The Desoto Trail - 7/23/2011

I was reading the Mississippi Geocachers Association forums (before their last site crash) and stumbled upon mention of a short series of geocaches that were put out by the Desoto County Tourism Board, in Northwest Mississippi, as a way of bringing geocachers to Desoto County. There are seven caches in this series that are located in small towns throughout the county. I mentioned this series to my caching buddy, jgreer, and he agreed to hunt them with me at some point.

I don't enjoy geocaching in the summer, but since this series looked pretty easy, I made arrangements with jbgreer to hunt them on this particular Saturday. We met up at my place just before 8am, and after having a nice breakfast in Midtown Memphis, set off south for Mississippi.

Our first stop was just across the state line in Southaven, MS. DeSoto Trail #6 - Southaven
by SoDeSotoMS (GC2W36H) was at a cemetery we found a cache at once before. It was an easy find and we discovered a really cool logbook and a strip of paper we were supposed to take from each cache the the Desoto County Visitor's Center at the final.

[ A familiar cemetery in Southaven ]

The next stop on our list was DeSoto Trail #2 - Horn Lake by SoDeSotoMS (GC2W36B ) in Latimer Park. The cache was a short distance from both parking and a skate park. The cache was easily found and had possibly been muggled as the information strips for this location were no longer in the cache. There were two other caches nearby in the park, but it was so hot that we decided to stay focused on our goal of find all of the Desoto Trail series.

Cache number three took us west to Walls, MS. DeSoto Trail #5 - Walls by SoDeSotoMS (GC2W33Q) was at a small cemetery next to a church that was outside of town. This particular cemetery was where Blues artist Memphis Minnie was buried. A roadside plaque nearby told a little about her history and is part of the Mississippi Blues Trail.

[ The cemetery where Memphis Minnie is buried ]

Next, we headed south to Hernando, MS for two more caches in the series. The first of the two we hunted was DeSoto Trail #3 by SoDeSotoMS (GC2W33H). It was located in the Town Square just outside of the courthouse. There was some sort of farmer's market going on here on this day, so we tried to be stealthy in getting and replacing the cache. After that was done, we went inside to get a drink of water and check out the famous murals that cover the walls inside.

[ One of the half a dozen murals in the Hernando Courthouse ]

After leaving, we drove about a quarter-mile to DeSoto Trail #4 - Hernando by SoDeSotoMS (GC2W33N). This cache was in an old building next to the Desoto County Museum. I wished that we had been able to visit the museum itself, but we are usually single-minded when geocaching.

[ A building spanning several eras next to the museum ]

Next, was a trip to Olive Branch, MS for DeSoto Trail #1 - Olive Branch by SoDeSotoMS (C2W337). I have cached in Olive Branch a number of times, but had never been to this particular area. Again, Olive Branch had some caches nearby that I would have like to have hunted, but will wait for the weather to cool off.

[ The Visitor's Center off in the distance ]

Finally it was off to the Desoto County Visitor's Center and DeSoto Trail #7 - Final Stop
by SoDeSotoMS (GC2W36K). When we arrived, the first thing we noticed is that the Visitor's Center was closed. It turns out that they are only open Monday through Friday. The cache was a short distance away along a paved trail. After signing the final log, we decided to call it a day. It took around 4 hours to hunt all seven caches and we had a great time. I look forward to my next expedition into Mississippi sometime in the Fall.

Caching in Virtue Flats - 6/30/2011

Today, my Dad and I decided to hunt a few caches in the Virtue Flats OHV that is located a few miles to the east of Baker City, OR. I can't stop in Baker City without having breakfast at the Baker Truck Corral. I always enjoy their corned beef hash and eggs and today was no exception.

After breakfast, we headed over to the Baker Interpretive Center to hunt Rest Stop on the Oregon Trail by DocDTA (GC2W8BE) . This cache was not too far from the parking lot area, but required hiking down a windy trail called the "Ascent Trail". Since my Dad doesn't care for hiking, I made the hike alone.

[ Exhibit near the parking area ]

[ Nice scenery along the Ascent Trail ]

[ A covered wagon awaits at the end of the trail ]

The entire length of the trail is only 0.8 miles, and there is an old covered wagon to visit for those who make the entire hike. Unfortunately, I only had time to hunt the cache, and since my Dad was waiting for me at the top of the hill. I made it a quick hunt. The Baker Interpretive Center is a cool place to visit. I've been inside the museum once, many years ago, and hunted a cache on the grounds two years ago.

--

I cached in Virtue Flats last year around this same time, so I knew what to expect in terms of terrain. It was at least twenty degrees cooler than the last time I was here. That made a big difference in this desert-like terrain. I didn't have a good map of the area, so I didn't know how close to the main road any of these caches would be. We found a parking area near Broken Valve Stem by rebel502 (GC2FG1B) and I hiked along an ATV trail about a third of a mile to that cache. After that, we drove the main road through the area and would stop as close as we could get to a cache. I would then drink some Gatorade, then set off for the cache. Most were within 1/3 of a mile from the road, and all involved some hill-climbing.

