Metaphor

I posted there as well.

If anyone has lost a gps in the Bozman, MD (rt 579), contact me. Metaphor

If anyone has lost a gps in the Bozman, MD (rt 579), contact me. Metaphor

You might email the owners of this one to find out their pre-planning: Sidetracked Paddington by speedybeale (GC1AW9J) I didn't do it the last time I was in London, but from the cache description, they had a series of 'sidetracked' caches...

I always wear a tinfoil hat to keep the alien mind-control signals out. In winter, I line it with thinsulite.

If you live in Pennsylvania, why not start out from PenMar and go south about half way through Maryland to the Rt. 70 overpass? Or start start at Rt. 70, and go south to Harper's Ferry. Both are very good sections with interesting waypoints along the way. The whole MD section can be done in 3 days, but is a strenuous walk, especially if you are not accustomed to hiking with a full pack. Remember, you'll have to do car shuttles to be able to get home, so that will eat a at least a day of your long weekend. Coming up from north from Harper's Ferry has a steep, steep climb from the start to Weverton Cliffs and an incredible view, while the southern route from PenMar has more ups and downs -- no real steep climbs, but still some great views from Black Rock and Annapolis Rocks and other spots. PenMar - Rt 70: 18 miles-- Harper's Ferry - Rt 70: 23.5 Having done this section several times from both directions alone and with groups, if you're new to it, I'd suggest the PenMar - Rt 70 section. Second choice, the Rt 70 - Harper's Ferry. Don't make it an endurance run, but rather a timed ramble. You'll enjoy it more.

Wye Knot? on Wye Island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, placed in April of 2004, was found last week.

There's this one in Pataspco State Park near Baltimore, MD...Dark Here is a bookmark list of "Caches that are hidden in or near Man Made holes." by linuxxpert: Tunnels/Mines/Adits!

It can't be all that elitist if you let a guy like me play.

You must have been unlucky enough to get the ones who don't understand your demeanor, as we here on this forum have come to understand it. I've crossed in and out of Canada three times in the last year (Thousand Islands, Cornwall, and by air to and from Halifax) and the border guards on both sides were more than pleasant. Of course, I answered their questions about how much beer I was bringing to and fro honestly, and didn't take umbrage at their asking me a few questions to verify that I was who my passport said I was. I've also entered the US from Europe at least a dozen times in last five years (Baltimore, Dulles, Reagan Int'l and Philadelphia) and only once did I have a problem with immigration; that was because four international flights landed in Philly within a half an hour of each other and the lines were way too long. Even with the long wait after the longer flight, the guard was fine. If you wan't attitude, try driving into the Czech Republic at 2 am on a cold February morning when the guards have to leave a warm station to come out to your car. But to get this back on track, I prefer no politics in my caching. On the forums, a good dog fight with fur and spit flying everywhere is fun to watch, and occasionally, to goad extremists of both (or all) sides into further frenzy.

Add to my goals-- finish climbing the Catskills... I have Friday, Balsam Cap and Sherrill left on my 3500 list. I almost topped them all when I lived near Hancock, NY in the early 80's. (Peekamoose 4/8/83) ...and finish the Northville Placid trail in the Adirondacks. I walked it end to almost end twice, but have never finished the last miles from Duck Hole into Lake Placid, instead heading into the High Peaks. I have walked the missing section seperately, but I have to walk in one complete walk for me to say I did it.

This is what I was afraid of... Thanks for all the replies and links-- I'm looking into them. The last time I backpacked a stove on an airline was around 1980 on a trip to the Rockies -- my SVEA 123 with a half-liter of fuel in carry-on, though the bag was oversized and checked, no questions asked, in the forward cabin compartment with the businessmen's suit bags. (I think it was a United flight.) And the drinks were free. I've flown a lot since then, but not with a backpacker's backpack, instead with a more touristy backpack, doing the gasthaus and pensione circuit. Hmmmm...

