Caching A,B,Z's

Since the GOWT re-organized and came back online a topic was brought up called the Fizzy Challenge. I looked at it and knowing that many of the requirements of 4 and 5 star caches will elude me, I lost my interest. But the topic of Geocaching A through Z did grab my attention. The basis to log that cache is to first find 26 caches for each letter of the alphabet. Forum conversation continued. One day, I was going through my all finds query on GSAK and noticed I have met the requirement. Went back onto the forum and asked for the GC# of the cache. Informed the cache was not ready yet and Tinksdad01 put out the cache a few days later.

Sprout wsa FTF and some cachers have descended onto the new cache. I delayed my business trip to Memphis to await this cache and later for the rain to pass through.

After my visit in Southhaven, MS, I had nRoute take me to the park for Caching A,B,Z's. Found the first stage after some looking. Seen this type of hide before but not at this type of location. Completed a multi More Fun than a Barrel Full of Monkeys, and waded through one foot of water. Then made the 1/2 mile hike to the final stage of Caching A,B,Z's. I had the trail all to myself, I could not ask for better. Found the cache and was very impressed with what I found. Took me some time to coordinate all the blocks. I did have the misfortune to develop a long caching name (Titansfan) in which I log micros with the simple TF and date. After taking the required pictures, I went back to the truck and ended my caching day. Two good caches in the same park and had fun.

Caching in Southeast Missouri

If one looks at my profile, it shows well over 1,000 finds in Tennessee, Kentucky is next with over 200 finds, followed by Mississippi with over 30 finds. After that, the other states have less than a dozen finds and Missouri with one find. A hurry-up and get the cache for the state in Caruthersville, just across the Mississippi River from Dyersburg, Tennessee.

Pharmd93 called about making a cache run on Sunday, March 9. We agreed on working Southeast Missouri to improve on the stats and not show just one find in a state about 50 miles from our home area.

We had to cross the rivers at Cairo, IL; crossing the Ohio and then Mississippi Rivers on a narrow two-lane bridge. Neither bridges make my most favorite bridge list, with both being so narrow. We began our first cache at Mounds in New Madrid. This marked my first ever visit to New Madrid, MO. New Madrid is just 50 miles from Dresden, but a river separates the two. New Madrid is also famous for the early 1800's massive earthquake. The cache location was unusual, a very high mound in a very flat part of the country. Cache was well stocked.

Next cache was Swift Ditch Access, the only hiking cache of the day, about 1,200 feet from parking. This cache had very good camo using the modern military pixel design. The cache was well stocked and information page in plastic attached to the ammo can. One of the most professional caches I have ever found. Area was interesting too, follow the hill from the cache and there was a river.

I found seven caches on that run, but want to highlight another cache, Airport Park (Veteran's Park). Even with the cold wind gusting, we enjoyed looking for the final stage of this multi and viewing the military displays. One of the displays was a US Navy F-4, an fighter-bomber that I used to see during my time in the US Navy from 1985-1989.

Old Salem Church Cemetery/Battlefield

Before I begun geocaching I had heard of the battle fought near Jackson, Tennessee in December of 1862. I had read about the engagement in a book written by Dr. Lonnie Manass, a history professor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, called "The Untutored Genius" a book about the military career of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

On May 6, 2005, I had business in the Jackson area and found a few caches on that day and my last find prior to meeting the wife and kids at Pringles Park for a baseball game was Old Salem Church Cemetery/Battlefield by -boatman-. I had saved the best for last. It was a little warm that day and the briers was my biggest challenging in finding that cache. In fact, the briers were so bad, I ended up stomping around and my foot found the cache. That was before I used a hiking stick to poke around.

Found the cache and having some time to kill prior to the baseball game, I walked around admiring the cemetery/battlefield and appreciated that a game that I had found just a few months prior led me to such a great location. I consider this cache one of the best in Madison County. Won't place it in my forgotten cache series; it has been found nearly 100 times. However, I do think the cache should be on more cachers 'to do' list and it does have easy access from Highway 70 and Interstate 40.

Since finding the cache, I met Dr. Manass at a Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting and told him about geocaching taking me to Civil War locations. During the meeting, I purchased Dr. Manass' new book "Lighting Warfare" Forrest's First West Tennessee Campaign December 1862. The new book had in depth information about the battle at Old Salem Church.

Three years later.....

Finding the geocaching site by accident on the evening of February 16, 2005, I created an account the next day with the intent of finding a few benchmarks, in our hometown of Dresden, Tennessee, for my daughter's 4th grade Science project. Being that there was only one cache within 20 miles I didn't have any intention of being a geocacher. Finding benchmarks proved to a difficult challenge and we struck out. On Sunday, February 21, 2005, my daughter (who later became cacherstalker94) set out for the Big Cypress State Park outside of Greenfield and using an old Garmin GPS 12 found the Big Cypress Cache and our new hobby was born.

Since then I have logged 1,601 finds in 11 states, finding caches in 60 of Tennessee's 95 counties. I have learned much of the history of the Land Between the Lakes region finding about 1/2 of the caches located in that National Forest. I have been to the graves of notable people such as: Legendary Sheriff Buford Pusser, Chicken George (of Roots), Country Music Entertainer Minnie Pearl, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, a man claiming to be the sole survivor of Custer's Last Stand, and also important to mention the graves of three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. Geocaching has taken me to many towns in Tennessee that I have never visited before, such as Pulaski where I visited the monument of Confederate hero Sam Davis and the building of significant history that occurred after the Civil War.

