Day 76 Everything Ends

The streak is dead. I didn't realize it when it died, but it ended on October 2nd in a quiet churchyard in Solon, Ohio with a film can micro disguised as a small. Before the August souvenirs, I think our longest streak of consecutive days was 24 including when we vacationed in Pennsylvania for the Allegheny GeoTrail. We ended August and hoped to beat our longest drought of 46 days. We did that and then some. For a few numbers:

331 finds
9 states
2 countries
15 multis
24 puzzles
1 amazing event (Parker Dam State Park)
1 super vacation in New England with a day in Quebec
31 new favorite caches
a treasure of new memories

I had a business trip in late October so we were hoping to keep the streak alive through that trip and maybe hit 100 days. On October 3rd, I was busy at work and got home near dark. Ali wasn't feeling well. In the end our best option for keeping the streak alive was dragging ourselves off to a nearby Cleveland Metropark to hunt a newer multi in the dark. We would have the streak, but would have exchanged the relaxing journey of finding a perfectly good multi in a wonderful park for one more spot filled on the streak. I'm glad we'll be able to enjoy that trail and that multi on our own schedule. I passed by a chance earlier in the day to grab a quick find so I could take a break at lunch at the nearby arboretum. I think I made the right choice. Long live the streak.

Day 32

What do you mean there's no more souvenirs? ;-) It was easy to extend our streak on the holiday weekend. We were caching the afternoon in McKean County. This image is from along the Tuna Trail. Since the souvenirs are gone, I made our own for today. It's time to move on, but the streak has been fun. Maybe there will be one more posting when, or should I say if, we break through with a longer found streak than our longest dry spell. I hope you enjoyed these as much as we enjoyed finding all the caches.

Day 31

We did it! It was close for a couple days, but we made it. It was a tough call for the day's picture. As the summer winds down, the fields are dotted with new england asters which make a great photo. We also started the day at an old cemetery with a majestic oak at the entrance. The decision for the image was finally decided as we were driving to a cache and Ali spotted an eagle on a small pond in Crawford County. I think we have seen more eagles in Crawford than we have in any other county. It's an exciting sight no matter how often it happens.

It was a big caching month for us. We had one of our highest months for finds with 162, including six multis and ten puzzles. I found our first intercache in Spokane. In an unusual activity for us, we found two night caches. We also marked six of our finds as favorites. We usually mark about one of every twenty so it was a good month with a few well done hides. We had fun for the month. It didn't make me want to run a long streak, but we will try to carry it on for a little longer so we have a find streak which is greater than our streak of days with no finds (43). Maybe we can carry it forward through vacation.

Day 30

This was the one day in the month where we almost missed a find. We were planning to spend the day at the Geauga County Fair and knew there was a cache at the fairgrounds. We both expected to find that cache for our one for the day. I suggested we make a small detour to find a cache at a cemetery on the way to the fair. It was a good move since neither of us had noticed the fair ground cache appeared to be missing. We looked for the cache at the fairgrounds with a friend who also caches, but it appears to be gone. We were lucky to have stopped at this nice cemetery on the way.

Day 29

I was on my way home and stopped for a couple caches in Jefferson National Forest. I didn't find the first in a nice pine stand despite a long search, but came up with a nice hide along a pleasant trail with the second one. I was hoping to hunt a cache at an old picnic area along Big Walker Road, but the thought of over three miles of driving on an unmaintained, narrow mountain road made me turn back almost as soon as I started. Maybe on a return trip I can make the high up Big Walker Mountain from a parking area at the bottom. The view from the top of Big Walker Mountain is impressive.

Day 28

This evening was my first trip to Jonesville and Elkin. Jonesville is a town that missed a chance to be part of the NASCAR circuit. The town had a very popular dirt track in the days leading up to the start of NASCAR. It was a racing stop for racing pioneers Lee Petty, Buck Baker, and Junior Johnson. When NASCAR formed the local owners decided to not become a part of the new racing circuit and the die was cast for the eventual end of Jonesville Speedway. Elkin is on the other side of the Yadkin River. The image below was taken from the boat launch at a quiet city park. I found a cache very near this spot.

Day 27

My usual resting place in Salisbury was out of rooms so I was staying in Lexington for the evening. Normally the thought of a new area and route to cache would excite me, but I just wanted to finish my trip successfully and go home. I found a few on the way including one at this deserted park. The streak continued and a new souvenir was ours.

Day 26

It was time for another trip to North Carolina for work. I was able to find a few caches in West Virginia and one in Virginia on my journey to Wytheville. The image below is from a nice overlook cache in West Virginia along I77. The cache was a good hide and took me a bit to find. The month is dwindling, but we now have our longest find streak.

