1 June 2013 Gameland Challenges

It was a day of ignorant bliss. We spent the afternoon at a gamelands hunting a number of challenge caches for which we qualified. Eva looked strong on the trail and really happy hiking. We talked for a bit planning our July 4th holiday on the trail. We had no idea this was her last day of caching in Pennsylvania. Near her last cache she was walking on a downed log. She always enjoyed crawling on heights.

31 May 2013 Going Home

It's not often that I go on a trip and come away with no photos and almost no caches from walking or hiking after work, but this week was one of those. I had an external audit and was too tired by the end of the day to chase caches or images. I was anticipating both today on my drive home. I had a big hike, but didn't do so well with the caching. I stopped at a gamelands directly on my route. There were a three caches in the gamelands including a two high-terrain hides. I thought it was a perfect fit. Oops...

Past a certain point early in the walk, I lost what little path there was making this a big time bushwhack over rocks and through multi-flora rose. In the end, I dnf'd one cache, did not hunt a second, and managed a single find. My return trip was even more interesting since the caches were above private property and a shooting range. I tried without success to return to parking while staying on gamelands property, but was thrilled to only skirt the edge of the shooting range and not get in the middle of it.

This adventure wiped out most of my caching time and left me more tired and sore than contented. Some days going home is a better choice than getting flogged in the woods.

28 May 2013 Anders Run

27 May 2013 ANF

It seemed as though it had been a long time since we just drove out Route 59 and cached in the Allegheny National Forest in McKean. It's a short drive for us and our friends had placed a number of caches in the woods which we hadn't found. The area was really busy at the start of the day, but tapered off as the holiday wound down. There were still a few spring wildflowers to enjoy along with the quiet woods and trails through the streams. It was a super day to be in the woods.

26 May 2013 Legacy of Conservation

We spent the day finding four of the Legacy of Conservation caches with Gwen and Eva. It was a long ride and the weather was warm so we had to make plenty of stops to keep them with sufficient water. Our first Legacy stop was at Elk State Forest for a second visit to Dobby's Home. Our last visit was to a historical site with large banks of coke ovens. It was a super day with a lot of walking and some great sites.

25 May 2013 Visiting Beaver Meadows

24 May 2013 37 Degrees

When a holiday weekend arrives, it has to be enjoyed no matter what the weather deals, but 37 degrees in Memorial Day weekend is a little tough to smile through. Add a bit of cold rain and a strong wind, and you have a rough day for caching. We had set aside this day to hunt some of the Legacy of Conservation series. Time was running short to complete the trail so we could not afford to be picky. Despite the rain and the cold, it was a fun, memorable day.

After a few warm-up finds, our first Legacy of Conservation stop was Kinzua Bridge State Park. The weather hit its low point here as we stopped at the old bridge site before heading to the cache. I remember the bridge standing so I am always sad when I visit here to see the wreck of this beautiful structure. Our journey to the cache was made much rougher when we missed the trail. Thankfully we were able to avert disaster when Eva decided to head to a porcupine along the trail. Ali saw where she was headed and I pulled her back just before the worst could happen.

Happy Geo-Babies

On the way to one of the Legacy caches, someone was fishing very near at this stream. He had moved on by the time our journey brought us back enabling us a chance to find the nearby cache.

This was an interesting find on our journey.

Clintonia and painted trilliums awaited us on our journey to umbrella rock

Gwen took a brief nap in a long day while we were visiting Umbrella Rock.