Isn't it wonderful to receive a nice log on your cache?

We got home from a nice hike in the Obed today and when I checked my emails, I saw that my new cache in Haw Ridge Park, Irresistible, had been found. Cool! Even cooler was the log that was left by Quarter-master. I suppose for someone who is afraid of heights, this cache would indeed seem very crazy. But what's crazy for one person isn't always crazy for another. I for one found it crzy that Quarter-master would attempt a night-time mountain-bike ride to go after this cache. And I feel that I am justified in finding him crazy to do that, since he ended up flipping his handlebars and messing up his bike. And he thinks a little climbing is crazy... Below is Quarter-Master's log for the cache. If you can, sing it to the tune of Favorite things.

Ding, a new email my pace thus soon quickens
Hiking down park trails the new cache just glistens 
Finding and Finding and Finding some more
These are a few of the things I adore.
Unexplored chasms and abandoned foundations
Treasure maps telling the history of nations
What can I say except, “Give me some more!!”
These are a few of the things I adore.
Puzzles in Puzzles and clues inside caches
Caches that make me translate all these -.. .- ... .... . ... .-.-.-
Finding what others walk by and don’t see 
Brings such a wonderful feeling to me.
When it’s raining, and light’s fading
And the cache is not had
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

That said, you are crazy. This cache is more ridiculous than anything I have done and I loved it!! I came out Friday, but it took too long to gather friends and equipment and I ended up heading in alone at dusk. Not something I haven't done before, but this time I didn't have a very bright headlamp and I was trying to bike in. This proved to be a terrible idea as I soon found myself face to face with the dirt, I had hit a root or rock hidden by a thick layer of leaves, and flipped completely over the handlebars. At this point, biking seemed to not be the best of ideas so I chained it to a tree and continued on by foot. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because I ended up going the wrong direction through the woods and decided that I wasn't going to be able to find it that night. Soon I turned around and headed as the crow flies straight back through the park until I hit a familiar trail and followed it back to my bike. My bike proved to have suffered more damage in the wreck than I had and I had to walk it back out. Disappointed and sore I resolved to try again another day. Since it had been this hard for me, I hoped no one else would go for it. Three days later I came back with two friends. It was a quick hike out to a familiar part of the park, one that I have hiked past many times before. Once we reached ground zero, I pulled out the rope and carabiners and climbed into my harness. I was almost there when my acrophobia kicked in and I had to go back. Thus the reason I brought friends. black•dot and a friend from scouting both took trips to the top, one to retrieve the cache and the other to put it back. The structure seems to be quite stable, there were some places where pieces of concrete were falling away, but the metal bands were holding quite nicely. Overall a fantastic cache this one definitely gets a favorite from me.

Another interesting tidbit, I new that several caches in Haw Ridge had been archived and that one originally had been here. While I was exploring around the old foundations I found it, Big Bin (GC9A55) was just sitting in one of the grain troughs, I signed the log and have logged it as I was able to find it online, but I have hidden it nearby and plan to see if we cannot repurpose it for another cache in the park. I know that several of these "archived caches" are still out in the park and meant to check on another one on the way out, but I took a wrong turn and ended up heading to Power Cut.

All in all, an excellent day for a hike, I didn't get any strange looks from people passing by while we were hiking, and I got an FTF!! Thanks for another fantastic cache Fugads, I really enjoyed it.

Most inventive geocache ever?

One of the new geocaches published in Oak Ridge, Lock N' Load, has to be one of the most inventive geocaches I've ever seen or even heard about. It's hard to talk about it without giving away some spoilers, so if there is any chance that you will be geocaching in the Oak Ridge vicinity, do not click on the link below and go experience the cache for yourself.

Link to a spoiler page about this cache, do not click if there is any chance you will visit it yourself.

