Cache of the Month

Little did I know, but recently my cache outside of Mellen "Mt. Whittlesey" (GC141TC) was nominated and then chosen as the Northern region Cache of the Month in Wisconsin.  Not something I was expecting given the cache has been out for a few years, but glad that it was honored.  It was the first cache I placed back in 2007, and the location itself brings back lots of memories for me.  In second grade we hiked up to the top for a field trip and that was the first time I experienced the view of Mellen and beyond.  Later, it became one of my favorite training runs during the high school cross country season.  It's 6 miles round trip and a vertical climb of 700 feet with most of that happening in the last mile.  I loved exploring the ruins in the area while riding the ATV trails and discovering even more of the local history.  Of all of the caches I have placed, this still remains my favorite.

northwoods caching... so much better.

In the last week I've had a chance to do two full days of caching...  One up north, one in Madison.  I realize after caching up north how much I miss caching in Arizona (weird thought, but I'll explain in a bit).

The northwoods day of caching was not exactly the best weather.  It was about 45 degrees and raining.  Of course the target that day was over a mile into the woods with multiple stream crossings... basically no way of staying dry no matter how hard we tried.   Overall it was still a great adventure with Hayward Cheesehead and krymdog.  We hit GCNMJF - Lost Falls near Cornucopia and then six or seven around the area.  Afterwards, I met up with CommanderUSN who happened to be in the neighborhood for work and did 10 more in the Hayward area.  Overall a very successful day...  great caches found, great area to cache in, and even the weather helped add to the adventure.
Caching in northern Wisconsin reminds me of caching in Arizona.  Where I first started caching, there were lots of caches spread out in the desert and a few in town that highlighted special spots in the city.  Even the caches in the city were fun to do because they brought you to unique locations.  The caches in the desert were an experience to do...  never just a quick one without something special.  Even in the desert you had great scenery, difficult terrain, or some other feature making it worthwhile.

Now caching the city has started to wear on me.  I admit the first time through in Madison it was a lot of fun because it brought be to all parts of town and I hadn't been to many before.  Now as I cache more and more in the area, I realize they just aren't nearly as fun.  I'm spoiled from caching in AZ and NW WI and like the cache to mean something.  I can handle a difficult container in a nondescript location because I realize it's more about the container in this instance, but throwing a cache in a spot just to place one there no longer motivates me to cache down here.  Searching for a micro in a location that could have a 5-gallon pail without someone noticing it just isn't fun.  Caches in drainage areas don't float my boat...  neither does that random guardrail.  I still hold out hope when I see a new cache, and there are some really good new ones, but it just feels that four out of five are just not worth the time and effort anymore.

a trip up north

Wasn't expecting to actually have a weekend off... since I haven't had a true Saturday and Sunday since last May.  We decided to head north to visit my mom and grab a few caches.  I was looking for a milestone cache along the trip as well.  We went over to Ironwood, MI for some fresh pasties from one of the best bakeries in the north, then grabbed a few caches in the UP.  Headed back across toward Ashland and decided to visit Potato River Falls (GC14AJF) for #2600.  The falls were roaring, but it was pretty cold with the 4 inches of snow that had fallen early Saturday morning.  Seriously, it's past the halfway point of APRIL... shouldn't we be done with snow?


Anyway, headed back to Madison on Sunday, and stopped in Fifield for an FTF.  Headed down the road hoping for a second, but saw fresh tracks in the snow.  Wish I would have paid attention on the way up... both caches have been sitting out there waiting to be found for over a week.  I could have doubled my total!

house time...

A week from today we finally close on our new house.  not sure how many days I'll be able to cache in the next month as we get everything moved over and done the way we want it.  First step will be the kitchen...  the wallpaper needs to go, and so does the paint on the cabinets.  after that we have a few small things to take care of, but it's basically move-in ready.

last week caching was quite the adventure...  Smashing Ground and I decided to do The Artful Dodger (GC585B) in Gov. Dodge State Park.  to put it lightly, it did not end well.  all total, it was 6.5 miles of up and down trails and a DNF.  decided to come back another day to figure it out and went for a few other earthcaches in the park instead. 



This week I took the bike to Milton for the Whimsical Tails series before a soccer match.  The trail was in really good shape, but nearly half of the caches were not.  It was disappointing to see how many of them had fallen into disrepair or had disappeared completely.


hopefully tomorrow the rain will hold off...  heading to Rockford, Il with Commander.  He's looking for a big day, so hopefully we can hit close to 50.

my first event

this past Saturday, I hosted the Lonely Cache Game Event in Wisconsin Dells. Due to the spotty weather, I wasn't sure what the turnout would be, but ended up with nearly 40 people attending. the only downside was the lack of LCG participants that actually attended. only one other team from the top 10 made it to the event. even so, everything went smoothly. besides the coins and other prizes I brought, Team Deejay donated 10 more, plus MrRRKing donated quite a few ready-to-hide containers. we ended up with 32 door prizes for 23 teams, so everyone went home happy. Deejay also had a chance to distribute a few coins to the monthly winners who hadn't received them yet, and I mailed the remaining coins to the rest of the top 5.

although I won't be playing nearly as much this year, I'm already looking forward to next year's event, although we'll see who steps up to host this time around.

