I was reading today's Letters to the Editor in the Commercial Appeal and recognized a familiar name (5 letters down). GOWT and JAG member Titansfan, who likes to carry a gun, apparently feels defenseless against panhandlers without one. His letter was in response to a controversy about the possibility of allowing citizens with carry permits to bring guns into parks in Tennessee.
I have no problem with guns or people with carry permits, however I don't think the licensing process can possibly do enough to weed out the people who shouldn't be carrying a gun. Some of these people even make it into the military. Yeehaw!
The only response I saw to his letter was from a guy who jokingly criticized his choice of a Kel-Tec.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
5th Annual GOWT Gathering
Normally I might say that this picture says it all, but...
GOWT is having its 5th Annual Gathering on February 21, and they may want to take this opportunity to figure out why they even bother existing as a group.
They decided a couple of months ago to stop charging membership dues, saying that they had collected enough money to fund them for a while. Since their only real expense involves paying an annual fee for the website domain, one might consider this a reasonable course of action. However, the truth of the matter is that they (the leadership committee) realized that they were incapable of providing a service that was worth even a small yearly membership fee.
Over the past year, the quality of the newsletter has deteriorated both in content as well as the language skills of the editor. Having someone actually proofread the newsletter before it goes online would help immensely. The most recent editor of the newsletter was Titansfan and judging by the quality of the writing on his blog, he doesn't bother to proofread his own work.
My advice to GOWT: Get a real editor.
One of the benefits to being a paid member was the ability to see a list of members and their find counts, which is neat if you like comparing your find/hide numbers to those of your peers. Of course, that requires somebody to keep the list up to date. This list was updated once in late June 2008 and most recently on October 8, 2008. Oh, well...at least there is another website where that information is freely available.
My advice to GOWT: Remove this page.
They have what they call a Database of Geocaches, which apparently was designed with the intent that members submit geocache reviews that can help people figure out what caches are interesting to hunt. This database was created in November 2007 and last updated in February of 2008. Only three different people posted reviews.
My advice to GOWT: Solicit more entries from the Advisory Committee (at the very least). It would give them a purpose.
The discussion forums have basically become a place where 4 or 5 regulars chat about their caching adventures. Yawn.
On the rare occasion that someone might post useful information specific to a particular region on GOWT, they tend to post it under "General" with a vague thread title. They should try using the regional sections of the forums. That is why they were created.
Example:
Instead of starting a thread under "General" entitled "LBL Closed", create a thread in the Northeast GOWT regional section and title it "Sections of LBL temporarily closed due to ice storm".
My advice to GOWT: Find yourselves a moderator with actual moderating experience. Moderators do more than just ban members for inappropriate content.
As the picture above shows, the GOWT website crashes on occasion. In this case, it was a problem with the "news" section. This shouldn't crash, since there is rarely any news posted.
My advice to GOWT: Get a REAL webmaster. Also, when you post "news" about upcoming events (usually cut and pasted straight from the cache page), put in an appropriate HYPERLINK !!!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Rivercrest Nature Park - February 8, 2009
It was an unusually warm weekend for the beginning of February and I was headed north to attend a birthday party for my sister-in-law. This area, which is just to the south of the Bartlett Animal Shelter, was on the way and was in an area that jbgreer and I have hunted a number of caches.
This particular area - referred to by one cache description as Rivercrest Nature Park had two fairly recent caches in it and I figured I would take this opportunity to hunt them.
I parked at the Animal Shelter and looked for a way into the woods. There is no park entrance on the north side of the area where the Shelter and nearby Wastewater Treatment plant are. It wasn't difficult, however, to find the paved path that basically passes by both caches. I started by heading southwest to Rivercrest by weberus3 (GC1AFXK). I got to within 20 feet and saw a huge gulley that I might have to cross. At this point, I looked at the cache logs on my PDA and saw that this cache was missing. Someone had muggled it and the last visitor took what was left of it with him. I cursed myself for not reading the logs ahead of time and headed east to see if I could find the other cache in the park - Dixie's Prize by Dixie's Pal (GC1KMR2). This cache had been placed barely a month ago, and was in good shape when I found it. I thought about exploring this park further, but I was running low on time. This park currently has more room for caches, so I'll probably wait until GC1AFXK is replaced, and another cache or two is added before I come back. I took a few pictures of the area that I will post here later.
