Recent Challenge Caches

Since my return from deployment I have been watching the placement of Challenge caches near Jackson, TN. At first, I wondered about the high difficulty rating. I reflected on one of my first challenge caches, Special K. Special K required that to log this find, one must have 1,000 finds. I drove within a quarter mile of this cache many times before I could actually log it. With that in mind, I think the difficulty ratings on the recent challenge caches are appropriate.

My recent Challenge cache finds:

Challenge: Complete 6 new 'challenges': While attending the recent cache event in Paris, I was made aware of 3 challenges that I could complete while in Paris. The "Challenges" are something new in geocaching. Most of the challenges are simple and something like the old locationless caches.

TN---12- 'Souvenir' Challenge: I have over 20 souvenirs, being I have cached 23 states/district and one province in Canada. Now, I await souvenirs for my cache finds in Iraq and Kuwait.

States that border West Tennessee- Challenge: Another easy find for me since I have found caches not only states that border West Tennessee, but all the states that border Tennessee. I have finds in all the former Confederate States. Delaware is the only state south of the Mason-Dixon line I don't have a find.

a 7-Challenge, Challenge: This one took a little bit of work and had to complete a few challenge cache to sign this log.

TN I-40 WB 14-Caches In A Day Challenge: Since my return from deployment, I haven't had many days with large numbers. A trip to Marion, IL managed this one.

Well Rounded MO Cacher (Fizzy Challenge): Grabbed this one on the return trip from Marion, IL. My second Fizzy find. Now I will go after the one in Mississippi.

Going after the challenge caches have been fun. With nearly 7 years of caching experience, the challenges are giving me something to look forward to.

Murray cache run

With some time on our hands, minnie mouse and myself headed to Murray, Ky to grab a few caches. Since my return from deployment, I had not hit Murray. One issue with Murray is that it's not an easy drive from home.

We begun the day with Arboreturn, a really cool location. It's an easy find, afterwards we looked around at the Murray State University facility. A short drive later, we found The 1,000,000th Cache!!!, we chatted with some new cachers while at this spot. Backyard BBQ was the next stop. I figured it would be a commercial style cache and was amused when we arrived.

We swept much of western part of Murray, finding Back to the 80's" series #2 "Hell is for Children". When I find these caches regarding the 1980's music, I attempt to give some of my viewpoint or experience about the group/singer or music. Couldn't give much about this song, since I was not much of a Pat Benatar fan. We also found Rock Solid. Later we visited the Murray State University campus and found Sole Mates, a really cool location, but was annoyed that the coordinates were over 200 feet off.

With the end of the cache day nearing, I agreed with minnie mouse, we would only cache to lunch time. I headed out for I See the Light since it was favorited a number of times. Minnie mouse spotted this hide. We then opted for a difficult cache survivor. This was a return trip to the Clarks River Recreational area, a great place for caches. I was concerned about this cache since it was listed with a 4-star terrain and would have a 9-year in tow. I scouted the initial trail and decided to go after this cache. It earned the 4-star rating with very difficult terrain to transverse. Thankfully, the river was down and the hike was uneventful. We found the cache after some searching. A great cache, with so few signatures. Minnie mouse commented, that not all cachers are as tough as she.

We picked up Skip Skipping these Skippers just before lunch and needed this break after survivor. We headed for Pizza Hut for some lunch and grabbed Back to the 80's series #4 "Burning down the House".

Ranger Rick series

On the 15th of October, I saw the Ranger Rick cache series being published.  The Ranger Rick series is a set of caches on the Pin Oak Trail of the Natchez Trace State Park.  I had caught wind of the series when the series was mentioned on the Facebook page of JAG (Jackson Area Geocachers).  After the publication, I joined in on the conversation and mentioned that I would go after the caches on Saturday the 22nd if the weather was going to be pleasant.

On the 22nd, I awoke at 5:30 am and was on the road to the state park a little after 6 am.  Picked up some breakfast, water and gas along the way.  Arrived at the state park before 8 am and there was fog near the lake areas.  Began a day with a DNF, which was a park and grab cache.  Thankfully, it would be my only DNF of the day.  Drove up towards the lodge and grabbed Big Cedar in the fog.  By the time I reached the lodge, the fog had lifted.  Went to the front desk and inquired about the 'passport' required for the cache series.  Immediately, I got the deer in the headlights look from the person behind the counter.  I waited patiently so as she made a phone call and I could smell the breakfast buffet.  I had thought about eating breakfast at the lodge before the cache run, however, my body is not inclined to skip or delay breakfast more than an hour after waking up.  She caught on to what I was seeking and pulled an envelope from under the counter; with passport in my possession I was on my way.

