Garden of the Gods

With spring break approaching, the family looked for a place to visit. Last year, we visited Mountain Home, Arkansas to see the Ozarks and find a cache placed in the year 2000 to qualify for the Well Rounded Cacher. With that accomplishment, we looked somewhere closer to home and set our target on Godly Gardens in the Shawnee National Forest. Last year's visits to the VA Hospital in Marion, IL gave me the opportunity experience the roads in that state and some of the forest areas. Unlike West Tennessee, the Shawnee National Forest has rock formations. Generally, while caching in West Tennessee anything that is under a 1/3 mile of hiking can be taken for granted and not very difficult, unless there are water obstacles or large amounts of briers. I have learned from experience that even 200 feet from a cache can NOT be taken for granted! With that in mind, being that I would have my family entourage there was no need to go after anything that was not a short hike or park and grab.

Over the past few years I had heard of the Gardens, mostly from the River Valley Geocaching forums and I really wanted to visit the location. We drove up and hit a few caches along the way. Quiet Repose, was a quite cemetery and easy find. It gave my family members there first find in Illinois. Lusk Creek Crossover, a cache in a very small town and a nice view of the Ohio River. With time running low, we made a direct line to Godly Gardens. We met up with Kodiak62 who gave us some iPad advise in regard to caching and walked with us on the quarter mile loop. Garden of the Gods was produced by glaciers that pushed the rocks to this point, where the glaciers rescinded. We took many pictures for Carolina (youngest child) for future Science projects in school. How many kids in her class will have a project to do about glacier activity only 2 hours from home? For Kailee, the oldest, she wanted Senior pictures made.

The overlooks are great and some of the terrain was a bit challenging. As posted on Facebook, I recommend cachers and muggles alike to visit this location. Our last caches in the Garden of the Gods area was Arch of the Gods. We found the cache quickly and then went across the road to see the natural arch and was amazed by the rugged beauty. Again, we took many pictures.

Afterwards, we headed north towards Harrisburg, the direction where the glaciers came from and observed the area was as flat as prairie land and elevation dropped from 830 feet in the Garden to 290 feet! While in Harrisburg, we view the recent tornado damage and made a quick visit at A Piece of History. We enjoyed the cache despite the museum being closed. We learned that the county has coal mines, we think we stay a strip mine on the way to Harrisburg.

Our last cache find was Salt of the Earth, an educational earthcache that my girls like and learned about pre-historic times. We settled in later at Harrah's Casino/Hotel in Metropolis, IL. Being a Sunday night, the rates were only $42 for the room. Next morning, we visited the Superman statue in downtown Metropolis and shopped in Paducah, KY.

Ellington Agricultural Center

I had heard of the Ellington Center in Nashville a couple of years ago and I shown some interest in the area. In a visit to Nashville, I bookmarked the caches in the center and went after them. It proved to be an exhausting mission since I was unfamiliar with the trail system. Often, I bushwhacked my way towards the cache.

Walk Along with Roger was my first find. Parking was easy and finding the trail head was just as easy. Took more time than I wanted to find the cache since my GPSr took me in circles.

Later, I parked at another location and went after the remaining caches. Bushwhacking was difficult due to the heavy vegetation. I did find trails and tried to stay one them, but there were trails within trails. When I went after the last cache, I finally found a board that mapped the trail system.

The Plantation that Wasn't: Walk on the Wildside

Cache Creek

When I visited, it was during the week, where there were may state muggle employees running about. It would be my recommendation to go after these caches on a weekend, holiday or after work hours. Good knowledge of the trail system and use of a mountain bike would be fun.

Leap Year Event

Four years ago, I attended a Leap Year event in Jackson that had an exceptional turn out. Little did I realize that coloring in the February 29th date, at that time would be pivotal when I completed the Finds by Date calender in 2011.

Last week I gave back by hosting an event in South Fulton at the Lean To Restaurant. Was concerned if I would get more than a dozen or so cachers being that South Fulton is not a destination for many cachers and being Feb. 29, 2012 fell on a Wednesday. I set the time for 7 to 9 pm and requested no door prizes. Being a weekday, I didn't want anybody to feel obligated to stay to the door prize section of the event. I have observed in many events, that after door prizes are given out; comes the exodus. At this event, I noted that many cachers stayed around to closing time. Everyone had a great time and some assisted restaurant staff in helping with clean up.

One cacher during the event was offended that another event was being hosted in Paducah, Ky. I replied that I was not offended by the least. Paducah was about an hour from South Fulton, TN and I wouldn't expect cachers from Paducah/Metropolis area to be at the event in South Fulton.

Cachers who attend the event in South Fulton came from as far as: Pinson, Jackson, Huntington, Troy, Springville, Puryear, Paris and Union City, all in Tennessee. From Kentucky, Murray, Mayfield, Clinton and Sedalia.