Our New Cache Has Cooties

Six days and no finds....  Hmmm

It's in a scenic area.

It's an easy find hidden below a rock at the base of a downed tree.

It's near a beautiful spot on the water.  You can even float the Allegheny and make a stop for a find.

Oh well, maybe some day....   😞

When Streaking....

it helps to have a place to duck in and put your clothes back on. 😉

Save A Decon

Decons seem to be the one container are most often not closed properly.  This fun, older video from the Florida Geocaching Association shows the proper way to close a decon.  Remember 1-2-3-4 clicks.

RIP bubbabeernut

bubbabeernut recently passed.  It's funny how sometimes you can know a cacher and not even know his name.  In this case it was Doug Foster.  I always called him bubba.  He always responded.  He was always friendly.

I published bubba's first hide in 2007.  skeetsurfer published his last in June of this year.  In total there were 407 hides placed by Doug (it seems weird calling him that).  He introduced us to the St. Marys Sportsman Club through the caches he placed there.  He also showed us the wonders of the Quehenna Wild Area.  You can't place caches there, but you can place them in the nearby State Game Lands and he did.  He spent his life in the woods in the area and knew of quirky pieces of the past where he took cachers with his hides as well as great wild areas.

Very few of bubba's caches were serious.  All containers were some sort of toy or gimmick.  Some made you laugh while others made you roll your eyes.  The adventures were always fun outings.

He often cached with his dogs.  When we first met him, he was caching with Darby.  There was also Bailey who was with him on his last outings.  

We will miss his goofy caches in great locations.  We will miss seeing him at events.  One of the toughest parts of the days passing is people passing with it.  Elk County has lost some amazing cachers through the years.

RIP, bubba er Doug...  may you be able to say hello to the geodogs at the rainbow bridge.

Knox County Parks GeoTrail

We spend a weekend each summer with a drive to the prairie pioneer cemeteries near Plain City.  After our Friday visit to the cemeteries to see the wildflowers and hummingbirds, we pick an adventure or two for the rest of the weekend.  This year we planned to visit Columbus Metro Parks for hiking on Saturday.  Our plan was to spend Sunday in Knox County finding caches on the Knox County Parks GeoTrail.

Our Sunday adventures did not work out as planned.  We ran into what we believe was the oak leaf itch mite in Columbus MetroParks.  It's name is very descriptive and the bites do make someone miserable.  I was lucky with limited bites while Ali was miserable on Saturday night.  We gamely made our way through four of the seven caches in the Knox series before she gave in to the fatigue of almost no sleep the evening before.

The day's visits took us Thayer Ridge, Wolf Run, Indianfield Bluffs, and Hellbender Preserve Parks.  Our visits gave us wildflowers,

great old buildings structures along the bike trail,

and some nice birding and views along water.

We both wanted to spend more time at Wolf Run, and I wished for a bike for the super ride at Hellbender Preserve, but Ali was clearly suffering from the bites.

It was a couple weeks before we returned for the last three caches.  This time we were joined by Lizzie and Phin who were ready for an afternoon's trail adventures.  We visited Bat Nest, Honey Run Highlands, and Honey Run Waterfalls Parks.  It was an afternoon of butterflies, wildflowers, and a nice waterfall.

We had a great time with this GeoTrail.  It is well worth a visit to enjoy these parks and find the caches in the series.  Completing the trail also includes a well done coin from Knox County Parks.

Geodog Fun

We were visiting Knox County and spotted these Harry Potter glasses in a cache.  Lizzie wanted nothing to do with modeling wizard glasses, but Phin was ready to look like a fashion dog.