13 July 2011 Return to Eldon Russell Park

The water was a lot lower than our last visit. We were finally able to reach the bridge and grab a clue to the Geauga Parks game.

We always talk about bringing the kayak here and never doing it. This place is always quiet and peaceful in the evenings.

10 July 2011 Hogback Ridge and Hell Hollow

Had a fun time in the stream
We were in the area and had a few Lake County Caches we hadn't found. After some yard work, it was off to the park. Hogback Ridge is a pleasant trail with a serious set of stairs to climb. There's a nice waterfall at the bottom of the stairs, but the low rain had reduced the falls to a trickle.

A nice towhee along the trail

That's a lot of steps either up or down.

Fairy Candles were in bloom at the stream level.

Note the frog's legs are crossed. We've never seen that before. It didn't stop him from a long jump.

We were on the road when this old WWI biplane passed overhead.

We finally stopped for an old cache in the Hell Hollow area. The cache is at an old bridge site at the base of a hill. This is one of those locations where I wish I had the chance to drive over the bridge years ago before it was removed. It appears to have been quite an adventure.

The old bridge supports are really visible here on the road down.

8 July 2011 After the Rain Willoughby Hills

6 July 2011 Gardening

Despite my nearly six weeks of traveling, the garden has held together. I wish I had yellow pear tomatoes planted, but everything else is in place and progressing.

5 July 2011 Cloud Mountain

4 July 2011 Petty Trail Series

Two years ago we had a wonderful journey finding the Dylan Trail Series. We had really high hopes for the Petty Series to follow with another memorable journey. The trail where the caches were hidden is an area where we have enjoyed really fun adventures in the past. The trail delivered with a few hiccups. For most of the journey, we had a great time and enjoyed the butterflies and wildflowers. When we got to the second last cache, the gps kept saying go into the water. We stopped and read a few logs and realized the gps was telling the truth. The container was about 25-30 feet out from what was now the new shore line. I gave Ali the dogs and made a few attempts to approach the cache from a direction which would only get me mildly wet. In the end, it became apparent the cache was in waist deep water and I just wasn't ready to get that wet. My feet and the lower part of my pants were soaked when we finally gave up and headed for the final cache. While we were signing the log at the final cache, we both realized that the some of the million bugs we had encountered on the trail were determined to bite the dogs. The bites were so aggressive that Gwen actually had bleeding wounds. We got out of the woods as quickly as possible to get the dogs some relief.

The cache appears to be out by the middle tree.

3 July 2011 On the Trail... One Tough Cookie Series

I made it through one of the two events for the day. We stopped at the North Country Trail Event at Kinzua Beach and said hello to some more friends. After the event we were going to stop at a few NCT caches and then attend the last event in North Warren. I realized as we were leaving that I was done with events for a while and just wanted to hit the trail. I also wanted to go somewhere to just hike and find caches. We both agreed the One Tough Cookie series would meet that description. On our way to One Tough Cookie we stopped at one of our favorite blueberry picking spots and fortified ourselves with as many as we could pick and eat.

Along the One Tough Cookie Trail we found a cache near this old power station from earlier oil days. German cachers would call this a lost place. The caches were great and visiting the 100+ year old power station was cool.

The elderberry blossoms around the outside of the old powerhouse were just starting to open. Every time I see elderberry, my mind returns to the Elton John song.

2 July 2011 The Big Day

Hamming for the camera before the reviewer panel.

Ali getting ready for the panel too.

The reviewer panel

Am I talking or sleeping?

The first ever Real Deal Flash Mob

The Geokatz at 2000 finds.

Our friends Geauga Garmin and dbczarina

Our friend Keystone

Friends Chris and kickin'

The big crowd at the end

Snoop snaps a memory

The log was quiet by the end of the day

Some of the many volunteers who made this possible

We were still standing at the end

Tag and Bonnie still smiling

It really seemed like the day passed in a blink. There was so much to do related to the event and so many people to see. I missed saying hi to lots of friends. In most cases, I only knew days later that they were there. After two years it was over in a minute. It seemed like everyone had a great time. I hope so. We ended the big event pretty much where we started, sitting by Jenny with our friends Tag and Bonnie.

We had to go home between GeoWoodstock and the geocoin event in the evening. Once we got home, we barely had enough left to attend the coin event. The little Youngsville Fire Hall was packed with over 500 attendees. We spent most of the time there saying hi to as many friends as we could locate. We did manage to spot this nice red call box coin which joined our collection.

I'm not sure if we'll go to GeoWoodstock next year. It's close enough, but takes a commitment to be there. I am amazed there are a number of cachers that have been to all nine GeoWoodstocks. We'll probably be there and will be sure to volunteer if we are. The experience was a strange mix of fun, pain, anxiety, fatigue... This post and pictures never made it to the GeoWoodstock blog. It worked out well that I am so behind on posts by the time I got to this date, I was ready to write a bit and work through the bank of images.

1 July 2011 Three Events

Richards will never be the same.

GOF was looking for a better signal. It must have worked. He made it here from Buffalo.

Lots of cars on Route 6. I was glad no one got hurt and there were no accidents.

We drove to Oil Creek to attend the event. My work schedule originally had me in Indiana until Thursday morning so we passed on the train. In the end, I was in New York in the early part of the week and had an easy drive to Pennsylvania.

They all look so serious; not at all like cachers on their way to an event.

The registration line was long, but moved quickly.

Our name and a ladybug on the tepee which served as the event log.