17 March 2009 Bond Lake









You need to enjoy a certain amount of pain or at least discomfort to cache in the Falls. Many places never dry out, and things with thorns seem everywhere (maybe the locals hunt these out as hide locations).

My work has taken me elsewhere for over a year. Now with the economy in rough shape, I find myself back in a place that has been a third home for most of my adult life. After a year of being mostly elsewhere, there is a new stock of hides at many familiar places. I'll have a lot of time here for at least the next six months. At least there will some good cache hunting. I grabbed one cache this evening. It was really close to the property that backs against a shooting range. The nearer I got to the cache, the louder the shots got. Needless to say, I didn't bother to trade.

15 March 2009 Bent Run Falls

15 March 2009 Kinzua Dam and Allegheny Reservoir









We've lived here for a long time. We've never really visited this area. It seems that way so often. People never really stop at places in their own back yards. We were on the other side of the river to hunt a big terrain cache. The incline wasn't as big a concern as the government posted signs. The cache seems to be in an okay place, but we didn't want to cross the signs and head up the hill. There's a back way that seems clear to the cache. We'll wait for another day. We did get to see the dam and visit the reservoir. There were a few waymarks to visit and now a few more for the next visitor.

14 March 2009 Visiting Clarion County


North Clarion Nature Trail is actually located on school grounds. The woods, wetland, and a field are used by the school for education classes and cross-country training. The small amphitheater is an outdoor training classroom. I wish I could have had something like this behind my school.








The North Country Trail is a real mixed bag. Only three or so miles from this section, the parking pull-off is surrounded by posted signs from the driller that has lease rights from the State Game Lands. Unattractive is a pleasant term for it. Yet here, there is a quiet pull-off with about 2 miles of wonderful woods hiking. This isn't a trail I would want to hike long distance, but it truly delivers in the better sections.






Our last long walk of the day was at the Cook Forest Firetower. We were here too near sunset to go up the firetower, but this was a great place to go caching. During the summer, you can drive within a few hundred feet of the firetower. Today we had to hike back along the fire road. The hike was fun since we both got to see the tallest rhododendrons we've seen. They are 20+ feet high. It must be a sight during blossoms. Seneca Point was awesome. It has a nice view and the rock face is fun to play on. There's another cache here that requires wading in the Clarion so we'll be back when the weather's warmer. Maybe we'll even climb the firetower. ;-)





Mama's Baby

13 March 2009 Jamestown

9 March 2009 Meeeep.... meeeep.... meeeep



We walked North Chagrin this evening looking for places to hide a new multi. The (hopefully) new cache will pass by a large meadow which is home to a lot of butterflies in the summer, This evening, it was home to a lone woodcock. As we passed the field on our way back to the car, we heard his distinctive repeating meep... meep. Then we heard him take off on his searching flight. Ali spotted him overhead.

7 March 2009 Shenango and First Peepers










We spent a day caching! It was a great time. We started with rain, but I was so happy to be out and about that it didn't matter. Our good fortunes continued with an end to the rain and some warm pre-spring weather. As an added bonus, we got to hear our first spring peepers. Two night caches topped a perfect day.

4 March 2009 Sunset in Gates Mills

3 March 2009 Sunny Lake Park and Moebius Nature Preserve









It was a bright sunny day. The geese were walking on water... well maybe the ice below. We grabbed three caches which is a big day for us these days. It was fun to walk and be out.

1 March 2009 Cold, Sunny Days






There's a stretch of each year where bright, blue skies greet us when we are outdoors. Today was one of those. It was wonderful. It was also in the low 20's with a howling wind. We stopped by a game lands for a cache find on the way home. The cache is one of those where the container is a regular filled with lots of micros, only one of which has the log. This one was really well done. It was a plastic water cooler bottle with film canisters loaded inside. We were really lucky to find the log in the 43rd canister we checked. I would have liked to spend more time walking these gamelands, but it was time to get out of the cold after the one cache.

28 February 2009 Bridge Over a Trout Stream







This is a nice, steel bridge over a trout stream near Spartansburg. It is a little different that most of these old bridges in that it has a wooden deck that makes great sounds when you drive over it. If there were more traffic, Penn DOT would probably replace the bridge. For now, it lives on.

The photo has been altered to remove the local vandals graffiti (and make the page G rated). This area is a little strange. Just to one side of this bridge is an old rail trestle. The tracks have been taken out and leaving an undeveloped rail trail. The Spartansburg Railroad Cache is in the woods along the old railroad bed. It was a little unusual seeking that cache because the old tracks are the place where the local Amish teens go to sow their wild oats... buggies, cheap beer, and bad cigars. Still, the place is quite scenic during the nicer months. The last photo is from May 2006 before the blog came to life.