#2000

this past week i finally surpassed 2000 finds while on our honeymoon in Belize. it took quite a bit of planning for it to happen down there... throughout december i slowed down my finds so that i didn't get to close before the trip, but as i neared the departure date, i realized i probably wouldn't have a chance to find as many in Belize as i originally thought, so had to go out an extra day and find 10 more. it ended up working perfectly. we found a cache in Guatemala and then 7 in Belize. for number 2000 we rented a golf cart to explore the island, and we ended up on the very south end getting 7 caches along the way. i doubt i'll ever have another milestone cache like this regardless of number...

Nearing 2k

For the last few months, I've had the goal of finding my 2000th cache on our honeymoon in Belize. I was making very good progress until the snow came, but then I got worried. however, in the last week I've had two good days despite having over a foot of snow on the ground in Janesville and Hudson. today, I went to Stillwater, MN for the day hoping to get 15 caches. the morning was pretty rough, with only two virtual finds in the first 2 hours and 4 dnfs. as I headed out of town and away from the bike paths the caches became much more winter friendly. I ended the day with 9 straight finds and a total of 20. now i have less than 30 to go for 2000. tomorrow will be spent in River Falls to get me close, then I'll wait for the trip. #2000 should happen either in the first few days when we go to the Mayan ruins at Tikal or on Ambergris Caye. There are a few FTF chances down there yet, but they'll have to stay that way through the new year. I guess i can hope...

a new hide

Last week i hid a nano cache on a cannon... kind of a spur of the moment thing. i saw a park in downtown Oregon that was being redone, and noticed that they cleaned up and remounted a howitzer on the end of it. there aren't a whole lot of caches in Oregon, so i decided to add one more. 6 straight official DNFs to start, and a few unofficial, and i guess i hid a pretty tough one. gave the hint as a note on the page and finally got two finds. it seems to still be eluding people. i feel kinda bad, but at the same time i don't... since i've searched high and low to find similar hides. i think i'm still going to do one on the tank back home in Mellen though. not going to be too many searchers for that one being in the northwoods.

today was also my first traveling cache find. the commander has a traveling cache that's still going after 7 years and 56,000 miles. discovered a few coins inside... but there wasn't much room left to leave anything.

72 Counties

this weekend i finally finished a caching goal i set when i moved back to wisconsin last august. i found a cache in oconto, marinette, and florence counties on saturday with bme22 to complete the entire state. the amazing part about the entire quest is that i only had 3 trips that were solely for the purpose of finding caches in new counties. i rerouted a few of my trips back to my parent's place in Mellen, but nothing that would ever inconvenience me by more than a couple of hours. i have to go to the final challenge cache in neilsville in 2 weeks on the way to hudson, and then it will be official.


next on the list is to attempt to black out the entire D/T grid. i looked at it for the first time a few weeks ago and noticed i only have 13 empty squares, so off to a good start. i probably won't attempt the delorme challenge, even though i already have 60 pages done (out of 84), again, without even trying.

i love puzzles...

when i clear them off my list. eliminated another one this morning that has been bothering me since last august. the cache came from an amazing puzzle, where one location provided coordinates for 4 locations based on how you looked at it. i don't want to give it away, but if anyone ever wants a killer puzzle with some decent hikes, Vern's Treasure is well worth the time and effort (they're regularly on the LCG list for those that play).

in other random news, i managed to split my racquetball matches tonight. the first match started off well enough, but just couldn't finish it off. second one almost went too well. in the first game, i beat him 15-0. i've never done that in a league before. i got to 13 and started feeling bad and tried to give him a few easy shots, but he still blew them. it wasn't much better the second game either. what really made it so bad is that i played both games with a broken racket. i've also decided that since i'm actually dedicating significant time and effort to this a full year later, i'm actually going to invest in more than just a bottom dollar racket. i took a few swings with a new racket someone had recently purchased and was shocked at the difference. i guess it is true... you get what you pay for.

I hate puzzles...

until they're off my "to solve/find" list. then they're great. at one point earlier this summer, 13 of the 20 closest caches to me were puzzles. now it's down to 3. hopefully by the end of the month it's down to zero. i'm not very good at puzzles, which is why i usually just hand the laptop to bme22 and have her solve them for me, or at the very least give me a nudge. i too care of two caches today that have been bugging me since earlier this summer. one because it was missing even though i had the solve, but the other was just sheer frustration. i had the first step done, but like usual with puzzles, just psyched myself out. i could have spent a few hours going through the combinations, but just never had the motivation. i found out a few days ago another cacher had solved it after i had given him the first set of numbers, so relief set in.
thanks to the replacement container and the solve for the other cache, i set out with smashing ground (clayton) and rcflyer2242 (dave) to eliminate both of them, and maybe grab a few easier ones after. both took longer than expected for the hunt (and drive) so i didn't have time for more, but it felt really good to get them done. now i just need to sit down and not psyche myself out of the next nearest cache, which is of course a puzzle.

another caching milestone

half day at school today, plus payday... so took advantage and headed to the very southeastern part of the state to pick up some caches with the commander. we found 20 on the day, plus i hit #1800, and found caches in 3 new counties. only 3 left before i will have found a cache in all 72 in the state. this will hopefully get done next weekend when Kailey and I go visit Daryl and the girls in GB.

tomorrow's going to be a long day... 4 MRL games, but more money, too.