"The General" - 8/30/2011

The General by ace61502, badcooky81 (GC33209) is the third geocache placed in Forrest Park near Downtown Memphis over the years. The first cache - Forrest Park by ArkansasBugman (GCEAF2) - was the first cache I found by myself back in 2004. I found that cache by using a map and the cache hint to figure out where it was. That cache was archived.

The second cache -That Devil Forrest by Chasseur (GCWJAW) -was hidden in one of the small trees that surrounded the monument. Those trees were later cut down, I believe to discourage the people who liked to sleep next to the monument.

The newest cache was approved only a few days ago and has had a couple of visitors. Since it is located not far from where I work, I decided to go after it after work.

[ Run Forrest, run... ]

As with the previous caches here, I used satellite imagery to gauge where I should look. When I got near the statue, I saw a gentleman planted on the bench near the search area, as well as three visitors to the statue itself. I decided to go have dinner and then come back.

After dinner, the park was empty. It was about 90 minutes before the park's closing time and the sun was still up. The cache wasn't tough to find, but I did find several objects before finding the cache container. I found two empty vodka bottles and a pair of rusty vice grips. The cache was bigger than any in the area before and held several trade items.

[ This bench near "The General" frequently hosts "day residents" of the park ]

International Geocaching Day - 8/20/2011

I had discovered only a few days beforehand that Saturday, August 20 was being declared the first International Geocaching Day. I read that people who attended an event or found a geocache on this day would get a "special" souvenir on their geocaching.com profile. Since my local geocaching organization chose not the host an event on this auspicious occasion, I figured I'd step out and hunt a single cache. When jbgreer called me and said he wanted to hunt a few caches, I made plans to hunt three or four caches with him, and then go with him to Millington where he could hunt a couple of neat caches I had found the weekend before.

When Saturday came, we met for a delicious breakfast before beginning the hunt.

Our first find of the day was Rueda Vieja by thefamilybush (GC2N34E). It had a nice wet log for us to sign. Camino y Árbol by thefamilybush (GC2VA3Q) was nearby and we found it in good order. Since it was so hot out, and I wanted to make sure we had time to head up to Millington, TN, we skipped over some caches, stopping only for ones I thought would be out of sight of muggles.

Plantation Park by aschrack (GC2WDMR) was on our way and was in a nice new park in the Davies Plantation area. After finding the cache near the parking area. I climbed a small hill to survey the rest of the park.

[ There was a winding walking trail around the lake ]

She hates nature by kasitay (GC2TB9M) was in I. H. Managerial Park in Lakeland, TN. I have been after this cache twice before. New coordinates made this trip out there a success. The cache was 30 feet or so west of the area I searched before. It made a big difference.

[ Only two people out fishing today... ]

Wisteria Gift Attic & Tea Room by magicrock (GC22539) was our next goal. Both jbgreer and I always enjoy magicrock's caches and this one was no exception. The coordinates were a little rough, but I finally found the unique camo on this nanocache.

After finding the last cache, I was ready to head to Millington and Edmund Orgill Park. I was certain the jbgreer would find the two caches there as interesting as I did. It was getting very cloudy as we approached Edmund Orgill Park - George Washington was here??? by poetintenn and Alex Layne (GC2THX2). This was a tough hide, but jbgreer walked right up to it. As he signed the log, I noticed nearby fishermen gathering up their stuff. The wind was starting to pick up and rain was on the way. We decided to go ahead and try the last cache on the list - Edmund Orgill Park Working Out the Numbers. by poetintenn and Alex Layne (GC2VXHK). This cache had been moved by the owner due to muggles and someone (probably the owner) had written additional clues on the container that made it too easy to get into. Still, jbgreer had trouble with the container just as jackthebear, peanutpapa and I had the week before. The rain didn't help. Fortunately, he got to the log, signed it and then we got back to the car as quick as we could. We had lots of rain and even some small hail as we were leaving the area.

The rain cleared out by the time we got back to Memphis. I had a great time as always and a few days later saw an "International Geocaching Day" souvenir show up on my geocaching profile.

Mid-South Fairgrounds - 8/14/2011

It was a beautiful Sunday and I had some time to kill before having to be somewhere. I knew there were four new caches on the property of the old Mid-South Fairgrounds I could get. Since that area is not far from where I run in the evenings, I had originally planned to hunt them one afternoon after work. One of the caches, though, was at the Children's Museum of Memphis. I knew they closed at 5pm, so I decided that if I went today, I could get all four caches.

