Doesn't it just irk you when you decided to work on a puzzle or a multi only to not end up with a smiley in the end? Whether you work the puzzle and go to the coords and you don't find anything or you complete all the stages of a multi, and the final is no where to be found? Yea, that's pretty much what happened to me today on Children's Museum Multi-cache - GCYVWY in Indianapolis, IN today. I was visiting as part of my schools concert choir tour (I play guitar), but just couldn't come up with the grab. The bright side is I now have the coords for the final, but I still can't get over that I went and came up empty handed. The stages I went too were very cool however, so I suppose I can still be appreciative of that...Saturday, April 26, 2008
Don't you just hate..
Doesn't it just irk you when you decided to work on a puzzle or a multi only to not end up with a smiley in the end? Whether you work the puzzle and go to the coords and you don't find anything or you complete all the stages of a multi, and the final is no where to be found? Yea, that's pretty much what happened to me today on Children's Museum Multi-cache - GCYVWY in Indianapolis, IN today. I was visiting as part of my schools concert choir tour (I play guitar), but just couldn't come up with the grab. The bright side is I now have the coords for the final, but I still can't get over that I went and came up empty handed. The stages I went too were very cool however, so I suppose I can still be appreciative of that...
Friday, April 25, 2008
A day in Oxford
Another record day- 40 caches! Abuhhhh and I met up after work and decided to tackle the 5/2 puzzle final to Coach T's Geosense series. I had a talk with Coach about it, and he pointed some things out that I didn't notice before on the cache page which helped me in the direction to figuring out this cache without the coord fixes he provides in the previous 8 caches in the series. Abuhhhh got credit for being the FIRST person in the history of the cache to point out one very obvious (it would seem) aspect of the series, but we won't discuss that on here.
Anyways, after finding this and one of the other pieces of the series, we headed for Oxford, Ohio.
We tackled a good blend of caches: smalls, micros, unknowns, regulars. We tried to tackle the multi - but couldn't make it to the final by the time we finished caching (around 1:30 am). We started off with some nice hikes on the Miami University Nature Areas trail system they have up there (over 15 miles -which several of our caches of the day were on). We managed to also complete 4 of the 5 caches on the trail system that runs right along side of the campus in the dark. It wasn't marked that we couldn't go on them at night, and it actually, I feel, made for a better more enjoyable hike. We got away from car noise, and really any form of noise at all. It was a pleasant night, and it actually made the quality of the cache and hide seem a lot higher.
After the trail systems, and being in the dark already for atleast an hour, we decided to start nailing some of the P&G's. It was a nice blend, like I said before, of park and grabs, and stop, spend a little time but not too much and grabs.
Abuhhhh's record to this point in one day had been 23, so we shattered that pretty early on - it was a great day. It had cured my itch I previously wrote about, and was a great time of hiking - finding some easy and difficult caches. I told Ian the only thing that could make this night would be a cop encounter - and we had success in that!
We were Looking for Miami Beach actually when it happened. I was down by the creek (in the dark mind you) while Abuhhhh was on the side of the guard rail by this bridge. I was looking when a cop car stopped next to Ian and he shined his light and asked, "You looking for something?" He told him we were looking for a geocache, and the cop asked if we had found it yet. He told the cop I was down looking for it, so I shined my light around to show I was there. Eventually the cop left us be, and I finally located the grab.
8
Hours later I can say I was pleasantly surprised how this particular night of caching after work went. It was one of my favorite caching days, and the record day so far - 40! We'll try to get back in the area soon and tackle the rest - lots of good hikes left to finish!
Anyways, after finding this and one of the other pieces of the series, we headed for Oxford, Ohio.
We tackled a good blend of caches: smalls, micros, unknowns, regulars. We tried to tackle the multi - but couldn't make it to the final by the time we finished caching (around 1:30 am). We started off with some nice hikes on the Miami University Nature Areas trail system they have up there (over 15 miles -which several of our caches of the day were on). We managed to also complete 4 of the 5 caches on the trail system that runs right along side of the campus in the dark. It wasn't marked that we couldn't go on them at night, and it actually, I feel, made for a better more enjoyable hike. We got away from car noise, and really any form of noise at all. It was a pleasant night, and it actually made the quality of the cache and hide seem a lot higher.After the trail systems, and being in the dark already for atleast an hour, we decided to start nailing some of the P&G's. It was a nice blend, like I said before, of park and grabs, and stop, spend a little time but not too much and grabs.