[ It seems to go on forever... ]

[ My dad prefers to wait by the main road ]

[ This would be so much fun on an ATV! ]

I ended up finding 3 of the 4 caches that are available, including An eagles nest view of the Eagle Caps by pete-n-repete (GC1BPQX) and Above the boulders by rebel502 (GC2TYF9). I didn't get the fourth cache in the area, mainly because of the hiking distance. Next time, I am in the area, I'll try to bring an ATV along.

[ more to come including my hunt for the Sawtooth Ridge volcano cache ]

Nelms3 Grand Time At The Roost - 6/11/2011

It had been awhile since I attended a 1K event for a geocacher in my area. Because I had a lot of work to do, I had initially decided to skip Nelms3 Grand Time At The Roost by 76Stinger (GC2WECC). Sometimes, though, it doesn't really matter how much work is on your plate, and you have to get out and do something else. I figured I'd also pick up three caches in Shelby Farms that I failed to go after during my visit there last weekend.

Saturday came and it was another really hot day. I slept in late and pretty much skipped everything I had planned to do in the morning. I left home around 11:30am, which gave me almost two hours to cache before heading to the event.

I parked at the new Woodland Dicsovery Playground which was a little over 1/10 of a mile from the first of the three caches. My GPSr arrow pointed towards an area where a lot of people were having a picnic. As I got closer, I discovered a trail leading into the woods that would take me out of sight of the picnickers.

[ I was excited to find this trail. ]

I had no recollection of this well-used trail being here, so was pleased that it took me close to Banjo Muzak by thefamilybush (GC2VEAV). a fellow geocacher, GC4EVR, had said something to me about this cache at the "Meet The Reviewer" event last weekend, and I'm glad it turned out to be an easier find than I had thought. The same trail that led me by this cache also led me to Yeti's Path by thefamilybush (GC2WWQ2). The coords were really good and coming from the right angle led me to discover the cache fairly quickly. It did, however, take some time to get my hands on the container. I had to be careful not to be seen by bikers using the trail. I left a Signal FTF geocoin in this cache that I had originally intended to take on an upcoming trip to Oregon later this summer.

[ well-maintained bridge ]

The third cache, Meadowlark by thefamilybush (GC2X251) posed an interesting dilemma. It wasn't terribly far from the other two caches, but I couldn't find a trail that took me close to the cache. I didn't want to risk getting dirty cutting across the woods, but that is what I ended up doing. I saw at least one interesting sight just before getting to the cache.

[ This suggests there may have been a trail or road here at one time. ]

When I found the cache, its holder was sitting on the ground and the lock of the lock-n-lock container was underneath the cache. The contents were in good shape, though, and after I signed the log, the lid went back on with no problems. I noticed in the log book that it appeared that muggles signed the logbook. That was strange, given the apparent lack of a trail nearby. Speaking of the trail, my biggest problem of the hunt was finding my way back out onto the trail. That helped keep me out in the heat longer than I should have been.

[ Nice and shady ]

Once I got back to the original trail I started on, I hiked back to my car, shaded by the tree canopy. At one point, I discovered a offshoot of the trail that may be the one needed to find "Meadowlark". Anyways, I made it back to my car, drank some Gatorade, and used the restroom at the Woodland Discovery playground to clean myself up. I was hoping to stop at a nearby Wal-Mart to help me cool off and clean up before heading the the event, but I was running out of time. I ended up just heading straight for the restaurant where the event was being held.

I got to the event about 10 minutes before start time (2pm) and met up with 76Stinger (the host) and the Nelms family (the guests of honor) while waiting for our reserved section of the restaurant to open up. The event was well-attended. I knew most of the people there and should have made a better effort to meet the ones I didn't know. I always enjoy listening to new cachers describe with enthusiasm the caches they have hunted. Since the event was hosted by the Geocachers of West Tennessee (GOWT), I was pleased to see not one, but both banners displayed at the event.

[ I didn't take any pictures at the event, so I may borrow some from the cache page. ]

There were neat door prizes handed out and the food was good. I was feeling kind of rough because I was awfully sweaty and the restaurant had their A/C on high making me a bit chilly.

The event ended around 4pm, and I headed straight home to take a shower and relax.

Meet The Reviewers - 6/5/2011

It was a third day of record-setting heat for early June and under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't have set foot outside of my air-conditioned comfort. This day, however, I made an exception to attend Meet the Reviewers! by The Disorganization of MidSouth Geocachers (GC2WJCK). This event was designed to allow geocachers in West Tennessee the opportunity to meet and ask questions of Tennessee's two volunteer reviewers.


