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.

Late Night Visitors

This past Friday night I was at home with the windows up, catching the breeze and playing around on the computer. Saw a car pull up in the driveway, went outside and the car was gone. Noticed the halogen headlights of that car go past a couple of times. Continued on with what I was doing and then saw a flashlight in the yard. I knew then they were cachers coming after What I afraid of? I grabbed my Surefire tactical light and went outside the greet the cachers. Turns out they were DrewsephVladmir, The 40 Foot Pandas and 1/2 of FarklinNinjas, a group from Union City, TN. The found the first stag and then went about entering the coordinates for the second and final stage in their high tech phones. We chatted a bit about the phones being used as GPS receivers. Then the group said their good byes and were headed back to their cars. I asked them to check their receivers and then they noticed the cache was in walking distance. I watched them trying to find the final using the phones that didn't seem to have an arrow screen. One of them ran out onto the highway to re-gain satellite reception. We spoke more about the phones and I mentioned that once their caching careers take them into areas with high tree cover such as Land Between the Lakes, they may want to think about a GPS with better reception.

We had a very pleasant conversion and hope to run into the group again on the trails.

New PT test

While at Ft. Campbell, KY several days ago, I browsed the headline of a Army Times of the new Army Physical fitness test. Regrettably, I didn't purchase a copy. Searches on the Internet of the new test have not come up with anything concrete, the best I found was this You Tube Video. The new test is supposed to be Army wide by this October. Asking a few people, including AGR's and technicians at this weekend at drill, I discovered I knew more than they.

Current test includes three events. Push ups, sit ups and a two-mile run. Due to a knee problem of a floating knee cap, I have a profile and substitute the 2.5 mile walk that I have to complete in about 36 minutes. For the most part, I start working out about two months prior and use a treadmill. I have noticed the PT test does not equal combat readiness with some much emphasis on running in shorts and t-shirt. It doesn't prepare much for a long road march with body armor, a weapon and ammunition.

The new test will be seven events. Thankfully, the sit up is gone. Since information is sketchy, it's hard to say what the events will be like and how to complete the test. I did notice in the video parts of the test were in PT uniform, others in battle uniform, including body armor and weapon. This leads to a argument, as a member of a transportation unit of the National Guard, we carry the M-16 which weighs 7.8 pounds and is 39.625 inches. My active Army counterpart carries the M-4 which is 6.36 pounds and 29.75 inches when the stock is retracted. Regarding training for combat, it would be better to carry the weapon one will carry in combat. But for a test that is scored and a soldier will be in competition for promotion, the field should be even.

Some other events that I know of; are a casualty drag and an ammo can shuttle run.

I will have to do more to prepare for these events, like carrying a pack while hiking the trails with more water than usual. The geo-kayaking I have planned for warmer weather should help my upper body strength as well.

26 Smilies

Last weekend I returned to the southern LBL and found seven caches and one DNF. After entering my finds and pulled up the map, I noticed 26 smilies on the map with 11 to be found. Number has increased this week with the addition about five caches.

First pulled up to Homestead, a nice area for a cache with old buildings, but couldn't find the cache again. Will return sometime. Next was Meteorite Rock, where I redeemed myself a DNF about 2 years ago. I don't see where I went wrong, but it was found. Next was Lickity Split, not being a fan of micros in wooded areas, I was impressed with the hide technique. Thankfully, coordinates were on the dot. Had it been back in the Garmin Legend or Etrex days, it would have been a cache I would have passed up.

I really wanted to get Nuts About Dreadlock Tree since I was in the area. But, I couldn't get close to the cache due to high water on a creek I needed to cross. Looking at my topo map, I didn't see an easy way. Went onto Lake Shore a 3 terrain cache. The road to the cache fit the rating. Parked about .10 from the cache and had an easy walk to the find.

At this point, I began to look at the downhill side of this cache day. I drove up north and worked my way down. Found Welcome to Model, TN, a great cache and great location. Owner did an excellent job researching and setting up the cache page. On my nRoute, I saw how close the cache was to the Trace and wondered about the 3 terrain rating. After a good climb up the hill, I appreciated the 3 star rating.

Now the highlight of the day. Went after Roundtop. Made excuses for myself and was concerned about the 1 mile hike each way and my knowledge of the terrain of the LBL. The hike was much easier than anticipated. Ran into a Boy Scout troop on the way and return trip. Chatted some about the geocaching merit badge. Was a nice hike. Ended the day on the Bear Creek Loop Trail. Found MTCBSA COG Dist Adventures of Scouting #5 and Bear Creek Loop Cache. Prior to hitting the trail, I was tired and hungry, I found the caches and went to a nearby McDonalds in Dover and headed home. With more energy, I would have hiked the entire trail and posted the trail online.

Maybe another time.....

Over the Deer v2

This past Sunday, I hooked up with -boatman- for one last cache adventure before he leaves West Tennessee for Middle Tennessee for good. I have always enjoyed caching with -boatman- and didn't pass up this opportunity.

