Back From Geo Jamboree Part 2

So at the picnic we got to see a lot of friends we knew and got to meet some new people as well.  Someone who was sitting nearby had brought with them their geocoin collection in a big book (I erased the tracking numbers 'cause of course it wouldn't be fair to "discover" them on the internet, heh).  DH took a picture of each page so he could "discover" them all.  Normally you would find and take a travel bug or geocoin from a geocache and log that you have it online, however, if you don't want to or can't take a travel bug or geocoin that you've seen, you can copy down the tracking number and "discover" it.  (Now I just want to point out that the gentleman who had this geocoin collection shown above purchased all these coins and they all belong to him.  Instead of "releasing" them in a geocache, he preferred to save them and have a collection.  He did not gain all these geocoins by finding them in geocaches and keeping them, which would be totally wrong.)
 
Here were some other travel bugs that were at Geo Jamboree that couldn't be taken, but could be discovered:
 

 

This one was on a car.  We actually "discovered" quite a few car travel bugs at this event - they are becoming quite popular.

   

Someone had this hat travel bug on.  There was even a baby wearing a t-shirt that had a travel bug with a tracking number on it - that I think is the most unique idea I've seen so far!  Here's the biggest geocoin I think I've seen so far:
 

 

  

After the picnic DH and our friend did some more geocaching and I took DD to swim in the lake.  The weather was very overcast and it did rain and drizzle on and off, but nothing too bad.  Until about 9:30 that night.  From about 9:30 that night until about 8:00 the following morning it rained cats and dogs.  Oy.  All I can say is thank goodness we've camped enough to know how to stay dry because it is no fun at all sleeping on wet sleeping bags and/or having all your stuff get wet.  We've already done that and learned those lessons, so fortunately, we were fine, but I know a lot of other fellow geocacher-campers were not so lucky.  The only thing that was really a pain was that instead of being able to put the tent and the tarps away when we got home, we had to set the up again in the backyard and lay the tarps out and let them dry.  Luckily it was nice and sunny that afternoon so DH actually took the hose first to everything and gave everything a good wash, which everything needed anyway, so it was sort of just as well.

  

Well since I last posted the "attended" logs for Geo Jamboree 7 are up to 124 so far and CT A-Team posted that plans are already being made for next year's Geo Jamboree 8, so if this sounds like fun and you live within traveling distance to Kettletown State Park in CT, keep your eyes out!

  

See you in the log books.... :-)

 

Gotta Love Geocaching in Vacationland!

 

  There's DH over to the left looking for the geocache

   

Can't beat geocaching in beautiful places like this, huh?  That lake is Lake George.  We were up in the Lake George area over the weekend (if you read my other blog (Carole's Thoughtful Spot) you know we recently bought some property in the Adirondacks) and we were sure to fit some geocaching in along with our other activities.  This geocache brought us to a little beach down a non-descript little side road.  This is the kind of place you would never even discover if not for a geocache hiding down there.  Which is one of the very best things about geocaching when you're travelling or on vacation - you are taken to wonderful, off the beaten path sort of places you would never have found on your own!

  

We're going to Chincouteague, VA for our summer vacation and DH has already scoped it out and told me there's a geocache just a few blocks away from where we'll be staying.  As you're planning your own summer vacation this year be sure to plug in the town you're visiting into Geocaching.com and see what geocaches are around!

 

See you in the log books! :-D

 

One of My Most Favorite Geocaches

 

You may notice that this is one of the photos I chose for the header of this blog

  

This geocache has unfortunately been archived, but this was a geocache we found while we were on vacation one summer on Cape Cod.  The reason it is attached to a brick is because most of the time this geocache is underwater (the geocache itself is the pill bottle).  This geocache could only be found at just about exactly low tide.  It was placed far out on what is called the "Brewster Flats" - an area of a bay in Cape Cod where the tide recedes almost a mile at low tide.  You really had to plan to try to get to it at just about exactly low tide, because once the tide starts coming in, it comes in fast.  In fact, we did get to it at low tide and by the time we walked the 3/4 mile back to the beach we were up to our chests in water just before we reached the shore.  Here's a pic where you can see where the geocache is in relation to where the ocean receded:

 

  
When we were looking for geoaches to do that year on vacation and we clicked on the map to see where this one was located in relation to where we were staying, it was really funny because it showed it as out in the middle of the bay - and DH and I were wondering how in the world one could get to it?!?  Just took some good planning, that's all! :-)  My next post will be about one of my most favorite TYPES of geocaches - and it just so happens that type of geocache requires good planning too...
 