This particular area - referred to by one cache description as Rivercrest Nature Park had two fairly recent caches in it and I figured I would take this opportunity to hunt them.
I parked at the Animal Shelter and looked for a way into the woods. There is no park entrance on the north side of the area where the Shelter and nearby Wastewater Treatment plant are. It wasn't difficult, however, to find the paved path that basically passes by both caches. I started by heading southwest to Rivercrest by weberus3 (GC1AFXK). I got to within 20 feet and saw a huge gulley that I might have to cross. At this point, I looked at the cache logs on my PDA and saw that this cache was missing. Someone had muggled it and the last visitor took what was left of it with him. I cursed myself for not reading the logs ahead of time and headed east to see if I could find the other cache in the park - Dixie's Prize by Dixie's Pal (GC1KMR2). This cache had been placed barely a month ago, and was in good shape when I found it. I thought about exploring this park further, but I was running low on time. This park currently has more room for caches, so I'll probably wait until GC1AFXK is replaced, and another cache or two is added before I come back. I took a few pictures of the area that I will post here later.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Havre, MT - January 4, 2009
As I was traveling east via Amtrak from Pasco, WA to Chicago, IL, we made a service stop at Havre, MT. I was carrying my GPSr with me, but I had no waypoints for any of the stops. I had heard a guy a few rows behing me talking about geocaching, and I talked with him for a minute after we got off the train at this spot for a short break.
After seeing this little park, I knew there had to be a geocache close by so I looked around with no luck. After returning to Memphis, I looked up this spot on geocaching.com and found out that Steaming away by Rainnstar (GC1C627) is located somewhere between the park sign and the train.
It turns out that Havre is a hotspot for caching in the area with approximately 28 caches within the town limits.
This park is dedicated to the close relationship of the Border Patrol with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and is located a few yards west of the train station. Havre is located roughly 40 miles south of the Montana border with Canada.
You can't see it in this picture, but behind the trees is an old locomotive on exhibition.
After seeing this little park, I knew there had to be a geocache close by so I looked around with no luck. After returning to Memphis, I looked up this spot on geocaching.com and found out that Steaming away by Rainnstar (GC1C627) is located somewhere between the park sign and the train.It turns out that Havre is a hotspot for caching in the area with approximately 28 caches within the town limits.
This park is dedicated to the close relationship of the Border Patrol with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and is located a few yards west of the train station. Havre is located roughly 40 miles south of the Montana border with Canada.
You can't see it in this picture, but behind the trees is an old locomotive on exhibition.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Johnson Road Park - January 24, 2009
I first stumbled across this park near the end of a long day of hunting caches across Collierville on January 11, 2008. I was avoiding caches labeled as mystery, but figured I'd try for Frisbee Flyway by prontopup (GCZZVY), the one cache in the park listed as traditional. It took me awhile to find the entrance to the park since I was approaching from the east. Interestingly, autorouting was no help in finding the entrance (which is on Johnson Road).
After I got parked, I read the description of Frisbee Flyway and the others and realized they were all tied together. Two of the caches had information needed to find the third. Frisbee Flyway was a fairly easy find after outwaiting a frisbee golf player, and I signed the log and the wrote down the information it contained for Johnson Road Park Cache by prontopup (GCZZVV).
The next cache, A View of a Lake by prontopup (GCZZW1), required me to know the statistical weight of a bale of cotton to determine which of three sets of coordinates I needed to go after. I didn't know the answer and I didn't have time to simply check out all three sets, so I decided to call it a day.
As I was heading back to my car, I met MaximusWilliam, his wife, and baby girl. They had just finished hunting the three caches in the park and excitedly told me how great they were. Oh, well... another day.
---
I came back a few weeks later to hunt A View of a Lake (after doing research into the statistical weight of a bale of cotton), prior to meeting up with my buddy jbgreer to catch a movie, but ran out of time to do a thorough search.
In the summer I returned here with jbgreer. He found Frisbee Flyway and then we failed to find A View of a Lake after spending a lot of time looking. I don't remember the date and jbgreer chose not to log Frisbee Flyway online.
---
Flashforward to this day (January 24, 2009). I needed to drive out to East Memphis to pick up the trophy and finisher's garment I won as a "Road Warrior" in last year's Road Race Series.