A hike of defiance

A few weeks ago, I reached out to my friend Amiyaal, about doing a long hike on the Cumberland Trail. He was definitely interested, so we started planning for a 12-15 mile hike on a section of the Cumberland Trail. As the date of our hike grew closer, the question of whether hunting was an issue on the Cumberland Trail arose, so I started making inquiries, first with the Cumberland Trail State Park office. For an office that is dedicated to the Cumberland Trail, they were surprisingly unhelpful about whether hunting was an issue. They didn't know if hunting was allowed on their trail, nor how safe it would be, and directed me to TWRA to get answers. Not the first time they've done this, I have not been terribly impressed with this office. Anyhow, I had a hard time getting through to folks at the TWRA, mainly because it turns out that the weekend we had planned on hiking was the first weekend of muzzle-loading season, and a very busy one for hunters. In fact, I was told by a couple different folks that while it was permissible for us to hike the trail (wearing blaze orange of course), it was not advisable because there was going to be a lot of guys-with-guns out there. Time for a back-up plan, I began looking at long hikes in the Smoky Mountains. Actually, I had already looked at long hikes in the Smokies when my mom visited and I was thinking about taking her on a long hike, and I settled on LeConte Mountain because... well.. geocaching. There is a nice hike up LeConte Peak via the Alum Bluff trail that passes 3 virtual caches. And from what I've heard, it is also a really nice hike. I mentioned this hike to Amiyaal and he was immediately game. He had previously hiked to Alum Cave with his family, but wanted to continue on up the trail further.

I picked up Amiyaal a little past 6:30 am and we were off to the Smokies. The last time I drove up past Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg was when my mom was visiting, and it was a mess. The traffic was obscene, and it seemed to take forever to get to our trailhead. Today was different, with Amiyaal navigating me on some sneaky bypasses of the towns, and an earlier start, we ere at our trailhead by 8:05 AM, half the time it took us previously. I'm going to have to remember this for future Smoky Mountain trips. It was cold, below freezing, but there wasn't much snow on the trail and we made good time up to Alum Cave for our first break, passing a couple hikers on the way. We didn't break for long though, taking some sips from our water bottles and snapping some photos, then continuing up the trail. The trail got a bit more trecherous the higher up we went. Sections of it were cut into the rock of the mountain, and a steel cable was installed on the slope-side to help keep one's footing. But what really made it tricky was the packed snow and ice, just enough to make it slippery and dangerous for twisting an ankle. We passed several groups of hiker/campers coming down from the Leconte Lodge, most wearing trail-spikes, a type of metal cleat that you can strap over your boots. I was wishing I had brought my own instep crampons, but at least I had  pair of trekking poles which I shared with Amiyaal.

Amiyaal was also very interested in the winter hiking conditions. I guess this would be his first winter hiking experience (although he had hiked the Alum trail in soft snow before). he was stopping to admire icicles along the trail, taking pictures of the snow, and going very slowly and carefully over the slick ice. Despite the ice, we made good progress, passing a few more hiking groups heading up and ultimately reaching the Leconte Lodge around 11am. Not too shabby! When we arrived, there was hardly a breeze at all, and the sun was bright and warm, perfect for sitting in the wooden rockers on the deck and sharing some coffee. Amiyaal is self-professed coffee snob, for the most part looking down on American coffee, but I had brought a thermos of coffee with me and he was grateful to share it with me. After a few sips, he told me it was actually pretty good. To this day, I may never know if he was just being polite, or if he really thought the coffee I made was up to his standards, but I coudln't resist telling him mere seconds after his compliment, that the coffee was actually decaf! I had ruined it for him, because decaf coffee is a monstrosity that shouldn't be allowed! Well, no after making a few disparaging remarks about decaf, he still admitted that this particular batch of decaf coffee wasn't bad. And I was just smiling and laughing at him.

We hung out at the Leconte Lodge for a bit. I poked around inside the lodge to get answers for the Virtual Cache. This is actually one of the more involved virtual caches I have seen, but that's not saying much because most of the virtual caches don't require much to complete at all (simply go to a spot and answer one question that is obvious). The lodge is also very cozy and it would be wonderful to reserve a cabin up here and bring the whole family up for a night. I looked into this a bit and it would also be pricey and would require reservations a year in advance, so maybe it won't happen. Still, it was cool to see such a neat mountain-top lodge. We were too early for the dining hall to be open, so we ended up hiking up to the true summit of the peak, thinking perhaps we would stop at the dining hall on our return trip. Except... I had other ideas for a return trip. There was one more virtual cache "nearby", a 5 mile walk east along the Boulevard trail to a hut on the AT. It would make for a longer hike, more in the range of what we were planning on doing on the Cumberland Trail. Amiyaal was not too keen on making our hike longer, especially since everyone we asked about the conditions on the Boulevard Trail told us it was in bad shape, was dangerous, and would take twice as long as normal to complete. I wasn't convinced by any of these stories. From what we had seen, conditions up high in the Smokies were not that bad. Sure there was some ice and snow, but it was packed down and pretty easily passable. Amiyaal was more inclined to listen to "the experts" like the folks at the Lodge. But I began pushing for the extra hike as we climbed up to the true summit of LeConte.

