake long enough to impress upon them all that there was one cache on the way out we absolutely had to hit, then I lapsed into sleep. I did miss the crossing of the first Great River - the Missouri - but that was fine, I've crossed it so many times...

"It's a big rock. I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big."

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2: Becoming Part 1

The cache I absolutely refused to miss was Patriotic Rock in Iowa. I'd heard so much about this rock - it is freshly repainted every Memorial Day, with a new patriotic montage. With everything I had heard... they understated. The artist is incredibly talented, and there was a board set up there with photos of the rock from past years. This cache promptly went on my favorites list where it will stay. Dropped off a ear of corn TB in the ammo can, but the rock was the real draw, of course. I did not have a camera, but my traveling companions took plenty of pictures!

And then I think I went back to sleep. We weren't planning to do any serious caching until after the museum, 200 miles and 3 hours into the future.

"I hope they have pins."

"You hope they have *what*?"

"Pins. You know, for my hat. Like these."

"Oh! I thought you said *kittens*!"

<ten minutes and much discussion later>

"So, who wants to post about the trackable geo-kitten idea?"

Live Geocachers Trapped in Car on Way to Davenport Museum

Don't ask. You don't want to know.

"I'm sorry. Last time I checked, I thought we lived in a free country. So..."
"No, we don't."
"No?"
"It's the United States of "Don't Touch That Thing Right in Front of You.""

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

The museum was great fun. We met up with cachephrase as arranged - actually, we both pulled in at the same time, just another instance of great timing! We traversed the maze, and solved all the puzzles... never cheated once! (Not that the puzzles were that difficult, true.) The exhibit was set up more for the very beginning geocacher, or earlier, but we still had a great time.  On the way to the gift shop, we passed the kid's area, and we just couldn't resist. Cachephrase got a lot of extremely zany pictures of us in a boat, a tree, with antlers, and I'm taller then I look!

Enter a 'nose in the air' museum employee. "You weren't taking flash pictures, were you?" "Yes." "Well, I suppose it's okay here, but can I ask you not to take them anywhere else?" "Sure." Inwardly thinking, "And can we ask you not to be such a stuck-up jerk?" It was his whole smarmy attitude that was irritating. Besides, if they didn't want flash pictures taken, shouldn't they have, like posted a sign or something? Oh well. We already had our crazy pictures anyway!

"Kermit, where are we?"
"Well, let's see. We're just traveling down this little black line here, and uh, just crossed that little red line over here."
"Look, why don't we just take that little blue line, huh?"
"We can't take that. That's a river."

The Muppet Movie

The rest of the day was crazy caching - 'cross the Mississippi (the second Great River) into Illinois, where I picked up another state - thank you very much! I commented that the US map looked like it had measles when I colored in the states I've cached in, and 8601 countered that his just looked like a great big mump. We did some caching along a bike path running right by the river, with sadly limited success, then headed back into Iowa, where we had much better luck. In total, we snagged 29 caches that day.

The capstone of the evening was the SLAGA event at Culvers in Davenport, where cachers here to visit the museum from all over gathered. Ran into a couple from Sioux Falls I'd met before in Valentine - funny how that happens! There was a big St. Louis contingent, and some locals. Not having attended MOGA, I didn't really know anyone, but the others did, and the food was good, too. Enjoyed the event, but I was getting tired, and just as happy to head back to our motel room in Iowa City. We lost cachephrase - she needed to swing south to complete the Iowa Delorme Challenge.

"I don't wanna get up, I'm a Toys R Us kid..."

"Um, I didn't order a wake up call...?" And our intrepid traveler was unwillingly thrown out of sleep mode by the turning on of the TV by the evil JL at 7:15 am. On a Sunday! I behaved, and no shoes were thrown at her head. Off to the hotel lobby for some flat, floppy, cardboard-flavored waffles, and acidic brown stuff masquerading as coffee - no DONUT. The Sioneva was NOT happy. And the weather was not designed to brighten her mood - heavy rain and storms rolling through the area. But still, we bravely pressed on - picture a line of four umbrella-carrying cachers, walking single file down a partly overgrown bike path in the pouring rain, getting slapped by wet Queen Anne's Lace and unidentified yellow flowers. That would pretty much sum up the morning, until about 11 a.m.!

