In search of old spooky tooth!

For the past couple of weeks we have been dealing with a dangling modifier. Well lets just say this dangler has modified our lives. D-Superfly has been constantly poking, wiggling, and poking at his top front tooth. As of last night he was able to spin it around so it could sit sideways in its regular spot. Frankly that was just creepy! But something was different this morning. Old spooky tooth was missing. After a few minutes of searching we found the former dangler between the sheets of D-Superfly's bed. He was so happy and thankfully we are too.
***Friday update - #2 came out tonight. Two in one week. :)

Powerline Vista

Well it took a gathering of forces to tackle the new Mountainfolk406 hide. George1assembled what he called the Ultimate Assault Team to tackle Powerline Vista. I must say this was not the most enjoyable hike up a hill that I have taken. Mostly because a trail was not to be found except for all the upturned rocks was saw. This was the result of some bear foraging for grubs or something yummy. After a brisk hike to the top we were ready to make the final approach to the cache. But how to do that...that was the question of the week. We thought we knew what to expect but we were not correct. That sneaky Mountainfolk (Mr.) did it to us again. A few uf us had to study the directions so we could do this caching thing correctly. Thankfully we were overly prepared and found just the right gear to get the container and log the hide. Moe2 had some issues (audio clip1) with the climbing harness but I think he'll be ok after the swelling goes down. After a bit of time and a significant amount of teamwork we were able to complete this mission. (audio clip2) We gathered up all of our gear and headed for the parking area. Everyone agreed that that Mountainfolk had created a truly challenging cache. George1 and Redtail Forester commented on how awful it would be if Mountainfolk and HolyCowboys ever teamed up to make a cache together. Thankfully a Mountain Cowboy cache will never happen. Or has it? :)

....Skyline Drive Virginia

After leaving Seneca Rocks we headed east via the back roads to the south end of Skyland Drive. We had driven the northern end before so this visit completed the rest of the drive. We were heading to the Skyland Resort for the evening. Enough tents and sleeping bags...tonight we would stay in a real bed. The area was simple beautiful. More vistas and much wildlife was all around us. We wondered around a bit stopping at the different overlooks. No real hiking was done today. Yesterdays adventures in WV had caught up with us. Today we blended in with the tourists. A little shopping was done then it was time to go find diner at the lodge. On the way to the we were surprised to find a jeep with a special reminder of one of our college buddies. That was "MINT." After a good laugh we continued on our way. Michelle was happy because she was able to pick a vegetarian shepherds pie for her entree while I had turkey and mashed potatoes. Afterward we buzzed down to another lodge to check out the different gift shops and had desert while watching the sun go down. Tomorrow we would try another hike before heading back to DC to pick up D-Superfly.
The next morning we awoke to a light drizzle. Not enough to dampen our spirits. We had a great breakfast of pancakes and blackberry syrup. Today's trek would be a short but rigorous hike up to the "On Top of Bearfence Mountain" earth cache. This was a pure rock scramble from the get go but not to bad. Upon arrival at the top we were presented with a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. I think we could see for 20-30 miles. After the hike it was time to get back to the real world. We headed off Skyline Drive in the direction of DC.

