Gazza&Girls

I decided to try easing down to the "low-tar" brands of caches. So I took the girls for a 1/1. Stopped at Walmart, Menard's and Shopko on the way home to look on their clearance racks for swag. Then spent an hour making CITO canisters when we got home. Then the UPS guy shows up with a box full of potential cache containers. Although we don't cache alot it seems to be on our minds alot. G.

A little googling found some neat stuff. Here's one spot that you might figure an equivalent. Roughly figuring activity equivalent of backpacking and a good sized goldfish weighs about 2 oz., plus the 15 pounds of gear, you're probably burning about 40 calories per hour.calorie burn calc The cold does definitely increase your burn rate. Some studies show almost double. A Univ. of Wisc. study showed women burning 750 cal/hr and men 1000 cal/hr with snowshoeing. So geocaching in the snow is an excellent way to kill a few birds. g

Unnatural Piles Markwell (my first) Although to follow the barkoflage, why not stickoflage? G

Not to sound of sour grapes, admittedly the nearest coordinates are all in the Chicago area half a day away, but using their words - "Ritz Camera’s Geo-Photo Hunt was created to take you to areas that you may not have known existed. " Looking at the Chicago and St. Louis coords and clues these hardly seem like areas even an out-of-towner like me wouldn't know existed. They go on to say "The Geo-Photo Hunt gives you the opportunity to get out into nature ". The Arch, Fenway or a zoo is hardly out into nature. But best of luck to anybody who enters. Seems like a fun way to get some cool stuff. g

Ours (more mine than the "Girls") refers to the fact that alot of my time spent outside is for orienteering. It seems, no matter where I go I have a topo map and pencil making notes. Many folks think I've lost my way. The rest think I work for whoever's ground I'm traversing. A classic example was during a girl scout parent's event. As the hike leader led us, I was editting the trail, contours, and vegetation boundaries on my map. Hopefully by end of April I'll have a decent O. map for them. I seldom arrive at my destination by the planned route, as a rootstock, boulder or fold of the landscape catches my eye. When I am lost, which happens, I just say I'm field checking. G.

Both are cool. But ... Pocket watch. It's more unisex.

Not an extreme caching story but I was thinking the same thing as I was coming into the house last night. The sky was clear and with the half moon bright and high I could see everything within a 100 meters or so quite easily, other than the color shift. The wind wasn't that bad either. It actually was very nice out. If we get a night like that this weekend, I'm gone. I miss being out when its so cold my beard gets ice encrusted and my eyelashes frost up. G.

Sorry I missed the meeting yesterday. But I made progress. I didn't go geocache. I missed the meeting because I had go to WalMart to buy ice cream. Just ice cream. A five minute stop. And walked out 45 minutes later with about $35 in cache stuffings. G.

Found a new 200' roll of chicken wire fencing. The cache wasn't really in the middle of nowhere but we the fencing really didn't seem to have an application in the area - no fields, houses, gardens, etc. Unfortunately we were on bicycles 2 miles from the vehicle or I would have packed it out. Its hard ot balance htat sort of load on the handle bars.

Won't say which one, but we have looked 4 or 5 times for one particular hide. After the second time, we logged DNF. But every time we had an opportunity, we have stopped to look. And folks have continued to log finds for it. It has potential to be anywhere due to the surroundings - eg. under a rock in a pile of rocks. However, we've been told it is a fair hide. I'm almost to the point of not bothering to look anymore. Almost.

We almost always have grocery bags in our pack. We pick up what we see on the way out. If we are going a different route out, and know it ahead of time, we pick up on the way in. The pack I carry has a "dirty pocket". So even if we don't have bags with us, the pocket gets stuffed. See, the problem we created was doing CITO from the start. When you impress upon two young children the way to do something, it bocomes THE WAY to do something. Sure, sometimes they get excited about the hunt or distracted by friends who came along, but they will pick up stuff before we get to the car even, if my wife and I forget. It is also a great way to get them focussed on something besides picking on each other. Although sometimes it turns into a fight all by itself. "Mom, she took my piece of trash! I had it first!"

How about a hunter's distance marker. Did you look up for evidence of a tree stand? Could also be used to carry scent. Bow hunters will sometimes use such arrangements for easy visual range reference.

Jeepster is a legend here in central Illinois. On vacation out west this past summer we were quite delighted, but not the least bit suprised to find his signature in logs in caches we found as far away as South Dakota. He's also an evil genius when it comes to micros. And the nicest guy you'd ever meet.

