Island Hopping and LBL run

This time last year, I had the feeling of that I had not accomplished what I really wanted and that was getting my kayak out more often.  Posted on the RVG and GOWT Facebook pages of my intentions to hunting the two island hopping caches in the north LBL.  I did change the date of the cachepedition due to there was an event in Paducah that could conflict the each other.  On the day of the cache run several cachers from Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois arrived at the landing.  We placed the kayaks into the water and off we were.  Our first stop was Lake Barkley Island Hopper , it was not far from the landing and the paddle took only a few minutes.  After some searching the cache was found and we resumed the paddle to Lake Barkley Island Hopper II.  Again, another short paddle, finding a place to beach the kayaks would be the challenge.  We all set off together to find the cache and was found quickly, however GEO.JOE was upset that he didn't find the cache.  This was something we should have agreed upon before we departed the mainland.  Oh well, lesson learned for next adventure.  We went back to the landing and loaded up the kayaks onto our vehicles.  The paddle was not difficult at all but the heat reflecting off the gravel and torture and I kept sucking water from my camel back during the loading process.  After the load up, we all got together and discussed what to do next.  Some continued to paddle, others continued to cache.  Thankfully, this paddle there were no turn overs or incidents.  Just after our paddle the lake became busy with pleasure craft, jet skies and fishing boats, which could have made our paddle very difficult.

I spent the day the rest of day grabbing some caches around the north LBL.  Some of the cool caches I found are as follows:

Often Overlooked, a cache on a bike trail that run across the Kentucky Dam, awesome views from this cache location.

KY BLACK BOX, a trail system that I didn't know about and hope more caches are placed at some time and I will return.

Ole' Fishing Pond Series -Pond #34, despite the high heat of the day, refreshed with Gatorade, I went after this cache being a 4-terrain.

Hidden Lake

Cachestalker94 attended the American Legion Girls State in Nashville, I had to pick her up at the conclusion of the week long activities.  I picked out a few caches to go after but due to construction on I-40, I was 45 minutes late.  We left Nashville and we decided to go after one cache, Hidden Lake.  I had attempted this one before in 2009 and came up empty.  I had read the logs and found some updated coordinates and used those numbers.  We parked about a 1/2 mile from the cache and hiked towards the lake.  There was some muggle activity with other hikers on the trail.  We didn't bother them, they did not bother us.  As we hiked, we came across a fork in the trail.  We went left and I began to notice this was not the trail I had taken in 2009.  Despite that, we pressed on and climbed around some rocks and went around the lake.  Turns out the trail we picked on this day was more scenic than the other trail.  We came upon ground zero and I found the cache quickly.  After signing the log we kept on the loop and exited the trail that I had been on in 2009.

I could tell why Hidden Lake is one of the favorites in the Nashville area and encourage other cachers to pay this cache a visit.

GW X Part 4 and Reflections

Day of our departure had arrived and we left Louisville, crossed the Ohio River once again, to head west on I-64 in the direction of home.  A typical 4 or so hour drive from Louisville to Dresden turned into a 12-hour cache run and saw a few sights along the way.  We did visit Santa Clause and New Harmony, Indiana.  Santa Clause had some Christmas stores that we visited and we drove around New Harmony and found out it was twice a utopia town.  Some of the buildings that were built in 1814 were still in existence and used.

As in any large event, we ran into other cachers who like us were on the way home.  Last cache we stumbled across cachers was at a rest stop in Illinois, Take a Rest on the Wabash/Travel Bug Motel!!.  After that find, we headed south and didn't see anymore cachers on the road.  Other rest stop caches we ran into cachers was at, I-64 Rest Area and Hoosier CaCO3 Sinkhole.  We got into the discussion of the sinkhole and found it unusual that a rest stop was built here, but assume the sinkhole was not a geographical feature at the time of the rest stop's construction.

One reason for the long day was to visit the What's Shaking? - New Harmony, IN cache of the What's Shaking series.  Currently, I am two caches away from completion of the series, one in New Madrid, MO; the other in Tunica, MS.

We arrived home in the late evening on Sunday and thankful that Monday was a holiday.  I had decided to not to conduct any caching on Memorial Day.

Reflections:

The days following GW X, I browsed the profiles of some of the GOWT members who attended and saw everyone had their own agenda; such was working on Fizzy or Jasmer Challenges, visiting locations around GW X, finding the oldest caches in Kentucky or Indiana, earthcaches or number of icons in a day.  I had 49 finds over the four day trip and reflect my satisfaction that I saw interesting and different places and met other cachers.
One goal, I set for myself this year is a career total of finds of 1,000 different cachers.  Going to GW X aided that goal considerably to much less than 50 to go.

GW X Part Three

Day of Geo-Woodstock had finally arrived.  And, boy it was hot!!!!  The GW X shirt I received the day before, being a solid color of black would not be worn on this day.

