Adopting out caches

When I moved away from new Mexico, I adopted out a few of my caches, but for the most part left them under my name. A large portion of my caches placed in new Mexico were remote, rugged, and seldom found caches, and I figured that they would be ok left under my name. Also, I was highly into the Lonely Cache Project, and keeping the caches in my names helped me keep the points for those lonely caches. On the few caches I adopted out, I made the cheesy decision to log them as found by me in order to keep them in my LCP stats. Cheesy, but that’s what I did.

Now that we are moving away from Tennessee, I am faced with little different situation. There is no Lonely Cache Project here, but I still feel a strong connection to my caches. I realize that leaving them under my name is still a possibility, but the caches will survive much longer if I can find local cachers to adopt them. So at the CITO I hosted a month ago, I mentioned that I would be adopting out caches, and wow, I did not expect the response I got. Several local geocachers offered to adopt my caches, and many more told me that they enjoyed my cache hides in the area and hope that they will live on after I leave. It was really flattering to hear this. Many of my local caches do not get found often, but when they do I usually get really good logs. And many of my caches I am pretty darn proud of too. I had some good ideas while I was here, and was able to execute some of them pretty well. So I’ve been adopting out most of my caches, maybe even I’ll get them all adopted out. I am still a little hesitant to adopt out the Whereigos, as those can be tricky to do maintenance on since you need all the Cartridge details. And even after I adopt out caches, I add them all to a bookmark list I have called Adopted Out Caches, so that I continue to get notifications when the caches get logged. I love seeing logs on my caches, and I won’t let being a few states away stop me from hearing about what is going on with them.