This is running really long, so to wrap it up... we drove north to get out of the line of storms, and cached away to our hearts' content , here, there... everywhere! We got back at 10:30 pm, having found a total of 71 caches - 29 the first day, 42 the next day. That smashed my personal record for most caches found in a day!

Sat, Aug 15, 2009

Spring Break!

Chert Chasing 101

 This story precedes the already published Cache and Splash story.

Spring break!! A lot has happened since I left off on Thanksgiving weekend. A sinus surgery in December, just two days before Christmas, a new puppy we named Pitch, a close call on being laid off from work, giving up Pitch because she was far too energetic for us and didn't get along with Gitchie (it was tough giving her up though).  I have another sinus surgery scheduled for the middle of this month also. We haven't done a lot of caching in that time, so we are itching to get on the road.

We begin our planning for a trip to the Nebraska panhandle to work on the 93 County and Delorme challenges. The idea was to take our time, go from cache to cache, see all the great sites, Chimney Rock, Toadstool Park, Carhenge, and gather info to create a few more EarthCaches, basically enjoying ourselves Van Camping. To facilitate a more carefree trip, I had put together a GSAK database from six pocket queries with all of the caches in the western 2/3 of Nebraska, so that we weren't locked into a specific route.

A short time ago, Vic had decided having Microsoft Streets and Trips on my lap wasn't working the best for her and we purchased a Garmin Nuvi. I also had bought a 1 gig micro SD card to use in it. I was just learning how to load data when I went to remove the card and somehow shoved it entirely inside the unit. Oh great, I just made a costly mistake. I contacted Garmin and explained my problem and they said they would replace the unit and give me a Garmin SD card as well; it wasn't a one gig card but hey they didn't have to replace it. All I had to pay for was shipping the first unit back to them. Boy, I was relieved, but would we get the replacement in time for our trip?

Sometime prior to this I had discovered the joys of GSAK macros. We could now easily check to see what counties we had found caches in, what Delorme pages were covered and I now had a keystroke macro/exe combo to import the different icons for caches onto our Streets and Trips map. That one was fun to watch as it opened and closed folders, typed in data, entered, opened the next screen, check marked boxes, and changed pushpins to icons all without my doing anything more than an initial double click... sure beats the way I had tried to do color coded pushpins before and it had the familiar, easily recognizable icons. Before I had to have a cheat sheet to use for the pushpin colors, in fact, it is still taped to the laptop. Anyway, I went to the GSAK forums and found a macro that would load caches into the Nuvi as points of interest and we were eager to try it out.

Two weeks before the trip, Vic gets a doom-and-gloom feeling that we need a backup plan in case the early April weather doesn't cooperate in northern and western Nebraska. I tell her to figure out something different then, kinda huffily, after all the work I had put into queries and such for the panhandle trip. One week before the trip, actually 5 days, she finally decided the alternate would be to go down through Joplin Mo. into Arkansas then cut over to Oklahoma to catch and follow Route 66 back up. She had the general route planned but now we had to set up our caches along a route queries and do it quickly, time was running out. Omaha to Joplin, we were ok with interstate and major highway, no problem there. It was after our westing from Arkansas the troubles began. I entered 2 places in Google Earth clicked and it took me onto the turnpike. I don't want the turnpike, so I enter points a shorter distance apart and it got me where I wanted. I tried for another leg, turnpike! Again shorter distances, turnpike! It was a long frustrating evening but by leaving off the first and last interstate legs I managed to get Vic's route down to eight pocket queries, two days worth, with one of the segments only eight miles long. I was beginning to think Google gets a percentage of the turnpike tolls. We would only run these queries if needed to avoid apparent adverse April weather in Nebraska. We also got the replacement Nuvi today so I had a day or two to figure out how to load and use it for our trip.

Surfing the Garmin site after I registered, I found we could download and choose our "vehicle" from several available graphics.  I wanted to use the cannon or the pirate ship or the biplane or even the big ol' RV, Vic chose the station wagon, because her family used to take trips in one. I wanted different and fun and I get trumped by sentimentality. She didn't like the British lady talking to her either. I guess all of the Anglophiles are on my side of the family. Even though we haven't named any of our other GPS units my sons' said we needed to name the Nuvi (it talks dad, it has to have a name!) so we all decide to name her.....Lucy. That way when we pull in the driveway I can say "Hey Luuuuucy, I'm home."