Abuhhhh's record to this point in one day had been 23, so we shattered that pretty early on - it was a great day. It had cured my itch I previously wrote about, and was a great time of hiking - finding some easy and difficult caches. I told Ian the only thing that could make this night would be a cop encounter - and we had success in that!
We were Looking for Miami Beach actually when it happened. I was down by the creek (in the dark mind you) while Abuhhhh was on the side of the guard rail by this bridge. I was looking when a cop car stopped next to Ian and he shined his light and asked, "You looking for something?" He told him we were looking for a geocache, and the cop asked if we had found it yet. He told the cop I was down looking for it, so I shined my light around to show I was there. Eventually the cop left us be, and I finally located the grab.
8
Hours later I can say I was pleasantly surprised how this particular night of caching after work went. It was one of my favorite caching days, and the record day so far - 40! We'll try to get back in the area soon and tackle the rest - lots of good hikes left to finish!Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Itching...
It's one of those days; I'm sure you've had one. It's where you haven't had a chance to cache in awhile. Well, maybe it isn't even that bad - maybe it's just that you haven't cached yet today and you want too. I understand that some people aren't as obsessed with caching like I may be, but sometimes if I don't get out to atleast 1 cache every day I get this itching. Last week I believe I went 3 days without caching and it was tough. I wanted to go out to Shawnee Park and finish it up, and do some caches surrounding, but nobody to go with. Sometimes running around on trails in a park alone just doesn't feel like much fun, and I'd rather not go. Caching alone in general isn't ever a whole lot of fun for me, it doesn't make it much of an "experience" as I feel it should be. I mean come on, it's not about the numbers...right? Anyways, I am planning on doing some caching tomorrow, so we'll see if I don't scratch that caching itch.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
GSAK and The Garmin GPSmap 60SCx
Being a premium member of geocaching.com has some great benefits - one of which being the fact that you can build pocket queries.
If you note in the left of the two pictures above you can see all the different queries I run. 500 in one area, 300 in another area. Some run when I ask them too, others run daily. The picture on the right shows the region of my "Cincinnati" query.
Anyways...one thing I love is organizing my queries, finds, DNF's, and basically just being able to look up caches if need be out on the road. How do I do this? I use GSAK, Geocaching Swiss Army Knife. (GSAK) is an all-in-one GPX and waypoint managing system. It allows users to quickly download pocket query GPX files from email, load them into m
ultiple databases, organize and sort waypoints by distance or location, view target locations on various online maps, and send the waypoints directly to your PDA or GPS receiver. GSAK is a PC only program, however it runs off of GPSBabel which works on PC, Mac, Linux, and several others. GSAK is free to use for 21 days, but after that it's $20 bucks to prevent nagging screens (which I still have). GSAK has lots of cool features plus add-on "macros" that do other features. GSAK doesn't normally come as colored as you see in my picture on the above right. It is usually plain white (see above left), but I've manged to figure out the "highlight" feature that you can find under the "waypoint" tab.
Now, this does absolutely nothing for your GPS, and has no real importance whatsoever...but it does make it look a little better, and easier to see what type of cache you are dealing with. As you can see from the image, I have loaded different columns of cache information I find important while I'm browsing: waypoint name, distance, bearing, container type, difficulty, terrain, DNF status, watching status, etc. I typically set my organization by distance from my home.
One macro that I run often on GSAK is one that generates Ipod notes. This macro sets up the typical cache page in a note format so I can then browse them and read them paperlessly. It loads several most recent logs, the hint if one is provided, and the owner's description.
Another great feature on GSAK is actually two different things in one: 1) integrating a custom geocaching symbol pack to use as your icons, and 2) setting up a custom name and note section for each cache you load. From here you can download the macro and custom icon pack. so far the icon pack is supposed to work with the 76 series, 60 series, Legend C, Vista C, Quest 2, and may work on etrex models. This icon pack, integrated with GSAK, will save Traditional caches as a traditional icon, multi caches as a multi icon, puz
zles as the puzzle icon and so on - instead of having tons of treasure boxes and no idea what kind of cache they are. In looking at the image to the side, you can see some interesting code in the "Waypoint name" field and "Waypoint description format" field. These are just special tags used to help me out in the field with extra data that sending a waypoint from the geocaching.com website alone won't provide. See, when you load a cache right from the geocaching page, the waypoint name is the GC#, and the Note is the Waypoint name - that is the only information given. My name on my gps map shows me, %drop2-%con1-%last4. %drop2 provides the GC name without the GC in front, since the GC is always in front of all caches. %con1 provides me with a letter of the cache I'm looking for, R being regular, S being small, L being large, U being unknown and M being a micro. The last one I use in my name is %last4, which gives me a series of letters for the last 4 logs. FFFF means the last 4 logs were all finds, NFFF is a not find then three finds, etc.