The summit is actually just a pile of rocks in a stand of trees, so we continued another quarter of a mile to Myrtle Point. This extra little bit of trail was slick-ice, but we managed just fine and the views were fantastic. Again we took a break in the warm noon sunshine to eat some snacks and sip water. And I continued to advocate for a push to the AT. My main argument was that the trail couldn't be any rougher than what we had already done. In fact, the Boulevard trail and AT would be less steep for the descent so we could avoid the steep rocky sections of the Alum Bluff trail. PLus it was early enough in the day that we could start down the Boulevard trail, but if it got real bad we could simply turn around. Either my arguments were strong, or Amiyaal just got tired of hearing me spout out about how great it would be to hike back a different way, but ultimately, he caved and agreed to the hike. Yes!

Turns out, the Boulevard trail was in pretty good shape. Except for a small snowy section underneath Myrtle Point, most of the trail was snow-free and an easy stroll along a knife-edge ridge-line. The views weren't fantastic, but it was quiet, we had the trail almost entirely to ourselves, and I relished in the fact that the "experts" back at Leconte Lodge were wrong. They probably didn't really know what the trail was like and were just trying to steer tourists towards the trails that they prefer to use. Or they felt they were being risk adverse. Whatever the case, they were simply wrong about the trail, and it made for a very pleasant hike. We made excellent time and were on the AT by 3pm. Amiyaal was pretty tired by this point, but I dragged him a 1/4 mile the wrong direction on the AT so I could get the virtual cache, then we were marching down towards Newfound Gap. There were a ton of hikers on the AT, many without backpacks or even water bottles. Apparently this section of the AT is quite popular, which was good because we were counting on being able to hitch a ride from Newfound Gap down to our car at the Alum Cave trailhead. I was a little nervous about this, ebacuse I've never really hitch-hiked before. Turns out it was unbelievably easy, or maybe we were just insanely lucky. We walked into the parking lot, snapped a few pictures than walked over to the stop-sign at the corner and as soon as we stuck out our thumb, the van that was currently stopped at the sign rolled down its window and asked us how far we were going. When we said just down to Alum Cave trailhead, they told us to hop on in. Wow was that easy.

All said and done, we hiked 14.2 miles and climbed nearly 3000ft in elevation. I got to visit 4 virtual caches, the trails were wonderful, and for the most part uncrowded. And we even got home in time for dinner! Not a bad days hike. Now what's next?

Caching in on snow

We had planned on going climbing today. There is a neat program at the Obed River called Coffee and Climb with a Ranger that would let the kids climb, and maybe even give us grown-ups a chance to climb, all in a nice scenic area. But then the weather forecast came in, this weekend was to be below freezing and with snow, rain and ice. So a family climbing trip was out of the question. The kids figured it would be a great day to stay inside and watch movies and cuddle up by the fire. I had different ideas, taking advantage of the unusual weather for this area and doing a winter hiking expedition. I decided to do a loop hike in Cumberland Gap National Historic Park. I rummaged around for my winter hiking gear, and was soon packed and ready to go.Winter storm here I come!

I made a nervous drive up to the park, nervous because there was already snow and rain on the road, and the clouds were low and enveloping the mountain ridge. I wouldn't be getting any spectacular views today, but I certainly would be getting a good winter experience. I pulled up to the parking spot just as a Ranger was arriving to empty the trash bins. We chatted a bit about the hike, he told me it was maybe a 10 mile trip, but only took 5 hours or so. Seemed reasonable to me. The snow was falling, and the wind was ominously billowing up as I hit the trail. Luckily, the trail is more like a dirt road, wide and easy to follow. I stopped at a few earthcaches and realized that I had screwed up majorly at home. I had all the earthcache sin my GPSr, but was relying on my Nexus 7 for the paperless info. And I had assumed that this area was already loaded in my Nexus since I had a lot of Tennessee and Kentucky loaded in it. Well, turns out I hadn't loaded this area's caches (although I did have some of Cumberland Gap). I tried calling home, but couldn't connect, so I opted to just take several pictures, and make notes on what I saw, hoping this would be enough for me to get credit for the earthcaches.