Here’s a summary of my Tennessee Geocaches

Cache name	# of Finds	# of Favorite Points	Adopter	My thoughts on this cache
A blast from the past	10	8	Lullabye4u	The idea for this cache puzzle came from finding the container, which is fairly unique… but I can’t go into too much detail about that without giving away some spoilers. There is more to the story as well, my college friend Diana Silverman, who is in the puzzle, actually is the daughter of one of the inventors of “the software” that the puzzle is based on. A little personal connection I have for this puzzle.
Clinton Crossword Puzzle	16	10	Yomegranate	Yomegranate wrote in her log that this was one of her all-time favorite puzzle caches to find. That was a while back, and I’m not sure if that is still the case, but I’ll never forget that wonderful log. It only felt proper that she adopt this one.
Geocaching and Invasive Plants: A Study	8	7	Quarter-Master	The write-up for this puzzle is probably my favorite of all my hides. I had a blast coming up with it, and even got really good feedback from the Reviewer about this write-up, which hasn’t happened to me before. The log from Magkirk is pretty awesome as well.
Inception Challenge	3	3	Black*dot	A really bizarre challenge cache idea I had that was meant to be a meta, kind of a statement about how ridiculous challenge caches were getting. It just so happened that it got published shortly before the moratorium on Challenge Caches occurred in late 2014. Now that has lifted, I am curious to see if Black*dot will pursue making an online checker for this challenge. Might be pretty tricky to do. The cache itself is placed at one of my favorite local hiking spots.
Irresistible	21	13	Black*dot	Oddly one of my more frequently found caches. Unlike most of my caches, there wasn’t much thought that went into this cache placement. It was merely an irresistible location to me. It does have a slightly unusual D/T rating, which may account for its “popularity”. I think the rating is spot-on, and the cache is definitely not for everyone.
Lost quadcopter	9	5	Black*dot	After receiving a quadcopter for my birthday (and losing it for several months), I really wanted to find a way to use the quadcopter for geocaching. Building the container was half the fun. I hope it weathers well, I’d love to see it get found more.
Riding the Dragon	13	5	Lullabye4u	This cache is all about the theme. The location, container, story and stamp are all about dragons. It had a rather unfortunate start since it was discovered by bears at least twice. Hopefully it survives a good long time. I put a lot of work into carving the stamp.
TVG Game Night	12	9	Ol’Fogies	Another themed cache that I had a great time putting together. In a bit more of a muggle prone area than I usually like to hide stuff, but hopefully it lasts. Ol’Fogies and some others have mentioned making spin-offs of this cache puzzle, other TVG Game-night style puzzle caches. I can definitely see something like that happening.
Thermodynamics: bull Run Fossil Plant	10	4	Pokerluck?	Another themed cache, and one that gets way more technical in engineering problems than a cache really out to. But I still had fun reviewing my thermodynamics material for creating the puzzle. It was also fulfilling when I got permission from TVA for this hide. Took me out of my comfort zone to have to approach a big corporation for permission for a geocache.
Hiking through History: The Indian Rock Loop Trail	4	3	Kaput360	Lot’s of stages on this multi, on trails that goecachers don’t seem that interested in. On the plus side, the State Park was really friendly about signing the geocaching permits.
Sharp’s Station	7	2	Kaput360	Just a simply hide that is a decent hike out on a trail in Big Ridge State park. I was hoping that placing some more caches would bring some more geocaching traffic to this park. That doesn’t appear to have been the case.
Obed River Swimming Holes	2	2	Kaput360	Great long hike in one of my favorite lcoal areas
CT: Obed River Section	2	2	Kaput360
CT: Eagle Bluff Section	0	2	Not adopting yet	This was my second Whereigo hiking cache, and another long one, a twelve mile thru-hike. Not that difficult a hike if you ask me, but then not many geocachers have asked me. It is also in a region that doesn’t appear to have a lot of geocaching activity. I expect it to remain pretty lonely.
CT: Cross Mountain Day hike	2	2	??	A little different spin on the standard Multi cache. I designed it to be done from either trailhead, but still require the same amount of hiking either way. Only two finders so far… it’s another off-the-beaten track trail.
Lilly and Princesses Kid Cache	35	2	??	I might actually archive this one. It is placed near our house in Tennessee, and with the intention of being something that the kids and I could go check frequently to see what kind of toys kids are trading in and out. The two horses it was placed near have both passed away though, so it makes me a little sad now. It may also be my most found cache, which isn’t much of a distinction, as it is my only real drive-up park and grab.
Holston River Cave	2	2	GISpuma?	In a cave, and a long way to paddle. Yet it was found recently by my friends MTippetts and GISpuma. Might have to see if they would like to adopt it.
Ridge hiking Frozen Head State Park	4	4	Not adopting yet	One of my first caches placed in Tennessee, and a doozie, since it involves 17+ miles of hiking. Kind of my introductory hike to the area. I’d love to see it get found a few more times.
Boulder Bars and the Power of Water	7	3	Not adopting	My only Earthcache placed in TN. I really wanted to do some research for an earthcache in this location (Obed River WSR) and found a cool article about alluvial beds that was published by the Park Service. The area has some wonderful hikes.
Songbird Trail	5	3	??	Birdsong theme, and a techno-gadget field puzzle too. This is another one of my favorite hides that I’ve put together out here. I like birds, and this area. Hopefully it brings some more cachers out too.
TOTALS	172	91		172 finds on 20 caches. Ton’s of really good logs and a good amount of favorite points. Not too shabby for two years.

Considering I also hosted 4 CITOs and one Event, I consider myself a pretty busy cache owner. And despite my reputation for putting out caches that rarely get found, and are in difficult places, my caches here in Tennessee are way more accessible than my hides in New Mexico. At least it feels that way.

It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To...

....you would cry too if you were leaving the TVG. The cachers here are exceptionally nice, and they threw an event cache titled Festive Fun Farewell For Friend Fugads. I am slightly embarrassed really, I've only been living in the area for two years and don't really know everyone all that well. But I guess my cache placements, and logs on caches I've hunted here have earned me a reputation, maybe notoriety even. Enough so that when folks from TVG heard I was moving back to New Mexico they threw me a party.

Parting is always tough, but it is easier when you have a great send-off. I took the whole family with me and we played with the other cachers both in the water at the park, and around the tents set-up. We even snuck off for a group hunt on a cache I had DNF'd a couple times. I definitely will miss this group. *sniff*, I'm tearing up already.

