Have You Ever Stumbled Upon Moonshine Stills While Geocaching?

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

I stumbled today upon a great article in the Washington Post about the still-thriving business of brewing moonshine alcohol in hidden stills in the rural parts of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. That reminded me of an earlier article by the Post, again on the topic of moonshining (what IS it with the Washington Post and their obsession with moonshine?), published a few years ago, in which they revealed that the infamous Frederick Watershed (where Sue and I happen to live) has always been a favored spot for moonshine activity (and also for dumping dead bodies) over the past 160 years. They also mentioned that a deputy sheriff was badly wounded in a midnight shootout with moonshiners on a ridge located near our home about a hundred years ago.

 

Anyway, both articles in the Post revealed in loving detail the incredible lengths to which moonshiners go to hide their stills and their supplies, often disguising their stills as a gravestone in a small abandoned graveyard, as an abandoned decrepit shed in the middle of the forest, inside a hollowed-out tree, or inside a rusty abandoned car lying in the forest. Reading these hide descriptions reminded me of geocache hides, of course.

 

So, my question for you today is: have you ever, while hunting for a geocache, stumbled upon a moonshine still or bottling operation? Please share your tales here!

 

BTW, tales of stumbling upon meth labs while geocaching are not welcome in this thread. There have already been several threads devoted to that topic, and to me, meth labs constitute an entirely different genre from moonshining, as meth labs tend to emit bad smells, tend to be filled with very dangerous chemicals, tend to explode easily, and the people operating them are notoriously reckless and violent. This is all rather different from the moonshine culture.

 

Lastly, this whole topic of moonshine stills and geocaching also takes on a bit of a nostalgic aura, as our local reviewer Quiggle is widely reputed to be an elderly tattooed chain-smoking grandmother with a string of felony convictions as long as her arm and with a pretty wild history as a thrice-convicted moonshiner.

Edited January 8, 2008 by Vinny & Sue Team

[+meralgia]

no, but I stumbled upon someone's wallet out in the middle of the forest. I called the guy who lost it two years prior when he was in high school. He giggled about it being in the woods and asked me to cut up the cards and toss it. I can only imagine why he was out there... I doubt it was geocaching. ; )

Edited January 8, 2008 by meralgia

[+egami]

Just meth labs mostly.

 

*edit*

 

Just read the meth lab comment. You should bold it or put it at the top. I am a post skimmer on some of these.

 

On topic, or the welcomed portion, I have stumbled across the gravestone of an old priest in a town that has been bootlegging rye whiskey for years. There is a whole story about it now that it's legal in Iowa on the companies website (assuming the story is still there). I was going to make a virtual of it, but then realized they were discontinued...this was when I was new to caching.

 

Would of made a great cache location and story.

 

http://www.templetonrye.com/history.shtml

Edited January 8, 2008 by egami

[+Too Tall John]

Funny you should ask.

 

I found a still right before I had the experience noted in this post.

 

 

Hey! I don't know who's trying to discredit me, but I did not! I was not intoxicated when I saw ***** with a *** *** disguised as a donut!

 

This post has been edited by ******: Today, 10:54 AM

Edited January 8, 2008 by Too Tall John

[+StumpWater]

No still yet, but several large collections of broken mason jars.

 

StumpWater

[+TexasGringo]

I once came across a Bow Hunter hidden in the woods all decked out in hunting garb with his super compound bow....and He was pissed...because he said I scared away the animals.

[+Team Cotati]

5 times.

[Mushtang]

The second worst month of my life was the time I stumbled across the hillbillies and their moonshine stills. I didn't go caching for 4 months after that (or sit down for 1).

[+Cpt.Blackbeard]

They're much more open about Moonshine in Illinoise

[+Too Tall John]

The second worst month of my life was the time I stumbled across the hillbillies and their moonshine stills. I didn't go caching for 4 months after that (or sit down for 1).

oh-my-gosh-I-Can't-BREATHE!

 

 

Click on the frog to laugh harder.

Edited January 8, 2008 by Too Tall John

[+joranda]

Not yet but I did get lost in a pot field while caching.

[+sbell111]

... So, my question for you today is: have you ever, while hunting for a geocache, stumbled upon a moonshine still or bottling operation? Please share your tales here! ...

That wasn't a moonshine still, it was a biofuel processer.

 

We're just trying to do what we can for the environment, officer.

[+Parzival]

No, but once I came across 2 guys engaged in acts best left to the imagination.

 

[+egami]

... So, my question for you today is: have you ever, while hunting for a geocache, stumbled upon a moonshine still or bottling operation? Please share your tales here! ...

That wasn't a moonshine still, it was a biofuel processer.

 

We're just trying to do what we can for the environment, officer.

 

You actually get more BTU's out of moonshine.

[+Stargazer22]

I found a moonshine still once before I was a geocacher.

It was very well hidden in a VERY steep part of a valley between 2 mountains.

Some of it still smelled viable but of course we didn't sample any.

We had a good idea of who was running it. Pretty sure it was someone my dad's family knew that had frequented the area for many years. Every time we saw this guy over a period of about 10-15 years, he was well lubricated.

[Mr.Yuck]

I once thought I had found a moonshine still while geocaching, but it was actually a cleverly disguised communication apparatus for the nearby joint U.S. Military/Alien underground base. Sorry, but I didn't get to post to that thread before it was closed.