13 December 2014 or 12-13-14

Geocachers love number combinations. Today was one of those days. It will also be the last one for a long time, We hosted an event to wish everyone happy holidays and celebrate a date with a quirky combination of numbers. After that, it was time to spend a cold afternoon on the trails at Hudson Parks. We usually spot at least one tree decorated for the holidays at some park each year. This year was at Darrow Road Park. It was a nice splash of color on a December day as grey as all the others.

11 December 2014 Hiding Caches - Day 2

There were more caches to hide for our upcoming event and the days were short, so I met Ali and Phineas for a long lunch break to place the past few hides. The weather was raw and Northeast Ohio had settled into the endless grey of December.

Phineas knows crossing that stream will be cold.

His long afternoon nap after the park stretched into the evening when I returned from the office.

6 December 2014 Hiding Caches

We were hosting an event in a week and wanted to hide caches for the event. Ali was visiting family so I was hiding caches solo. It was cold ad wet with no sun to be seen, but it was good to be on some of the nicest trails in Cleveland Metroparks. I passed a few falls on my journey. They were running with water from the rain and made a nice trio for images. I didn't get all the caches hidden, but I enjoyed my afternoon.

30 November 2014 Mount Blair

Mount Blair Cemetery had its last burial almost thirty years ago. The cemetery looks like a lost place with little maintenance and markers slowly being lost to nature. The overgrown graves look like a setting for a scary movie.

29 November 2014 Rimrock

We had been to the Rimrock area before, but had never visited the overlook or walked the steps from the top to down below. The holiday weekend seemed like a great time to make a visit and hunt the multi in the area. There were no other visitors (they were smart). The driving wind and icy trails made the journey even more interesting. Phineas was excited to hit the trail and was well behaved on the icy steps. He changed is outlook when we reached the cave. He didn't like the narrow entrance. I didn't want him spooked and afraid in the confines of a cave so Ali stayed with him while I went in to explore. It was a fun outing and we luckily didn't get hurt.

Phineas is raring to go!

The view from the top gives a great view of the Allegheny Reservoir,

Icy steps on the way down

Phineas is phearless.

Phineas is phearful and doesn't like caves.

Going into the cave

This is a deep cave.

Standing on a narrow ledge

Are those eyes staring down at me or just a Bud Light can?

Ali waiting at the entrance.

We found the first stage of the multi and started walking to the final but decided the ice and rocks weren't a good mix for the day. We made our way down the road and finished the day on the North Country Trail.

28 November 2014 Clarion County

We took the longer day of the holiday weekend to journey to Clarion County to continue the Clarion North Country GeoTrail. We had been finding caches along this trail then eventually stopped two years prior. The drives to the area were long and the caches seemed to lack maintenance. Today's hide seemed to be there so we made the trip. We stopped at the Allegheny River for a cache on our way south. Besides the CNCGT cache, we also found a 2003 hide.

27 November 2014 Walking Woodcock

We were looking for a quiet place to walk on Thanksgiving. A light layer of snow made the trails at Woodcock Lake a perfect place for some exercise on a cold, windy day. We were even able to find a cache which has eluded us for years.

23 November 2014 End of the Day

Days start late and end quickly when November is winding down. It had been a long weekend for us. We knew our world was soon to have a major and unhappy change. A walk at the Rookery has always been a perfect place to slow down. When we started our walk down the old interurban grade, the light was starting to fade. By the time we passed by on our return, daylight was nearly gone.

20 November 2014 Cleveland From Above

I was on my way home from my first trip to Tulsa after a new acquisition. Tulsa was new. Oklahoma was new. I hoped for warmer weather but arrived to cold evenings in the teens and some snow on the ground. Cold weather and short days waited for me on my return to Cleveland as well. I almost always fly on the aisle, but on the rare times when I am by the window, I will play with the camera when the weather permits. This afternoon, the sun and the clouds gave Cleveland a mix of light and shadows. I grew up just beyond the image frame on the right-hand side.

16 November 2014 Sunnybrook

15 November 2014 First Snow

Phineas Phrolics in His Snowphlake Coat.

9 November 2014 Walking the Buckeye Trail

Mussels on Tinkers Creek