Nonconnah Greenbelt Park - April 11, 2009

Saturday was a beautiful day for caching and jbgreer and I decided to take advantage of it and hunt the caches in Nonconnah Greenbelt Park. I mapped out 7 caches in the park to do and two warmups for on the way over.

I met jbgreer at his house around 8:30am and we set off. The first cache of the day was Giving Back #3 Here you go Memphis! by jeffbouldin (GC1JVPE). I knew from the cache logs online that this would be an easier find than its rating of 2/5 would suggest. In fact, it turned out to be a walk-up cache - the easiest one of the day... Next, was Heatwave by FamilyInFilm, CodeMission, GirlinFilm, & CoolZX11 (GC155M4). This one had been on my list of to-do's for a while. The solution to the puzzle hit me just a few days after I had been in close proximity to the cache spot. It, too, was an easy find (by design).

Properly warmed up, we headed south to Nonconnah Greenbelt Park. After finding the information for the final stage of Caching A,B,Z's by tinksdad01 (GC1A3WP) near the parking area, we set off in search of more difficult caches. We both brought our rubber boots and they came in handy! Of course it would have worked out better if my boots were about a foot taller...


Hmmmm... the first find of the woods was De-Hydration by tinksdad01 (GC1NQC5). Lack of water was not a problem for this area. If I remember correctly, while hunting this cache, my right leg sunk deeper than the height of my boot.

Its all york by bryboy#1 (GC1M7BM) was our next find. Lots of swamp wading followed by a tough search. The coords were good, but the container was small and well-hidden.

Wild Turkey by Abiectio (GC1MAFY) was a neat hide. We saw plenty of turkey feathers in the area.

After overcoming a might obstacle, we made our way to the next cache: Mirror, mirror by Abiectio (GC1KME9). This was probably my favorite cache of the day! I can't say why, though - it would spoil the surprise.


The Saga of the Frozen Dozen by Abiectio (GC1MAGA) was next. I liked the cache, but the cache page was a pain in the rear to navigate through. Basically a lot of pictures and story about a cache hunt that had nothing to do with this cache.

Penny's Worth Of Trouble by ProntoPup, Hoot Owl, and Tinksdad01 (GC1P01D) was a typical prontopup hide - it was well done. We were having trouble finding it until I read the FTF log on my Palm Pilot. It was also our last find of the day. There is now only one cache unfound by us in this park, and it is a puzzle cache that we haven't solved yet. Spoilers in that cache's online log led me to believe it was in this park.

Somewhere in the above mix, we found the final stage of Caching A,B,Z's by tinksdad01 (GC1A3WP). Biggest/tallest ammo can I think I have seen. We had some problems getting out the letters needed to form our caching names (a requirement of the cache). I had to use a "W" as an "M". When we went to put the container back, jbgreer noticed a small green frog on the side of the can.


The hike back to the truck was considerably easier than the hike in. However, the obstacles we had to overcome were there regardless. All in all it was a fun day!

Jackson, TN - March 28, 2009

[This is a continuation of the Brownsville trip made on the same day]

After getting back on the interstate at Brownsville, I headed east towards Jackson. It was already around noon so I wasn't sure how long I would cache there. I'm not a big fan of driving around in traffic, so caching around the interstate area could prove to be harrowing.

Before I got to Jackson, I got off on Hwy 70 and picked up Workin' on the Road by dalls (GC19HR6). I had read the description of a similarly named cache, so I was confused about what and where I needed to look until I read the correct cache page. On to Jackson...

My first bunch of caches (and my main goal for the trip) was the area around exit 82 of I-40. It is a busy area with Union University, a mall, and other stores/businesses. My first find in Jackson proper was Welcome To "JAGLAND" by dalls (GC1DCAD). It was in an oddly appropriate location.

I made a counter-clockwise circle around the area picking up a number of caches including Rip's Treasure Chest by dalls (GC1DQ7C), The Bluffmobile by Canoe Guy (GC13XZ7), and Road Closed #6 by yogi and dolphin (GC102JM). At Rip's Treasure Chest, I hiked out to the cache and realized I had lost my first pen of the day. I had to go back to my car to get another one. The Bluffmobile was an interesting experience. I opened it so fast to grab the log, I almost didn't notice the surprised inside! Road Closed #6 was another one that I visited before and was prevented by muggles (security) from getting to it.