Inside of the note feature for a cache, I have %Dif/%Ter %smart. This shows me the difficulty/terrain rating followed by a smart name, which is an abbreviated cache name. Here are some screenshots from GPSr.
The good thing about the symbol pack (I think) is having the smiley faces be your found symbol instead of the open treasure chest. To me, it just makes my GPSr seem more like a geocaching tool.
You might be wondering..."how do I do all this to MY GPS?" I WANT IT! Everything you need...downloads and instructions, can all be found on this page.
If you note in the left of the two pictures above you can see all the different queries I run. 500 in one area, 300 in another area. Some run when I ask them too, others run daily. The picture on the right shows the region of my "Cincinnati" query.Anyways...one thing I love is organizing my queries, finds, DNF's, and basically just being able to look up caches if need be out on the road. How do I do this? I use GSAK, Geocaching Swiss Army Knife. (GSAK) is an all-in-one GPX and waypoint managing system. It allows users to quickly download pocket query GPX files from email, load them into multiple databases, organize and sort waypoints by distance or location, view target locations on various online maps, and send the waypoints directly to your PDA or GPS receiver. GSAK is a PC only program, however it runs off of GPSBabel which works on PC, Mac, Linux, and several others. GSAK is free to use for 21 days, but after that it's $20 bucks to prevent nagging screens (which I still have). GSAK has lots of cool features plus add-on "macros" that do other features. GSAK doesn't normally come as colored as you see in my picture on the above right. It is usually plain white (see above left), but I've manged to figure out the "highlight" feature that you can find under the "waypoint" tab.Now, this does absolutely nothing for your GPS, and has no real importance whatsoever...but it does make it look a little better, and easier to see what type of cache you are dealing with. As you can see from the image, I have loaded different columns of cache information I find important while I'm browsing: waypoint name, distance, bearing, container type, difficulty, terrain, DNF status, watching status, etc. I typically set my organization by distance from my home.One macro that I run often on GSAK is one that generates Ipod notes. This macro sets up the typical cache page in a note format so I can then browse them and read them paperlessly. It loads several most recent logs, the hint if one is provided, and the owner's description.Another great feature on GSAK is actually two different things in one: 1) integrating a custom geocaching symbol pack to use as your icons, and 2) setting up a custom name and note section for each cache you load. From here you can download the macro and custom icon pack. so far the icon pack is supposed to work with the 76 series, 60 series, Legend C, Vista C, Quest 2, and may work on etrex models. This icon pack, integrated with GSAK, will save Traditional caches as a traditional icon, multi caches as a multi icon, puz
zles as the puzzle icon and so on - instead of having tons of treasure boxes and no idea what kind of cache they are. In looking at the image to the side, you can see some interesting code in the "Waypoint name" field and "Waypoint description format" field. These are just special tags used to help me out in the field with extra data that sending a waypoint from the geocaching.com website alone won't provide. See, when you load a cache right from the geocaching page, the waypoint name is the GC#, and the Note is the Waypoint name - that is the only information given. My name on my gps map shows me, %drop2-%con1-%last4. %drop2 provides the GC name without the GC in front, since the GC is always in front of all caches. %con1 provides me with a letter of the cache I'm looking for, R being regular, S being small, L being large, U being unknown and M being a micro. The last one I use in my name is %last4, which gives me a series of letters for the last 4 logs. FFFF means the last 4 logs were all finds, NFFF is a not find then three finds, etc.Inside of the note feature for a cache, I have %Dif/%Ter %smart. This shows me the difficulty/terrain rating followed by a smart name, which is an abbreviated cache name. Here are some screenshots from GPSr.
The good thing about the symbol pack (I think) is having the smiley faces be your found symbol instead of the open treasure chest. To me, it just makes my GPSr seem more like a geocaching tool.You might be wondering..."how do I do all this to MY GPS?" I WANT IT! Everything you need...downloads and instructions, can all be found on this page.
