Our first destination was South Ridge Community Park where there were three caches waiting for us. Because of poor routing on my part, we approached the park from the wrong direction and had to backtrack around until we found the entrance. If not for one of the online cache logs, I wouldn't have known that we were looking for the park itself.
[ South Ridge Community Park ]The park has a paved trail that runs nearly the entire length, so there was little bushwhacking to be done. Our first cache (and primary goal of the morning because of its rating) was Day of fire by fzxfazer & littlebiker (GC1N46R). I had hunted this cache before, approaching from the wrong direction and searched fruitlessly. It turned out that not only were the coordinates roughly 30 feet off, but the correct approach was from the park to the north. Using the updated coordinates found in the online logs, we made a fairly quick find of the cache. Of course, the terrain could have been much worse had it rained recently.
Back in the park, we headed east to the next cache on our list - South Ridge
by Fairchase (GC1GK0K). What made this one an easy find was the fact that it was laying opened on the trail with its contents scattered around it. After signing the log and putting the contents back in the can, we replaced it a good looking spot at the coordinates.
The third cache was just a bit to the east and possibly outside of the bounds of the park. Did you take your medicine? by BEAVERSHARK (GC32XP8) was a micro that was placed in a surprising spot. After signing the log, we walked back to the car. We had no problems with muggles here, even though I'm sure this park is well-used.
Our next destination was Olive Branch City Park where we hoped to find City Park Travel Bug Hotel by jbgrissom (GC2KGB4) because of its unusally high terrain rating (4). We found the approximate spot, but no cache. We then hunted two other caches nearby and only found one - Take a Walk, But Not On The Track by mimi1967 (GC271ZV). This park was teeming with visitors, so I can understand how a cache might get discovered by kids.
[ Some serious erosion took place here... ]Next up was Lan Do-Do You by Gooberploch (GC1Q6JV). It was just off of an industrial complex south of the park and across the highway. We got lucky on choosing the right roads to get there and the hike itself was short. Lots of growth to fight through at the entry point, but once in the woods, we got to the coordinates pretty easily. The cache was well camoed and may not have been in its original spot. I found it, though. Exiting the woods was easier than entering.
Our last cache of the day was OH FRAP!!!! by fzxfazer (GC1MW92). I was originally of the opinion that the cache was accesible from outside of the City Park, but after a few failed attempts to get close, we found that the park had the best access. This was an interesting hunt. We found the right trail to start on, then shortly afterwards ran into a 30-foot stretch of chain-link fence that did little more than block the trail. After walking around that, we discovered a zipline overhead with a couple of platforms for accessing it. A few hundred feet from the cache, we came across an elevated climbing wall with a rope ladder. The rest of the journey was bushwhacking as we saw no discernible trail. I walked right up to the cache, which was a cool hide. The log however, was soaking wet. After leaving the cache, I climbed the rope ladder (harder than it looks), but decided against climbing the wall.
[ Don't fence me in... ]
[ Hmmmm... ]We had a nice uneventful walk back to the car. No more caches were on my list, so we headed back to Memphis.
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