I had planned to arrive early and hunt three caches that were clustered less than a mile from the event. As usual, though, I left later than I had planned and arrived at Shelby Farms Park around 10:15am. That was too late to hunt the other caches and too early for the event, which started at 11am. It was already pretty hot, so I decided to hang out in the shade at the pavilion where the event was to be held.

My old friend 76Stinger was the first to arrive. We talked for a bit before the others showed up. It turned out that only one reviewer, "The Seanachai" , was able to make it. He and his family along with two other geocachers from Middle Tennessee spent the weekend touring West Tennessee before the event on Sunday.

After asking everyone to introduce themselves, The Seanachai (pronounced "shawn-a-key") spent nearly three and a half hours answering questions about guideline-related issues. He also told a few stories about working with Groundspeak, other reviewers, and geocachers in general. After the event, there were some interesting travel bugs to discover.

When I got back in my car, I was amazed at how hot it was inside. I burned myself on just about anything I touched. At this point, I knew I was done geocaching for the day.

The temperature on this day turned out to be 99 degrees which tied the record set in 1977.

Lichterman Nature Center - 5/21/2011

About two weeks ago, I saw six new caches pop up in Lichterman Nature Center in East Memphis. Prontopup has been maintaining about a half dozen caches in this park for years. Every so often he archives them and puts out new caches in different locations throughout the park. I am assuming that this is (in part) to minimize the creation of geo-trails in the park. In October of 2009, jbgreer and I hunted the last batch of caches that were in this park and had a great time. It was my first visit to the 65 acre nature center and I had wanted to return in the Spring. These new caches provided a great opportunity.

It was another one of those weeks where the weekdays are sunny and the weekend was forecasted to be rainy. On Tuesday, I emailed jbgreer about the caches and he was willing to go with me to hunt them on Saturday. On Friday night, the rain began. We had agreed earlier that if it was raining Saturday morning, we'd save the caches for another time. I set my alarm to wake me at 7:15 am Saturday morning. When I woke up, it had just stopped raining. I figured that it would start up again, so I didn't get out of bed. My phone rang at 8am and it was jbgreer waiting for me to come down so we could leave. I quickly got dressed and headed outside.

The first order of the morning was breakfast. We had plenty of time to eat because the Nature Center didn't open until 9. We made it over to the Nature Center by about 9:30. There were few cars in the lot, which meant that few people would be out on the trails.

[ Lichterman Nature Center Visitor's Center ]

We paid for admission and picked up a sheet with the coordinates for the six caches. After spending some time putting the coordinates into our GPS units, we began the hunt for the caches. The sky had cleared up nicely even with there still being a 40% chance of rain.

Our first cache of the morning was Seasons In The Forest (GC2VW80). This involved passing through the Backyard Wildlife Center and out onto an elevated boardwalk. The cache was an easy find as it was designed to be.

[ The boardwalk provides an excellent view of the forest below. ]

The caches were distributed in a circular fashion, so we were a little confused where to go next. We decided to hunt Stair Steps (GC2VW6N). After we did a cursory search of the area, I pulled up the cache description to read the hint. Unfortunately, I pulled up the wrong page, so we were even more confused. The coordinates were good, though, and jbgreer made the find.

[ Stair steps that we passed on the way to another cache. ]

Our third cache was Big Root (GC2VVKH). I knew from looking at the cache page earlier, that this one had a suggested a trail waypoint as where to start. This was due to a bridge being out on one of the trails. "Big Root" might have been the toughest find of the day. This cache was also not far from where a previous cache had been.

[ Spotted shortly after leaving "Big Root". ]

The other three caches were across the park from where we were, so we took what we thought was the shortest way over.

[ I think we go this way... ]

The fourth cache we hunted was Trail Junction (GC2VW61). It wasn't where I imagined it to be, but the hint, and the fact it was visible from a few feet away meant it was eventually found.

[ One of many trail junctions. ]

[ Spotted near the boardwalk that crosses the lake. ]

[ Ahhh... sunlight! ]

[ The droplets looked cool on the lilypads. ]

[ There were lots of lilypads. ]

[ Beautiful habitat for birds and turtles. ]

The fifth cache we found (after taking lots of pictures off of the boardwalk) was Fence Post
by ProntoPup (GC2VW30). The name pretty much describes the landmark we were looking for and the cache was a quick find. At this point we say three men carrying camera equipment down the trail. They were the only people we came across all morning.

[ A nice view from one of the last caches of the day. ]

The final cache of the day was Split (GC2VW50). It was a nice easy to get to cache to end the morning on. We decided to head back to the Visitor's Center using a different path than the way we came so we could see a little more of the park before leaving.