Event "Log Book"

Paddling White Oak Pond

A few years ago I noticed a new series of puzzle caches pop up on a lake near my dad’s house in New Hampshire. It was a series of 10 puzzle caches, all micros, placed on quiet White Oak Pond. The puzzles ran the gamut from easy to devilishly tricky. And every so often I take a look at them. I’ve managed to solve 5 of them, and feel like I am close on a few others. And every time I visit my dad, which isn’t that often, I think about going out to try to find them. This year, it actually looked like a good possibility. We had several days to lounge at my dad’s house, with very little planned agenda. My dad has several small boats, kayaks, canoes and even a small rowboat, all perfect for the quiet White Oaks Pond. The fact that the whole family was excited to go out with me to find these caches was even better. My dad, my brother, my wife, son and daughter, we all headed out for an afternoon on the lake. My dad and brother ended up taking the canoe, the rest of us piled into my dad’s brand new Adirondak Guide rowboat. I have to say, the row boat is very smooth, and efficient. We easily sped away from the canoe, and I wasn’t even rowing that hard.

White Oak Pond in style with an Adirondak Guide Row Boat

We made it to the first cache location and I learned that a rowboat is actually pretty tough for tight maneuvers near the shore. With my wife calling out the distance to GZ from the GPSr, I addled my way into getting the nose of the boat where we thought the cache should be, and voila, my wife spotted the tether, and then the cache.

I've got ... Moxie!

We got to row through a lovely patch of lily pads and flowers to get to the next GZ and for this one I decided we’d actually hop out of the boat to make our search. My son and I both hopped out and squished in the marshy mud and started our search. This time we were not so lucky. My dad and brother joined in the search and we squished all over, swatting at mosquitos and not finding the cache. After a little bit of time, and some near-misses with falling into the water (which wouldn’t have been so bad if you asked me), we decided to get back in the boats and try the next cache location. We ended up switching boats, I got into the canoe, and my brother hopped in the row boat. A bit of a breeze was blowing now, and we had to paddle right into it. It wasn’t tough going, but it wasn’t fast. On the plus side, the breeze blew the mosquitos away. The next cache was easy to find, once again my wife spotted it first and signed it for me. I wanted to go after a few more, but it was getting late, so we turned our backs to the wind and has a race back to the boat ramp. I’m pleased to say that my dad and I won.

Since we only found two of the White Oak Pond puzzle caches, I already was thinking about heading back out in a kayak on my own to grab the rest. I was already getting up early this vacation (see Maine trip). I could easily slip away the next morning, grab a kayak and take quiet paddle to find the rest. And that is exactly what I did.

Back for more

White Oak Pond at 6:00 was a sheet of glass, and it was pure bliss to glide over it. I passed a family of Canadian geese, had a loon swim right by me, and was generally feeling pretty good. I was also taking a bunch of pictures with my phone, and to make it easier to access, I was stowing my phone underneath my life-jacket, simply by lifting it up a bit and letting the phone be pressed between my chest and the foam. This turned out not to be such a great idea, as at the second geocache, I stepped out of the kayak and the phone slipped out and right into the lake. I snatched it up right away and it hardly got wet, but it still wasn’t a good thing. The phone appeared to be working still, but there was some moisture on the inside of the camera lenses. I finished finding the last three caches on the lake, and was back to the house by 8am, just in time for a big breakfast. The phone went into a bag of rice to sit and dry for 24 hours. And I’m happy to say, it is working just fine now.

Now to solve those last 5 puzzles for our next visit.

