Thursday night, I reviewed my pocket query for the area and printed out a list of the 37 caches I had left, as well as the hints for them. I didn't know how many I'd be able to actually find, since these were all caches that I had looked for on my last trip. Factors on my side this trip would be 1) cooler weather, 2) no bugs!, and 3) better GPSr reception with few leaves on the trees.
Friday morning, I left around 7:30am - not as early as I would have liked, but an old man needs his rest. I skipped breakfast and just took a cold fountain soda with me for a caffeine boost. I headed west to Forrest City where I took advantage of the rest stop before heading south on Hwy 1 towards Marianna.
[ Forrest City, AR - rest stop gardens ]Once on the highway heading south, I had to be more careful about not speeding. At one point, I was going a little fast when I saw a police car parked off in front of me. I slowed down fast before passing him, and he ended up pulling over the car behind me. That was about the most excitement I had that morning. There was very little traffic in this mostly rural area.
I arrived at Delta Heritage State Park around 9am. There was a truck parked at the office, but other than that, I started the day alone. Because it was cool outside, I decided against renting a bike. I had also read while skimming the cache pages, that there had been reports of dogs chasing cyclists around the halfway point of the trail The Park is located 2 miles south of the beginning of the trail. I began the hunt by heading north. There were five caches on this section that I couldn't find on my first trip. As fortune would have it, I couldn't find them on this trip either. A couple had been reported in need of maintenance, but I was disappointed in not finding any. I got back to my car at the Park around 10am and loaded up with the Gatorade I had brought for the trip. I wished I had brought a snack or two as well.
Heading south now, I managed to find the next three consecutive caches that were on my list. On this day, they seemed easy, but I was invigorated nonetheless and hoped to find more. There are many different hides along this trail, but most can be summed up as on the ground or hanging from a tree. I had pretty good luck on this day and the previous trips with the ones on the ground. The hanging ones were a different story. Since I had found a few on my last trip, I had some idea what I was looking for. Since the trees were bare this time of year, I expected to have an easier time. I ended up finding three or four different examples of the hanging ones. They were all great hides, and I am glad I came here when I did.
[ Pretty sure this is south of the state park and facing south. ]
[ A view to the east of the trail. ]
[ Not sure which direction I was facing here. Looks like south.]
[ A view to the west of the trail ]I found my last cache around mile 8 of the trail. It also happened to be the only non-micro of the trip. I think I'd found 2 or 3 similar-sized caches on my last visits to the trail. About this time, my friend jbgreer called me up to confirm we would be caching together that Saturday.
After I found my last cache, I sat down on a nearby bench to think about my long hike back to the car. I heard a rustling in front of me and when I looked up, I saw a small deer wearing an orange collar. It was in the fenced-in field that was east of the trail. It followed me for a bit as I started heading north. I tried to get a good picture of it, but the deer was a little camera-shy.
[ This deer may be someone's pet. ]Moving on, I had a small number of caches that I wanted to make a second try to find so even though I spent a lot of time admiring the beauty of the area, I still had to be mindful of the beep from the GPSr letting me know it was time to hunt.
[ One of the many bridges that spanned small streams. ]The 6 miles back to the car was pretty tiring. I managed to find two caches that I had missed before. I think approaching them from a different angle helped a lot. I finished the last of my Gatorade early on the return trip, but wasn't overly thirsty (unlike the last time). I got back to the car around 4pm and had hiked a rough total of 15 miles on this day.
My first find was Delta Trail SP#19 by BackpacknJack (GC2746P) and my last was Delta Trail SP#64B by BackpacknJack (GC27A12). I had found a total of 12 caches. I didn't see another person the entire time I was on the trail. After I got home, I realized that I should have worn sunscreen.
I thought about making a return trip on Sunday to hunt the caches at the south end of the trail, but my legs were still a little sore. Maybe next weekend.
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