So, help me out here... what is it, exactly, you'd like your stove to burn? Wood? Have you seen how much extra they're charging for baggage lately? michelle There used to be two things about checking baggage that I didn't like -- waiting for it and having too much of it because I could check it. Now, there is a third -- having to pay to check it. I've heard of battery powered fan stoves that burn twigs and chips, the alcohol option given in the list below, and other innovative stoves that I could bring in carry-on luggage and would not get me placed in the "special" line before I boarded my plane. The fuel just has to be readily available at the other end, whether it be Colorado or Croatia. I'm open to all suggestions.

I will be traveling with my wife to the Highlands of Scotland in June of 2009. My wife visited the Highlands when she was a 'wee lass' of 13, fell in love with the countryside and has always wanted to return, and I've been to the UK many times, but not Scotland. I'm looking to stay for about a week in the Trossachs-- Balquhidder, Callender, Sterling area as our base -- in a self-catering cottage, not in a town, but within reasonable walking distance (1-2 miles) to a town with a decent pub (my prerequisite, not my wife's). Geocaching a bit is necessary, and I'm an avid fisherman, who would also like to climb Ben Nevis to notch number two of my three UK peaks. (I've hiked Mt. Snowdon and Pen-y-fan/Carn Dhu in the Welsh Brecons.) She wants only a great view and a comfortable base for day trips. My query is for local knowlege about self-catering cottages that are worthy of a 25 year romantic wedding anniversary holiday. Any suggestions? edit -- just for flavor, she doesn't yet know that I'm planning this...

As always, (well, short of politics ) Briansnat is absolutely right. Multi-use - yes, hiking, no.

OK, here's a challenge for all the gear gurus out there-- I only do carry-on luggage, and can backpack as an extreme minimalist. What is the best non-petroleum based fuel stove out there, that I can carry on board for flight -- trans-Oceanic or domestic? My criteria: fairly efficient heating, does not need to be used for a long cooking duration, but may need to be more than a heat water to boiling, dump packet, stir and serve stove, and needs to be able to use natural fuels, not prepared combustible mixtures that may or not be available at the start of the destination, and definitely wouldn't be allowed on board an airplane. Whatcha got out there?

One single goal -- to get back in to the wild. I had taken a hiatus from backpacking for several years, not for any one reason -- too frequent a sailboat racing schedule, an aging dog who could no longer go on long walks, too far drives from home to hiking areas, and just plain ennui-- all just built up to no backpacking for too long a time. Well, after this sailing season, one of my boat crews will probably disband after ten+ years, my beloved dog has moved on to a higher plane, and I've done a lot of overseas traveling to realize that we whine way too much about our price of gas here in the US... so this winter's project is to completely revitalize my hiking gear from the boots up and hit the trails by January. Briansnat -- how about another Catskill Backpacking event? I fondly remember that milestone -- my 100th cache...

I paddle a 17' Dagger Sea Kayak, and my wife has a 16' one. We generally day-paddle around the mid-Chesapeake Bay area on the Eastern Shore, and I have taken mine as far as well out into the Delaware Bay, Upstate NY and Quebec. I haven't camped out of the kayak but once, on the bay side of Assateasgue Island, but I also have a 16' Old Town Penobscot that I've used for camping on the Potomac River (MD and WVa) and in the NY Adirondacks. And once, a long time ago, I spent a week canoing with a history-buff friend around the Oswegatchi River in the Adirondacks in an authentic birch bark canoe, dressed in 18th century French fur trader garb, using only 18th century equipment. We didn't run into many people, but the couple of other paddlers we did meet were pretty weirded out, especially when we pulled in to a isolated shore landing late one night well after midnight to set up a primative camp. I have pictures somewhere, and if I can find them, I'll post a couple.

Hey come on now... no personal attacks.

4.7 miles, but it's a lame micro, so it will stay unfound. On the other hand, I just got back a couple of hours ago from a nice hike/cache walk in Nrewport News, VA, about 250 drive miles from home. The caches I found there were a heckuva lot more fun than finding that lame micro will ever be. I've gotten to the point that I don't do caches that are not interesting or lack redeeming values...this ain't Pokemon, where you "gotta get em all..."