Seneca Rocks

Ok, it's way past due but here is an update on out trip (1st week of Aug.) to Seneca Rocks and Skyline Drive.
We decided on a trip to someplace neither Michelle or I had ever been to. We had herd allot of good things about Seneca Rocks in West Virginia so we did some investigation on the area and chose the area for a number of reasons. The natural surrounding area may have been the number one reason. The rocks themselves were really something to look at. They kind of creep up on you because the mountains or close to both sides of the road. Then it opens up and you're presented with this outstanding backdrop. We found our campsite at Seneca Shadows campground. When we arrived it looked like a war zone everywhere. Wet tent, sleeping bags, and clothes were hanging all over the place. The camp host said they had gotten a few inches of rain the last day or so. We chose to delay our unpacking since it was so wet. This gave us time to travel down to the WV highpoint (4863 feet) at Spruce Knob. The drive up to the top was really nice. the road seemed to go on forever but finally opened up. The vegetation was totally different on top. The red spruce trees only had limbs pointing westward due to the harsh winds and winters. We hiked around on top for a couple of hours. This gave us time to find a caches. West Virginia - High Point Earth Cache provided us a good bit of information about the area, specifically why the vegetation is the way it is. One of the side trails near the observation tower gave us our first look at the landscape. Rolling hills as far as the eye could see. During our cache travels on top of the mountain we ran into UFF298, a caching couple from the Maryland area. We chit chatted for a few minutes then each headed in opposite directions towards caches we each still needed to locate on top of the mountain. This small hike was a test run for my ankle. Since I hurt my foot a few weeks back this was the test for the hike we planned for the next day. Fortunatly every thing worked out....no pain for the elevation gain. After our jaunt up to the highpoint we headed back down into the valley for some diner and to set up our camp site. The campground had indeed dried up a bit since our arrival although the area was still a bit damp. Getting a fire started was a bit more problematic than I expected but we did have it burning long enough for Michelle to make some super smores before we turned in.
We awoke early the next morning to a wonderful clear day. Our energy level was pretty high due to a good nights sleep. We had a quick breakfast and packed out lunch for the days events. We had chosen a rather strenuous hike a few miles up the valley. Out goal was to reach the Chimney Top Cache. I think the following podcasts will sum up our adventure in a different way. Clip 1 We actually started our climb from the other side but you can see in the pic where we needed to get to. We laced up our boots grabbed the hiking sticks and proceeded up the hill. The climb turned out to be quite strenuous possibly more than Michelle had envisioned. She was a trooper and continued on up the hill muttering a few choice words about me under her breath. Clip 2 We chose to stop for lunch close to the top since the path change significantly. To this point the path meandered back and forth up the mountain at a pretty good angle. The final 500 feet were quite different. No meandering at all ....the path to a sharp right turn strait up to the sumit. Our hiking poles and sticks were useless at this point since we needed our hands to grab onto things to pull ourselves up the path. Finally, the path opened up to a clearing. At this point it was a small rock scramble to the overlook. Clip 3 I can't say enough about the view from the top. I was able to get to the overlook first, Michelle was just a minute behind me. She did mention something to the fact..."there better be a good view or you're in real trouble." There was and as soon as she came through the trees I was in her good graces again. We rested for several minutes before I scrambled around the rocks to find the cache container. Oh ya, one could easily forget about caching when sitting on top. One could forget just about anything while sitting up here. We took a few pictures then headed back down. My foot held up to the climb but the treck down the hill was a bit more challenging. The angle was different and I was pretty tired so it was slow going all the way down. Back to the campsite we went to get cleaned up. Then it was off to town to Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen. Our rewards for the days adventure.
The day was not over for we still had a few hours of day light left. We chose to drive up to Dolly Sods Natural area. We chose a nice easy walk near a bog and the Dolly Sods Wildrness Earth Cache. The setting sun provided a wonderful backdrop and some nice light for pictures. It was quite the day...exhausted we turned in early. We would rest up for our drive to Skyline Drive in Virginia the next day.

Simply twisted! - Oh %&*!@

Man life sucks! But at least I can blog about it! No caching, letterboxing or hiking in the woods for anywhere from 1-6 weeks. Last week I stepped in a hole, rolled my foot tearing the ligaments inside. Oh what a lovely popping sound they made. This all happened as I was walking into Central Parklet. Man that place is dangerous. I don't suggest going there unless you are the adventurous type ready to risk life and limb. You can see a slight depression in the ground in the provided picture but it really does not show the hole or uneven ground to well. It's really disguised by the grass and weeds. So what am I supposed to do beside blog (whine) about my foot. Well I got a good Mob book called "The Ice Man - Confessions of a Contract Killer", the remote, and portable phone next to the lazyboy. If I am not reading or watching TV I am wasting time on a new Web 2.0 technology called PMOG-Passively Multiplayer Online Game. One good thing from all this is I have had plenty of time to research and plan out some clever puzzle caches. Man someone else has to feel my pain and what better way than channeling my agony into caches. I'm kidding but it sounded good.

