This was my 4th year participating in Race for the Cure. The race was a 5k where the start and finish is located near the Saddle Creek shopping center in Germantown, TN. Race organizers estimate they had around 15,000 entrants this year (same as most years) and I was one of about 500 timed racers. The weather was cold, but sunny, and other than the crowds during the first mile, I had a great race.
Afterwards, I enjoyed some pizza and a banana and lots of water before running back to the Agricenter (roughly 2 miles north) where I parked my car.
After getting back to my car, I decided that I would hunt a couple of park and grab caches nearby. I don't normally like caching in my running clothes because I figure I'm more likely to lock my keys in the car, but this time I risked it.
Germantown Parkway is a very busy street on most days, and this day (morning) was no exception. The first cache I went after was Where A Kid Can Be A Kid by Pixiemama (GC1EMZX). I had to outwait a carload of muggles parked next to the cache, and after they left I felt a bit exposed, but I made the find. Had I been here on any other day, I might have gone inside for pizza. Anyways, I got back on the road and headed less than a mile south for the second and final cache of the morning: Preggo #1 by Pixiemama (GC1FA46). There was an open door near the cache, and I could have easily been spotted if someone had stepped outside. I got lucky, though, and got in and out of the area undetected.
There were a few more caches I could have gone after, but I needed to go home and get cleaned up before eating lunch.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Caching at Glen Springs Lake - October 18, 2008
I met up with my caching buddy, jbgreer at his place around 8am. I was a little late because I was taking advantage of the lower gas prices to fill up. Gas had gone down 80 cents a gallon since I had last filled up.
I was in charge of coming up with the caches to hunt, and chose the area around Glen Springs Lake in Tipton County in order to meet jbgreer's goal of hunting high difficulty/terrain caches and my goal of hunting at least ten caches, hard or easy. The weather was cooperative being both dry and cool.
After arriving at the lake and circling the parking lot looking for the optimal parking spot, we headed off on foot in search of West TN Mega Multi series - No Way1 by Riskit323 (GC13WVN). We decided to approach it from the north after scouting a suitable entry point into the woods. The lake has a number of "fingers" in this area so we tried to avoid extra hiking by staying away from the lake, itself. This area is nice and hilly, but the hike to the cache was short and we found it in good shape and signed the log. There were two other caches in the immediate area, so next we went after Burhs by prontopup (GC11XNB). We stumbled upon the trail leading us most of the way to the cache - actually to within 200 feet before cutting off and heading toward the coordinates. After some searching of the area, I read the previous logs that mentioned the coordinates being off by around 30 feet. Sure enough, I found it to be about 30 feet (east?) of the coordinates. I liked the camo on this one, it really blended in well. While we were standing around the cache, we noticed some guys on a boat coming within sight of us. We backed off to avoid compromising the hide.
After walking back uphill to the trail, we headed for Nature's Redundancy by prontopup (GC11XNH). It was an easy walk to this cache (just a few hundred feet), but the hide area was surrounded by falling trees and thick brush - plenty of places to hide a cache. Reading netinator's log gave me sufficient insight to spot the cache without too much work. It was a good hide technique that nature was beginning to encroach upon.
The last cache we had to hunt in the area was Dogwood Dead by prontopup (GC11XN7). The hide area was between us and where we parked, so we tried taking the trail back out of the woods. Unfortunately, it didn't do that - it ended up behind somebody's backyard. We managed to skirt around that area without being spotted by the residents or crossing onto their yard, but it probably wasn't the best way to go. Anyways, we made it out the road, followed it for a bit and then cut back into the woods. After a lot of searching, we came up empty-handed. We did find a chewed up plastic bowl near the coordinates, but it didn't look like a cache container. I was disappointed to leave one cache unfound, but jbgreer reminded me that at least it was easy to get back to, being just a short distance from good parking. We walked back to the truck and I snapped a few pictures of the lake area, and we left.
Our next destination was Valentine Park in Munford, TN. Even though we had both been to this park before, for some reason our autorouting had us going around in circles. Finally, I used my paper map to guide us in. We parked in an area, where I had parked the last time I was here - not realizing that the road would have taken us much closer to where we needed to be. It was a nice day for a walk, though, and we eventually made it to the Boy Scout Trail after first visiting a small cemetery.
