Day off and where to go?

This being a 3-day weekend, I was thinking about caching on Monday, January 21. The 21st being a federal holiday in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and for me being a Son of a Confederate Veteran, I also observed the 201st anniversary of the birth of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

On Sunday, I had yet decided where to go caching. Most directions (Jackson, Trenton, Paducah, Mayfield) I have made many trips to in the past several weeks. I awoke and saw the clear but cold weather. Thought about Mousetail but images of the freezing wind off the Tennessee River did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. So I thought about Retreat to Ft. Donelson. Hmm.... About 3 miles round trip hiking in one of the best caching places around, the Land Between the Lakes. I made up my mind, it would be the southern part of the LBL today.

Set up my PQ and off I went, leaving the house before 9 am. Stopped for gas, water and snack in Paris and in about 1/2 hour I was at the trail head for the cache. GPS said 1.3 miles and I saw the trail. I decided to go at it alone today. Recently, I have had knee pain after 3-4 miles of hiking. Being alone, I would not have to keep up with anybody and could go at my own pace and take breaks when I wanted to. Took a few rests along the way and studied the Topo map on my Garmin 60csx. Since I climbed the hill I wanted to stay on the ridge line, but when I came within .19 of the cache, I began to get further away, so I made a beeline and ended up climbing another hill, this time a steep one. Found the cache and rested for a bit. Found a trail at the cache and took it in the direction of my truck. One part of LBL caching, it's very wise to mark your parking location. Headed down the hill and came to a clearing. Saw the road about 1/2 mile away and I had enough of hill climbing. Went to the road and a quick trip to the truck.

Next cache was A Trip To Tip Top, by Writergirl. Having met this legendary cacher before I wanted to find one of her caches. Attempted to find this one before, but my software failed to show any of the back roads in the LBL. Today, I was armed with Topo maps on my laptop and with nRoute, I found the right roads and easily found the cache.

With my knee getting tender, I decided to go after just one more cache. Set my sights on Aunt Tinas Lost Cache-Revisted. Again, this was another cache where I couldn't find the parking area. Found a place to park and found the trail. Started up the trail and my GPS told me I was going away from the cache. More bushwhacking and .25 later I was at the cache, an old homestead. Nice area and took some time to make a picture.

Kelley's Point Battlefield

Planning a trip to Nashville, I looked forward to hitting some caches on the return part of my trip. Being that I already have my Golden Ammo can, I am not concerned about the numbers and wanted something special to find. After loading my PQ's onto nRoute, I browsed the caches. Hesitated, I looked at the area of Exit 201. I had been there before when I had a legend without maps and vowed never to return. Being that I cache much of my time during the week, I face the traffic in busy areas of Nashville, Jackson and Memphis.....alone! My previous cache trip to Exit 201 was horrible, I steer away from Cracker Barrel caches during busy times and found myself having to make left turns just to find a skirt lifter. I gave up and went home.

Browsing, I saw Kelley's Point Battlefield, a cache now maintained by JoGPS. Reading the cache page, it had my interest. However, I was very concerned about the recent DNF's. I called JoGPS and he assured me the cache was there and gave me an additional hint.

After my visit in Nashville, I made a beeline towards Kelley's Point Battlefield. I had used Google Maps aerial image prior to my trip and saw the parking area. I normally don't use the aerial images since the resolution in Northwest Tennessee is terrible. Found the parking area and read the information of the Battle of Nashville in this part of Davidson County. Proceeded onto the cache, just a short hike taking a little less than 10 minutes. Stopped at the overlook and read more about the Confederate Cavalry stopping the US Navy on the Cumberland River. Using concealed artillery and constantly moving the guns, the CSA forces were able to stop traffic on the important waterway. With my military experience, I looked at the position and could see how the Confederates used the position to their advantage. A bend in the river prevented the bigger guns from the naval vessels from using their longer range to their advantage. The bluff, while not towering, gave the Confederates a height advantage. Also, moving the guns from one fortified and concealed position to another, prevented the US Navy gunners from finding their targets.

The cache proved be difficult to find, I had to call the cache owner to find it. With persistence, I did find it. To my surprise, this cache, while in close proximity of I-40, has well less than 100 finds, while nearby park and grabs have well over 100 finds. This cache proved to be one of the best in Nashville.

Completion of the West Tennessee Mega-Multi

With my three year Geo-Anniversary coming up in less than two months I can finally log this cache and be apart of the elite cachers in West Tennessee to have completed this series! I had just taken up geocaching about two months before when the West Tennessee Mega-Multi series were unleashed in May of 2005. Being that I am from Dresden, a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from Memphis, I had my doubts that I would ever complete the series. But I would find the caches as they came around.
It would take my two and a half years to complete and would take much persistence, thought and sweat to find all the stages. A couple would take more than one trip, another, I came within 1/4 mile only to see a fence and no trespassing sign. I caught some breaks along the way and the my recent adoption of a cache no longer part of the series paved the way to complete this mission.
First find was the closest to my home, Kingdom of Skullbonia by WestTNdawg on 5/11/05. Being that I knew this store and unique sign I didn't have any problems.
Geocoins going down the drain by Primofam. This one took two trips the first trip it was pouring down rain and the Legend took me everywhere but where I needed to go. Second trip on 6/9/05, the cache was found.
1st Settlement by pcsenn on 6/24/07. Another one that took more than one trip, took my girls and we found it. Very quiet cemetery, one of the best caches in Northwest Tennessee.
Firestone by MFDFircam was found on 12/29/05 along with others while caching in the area upon completion of the Bridge, No Bridge.
Now that I had one of the Shelby County caches in the series, I started to re-think my tactics and go after the series. After being disabled for a time, Empress by Empress Luci was found by myself on 7/26/06 on a hot day.
On 10/13/06, with cachestalker94 on fall break, we made a Memphis cache run and we knocked out No Way by Risket323 and Lake View by Chibongo. No Way was a hard cache and glad it was the first of the day. We completed Lake View on the way home.
Prior to attending sskaysee 1K event, I went by and found spencersb's Deja Vu cache and was thankful not to fall in the water on that one.
On a trip to Memphis, I swung by In the Rough 2.0 by Tuck Sackett on 1/26/07 and found that cache.
On 2/23/07, I nabbed Wishing Well by jbgreer. This was the first time to try out the waypoint projection on my Garmin 60csx.
In the fall, I began to kick up the intensity a bit and while in Memphis, I met up with Hoot Owl to give back the and he pointed the way for his Osprey Nest Platform trail entrance. Found that cache on 10/5/07.
Still needing two to go, one cache was no longer part of the series and I adopted it and made Garrett Lake II part of the series. With that clue I had one left and it would prove to be the most difficult. Found Up a creek up a wolf by Hoot Owl this morning. With everything set I was going after the final.
This weekend, armed with 13 of the 14 clues, I had figured out 95% of the coordinates. With today's last find, I came up to the final stage and one of the largest caches found by me in West Tennessee. It was well stocked. Normally, I don't take or leave anything, but this morning I stopped and bought a DVD "Lost Boys" a classic horror flick and placed in the cache. I also took the time to reflect on the moment. Overall, this was a better feeling then when I found my 1,000th cache. My 1K find was on a return trip from Tullahoma, I was in a hurry, traffic was bad and the cache was a simple parking lot. This find was one of the best. Thanks for Hoot Owl for this cache and all who have made this journey darting up and down and across West Tennessee and what a way to end the 2007 geocaching year out!