This thread is a good reminder -- I'm due to re-up my membership next week (and I've only found 11 caches since the beginning of the new year...) It's worth it to keep the site running, and my area rerviewer, Quiggle, is one of the best around. You listening, Quig?

DC United vs. Toronto, May 24 (DCU 3, Toronto 2) RFK Stadium from home: 35mpg@$3.86/g $17.50 Ticket (for 1) 20.00 Drive-thru Crappy Food 5.00 Parking 12.00 2 Good Beers in Parking Lot 4.00 2 Crappy Beers inside Stadium 13.00 Bay Bridge Toll 2.50 Total for 3 hours 74.00 That DC United actually scored a goal, let alone 3 PRICELESS But caching HAS taken a backseat. Driving to find a parking lot micro for a TFTC smiley didn't do it when gas was $2.50 a gallon (and I've cached overseas at big prices.) I'd rather wait and set up a day hike to find a worth-it cache or two. Yeah, I'm both a beer snob AND a geo snob. GEOBEER SNOBS UNITEd!

Thanatopsis William Cullen Bryant To him who in the love of nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile And eloquence of beauty; and she glides Into his darker musings, with a mild And healing sympathy that steals away Their sharpness ere he is aware. When thoughts Of the last bitter hour come like a blight Over thy spirit, and sad images Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;-- Go forth, under the open sky, and list To Nature's teachings, while from all around-- Earth and her waters, and the depths of air-- Comes a still voice. Yet a few days, and thee The all-beholding sun shall see no more In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground, Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears, Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again, And, lost each human trace, surrendering up Thine individual being, shalt thou go To mix forever with the elements, To be a brother to the insensible rock And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mold. Yet not to thine eternal resting-place Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down With patriarchs of the infant world -- with kings, The powerful of the earth -- the wise, the good, Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, -- the vales Stretching in pensive quietness between; The venerable woods -- rivers that move In majesty, and the complaining brooks That make the meadows green; and, poured round all, Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste,-- Are but the solemn decorations all Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun, The planets, all the infinite host of heaven, Are shining on the sad abodes of death Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread The globe are but a handful to the tribes That slumber in its bosom. -- Take the wings Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness, Or lose thyself in the continuous woods Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound, Save his own dashings -- yet the dead are there: And millions in those solitudes, since first The flight of years began, have laid them down In their last sleep -- the dead reign there alone. So shalt thou rest -- and what if thou withdraw In silence from the living, and no friend Take note of thy departure? All that breathe Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care Plod on, and each one as before will chase His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave Their mirth and their employments, and shall come And make their bed with thee. As the long train Of ages glides away, the sons of men-- The youth in life's fresh spring, and he who goes In the full strength of years, matron and maid, The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man-- Shall one by one be gathered to thy side, By those, who in their turn, shall follow them. So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan, which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. If you think about it, the whole earth is a cemetery of sorts...

Oh, Tatts is short for tattoos. Now I get it.

And there is a cache at a departure terminal gate in the Frankfurt International Airport in Frankfurt Germany, and the catch is that the terminal gate is accessible only to persons who are flying out of that gate (the gate usually services only relatively local flights to a few other nearby countries in Europe), and no one else is allowed by airport security personnel to access that gate area (I know for sure; I tried and was rebuffed!) The only thing that bothered me about this exclusive limiting factor is that there was no warning on the cache listing page about the exclusivity of access. Cripes. Want to place bets on how long until it causes a security scare? Actually, it seems that there is no physical cache at the gate, and, if I recall, it was either a virtual (i.e., a legacy virtual, grandfathered in from the old days) or it was an ALR cache without a logbook; I totally forget which it was, at this was back in September 2005. It's a virtual with a picture of you, your GPS and the gate number as the requirement. I did it last August while waiting for a flight to Helsinki at 3 am. Scary Picture.