The cache I wanted was Over the Deer v. 2 by dalls. I didn't get the opportunity to go after this cache prior to deployment since I am rarely in this area on weekends. I really detest the traffic along Highway 45 By-Pass in Jackson and don't want to travel it when I don't have to. I spoke with -boatman- and we set out for the cache after church. Thankfully, I didn't have any delays leaving Dresden and traffic was light. I arrived at the parking location to find -boatman- already there. We prepared ourselves for the hike. I had not been to the river's edge but have been to this area a couple of times before and didn't know what to expect. I made a couple of calls inquiring if special equipment was necessary and one told me the equipment he used was the cache owner! I really wanted Over the Deer v.2 due to it's unique terrain/difficulty rating. We set out with our packs, hiking poles and I put in a rope in my pack. We first found Bigfoot's Territory. On the way to this cache, we spotted the first snake of the year, a Garter snake sunning himself. It was in the area and I wanted the 4-star terrain rating. I already had it's difficulty/terrain rating but the 4-star would look good on my stats. Besides, if I fell in the river at Over the Deer v.2, I wouldn't be in the mood to make another find, only to get to my truck before hypothermia set in.

We ventured over to Over the Deer v.2 and studied it for a long time of how to approach it. I tied a rope around myself in the event I feel in the river, -boatman- could pull me out. I scooted and straddled across the large tree that was almost parallel with the water below. It took everything I had to remain calm and when the wind kicked up, I just waited for the wind to die down. After several minutes, I had crawled to the cache location and it was just out of reach. -boatman- said, dalls meant for the cacher to stand up. I refused to do that and besides I am taller than the cache owner. I reached and reached and pulled the container down. I could sense -boatman-'s relief that I had it in my hand. I signed the log and in the process dropped the log protector and -boatman-'s pen in the river. Replaced the container and then discussed the return trip. Had pictures of myself on the tree which I posted on my Facebook Account. I scooted across the tree backwards (opposite the way I went to the cache) and asked -boatman- to pull on the rope slightly to give me some momentum and direction.

Hiked back to the parking lot and after some discussion I went home. Only had two finds that day and it didn't matter to me; I was happy to get another Well Rounded Cacher grid number colored in.

Now my magic number for the Well Rounded Cacher is 3 and my terrain avg. is up to 1.69.

5 Icons in a Day

A couple of weeks ago I noticed 5-ICON "In a Day" Caching Challenge I-40 RS East and figured I had that one in the bag since I had a 5-icon in day in July 2008 while caching in Michigan and Ontario. However, after further reading, I had to do this 5-Icon in a day all over again since the cache page reads that my busy day has to be after December 1, 2009. I had cleared much of my surrounding area and but I am keeping some caches in reserve for easy finds to color in a day on my 366 days of caching stats. I pondered what to do; this would be a difficult task. I did notice a Mega event near Mt. Vernon, IL coming up in March. I could get a two-fer with a Mega and Event cache the same day, near same location but different times. Looked around, there is a wherigo cache, but I am not equipped for those, thus I don't much attention to those types of caches. Noticed a mystery nearby but it requires a GPS that can pick up the chirp device, so I am not equipped for that either. Only the Garmin Oregon and 62 with correct downloaded software can pick up the beacon.

While caching with pcsenn and Pharmd93, I informed both of them that after the events of the day, they would be only one icon short of the goal and suggested the earthcache at the Hatchie River National Wildlife Refuge. Turned out Pcsenn had already completed that earthcache. At least Pharmd93 could get the 5-Icon challenge. But after some researching after the event, there was a short multi, Old Wagon Trail in Collierville. We all competed that cache, which was fun and interesting. On the way back we found the 5-Icon challenge. Which by the way, is the third cache that has been placed on that end of the rest stop on I-40, the fifth total at the stop. On the way home, we picked up West Tennessee-Silt 'loess' Deposits-Earthcache. While signing the log, we had only 4-icons, we knew would get the cache since a DNF at an earthcache is highly remote.

"You did them all?!"

Teamed up this past weekend with pcsenn and Pharmd93 for a cache run in the Collierville area. I had set my sights on Flip Dizzy Loves Jelly Beans for the unique terrain/difficulty rating. I also set my sights to complete all the caches in that same park as well. When I arrived at the events for 76Stinger and Jaybirder, I were asked "How many did you get?", the reply was "got them all" and jaws dropped. They knew and we would find out on the trail why the jaws dropped. The terrain and unforgiving, the trails, if they could be called trails didn't have a pattern and were more of ruts than anything else.

I have been to the park once before, grabbing Caching A,B,Z's and More Fun than a barrel of monkeys and knew that park has a paved and unpaved trails. As we ventured further into the park, we did much bushwacking, wading through water and trying to find one trail after another. The cache De-Hydration took a lot out of us getting through the brush. After finding that cache we found a trail and continued to head west. Prior to De-Hydration we found Wild Turkey without any trouble. As we continued west, we found Mirror, mirror. With that find came the most difficult task of navigating to The Saga of the Frozen Dozen. I was having second thoughts at that point but we continued the mission studying the terrain we could see, using the high ground and the topographical map on my GPS. Crossing water was the biggest challenge. Pharmd93 noticed a long 2X4 laying around and we put it across the water and crossed it. Where my 2X4 came from, who knows.... Found The Saga of the Frozen Dozen and then went onto Penny's Worth of Trouble. With that cache having a rope can in handy once again. After that cache we wanted to head towards the parking lot, pscenn noticed the sewer covers in the area and noticed the easement. We headed south and found a better path back to the parking lot picking up the mystery Say What? . My military experience was useful to solve this cache.

After that agonizing nearly six miles of hiking, we picked up Silo Mentality. This cache was fun, but it was an open area and we really felt the cold wind trying to find this one. With 45 minutes before the events, we drove over to LPS001 where pscenn and Pharmd93 had the honor to place their names on the oldest geocache in Tennessee.

After the event, I set my sights on a multi. Story of that will be continued......