Geocaching has also given me the opportunity to find friends that normally would have never met. Meeting cachers along the trail, through email contact, phone contact and notable groups: GOWT, JAG, KTAG, RVG, and MTGC. I have had the honor and privilege of attending many of the events hosted by these groups.

Scary Loop

After I begun caching, I noticed the cache called Scary Loop Cache by Yogi and Dolphin and saw it was in Carroll County. About a year into my job with DCS, I was transferred to the Paris office and worked Carroll County, therefore I had a little knowledge of the area. But I worked Carroll County for just over a year and didn't know about this area. Studied the cache page and learned more about the haunted Palestine Church. I knew I wanted to find this cache.

On July 12, 2005, I ventured off course and found the cache after many back roads. At the time, all I had was a Garmin Legend and a Tennessee Delorme Map. GPSr played tricks on my and wondered if a ghost was haunting the signal. After much searching, I decoded the hint and found the cache. Later, I took the time to look inside the church and the nearby graveyard.

Later, on June 10, 2006; I was in the area again, this time with cannotreadgps, she wanted to see the church. We attended the GOWT BBQ hosted by Yogi & Dolphin earlier in the day and drove to Jackson for Mackheath's 1K event. Afterwards, we got back on I-40 and back towards Carroll County, this time using the Garmin 60cs with auto routing. Routing it did, one turn after another turn for another turn. We were about worn out making all the turns when we arrived at the cache location. Cannotreadgps found the cache and we began to look around, when a truck pulled up, three muggles got out of the truck, the man driving asked what we were doing, I explained to him of geocaching. Turned out, he was the Sheriff of Carroll County! He wanted to know more about GPS and Geocaching. I showed him the cache and the GPS.

We continued to look around and went inside the old church. Technically, this cache is a Park and Grab, not requiring any hiking; the history is all worth the trip. Thankfully, this cache gets regular activity, even with its remote location, I guess since it's not far from I-40. This is a must do cache.

Graham Cracker, another forgotten cache?

Graham Cracker is a cache adopted by BigDaddyD and had been on my list of to do caches since I begun caching in early 2005. But waited nearly a year to complete this cache, for a variety of reasons. My work takes me through the Jackson area several times a month, but the area of Graham Lake is off the main route, the routes being Highland, 45 By-Pass and I-40. Also was intimidated by wooded area caches until the leaves have fallen while using a Garmin Legend. Also, I am not normally dressed for woodland caching. Being that I pass through Jackson on a regular basis I don't find myself making cache runs through that city. On January 2, 2006, having the day off I headed down early to grab Graham Cracker and Just Ducky-Revised. I completed both caches that morning and not finding any others that day. I did have a DNF on a Park and Grab, it was a new cache and was hoping for a First to Find. I realized that when going after caches that require a physical effort, it's best to ignore everything in between. I had a great time hiking for both caches and having to dodge the rain showers too. Just Ducky-Revised was a feat in land navigation. Following the arrow was not enough.

Graham Cracker, which has been on the list of best caches in Madison County has 63 finds in it's nearly 7 years of existence. 2007 has seen an influx of new cachers in West Tennessee, I am disappointed that the cache was found only three times in 2007.

Some could say, "Titansfan you haven't found XXXXXXX hard terrain cache in Madison County". I will say, "you are correct". Titansfan will just have to take a day off and go after:

Raccoon Hideout
Over the Deer
Forked Deer (South Fork)
Frogmore

Day off and where to go?

This being a 3-day weekend, I was thinking about caching on Monday, January 21. The 21st being a federal holiday in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and for me being a Son of a Confederate Veteran, I also observed the 201st anniversary of the birth of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

On Sunday, I had yet decided where to go caching. Most directions (Jackson, Trenton, Paducah, Mayfield) I have made many trips to in the past several weeks. I awoke and saw the clear but cold weather. Thought about Mousetail but images of the freezing wind off the Tennessee River did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. So I thought about Retreat to Ft. Donelson. Hmm.... About 3 miles round trip hiking in one of the best caching places around, the Land Between the Lakes. I made up my mind, it would be the southern part of the LBL today.

Set up my PQ and off I went, leaving the house before 9 am. Stopped for gas, water and snack in Paris and in about 1/2 hour I was at the trail head for the cache. GPS said 1.3 miles and I saw the trail. I decided to go at it alone today. Recently, I have had knee pain after 3-4 miles of hiking. Being alone, I would not have to keep up with anybody and could go at my own pace and take breaks when I wanted to. Took a few rests along the way and studied the Topo map on my Garmin 60csx. Since I climbed the hill I wanted to stay on the ridge line, but when I came within .19 of the cache, I began to get further away, so I made a beeline and ended up climbing another hill, this time a steep one. Found the cache and rested for a bit. Found a trail at the cache and took it in the direction of my truck. One part of LBL caching, it's very wise to mark your parking location. Headed down the hill and came to a clearing. Saw the road about 1/2 mile away and I had enough of hill climbing. Went to the road and a quick trip to the truck.

Next cache was A Trip To Tip Top, by Writergirl. Having met this legendary cacher before I wanted to find one of her caches. Attempted to find this one before, but my software failed to show any of the back roads in the LBL. Today, I was armed with Topo maps on my laptop and with nRoute, I found the right roads and easily found the cache.

With my knee getting tender, I decided to go after just one more cache. Set my sights on Aunt Tinas Lost Cache-Revisted. Again, this was another cache where I couldn't find the parking area. Found a place to park and found the trail. Started up the trail and my GPS told me I was going away from the cache. More bushwhacking and .25 later I was at the cache, an old homestead. Nice area and took some time to make a picture.