Monday, April 21, 2008
The Micro Cache & My Future Goals
I'm positive that everyone in the geocaching world has come across a micro. I was in conversation with Catlon at the Winton Woods Afterparty about micro caches where he stated, "They should be a league all of their own," and I agree with this statement. As the pin pictured states, "Love to hate 'em! Hate to love 'em!" It's very true. Micros are one of the types of caches that frustrate me beyond belief, but I love finding them. With micros being so small, they can be just about anywhere. Not only do you end up looking for a standard container - film canisters, bison tubes, nanos, or the like...but now people have moved to fake rebar, fake pinecones, hollowed out bolts, logs on the backside of magnets, and lots of other devious hides. It's smart in a hiding sense. I mean, you can only hide a regular or a small so well, however, there are almost endless possibilities to hide a devilish micro. I've become fascinated with these little guys.I've spent my first 4 months - 800 caches grabbing lots of micros. 44.5% to be more accurate. A lot of those micros would be considered "P&G's" (Park and grabs). P&G's would typically just be number building, and don't provide a whole lot of excitement. Now I don't pride myself in getting number runs, but I like the way Ranger Fox put it in his profile, "To me, the number game is more like the paperwork I do before I can go off and do what really matters--terrain." I feel like I've been doing paperwork for the last 4 months of caching, which I think is good. I started caching with the goal of getting 1,000 by the end of the year. With the rate I'm going, I should reach that by the end of May, having completed over half of my matrix - the lower half. Now with summer approaching I have the chance to go after some terrains. My new goals for 2008 consist of:
1) Reaching 2,000 caches
2) Completing my Difficulty/Terrain Matrix
3) Complete more Multi's
I can't think of a current cache I would call my "favorite". In looking at my favorite bookmark list, you'd see they are mostly well hidden micros. Looking at Slammer47 or Ranger Fox's profiles encourage me and get me pining for some real challenges. Half of the caches on Slammer47's favorite bookmark are now listed on my "I Can't Forget to Do These!" Bookmark. It is these cachers, and those like them, that make me see there is a lot out there I haven't seen...and need to. Luckily, Slammer47 is from the Dayton area, which is just around an hour from me. This summer hopefully will be filled with lots of weekend trips to Dayton to start clearing out that area.
Lately, I've been able to go caching with Abuhhhh and before that my friend ydissac. Abuhhhhh and I have decided this summer we'll start making trips - for number runs, and for terrain challenges. I rarely get myself to do multi's, however it seems people have the most fun on a good multi. Abuhhhh and I have decided we will work on knocking out hard terrains, challenging multis, and really scenic/good quality caches. I feel that geocaching is the thing that has finally got me out into nature like I've been wanting to do for the past 3 years. I've told myself each year I was going to buy a nice pair of boots and camping gear to get out and hike and camp. Well, now I'm finally doing it. I have a feeling the rest of this year will make for some very memorable sites and caches, and now that the blog is up, hopefully I'll have a way to remember it all.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Winton Woods CITO & After Party/Campout
So my big number "800" wasn't spent on a challenging multi or a high terrain'd challenge, but it was one of my favorite geocaching memories. It was only my second event, the first being Webling's Come & Go Breakfast. I love camping; and being able to wake up, have CITO in a beautiful park, cache all afternoon, then spend my 6 o'clock on through the night relaxing by the fire with a lager, deep fried turkey, the best chili I've ever had, and lots of other geocachers around was a great memory. Kristen, my fiancee, was able to come out and meet up for dinner and camp out as well.
As most parks in the area, they are open from dawn till dusk. however, just .41 miles from the campground
s was one of two caches I still have left in the park. Ian (Abuhhhh) and his son (Monkey Midls), Kristen and I all decided we were going to go tackle GC15A7R - In the Belly of the Beast and GCMZB1 - HCPD - The Scene. It was 9:30ish, so already dark...but it looked like we could bushwhack it. On our way out we teamed up with Team Nitro Maxx and began our hike. It took us a little over an hour to hike the over one mile mostly in the dark woods, but what a hike it was - not really even because of a great cache or a spectacular view, but for the excitement and the journey.A recap of 4 months.
Alright let's start at the beginning. I already mentioned to you the first cache I did with ydissac that got me hooked. (Read previous entry) That was one of four that day he took me on. I soon went back home for the holidays and started caching some around my hometown of Louisville. ydissac and I slowly started knocking off caches in the areas surrounding our work in Sharonville. I visited the fiancee's family near Granville and also spent an afternoon out caching there. Eventually, ydissac and I started hitting this Love Mad series. Eventually I reached my first milestone, Love Mad 23 - GC13CK3 It was different than most micros I've found - a log sheet behind a reflector on a dumpster.
The next day I proposed to Kristen. I had been wondering how I would do it, and I had finally figured out how I would - geocaching.
