3 March 2008 East of Wenatchee






I left the office about 4:30 and thought maybe I had a shot at grabbing a few caches in the woods. I headed into the mountains and got to the parking site about 15 minutes before sunset. With about 2 1/2 miles of hiking in front of me and snow already starting in the higher elevations, I decided to be smart (for once) and settle for a few pictures. I'll be back in the area again and will make certain these caches are on my list.

2 March 2008 Eastern Washington State







It is my first visit to Washington. Our headquarters are in Spokane and a second plant is in the state. I flew into Spokane and drove west. The land is mostly ranch and farm land. I liked the beauty of the quiet land. Once darkness hit on my drive, I was almost the only car on the road.

1 March 2008 Leaping for Caches





Cleveland Metroparks placed four new caches to celebrate leap year and this year's annual theme with frogs. The contest with the caches ran for ten days and I'm traveling for eight of those so today was the day. The sun was blinding and the snow was really deep in spots, but we had a great time doing some woods caching with our friend.

29 February 2008 Leap Year





The snow was about a foot deep on this quiet walk in the woods.

25 February 2008 Missing Cache






A local cacher had posted two stages of our multi were missing. I went and checked to find the third stage intact. I was a little surprised when I worked my way backward and found the two trees holding stage two were now in the middle of the Chagrin River. We were muggled by a river.

24 February 2008 Fairview








Fairview Cemetery is adjacent to this State Game Lands. The back edge of the cemetery looks out over a small valley. The name seemed to fit well. The weather was perfect for walking.

23 February 2008 Caching McKean County

Blue Skies... two really cold streams... a foot of snow... and some very nice caches.

17 February 2008 Tamarack Lake

16 Feburary 2008 Perfection










Wow, what a day. We spent the day in Crawford County caching as usual. The sky can't get much bluer. At our first stop the light freezing rain from earlier in the week had coated the trees with a light layer of sparkling ice. Our second stop brought us to a State Game Lands and a perfect set of turkey prints in the crusty snow. After visiting a little roadside area with nice stands of hemlock, we traveled down the final road. At the end of our journey we found a grand creek, a majestic old steel bridge, and a cemetery with many Revolutionary War Veterans. We finished our day with a stop for ice cream (of course).

9 February 2008 Strange Weather Day


Arriving at the Park



Near the First Stage



Near the Final



On the Way Back



Near the end of our Walk


We left the house with a plan to meet our friend Goat Haunt. We are both planning caches in Geauga's Big Creek Park and were going to work together so there were no conflicts. When we left the house the sun was shining. As we reached the township edge, the snow started. After another few minutes, we were driving through white-outs. We stopped at the first chance and canceled the afternoon with Rich.

We were driving home with the thought of giving up on the day in the park, but as we got closer to home, the snow stopped and the sun came out. Hmmm... let's go west and walk in North Chagrin. We had planned a cache there this year and had our gps'. By the time we reached the park, the snow had started and the wind was blowing. Thoughout 2 1/2 miles of walking we saw driving snow, grey skies, and blue skies with sunshine. It was a fun afternoon with some really strange weather. If you come to find our cache, these are spoilers of the trail you will need to walk.

3 February 2008 A couple Mentor Parks





After a long day and late night of caching in Stark county, we decided to have a quiet visit to a couple of parks in Mentor, Ohio. There ducks were enjoying the day as much as we were.

2 February 2008 The Wilderness Center








The Wilderness Center is a non-profit nature preserve in Stark County Ohio. The site is geocacher friendly and was hosting a night caching event. We spent the day caching with GeaugaGarmin and got to the nature center early enough to grab two regular caches before the event. Once we got to the event, New York friends Dove78, meriadoc, and Dave w/o id joined us for an evening of hunting caches in the woods. Most of the night time fair set up for the event was fairly easy so we were really glad that the staff gave a nod and allowed the six of us to go back into the woods for a permanent multi and regular. We had a great time.

Many thanks to all the visitors that have pushed this site past 2,000 hits. I hope you've enjoyed the photos.

28 January 2008 Ambridge to Carlisle









I had a half-day meeting in Ambridge at a new facility we are operating. After the meeting I had the afternoon to hunt a few caches and drive east to Carlisle. I was hoping for a few new counties on the trip (got that), a find on one of Lep's caches (missed), and a visit to one of Lep's Waymarks (got that). I also got lucky with an amazingly blue day. The day was so colorful, I quickly forgot all my whining from the day prior. I found the Waymark in the pleasant, little town of Mars. I also found a flying saucer in the center of town and a few Waymarks to post. The first photos are taken from the area around a recently restored passenger station in Mars. On the way east, my last find was a really old cache (April 2002) called Girlie Cache. The cache is located at a lookout that overlooks a valley to the west. The last photo is shot looking north from the lookout area.

27 January 2008 On the Road Again







If I had one of those mood indicator icons on this page, today would be crabby. I have been at the office so much lately that I am having problems with the lack of daylight. It seems that every sunny day passes by from my office window and is followed by mostly grey sunless days on the weekend.

I had to travel today. I didn't really want to. Actually, I didn't mind the traveling. I'll get to meet another staff member this week, but I didn't want to do it on Sunday because so many places close down Sunday evenings. Mars, Pennsylvania is no different. Despite persistent snowfall, I had an easy drive here and my new gps is a gem for finding things with addresses. Once I had checked in, I took a ride to look for some place to settle my urge to wander. I was really glad to see a Barnes and Noble. Yes, it was time to look for some music to add to the Ipod. Oops, some genius at B/N decided to take out the music section and replace it with this huge kids book section. Wahhhhhh... they were one of the few places that occasionally had music I would buy. I hope this isn't a trend. No music... no reason to stay.

Back at the hotel, I topped off a four-walled evening with a new cell phone that appears to be broken. I got a new phone last week so my e-mails can be forwarded. I got it on Friday, it seems to have died some time today. :-( On the bright side,we added a new county today. Yep it was a wimpy one. I didn't get the second find to change the map color.

The photos are a change of pace for me. The cannon is a leftover from a garrison used to protect Franklin during the Indian Wars. Seems like a bit of overkill, but it was a nice piece of old casting workmanship. The headstone was kinda eerie. Yesterday at the event we picked up a Harry Potter themed travel bug that was left at the end of the day. I dragged the bug out to that cache to drop it. After I placed the bug and returned the container, I looked up and the first headstone I saw was for Riddle. A little spooky... huh? For some reason, my camera went bonkers when I tried to take the photo of the headstone. Everytime I tried to zoom the camera turned off. It has worked fine since then. Hmmmm.

26 January 2008 Chapman Park Winterfest









There was snow for the Winterfest this year and really cold temperatures. Despite shaking most of the day, I had a great time. We got to see a ton of friends. As always, it was fun being out and about with Goat Haunt, Dove78, kickin', and kachekat. I deny having anything to do with helping Dove bounce the suspension bridge while kachekat was crossing. :-) We were really happy Grandpa and Grandma made it back from Maryland for the event. We also got to see Rev. Mike, Tprints, Peak Bagger, Dave w/o id, Meriadoc, 2climb Bunker Hillbillies, Snoop, and Doo Wop Dee.