Strolling Stark GeoTour

The Strolling Stark GeoTour is a ten cache trail in a county south of our Ohio home. We decided to make this tour one of our winter geocaching goals. In 2013 we completed the Marion County GeoTrail in the winter months. It was a perfect way to shorten the winter and get some exercise. Marion's tour was a lot of fun and is still a positive memory for us. The Stark GeoTour promised even more since the trail was released with the support of the county park system. Stark Parks is a scenic park system so the chance of winter walks in the park was enticing.

We started in mid-January with a trip to Stark Parks' Walborn Reservoir. Ohio can be quite grey in January, but walking the trails here helped move the winter along. With only ten caches in the series, we could have raced through the county and finished in one day. There are enough interesting things to see and caches to find that we chose to spread the tour over multiple visits.

Icy Walborn Reservoir from near the boat house. There is a cache on one of the islands and the park rents boats (non-motorized) if you care to add a T5 to your journey. Local cachers, thekamphs, made our planning easy. They have placed many well maintained caches in Stark Parks which give trail cachers a reason to stay at places like Walborn and enjoy the sights.

Our Deercreek Reservoir visit was the greyest, snowiest geocaching day of the winter.

The following weekedn, we returned for more of the trail and were treated to blue skies and sunshine.

We finished the GeoTour on a bright blue day in early February.

We made four visits to the county to finish the GeoTour. We enjoyed the parks, the history, and the caches. The coordinates were good. The locations were interesting. This is a first rate geotrail. Meeting the trail requirements also means a trackable coin.

Follow Your Arrow

Coke has finally released a special bottle celebrating geocaching. ;) Remember to follow your arrow often and enjoy the journey.

A Store of Our Own

I'm lucky to be able to cache in Spokane when there on business. Besides outstanding natural beauty, the area is filled with a dedicated group of cachers who have provided me hours of fun on trails with high-quality geocaches. Spokane also boasts having one of the only two brick-and-mortar geocaching stores in the US. My first visit to the Cache Cave was for the Back to the Future geocaching event. I've been back a few times for supplies. Everyone is friendly. They are all geocachers. The store is well stocked. It's a must visit if you are in the Spokane area. I try to leave a little space in my luggage for purchases on the chance I can stop for a visit when I am in town.

Make certain you bring a favorite point for giving the well-done Tardis cache outside the store.

Best Flashmob Theme Yet?

The Hotel Matthews in Akron, Ohio was torn down in 1982. In its day, the hotel served the African American community in the neighborhood and provided lodging for a number of artists including Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington as they performed in the area.

image source unknown

In memory of this now departed landmark, an artist created Hotel Matthews.

image source: Clio

Local cacher AHOLLYS is hosting a flashmob at the work requesting cachers bring a bag and form a line for check-in.

Her flash mob theme is completely appropriate and a perfect example of the spontaneous nature these events should capture. Hopefully, there will be a long line waiting for check-in.