Delta Heritage Trail - Part 2 - 5/22/2010

I knew this would be a tougher day than the previous Wednesday. The temperature was predicted to be at least 10 degrees warmer. I took a slightly different route this time. I took I-40 west to Forrest City, AR and turned south taking Hwy 1 most of the way to my destination in Lakeview.

[ Lakeview Trailhead ]

I parked at the Lakeview trailhead around 8am. My plan was to hike the remaining 2 miles south to the end of the trail, turn around, hike back to the car and pick up my Gatorade and misc supplies and hike 5 miles north to the 7 mile mark caching all along the way. Upon reaching the 7 mile mark, I would turn around and hike back to the car, hunting for anything I missed along the way.

The first thing I noticed (besides the heat) was that this part of the trail was much less shady than the northern half. The second thing I noticed (and the worst) was the abundance of mosquitoes. My bug spray was useless. I was fine as long as I kept moving. When I reached the end of the trail, I met two geocachers on bikes - Mark S. from AR. and 1/3 of Team Pink. I also saw a boy playing with two horses and an old man changing a tire on his truck. I caught up with the geocachers at the 13 mile mark, where they found a cache that had eluded me earlier. After passing them a cache or two later, I never saw them again. I made it back to the trailhead about 9:30am and drank lots of water, applied more bug spray, put on my Arkansas State Parks hat, and put on my fanny pack with Gatorade.

[ The end of the trail ]

[ Team Pink and Mark S. from AR. ]

I enjoyed the hike north for the most part. I found caches left and right with an occasional miss.
Somewhere between mile 8 and 9, I came across a trailhead/parking lot. I thought about moving my car here, but after looking around I decided not to. Besides, at this point I only had a 1.75 mile hike to my turnaround point. Across from the parking lot was the town of Oneida. What I saw consisted of a small rundown store with a rundown house on one side and the town post office on the other.

[ Turn around point - the backside of the sign I hiked to on my previous trip ]

By the time I reached the 7 mile sign, I had used up all of my Gatorade. I decided that I'd head back to the Lakeview trailhead without stopping to hunt for caches I'd missed. When I made it to Oneida, I decided to check out the store. The windows were boarded up and the door had no windows, so I had no idea what I would find inside.

Inside it was cramped and dimly-lit. An Asian woman was at the register and asked me what I wanted. I told her I wanted some Gatorade. She got up to get me some - asking me questions about what flavor and size I wanted. I got the feeling they didn't get too many strangers around and that she didn't want me touring the tiny store unattended. I paid for the Gatorade and left. There were three pitbulls playing out front. They didn't bother me, though, and I hiked back to the trail.

[ The store in Oneida, AR. ]

A note about the store: It was the only store I saw within walking distance of the entire 14-mile trail.

[ Why did the cacher cross the road? ]

[ a neat view ]

[ not as many bridges on the south half ]

The rest of the hike was uneventful, and the longer the walk, the more I appreciated that little store and its cold Gatorade.

Once I got back to my car and drank some water, I packed up my stuff for the trip home. I was about to leave when I discovered a geocaching pamphlet on my windshield. It was put there by my new friends Mark S. for AR and Team Pink. Team Pink had written a brief note on the bottom that gave me a good hint about #100 (one of my many DNFs). Since that was only 0.3 miles down the trail, I decided to go after it. That gave me an even 40 finds (40 out of 57). Going back over my list, for the two-days of caching I did, I found 77 out of the 114 caches along the entire trail.

37 caches left - sounds like a plan for a future trip. I'm definitely biking next time and hopefully I can talk a friend (or two) into going with me.

[ Where all of the people were ]

I drove home roughly the same way I did last trip. I stopped at Marianna for a late lunch and in Forrest City for two additional caches. This time I also stopped in West Memphis for an Oreo Blizzard.

Delta Heritage Trail - 5/19/2010

I hadn't felt much like caching since the 10th anniversary of Geocaching event, but decided to check out my localized pocket query to see what was new in the area. I noticed a tight string of about 20 caches at the southwest edge of the bounds of my pocket query. When I investigated further, I found out that there was actually a string of 114 caches stretching from Lexa, AR to Lakeview, AR along the Delta Heritage Trail. I had actually found a cache on this trail during my earlier run to Helena, AR so I knew this was a well-maintained trail.