Cache on!
 

Virtual Geocaching - or - How to Combine Twitter and Geocaching

My tweets from earlier today:
  
DH is on his way to walk across a frozen pond to get a geocache that you would normally need a boat to retrieve.
  
DH is on the phone with me now as he's walking on a frozen pond hunting a geocache. He's 300 ft away from it right now
  
DH turning back, ice doesn't seem safe there, trying a different route.
  
DH is 50 ft away from the geocache but needs to get on the frozen lake again
  
14ft away, DH says ice here seems solid
  
He found the cache!!
  
TNLNSL.
  
DH back on land. Lives to geocache another day!
  
(Incidentally, I asked DH to call me when he was going to do that geocache because I thought it was unsafe to walk across the ice alone - at least if he was on the phone with me and he fell through, I could call 911.  I happened to be on the computer when he called, so I just decided to "tweet" the adventure.)
 
If you'd like to be around in the event I ever have reason to tweet other exciting geocaching adventures, click on the Twitter "Follow Me" in the right sidebar and come along for some virtual geocaching! :-D
 

Geocaching in NJ

 

  

We were geocaching in NJ recently, and I have to tell you, we have had many occasions to visit NJ, and our impression was that NJ is mostly highways and houses on small pieces of property (and, ahem, if you REALLY want to, you can read about a really awful stop we had on the Garden State Parkway on my other blog here).  However, on this geocaching trip, we saw some really beautiful parts of NJ we didn't know existed.  We also found some very clever geocaches!

  

  

Would you have thought to look for a geocache in a nut and bolt?
 
How about in a log?
 

 

  

Do you see the geocache in this picture below?

  

   
We thought that was tree-mendously clever (har har) - can you see the little black pill-shaped nano stuck right on to the tree?  Those type of nanos are magnetic - so I would normally be looking for it to be hidden on something metal - in this case it IS on something metal - a screw, screwed into the tree to stick the nano on - that gets my "clever geocache" of the day award!
 
All in all, a really fun day geocaching in NJ - saw some really cool geocaches (and storing these ideas away for future use maybe in NY bwa ha ha ha!), and some really lovely parts of NJ.  New Jersey, I have a whole new appreciation for you!
 

 

  

 

  

 

  

Yet Another "Boardwalk" Trail

 

   

Wow, we came across yet another one of these.  This one is in Kettletown State Park in CT.

  

Now that we're expecting a winter storm to arrive tomorrow and dump a bunch of snow on us, we're suddenly going to be limited to those "Available in Winter" geocaches only - geocaches that are at least a few few off the ground....like for example, this one:

  

 

  

Snow doesn't stop serious geocachers!  Stay tuned...

 

  

Another Clever Geocache Container and "Boardwalk" Trails

 

Yes, that's actually a geocache!  I love clever geocaches and clever hides.  Even the "trail" was really fun - as you can see, DD is standing on decking.  That's because this part of the "trail" was like a raised boardwalk with railings and everything, and went through a marshland area.  It was really beautiful to walk amongst the tall reeds, and hear the wind rustling the grasses - there were all kinds of bird and frog sounds as well.  Not that these "boardwalks" are common on hikes, but we've come across this type of thing quite a few times before.  In fact, DH was just on a different hike that had a "boardwalk" (though this one is very low to the ground) and he took a really nice picture.  Here, I'll show you:

 

So anyway, DD thought that "bug" geocache was really cool and asked if she could re-hide it and DH and I said "sure".  So she's fiddling with it and then all of a sudden she says, "Uh oh, I dropped it!"  Yup, it fell down over the side of the decking onto the wetland below.  Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.  So I volunteered to climb over the railing and down the outside of the decking and lucky, lucky, lucky for me the ground was not super saturated and I was able to step on a log and sort of hang off the railing and retireve the geocache.  That's actually the first time I can remember dropping a geocache.  We've found some geocaches that are stuck to the underside of a bridge railing and if you're not careful it can easily go "kerplunk"!  I've heard of a few geocaches getting lost that way!

  
So today's lesson is: try not to drop the geocache!  :-)

   

How to Geocache Without A GPS

DH geocached without a GPS for the first time the other day.  Not on purpose, mind you...