Since I was venturing out anyways, I decided that I would take the opportunity to hunt the remaining 5 caches at Johnson Road Park. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the temperature was around 41 degrees when I arrived (around 1:30pm). Given the time of year, the tree cover was at a minimum which I figured would help my GPSr reception. Also, I had noticed that prontopup had adjusted the coordinates slightly (about 15 feet) for A View of a Lake and I thought that might help me out.
Once parked, I headed straight for my plotted coordinates for A View of a Lake. I searched a lot of familiar areas before giving up. This location is visible to a house located to the northwest and I really did not want to get spotted trampling around back here.
After emerging from the area I was searching, I decided to tackle the three easy caches in the park. It was a short hike to Waterous by utemi04 (GC1F3V0) and I found it quickly. It was a nanocache and clearly visible (and aptly named), so I basically spent most of my time unrolling and rerolling up the tiny log.
Next, I hiked a relatively short distance west to Grate Experience by Mindless Focus (GC1F2HQ). This was basically a hide-a-key under a curbside gutter. I had to wait a bit for some walkers to get out of sight before getting on my knees and reaching under the gutter. The container was neatly labeled, but one of its two strong magnets had come detached. [Note: I see that this cache apparently fell down in the sewer shortly after I put it back.]
The third cache - Not A Pine... by Mindless Focus (GC1F2H3) was back east almost at the other end of the park. It was an interesting hide except for the soaked log.
I felt better now that I had three finds under my belt, so I decided to get back to my original hunt.
I returned to the coordinates for A View of a Lake and breathed a deep sigh. This was my fourth attempt at searching the area, and while I had plenty of time today, I figured that I had already searched this area pretty thoroughly. This time, though, I got lucky. I searched maybe 20 feet to the west of where I had looked before and spotted the cache. The fact that it was uncovered helped too.
I took a picture of the information in the cache as well as writing it down and now had the information necessary to go after the final cache Johnson Road Park Cache by prontopup (GCZZVV). I got to the spot and found the container quickly. It was uncovered and visible as I approached it. I knew from reading the online logs that this container had some offset information inside that I would need to get to the container with the log.
When I opened the container, my heart sank. There was a puzzle inside that had to be solved in order to retrieve the offset data. The puzzle was frustrating (for me) and it didn't help that the temperature was now dropping. I don't know exactly how long it took me to solve the puzzle, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a hour.
[I took a picture of the puzzle, but am evaluating whether or not to post it.]
Anyways, I retrieved the information and photographed it. I then packed everything up and carefully rehid the cache. I then realized that I had left something out of the container and had to get it back out, put the item in, and rehid the cache. By this point, I had forgotten the distance information for the offset. Aaaaarghhhh!!!! I had no desire to try and solve the puzzle again and fortunately I remembered the direction I needed to go so, I walked a bit and hunted around. Once again, I got lucky and found the final container uncovered. I signed the log, briefly looked at the contents of the container, packed it all up and rehid it.
All in all, I spent about two and a half hours in this park and enjoyed all 5 of my finds for the day. I especially enjoyed prontopup's three caches. Although he is a shiftless weasel and one of the main reasons I left GOWT, prontopup also has some of the best caches I have hunted in west Tennessee.
After I got parked, I read the description of Frisbee Flyway and the others and realized they were all tied together. Two of the caches had information needed to find the third. Frisbee Flyway was a fairly easy find after outwaiting a frisbee golf player, and I signed the log and the wrote down the information it contained for Johnson Road Park Cache by prontopup (GCZZVV).
The next cache, A View of a Lake by prontopup (GCZZW1), required me to know the statistical weight of a bale of cotton to determine which of three sets of coordinates I needed to go after. I didn't know the answer and I didn't have time to simply check out all three sets, so I decided to call it a day.As I was heading back to my car, I met MaximusWilliam, his wife, and baby girl. They had just finished hunting the three caches in the park and excitedly told me how great they were. Oh, well... another day.
---
I came back a few weeks later to hunt A View of a Lake (after doing research into the statistical weight of a bale of cotton), prior to meeting up with my buddy jbgreer to catch a movie, but ran out of time to do a thorough search.
In the summer I returned here with jbgreer. He found Frisbee Flyway and then we failed to find A View of a Lake after spending a lot of time looking. I don't remember the date and jbgreer chose not to log Frisbee Flyway online.
---
Flashforward to this day (January 24, 2009). I needed to drive out to East Memphis to pick up the trophy and finisher's garment I won as a "Road Warrior" in last year's Road Race Series.
