Censorship Strikes Again

Nominations for GOWT's best caches of 2009 came to a close, and on this snowy day the GOWT webmaster posted the polls for voting. When I looked at the polls, I noticed that they had three caches listed in each category and that some of the caches I saw nominated on the forums did not make it into the voting polls.

After voting, I posted a couple of questions on the forums regarding the rules of the contest.

Within 5 minutes my post was deleted by the webmaster. Shortly afterwards, I received a PM from the webmaster attempting to answer the first of my two questions.

"Some of the caches nominated on this page did not make it into the polls. Is there a reason for that?"

There were more than three caches nominated in each category. The Leadership Committee members decided which ones to include in the polls and made decisions regarding geographic location.

I then asked her if the membership knew of this policy. She responded:

I suggest you address that question to someone on the Leadership Committee. I am not a member of the LC.

What she did not explain was why it was necessary to delete my post. There may be others who have more of a stake in the voting who have similar questions. Her answers also imply that the Leadership Commitee has the power to decide which caches "win".

Update: I followed up after the last PM I got from the webmaster and asked if the Leadership Committee asked her to delete my post. She responded:

An individual authorized to make the request did so.

Nice. My post was up for maybe 5 minutes and deleted by the webmaster while I was still logged on. I saw no others logged on. How do you get "authorized" to make a request to delete a post which does not violate the posting rules for the site? Is this why you don't see very many actual "discussions" on the GOWT forums?

Solving Puzzle Caches

I mentioned in my last entry about how an organization like GOWT that has been around 5 years should have a wealth of information available to its members about geocaching and puzzle solving, but doesn't.

Here are some links to puzzle solving tutorials that I found while reading the geocaching.com forums. They are courtesy of a blog called I’d Rather Be Caching.

Solving Puzzle Caches
Solving Puzzle Caches: Codes
Solving Puzzle Caches: Ciphers

Uncle Mack's Cache Awards 2009

GOWT is taking nominations for favorite caches for 2009. I won't be officially submitting my nominations, however, below is my tentative list of favorite caches found within the GOWT area (West Tennessee) during 2009. Over the next day or so, I will elaborate on my selections as well as post my list of favorite caches found across the country in 2009.

Uncle Mack's Favorite Caches of 2009

Traditional: Graduation by Jamie Z (GC1R3VE)

An ammo can hidden out in the open. I used to pass by this spot nearly every day 20+ years ago. I was amazed when I finally spotted it.

Micro: Whatever Floats Your Cache by Rd King (GC1YHDP)

It was hard to pick a favorite micro mainly because I've found hundreds this year (2009) alone. I'd even forgotten about this one until I reviewed my list. It was my last find on Thanksgiving Day and I didn't read about it beforehand. This turned out to be a good thing because the cache owner includes too many hints in the cache description. He probably does this to prevent people from destroying the hide spot as they retrieve the container. For me, though, it was a complete surprise what I needed to do!

Multi: tie: Jaybirder's Roost by Jaybirder (GC209W3) and National Treasure Cache by FamilyInFilm, CodeMission, GirlinFilm, & CoolZX11 (GC17VF6)

I hunted Jaybirder's Roost at the beginning of 2010 with my caching partner jbgreer. Although it had wayyyyy too many stages to it, the hike was enjoyable and the stage containers were easily spottable. We hunted it on a day that was 27 degrees and sunny and hiked just over 10 miles over a little over 5 hours. I look forward to hunting many more caches in this area.

I hunted National Treasure Cache at the beginning of 2009 with jbgreer and MaximusWilliam. If this cache had ended at the fourth stage, it would have been a perfect multicache. Early stages have a lot of creativity to them, but after the 4th stage, it just drags. Still ranks high on my list, though and I regret not blogging my experience while it was still fresh in my mind. Maybe the current owner will shorten it the length of it.

Both caches were made more enjoyable by having company. None of whom had found the cache before. No phone-a-friends were necessary either.

Mystery/Puzzle: Johnson Road Park Cache by prontopup (GCZZVV)

I enjoyed this cache because all parts of it were within the same nice park - Johnson Road Park in Germantown. The cache hunt included an interesting surprise that kept me busy (and entertained) for nearly an hour.

Night cache: Bats-R-Up by prontopup (GC1MGVK)

I enjoy caching in Germantown's Cameron Brown Park. This night cache was enjoyable because it was relatively short, had a nice twist to it, and was close to parking. I hunted this cache with a small group (jeffbouldin and jackthebear) and enjoyed meeting them.