FTF = FEAR

Well I finally saw what I have thankfully never seen on the trail. Yes a big ol' rattle snake. You would think that as much time as I put on the trail I would have seen one before but no. I was driving along in Rothrock SF (can't tell you where exactly) looking for a good place to put another cache when I spotted this nasty along side of the road. At first I thought it was a stick because it was all stretched out. I quickly pulled over to get a closer look. Mind you a closer look for me was about 40 feet away. Close enough for me because I don't like snakes. Sure enough this bugger was alive. It never coiled up in a defensive position and rattled, but it just moseyed across the road. Way creepy! I hope I don't see one for another 40 some years!

I continued on so the spot I hope to have a cache approved in Rothrock. Last time I was here I noticed that the area was pretty trashed up. Seems nothing had changed. I found a few plastic bags near an abandoned fire ring and proceeded to collect 40-50 bottle and cans. Bot that was a fun thing to carry out. Next time I go back I will bring larger and better bags to fill up. In addition I will disassemble the fire ring in the hopes that the area is not used for camping or partying again. Hopefully the pictures I took will help get my cache approved.

O Boxer decompression

It’s been a full week (now more) since we attended the” "O" Boxer Where Art Thou?” event at Hickory Run State Park. I’ll start at the beginning of our trip (how original huh) because all of our activities added to the fact that I needed a day or two of vacation time after this adventure.

Our crew consisted of feralgyrl, Angrist, and the HolyCowboys with break out member D-SuperFly. We chose to caravan down Route 80. Hey what’s a road trip if we don’t all stick together? We made a few needed stops along the way because of the high liquid consumption one has. One of our breaks gave us the chance to look for the I-80 Walk in the Woods cache on an abandoned train bed behind one of the rest stops. After the quick breaks we continued on down 80 and pulled off into Hazelton PA to search out some Mexican food for dinner. Mexican food has been a passion of the group since the day we surprisingly met feralgyrl and Angist out in north western PA when we were on separate adventures. We happened to both stop at the same Mexican restaurant. How cool! Well we finally found Juan Pedros Cantina in Hazelton after making a few wrong turns to find ourselves at the right spot. Seems the city officials have change the name of the streets from block to block but that’s another story altogether. Our meal was quite satisfying compared to the service we received. I guess the social skills of some people vary depending on the distance you are from home. We left full and content and that’s all that mattered.

We rolled into the Hickory Run a few hours before nightfall and proceeded to being setting up our camp sites. Might I add the “Angrist loves the camping.” Our setup process was compromised by a sudden rain shower (that lasted for several hours) causing us to choose what was important or not. It seems that casually relaxing by the campfire was not going to be an option this evening so we all turned in early. We fell asleep to the consistent lightning bolts and thunder claps. How would we fair during the next few hours?

The next morning we were presented with blue skies and damp sleeping bags. Despite the tarp coverage the rain was able to sneak into the tent. The good morning weather was able to cheer us up and dry things out rather quickly. The blueberry pancakes that Angrist and ferylgrl whipped up also helped!

After getting freshened up as best one can while camping we headed off to the boxing event. This was to be out first Letterboxing event so we proceeded with a bit of caution ;) towards the event pavilion. We were immediately met by Pink Panther (Pink as I called her) and LightningBug. They gave us a super welcome providing us all the needed direction to our new surroundings. Pink showing us the all the event components in the pavilion and LightningBug showing us one of the stages of the orienteering (Letterbox course) nearby. So here we were knee deep in the middle of the event. What to do first? I chose to sit back and absorb the surroundings from the parameter while Angrist and ferylgrl jumped into the middle of the feeding frenzy. While we got a bite to eat we were approach by a variety of boxers asking us for stamp trades, and a bit of information as to who were and where we were from. It seemed that this group of Geocachers was being accepted into the world of Letterboxing with open arms. After the initial frenzy (we found several that day) we broke off to work the orienteering course. We found several other boxers on the course. We met up with the Magical Music Man (MMM) and his father right off the bat. It was interesting to see how others worked the different stages. Each of us had our own way of inking up and it was nice to see how everyone did it. MMM had a fancy ink pad which my wife and I were interested in. ;) We now have the same one! Traversing the remaining stages we also me Maple Leaf Red who mentioned that since we met on the trail we were able to receive her personal traveler stamp. “Are you going to be at the after event” she asked? “We can exchange stamps there.” We completed all the stages of the orienteering course that were part of the day’s event and headed back to the pavilion. This was possibly the 3^rd frenzy of the day. Everyone who we did not meet earlier was met and stamps were exchanged. It was quite the fun time meeting new people, trading stamps and working the orienteering course.

