Typically, I have something to do on New Year's Eve Day, but this year I had no plans to reign in the new year and thought it would be nice to make a cache run. GEO.JOE placed several new caches in the Shawnee National Forest and offered to head up a cache run. I posted on the RVG page on Facebook that I was interested. Being the meeting was at 10 am in Paducah, I knocked out It's on Track! Are You?. It's a really difficult hide and worked a while to find it. Two muggles noticed my struggle and after I took their pictures at the locomotive, they assisted in finding the cache. From there, I met the crew at the Pilot Truck Stop located off I-24. GEO.JOE offered me a ride, in which, I gladly accepted. We drove onto the forest and met scoutpaddle and Bubba95 who had camped at the parking area.
First cache was: Splatterstone Falls, probably my favorite of the day, very nice waterfall. Coordinates were way off and GEO.JOE adjusted the coordinates while we were there. We stopped to take a few pictures. Mine are posted on my Facebook profile.
We found more caches in the canyon, another one of my favorites was Heart Arch. By this time in the run, I began to get ahead of the group. I found the cache and in the time it took for the rest of the crew to arrive I ate my lunch. After Heart Arch, next stop was Above the Boulders, again, I had left the group and made a beeline towards the cache. Nearing the listed coordinates, I began to worry that the cache would be located on top of the ridge line and would be embarrassed to see the rest of the crew on top of the ridge and me below. I persisted and went to the listed coordinates and climbed onto the rocks. Thankfully, the cache was not on the ridge top. Coordinates were about 30 feet off but my geo-mojo found the cache. I waited another 20 minutes for the crew to arrive once again. This time, I had the cache signed and replaced.
I took the time to rest and drink lots of water while the others looked for the cache. We headed off for the next cache, Filmy Fern Cave. Getting to this cache was hazardous by climbing over and through rocks. After this find, we headed to the last cache, Go With the Flow. This time, the crew had thinned down and two of us signed the log. Regnad's son was with us, the others left the trail, one had twisted a knee.
Was one of the best adventures of geo-year 2011 and what a way to end the year with a hard hike with friends.
Crew consisted of:
GEO.JOE and his wife Fairy Flirt
Adventuretrekker
Regnad and his family
scoutpaddle and his son Bubba95
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