On this day, I intended to break my single day icon record, which had been at five.  I ended up with six icons, beginning with Edison House.  I had already grabbed the answers by researching online to make the visit a little quicker.  Like most caching during a Geo-Woodstock, a cacher was at the location obtaining answers when we arrived.  I showed Carolina Thomas Edison's house prior to him being fired and then becoming a famous inventor.  We traveled to Sellersburg, IN and after finding a couple of traditional caches we arrived at Geo-Woodstock X.  The park was huge and there were hundreds of cachers in the area.  We had also stopped in the parking lot to observe the many decal travel bugs on vehicles.  We made some attempts to socialize, however the heat made standing at any location other than shade miserable.  I grabbed several caches in the park to include a Whereigo.  After finding a couple of traditional cachers, I observed a cacher with an iPad and asked what he was seeking, he told me the Whereigo.  I asked if I could tag alone and he said "no problem", as we neared the final coordinates, our little group had grown to about a dozen.  I signed off on the Whereigo and met with with Abiectio and grabbed a couple of more caches in the park.  We settled in a shady area and then I noticed it was lunch time.  I met up with my entourage for lunch and we talked about what to do next.  With the intense heat, we found the remaining traditional cachers in the park.  We life and we grabbed a puzzle and a multi.  During the hunt for the multi we met with Lizzie60 and Shan7on, cachers we knew from Tennessee.  I completed six icons and I was done for that part of the day.

We got on I-65 and headed towards Henryville, IN where a tornado was virtually leveled the town a couple of months prior.  We stopped at Fairtales and chatted with the cache owner about the storm.  We looked around the town grabbed a couple more caches and after a stop at a flea market headed back to Louisville for the motel.

An observation I have made from mega events; hunting any cache within 20 miles of a large event, one should expect other cachers to be at the location or arrive while one is hunting or signing the log.  It's just part of the game and one should enjoy the social aspect of a mega event.

GW X Part Two

After a night at the Comfort Inn, we stayed near the hotel that morning with a visit to the Louisville Flea Market.  Closer to lunch time, we crossed the river into Indiana and went to lunch at Hooters in Jeffersonville.  We were in Jeffersonville to take a tour of Schimpff's Confectionery set up by members of the Middle Tennessee Geocachers Club.  We had fun touring the candy factory and museum.
We picked up a few caches in the area.  The fun ones were in the Falls of the Ohio area.  Due to time constraints we were not able to go after all that we wanted, the high temperatures didn't help either.  Carolina had a big time finding fossils in the river bed.  She has an interest in geology.

We found, Falls of the Ohio, our first regular cache find in the state of Indiana.  Most of the rest were earthcaches:  Older than Dirt!, Sandstone Erratic, FoTo: The Potholes and FOSSIL IDENTIFICATION at THE FALLS of the OHIO.  We were tired and hot at this point and we drove to the Miles of Smiles Meet & Greet .  We picked up our registration packets, stayed a bit and left.  The heat and long day had worn use out.

Part that was worth most to me was visiting the Falls of the Ohio area.  I have observed cache events in the area to go after all the caches in and around the park.  I hope someday, I can return to this park.

That evening, we settled in the Sleep Inn in Louisville, a place that I don't recommend.

GW X Part One

We left bright and early on Thursday, May 24th from Dresden, TN with the destination of Louisville, KY.  I selected a few caches to go after but I knew time would be a factor and didn't cache much on the way.  After missing the exit for the Parkway and we found ourselves on I-24 heading towards Clarksville, TN, I auto-routed to Big Spring in Princeton, KY.  We liked the area and took some pictures.  Since we were near the Parkway, we got back onto the road towards Louisville.  While traveling north on I-65, we picked up a very easy earthcache, Drive-By Geology.  We reached the destination at Churchill Downs in Louisville with nearly an hour to spare.  While parking we noticed other cachers in the area.  I was thankful that we arrived as early as we did.  Walking to the point of the flash-mob was difficult.  We arrived at the event and perhaps over 100 cachers attended the event.  Afterwards, we toured Churchill Downs and stayed for the rest of the races.  We checked into the Comfort Inn which was a short distance from the racetrack and then headed downtown Louisville to attend Crossmage & Phonix Lady R Gettin' Hitched @ GWX! .  Very cool event, we chatted with the cache event host, bride and groom while there.  We walked over to the Old Church and grabbed that cache.  We stayed around and walked with a group of cachers to visit an old hotel that had a Gothic feature in the basement dinning room.  Near the event area was an area of many restaurants, where we ate at an Irish place.

Prepping for GW X

With school nearing an end, ballet recital complete, I am focusing my attention on Geo-Woodstock X which will be held in Sellersburg, Indiana.  I have attended one prior Geo-Woodstock, that was number seven in Bell Buckle, TN and had a great time.  Since I will have my family entourage, my focus will be on earthcaches, virtuals, attending a few events and grabbing caches at interesting locations.  We plan to drive up along the Purchase Parkway to I-65 and to Louisville on Thursday to attend the flash mob event at Churchill Downs.  Will do some caching on Friday, I may go after Kentucky's oldest cache.  I will see what the mood is at that time.  Saturday will be the big day with events and socializing with hundreds of cachers.
The return trip is still up for decision, it will either be a trip to Nashville to see my oldest daughter at Girl's State, or head west on I-64 and visit Santa Claus, Indiana.

In my opinion, an experience cacher who does not attend at least one Geo-Woodstock is missing out on the complete caching experience.