Earthcache: Jackson Artesian Well Earthcache by dalls (GC17RPJ)

I only hunted one earthcache in West Tennessee this year and it was memorable because of the location. This is near a train museum that I visited on my first cache run in Jackson, TN in 2005. I didn't finish gathering the requirements to log this cache because I noticed after taking my picture that my head was bleeding form an earlier "incident".

Event: Techniques, Tools, and Tips by Geocachers of West Tennessee (GC1XC3T)

I only attended one event in the GOWT area this year and it sucked. I enjoyed the display of cache containers, but the mini-course on puzzle solving was worthless. You would think that a geocaching organization that has been in existence for five years would have a wealth of knowledge about various aspects of geocaching. Also, this event seemed more like an advertisement for the Jackson Area Geocachers group. They couldn't even be bothered to put up the GOWT banner. Arrrgghhh, at least I got a smiley out of it.

Icy Weekend

After last weekend's short caching expedition, I expected to get a full day or two in this weekend. There was frozen precipitation predicted for Friday so I wasn't too surprised when the weekend turned out to be a complete bust.

I will say though that as far as I am concerned, this was the worst case of icy roads and sidewalks that I have experienced in a long time. I was pretty much stuck in the house on Saturday. It could have been much worse, though. I had power all weekend and nowhere in particular to go.

Caching in Collierville, TN - 1/23/2010

After wasting last weekend at home due to a water leak, I was looking forward to doing a little geocaching this weekend. Saturday had a forecast for rain in the late afternoon, so I decided to stick relatively close to home. Collierville, TN has a lot of nice caches in it as well as good places to eat. I decided to hunt mostly easy caches and save the harder ones for my next trip with jbgreer.

My primary goal was the three new(ish) park and grabs in W.C. Johnson Park. I knew that they were in heavily muggled areas and since they were just replaced - now was the time for them.

My first mistake of the weekend was to forget to bring home my most recent pocket query for the area. This meant that I missed three brand new caches.

My first stop was at Weeds by Doug Wilson, CPA (GC1KX87), a cache near a neighborhood. I parked at the end of a cove and ducked back into the woods. I ran across a possum near the location of the cache (within 40 feet). It freaked me out how it didn't move until I got close enough to take the below picture. My first DNF of the day, but the possum(s) made up for it.

[ Playing possum? ]

My second stop was at Collierville High School to hunt Leonarda Two by LeonardaDaArtsi (GC1NF70). This cache is near the greenbelt. There was a school team practising something on the upper field, leaving me alone to hunt the cache below. I got my feet a little wet near the cache, but it was a quick find. Afterwards, I climbed the small hill behind the cache looking for a drier way out and discovered a nice lake. The way out was not drier, however a fallen tree made a nice bridge.

[ Lake / pond near GC1NF70 ]

Next stop - W.C. Johnson Park - home of a number of great wetlands caches. My first stop here was Rest Here by MorWoods (GC1YG9Q). Not many folks in the area today, but a passing runner was disappointed by the non-working water fountain. I walked east to Ripstick Rampage by MorWoods (GC1Y15H) which while not far off of the walking trail, proved to be a little more difficult terrain-wise. It was hard to avoid muggles and the sign that said "no climbing on the banks" made me feel a little awkward.

Onward, though. I walked west to get the last of the PnGs in the park - Shadey by MorWoods (GC1YFY8). Nice clearly labeled containers were a pleasure to see.

After leaving the park, I hunted 3 more caches before stopping by Marvin Poole, an adventurous grandpa by MP5171 (GC14D29). This was a 4.5/5 rated cache with a lot of recent DNFs. The logs said the container was 100 feet off, and I found a suitable container with a slip of paper in it exactly 100 feet SW of the cache 1st stage coordinates. The paper appeared blank and if it had any writing on it, it would have taken some advanced forensic techniques to recover it. I didn't waster a lot of time here, but it would have been nice to get at least the coords to the final.

Lunchtime! A chicken club at Zaxby's - not as good as the ones I had in Marion, AR, but passable. The last cache I hunted on this day was Halle New Year! by fayfinders (GC189ZK). This was a nice two-stage multicache at Halle Park. I bumped my head getting the coordinates to the final, but that is par for the course for me. No blood this time, though. The final stage was a tough one for me, even though I found it uncovered. I had been suffering from some stiffness in my left hip all morning and for some reason when I stood up and backed out of the wooded area where the cache was, I couldn't straighten up. When I finally could stand up, I couldn't walk without severe pain. I managed to limp slowly to a nearby bench where I painfully managed to sit down. I rested for a while, looking out over a nice lake until the pain subsided enough for me to walk slowly back to the other side of the lake to my car. Getting back to my car was tough as was the drive home. I went straight home missing my planned after-cache treat at Dairy Queen.