After the initial event we went back to the campsite to regroup (consume a barley soda or two) before going out to grab a quick cache in the park and rock hop on the bolder field. A visit to the odd rock conglomerate in the bolder field was part of the Earth Cache was also visited. We posed for pictures and headed off for a well deserved dinner at Pink’s campsite.

Frenzy 3, 4, or 5….I lost count somewhere today…or did we ever slow down?

We found site 132 (I think that was the one) where many of the boxers had gathered for the evening. Since we arrived late everyone got to see us cook up some venison burgers (with blue cheese and red pepper) on the grill. Laura even took one back with her and that has its own story. Make sure you ask her all the details on that one. Plenty of sides were also available on the table. Small talk was had by us all. Angrist somehow got himself into a conversation about Geocaching with a bunch of Letter boxers. I’m not exactly sure what the topic was but he was smiling and the others weren’t throwing stamps at him so it must have been good. As it started getting darker D-SuperFly ran up to me and said he found something in the woods. “What are you talking about” I asked? “It’s a treasure box or something Dad” he replied. I went with him and he showed me the container which turned out to be a letterbox. Seems D-SuperFly had seen Pink floating about in the wood so he tracked her and found one of her night caches before she announced they we ready for us to go look for. Shortly thereafter she announced that all the night boxes had been set and anyone who was interested should go look for them. Plenty of seats were available at the campfire now. D-SuperFly got the night boxing bug so off we went to see what we could find in the dark. This was a completely different experience than we had had looking for boxes in the daylight. How fun! After that I was spent….completely exhausted so I found a nice spot by the fire to sit and chat with Mapleleaf Red’s husband and kids. Oh and anyone else who was willing to come close enough to me. After a while we figured it was time to call it a day and turn in. We rambled off to our campsite and fell asleep without too much effort.

I got up earlier than expected the next morning to find gray sky’s again. We were supposed to make our special scrambled eggs for Angrist and feralgyrl but I needed to get cleaned up a bit. They of course were already up and packing up their stuff. I trotted off to the bathroom. I was in the process of putting my head under the faucet when I overheard a few other campers talking about a storm cell that was going to hit the area in the next hour. I quickly finished up and ran back to our camp while a slight drizzle was starting to fall. Remember Kenny loves the camping! I let everyone else know what was going to happen and we decided to break camp as quickly as possible. 15 minutes later the rain started to fall harder. No, the guy in the bathroom said an hour. Guess his watch stopped during the night. We got the site packed up in record time. I knew I would be drying out tarps and tents on my front lawn as soon as we got back home.

We left the campground as the other poor soles just starting to move about. Off we headed to find breakfast at the closet place. Our special eggs would have to wait till another day. We found a diner in one of the local towns. Seems this was a hotbed for kayaking since just about every car had some large plastic suppository looking thing tied to the roof. We entered the diner to find we would get the next table. Again out waitperson lacked the social skills we expected but the food was top notch and the coffee was plentiful. When we were finished we had to fight to get the bill. Again strange ways in Eastern PA .

After breakfast we said our goodbyes and headed off down route 80. I must say I think we all had a great time at the event. And despite the rain the camping was not to bad either. After all Kenny love the camping.

Off to Hickory to box with the boxers

We're off today to check out our first Letter Box event - "O" Boxer Where Art Thou? I think it should be a great time. D-SuperFly will be able to try out his new stamp. He has also has a smaller stamp that will be more manageable for him along with a tablet and his own ink pad. He does not know it yet so he will be surprised when we get there. Got to keep him busy so I can digest all the information and food at the picnic. :)

I was here....where were you?

I made a trip out to SGL 295 for a lesson on hiking. I must say this (Hiking 101) was a very strenuous first year class. It might have been easier on a cooler day but I never checked the prerequisite for this class section. In all a fun time was had and I even passed the class. Now I need to check the schedule for the fall classes.

Othello was happy he could go too!