Caching in on Maine

We were in Maine for a family trip, that is a trip where you visit family with your family, and I really wanted to find a geocache while we were there. Finding a geocache in a new state is just something long-time geocachers want to do. There isn’t a really good reason. Each time you find a geocache in a new state (or country in some instances) that region turns a different color on your “stats map”. And somehow, this little change in the pixel representation of a map on this one obscure little page brings a sense of accomplishment to geocachers. It is rather remarkable. I dunno, maybe not all geocachers feel that way. But based on my conversations with geocachers, I’m pretty sure this is a common occurrence. Anyhow, the point is I was in Maine and everyone knew I wanted to find a geocache. And yet despite driving all over on Memorial day, I didn’t get a cache. This isn’t from lack of opportunity. We visited several towns on our tour, seeing the Alewives running the fish ladders of Damariscotta, tidepooling beneath Pemaquid point lighthouse, eating lunch at a wonderful restaurant in Newport, stopping at the Oxbow Brewery. All locations with geocaches nearby, almost within my reach. But every time I tried to get my family to come over with me, away from whatever fun thing we were doing, to go find a geocache, they were all utterly un-interested. Icould have just nipped off on my ow, but we were really having too much fun. So I went all day without getting my Maine geocache.

Lucky for me we were in Maine for more than one day. And also lucky for me, I was getting up at the crack of daylight, which for Maine this time of year, was 5am. So up I got, while everyone slept snuggled in their beds, and went for a walk around Gardiner, where I got my first Maine geocache, GC4YGWM! Actually a pretty good geocache, in a large cemetery. I proceeded to find a couple more geocaches on my walk, and got back to my sister’s house a 6:30, and the kids were up and already having breakfast.

But the geocaching didn’t stop there! Since my sister and her family had work and school the day after Memorial day, we all took off for the beach, and went to Popham beach where the whole family helped me find GC1WPQ1, a really cool multi cache that involves walking out on a sandbar that is only present at low tide to reach an island. Actually it was mostly just my son who helped me, my daughter and wife fell asleep on our beach blanket. Playing at the beach is tiring!

Near GC1WPQ1

Got it!

I was able to grab a few more caches in Portland also by getting up super early. We stayed at my brother-in-laws girlfriends, AirB&B, which is actually just her apartment. A very cute place right in downtown Portland. I got up at 5am again and wandered the streets of Portland finding some micro caches and also a virtual. 

Portland at 5am

But the best geocache came when we decided to visit just one last place in Maine before heading back to my dad’s house in New Hampshire, Portland Head Light in Fort Williams Park. My brother-in-law told us we had to visit this spot before leaving, and when I went to check out the geocaches there, I saw that there was one cache with hundreds of favorite points. It was the oldest geocache in Maine, GC128. Just my luck we happened to be there. This time, when I plead my case to the family to find this geocache, they agreed, so off we went. It was actually rather easy to get to, with a  well worn geo-trail. The cache was very well hidden. We searched for a while in the likely spots and were not finding it. It wasn’t until I started digging through some leaf litter that I uncovered the cache and we shouted out triumphantly! As it turns out, some geocachers DNF’d the cache recently and contacted me about where it was. They must have been rather disappointed to DNF Maine’s oldest geocache.

Searching for the oldest

Travel bug drop

We left Maine happy, and I got my pixels colored.

Vein of quartz that Ada helped me locate for an earthcache

First-to-find of the Fugads Farewell Ffff..tribute

In Wartburg, ready for adventure!

Couldn't get that alliteration working all the way. Two years ago we were moving from New Mexico to Tennessee. I had made a bunch of geocaching friends in Las Cruces, and the day we were moving a new cache was published called Good Luck Cache, wishing me, and another cacher who was also leaving the area good luck in our new endeavors. It's very touching to have someone place a tribute cache for you. Geocaches can live a long time, and years after I have been gone, folks may still be finding this cache and wondering about who it was placed for. I've found a fair number of tribute caches myself. They are cool to find. But even cooler is when someone thinks well enough of you to place a cache to celebrate you. So it was a bummer for me when I couldn't get away to sign that tribute cache in Las Cruces when we drove out of town.

One of the tunnels. Super cool!

Now, two years later, my family is moving back to New Mexico, although to Santa Fe this time. And once again, I have made some good geocaching friends here in Tennessee and was tickled when I got an email that a tribute cache was being placed for me. But like before it quickly became a source of anxiety for me as to whether I'd be able to actually go and find the cache. let me explain.