Wednesday, the next night, was make-or-break day,  the weatherman is telling us of expected accumulations of up to twelve inches and blizzard like conditions predicted for the weekend over most of the area we had planned to travel. Our choice had been made for us and I set the queries for the Route 66 trip to run beginning tonight and tomorrow. I'm also informed that Vic doesn't want to sleep in the van on this trip, so we will need to get motel rooms each night. She swaps the camp gear for suitcases and starts getting everything together while I set up databases.

5:00 p.m. Friday, April 3rd!!! I have the next 2 weeks and possibly more, (I have surgery scheduled Wednesday the 15th) off from work. I finish loading the electronics including a Tungsten E2 Palm that had been tossed in with the M135 we got from eBay, because it didn't work. After a $65 dollar repair we now have a pair! And an M135 to spare. It seems every trip there is more and more data sets I have to do to get ready. We'll also be putting the Nuvi and a good suggestion my son gave us, to the test on this trip. Let's hope the weather holds out for our southern route. (Cue......sorry, sound effects have been temporarily disabled for this story. You may thank me for that! Look for *)

The drive went fairly quick, we enjoyed the time on the road, commenting on passing scenery and singing along with the radio. Our local country station plays NASCAR talk shows on Saturday mornings so we tuned in an oldies station instead as "we head out on the highway, looking for adventure, in whatever comes our way."*(this one is a judgement call, if you've heard me sing before, you may be glad about the disabled sound effects). Leisurely caching along the route we pick up a rest area cache and a DNF from our alphanumeric run, then go on to visit a crafty cache near a restaurant that blended in very well with its surroundings. You gotta love the time and thought that go into some of these hides.

 What has been working well for us is to use streets and trips to choose upcoming caches along or off the route then select that cache for "The Lucy" to take us to, turn by turn. When we arrive at the locations it's up to the legends and geosense to make the find and sign the log before Vic talks into an mp3 player making notes about the cache and anything we may want to put into the online logs. At the end of the day, I download the separate mp3 notes into a folder to be played back later while logging. This was suggested by my son one day after he spent an hour recording obnoxious sounds for his own amusement... and to annoy his brothers. Yeah I was slightly annoyed too when he played "I found the cache under a log and when I opened it, blllllghghhgh ......oooh that feels better!" *but not so much I didn't see the merits of the suggestion. He's a pre-teen, what can I say?

Arriving in Joplin in the early afternoon, we seek a few caches; one that stands out was in a neighborhood park that we crossed some railroad tracks to get to from where we parked. Something I have always enjoyed doing was walking tracks and searching the ballast for interesting or unusual rocks or things. I spotted what looked like an orangey, rusty tow hitch. Turning it over I saw that it was a chert nodule that was semi hollow in the round area with a dark rusty colored, marrow like, area that really reminded me of the ball end of a femur. I picked it up and pocketed it. Bones of the Earth! You can find all sorts of treasure caching in new areas! We danced quite a bit once in the park, along pathways and flowerbeds with my GPS taking me further away and Vic's doing a better job of leading us to the clever hide. While I retrieved the cache which was out of Vic's reach, she felt eyes on her... from the direction of the empty rails. Then she saw two beady points looking at us from under some debris and pointed them out to me to take a pic. It was, we think, a woodchuck guarding the rails from chert-chasing tourists. I had my souvenir; we wouldn't fight him to get more.

Waking early, as we usually do, we pack up, check out and drive to the Chert Beds EC. What a place!! There is a falls over a man made structure but below that the water tumbles over the chert beds themselves and there are multilevel, water smoothed, hole pocked, fracture lined, rock beds on the road side of the stream. Chert is a flinty type material capable of being very smooth and glass like and razor sharp if flaked. Sharp wasn't a problem here as the water had rounded and polished exposed edges. The true beauty of the chert is in the coloring ranging from cool creamy white into shades of grey and shot through with dusty rose, pinks, reds and oranges mostly along the fracture lines. We were amazed and thrilled to be walking along exploring details, seeing images in the colorful stone much as we do with clouds. "Hey this looks like a Picasso!" "Is that a Pollock? No! Not the rock, the fish in the river." I can never let a poor attempt at humor go by. You should know that by now. There was a big chert boulder, split off from the main beds and I wanted to climb onto it to take some pics of the falls as it was the best vantage point. Did I forget to mention I had brought my old 35mm camera with a wide angle lens? Perfect for this place! We found a gnarly rooted tree growing on one spot among the rock and even a sandy/gravely beach area. Here and there in some of the weathered depressions there was evidence of small fires, built to ward off a cool evening and bring cheer to pleasant diversions streamside. I'm jealous, I would love to have such a place to visit regularly back home.  