There were muggles picnicking near the trailhead, but none were in the woods. We followed one trail to need a light by djpoochie (GC1AJY0) and the followed another section of the trail to Wolves, Tigers & Bears?? by bevofan (GCZ39Q). The latter hide had been there awhile and was originally stocked with some neat stuff. By the time we hunted it, all it had was the logbook and some junk. Both of these caches were good hides, though, and we enjoyed finding them. By the time we got back to the truck, we decided to get something to eat. Not being familiar with any of the eating establishments, I picked Sparky's BBQ in nearby Atoka, TN. I should have called my sister-in-law, who lives in Atoka for some advice... Maybe next time. Anyways, after lunch we heaaded for Atoka Ball Park to hunt O, IC ! by minismiths (GCW3E9). The coords led us to a caboose, that had had two previous caches (we had found at least one of them), so we were quite surprise by the creativity in this hide.
Time was running out for us, so we headed south to Orgill Park where we found Squirel's Revenge by SirFrog (GCYBGD) in short order. There were a surprising number of excellent potential hiding spots with a few yards of the coords. Our last hunt of the day was What is my ID? by cgeek (GC10QM3) it was in a nearby park that was familiar to both of us. It had a simple puzzle component that I had solved a long time ago, and jbgreer solved the day before. The theme of the cache was dedicated to the 2007 GOWT Executive Committee, so I paid my respects in what I felt was an appropriate manner. ;-) Easy hike in and out. We did see a sinkhole off of a trail that was impressive in its size. The opening was relatively small, but it was cavernous underneath.
We got back to the truck and made the drive back to jbgreer's house, where we parted ways until the next adventure. It was a good day and we both met our caching goals for the trip.
After getting home, I decided I still had time to hike over to Joe's by Berlan Eligab (GC1H83J). It was a short walk from my place to the cache location. I was a little hesitant to grab the cache after seeing a sticker on the object on which the cache was placed that basically said that all calls were being monitored by the police. Apparently some unsavory folks spend time here... None on this day, though, so after signing the log I headed off in search of dinner.
I was in charge of coming up with the caches to hunt, and chose the area around Glen Springs Lake in Tipton County in order to meet jbgreer's goal of hunting high difficulty/terrain caches and my goal of hunting at least ten caches, hard or easy. The weather was cooperative being both dry and cool.
After arriving at the lake and circling the parking lot looking for the optimal parking spot, we headed off on foot in search of West TN Mega Multi series - No Way1 by Riskit323 (GC13WVN). We decided to approach it from the north after scouting a suitable entry point into the woods. The lake has a number of "fingers" in this area so we tried to avoid extra hiking by staying away from the lake, itself. This area is nice and hilly, but the hike to the cache was short and we found it in good shape and signed the log. There were two other caches in the immediate area, so next we went after Burhs by prontopup (GC11XNB). We stumbled upon the trail leading us most of the way to the cache - actually to within 200 feet before cutting off and heading toward the coordinates. After some searching of the area, I read the previous logs that mentioned the coordinates being off by around 30 feet. Sure enough, I found it to be about 30 feet (east?) of the coordinates. I liked the camo on this one, it really blended in well. While we were standing around the cache, we noticed some guys on a boat coming within sight of us. We backed off to avoid compromising the hide.
After walking back uphill to the trail, we headed for Nature's Redundancy by prontopup (GC11XNH). It was an easy walk to this cache (just a few hundred feet), but the hide area was surrounded by falling trees and thick brush - plenty of places to hide a cache. Reading netinator's log gave me sufficient insight to spot the cache without too much work. It was a good hide technique that nature was beginning to encroach upon.
The last cache we had to hunt in the area was Dogwood Dead by prontopup (GC11XN7). The hide area was between us and where we parked, so we tried taking the trail back out of the woods. Unfortunately, it didn't do that - it ended up behind somebody's backyard. We managed to skirt around that area without being spotted by the residents or crossing onto their yard, but it probably wasn't the best way to go. Anyways, we made it out the road, followed it for a bit and then cut back into the woods. After a lot of searching, we came up empty-handed. We did find a chewed up plastic bowl near the coordinates, but it didn't look like a cache container. I was disappointed to leave one cache unfound, but jbgreer reminded me that at least it was easy to get back to, being just a short distance from good parking. We walked back to the truck and I snapped a few pictures of the lake area, and we left.