New geocache popped up late in the evening just as DH was driving home.  I saw it and printed off the page, entered the coordinates into the GPS, called him to let him know and I left everything on the counter for him so when he got home, he could run back out.

DH gets home, does a few things, then leaves.  About 10 min later I get a call from him.  I'm thinking, "He found it ALREADY?"   But no.  It's DH calling to tell me HE FORGOT THE GPS.

Niiiiiiiiiiice.

Well, being the good support crew that I am, I tell him to hold on while I look at the Google Geocaching map.  I bring it up and switch to satellite view.  Turns out we were in luck.  The geocache was in a park and ride and I could zoom in very close on the satellite map and I could at least tell him about where to look.  So he gets to the park and ride, and I'm like, "Ok, count over 9 parking spaces, and head into the woods pretty much starting from between parking spots 9 and 10."  Believe it or not, after a few minutes of searching, he found it!  And got the FTF!!

I would not normally recommend this method of geocaching, but as you can see, it CAN be done!  :-)

Broke our "Personal Best" Record

We did some geocaching over the Columbus Day weekend.  Ok, a lot!  We had our personal "best day" with 21 finds.  There's a running joke with geocachers - they say, "It's not about the numbers".  Meaning, it's not about how many geocaches you find, it's supposed to be about the fun and the adventure of it.  But, everybody knows that, at least once in awhile, it IS about the numbers!  :-)  And this was such a day.  The day started out with an FTF attempt (first to find) of a newly published geocache, but alas, we were STF instead (second to find).  But that was ok, because since we were going to be doing a "numbers run", it would still add to our daily total.

If you're going to do a "numbers run", the best thing to do is find easy, quick "cache and dash" geocaches.  While we did do a bunch like this, we also did do some that involved some hiking.  One was hidden near the ruins of an old estate, which was really cool.

 

 

Another geocache took us to a hydro-electric plant that was built on an historic waterfall that had not only lovely grounds to walk on (open to the public), but there were some really awesome geological formations easily seen in the rock outcrops as well.  (I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of it.)

There was a geocache here, too - pretty fun, huh?

 
Probably the two most notable points in the day (besides when we broke our old "caches found in a day" record) were when I found the first stage of a multi - notable because the cache container was designed to look like dog poo!  Very clever geocache container!  The second notable point was at the end of the day it had gotten dark, and we were geocaching in a city.  (The places we were geocaching were public places that were open 24/7, just so you know we weren't doing anything crazy or illegal.)  At a small park where there was a geocache, DH found a man's wallet!  No cash in it, but the license and credit cards were all there, so he called the police who came and got it.  The police even knew what geocaching was, so we didn't have to explain what we were doing, which was nice!

So all in all, a very fun day.

A few weeks back most of the geocaches that were on or near the Appalachian Trail were archived and one of them was ours.  DH went out and retrieved it and it was fun to look through the contents.  In my next post I have a photo of the contents, if you are curious what one might find in a typical geocache.  Stay tuned.

Post-Apple-Picking Geocaching

We traveled upstate a bit last weekend to do some apple picking.  (You can read about that at my other blog if you're interested in that sort of thing: Carole's Thoughtful Spot.)  After we finished up at the orchard we did a little geocaching.  DH printed off some "cache and dash" geocaches (quick to find geocaches) from the Geocaching.com website and so off we went.

Side note:  If you happen to drive a newer Honda Accord, and you just so happen to own the same GPS we do (Garmpin GPSMAP 60CSx), DH cleverly discovered that you can kinda jam it between the dashboard and windshield, and it will stay there pretty well, as long as you don't go over any big bumps. 
  

 

  

(Sometime I'll try to take a picture of the GPS holder I rigged for my truck - it uses the bottom of a McDonald's cup - it's really high tech.)

  

Anyway, one of the geocaches was a typical guardrail hide on a pretty country road.  Another was a multi-cache.  A "multi" is a type of hide that requires you to find one or more "stages" that give you coordinates or clues to where the "final" geocache is hidden.  We ended up having a DNF (did not find) on it because we couldn't find one of the stages, but I wanted to show you a very clever cache used at one of the stages we DID find that contained the coordinates to the next stage (which I have blurred out).  Check it out - it's a small spice container with the coordinates written on the inside of the lid!

  

 

   

It's always disappointing to have a DNF, but it was a beautiful day and we were out doing something we enjoyed, so I can't complain.  :-)  

 

I can only imagine what the other clever cache container(s) were that we couldn't find!