Day 25

We returned yet again to Chardon for our daily challenge find. We found two. Our first was at an undeveloped piece of land in an industrial park. The cache was inside one of the old car tires that had been discarded at the site. Our second find was at a local retail shop for a farm that specializes in food products from maple sap. They weren't exciting, but at least they were both non-micros. We celebrated our victories with a visit to the local ice cream stand and a long walk at a favorite park. The bridge below is from Whitlam Woods which has no unfound caches for us. It doesn't have anything to do with the days finds other then if we weren't out caching, we would not have enjoyed an evening at the park.

Day 24

Some Ohio State Parks are cache magnets. Findley Lake is the most recent to gather a significant number of hides. After parking the car we did mulitple miles around the lake with the dogs. Lots of caches and a fun time. Ali is amazing at spotting birds. We were hiking in the woods and near a cache when she looked over and spotted this heron along a stream. They are usually gone at the first approach of a human and sometimes depart with the sound of the camera motor. This one hung around long enough for a few images.

Day 23

Ali brought the Geodogs and met me at my office so we could travel over to Cleveland Metroparks' South Chagrin Reservation and walk the Buckeye Trail behind Shadow Lake. It was a great way to spend my lunch time and pick up the day's souvenir.

Day 22

Our journey for a geocache this evening brought us to Geauga Park District's Maple Highlands Bike Trail. Bike trails have become hosts to hundreds of caches locally. The weather this evening was perfect for taking a walk with Gwen and Phineas on this popular bike trail.

Day 21

We needed a cache, and we needed to go for groceries. There was an unfound cache in the edge of the woods at a nearby soccer park with our usual grocery store nearby. The cache was a nice throwback to the ones that we feasted on when we started caching. It was a reasonable size and hidden in the woods. It was a perfect fit, and dinner was great.

Day 20

After work I went out to seek our cache for the day. After a couple of missed attempts and muggles, I stopped at a nice, community park in Walton Hills where we have cached before. The cache was at the mid-point of a hiking trail that surrounded the ball fields and tennis courts. The park is heavily landscaped and had these flowers along the back of a concession stand.

Day 19

We had solved a new puzzle in Chardon and made that our find for the day. The puzzle was not far from our favorite miniature golf location so we stopped after the cache find and enjoyed a round. Ali had a tough start, but rallied for a big win.

Day 18

After lawn mowing and other outdoor chores, we returned to SGL91 southeast of Corry for a late afternoon of caching. The dogs were happy for a chance to take a long walk on the trail. Ali spotted some nice foxglove which almost made the blog photo, but how often can I get to use square-stemmed monkey flower in a blog post?

Day 17

We spent World Geocaching Day at the Laurel Mill Ski area. A number of years prior we enjoyed a fun day with friends participating in a Cito at this long cross-country trail. Today we returned with Gwen and Phineas to search for a number of the 46 caches now dotting the trails. Our day included 18 finds including an older multi and a lot of walking. It also included a very painful sting for Ali. :-(

Day 16

I have to admit that I am beginning to enjoy West Virginia caching. It takes a bit to get to the caches while driving the winding roads, but the trails are great and there are a lot of container caches available. Today's cache was at Summersville Lake. I missed a turn and took the wrong trail so I added a half star or so to the terrain, but it was a fun adventure with a big grouping of cardinal flower in bloom along the trail. The cache will be a favorite whenever we catch up on logging.

Day 15

It was an evening of caching in two states, North Carolina and Virginia. I was on my way home and was able to stop for a few finds. I was able to take some great walks and enjoy two super streams as well as teaming up with Ali to find a puzzle cache and meeting a new pair of cachers. It was a good day in the search for 31 days in a row.

Day 14

Today's find was going to take a lunchtime effort. I had an evening meeting for work between five and seven and didn't want to be potentially be caching in the dark. Instead, I made my way out at lunch to search for a multi about three miles from the office. It was low risk. I had found quality caches before hidden by the hider. It was a small at a park. What could go wrong? For starters, as I pulled into the parking lot of the park, I realized stage one was a skirt lifter about 30 feet from the picnic pavillion. The pavillion was filled with moms and toddlers attending what appeared to be a mommy lunch. Undaunted, I looked around and spotted an area at the far end of the park. It looked like a great area to stash a second stage. After the walk over, it took a minute or two before stage two was in hand. Stage three coordinates were entered in the gps and I was off to find the stage.... which was a second skirt lifter at the corner of a parked city services truck complete with two city employees enjoying lunch in the truck. :-( What was there to do besides take a walk in the woods at the other end of the park? I left the park with no find, but a nice walk.

I grabbed the find for the day with a micro at a small park about a mile away. To avoid muggles, I had to check my email while sitting on a rock about 30 feet from a mother and daughter enjoying a game of tennis. The nice flower below was from the park with the multi. Lunch didn't turn out as planned, but the find was made and a walk in the woods enjoyed.