I entered the Fairgrounds from the north entrance. I drove to the site of the new Kroc Center, where Mid-South Fair Grounds: Future by Nvisible (GC30PQK) was hidden, but the presence of a parked car near the hide spot forced me to move on.

The first cache I would end up getting was Mid-South Fair Grounds: Present by Nvisible (GC30PBZ). It was near a new fountain that is part of that area's transformation into "Tiger Lane". The area was mostly empty on this day, but it seemed like wherever I went, there was one car parked within sight of me. I hadn't seen "Tiger Lane" before, so I took a few pictures. It is basically a tailgating area for University of Memphis football games.

[ Nice clean fountain ]

Next, I went after Mid-South Fair Grounds: Past by Nvisible (GC30J50). It was in an area that once was home to Libertyland, a theme park at the southwest end of the fairgrounds. I drove around the area looking for close parking, but ended up having to walk a few hundred feet. The cache, itself, was easily found. I thought the camouflage was exceptional, though.

[ The Mid-South Coliseum as seen from where I parked ]

[ This area once held a big roller coaster called the "Revolution"]

I headed back north to Mid-South Fair Grounds: Future by Nvisible (GC30PQK) and saw that the guy parked in the lot was still there, although he had moved a bit. He was parked about 50 yards north of the cache. I got out of my car and took a few pictures of the Kroc Center construction site across from the cache and noticed that I could grab the cache without being spotted.

[ Is this what they mean by building "green"? ]

As I left the fairgrounds, I decided to check and see if the nearby Children's Museum of Memphis was open. There was a fairly new cache on the grounds and I figured I'd make a sweep. It turns out that it was open and while busy, the crowds were sparse enough so that I had no problem getting to SPARK an imagination by LMuseW (GC30HQ6) and singing the log. 4 for 4, I called it a day and headed home.

[ Interesting music playing outside of the building ]

Edmund Orgill Park - 8/7/2011

With the temperature being so hot this summer, I've pretty much been in hibernation from geocaching. That being said, when I saw The SBC goes to Tennessee by The SBC (GC30CK), an event cache in Millington, TN come up, I figured I'd go to the event, eat breakfast and talk to a few folks, and then come straight home.

The event was at 9am on Sunday and by a miracle, I made it to the restaurant on time. I met up with jackthebear in the parking lot and we went in together. I was surprised to find that everybody else was already there.

[ Not a bad group for a Sunday morning ]

As the event came to a close, jackthebear and peanutpapa suggested hunting Edmund Orgill Park Working Out the Numbers. by poetintenn and Alex Layne (GC2VXHK). I thought it would be fun to hunt a cache or two with these guys, so I invited myself along. Since the park was only a few miles away from the restaurant, jackthebear offered to drive us over in his car. Peanutpapa ended up taking his own vehicle, because he had to run a quick errand before meeting up with us at the park.

When jackthebear and I got to the park, we first stopped at Edmund Orgill Park - George Washington was here??? by poetintenn and Alex Layne (GC2THX2). Both he and peanutpapa had found the cache before, so I hunted it alone while we waited for peanutpapa to meet us. The immediate area around the cache was teeming with gnats, making it very tough to search. During a pause in the search, I read the cache description more closely and made a guess about the cache which turned out to be correct.

Right after I found the cache, peanutpapa met up with us and we headed as a group to the next cache - Edmund Orgill Park Working Out the Numbers. We parked in a lot about 400 feet away from the cache and headed for the coordinates. The cache page states that the cache has a combination lock and that there are at least two ways to come up with the combination.

One way (listed in the hint) involved finding a nearby water tower and measuring 3 distances from a set point (described in the hint). The other way involved some creative thinking. Since it was hot, we just decided to try to come up with the combination ourselves. After a few failed efforts, I observed something that gave me a clue what needed to be done. Peanutpapa followed up on it and came up with the combination. Jackthebear opened the lock. I'm not sure how long it took us to get it open, but it was before we could break a sweat.

Having no other caches on our list, we parted ways, with jackthebear taking me back to the restaurant so I could get my car and drive home. I gave some thought to picking up an additional cache or two on the way home, but decided to wait for cooler weather.