Diabetic Series Mini-Power Trail - 10/30/2011

The Diabetic Series (DS) is a 20 cache Mini-Power Trail by EverywhereActs1:8 that is located a few miles west of Jackson, TN and just north of I-40. The series was created to honor of all those who have diabetes, who had diabetes, and in memory of those who have passed on due to complications from diabetes. All of the cache containers in this series are test strip canisters.

I had been wanting to do this series since it came out, but I was waiting for a nice, cool day. Today was that day. I left Memphis around 8am and made good time getting to the area of the cache trail. My first find was actually a challenge cache located at the point I got off of the interstate: States that Border West TN - CHALLENGE by lookingUPward ( GC2Y5QT). It was one of three challenge caches in the area that I hunted.

This area is cotton country, so I saw a lot of empty cotton fields and other farmland. It was a nice change of pace.

[ The cotton has been harvested. ]

The DSC series started off well. On Diabetic Series Cache (DSC - 2) (GC2QTNH), a nearby property owner came by and asked if I was lost. I explained what I was doing while trying not to look guilty, and they drove off. Not having found this cache, I drove off, planning to hit this spot on my return.

[ Not far from DSC - 2 ]

I didn't run across any other people on the rest of the trail. Most of the caches were along a road running parallel to the interstate.

[ The interstate is off to the right. Love the fall colors. ]

I did cache maintenance on two of the caches. Both were missing their ziplock bags for the logs. There were two caches that I couldn't find on the drive in (DSC -2 and DSC - 10). I found both on the trip out making it 20 for 20 on the power trail. I was done by 10:30am. On the way home, I made a quick stop at a rest area where I found TN I-40 WB 14 Caches IN-A-DAY CHALLENGE* by lookingUPward (GC2YXA5). I found two more caches on the way back to Memphis. I will try to make a trip back this way later in the season to hunt many of the other excellent caches in the area.

It occurred to me as I logged these caches, that this was my biggest caching day of 2011 (25 finds).

Lakeland, TN - 10/23/2011

I had planned a bigger trip for this day, but the weather and other things changed my plans, so I thought I would tackle the six new caches along the new Canada Road Bike/Walking Trail in Lakeland just south of I-40. There was light rain along the drive out there, but by the time I arrived at the recommended parking area, the rain had stopped. The segment of trail I would be walking along was less than a mile long and was along both sides of Canada Road. All of the caches were placed by dneedham & GeoBender25.

[ Very quiet geese along the edge of a trailer park. ]

The first cache I hunted was Canada Trail - Evergreen (GC3632Q). It was a bison tube and was a great example of one of the hide types I would find.

Canada Trail - Rest (GC362YY) was my next find. It was (as its name suggests) at one of the four benches along the trail (2 on each side of the road). It required a little stealth since the trail runs alongside a road that sees a bit of traffic.

[ No time for resting. Besides, the benches were wet. ]

Canada Trail - Water (GC362ZF) reminded me of a number of Arkansas caches I have found over the past couple of years. It was a quick find that could have taken much longer.

[ Armadillo remains near the edge of the road about 300 feet from the cache. ]

Canada Trail - Sit (GC3630F) was an identical hide to the "Rest" hide.

Canada Trail - Woody (GC36325) proved to be tricky on my old eyes. It involved stepping into the woods. It would have been pretty easy, though, in the winter.

Canada Trail - Troll (GC3631C) was my last find of the day and the last on the trail. It proved to be the hardest to find and the earlier rainfall made the search a little tougher.

Four of the six caches were nanos. Having read this information ahead of time, I was prepared. I had clipped a paper clip on my shirt pocket and it helped me out a lot. I didn't have any background information on the trail, itself, so I am assuming that it was designed to be used by the adjacent neighborhood for relatively short walks.

Geocaching FUNdamentals Class and Trivia Contest - 10/15/2011

I have been making it a point lately to attend as many local geocaching events as I can. Prontopup of GOWT holds introductory geocaching events several times a year, so when I noticed Geocaching FUNdamentals Class and Trivia Contest by Prontopup (GC3488A) pop up on the event calendar, I signed up. I'm not new to geocaching, so I go to these events to socialize more than anything. I was intrigued by the "trivia" aspect of the event and hoped I could answer some of the questions.


The event was in Germantown, TN at 10am. As usual these days, I slept in until the last possible moment and had to race across town to make it to the event on time. There weren't a lot of people at the pavilion when I arrived. A lot of the "regulars" had other things going on, I guess. There were attendees from Forrest City, AR with books of geocoins to show. We even had an attendee from Germany make it to the event.

The information about the fundamentals of geocaching was interesting and informative and interspersed with trivia questions. I was a little slow on the draw, but one of the questions was tailored so that I would know the answer.

After the event, several of us hunted a cache put out for the event on the western end of the park. I got to the site first, but had a tough hunt before being second to spot the cache. It was a fun morning. I thought about caching some more before heading home, but decided to eat lunch nearby and then go home.