I read the general description of the cache trail and saw that it was fairly new with most caches only having a few finds. Rain forecasts kept me from going after them for at least one weekend. When I saw that Wednesday would be the last relatively cool day for awhile, I made plans to take the day off and head over there. My bike wasn't in good shape, so I considered renting a bike at Delta Heritage Trail State Park, which is 2 miles south of the first trailhead.

I got up early on Wednesday and drove to the Helena Junction Trailhead, near Lexa, AR. It was a nice clean parking lot and I felt comfortable leaving my car there for a while.

[ parking area at north end of trail ]

My new plan was to hike 2 miles south to Barton trailhead at the State Park. I would then hike back and move my car to the park and hike south. My goal was to make it to the 7 mile marker - the halfway point of the trail.

[ mile 0 - the north end of the trail ]

It was cool in the morning, and at first I jogged between caches. As it warmed up a little, I decided to save my energy and just walk. During that first two mile stretch, I had a 60% success rate. It doesn't sound good, but I couldn't take a lot of time to hunt individual caches. Particularly since most of them were camoflagued micros. I enjoyed the hike, though, and I guess that was really what was important.

[ plenty of shade along the 14 mile trail ]

About 9:30am, I moved my car south to the State Park. Being a workday, there were no other cars around except for the park folks. At this point, it would have been smart to rent a bike.

[ State Park located 2 miles south of 1st trailhead ]

I started south, and enjoyed the shade and the caches, and the time passed quickly. The big mistake I made on this day was leaving my Gatorade in the car. I had done no recon on this trail, and thought surely I would come across a business or store somewhere. The wisest thing I did was bring tweezers.

[ looking out to the west of the trail ]

At one point, I came across a church with a nice parking lot that was gated. I assumed that was to keep hikers like me from parking there. 1.6 miles south of the park was the Lick Creek trailhead/parking area. It was the last trailhead I saw that day.

[ looking to the east from the trail ]

[ just past cache #57 of 114 ]

I was very thirsty when I reached mile 7. Of course, I had a 5 mile hike back up the trail to my car. Thie hike back was uneventful. I found one cache that I had missed. I took a couple of rest breaks on nice benches. I made it back to the park around 2pm.

When I got back the the park, I noticed the mosquitoes had suddenly come out. I didn't hang around for long and got back on the road. I stopped in Marianna for a late lunch and Forrest City for a couple of cache finds to round me out at 40 for the day.

The Rules are There for a Reason

[ My geocache! You blew it up! ]

Geocaching (like most aspects of life) has rules. Some rules are hard and fast, others are vague and subject to interpretation. Everyone who geocaches is bound by them. This includes geocache reviewers and soldiers. I point these two examples out because some ill-informed people seem to believe otherwise.

Why do I feel the need to point them out? Because I choose to. No further explanation or justification is required.

Update: 5/10/2010

Here is some interesting news: I have been banned from the GOWT forums. Not only that, but they removed my avatar along with the caption underneath that stated that I was a "GOWT Founding Member". They also blocked my IP address(es), to disallow me the "privilege" of even reading their forums.

10 Years! Collierville, TN - 5/2/2010

10 Years! Collierville, Tennessee by The Disorganization of Midsouth Geocachers (GC25KBZ) was one of a number of events worldwide celebrating the 10th anniversary of Geocaching. At least three of these events were within easy driving distance of my residence.

On the weekend of the event, we were bombarded this weekend by rain, tornadoes, and floods. Some people will travel through any kind of weather to get to a cache or an event. I, however, was prepared to cancel my plans to attend if things got too bad. Sunday (the day of the event) was a beautiful day. Still, I waited until the last minute to hit the road. If you can believe it, I was concerned that not enough people would be able to make it to Collierville. The above picture shows I was wrong. I had no problems until I got the the park. It was largely underwater, including the event spot. After meeting up at a pavilion on dry land, I began to look at and catalog all of the neat coins and TBs on display.

I mingled a little bit and enjoyed some delicious chocolate chip cookies brought by a cacher - acookiegirl. At the end, we posed for the group picture required by the event. We took a second picture with a bunch of us standing in about a foot of water, a bit closer to the event coordinates.

After the event, I stopped by Zaxby's for a nice late lunch before heading back to Memphis.