Since I was venturing out anyways, I decided that I would take the opportunity to hunt the remaining 5 caches at Johnson Road Park. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the temperature was around 41 degrees when I arrived (around 1:30pm). Given the time of year, the tree cover was at a minimum which I figured would help my GPSr reception. Also, I had noticed that prontopup had adjusted the coordinates slightly (about 15 feet) for A View of a Lake and I thought that might help me out.
Once parked, I headed straight for my plotted coordinates for A View of a Lake. I searched a lot of familiar areas before giving up. This location is visible to a house located to the northwest and I really did not want to get spotted trampling around back here.
After emerging from the area I was searching, I decided to tackle the three easy caches in the park. It was a short hike to Waterous by utemi04 (GC1F3V0) and I found it quickly. It was a nanocache and clearly visible (and aptly named), so I basically spent most of my time unrolling and rerolling up the tiny log.Next, I hiked a relatively short distance west to Grate Experience by Mindless Focus (GC1F2HQ). This was basically a hide-a-key under a curbside gutter. I had to wait a bit for some walkers to get out of sight before getting on my knees and reaching under the gutter. The container was neatly labeled, but one of its two strong magnets had come detached. [Note: I see that this cache apparently fell down in the sewer shortly after I put it back.]
The third cache - Not A Pine... by Mindless Focus (GC1F2H3) was back east almost at the other end of the park. It was an interesting hide except for the soaked log.
I felt better now that I had three finds under my belt, so I decided to get back to my original hunt.
I returned to the coordinates for A View of a Lake and breathed a deep sigh. This was my fourth attempt at searching the area, and while I had plenty of time today, I figured that I had already searched this area pretty thoroughly. This time, though, I got lucky. I searched maybe 20 feet to the west of where I had looked before and spotted the cache. The fact that it was uncovered helped too.
I took a picture of the information in the cache as well as writing it down and now had the information necessary to go after the final cache Johnson Road Park Cache by prontopup (GCZZVV). I got to the spot and found the container quickly. It was uncovered and visible as I approached it. I knew from reading the online logs that this container had some offset information inside that I would need to get to the container with the log.
When I opened the container, my heart sank. There was a puzzle inside that had to be solved in order to retrieve the offset data. The puzzle was frustrating (for me) and it didn't help that the temperature was now dropping. I don't know exactly how long it took me to solve the puzzle, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a hour.
[I took a picture of the puzzle, but am evaluating whether or not to post it.]
Anyways, I retrieved the information and photographed it. I then packed everything up and carefully rehid the cache. I then realized that I had left something out of the container and had to get it back out, put the item in, and rehid the cache. By this point, I had forgotten the distance information for the offset. Aaaaarghhhh!!!! I had no desire to try and solve the puzzle again and fortunately I remembered the direction I needed to go so, I walked a bit and hunted around. Once again, I got lucky and found the final container uncovered. I signed the log, briefly looked at the contents of the container, packed it all up and rehid it.
All in all, I spent about two and a half hours in this park and enjoyed all 5 of my finds for the day. I especially enjoyed prontopup's three caches. Although he is a shiftless weasel and one of the main reasons I left GOWT, prontopup also has some of the best caches I have hunted in west Tennessee.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The Lost Room Revealed
On June 6, 2008, jbgreer and I tackled an interesting cache called The Lost Room by cavecom (GC1C48N). It was located at the site of an abandoned motel in Bartlett.
A day after we visited this spot, it was demolished.
Today, I was reading Memphis Magazine's "Ask Vance" blog and discovered a little bit of the history of this spot. Here is a link to the blog article about the place that was once called "Joe's Cabins" and possibly "Floral Hill Motel" before that.
A day after we visited this spot, it was demolished.
Today, I was reading Memphis Magazine's "Ask Vance" blog and discovered a little bit of the history of this spot. Here is a link to the blog article about the place that was once called "Joe's Cabins" and possibly "Floral Hill Motel" before that.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
New Year 2009
I just returned home from a Christmas vacation in the Pacific Northwest and am writing up some new blog entries. I also hunted National Treasure Cache by FamilyInFilm, CodeMission, GirlinFilm, & CoolZX11 (GC17VF6) this weekend with jbgreer and MaximusWilliam and I am working on a blog entry about that trip.
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