Our Cache Was Stolen....

In the fall I noticed a small garbage can in the desk accessories at a Target. I immediately thought cache container. After some persuasion, Ali agreed it would be a good cache container. Our Cache Is Trash was born. We placed the cache in a nearby Cleveland Metropark along a section of trail where we could cover it well.

The cache made it almost five months before it was discovered and taken. :-( Luckily for us, the thief did not take the container home. It was merely moved to a social trail over a quarter-mile away. Our luck was even better since a local cacher who also runs and had found the cache happened to catch a glimpse of the container when out on a run.

With the information sent in an email, I headed off to the park with our intrepid geodog Gwen. We were able to spot the .2 mile side trail quickly, but had to walk back and forth on the trail four or five times before I finally spotted the tiny trash can in a tree down a ravine. The new hiding spot had raised the terrain rating significantly. The person who spotted the cache indicated it was eye level from the trail. That was correct if you were standing on the trail, but the cache was up in a tree part way down the ravine. The person who moved the container must have scooted along a downed tree and reached across to the upper branch to locate the container. I was really glad I had Gwen along for this retrieval as she is a very patient dog on the trail and gave me time to recover the cache.

I was lucky to spot the small container in the tree branches. The trunk below is the one needed to reach the container.

It was interesting to see how much the basic cache had changed in the few months since it had been placed. We never expected the trash can to be the container and had placed a pill bottle with the log book inside the trash can. Someone had taken the pill bottle (I guess the big orange label with the words "Cache Log" on the outside of the pill bottle wasn't clear.) The log book was located in the trash can which had gathered a few pieces of swag.

The container will live on in a different Cleveland Metropark with its new title, Our Cache Was Trashed. Hopefully, it will have at least another five month run before it is exposed.

Zero Feet

We've been caching for a long time. Reading zero feet at the cache site doesn't happen very often, at least not until lately. Recently, I have been at at least four different caches where the distance read zero feet while I was at the cache. Has anyone else noticed zero feet as the distance to cache when standing at the cache site?

Logging Events

I am wearing my Mr. Ollivander wizard hat for this post.

We really enjoy attending and hosting events. We have a special Signal notebook that we use for attendees who wish to sign the logs at our events. For us, it's a scrapbook of times spent with cachers. I've noticed a number of events with notes "requiring" the log book be signed. The Cache Listing Guidelines specifically prohibit this practice with the logging guideline stating, "An event cache can be logged online if the cacher has attended the event. Event cache owners can request that cachers sign a logbook, but this is optional and cannot be a requirement for logging an event cache."

So relax, enjoy your event, and ask attendees to leave a memory for you.

Kinzua Valley Trail Coin

Our Kinzua Valley Trail coin has arrived. It's unique for us since this is the first trackable, wooden coin we've owned. It's a nice coin with some really well done packaging. We had a great time on the four-cache geotrail. If you want a nice, hike and you will in Northwest Pennsylvania, this is a good trail for you. You can check out our adventures on the trail at this post.

Marion County Geo Trail

We hadn't planned to spend a month outside of Pennsylvania, but a lack of heat in the house was enough to keep us away. We've been working toward the Great 880 Challenge which requires ten caches in each Ohio county. Our efforts last year to push Marion County over ten seemed to always meet with a mix of dnf's, muggled caches, and missing caches. We were both feeling snakebit in Marion County so a few weekend days with no snow flying and the lure of a coin at the end of a geotrail were enough to get us back to Marion to push this county past ten.

We made three journeys to Marion before returning victoriously with our coin. We found some really nice caches, and spotted a few areas that may offer additional chances to view prairie wildflowers next summer. The geotrail caches were really easy hides but they were all interesting because they gave a view of some piece of Marion County history. I really enjoyed chasing through the county and learning while geocaching. In the end we pushed Marion way beyond the required ten finds of the Great 880 Challenge and now stand at 43. We were also able to visit a couple dozen waymarks on our journey. It was a super way to help push the calendar towards spring.