Paddle Mixer on Guist Creek Lake

We've only been in Cincinnati a few weeks now and I already attended my first paddle mixer event. Not sure if these are a regular thing, though it appears this one I went to in Kentucky is held annually and draws geocachers from a few states away. The event was called, GCL Geo-Art Debut and attracted about 50 geocachers to paddle around the lake looking for 86+ geocaches placed for the event. Being new to the area, I don't have a paddle-raft, but luckily was invited to borrow a kayak from my friend and fellow MOGA competitor, Sequoia. He and Kim-possible drove down from Cincinnati with three kayaks, all I had to bring was my own PFD, which I picked up the day before the event.

Guist Creek lake is a reservoir near Shelbyville Kentucky, about a two hour drive from Cincinnati. The town of Shelbyville made me think of the Simpsons, a show I haven't watched in ages. I doubt there is any connection, but it made me smile all the same to think of tyhe rival town that was always derided in the show. I arrived at the event just as other geocachers were showing up and introduced myself to a bunch of people. I felt a little weird introducing myself, but then I always do at a an event in a  new area where I don't know anyone. People were friendly enough, and I ate a donut and waited around for Kim-possible and Sequoia to show up with the kayaks. They pulled up and tyhen I busied myself with getting ready for spending a day out on the lake. putting on plenty of sunscreen, making sure all my electronic devices were in ziplock baggies, and that my lunch was packed and ready to go.

Our group was actually one of the later ones out on the water. Kim and Tom know a lot of the people at the event and were catching up with many of them. once on the ater we set off at a lesidurely pace to the North part of the lake, where the Rubber Ducky Geo-Art was hidden. Caches were spaced every .1-.2 miles apart along the shores of the lake, tied to overhanging branches and roots. Right off the bat, we almost couldn't find the first cache, a small camo-painted tube zip-tied to a branch. Searching for caches from a kayak is a bit of a challenge, as you are bumping into other boats, and it is hard to look around all the different angles of the branches. But generally, the hides were done in such a way that they could be accessed by someone in a boat, and with several sets of eyes looking, most caches were found quickly. One thing I hadn't seen before was the log sheets, which were done on plastic surveyors flagging. While these are hard to write on with most pens, they don't get soggy and destroyed the way paper logs do, so for this area they are probably a good material to use.

I was paddling with Tom and Kim, but we quickly joined up with some other cachers, GeoFairy, GeoFlash, SpngeBobCachePants and ScouterJames48. GeoFairy I knew already, but the others were all locals that were happy to chat about the geocacing scene around Kentucky. There is a lot to explore around here and I got recommendations for other places to paddle, hike and explore. The hours ticked by and we slowly progressed trough the geo-art. At one spot, there were a few traditional hides up a muddy tributary that weren't part of the geo-art. the water level in the lake was low enough wher you couldn't paddle to these, but Kim was up for a little muddy adventure, so she we shoved our kayaks as far up the muddy creek as we could get, then abandoned them in place and slogged through the shin-deep mud towards the caches. The mud was soft and mostly free from sticks and stones, and it felt good on my toes. But in the back of my head, I was thinking about the story of the cachers in TVG that sliced open their foot while doing a similar thing. They were closer to an urban area though where pollution and glass was more of a problem. This tributary seemed pretty clean. We made it to the cache, which Kim found easily and were happy to find a blank log sheet. FTF! Then we made it back to the boats, and the paddle group without slicing up our feet. Even better.

The day got hotter and hotter, but we kept a relaxing pace and it felt good to be relaxing and chatting our way up the lake together. Seems like these events, an geocaching in a group of kayaks, is a pretty laid back affair. No one was hard-up about signing every log. in fact, no one even seemed to think it necessary to open up the cache containers. Simply spotting the container and laying a hand or paddle on it seemed sufficient for the group. In a way this makes sense, the more people that open and close the containers, the more likely one of the zip-ties gets broken, or a cap comes off, or a log sheet gets dropped in the lake. But it also seems to be contrary to the main geocaching ethic of signing your name in each log sheet. Not that the COs would care, but it is the power-trail mentality that has never seemed quite right to me. But then, I've never been a huge fan of power trails. I was happy enough to just be out with a group of people, relaxing on the lake, and chatting about geocaching, so i y resernto myself.

It took us nearly 7 hours, but we finally completed the Rubber Ducky Geo-Art. Some folks were up for doing the other geo-art too... and if you were properly motivated and moving quickly I suppose you could visit all 86 caches in a day of paddling. but I was content to call it a day. Kim and Tom were done too, so it made sense for me to pull out my kayak and part ways then. Plus I would get home in time to have dinner with the family.