On January 13th, 2008, I proposed to my girlfriend at Mt. Echo Park. We were going out caching on this cool, lightly raining day, and had stopped in the area. As we stepped out of the car, GPS in her hands seeking cache "GC1209" entitled "Surprise!", she started walking away from the cache location. As she made her way back she shortly after found a camo covered box. As she opened it she found a ring box...and in it, an engagement ring. I got down on my knee and asked her to marry me. Being the FTF, she took the ring. I myself left a girlfriend, and took a fiancee. The cache is now an active geocache, Our Engagement Cache - GC18KKF
After number 100, there was one day of caching I really enjoyed. I was out with my friend Kyle and we had the plan of taking some Mt. Airy caches out. Well, the first destination we had was this cache called Crazy Bike Trail - GC15Q3M. The problem with Crazy Bike Trail is that I didn't look anything up about before looking for it. I started reading logs after about a half hour of not finding anything, and read what people were talking about...RR2K#L and some other stuff. Since I was still new, I didn't know what RR2K#L was...thus not providing me with the information I needed to know where the cache was. Kyle and I left that area and finished all the caches on Kirby's Trail, which was a great hike, and a great series of caches. After we finished we went and grabbed some lunch, and I started reading some logs about CBT. I then came across the comment EarTrumpet had just made about maintenance on the cache. "Didn't see many spiders today, and the raccoon wasn't around, but I did see the bat. Let's see if this container outlives the first two." It was talking with Kyle about this little blurb that got us thinking we knew where we had to look. We went back to the site and immediately planned how to get to the cache. However, was that was the easy way? No...we hadn't spotted that yet. Our was was through the narrow chute...under the 200lb concrete slab we moved. Sheesh. But the good news is we made the grab, and it was the highlight of my caching career at that point. I can't wait to do more like these!
There were more here and there caches which got me to my next milestone, Yellow Handle Communicator - GC18ZD2 Yet again, another challenging micro, only because I had never, and still haven't found one like it. I guess the closest I have gotten to are some of the magnetic micros, but this one was on the back of the ad below the phone. Very tricky...took me several visits and having the owner, Liyah actually out with me to get this one.
I slowly started trying to clear out my downtown area, and even went up to Dayton with Liyah and ydissac to try knocking out some caches there. We ran into POKERBUZZ, and they helped us with lots of caches around. However, one thing they couldn't really help us with was Lane Change - GCVYCK , a 3/4 Multi cache. Liyah was the brave one to get this cache for us. What a rush just watching! This cache involved climbing 2 very different types of trees, very high up. Once to get the second stage, and the second time to retrieve the cache. It was neat going to a different area of town, as the caches even seemed to be hidden a bit differently. Always good to get a taste of how others do it.
Soon I passed 300, and 400...hitting several FTFs and placing several Cache Me If You Can series caches, little places around Cincinnati that I love. I started clearing out Delhi, and getting into some of Colonel Mustards evil "LOST" series, such as Lost Puppy - GCVBPM, a nice 4/1 micro.
On February 27th ydissac and I celebrated my 2 month anniversary trying to get me to my 500th cache. We had a record 37 finds that day with a nice puzzle called Hybrid 5 in 1 - GC12XX7. With this cache, it gives you a log and also coords for 4 other P&Gs. You get 5 smileys for the price of one. It was an easy micro, but so much fun! ydissac and I shared a late night drink to celebrate! You can also listen to Podcacher episode 157 for my phoned in Milestone.
A lot ha
d happened in between 500 and 600 for me. My buddy Andy was enlisted into the military and was going away to boot camp. We were trying to figure out a good way to send him off. We went and bought some cigars, then went to the 4/4 puzzle, Let that which illuminated you, illuminate me - GCKFG3. It was nighttime (as recommended), snowy, and scary as hell. We started off, and it was actually my friends Kyle and Bob who came up with the find. Overall though, every had a great night and Andy was really glad we did that for him.
Not only that, but I went to Brazil for 2 weeks to play guitar for my school's choir tour. Since there weren't many caches there, I could only visit some of the waymarks. However, I did try looking for several caches there with my host, Noela. We went looking for a couple, but one hadn't been logged in almost two years, and the other a year. Luckily for me they both were missing. However, also luckily for me, the owners allowed me to log them, saying they would log me when they replace. Brasilia e seus lugares encantadores! - GCQ91P ended up being my number 550. However, while in Brazil...I started to forget about caching, and began obsessing over Brazil. The sites and sounds were gorgeous. I loved the place, and almost didn't want to leave. I got back home and immediately hated it...until I got back out caching again. I then realized I had lots to catch up with...and that I did!
