Team Rampant Lion

I'm back in NJ to clean out before our house closing next week. I have four large topographic maps of northwest NJ that I used to target areas for hikes to look for new hiding spots. They are about 29" x 35" in size. The areas covered on the maps are: Sparta area Greenwood Lake - Wanaque Reserve Hamburg area Culver Lake - Stokes Seems a shame to bring them with as they will likely end up in a closet. So I will offer them (free) on a first come, first served basis to a few geocachers who could put them to good use. One per person. One caveat - you must come pick them up in Sparta before Sunday. PS - Happy Thanksgiving all!

I miss the bears.

I officially relocate to San Francisco on Monday (8/17). These are the final four caches are still out. I will leave them and ask the next finders to pick them up. As I will still have occasional visits back to our office in Nutley, if they stand too long I will find a way to pick them up. I will miss hiding caches in an area as great as this area was to me. Great people, fun events and challenging hikes. All the best, TRL

Enjoy this great event, it has always been one of my family's favorites. Unfortunately this year we will be "GONE" to SF.

Do not pick up Stokes State Forest Petrglyph Trail Challenge the caches will be adopted soon! Sorry that I have been absent in this conversation. In the middle of relocating and spending most time out west without access to my computer (company computer blocks access to both my gmail and geocaching.com). Anyway, I have extended the adoption request to weathernowcast very early this morning (12:30 AM when I got back last night). I am pleased this one will live on. Thank you all for the interest. TRL

Well I am now down to 24 remaining caches and want to thank everyone who has helped me by either removing my caches or adopting my caches. Still appreciate any help I can get with the remaining caches as I have to be packed and moved within 6 weeks. Here are those that remain: GOLD in the Silvermine MONSTER CACHE - Jersey Devil Owl's Outlook Whitt's Cliffs Cliffside View FJ Overlook Adventurer's Cache Dead Men Tell No Tales The Forest Edge LOG IT On The Edge Cuguacuarana Mikasi Further Along #2 Shoots and Ladders Deep Woods Perfect Fit Lair of the Bear Trailblazer's Delight Stokes State Forest Petrglyph Trail Challenge EPIC 2 - Serenity EPIC 3 - Altitude EPIC 4 - Resolution More BS Caching Again, thank you in advance for any help you provide! TRL

Treequest is on a roll clearing my caches out. Thank you for the help. Here is the new list.

Like this.

I would but the "Edit" button is no longer there. If there is another way. let me know.

Please don't remove "The Other Side" as Creaky Joints has agreed to adopt the cache.

Trust me - if it was taxes I would be going to California as they are nearly bankrupt. Anyway, a thank you to Treequest who must have done one heck of a hike to remove: CQ96 Ryker's Dreadlocks Boulderdash Ryker Deja Vu Passing Stones Jack's Trail Marker Tom E's Fingertip Cliff Climber Red Tape Boulder Bowling Bandit's Hideout I really appreciate the help. I hope this opens up some novel spots for TQ as he has such unique placements.

Treequest dropped me an email that he would head out to pick up some of the Edison and Ryker caches. He also wants to clear out Ominous as he has an idea for a new one out there. Thanks everyone for the help.

I might do a last group hike to pick up the Petroglyph Trail Challenge pieces as some are locked to trees and I have to bring the keys to get them off. Stay tuned.

It's appearing quite certain that we will need to pull up our roots from northern New Jersey and head west. Final timing is not certain, but likely in the next 2 months. I am sending out a call for help to remove my many caches from the NJ landscape. I will entertain adoptions but prefer removal to free up the areas for new cache placement. The following list are those caches out in the field that I would appreciate help removing. If you do remove the cache, it is YOURS no need to give the container or contents back to me. However, please (please, please) recirculate trackables. In a perfect world, I would love to hear that this lead to new cache placements. Please make a note in your visit log that you removed it so I can deactivate the cache. Here are the caches: Bandit's Hideout Hibernate Ed's Old Man Adventurer's Cache Owl's Outlook Dead Men Tell No Tales Barney's Rubble Monster Cache - Bigfoot Monster Cache - Stone Troll GOLD in the Silvermine The Forest Edge What The H-E-double toothpicks! Anybody Home? Monster Cache - TRL Radioactive LOG IT Ominous The Broch Cliffside View Bridge Out Cache More BS Caching EPIC 3 - Altitude EPIC 4 - Resolution EPIC 2 - Serenity Gooney Bird Avonaco Passing Stones Trailblazer's Delight Morris Lake Burrow Deeath By Hemlock Woolly CQ 96 Boulderdash Lair of the Bear Perfect Fit Deep Woods Shoots and Ladders Whitt's Cliffs Further Along #2 Ryker's Dreadlocks Jack's Trail Marker Tom E's Fingertip Cliff Climber Red Tape Boulder Bowling Ryker Deja Vu On The Edge Russia Brook The Other Side I would be greatly appreciative of any help. Team Rampant Lion

A long time ago, when I was an NNJC Officer, we decided to pull together a slide show to educate people on geocaching in northern NJ. We never found an efficient way to share it so I think very few people had exposure to it. I just came across it while cleaning some old files. Now that there are better file sharing alternatives, I have posted it to SlideShare. It is a bit dated but still provides a nice framework to introduce a group (Boy Scouts, Park Districts, etc..) to geocaching. Here is the LINK.

Team Divi Divi is so nice to say we are co-hosting. The reality this year is that they have done the heavy lifting for this event. I will dust off my cobwebs and be there early for set-up. Hope to see some others join us.

The TRL crew wishes you all the best. We still don't know if we may be following you west but should know soon. You are heading to a great area! We'll be in touch.

A few more bear pics from my hike yesterday in the same area.

Watch yourself in Sparta Glen as well. The last two weeks I have come home to find half a dozen or more of the very small ticks (deer) crawling across my chest when I showered after a hike. This was in addition to the 3-4 larger ticks I could see on my pants while I was hiking.

Here's another view of the same bear. Note the claws...

Luckily, I did not have to get very close to take the shot. I was carrying a cannon of a lens (70-300 mm) and on top of that applied the wonders of Photoshop to crop. As I was coming uphill to get the shot, I wanted to be very careful to keep the bear comfortable with my approach. At about 20-25 yards, she began to twist her head a bit more so I backed off. She put her head down and went right back to her catnap. I gave her a very wide berth on my exit as I noticed both ears were tagged meaning she was probably a bit of a troublemaker.

The bears are up and atom in Sparta Glen. Came across this guy lounging almost right on top of my Death By Hemlock Woolly Cache.

I'm not sure who was in the office at the time you were in there but Stokes State Forest does allow geocaches in the park. I have a total of three signed letters approving my placement of geocaches in the park. In fact, I have found the Superintendent (Paul Stern) very reasonable, fair and open to ideas about geocaching.

As many of you know, the "Team" in Team Rampant Lion referred to me and my dog Bailey. It is with great sorrow I have to report that Bailey had to be put down. While I am very sad she is gone, she lead a great full life and "our" passion for geocaching ensured she always had great long hikes and an opportunity to explore. At the group activities and events so many of you treated her so well. I just wanted to drop you all a note to say "thank you".

Came across this guy yesterday in Sparta Glen. Seemed very woozy as I think he/she had just picked up its head to see who was passing by. Took a few shots with the camera while keeping Bailey from seeing the bear and headed on our way.