First stop was Decontaminate, which is located in a camping section of the park.  Made the quick find even with the morning sun in my eyes.  Then another quick grab at Out on the Range.  After that cache at the archery range, I hit the Ranger Rick series.  I intentionally began on the south end of the trail, I assume the cache owner wanted cachers to begin at the lodge end.  However, since I wanted the two caches on the south end of the park, starting at the south end was more convenient for me.  I did notice the high difficulty and terrain ratings of the caches on the south end verses the north end of the trail.  I suppose the cache owner wants cachers to find all the caches in one setting and be rewarded with high ratings.  I have noticed from my power trail in Wingo, Kentucky that cachers who pass by, only get the one in the parking lot and maybe one or two on the trail, instead of getting all of them.  Maybe this theory of the higher ratings will work?  For me, the ratings were of none issue since I have already completed the 81 terrain/difficulty grid.  While I am impressed with my 1.76 difficulty and 1.71 terrain average, I don't have intentions of bring those averages up since I hit many park and grabs.  Thus the higher than normal average won't stay.  I do focus on the high number of regular cache finds, which is 851 finds, just over 26% of all finds.

I had fun with the series and will keep an eye out for other series at Natchez Trace State Park or other state parks.  Maybe with enough series like these, state parks can host events during off seasons and cachers stay at the parks overnight?

Upon reaching the lodge office at the conclusion of the trail, the worker behind the counter had the bonus cache ready for me.  I then re-walked the 1.5 mile trail in 22 minutes to get my truck, returned to the lodge for a great lunch buffet.

Caches found were:

Ranger Rick Pin Oak Trail 1
Ranger Rick Pin Oak Trail 2
Ranger Rick Pin Oak Trail 3
Ranger Rick Pin Oak Trail 4
Ranger Rick Pin Oak Trail 5
Ranger Rick Pin Oak Trail 6
Ranger Rick Pin Oak Trail 7
Ranger Rick Pin Oak Trail 8
Ranger Rick Pin Oak Bonus Cache

PYLE!

With cannotreadgps wanting to attend the case lot sale at Ft. Campbell, I negotiated a deal where I could drop her off at the sale when she wanted to be there and I would go out and cache.  I had been to the case lot sale once before and had no desire to stand for three hours again.

I picked out some caches that I wanted to find and to also stay away from the park and grabs since morning rush hour would be a hazard.  My first choice was Gomer Pyle USMC.  The cache is located near the grave of Frank Sutton who played the part of Gunnery SGT Vince Carter in the 1960's TV show.  I recall the show when it was syndicated on local television and was amused by the relationship between Gunny Carter and Pvt. Pyle.  While the show had a military setting, its creators avoided the controversial topic of the Vietnam War.

After finding the cemetery cache and paying my respects to Frank Sutton I went to the nearby Rotary Park.  Again, I wanted to avoid the park and grabs due to traffic and being this was a weekday, there would be few muggles in the park.  Arrived at the park and except for a few people I had the park to myself.

My first find was MTCSBA Cog Dist Adventures of Scouting #9.   At first I intended to stay on the trails but soon learned the trails were not taking me in the direction of my arrow and bushwhacked to the cache.  Took  a little effort to find the cache since the coordinates were not tight.  Next find was Down by the Old Creek Cache, another one that required bushwhacking due to my ignorance of the park's trail system and my time was running low.  Last find in the park was Off the beaten path.  This one was just across an open field.

I hope to return to Rotary Park and find some of the remaining caches, I really had a good time.  During my first year or two of caching, I had noticed a cluster of caches in the park and later a tornado hit the park and the caches were placed on the inactive listing.

In Search of George Owen Cash

Couple of weeks ago, jackthebear posted on GOWT Facebook page he was interesting in hunting In Search of George Owen Cash and wanted to know if others were interesting in hunting the cache with him.  I expressed my interest and gave some dates I could be available.  A date was picked, the night before I loaded up my kayak onto my truck so I could leave Dresden before 5 am and head to Hernando, Mississippi.

I picked out a few caches to complete on the way since the meeting at the posted coordinates wasn't until 9 am.  I stopped at the I-40 Westbound Rest Stop and picked up I-40 WB Rest Area Walkin' and Stretchin' and TN I-40 WB 14 Caches in a Day Challenge.  The challenge cache interested me and had completed 14 caches in a day recently.  Was a bit challenging to me in that I don't rack up big numbers on a daily run.  After I got into Mississippi, I grabbed DeSoto Trail #6 Southhaven and May I see your License?.  The DeSoto trail cache was an easy ammo can find and when I drove up; I recalled that I had been to this cemetery once prior for a cache.  Was a little interesting at May I see you License, in that a Hernando Police Officer drove up when I was heading back to my truck.  He saw my GPS and knew what I was doing and asked if I had any problems finding the hidden box.  We chatted a little more about geocaching in Mississippi.

