Thursday, October 28, 2010

Critter #7 - Creek Watcher 2

This was one of the more interesting cache containers I've seen in awhile. I could tell by the name of this geocache, Critter #7 Creek Watcher 2, that an animal or other small creature was involved in some way. This cache was hidden beneath some large bushes that bordered the parking lot of a landscaping company store.
Is that a geocache in your mouth?
There's the critter!



 

He's actually pretty friendly!

Myerstown Lock

A small park in Myerstown borders a youth baseball field.  Several easy trails and paths run through it beside a creek that winds deeper into the woods.  The geocache Myerstown Lock is hidden in those woods.  The container was an old army ammo can.  It was hidden underneath some large old rocks that make up the end of a crumbling old wall in the middle of the woods.  Aparently, this is where the Myerstown lock chamber was located on the Tulpehocken creek. 

An old wall in the middle of the woods.

The end of the wall.  The geocache container is in there somewhere.

The ammo can container filled with some decent swag.

Mount Ain't No Cache

I had several hours to kill between meetings today, so I took my time exploring Myerstown, PA because it was right between the locations of my morning and afternoon meetings.  The first cache I found was called Mount Ain't No Cache, which I assume is named in some way for Mount Aetna.

The cache was hidden at the back edge of an old cemetary, which sat high above the surrounding land.  The cache was easy to find, and the view of the farmland below was spectacular. 

The cache container hidden underneath some rocks.

The opened container.

Another gorgeous view.

Scenic view from Mount Aetna.

A beautiful view.






Monday, October 25, 2010

I Hate Micros

I had some time to kill between meetings while working out by Harrisburg, so I went out to grab a cache called I Hate Micros.  It was hidden on the far edge of a gigantic deserted parking lot behind an old movie theater.  I got to the area where the container should have been, but it was nowhere to be found.  After a few more minutes of searching, I finally discovered it on the ground, half buried in the dirt and mud.  It looked like it had fallen off of the nearby tree where it was hanging.  I signed the log and re-hung the container (a camo'd bison tube) from the tree. 
Can you see it?  A camo'd bison tube.


There it is!


Sneaky little sucker!



Friday, October 8, 2010

Le Croissant

The Le Croissant travel bug was inside one of the caches that Gino and I found this afternoon, Walk Around The Walls. This unusual little trinket started its journey in Germany in December of 2006.  Over the past 4 years, this thing has traveled over 12,000 miles! 

The tag on this travel bug has the same basic message in both German and French. 
In German it says:
"Das kleine Croissant möchte die Welt kennen lernen. Gerne würde es seine Heimat Frankreich besuchen. Auf andere Länder mit leckeren Backwaren ist es aber auch neugierig. Bitte macht ein Foto, von den leckeren Backwaren, wenn ihr die Möglichkeit dazu habt." 
In French it says:
"Le petit croissant voudrait faire la connaissance du monde. Volontiers cela visiterait son pays natal la France. Cependant c'est aussi curieux d'autres pays(terres) avec les pâtisseries délicieuses. S'il vous plaît, fait une photo, des pâtisseries délicieuses, si vous avez la possibilité de cela."

11th & 17th Birthday Cache

Gino asked me this afternoon if we could go treasure hunting because it's a beautiful warm day, plus it's been awhile since we last went. So I looked up a few decent geocaches nearby and off we went. We found 11th & 17th Birthday Cache hidden in the woods in Wenonah. It was a nice walk, the temp was just right, and we had fun.

Inside the cache container, Gino found the Jim Jaggers travel bug. It's a little army guy, very similar to our own Recon Soldier. We'll try to find a good place to help him continue his journey.

The Phantom Zone

The second geocache that Gino and I found today was The Phantom Zone, hidden in the same wooded park as the other cache.

The GPS signal was weak under all the trees, and I couldn't get an accurate position to help find the container. After looking for ten or fifteen minutes, Gino suddenly jumped up and said, "Dad, I bet it's under that broken tree!" Of course, I swear I looked there, and we had climbed over and around that tree a few times already, but I never saw it. Once Gino started looking in that area, he found the container in amount a minute.