I got to visit the Shawnee Lookout Cache - GC31A, the oldest cache in Cincinnati area/Ohio. I also tackled the evil 4.5/1.5 puzzle, IDIC/ MADAME WITCH AND COACH T THIS IS FOR YOU!! - GC19XNG I was so ready to be caching again, that I got to 700 in almost as much time as if I wasn't out of the country for 2 weeks. However, number 700 was not the easiest cache.
Pandora's Box - GC1A70R is the name of my 700, and Abuhhhh's 400 - and it was a devil of a hide. It's a 2.5/1 puzzle, where there are 5 keys disguised as travel bugs. Each key has 2 numbers from a set of coords. Get all 5 keys, all put out randomly around the OKI area, and you get the coords to Pandora's Box. It was Coolhipwithit who first found out it was coming about. She was out checking on one of her caches when Hiram, the owner, was placing the first key. She quickly grabbed the key and proceeded to tell Abuhhhh of the new cache that was in the works. He soon found out that 2 more keys got dropped. I decided to grab those two keys. Let me tell you that one of those keys I went for was in Mt. Airy where the EVIL was REALLY working. I was on my way to the cache as some older man started following me to it. I was on the phone with Abuhhhh telling him about it. I'd look around me, and the man was hiding behind a tree watching me. I am really positive I almost got raped...or mugged. Ugh...this Pandora's Box! We asked Coolhip if she wanted to exchange numbers, and she said sure....but then no other word. We got worried for a bit, but then decided we had the upper hand, so we'll be okay - let it play out. Finally, I noticed where the fourth key was placed and ran out to get it. 3 of the 5 keys now rested with us. We got so wound up about it. Day and night Abuhhhh and I both thought about and waited for this last key to get placed. Finally...it did. It was in Kentucky, and I was at work. I called Liyah an
d asked her if she would get it for us after telling her about it. She agreed. Abuhhhh and I were excited that Pandora's Box would finally be open. However...Liyah also held off the numbers unless we'd give her the numbers we had. The evil has shown again. We started thinking, "what can we do, what can we do!" Finally we decided, we'll just play it cool and see what happens. However, that only worked for so long as sleeplessness set in. It was the morning of the Doe Run CITO. After everything was over, we were walking back to the car when I had an idea - "what if Liyah has her key in her car? We could look at it and get her numbers!" I tried peering in, and low and behold it was hanging from her rear-view mirror. There it was...4 or the 5 sets of numbers. We finally got ahold of Coolhipwithit and decided to meet up, but we tried not to let out that we had that last set of numbers, besides...we all wanted to go together anyways. However, Liyah didn't feel up to it, so she told us the numbers, and we went out looking. While working on the wherabouts of the cache, Abuhhhh and I both got emails from Hiram saying he had to move the cache, and numbers from both of our keys had to be changed. We panicked, but got the updated coords, and started looking. First place we went too -nothing. Original coord location - nothing. AHHH! This Pandora's Box was driving us CRAZY! Later that day, while Abuhhhh and I were caching, Hiram called us, and told us there were coords we needed to ADD to what we had to make the cache work. We called Coolhipwithit, and she met us at the destination. We went out...and sure enough....THERE IT WAS! AT LONG LAST.
Phew...a CRAZY milestone indeed.
Around that same time...a CRAZY micro came out in Echo Park - Smaller than a Needle in a Haystack - GC1AWV5. It was a 5/1.5. I wanted to be FTF, but the coords put me in the middle of a field. I looked there for an hour with no luck. Days went by, and a few comments by the owner put me closer and closer to the cache. The Witch was FTF, then someone else found, then another. I was getting frustrated with it being the closest cache to me, and spent 7 trips going out there, and 6 hours looking. Finally...I came up with the grab.
I also ended up going back to Louisville for Thunder Over Louisville - the firework/ air show kick off to Derby. I loaded a query of earthcaches, virtuals, and some other caches around the city. It turned out to be a very successful weekend, pulling in 59 caches for me. It was until coming back to Cincinnati, and on the Winton Woods CITO that I was able to get myself to the big number 8-0-0.
That in so many (or so few) words brings me to today.
The next day I proposed to Kristen. I had been wondering how I would do it, and I had finally figured out how I would - geocaching.
