Old Liberty Hill Haunted Adventure, Part II

After lunch, we headed out to find more caches. We picked up several in Pontotoc including Micro with a view by lacey38655 (GC13CVP). You would never know that the picture was taken while standing in a Wal-Mart parking lot.


Now that I look at the route we traveled, it seems we kind of wandered around. One of the caches in the area of Puskus Lake that I found particularly enjoyable was Foul...or is it? by SniperChicken (GCXVN6).

One of the last caches we went to before slowly winding our way to the event was Cambridge Cemetery by buggydawg (GCM51N). I had been to this one before so I was going to relax while Abiectio hunted the cache. Next to the cemetary is a wooded area and we heard a loud rustling coming from nearby. We thought it might be a dog so we stayed close to the cemetary fence. I was standing closer to the road and saw the wild animal emerge.


I asked Abiectio if he had ever seen a live armadillo. He said he had not and went after it to snap some pictures. I heard another one off in the woods a bit further back. They make a lot of noise for being relatively small creatures.

After finding the cache, we headed south to do 2 more caches that were relatively close together. The first one - The Nascar Cache by SniperChicken (GC114TG)was just a short hike in the woods. The container and contents were themed and were worth the hunt. We moved the car a little bit to the west and headed into the woods after North Cypress West Trail by SniperChicken (GCXWPE). I don't remember the cache itself, but do remember the hunt. At one point on the trail, I tripped. I reached out my right hand to catch myself on a tree at the edge of the path. I was quite surprised when my hand went through the tree (it was rotten) and I hit another tree just past it, ramming my right shoulder into it just as I was about to hit the ground. It was extremely painful, so I just lay there for a minute until the pain subsided enough for me to realize I wasn't seriously hurt. Most importantly we found the cache! We went after one more cache, which we couldn't find an approach for so at that point it was definitely time to head to the event. Would we make it time? Would we even make it there at all?

Still more to come

Old Liberty Hill Haunted Adventure, Part I

Saturday was looking to be a great day, but I had no plans for caching. I had intended the spend the day working. Friday afternoon, Abiectio called me and said that he was planning on attending Old Liberty Hill Haunted Adventure and spending the entire day caching in Mississippi in the area around the event. I was hesitant to go because I needed to rest up for a 10 mile race I was running in Sunday, but decided I need some fun! I didn't have time to make my usual preparations, but did generate a pocket query for the area.

Abiectio picked me up at 8:30 am Saturday and off we went.

Our first stop was Holly Springs, MS where we picked up four quick caches. Two of them were at fast food places, so naturally the hunger pangs began. It wasn't quite time for lunch yet so we headed towards New Albany. Just before we got there we stopped at a cache Abiectio had been to before and really liked the camo on - Cache of Steel by lacey38655 (GC134K9). That cache took me a moment to find because my GPSr decided I needed a challenge. I found it though and posed for a picture with the container before getting back on the road.



Our next stop was a park in New Albany, MS. Here we did the first of much hiking during the day! We parked somewhere along the paved Tallahatchie Trail and hiked to the first cache in the area - A Walk Along The River by SniperChicken (GC13CZ3).

It was an relatively easy find after readjusting our perspective. We then crossed through a thicket in search of another cache that turned out not to be in my pocket query. It might have been archived, anyways we drove a short distance away and found another cache in an area rich with muggles (none were near the cache). We found a total of four caches in New Albany, missing one other because a car show was being held in the area surrounding the cache.

Our next destination was Pontotoc, but first - lunch at a Chinese buffet where we discussed important geocaching issues.

More to come

Caching the Appalachian Trail

I was reading an article today in a fitness publication about hiking the Appalachian Trail and it reminded me of a silly dream I had once to hike and cache along the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Coast Trail. I say silly because in order to hike the length of the AT (which is a little over 2000 miles) I would most likely have to quit my job. Most people who successfully complete the hike take five or six months. I can't say whether I would try to do it faster or slower - I guess it depends on the caching opportunities, but I think I would want to hike the entire trail.


It would be hard to drop out of my life's routines for that long, but there are many times (like today) that I would like to do just that. One of the great pleasures of my life is my yearly drive across the country to visit family. I enjoy the solitude of the trips and do not miss the company of others. When getting close to my destination I always stop (usually at a rest stop) and take one last chance to reflect on things before meandering on into town to visit family or getting back home depending on the direction I am traveling.

I may never take the time to make that great hike, but I will always enjoy thinking about it as it takes my mind away from some of the unpleasantness of my life.

Letters to Santa

"THANK YOU FOR THE EDIT IN A RECENT POST ON GEOCACHING.COM THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN!! THIS IS HAPPENING ALOT WHAT IS THE STOPPING POINT FOR THE BAD COMMENTS FROM ONES MOUTH??? THIS SHOULD BE A IMMEDIATE BAN FROM GEOCACHING PERIOD!! MY REQUEST IS TO GIVE THIS A BAN FROM GEOCACHING FOR THIS VIOLATION !! IF YOU DO NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH THIS TAKE IT TO ANOTHER REVIEWER WHO WILL DO IT!! THANKS"

This is not an actual letter to Santa. Letters to Santa usually make more sense than this.

This is instead a post made on the JAG forums presumably under their "Ask The Reviewer" section. I don't know for sure yet because the quote was sent to me by a loyal reader of my blog. The post itself was made by one of the "charter members" of JAG. The "charter members" of this group are presumably the ones who determine the philosophy or direction of the group.

Here is the horrible post I made that prompted the above quote:
"I can not attend this event because I choose not to associate with members of the JAG NATION. In particular, I choose not to associate with the core members of JAG."

The above ALL CAPS post is actually a follow-up to an earlier attempt to get me "banned from geocaching".

"How much trash does one have to talk about a reviewer to get banned from geocaching!! I thnk this needs a hard look because if someone gives the time for free for a sport I think people need to keep there mouth shut!! Thanks for all the reviewers do! Your friend the NUT!!! I realize this might be a higher up question than just you to give response bet in the name of geocaching go higher if you have to ta get this resolved!!! Thanks Max for all you do!! And for that mater all the reviewers!!!"

The last time such a post was made, two separate reviewers commented that basically reviewers have received far worse criticisms and simply took it as part of the job.

Here is a comment made by one of the reviewers who posted under her regular caching name:

"The Reviewers are fine people for the most part. You would think they would be the ones with random power trips?!?! But rather it is the cachers that have fits of crazy power--of the mouth--or keyboard in many cases. I think some people just have to have someone to beat up on and these people make it the reviewers. I will say this--GroundSpeak chooses reviewers based on a whole lot of qualities--One is a tough skin!! People are alsways pushin', shovin', and smack talkin' the reviewers. Some of the stories Max has shared with us are just amazing. I think most of us here know how crazy people can get over a game!!!"

The person who made the above statement is also a "charter member" of JAG. I am not certain where the "power trip" comment is coming from. How do you get on a "power trip" by hiding or seeking or discussing Tupperware containers? In this case I had chosen to respond (inappropriately) to a poster in our forums who chose to blame me for some threads being closed by pointing out their incorrect use of spelling and grammar. The poster also happened to be a volunteer cache reviewer. The only part of the above quoted statement I agree with is the first sentence. As for the qualities Groundspeak uses to choose reviewers - that will be the topic of a future blog entry.