Inside the cache container was an Evil Micro geocoin. We'll look for a truly nasty evil micro cache to put this in sometime soon!

Monday, August 23, 2010

NGS Benchmark JU0679

Set into the side of the Mary Ethel Costello school in Gloucester City is NGS Benchmark JU0679. The date stamped into the disc is 1930, which is apparently when the school was built.

Friday, July 23, 2010

The Saviors

After finishing up my second meeting of the day in Glassboro, I took a short stroll through a small park by a pond and grabbed The Saviors geocache. It was a small bottle covered with camouflage tape, hidden in the thick shrubbery at the base of a small tree. It was easy to find and the park was beautiful, which made for a nice little break from working in the afternoon.

A beautiful park beside a pond
Another view of the pond fountain
Small gazebo across the pond
The cache is hidden in here
Ground Zero
The camo'd cache container

Rowan's Cache

After a morning meeting nearby, I had some time to kill before my next appointment, so I took a stroll along a beautiful wooded path on the Rowan Universtiy campus and grabbed Rowan's Cache. It was situated in the crook of a large tree in the middle of the wooded area, just slightly off the main pathway. If I were a few inches shorter, I might not have been able to reach this, but as it was I only had to stand on the very tips of my toes to grab the container (a vitamin bottle covered with camouflage tape). Inside the bottle was nothing really special, so I put my Coins Of The World travel bug inside for the next geocacher.
The Big Tree

Can you see the cache hidden in there?

Camo'd Vitamin Bottle
Cache contents (with my Coins Of The World TB)

Vehicle Travel Bug


This is another item I picked up from the Groundspeak Shop. It's a Vehicle Travel Bug decal that sticks to the inside of your window, making your car trackable. I really like this one because it's not a sticker that's permanent, but a decal that you can remove and transfer somewhere else. If I ever buy a new car, this can come with me...

Backpacker Travel Bug

I recently got this Backpacker Travel Bug from the Groundspeak Shop. It's a pretty neat little trackable that actually attaches to the lid of a standard 35mm film container. The idea expands on ordinary traveling coins and bugs by allowing you to make a small container trackable. Now I just have to figure out where to drop it off and what to put in the film canister!

The top of the Backpacker TB
The bottom of the Backpacker TB
The Backpacker TB fitted onto a 35mm film container

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Hoo-Ray at Haa-Rah's

Some friends and I stayed the night in Atlantic City at Harrah's Casino. After losing a few bucks playing poker, I walked outside to sulk and while in the parking lot I noticed a cache nearby called Hoo-Ray at Haa-Rah's. The description was funny and the location was within easy walking distance from Harrah's.

This photo shows the nano container. It was stuck under a bench along a paved path behind Harrah's Casino.

This photo shows the view of Harrah's Casino from where the geocache was located.

This photo shows the view of the Borgata from where the geocache was located.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Think Pink

The second geocache that I found with Ron this afternoon was called Think Pink. It was actually in the woods beside Presidential Lakes on the old Pink Trail that we used to ride our bikes on as kids. The trail goes on for miles and twists all through the woods, and this is another area I haven't been to in many many years. It was fun walking back there with Ron, being all nostalgic and laughing at the stupid things we did as kids. The cache itself wasn't hard to find, especially because it was appropriately colored pink. We forgot our pen in the car, so didn't get to sign the log, which sucks but is an excuse to go hiking another time...

Deep Hollow Pond

While visiting Ron today, we went out to hide his first geocache (Pink & Mossy). There were two other caches that we found nearby. The first was called Deep Hollow Pond, and the cache site was actually the floor of one of the long-since-disappearred cabins that used to circle the pond.It was a little weird being back by this pond because I haven't been anywhere near this area for over 10 years, and it's probably been closer to 15 years since I was actually by this pond.Walking through the woods in the middle of nowhere and seeing an old stone floor appear in front of you is weird enough. But the fact that the floor is in surprisingly good condition is even more unusual. There are actually a few other ruins like this around the pond too.