West Fork River Geo-Kayak cachepedition

With completion of the Well Rounded Cacher getting close and my urge to get the kayak out, bitbrain and myself discussed and set up a cachepedition of the West Fork River, that contained the two remaining category grid requirements. Once, Peace and Tranquility I and the West Fork Waterfalls. I invited every cacher that was on my Facebook friends list and others were invited by those I invited. The will attend and may attend numbers changed through the weeks and in the final days, some dropped out due to various reasons. I became quite concerned when bitbrain dropped out since he had a device to do the West Fork Waterfalls, a cache that is a whereigo.

I drove up on Good Friday and knocked out Peace and Tranquility I and did a recon of where to put in the boats. A later blog post will reflect my not so peaceful experience.

Morning of the 23rd arrived and I drove to the park and awaited the cachers who would join me. While waiting I knocked out a Boy Scout cache that is required for the Middle Tennessee Boy Scout challenge and went for a stroll to get Billy's Backside. Soon after returning to the truck, cachers began to arrive with canoes or kayaks on top of their vehicles. Kodiak62 arrives with a trailer in two. He explains to the group he found a put in place on the south and west side of Tiny Town Bridge. With his long trailer, we dismount the boats and reload onto the trailer. The group that left the park and went onto the river were: Kodiak62, MVP Doodle, scoutpaddle, Bubba95, shan7on, lizzie60 and adventuretrekker.

We found 7 of 8 on the river. Most were at or near the river bank. Some we had to get out of the boats to retrieve. The cache West Fork Waterfalls was very high on list, since finding it would complete the goal for the Well Rounded Cacher. We all pulled up the boats at the waterfall and got out to look around for the cache. With the opportunity to grab the last grid for the WRC, I jumped out still wearing my life vest and backpack. I paid close attention to Bubba95, who's iPhone was the only whereigo device that was functioning correctly. I could see how challenging any whereigo could be. After some searching, shan7on laid eyes on the cache and a sigh of relieve could be heard throughout the group. Even if this cache could be retrieved from overland, it would be an easy 4.5 star terrain.

This adventure was my fourth geo-kayak trip, my second trip that was a small river. Some observations, unlike lakes, I didn't have to paddle as much, I used the current to propel me. Wind was not a factor. However, with the swifter current, it made finding caches very difficult. I found that when the boats converged near the posted coordinates, we ran into each other. Lesson learned, when about 200 feet away, slow the boat down and begin scanning where the cache could be located. I consider myself inexperienced with a kayak and paid attention to adventuretrekker who is a veteran with the kayak with 3 times as many 5-star terrain caches as I. Other observations, scuba diving boots are not a great substitute for hiking boots, but did make do. They were better than those with sandals who were exposed to poison ivy.

I am thankful for all those who participated in the cachepedition and those who didn't attend but could advise through Facebook and phone calls. This was an awesome trip and encourage others to make the trip.

Natural Selection vs. Targeting?

Recent conversations with -boatman- we discussed the issue of finding caches to complete the 81 category grid for the Well Rounded Cacher. -boatman- is lacking finds in the 5 and 4.5 difficulty range. He prefers the high terrain rated caches, hence his 1.74 terrain average that exceeds my 1.69 rating. I expressed to complete the grid it would require to solve the puzzle/unknown caches at home. As for most everything below the 4 terrain/difficulty rating, I used natural selection. Just going on a cache run and signing logs and not concerned about the rating. The last several I have had to complete where were in the 4.5 and 5 range, I had to be selective of what I want after, solving puzzles long before I left on the run.

Another cache, Abiectio, the Evil One? (Challenge Cache) requires the cacher to create a bookmark showing they visited a regular size traditional cache in every West Tennessee County. Find an earthcache and virtual within the grand division. Also, a puzzle and multi that at least a 3 difficulty or terrain. For many of the seasoned caches and especially those from the Jackson area, this one should not be difficult. But for the less seasoned cachers from the corners of West Tennessee, such as Lake, Henry, Shelby and Hardin counties, this one will be a difficult challenge.

My purpose of the cache requirements, that unlike the Tennessee County and DeLomre Challenges, where any physical cache will do. For the Abiectio challenge, I want the cacher to experience everything West Tennessee has to offer. Such as the small towns, cities, trails, parks and geological features. For the seasoned cacher, natural selection of the years of caching will accomplish the goal. For a newer cachers, it may require being selective.

Camp Beauregard

Being a Civil War buff, I had heard about Camp Beauregard near Water Valley, Kentucky. I wanted to place a geocache there however, I didn't know the precise location of the camp that is now a cemetery. A cache was placed there and I took the opportunity to find and visit Camp Beauregard. I took a few pictures and saw many Confederate soldier graves. The camp provided the right flank of the larger base at Columbus on the Mississippi River and when Confederate troops retreated from Columbus, the camp near Water Valley was abandoned as well. For most of the soldiers buried in the cemetery near the cache, very few if none every saw any combat. Disease claimed the lives of many enlisted teenage boys and young men in their early 20's. I wanted to tell about this cache since this is the 150th Anniversary of the War Against Northern Aggression. Cacher or not, the place is worth a visit.

Trout Fishing Fun

While in Mountain Home, Arkansas we visited the trout hatchery at the base of the Norfolk River Dam. We ended up spending a lot of time seeing the fish, where both my girls had fun feeding the fish. I looked for the information for the virtual Trout Fishing Fun. I knew the plaques were moved inside and we went there to find where the trout are hatched from the eggs. Was amazing to see how the fish develop. We spoke to a US Fish & Wildlife employee and he showed Carolina more details of the fish. He saw my GPS and he knew what I was seeking and pointed me in the right direction.

Next to the hatchery was a flowing stream and we could see the trout in their natural habitat. This virtual was educational and fun. One of the reasons I would like to see a return of the virtual geocaches.

Gorilla Stash

At the end of my girls spring break from school we headed for Mountain Home, Arkansas. My goal was to find the Gorilla Stash. One part of the Missouri Fizzy Challenge is to find a cache placed in the year 2000. After running a search, the cache in Arkansas was the closest and it was just over 200 miles from home. We enjoyed the Ozarks and countryside along the way.

It is nice that when I run my GSAK stats, I have something found in the year 2000.