All George Tour - With George1

Angrist and I spent Sunday wondering around George1's area of the state. This has to be one of the best locations for hiking I have been to in Pennsylvania. One can find so many trails that can take you on a variety of terrains. And George knows all the cools spots. In all we found 11 of George's hides as well as one rogue PAwinger cache.
On the way up to Snow Shoe we found a box turtle cruising across the road. We felt that would not be the best place for him so we brought him along to Elk View 2 which was the first find on the tour. We left the turtle (in the can) to keep watch over Georges container. We did find a few other quick hides and then we changed course for the Winger Multi-cache "Explore the Wild Area Pt. 2 (Kune Camp)." which was a wonderful challenge. On the way out we ran into George1 who was a bit upset that we had deviated from the All George Tour. After our talking to we got back in the truck and moved on the the next George cache but not before we saw another little critter scamper up a tree. A very interesting bit of information was discovered at the Clandestine Operation cache. I won't tell you what it is but it might give you some idea as to why the road is so straight here.
We made a brief stop at the Marion Brooks Natural Area. The white birch trees we simply amazing to see.

Our last stop of the day was Georges all famous 3 Falls Cache. The stream was running a bit low today. From the other pictures I saw on the cache page it gets going pretty well. The hike back up was easier than I imagined. The cool temps and shady path really helped.
On our way back George tried to keep the tour going but we had to call it a day. After all we had to save some finds for the second All George Tour.

Hickory Run - "O" Boxer

Can't wait to get back to Hickory Run State Park. We will be there during the weekend of the 21st for our first Letterbox event. Lets see how it stacks up to a caching event. Wonder what Letterboxers think of tunnels? The theme for the event is "O" Boxer Where Art Thou? You can find more information about it on Atlas Quest if your really interested. One of my favorite Earthcaches, (Hickory Run Boulder Field Earthcache) is also there as well as some other cache hides we will need to look for. I think the misty foggy morning really added to the the enjoyment we had when fulfilling the requirements of the earthcache. It did keep people away. If your interested in joining in (we'll be camping) the fun let us know. We'll be happy to have someone else to pick on.

You have to love micros - well some of them!

Had to make a run to Philly area this week for work. Now what's to say you can't do a little caching along the way. Seems I found several small or smaller sized caches when I got there. It's not as happy as Happy Valley for ammo cans. I guess were just lucky not to be in an area covered with micro caches. This was one I found that was quite interesting minus the dead snake I found near GZ. At that point I really did not want to be poking around in small holes.

Even Flordia has some HC in it!

Central Pa is not the only place to find tricky or nasty little hides. The Pelican Island Cache was one of my favorite in Daytona Beach. One needed a boat to get close to GZ but we still had to wade in from about 250 feet out to find the container. I still can't figure why someone would place a cache where only a few people could get to.

Pelican Island was easy compared to the Sign of the Times Nano. Had I known it was a nano I probably would not have tried for it. Had I had any sense of normalcy I would have gone home once I located the container. I say located because I found the containers in only a few seconds. Getting it in my hand took about 30-45 minutes. But I got it and replaced it 8 feet from it's original position but still at GZ.

I still don't know how I was able to get this one without the local police being called. One could only imagine what I had to do to get this one. NOTE to George: I did not bring a ladder.
Now why would I post this nasty little idea? Perhaps I have something better in mind.

I was also able to complete two of the Liver Series, one on each end of the trip. Thanks "T" for all your help!
Liver Heaven (Liver Fiesta #5)
U F L: Unidentified Flying Liver (Liver Fiesta #7)

D-Superfly

D-Superfly had a great time in Florida. Many things were experienced. We spent two days at Sea World and one at Rat Land and several days in South Daytona. The average temperature was about 90 degrees and no rain was seen till we returned.

Cult of the Rat Adventure Quest - Time to catch the rat!

We used many different vehicle's to get to the rats lair. Cars, planes, trains, trams and sports cars were used. I must say D-Superfly did very well for his first time behind a wheel. Where's that neck brace and pain killer?

D-Superfly helped direct us to the rats Letterbox with little trouble. This kid does not need hints or a compass .... he just sniffed him out with his pal Pluto.




I still used my GPS just to make sure we were at the correct location. We found the rat....see I'm pointing at him! What's he pointing at?