   After spending quite awhile at the beds, we set off for the next EC at Wildcat Glade. There was a nature center building here, but we arrived about an hour before it opened. We walked along the paths and read the signs about the flora, and little critters that lived here. Strolling down the creek side path we found a more greyish variety of the chert with sharper exposed surfaces dottled here and there with lichens. It was a very pleasant area more geared to exploring wildlife and vegetation than geology, but had both in abundance. We weren't sure about one of the logging answers and thought we should wait to ask at the visitor center, but it didn't open for another hour. We decided to push on to the Prairie EC next on our list.

  The prairie had us walking along a wooded edge of the section, so as to not disturb the native plants. Along the way, we saw several of the mima features that were the subject of this EC. Like rolling little wavelets in a sea of fresh springtime green, the mima hummocks rose up to add interest to the panoramic view. You could just picture little girls in calico dresses and bonnets playing among the tall grass.

  Vic made the comment that we had visited the three earthcaches in the wrong order as far as the wow factor goes, that we should have started with the prairie, then the grove and finally gone to the falls. I enjoyed each of them for the lessons and the views that they shared with us, but I do have to admit that the wow factor could have skyrocketed at Wildcat Grove had we seen one of the local variety of tarantulas while inspecting the lichen covered chert outcroppings. It definitely would have caused A. loud frightened exclamations,* B. startled backpedaling ending in a possible fall, C. racing heartbeats that would take forever to calm. Vic would be even more upset since she is the spiderphobe. We would have ooohed and ahhed at seeing a floating butterfly or a scampering 4 legged lizard, but double the number of legs and give it a fuzzy body and we would have regretted making our visit before the facilities were opened for the day.

 Much of the trip through southern Missouri and northern Arkansas could be described by two words, Rock and Raptors, the roadside was thick with outcropping and in some places the solid rock had been terraced by drill and explosives to allow us passage through on our journey. I can imagine the gargantuan efforts this would have taken before pneumatic drilling, long lines of single or doublejacker's and their shakers grunting with each swing of the ten pound hammer beating the rhythm of Progress into the limestone an fraction of an inch at a time. The men clear the area as holes are charged and after the shout of "Fire in the Hole"* A booming concussive wave* fractures the solid rock face to bits and before the dust settles, wheelbarrows come in to cart off the rubble. One canyon we passed through had 3 terraces high and was long enough it would have taken weeks and weeks to clear in this manner. We drove through it in minutes. Do we ever truly appreciate the efforts of those who prepared the way for us and left some truly wicked places to hide a bison tube?

   The skies often held several majestically soaring eagles, circling overhead in loose patterns as if waiting to swoop down and feed on some weakened creature... ok that sounds more like buzzards...and probably was. To tell the truth, I find it difficult to distinguish whether one of the big birds in flight is an eagle or carrion cruiser without a good close glimpse of an un-feathered, ugly head. Not that it really matters as I find both to be pretty impressive birds but I'm not going to hug either one. I did do an internet search to find silhouettes that will help me identify which bird is more foul than the other though. The differences are subtle, so I'll have to print it out and tape it to the laptop, so I can tell if it's a regal eagle or just a vulgar vulture.

      'Talk to me' was an interesting cache in an area where leftover building materials from a nearby housing development had landed. We picked up some interesting marble tiles and found the cache which contained an fms radio where, if the cache owner was listening you could chat a few moments. We tried but no response. Another urban wooded area warned of pitfalls along the way. They were pretty well concealed by tall grass and I did manage to drop into one, stopping my fall straddling a log instead of a relatively soft landing in the bottom of the pit. There wasn't any cartoon like crossing of eyes and rolling off into the pit with banshee like wails though, my thighs had taken most of the impact. Whew

    In Arkansas we met Popeye, who keeps a watch on cachers, Papa Smurf, a Gooneybird, a chain eating tree and visited a Haunted Pizza Place. We made our order to go, extra cheese, hold the pepperoni (we didn't want any spectral salami coming back to haunt us) and headed for the Oklahoma border to spend the night in Tulsa. Relaxing in the motel pool and hot tub after purchasing forgotten swimwear, we get a good night's sleep without any heartburn and were ready to get our kicks on Route 66.