Our next destination was Valentine Park in Munford, TN. Even though we had both been to this park before, for some reason our autorouting had us going around in circles. Finally, I used my paper map to guide us in. We parked in an area, where I had parked the last time I was here - not realizing that the road would have taken us much closer to where we needed to be. It was a nice day for a walk, though, and we eventually made it to the Boy Scout Trail after first visiting a small cemetery.
There were muggles picnicking near the trailhead, but none were in the woods. We followed one trail to need a light by djpoochie (GC1AJY0) and the followed another section of the trail to Wolves, Tigers & Bears?? by bevofan (GCZ39Q). The latter hide had been there awhile and was originally stocked with some neat stuff. By the time we hunted it, all it had was the logbook and some junk. Both of these caches were good hides, though, and we enjoyed finding them. By the time we got back to the truck, we decided to get something to eat. Not being familiar with any of the eating establishments, I picked Sparky's BBQ in nearby Atoka, TN. I should have called my sister-in-law, who lives in Atoka for some advice... Maybe next time. Anyways, after lunch we heaaded for Atoka Ball Park to hunt O, IC ! by minismiths (GCW3E9). The coords led us to a caboose, that had had two previous caches (we had found at least one of them), so we were quite surprise by the creativity in this hide.
Time was running out for us, so we headed south to Orgill Park where we found Squirel's Revenge by SirFrog (GCYBGD) in short order. There were a surprising number of excellent potential hiding spots with a few yards of the coords. Our last hunt of the day was What is my ID? by cgeek (GC10QM3) it was in a nearby park that was familiar to both of us. It had a simple puzzle component that I had solved a long time ago, and jbgreer solved the day before. The theme of the cache was dedicated to the 2007 GOWT Executive Committee, so I paid my respects in what I felt was an appropriate manner. ;-) Easy hike in and out. We did see a sinkhole off of a trail that was impressive in its size. The opening was relatively small, but it was cavernous underneath.
We got back to the truck and made the drive back to jbgreer's house, where we parted ways until the next adventure. It was a good day and we both met our caching goals for the trip.
After getting home, I decided I still had time to hike over to Joe's by Berlan Eligab (GC1H83J). It was a short walk from my place to the cache location. I was a little hesitant to grab the cache after seeing a sticker on the object on which the cache was placed that basically said that all calls were being monitored by the police. Apparently some unsavory folks spend time here... None on this day, though, so after signing the log I headed off in search of dinner.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Upcoming Events
I haven't made it out caching in a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to mention a few upcoming events in the area:
2nd Annual Old Liberty Hill Haunted Adventure by lacey38655 and sniperchicken (GC1AC2A)
This event on October 18th is being held just east of Oxford, MS and should be a lot of fun for those fortunate enough to make it. I enjoyed it last year, but I don't think I'll make it this year. I'm pretty sure that this event (last year) was the last geocaching event I attended.
The Great Pumpkin Geocaching Party! by Team Sprout (GC1G888)
This Halloween event will be held in Olive Branch, MS. I would never go to an event that required wearing a costume in order to log the event, but it would be cool if there was a contest for the best Halloween-themed cache container.
Geocaching Introduction by Geocachers of West Tennessee (GC1GD8C)
This event on November 1st will be hosted by prontopup at Cameron Brown Park in Germantown, TN. This will be the perfect opportunity for the host to pose for pictures with fellow GOWT member tiger130. All most folks will get out of this "introduction" is who you can call when you can't find the cache.
2nd Annual Old Liberty Hill Haunted Adventure by lacey38655 and sniperchicken (GC1AC2A)
This event on October 18th is being held just east of Oxford, MS and should be a lot of fun for those fortunate enough to make it. I enjoyed it last year, but I don't think I'll make it this year. I'm pretty sure that this event (last year) was the last geocaching event I attended.
The Great Pumpkin Geocaching Party! by Team Sprout (GC1G888)
This Halloween event will be held in Olive Branch, MS. I would never go to an event that required wearing a costume in order to log the event, but it would be cool if there was a contest for the best Halloween-themed cache container.
Geocaching Introduction by Geocachers of West Tennessee (GC1GD8C)
This event on November 1st will be hosted by prontopup at Cameron Brown Park in Germantown, TN. This will be the perfect opportunity for the host to pose for pictures with fellow GOWT member tiger130. All most folks will get out of this "introduction" is who you can call when you can't find the cache.
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