Rambling Around NE Shelby County, TN - 5/15/2011

On this particular weekend, I found it difficult to get out and hunt geocaches. There were lots of dark clouds on Saturday and I had to be at a birthday party on Sunday. I decided to hunt a few easy caches on the way to the party. I had some problems with the maps on geocaching.com Saturday so for Sunday I picked a starting cache and then let my GPSr decide what was next on the list.

I left the house late on Sunday only giving myself a little over 2 hours to cache and get where I was going to in Rosemark, TN. The first cache of the day was It's "S" "O" .. "G" "double O" "D" .. "GOOD" .. by Dragon9981 (GC2MND7). I knew it was behind a restaurant, but I was surprised by which one. I didn't until later match the cache name with the jingle for KFC. The only problem I had with this cache was its proximity to the drive-through window. I waited until a van pulled up to the window before making the grab.

The second cache I found was LBC's Movie Night by jbgrissom (GC2P4VY). This was not far from the entrance to the Malco Summer Drive-In theater. Afternoon is a good time to hunt caches like this. I parked at the adjacent shopping center before quickly finding the cache.

[ Retro-looking lighting at the entrance ]

After signing the log, I continued northeast to takin out the trash by jamey1 ( GC2BF95). This cache was in a nicer area than the name implies. It was also out of the way for any possible passersby.

I was running out of time, but I wanted at least one woodsy cache that wasn't a park and grab. Madera de Azucar by thefamilybush (GC2VA3J) fit the bill. It was very green in these woods and I regretted my lack of bug spray. The coords were very good, though, and I found the cache and got out before I could get too eaten up. I liked the creativity in the naming of this cache and several others by the same cacher.



I had time for one more quick one before I had to finish for the day. Achtung! by thefamilybush (GC2VAG0) was a short distance away and like the description says, is right where you would expect it to be. The cache used a BIC stick pen as a container, which could work well enough until the log gets wets and swells up.

I had to be satisfied with five finds for this day. I was my own fault for leaving the house so late. At least this time, I made it to the party on time!

Arlington, TN Redux - 4/30/2011

I had big plans for this weekend. I had planned to drive to Oxford, MS and participate in Thacker Mountain Trails CITO Event by SniperChicken (GC2N387). I signed up for this event on April 6 and was thinking I'd CITO and cache on Saturday and stick around Sunday and cache some more. As the days passed, I kept watching to see if anyone else would be attending the CITO. I watched the Mississippi forums for talk and saw little. The week of the event, we had terrible storms with tornadoes and flooding. Oxford appeared to get worse weather than we had in Memphis, but as far as I knew, the event was still on. The night before the event (Friday), I checked the logs and saw that I was still the only one who had signed up. I decided at that point to cancel my plans and go some other time. The event went on as scheduled with only a few people showing up.

[ calm after the storm ]

In the meantime, my buddy jbgreer called me up Friday night and asked if I wanted to get together for breakfast and some caching. This worked for me, but I had to scramble to get together a list of caches to hunt. It didn't help that a lot of the good caches were underwater due to flooding.

Saturday, we got together for breakfast and I pulled out my map of caches. We decided to hunt a few on a line between Bartlett, TN and Arlington, TN. Most of these caches were simple park and grabs, but sometimes you just have to get out of the house and do something.

The first find of the morning was MMEW #7 Deathly Hollows Part 1 by sskaysee (GC2KGJB). It was part of a series based on the Harry Potter books and placed at theaters where the HP movies were shown.

We had a lot of DNFs. Some were due to the presence of muggles, others because... well you know. One of our DNFs was at The Hidden Park Treasure by SniperGuy (GC1C42X). This was a cache that I hadn't gone after before because, I suspected I'd have trouble finding the park. On this day, we found the park, but not the cache.


A lot of the caches we found on this day were placed by new cachers. Some were really nicely done, like most of the caches put out by kasitay. Others were not so well done. Altoids tins do NOT make good outdoor cache containers.

[ the coordinates were also waaaay off ]

We had to replace two logs with new paper and ziplock bags. I had the bags, but I had to resort to tearing up some pages that I had printed out puzzle solutions on. Fortunately, I was able to make logs without the parts that had coordinates on them.

Since jbgreer had in his possession a TB that needed to be put out, and we were hunting park and grabs, we made a quick stop at I.H. Managerial Park in Lakeland, TN and placed it in an ammo can cache that I had logged last weekend.

We went back to the Arlington Sportsplex and picked up The Heart of the South Loves Juliette Low by kasitay (GC2TQYY) . I was at this park last week, just before this cache was published. It was a tribute to Juliette Low, who was the founder of the Girl Scouts. Our last cache of the day was a few miles away - still in Arlington - called Honoring Arlington by dneedham (GC2KPXT). This park looked kind of creepy in the aftermath of the storm, but the cache was nice and in great shape. The next tree over, however, was not in great shape.

This was enough caching for us on this day. It was starting to get a little cloudy, in preparation for the next round of storms. We saved plenty of park and grabs for another day.