  "Thar She Blows" was a Route 66 attraction at a swimming hole with a big whale dock/platform. This was a fun discovery, but one of probably very few leftover attractions from the heyday along the route, we had expected more. 

   A series of caches along a road through a nut grove, proved to be a serene peaceful drive. Stopping at the color coordinated gates along the way to pick up even more smileys than the tranquil setting had already given us.

   We had a little trouble getting to a cache in a reclaimed coal mine area, the maps and what we were driving in just didn't match up well and it was a very winding confusing path. Vic did manage to find the right place but since the gps pointed to a small, yet steep hill, I got to be the designated climber and log signer while Vic chose a nice piece of coal tailings to add to our collection. I remember this one being under rated, at least for a 48, overweight, out of shape man. But I triumphed and managed to catch my breath enough before we stopped at a cache in a nearby small cemetery that I didn't feel becoming a resident was imminent.

  Our route we had followed today was pretty much parallel to our route on Saturday in fact for quite some distance we were a mere 19 miles from the highway we came down on. Stopping here and there to sign a few more logs, we make our way north towards Kansas City and discuss going on home that night but Vic is tired enough we decide to stay over, actually it took us almost an hour and a half to stop for the night, trying to find a suitable, affordable motel. Checking in we settle down for the night, then make the most of the continental breakfast the next morning before the drive home. We only seek out one cache at a rest area on the way "north bound and down" since we had found the sister cache "southbound and down" on our first day," north bound and down, driving up and caching, we gonna find that needle in the hay, we gotta long way to go and a whole lot of micros, we're north bound and caching all the way.*" (sorry about more singing but we're almost done here!)

The next few days we relax and get a few things done around the house before surgery day. This one was a more delicate operation than the last one was and I had a very rough recovery from that one. I was apprehensive but things went very well and I am on my way to rediscovering my long lost sense of smell. We'll have to hold out to see if it helps my singing as well.

By TheAlabamaRambler   Fri, Aug 07, 2009

My favorite log ever!

By TheAlabamaRambler   Fri, Aug 07, 2009

A friend of mine (Bobndwoods) adapted an old poem in our local forum that set me to wondering what the poets amongst you can do, so let's hear 'em!

Surely there has been some cache or cacher you can wax poetic about.

Post your best effort in this forum

The best of the thread will be published in The Online Geocacher.

Here's Bobndwoods ---


Well now friends you'll never guess it so I really must confess it --
I just met the sweetest woman of my long and dismal life.

But a friend said, "Buddy, just in case your mind is muddy,
Don't you know that gal you're foolin' with is TheAlabamaRambler's wife?
And that man is big and rough and mean and grim,
And he'll brain you with his artificial limb."

But next morning bright and early I stole old Rambler's girlie,
And I also took his wooden leg, just to play it safe.

But there weren't no time for laughter 'cause he started hopping after,
And I keep on running faster but he won't give up the chase.
And I'm running through the mountains with his bride,
And I got his wooden leg here by my side.

I'm a three-legged man with a two-legged woman
Being chased cross country by a one-legged fool.
Though he's huffing and he's puffing he shows no sign of stopping,
I tell you, boys, this life is hard and cruel.

'Cross the deserts and the valleys and the dark Chicago alleys --
'Cross the mighty Mississippi to the hills of Caroline.
Through the mountains of Montana and the swamps of Loosiana --
Every time I look back he's JUST one foot behind.

And I know he must be cold and wet and sick,
But in spite of all his woes, he can kick!
Now he's ragged and he's filthy, and I'm feeling mighty guilty
'Specially in the evenings when I hear him plead and beg.

He says "In spite of all your stealing friend, I bear you no hard feelings.
You can keep that darned old woman, just give me back my leg!"

Wed, Aug 05, 2009

Chronicles of Sioneva:

The Coral Islands

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Doc... Are you telling me that it's 8:25?"
"Precisely."
"Damn! I'm late for school!"