On January 13th, 2008, I proposed to my girlfriend at Mt. Echo Park. We were going out caching on this cool, lightly raining day, and had stopped in the area. As we stepped out of the car, GPS in her hands seeking cache "GC1209" entitled "Surprise!", she started walking away from the cache location. As she made her way back she shortly after found a camo covered box. As she opened it she found a ring box...and in it, an engagement ring. I got down on my knee and asked her to marry me. Being the FTF, she took the ring. I myself left a girlfriend, and took a fiancee. The cache is now an active geocache, Our Engagement Cache - GC18KKF
After number 100, there was one day of caching I really enjoyed. I was out with my friend Kyle and we had the plan of taking some Mt. Airy caches out. Well, the first destination we had was this cache called Crazy Bike Trail - GC15Q3M. The problem with Crazy Bike Trail is that I didn't look anything up about before looking for it. I started reading logs after about a half hour of not finding anything, and read what people were talking about...RR2K#L and some other stuff. Since I was still new, I didn't know what RR2K#L was...thus not providing me with the information I needed to know where the cache was. Kyle and I left that area and finished all the caches on Kirby's Trail, which was a great hike, and a great series of caches. After we finished we went and grabbed some lunch, and I started reading some logs about CBT. I then came across the comment EarTrumpet had just made about maintenance on the cache. "Didn't see many spiders today, and the raccoon wasn't around, but I did see the bat. Let's see if this container outlives the first two." It was talking with Kyle about this little blurb that got us thinking we knew where we had to look. We went back to the site and immediately planned how to get to the cache. However, was that was the easy way? No...we hadn't spotted that yet. Our was was through the narrow chute...under the 200lb concrete slab we moved. Sheesh. But the good news is we made the grab, and it was the highlight of my caching career at that point. I can't wait to do more like these!
There were more here and there caches which got me to my next milestone, Yellow Handle Communicator - GC18ZD2 Yet again, another challenging micro, only because I had never, and still haven't found one like it. I guess the closest I have gotten to are some of the magnetic micros, but this one was on the back of the ad below the phone. Very tricky...took me several visits and having the owner, Liyah actually out with me to get this one.I slowly started trying to clear out my downtown area, and even went up to Dayton with Liyah and ydissac to try knocking out some caches there. We ran into POKERBUZZ, and they helped us with lots of caches around. However, one thing they couldn't really help us with was Lane Change - GCVYCK , a 3/4 Multi cache. Liyah was the brave one to get this cache for us. What a rush just watching! This cache involved climbing 2 very different types of trees, very high up. Once to get the second stage, and the second time to retrieve the cache. It was neat going to a different area of town, as the caches even seemed to be hidden a bit differently. Always good to get a taste of how others do it.
Soon I passed 300, and 400...hitting several FTFs and placing several Cache Me If You Can series caches, little places around Cincinnati that I love. I started clearing out Delhi, and getting into some of Colonel Mustards evil "LOST" series, such as Lost Puppy - GCVBPM, a nice 4/1 micro.
On February 27th ydissac and I celebrated my 2 month anniversary trying to get me to my 500th cache. We had a record 37 finds that day with a nice puzzle called Hybrid 5 in 1 - GC12XX7. With this cache, it gives you a log and also coords for 4 other P&Gs. You get 5 smileys for the price of one. It was an easy micro, but so much fun! ydissac and I shared a late night drink to celebrate! You can also listen to Podcacher episode 157 for my phoned in Milestone.A lot ha
d happened in between 500 and 600 for me. My buddy Andy was enlisted into the military and was going away to boot camp. We were trying to figure out a good way to send him off. We went and bought some cigars, then went to the 4/4 puzzle, Let that which illuminated you, illuminate me - GCKFG3. It was nighttime (as recommended), snowy, and scary as hell. We started off, and it was actually my friends Kyle and Bob who came up with the find. Overall though, every had a great night and Andy was really glad we did that for him.Not only that, but I went to Brazil for 2 weeks to play guitar for my school's choir tour. Since there weren't many caches there, I could only visit some of the waymarks. However, I did try looking for several caches there with my host, Noela. We went looking for a couple, but one hadn't been logged in almost two years, and the other a year. Luckily for me they both were missing. However, also luckily for me, the owners allowed me to log them, saying they would log me when they replace. Brasilia e seus lugares encantadores! - GCQ91P ended up being my number 550. However, while in Brazil...I started to forget about caching, and began obsessing over Brazil. The sites and sounds were gorgeous. I loved the place, and almost didn't want to leave. I got back home and immediately hated it...until I got back out caching again. I then realized I had lots to catch up with...and that I did!
I got to visit the Shawnee Lookout Cache - GC31A, the oldest cache in Cincinnati area/Ohio. I also tackled the evil 4.5/1.5 puzzle, IDIC/ MADAME WITCH AND COACH T THIS IS FOR YOU!! - GC19XNG I was so ready to be caching again, that I got to 700 in almost as much time as if I wasn't out of the country for 2 weeks. However, number 700 was not the easiest cache.