Over Here, Over There, Where? by dalls (GC13V16) would have been a neat find, if not for the identical item used as a cache container only a few feet away. That "identical item" was something that could easily have been broken by people looking for a cache.

After my circle of the area, I headed north to pick up a few more random caches. One of those I enjoyed was The New Mill by Canoe Guy (GC13MGR). Neat hide spot with an extra touch on the container. It was hard not to be spotted by the neighbors, though.

My last find of the day was Brooksie's cache by Canoe Guy and Arkhiker (GCWT44). I had been to this spot a couple of years before and got to where I could see the container, but couldn't get it because of a stream of muggles. On this day, I darted in and out between muggles. I enjoyed my day and would have like to stay longer, but I had a headache (probably from skipping lunch).

[ I will add a few pictures later. ]

Update to Geocache Listing Guidelines

The listing guidelines were updated on April 3, 2009 and I was happy to see the below change:

Logging of All Physical Caches

Geocaches can be logged online as Found once the physical log has been signed.

If it is appropriate for your cache location or theme, you may ask the cache seeker to accomplish an optional and simple task, either close to the cache site (normally within 0.1 miles or 161 meters) or when writing their online log. For example, wear the goofy hat inside the cache container and upload a photograph. Cache finders can choose whether or not to attempt or accomplish optional tasks. Cache owners may not delete the cache seeker's log based solely on optional tasks.

This guideline change applies immediately to all logs written from April 4, 2009 and going forward. Older caches with "additional logging requirements" (ALRs) are not grandfathered under the older guideline. If you own an existing cache with mandatory additional logging requirements, we request that you:

• Cease deleting logs based on additional logging requirements.
• Review your own cache listing to see if the ALR can be made into an optional and simple task, or whether it must be removed altogether.
• Adjust your geocache listing by editing the text then contact a reviewer to change the cache type, if appropriate.

This change has the effect for me that I can remove all the caches on my ignore list that were there because I wasn't willing to do anything other than find the cache and sign the log. I didn't want to wear a funny hat or stand on my head in order to log a cache find. Thanks to Groundspeak for the change.

Brownsville, TN - March 28, 2009

I had recently gotten my car fixed up so I could start taking road trips again so I had been debating where my first trip would take me. Since rain was forecast for Saturday, I decided that familiar territory would be best for this trip. I mapped out my unfound caches for Brownsville, TN and as an afterthought mapped out some for Jackson, TN as well.

Because I was busy during the previous week, I only had time to research the Brownsville caches. For the Jackson caches, I planned to rely more on my familiarity with the area. I had packed a bag in the event that I might want to stay the night in Jackson and cache more the next day.

I left Memphis around 8am - later than I had planned. There was intermittent rain until I got to Brownsville. At that point, I was hit with a deluge that slowed me down for a bit. I had to bypass getting LTL - Koko Road / Whiteville by cgeek (GCWAMJ) and headed straight into town. My first find of the day was Contrast by EverywhereActs1:8 (GC1N2XD) which was only interesting because of the cache container.

The most interesting caches I found in the Brownsville area on this trip were:
Equus by Canoe Guy (GC16R4E) - due to the location and the fact it was a Canoe Guy cache.

fluffy&itchy's Excellent Adventure #1: Brownsville by fluffy&itchy (GC18BPY) - The location was the reward. I have found three different caches near that spot and I enjoyed them all.

I cached out Brownsville in a counter-clockwise manner, getting most all caches within 5 miles or so of the city limits. My last find in the area was Don't Bee by prontopup (GC17K35). I was fortunate in approaching this one from Brownsville because TDOT was doing bridge work on I-40 at Mercer Rd. which would have blocked my approach. In fact, the construction prevented me from getting across to LTL - Mercer Road v.2 by cgeek (GC163W8) - a mere .2 miles away from Don't Bee and I had to take a slow winding detour to even get back on I-40. In the end, I found all of the caches I went in Brownsville after except the two LTL caches along I-40.

[ coming next, Adventures in JAGLAND ]