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Backpacking and 5/5 Cache's in Ohio and Indiana


Dub.

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I'm an avid outdoors man at heart and I love Geocaching. However, most of the caches in Central Ohio are too easy...you park, walk 250ft and find the cache. Anything rated a 3-4 just means you have to walk 1/4-1/2 mile. I'm looking for something bigger. Does anyone know of any backpacking caches in Ohio or Indiana? Or where the 5/5 caches are? I'm talking about caches that are 8 miles from the nearest road. They have to be reached by overnight camping, kayaking, etc. I'm not too much of a climber or a diver so those caches would be too much but would be good to know about. My friends out west did this cache in Missouri, this is what I'm talking about. Thanks!

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I've been thinking about this one for a little while, trying to come up with something for you, but the problem is that there are just too many darn roads in Ohio to get 8-10 miles away from one. I also can't think of any that would require a night of camping in order to complete. There are a few 5/5's out there, but they're mostly of the sort that would require a boat, as opposed to being a difficult hike.

 

A couple that are a good hike that I can think of off the top of my head is

 

PewterZ's Hill and Columbus STS-107.

 

PewterZ's Hill is probably one of the tougher hikes in the state. It's rated a 4, but it's much more than a 1/2 mile stroll in the woods. Granted I'm out of shape, and not used to the hills of southern Ohio, but this one took most of a day to complete. Part of that was spent trying to find a way to cross a knee-deep creek, before giving up and just hiking through it. In reading some of the other logs, it looks like there is an easier way in than we took, but that's all part of the fun of it.

 

There is also Box on Bald Hill which you may or may not be able to combine with The Sand (Hill) Box nearby to make for a longer more difficult hike. I personally didn't do it that way, I parked at each separate location, but it might be doable....Coaster and I talked about the possibility when I went up there with him. It still wouldn't be an overnighter though.

 

I haven't done either of these, but in looking through The Harry Meister's profile, who is well known for putting caches that require a little bit of hiking, and usually with great rewards in terms of a scenic hike, a nice overlook, or just a generally interesting area...I found Grottoed and It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, both of which are a 4 terrain

Edited by Mr. 0
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Anything by Wounded Knee is a challenge. He has several along the backpacking trail at Shawnee State Forest. All are a mile or more of hiking and you could camp out if you wanted to. Watch for bears, though. I swear I heard one at the final stage of Ridge Runner, also by Wounded Knee. If it wasn't a bear, it was Bigfoot!

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We're not able to do 5/5's yet (we have a 5-yr-old in tow). But if you're ever up in Minnesota, maybe you could pick up our travel bug, Jack Frost, that's been sitting in this 5/5 (GCKTMH) since September '05! Frustrating because two people have been there since then, but left our little guy to roost.

Edited by lakedawgs
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