Kaput

I hereby declare this blog kaput. However, my other one is once again open for business. Click on My Main Blog over there on the right side of this page.

Latest Collection of Geocaching Icons

Went to a geocaching event in Castle Rock today. This was a very well attended event and there were many many travel bugs and geocoins to grab or discover. I discovered all the geocoins I could and this is my current collection of icons representing my discoveries.

Travel Bug Update

Big Bug Turtle is my most travelled travel bug. It has just moved from Abilene, Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada. It is in a cache called "RATED PG FOR PRETTY GIRLS" and it has now travelled 10,779 miles.

My third most travelled TB is called "1936 Milwaukee Road". It is a copper date nail that I found at least 25 years ago. After drilling a hole in it and attaching the travel bug dog tag to it, I placed it in a cache a few miles from home in Colorado. It has since travelled 2038 miles to Illinois via Arizona. Right now it is in a cache called "John's Little Redhead" in Plainfield, Illinois. Plainfield is near Joliet. The date nail has been in this cache since October 21st.

Pet Peeve #4

Whenever the person in front of me is turning right and is doing so at a snail's pace.

Maple Leaf Mailbag

I managed to get mentioned on that short wave broadcast once again - the Maple Leaf Mailbag from Radio Canada International in Montreal. Go to this page and then click on "Click here" for the latest program. This will get you the program for December 9, 2007. I am mentioned a bit past the midway point in the 1 hour show. I listen to this show every week now because it is common for them to briefly discuss geocaching.

If you are reading this and want to listen but the latest program is not for 12/9, then go to the archives and select the 12/9 show.

Here is one of the pictures I sent to the show.



This is a collection of travel bugs that I had in my possesion a while back. I moved them on to new caches after I was done admiring them for a few days. That is, except for the "250 Finds Geo-Achievement Geocoin" which my wife, Heather, bought for me to celebrate my 250th cache find. I will be keeping that one. As of this post, the total is 372 caches and the next geocoin available as a milestone is for 500 caches.

The other ones in the picture are "Fearless Leader" of Bullwinkle fame. I found it in a cache called "Lady Coot 125" up in the mountains. The one with the geocache logo on it is called "Handcrafted by geotrash". We found that one in Lone Tree, Colorado which is adjacent to Highlands Ranch. The other geocoin in the photo is called "Man! is it HOT!". This was found up in Conifer, Colorado in the mountains. You can also see the copy tag with Marc's travel bug and my GPS receiver pointing to my next cache to find. The frog is what I often put in caches - sortof a trademark. I have placed at least 50 of these frogs in caches all over the place.

Mountain Sea Turtle Bug

This travel bug is one of the first ones I released. He has the second most miles of any of my travel bugs with almost 8,000 miles logged.



The cache into which I initially released this one is about a mile from where I live in Colorado in a cache called Highlands Ranch Bug House. That was on April 14th, 2007. The first person who picked it up took it to the Bahamas! It has since travelled to other caches in Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maine, and Vermont. It is currently in a cache near Montpelier, Vermont called Lost and Found. It is near a covered bridge called the Upper Cox Bridge. Go here for a picture of the bridge.

Big Bug Turtle

Big Bug Turtle is a geocaching travel bug that I released into the wild world of geocaching. So far he has travelled farther than any of my other travel bugs with almost 10,000 miles logged.



The cache into which I initially released him is in Kansas. The cache is called Mingo. It is the oldest active cache in the world and it was the seventh one created way back in the year 2000.

I put Big Bug Turtle in the Mingo cache on August 2nd, 2007. It was picked up by another cacher later that same day. It has since travelled to other caches in Kansas, Florida, Alabama, Alaska, Alabama again, Florida again, and Texas. It is currently in a cache in Abilene, Texas called TB Train Station in the company of 8 other travel bugs and 2 geocoins.

I wonder where Mr. Turtle will go next.

Pet Peeve #3 and #4

Dog owners who don't pick up after their dogs along public park trails.

Dog owners who let their dogs off leash where they are not supposed to do so.

Icon Collecting

One of the interesting facets of goecaching is the discovery and movement of geocoins. These are trackable coins that wander around the world visiting caches with the help of geocachers like myself. Once one is discovered, an icon representing the coin type is added to the cacher's profile. Below are the icons I have collected so far. Each one represents a different type of geocoin or other trackable that I have run across. The two that look identical are actually different.

Pet Peeve #2

Preachy bumper stickers. Even though I sometimes agree with the sentiment. I prefer funny bumper stickers. I do not have any on my car whatsoever.

Today's Pet Peeve

People who get offended at something and expect something to be done. If we outlaw everything that offends us, there will a noticable lack of freedom.

1002

That is the number of bike miles I have for the year so far. My goal is to ride 1000 miles each year. Last year, I rode 1200 miles so my secondary goal for this year was to ride 1300. That's 300 more to ride in the next two months. Not likely to happen with the change in weather and the fact that it gets dark earlier now.

One of the reasons for fewer miles this year is that a lot of my bike riding time has been taken up by geocaching hunts this year. And some of those hunts were lengthy hikes in the mountains. Such hikes use different muscles than when I rack up miles on the bike.

World Famous Geocacher?

If I get mentioned by name on a short wave radio broadcast, does that make me world famous? Go to this page and then click on "Click here" for the latest program. This will get you the program for 9/16/2007. I am mentioned right at the end of the show. Have a listen next week, too since he only talked about the one email I sent him. I sent another one with more details and a couple of geocaching-related photos.

If you are reading this and want to listen but the latest program is not for 9/16, then go to the archives and select the 9/16 show.

This all came about because I found a travel bug that was launched for these radio guys.

Cool Places

There are some really cool places that the hobby of geocaching can lead you to. Here are some pictures from the geocache hunt of 9/1/2007. If you click on a photo, you will see a larger rendering.



This picture is along the South Platte River along the abandoned Colorado and Southern railroad grade. There is a cache supposedly hidden downstream from here but no one has found it in over a year. The owner emailed me today and said he was on his way to check on it. If he tells me that it is still there. I will go back soon.

An offshoot hobby related to geocaching is the hunt for benchmarks like this one:



This one is along the same trail as in the picture above.

The wildflowers are wonderful:



Some enticing berries (we didn't taste).



There are always bugs in the woods:



If you get tired, you can check into a nearby top notch hotel:



Lots of mushrooms to check out:



All of the above pictrures were taken on September 1st, 2007.

Caching 8/28 - Micro Managed

There are a number of micro caches that have been hidden within a few miles of the house. I set out on my bicycle yesterday to see if I could find a few of them. the first is a small item that I guess is hidden in a pine tree along Wildcat. I was unable to find it. I'll bet it is a small capsule attached to one of the limbs on the tree. It is really hard to spot those.

The second one is called Head Scratcher #2. I didn't bother looking for this one since there were a bunch of muggles sitting in the grass nearby. I'll try again another time. I had looked for this one once before and failed to find it. Another clever hide.

Cache #3 is called Recurring Dream and I was able to find it. It is a little box with magnets holding it to a bolt underneath a footbridge. I signed the log and replaced it.

There are several micros along Highlands Ranch Parkway that I considered looking for but there were too many people (muggles) around.

Lastly I rode over to another cache that I had found once before because there is supposedly a white jeep travel bug in it. I found no jeep or cache. I think it is missing altogether. Oh well.

This 13 mile bikeride yielded 1 cache out of 6.

On my next bikeride, I am going to try to find some benchmarks which are loggable like caches.