Levin reacts to my wonky log signature. Hey, I forgot a pen. But did have a knife.

Glowstick fun

The cache placed for me, GC6J5BR, is the kind of cache I adore. An adventurous hike, exploring one of the lesser known cool areas outside of Wartburg. It involves abandoned train tunnels, river crossings, a nice hike and nearby swimming holes. What is not to love. The one thing it wasn't was a close park-and-grab, and given our current getting-ready-to-move stresses, I seriously doubted I'd be able to get to the cache. I contemplated a night run of the cache, which might have been fun, but a better opportunity emerged. How about play hookie from work to take care of my sick daughter? My wife had actually stayed home with our daughter for the last few days, she was coughing at night and not sleeping well. But during the day she seemed pretty normal, so it probably was allergy related. So the claim of her being sick had some truth... sure... It was easy enough to convince myself of that. What sealed the deal in my mind was another small fact, that almost exactly a year ago, I had visited the same location with my kids and it was one of our most memorable geocaching adventures together. How cool would it be to take one more trip out to the Obed, find a cache, look for critters, frolic in the water. Might be our last chance to do this in Tennessee.

Splashy time

So off we went. I wrote about the trip already on my log, and don't feel like repeating myself here. But in summary, a good time was head. Just me and the kids, out exploring together. It doesn't get much better than that. And if my friends Lullabye and Kaput hadn't placed this tribute cache for me, I probably just would have spent the day at work. BORING! I'll miss them, and all the other great geocachers I've met here in Tennessee. Two years passes too quickly. Tennessee, thanks for all the fun.

Exit from Tennessee

A little wildflower hike with my kids

The kids had off from school today and I w=took off from work to hang out with them. We spent the morning hiking to a geocache in Frozen Head State Park, but the finding the cache was secondary to enjoying all the marvelous wildflowers. A splendid way to spend the morning.

Silver Lining CITO

I don't know what it is about being a geocacher here in Tennessee, but I've hosted more CITOs than I ever did in New Mexico. Scratch that, all the CITOs I've hosted ahve been here in Tennessee. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the geography, and everything to do with me. Back in New Mexico I hardly only hosted two events and they were both right before we moved. I don't think I had matured as a geocacher to the point where I was ready to host events until then. But here in Tennessee I've hosted events pretty much since we moved here. Mostly, they've been CITO events, there are enough other type events where I haven't felt the urge/need to host one of those. There aren't that many CITO events though, and I actually like these kinds of events better than the typical event around here, which usually involves hanging out at a restaurant. I like CITOs because they involve an outdoor activity, and I am much more comfortable connecting with people in that kind of environment. 

Anyhow, I hosted my 4th CITO and it went really well. Two of my previous CITOs were in fairly remote areas and didn't have much of a turn-out. This one was in a county park close to everyone, and I also threw in a pot-luck dinner after the trash pick-up. Perhaps because of the social/eating aspect to the event, there were quite a few people who turned up. We spent an hour picking up trash along the fisherman trails. TO make things a little different, I spray-painted 4 "typical" pieces of trash chrome-silver and planted them in 4 different regions of the park. Keen-eyed geocachers who spotted this silver-lined trash during their CITO could redeem them for prizes. Two of the 4 were found and turned in, with a third being found but thrown into the trash bags by mistake. The 4th was never found, but I gave out the prizes anyways. Prizes are fun.

ONe of the silver lined refuse. Ended up using it as a logbook for the event.

Towards the end, I made an announcement that we are moving back to New Mexico this summer. The cachers and caches in this area are great, and I've really enjoyed my time here. Our next home will have a tough act to follow. I hope I continue to host CITOs though. It's a good way to get out and meet other local cachers.

At the very end of the event, I got to borrow a kayak from my friends Lullabye and Kaput and paddle out to the island cache near the park. I had found a few T5 water caches before, but rarely actually by paddling to one (this other CITO was the exception). Quite an easy and pleasant way to find a T5 cache I might add. I was pretty psyched to be on the water for a bit.