Back to The Future, Part I

The trip did not start off well. Not at all. My brother and I had been trying to do this trip for a long time - visit the Florida Keys, swim in the warm water, bask on the beaches, grab some caches. That sort of thing.  He'd even bought me a plane ticket for my birthday; we were all set, right?

WRONG!

My flight was scheduled to leave out of Des Moines at 6:30 am. Des Moines is a 2.5 hour drive away. Which is why a sinking feeling very quickly gave way to a panicky feeling, which quickly gave way to a crying feeling when my alarm did not go off... and I woke up on my own at 4 a.m. The reader is left to do the math...

Anyway, one hour, many tears, several hasty calculations, and one miracle later, I was booked on a flight out of  Kansas City at 1:10 p.m., for a very reasonable price, considering it was extremely last minute. (There were only two seats left at that price, too, when I booked it!) I wasn't taking any chances this time... I DID NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP, and I left to make the, yes, 2.5 hour drive down at 8 a.m. The rest of the trip out went without a hitch. Whew.  Ft. Lauderdale, here I come!

"I've never seen you before in my life, but you look to me like a slacker!"

Back to the Future, Part II

The moral of this little interlude is that campground security in Florida is very suspicious. If you're there to camp, you better have a tent up... even if it's dark and raining when you arrive, and you really would rather sleep in the car. We gave in and put the tent up. It stopped raining. We stayed dry.

"Is this a holdup?"
"It's a science experiment!"

Back to the Future, Part III

Okay, time to talk briefly about the caching, before I start going into detail about the Keys... The primary caches on my list were the three earthcaches in the keys. Two in Key West, and one on the way down. I blame catsnfish for this, naturally! These are the three, for reference: Backbone of the Keys, My Moon, and Key West Marine Park. Each was well done and worth the visit! Now I only need to place another earth cache, and I can get my gold master's pin! I made sure to get the southernmost point virtual cache as well!

"Mosquitoes of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist."

The Princess Bride (well, sort of)

We also tried some more traditional caches, and quickly learned why you SHOULD NOT cache in Florida without 400% DEET bug spray! I had to fight the mosquitoes bravely, to keep them from carrying my brother away to parts unknown - they were just that big. No, really. Never has a log been signed so quickly, and I think I discovered a previously unknown skill for ammo can throwing. Practically over my shoulder, as I turned to run! Once safe back in the car, we took stock - feet, yes (I was wearing flip-flops), face, arms, neck... even on my fingers! Eesh!

Blood donation was not over with for the day. We endured the same ordeal, and again, set a speed record, at the campground, 15 miles north of Key West. Up went the tent, in we dove! Tom even got a brush burn on his knee from the speed of diving in! We talked a bit, the braved the bloodsuckers again to go buy that which we were lacking. We were much happier possessing that wonderful can of OFF.

"Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim."

Finding Nemo

In between feeding the mosquitoes, we actually made it to Key West! We wanted to swim!  One beach had water the temperature of a hot tub and way too much seaweed. Ewww. The second beach was much better, plus there was a bar on the beach! Sitting there, drinking Rumrunners... ahhhh, this is the life. I was wondering why Key West was called Key West instead of Key South, given that it's the southernmost Key - it's actually from the Spanish "Cayo Hueso", or "Bone Key", which is creepily cool when you think about it!

Anyway! The third beach we went to was at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. We liked this beach for many reasons. A) It had free admission on the day we visited, which was a great deal, 2) My brother could snorkel around coral reefs just walking off shore a little bit, 3) It had a really nifty nature trail through trees the likes of which I'd never seen before - wish I knew what they were. Mangroves, maybe?

"I know those cannons. It's the Pearl."

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

We left to get some conch fritters and key lime pie - hey, we were tourists, what can I say? Then we came back to tour the Fort part of the state park. The amateur historian in me was fascinated by the crumbling walls, there was even a cannon embedded IN one wall, iirc. This fort was the headquarters for the Union fleet that blockaded the South during the Civil War, and was a key point (pun intended) during the Spanish-American War and the dealings with Cuba. A lot of history here! But I didn't find any of the caches.

(to be continued... Maybe.)

By il imperiestro   Sun, Aug 02, 2009