Developing this blog, I decided to begin Day Two on the late night of Day One. After attending the event, peanutpapa and myself drove to the cabin. The large cabin was reserved by Nelms3 and this cacher thanks him for going above and beyond with the reservation.
All the others arrived later that evening. I had not been involved in the planning stage of this cache run, but I do have a lot of experience in developing and leading cache runs. I figured it would be best to stay out of the planning since I had no agenda. That evening and early morning hours, I observed Tiger130 and GeoYakr go after the maps and what were going to be caches in the target list. They knew what they were doing and felt best that in the morning; I would load up into someone else's vehicle and not drive, a decision that would pay dividends later. I went to bed and awaiting tomorrow's adventure.
Our first find was actually a park and grab, Babble on and on, situated next to a large parking area, the hike was not much more than 100 feet. Cache was difficult to get to and hard to retrieve. Cache was on the target list so as endorider could color in a grid for the Well Rounded Cacher.
From there, the majority of the rest of the day would be spend in the Prentice Cooper area and some hard hiking. Our first stop was Half Way to the Rock. On the same trail was one of the best views in Tennessee, Tennessee's Grand Canyon. After logging this cache, I questioned why a cache that was about 5 years old had such few finds. Our stay was long due to taking many pictures and gather information for our next cache, Snoopers Rock. Getting to Snoopers Rock was difficult to say the lest; having to backtrack and re-route onto another trail. This is where I began to observe GeoYakr's mountain goat skills and wondered if he actually had feet or hooves. On the way to these caches, we stopped at a Wal-Mart where GeoYakr purchased high rubber boats that he wore the entire caching trip. I questioned the wisdom of wearing new boats for long hike and not made for hiking. However, to my amazement, GeoYakr knew what he as doing and I attempted to just keep up.
Next cache was maybe the most difficult, Size Matters. This cache was down a 4X4 trail and took a lot out of me to get there and back. I could feel my knees popping and crunching this entire hike. Thankfully, I had my bottle of Advil with me. The area is very scenic. This cache didn't surprise me with its low number of finds. Our next stop was at Indian Rockhouse. This area near this cache reminded me of my caching in the Shawnee National Forest. This cache was difficult to find, despite that at least four of us either stepped on or stepped next to this cache.
We left Prentice Cooper area and headed towards Signal Mountain. On the way, we pulled over to grab Indian Ammo #50. Again, GeoYakr's mountain goat skills came in handy. We found the remains of this cache, did some maintenance and headed on our way. We went up Signal Mountain and found a lonely virtual Cypher Point Cacher. The views were great and took pictures. This overlook was used by Union soldiers as a communications station.
Our last cache find of the day was after dark at Ruby Falls Earthcache which provided maybe our best group photo. Once we toured Ruby Falls, we drove back to the cabin, where endorider made outstanding venison chili.
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