[ A relaxing view before going home ]

All-in-all, I had a great day (except for the end). I look foward to returning to hunt the remaining wetland caches - hopefully while it is still cold outside. My hip is doing much better today (the day after).

Geoaching Resolutions for 2010

I'm not big on resolutions, but here are a few things I resolve to do in 2010.

1) Continue geocaching in small towns all over Arkansas.

2) Attend my first Geowoodstock.

3) Attend more events. Particularly in other states.

4) Finally visit the Reelfoot Lake area of northwest Tennessee.

5) Minimize posting on the GOWT forums until they get a new webmaster.

I don't appreciate any of my posts disappearing without explanation. Especially when they are being deleted by anonymous cowards.

6) Clean up some of my snarkier blog posts.

Nobody cares about the lack of personal integrity of the leadership of the local geocaching organizations of West Tennessee (GOWT and JAG).

7) Find ways to better document my geocaching adventures.

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Mildly interesting statistics:

I found my first cache on 11/26/2004.
I found my 1000th cache on 3/12/2006.
I found my 1000th Tennessee cache on (or around) 3/24/2007.
I am approaching my 1000th Shelby County, Tennessee find (821 as of this date).

How long will it be before I have found 1000 caches in Shelby County?
How long will it be before I have found 1000 caches in Memphis?

Given the relatively few number of caches in Memphis in 2004, it would have been hard to fathom back then eventually finding 1000 caches in Memphis.

Jaybirder's Roost - 1/2/2010

I've been on a run of numbers hunts recently so I appreciate it when I can hunt a single good cache that involves a long hike in the woods. I especially like it when I get to hunt caches with my good friend jbgreer.


Jaybirder's Roost by Jaybirder (GC209W3) is a multi-stage cache that takes you all over the "Wolf River Environmental Restoration Greenway Trail System just north of Collierville, Tennessee. This area is approximately 2200+ acres of bottomland hardwood forest with old cotton fields to the north.

Hunting the cache first requires that you hunt six addtional caches, each with a letter-number pair that aids in the creation of the start coordinates for Jaybirder's Roost. We had hunted five of the six preliminary caches a month before and for stopped cold around 160 feet away from Noisey Crows Cache by Jaybirder (GC20Y8J) by high waters typical of this time of year.

On this day we met at casa de jbgreer at 8am and made it to the park around 8:45am. It was a short and uneventful walk to Noisey Crows Cache. The water we had encountered earlier was all gone. I left a "When Pigs Fly" geocoin at this cache and we pieced together the coordinates for the start of Jaybirder's Roost and began what would end up being a long day of hiking.

---

We encountered tall grass and spots of iced-over water while hunting the first few stages of the cache and I was glad I had worn my high-rubber boots. We passed by the truck after 4 stages and stopped for a quick drink. If I had taken off my boots at this point and put my tennis shoes back on, I would have had a perfect rest of the day. There was, however, no way we could have anticipated the conditions for the rest of the hike. Besides, I initially had plans to hunt a few other caches I knew would be in water if time permitted.


I can't go into great detail of the rest of the hunt at this point because it is a relatively new hide and I'd prefer not to spoil it for the few people who might stumble across this blog. I can say that on this day the sky was clear with a few snow flakes early. I don't believe the temperature ever got above freezing, although I was warm enough that it wasn't a problem. We didn't carry food or water, so the only place we rested was at the truck after stage four. I had a big breakfast, so I wasn't overly hungry and the cool temps didn't cause me to get overly thirsty. In summary, it was a great day to hunt this cache!

One big topic of conversation we had was how many stages could this cache have without ruining the experience. Did too many stages dampen too potential hiding spots for more caches? At one point, I correctly guessed the number of stages this cache had. Definitely some luck involved in the guess.

Upon arrival at the final stage, I dropped off two coins and took the time to write a legible entry in the logbook. The hike back to the truck was long! It took approximately 5 hours to hunt all of the stages. In the GOWT forums recently, I had posted something to the effect that it would take a great deal of motivation to get me to hunt a cache with more than four (known) stages. I am glad I was sufficiently motivated to hunt this cache at this time, because in the summer it would be AWFUL!

[ jbgreer arrives at the cache first ]

[ Mackheath breathing a sigh of relief ]

[ The coins I set free today - two are in Jaybirder's Roost ]