While scouting out an new cache area this weekend my daughter and I saw a barred owl. Both of us thought the same thing - cache container! But then the cynic in me, being more familiar with the area, is sure it will get shot to oblivion. Ah but the hope and creativity of the youngster shone like the sun - find a big hollow tree to put it in. Would you reach in? G.

You will also notice a difference with the temperature. Alkaline batteries do not like the cold. I go with lithium in the winter. However, when the lithium batteries show low battery, it is time to change them. Their power will drop like a rock when it gets to the end.

Darn! Just as I saw a yellow Jeep three times this week.

slight tweak

Lets see how this looks.

Our family favorite for cache picnics is apples (red delicious usually), peanut butter, and marshmallow fluff. The apples are sliced in cross section and the pb and fluff are piped on from ziplock snack bags. I always carry several fruit rollups just in case a hunt gets a little longer than planned. If I'm caching by myself, there tends to be a trail of sunflower shells wherever I've been. G.

Bushwack responsibly. There is no need to break branches, trample a woodland flower patch, or fight through thorns. Pick your route. As mentioned, look for a game trail. Step lightly, lifting your feet and placing them with awareness. Duck under branches. Step over dead fall. You can go off trail and still leave barely a trace. That's what I teach my kids. As a family, or when we have friends along, we spread our impact out. Four or five people single file is like a beacon to the hide. We rarely approach the cache from the nearest point/direct route from the trail. We pick a spot that will hide our tracks or have minimal impact. If possible, we take a different route back. Leaving no trace or no obvious clues for the next finder. G.

"In a past life" I was a park manager. I would definitely want to know about this pipe. I think any of my peers at the time would want to know about it also. As far a lawsuit is concerned, I wouldn't particularly care beyond the information I would be required to collect. Every park I know of is "use at your own risk". Sometimes, those "pipes" that had a purpose and were perfectly safe at the time are forgotten about over the years. Changes in employees causes most of those little details to be lost. Sprouting from a bush as that pipe was, I would guess it was part of a fence long ago, and became hidden by vegetation. I enjoyed the regular hikers and explorers in my park. They were another set of eyes out there helping me. As a geocacher and orienteer, I find that park staff, approached properly, appreciate my observations from off the trail. In you case, they don't need to know what you were doing other than exploring. No need to fib about it - such as looking for a lost ball, chasing your dog, etc. G.

Always have made time to geocache on business trips. There is not much to do other than hang out at the hotel. Unlimited miles on the rental car make transportation no problem. The client has even cooperated a little: giving an evening or two to myself, letting leave a little early from the day's agenda, easiest routes to the cache area. G

Green Mountain Traveller had our hearts thumping for a few minutes by nearly getting permanently stuck. On our way from camping in Maine to NY, we chose this one as a diversion en route. After backtracking because the mentioned bridge is out, we found the right road to Honey Hollow. The road was a gravel, narrow and steep. We had no business being on it in a minivan pulling a pop-up camper. Still a couple miles from the cache the road pitched enough that our tires began to spin. We could go no further up the road. The tires turned but the van stayed put. Then it began to slip back a little. We were left with no choice but to go down - backwards. Even to turn around we would need to unhitch. There was a wide spot about 50 yards back. The Girls got out, and with that as my target, I backed the traler slowly down the hill. I got lucky and hit the pull out just right. There was not much room to go forward and back to get lined up. From the road fill, it was about a 60% grade off the side of the mountain. When I went to put the van into park, to unhitch the trailer, I noticed I backed down the hill while idling in drive, rather than reverse. As die-hard cachers (pretty high on adrenaline and relief) we unhitched and drove on, depending on the kindness of strangers to leave our home-away-from-home be. We left a note on the hitch for any curious onlookers. We got back to the camper in adequate time to hitch up without needing flashlights. The note is laminated now and ready for future use. Gary

The Girls and I are sending good thoughts your way. G. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I'm not lost. I'm field checking."

Came across a hydration pack by Outdoor Products for $20 at Target a few weeks ago. It is a nice size (not tiny like most and not a full sized day pack) with a few different pockets to keep things organized. It would hold what you listed and maybe a jacket or poncho just in case. I think it was a two or three liters. For a low end product, I have never had a problem with Outdoor Prod. I need to go back one. The girls are big enough to start carrying their own water, rather than drinking from mine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I'm not lost. I'm field checking."