As I hiked higher, the snow got deeper, and the trees and branches dropped lower under the wet of a wet snow. On the ridge-top it was a winter wonderland with the snow on the trail 6" deep. It was also very windy and cold. Fortunately, my goal for the hike was an incredible Sand Cave where I would be sheltered from the storm. AS I got closer to the cave, the branches and shrubs closed around me and over the trail, laden with damp white snow. A quick flick with my trekking poles though and the snow would come free, causing the branch ti spring upwards. This springing triggered some pleasure center in my brain, because soon I was laughing like a little kid and thwacking every branch along the trail, cackling with glee as the tree snapped into the air, released of its burden. 

The sand cave was awesome. Here's an excerpt from my geocaching log for the cave: 

A truly amazing place, and a particularly nice destination today due to the wintry weather. The ridge-top was in blizzard like conditions, with gusting wind, and snow stinging the eyes and face. It is easy to see how such forces can assist in the making of the cave, but I was glad to see that the cave was not a wind vortex today. In fact, it was sheltered and dry. A perfect spot for lunch. The dog and I had the place to ourselves, or so we thought. As I was exploring the soft sand, I noticed something purple out of the corner of my eye. Way up in the back left corner of the cave (facing in), was a blue blanket or tarp. I shouted out a greeting, not wanting to surprise someone, but got no response, so I decided to investigate closer. I kept making noise as I got closer, and soon I could see that the object was a blue sleeping bag, and it covered a very person-shaped lump. For a moment, worse case scenarios went through my mind... I gave the sleeping bag a gentle prod with my toe... nothing. I slowly reached down and carefully pinched a corner of the bag, and with a little snap, flung it back to reveal....





.... a couple bags of camping gear. Phew... I was fearing a dead body or something. The gear was in a feedbag of sorts, and I wasn't interested in rifling through it, but the sleeping bag appears to be in pretty good shape and I bet it was left up here pretty recently. Who knows, maybe someone is coming back up to get it. I saw no tracks in the snow on the trails, so if they were out here it must have been before the snows. I re-covered all the gear and went back to eating some lunch and enjoying the cave.

The cave is stupendous. Icicles festooned the lip, the waterfall gushed just outside, and the trees were powder-sugar dusted by snow. But it still was below freezing, so I didn't stay as long as I would have liked. This is one of my new favorite hikes in the area. Just soo good.

I continued along the snowy trail to White Rocks overlook, and the wind actually died down a bit. I was hoping the clouds would lift enough for me to get a little view, but the area was still pretty socked in. Still, how fitting it was to have a white view from White Rocks overlook. So much white! And from the overlook I was finally able to connect with home and give the family an update, as well as get the beta for the earthcaches. Turns out I mostly had all the information I needed, and would be able to fill in my gaps on the descent. Yay! It was just after I hung up the pone that I heard a crack followed by the roar of a giant tree smashing down. It must have been close, but I couldn't see where it occurred from my vantage point on the cliffs. It was kind of magical hearing the tree fall in the forest, all along up there on the ridge-top. I kind of felt like I was a secret witness to the age-old question "if a tree falls in a forest..." well except I was there to witness the event. It also reminded me that it could be hazardous, walking through these snow-burdened woods. On my descent I was much more acutely aware of every snap and crack, and noticed several branches on the trail that had not been there on my ascent. All part of the fun of a winter hike. As I got near the car, I encountered a few other hikers, and was pretty surprised to see them heading up on a day like today. I was also inwardly glad that I only ran into them at the end of my hike and near the car. Part of what made today's hike special was being out in a winter wonderland, all on my own. Making fresh tracks on the trails, and seeing no signs of any other humans. In a densely populated area such as eastern Tennessee, heading out on these foul-weather days is perhaps the best way to get real trail solitude, and I loved it. AS for the geocaching? Well, if you're going to be out caching in white-out conditions, you couldn't do any better than to stick to earthcaches. I logged 7 earthcaches on my trip (3 of those were along the road on the drive in/back), and didn't need to worry about looking for sneaky hides buried under snow and ice.