DNF!!!!!

So last night was the Fluttercat Chat (Event cache). We decided since the Sommers, Ian, Kristen, and I were all available, it would be a great night to try the night cache "Caesar's Darkside" - GCACEE right? WRONG! We had a great hike in. the area was beautiful, and we came at just about the right time. We had enough light to see around, but by the time we got to the destination we require darkess for, it was provided. However...that is also when the problems began...WE COULDN'T FIND THE REFLECTORS! It was aweful. We were out there I'd say an hour and a half with no luck at all. We called several people (as we always do) and no direction helped us find it. We came to the conclusion it is missing, and the markers have been removed. The bigger problem with that is that the owner hasn't logged into the cache site in almost a year, so this may never get put back for us to grab. Aweful. That is what a call a FAILED MILESTONE ATTEMPT!

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!

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 campgrounds 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.