Return to Searcy - 11/15/2009

I decided to make one more trip to Searcy and pick up a bunch of caches I missed last week. I arrived early on Sunday morning to find Searcy enveloped in fog! I had three objectives in mind:

1) cache a 3-mile loop around the airport,

2) pick up some straggler caches in downtown, and

3) cache a series south of Searcy called "The Loop".

I accomplished all three objectives in order, stopping for lunch after item 2.

This trip was much different than my last one. No long hikes around town! I needed to find at least 53 caches and I would not rest until my goal was accomplished. No rest, except for lunch!

[ Discovered somewhere along the way... ]

My 2900th find was The Loop-Ki Ke Acres by woodwalker (GC1XP47). After making this find around 3:30pm, it was time to head home. I picked up three more caches (to make a total of 56) after I left Searcy, in part, to make sure I had reached my milestone.

My last find was in Parkin - Parkin ParkCache by Arkansas State Parks (GC1D41T). The container had recently been replaced and the area was swarming with mosquitoes. The only ones I had run across all day.

Caching in Searcy, AR - 11/7-8, 2009

Wow! A whole week without rain. I had to do a two-day cache run. I was looking forward to another trip to Searcy and when I saw a lunchtime event posted for Saturday, I made up my plans to go.

I got up early on Saturday and made a bee-line for Searcy, with no stops along the way (ok, maybe one). Upon my arrival, I was subjected to cache overload. That happens when your GPSr shows you more caches than your mind can process, and you have to refocus on starting where you planned to start. The southern part of Searcy was rural and empty and I made a big loop, finding 19 caches before heading to the event at 11am at Ryan's Buffet downtown.

I made it to the event - A Fond Farewell by woodwalker9 (GC1ZJYT) right on time. After paying for the meal, I headed to the party room, where the cachers were gathering. The event was hosted by woodwalker, and it was great to see him again. I met lots of really friendly cachers, including the guests of honor, while enjoying an excellent meal. The event marked my 2800th cache find.

[ A Fond Farewell to the ShadowCachers family ]

To be continued...

Jonesboro, AR - 11/1/2009

This was the first really nice weekend in quite a while! Saturday, I participated in Race for the Cure. I was going to hunt a few caches while in the area of the race, but the traffic was too bad afterwards.

Sunday morning I got up bright and early and headed to Jonesboro for a day of caching. My main goal was to hit a cluster of caches in the downtown area and then proceed south to hike around in Craighead Forest Park.

The last time I was out this way was with prontopup in January of 2007. There was a snowstorm on that day so the time we spent in Craighead Forest Park was numbingly cold. This day would prove to be much better!

I made three stops on the way to Jonesboro. One notable stop was The Walkway by golfpt (GCVJZ7). I had been here with prontopup and it was so bitterly cold that we ended up giving up the hunt. Lots of folks DNF this one. One of the online logs (by netinator) gave me the hint I needed to search the correct area. I made the find after several minutes of feeling around.

[ The Walkway ]

It was a great hide - one of the best of the day.

Next stop, Jonesboro....

I picked up three caches on the east end of town and then made my way to the downtown cluster. There were seven caches in a cluster and my plan was to park roughly in the middle and walk around to each one. My parking plan was made a little difficult by the fact that churches were in session - lots of full parking lots. I did find a spot, though and began my walk. Most of them were quick park and grabs, but there were two notable caches in this group.

Downtown Waterfall by golfpt (GCVHGW) was one I DNF'ed one in 2007. It was much less of a problem this time. I was helped by the lack of muggles around.

[ the waterfall ]

The building behind it in the picture is a BBQ shop under renovation. The other interesting cache in this group was City Cemetery by tech_guy and the missus (GC14PM1). It was in a great spot and took a great deal of effort to retrieve from its hiding spot.

[ City Cemetery ]

After this, I basically drove all over north Jonesboro picking up easy finds. My last find of the morning was Tram Law Parker by cajenkins81 (GC1KXA1). It was at a Wal-Mart and I did a little shopping and walked to a nearby KFC for a really quick lunch. By the time I stopped for lunch I already had twenty finds.

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I entered Craighead Forest Park from the west and parked near Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Loop the Lake by Mark S. from AR (GCWYTA) - This cache was a DNF the last time I was here plus I lost a glove. Today it was a quick find. I hiked around the entire park in a clockwise direction and found 12 caches. I also got a chance to visit the Nature Center.

[ Nature Center entrance from Craighead Forest Park ]

One highlight of the Nature Center was displays like in the above picture. You press a button and it plays audio of the wildlife.

[ View of boardwalk from above ]

I think I spent over four hours hiking the park and I was happy to get back to my car since I didn't bother to take water with me. I didn't really need it since the weather was pleasantly cool.

I won't go into much detail, because I don't want to spoil any of the hides, but my favorite caches in the park were (in order):

Touche' WoodWalker! by Mark S from AR (GC1YYD4) - for the overall work put into making it challenging.

Here, There, Everywhere - Loop the Lake by Mark S. from AR (GC110RK) - for the camo job.

Sing me a Sad Song - Loop the Lake by Mark S. from AR (GC110RY) - for the camo job.

What A View! by forayer (GC1XYE5) - for the view, of course!

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I picked up two more caches east of the park before heading to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I got Off Your Rocker in Jonesboro by tech_guy and the missus (GC149WR) before heading inside for dinner. I had meatloaf, okra, and mashed potatoes for dinner followed by blackberry cobbler and ice cream for dessert. It was dark by the time I left the restaurant, so I picked up one more cache on the way out of town and headed home.

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I found 35 caches for the day.
The Cracker Barrel cache was my 500th Arkansas cache.

[ Update: 11/16/2009 - I managed to recover my pictures from the trip and inserted some into this entry. ]