I was the first to arrive at the posted coordinates and immediately saw that using the entrance to the law enforcement would not be suitable for parking.  I parked at a nearby business and waited.  It wasn't heard to spot me when others drove up in that I had a kayak on top of my truck.  After everyone showed up, we (jackthebear, prontopup,  part of nelms3 and pcsenn) walked to the posted coordinates and obtained information for stage 2.  We all drove to stage 2 and more information was obtained.

After going to the incorrect point, we all finally arrived at Hernando Point and met with chimps8mybaby who had an extra kayak for nelms3.  Arriving at the point, I was horrified to see the wind kicking up and seeing some white caps.  We placed the kayaks into the water and off we went.  I went into the water first and attempted to stay around for others to get going.  But I found the best way to deal with the wind and waves to get moving.  I found myself doing a zig-zag motion in the water and not allow a wave to hit me broadside. I guess it work, when I arrived near the cache location I didn't have much water inside my kayak.  I did observe at least one cacher beach his craft to dump the water out.  With my zig-zag motion I saw it was best to keep clear of other cachers so we wouldn't ram each other.

About 1/2 way to the last stage, we found an area of water near a point that was calm were I rested and took some pictures.  After the resting, some of the cacher went straight for land and walked the rest of the way.  I was tempted but jackthebear and myself stayed on the water and beached about 400 feet from the cache.  We hiked the rest of the way and we arrived about 10 minutes before the overland party.  After signing the log, we rested and took pictures.  None of us were in any hurry to get back on the rough water.

The trip back was again against the wind, except for the last leg.  I found going with the waves and wind was more treacherous since my kayak wanted to go broadside in the trough of the waves.  I began to use braking motions to keep the bow straight at my destination and rode out the waves.  When I arrived, I then poured out a few gallons of water.

Overall, this was an experience and will probably be the last kayak cache run of this year.  It was good experience to hit the rough water and know what rough kayaking is like.  This was nelms3 first experience on a kayak and he seemed to be a trooper about the trip.  This not prontopup's first kayak trip but when he arrived at the landing, he was worn out and commented it was his last kayak cache run.

Giving back

Soldiers from my unit, the 1171st Transportation Company of the Tennessee Army National Guard have expressed interest in geocaching from time to time. While at weapons qualification in Tullahoma, I had an afternoon for caching and took along three soldiers. One, Bellesrecruit, was already a member of the website tagged along for about 2 and 1/2 miles of walking. We did mostly micros near the base. Bellesrecruit recorded her finds, but since not being a premium member was unable to log one of the finds. We did manage to add a puzzle cache (Waitin' on the Car) to her profile.

A few days later I found myself overnight in Smyrna and the new prospective cachers went for a nearly 6 mile walk on a greenway and netted about 1/2 dozen finds. The new cacher, Chicontater soon began to log his finds. We enjoyed our long walk and saw many wildlife.

This past weekend, I sold my old Garmin 60csx, since I know have a Garmin 62s, to chicontater and he and his family are off on their own caching.

When ever we deploy or go off on mission or training, I have a couple of soldier-cachers to count on to be partners.

Shawnee National Forest

Due to health issues discovered since my return from deployment from Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn, I have made several trips to the VA medical faculties, including the hospital in Marion, IL. The last trip to Marion I decided to stay the night since I was ordered to take measures to 'clean' out my system. Prior to the trip I decided to take a route that would take me into the Shawnee National Forest. For years I have read on the River Valley forums about the forest and I had a desire to go after those caches. However, distance is a problem; a hour and half to two hours just to get to the forest, hike/cache and then at least two hour drive to return home.

On the way up I went after Ghost Dance by GEO.JOE, which would test many of my limits. Overall, it was not far from the parking coordinates, but the terrain was extremely complex. Crossing a creek, crossing the same creek again. Finding the correct trail was a huge challenge. More than once, I found myself in the wrong area only to backtrack and start over. Arrived near the cache coordinates, spent another 15 minutes negotiating how I would get to the cache. After some climbing the cache was found. Returning to the parking area would prove as much a challenge as the hike to the cache.

The following day I grabbed a few caches in the Marion area before going to the hospital. Scouting around too was fun in that I met a park employee that had questions about the game. After my CT scan at the hospital I had lunch and began my drive back home. I stopped along the way at Bluff Trail another cache by GEO.JOE. The terrain was not nearly has tough as the previous day and was a very enjoyable hike.

Ghost Dance and Bluff Trail was my first experience in the Shawnee National Forest and hopefully won't be the last.