Pandora's Box - GC1A70R is the name of my 700, and Abuhhhh's 400 - and it was a devil of a hide. It's a 2.5/1 puzzle, where there are 5 keys disguised as travel bugs. Each key has 2 numbers from a set of coords. Get all 5 keys, all put out randomly around the OKI area, and you get the coords to Pandora's Box. It was Coolhipwithit who first found out it was coming about. She was out checking on one of her caches when Hiram, the owner, was placing the first key. She quickly grabbed the key and proceeded to tell Abuhhhh of the new cache that was in the works. He soon found out that 2 more keys got dropped. I decided to grab those two keys. Let me tell you that one of those keys I went for was in Mt. Airy where the EVIL was REALLY working. I was on my way to the cache as some older man started following me to it. I was on the phone with Abuhhhh telling him about it. I'd look around me, and the man was hiding behind a tree watching me. I am really positive I almost got raped...or mugged. Ugh...this Pandora's Box! We asked Coolhip if she wanted to exchange numbers, and she said sure....but then no other word. We got worried for a bit, but then decided we had the upper hand, so we'll be okay - let it play out. Finally, I noticed where the fourth key was placed and ran out to get it. 3 of the 5 keys now rested with us. We got so wound up about it. Day and night Abuhhhh and I both thought about and waited for this last key to get placed. Finally...it did. It was in Kentucky, and I was at work. I called Liyah an
d asked her if she would get it for us after telling her about it. She agreed. Abuhhhh and I were excited that Pandora's Box would finally be open. However...Liyah also held off the numbers unless we'd give her the numbers we had. The evil has shown again. We started thinking, "what can we do, what can we do!" Finally we decided, we'll just play it cool and see what happens. However, that only worked for so long as sleeplessness set in. It was the morning of the Doe Run CITO. After everything was over, we were walking back to the car when I had an idea - "what if Liyah has her key in her car? We could look at it and get her numbers!" I tried peering in, and low and behold it was hanging from her rear-view mirror. There it was...4 or the 5 sets of numbers. We finally got ahold of Coolhipwithit and decided to meet up, but we tried not to let out that we had that last set of numbers, besides...we all wanted to go together anyways. However, Liyah didn't feel up to it, so she told us the numbers, and we went out looking. While working on the wherabouts of the cache, Abuhhhh and I both got emails from Hiram saying he had to move the cache, and numbers from both of our keys had to be changed. We panicked, but got the updated coords, and started looking. First place we went too -nothing. Original coord location - nothing. AHHH! This Pandora's Box was driving us CRAZY! Later that day, while Abuhhhh and I were caching, Hiram called us, and told us there were coords we needed to ADD to what we had to make the cache work. We called Coolhipwithit, and she met us at the destination. We went out...and sure enough....THERE IT WAS! AT LONG LAST.Phew...a CRAZY milestone indeed.
Around that same time...a CRAZY micro came out in Echo Park - Smaller than a Needle in a Haystack - GC1AWV5. It was a 5/1.5. I wanted to be FTF, but the coords put me in the middle of a field. I looked there for an hour with no luck. Days went by, and a few comments by the owner put me closer and closer to the cache. The Witch was FTF, then someone else found, then another. I was getting frustrated with it being the closest cache to me, and spent 7 trips going out there, and 6 hours looking. Finally...I came up with the grab.
I also ended up going back to Louisville for Thunder Over Louisville - the firework/ air show kick off to Derby. I loaded a query of earthcaches, virtuals, and some other caches around the city. It turned out to be a very successful weekend, pulling in 59 caches for me. It was until coming back to Cincinnati, and on the Winton Woods CITO that I was able to get myself to the big number 8-0-0.
That in so many (or so few) words brings me to today.
An introduction of sorts.
In attempting to have a regular geocaching blog, it wouldn't hurt to describe how I got to this position. My name is Brian; BTBAM for you geocachers. I am 22 years old and started geocaching December 27th, 2007. I work at a civil engineering company as a lab/field technician, and while out on a job along the East Miami River my co-worker Brian (ydissac) took me to my first geocache: GCHPEC - Historical Cemetery #2 - Dunlap Station. From that moment I became addicted. That day or the next, I'm not sure anymore, I ordered a Garmin GPSmap 60CSx from Ebay. Ever since, I've been caching nearly every day. Today, it's a week shy of 4 months of caching for me, and I just got my 800th cache. I've had lots of slow weeks (only getting 40-50 a week) but lately I've been averaging around 100 a week. I'm sure it will slow down, but for now I can't help it.
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