January 2022 - One Guy Outdoors

January 27, 2022

A Day of PNG: Friday, January 21, 2022

Prologue

I needed to go into Turner’s Falls. Christine planned to go out for dinner with a friend. When I got home, me and the boys would have pizza and maybe watch a movie without her. I wanted to leav work early to get home in a timely fashion. And, so it was, that last Friday became a day of PNG for me. If I put togther a list of geocaches quickly found, I might be able to get 10 of them and put myself way ahead of my pace to find 1000 in the year.

Here, you probably expect me to lament about my bad luck and toss out another geocaching abbreviation, DNF, a few times. I mean, who am I to deny my beloved readers? One of the pieces of advice I received as a young teacher that stayed with me is always start with the bad news. And, so I heed the advice of younger me and start with the bad news.

A Day of DNF (JKLOL)

I made it to Northfield before registering my first DNF for the day. Before that, everything came up Millhouse. Six found in a row. The funny thing is that several of the logs said how easy the cache was to find. I gave it the old college try, poking and prodding in a likely hiding spot as the cache listing said, to no avail. See if you can find it.

The other lost opportunity of the day lies buried under a mountain of snow and ice. I scaled that mountain, dug deep into a fissure at the apex. My search proved futile. Dejected and suddenly devoid of the joy of that find after the frustration of striking out numerous times, I stared into the distance. Pondering about what life I was living, I also contemplated just walking away. No more searches. Not another hike. Never again. But, who would that hurt? What about those beloved readers I mentioned earlier? I soldier on.

Focus on the Positive

As it probably is in most of my life, while I focus on the negative the positive far outweighed it. The title of the post is A Day of PNG. I ended up searching for about an hour and a half and found nine total geocaches in that time. 9 wins against 2 losses? That’s good enough for first place in pretty much any playoff race. Sorry, I’m still high from the Bills/Chiefs game on Sunday night. More on that tomorrow or Thursday on the main page. Plus, and I don’t know why, I’m stalling for time. Nevertheless, it worked. I came up with a theme for the finds. Let me introduce to you the first (annual? monthly? weekly?) Day of PNG Awards.

Favorite Container

C is for Cookie – What does the title make you think? Yep, I thought the exact same thing and for good reason. Now, though, you probably wonder how exctly they pulled it all off. Once again, I thought the same thing and with good reason. A cookie monster geocache? What the heck? Well, luckily, I can show you what the heck.

Most Scenic Location

The Schell Bridge #1 – I found this one completely by accident during my drive. It looked, from the map, like I might be able to cross the bridge and grab a second. It wasn’t until I started walking that it dawned on me that the bridge was most likely one of the many condemned in the state. Still, as I approached, I met the most wonderful views of the day. I’m sure you will agree.

Best (Worst) Display of Racism on a Memorial

Captain Beers Last Stand – I think I went to find this one years ago when I first started geocaching. Naively, I rushed to find the cache because I thought passing motorists might interpret my search as a terrorist act and pull over to administer a citizen’s arrest. I should have known then, as I do now, that our inherently selfish species either (a) doesn’t care all that much that I might be a terrorist or (b) is afraid that I might be in distress and they’d have to help. Sorry, that last bit was unnecessarily negative. I rescind my comment.

The point is that in my rush before I never actually found the cache. This time, armed with the knowledge of my near invisibility, I crossed the road, fumbled around for a bit, pretended to take a picture (because you truly never know when that rouge element might try something), and found the cache. As often happens with these things, you get a little bigotry with your sightseeing.

In case you want to give the benefit of the doubt, a local high school sports mascot was the “Red Raiders” until last year. Even then, they staged a school committee discussion of 2 hours of white people saying how much the name represented a part of their heritage. Yeah…

Best Sunset View

I really thought I was going to award this one to the bridge picture. I like my bridge pictures very much. Then, as I scrolled through, I saw the other sunset picture and liked that one very much, too. I leave it up to you to break the tie. Whichever one you like, that one wins!

Epilogue

Park and Grab caches get a bad name in the community. I understand on one level why. People want to be introduced to new and interesting places and sometimes the act of simply parking and grabbing a cache doesn’t give you the time to truly appreciate where the cache led you. However, during my day of PNG, I both found a good amount of caches and took time at each place to discover why the cache owner considered it to be special enough to share. I look forward to my next day of PNG and hope that it will be as special as this one.

January 22, 2022January 22, 2022

Celebrating 10s: Third Week of 2022

Prologue

I told you in my last post that I planned to update weekly since daily is not an option. Honestly, if you care that much to follow my daily adventures, go to Instagram. In any case, I thank you for any support you provide, even if it is just liking my photos or reading these posts. I came up with the title for this particular post when I discovered that (a) I found a cache for 140 consecutive days, (b) I found 80 caches in the month of January already, and (c) I have 440 total finds. And, so, I am celebrating 10s this week

Maybe I mentioned this already, but Covid-19 finally hit our house. Liam tested positive first, followed by Quinn, and now Christine took a rapid test that came back positive. I think both Aiden and I had it. We think he caught it early in the pandemic and I’m pretty sure I got it over Thanksgiving break. None of that it worth celebrating. Especially since it messes with my posting schedule on the other page. Oh well, I have another idea to fill in the gap. For now, join me in celebrating 10s.

Third Week 2022 (37 Found, +14 on pace for 1000, 440 total) – Celebrating 10s

The week started and ended the same way. Driving around the area in single digit temperatures to find some park and grab caches. Last week I went in the Erving and Warwick area. Today, I went the other direction to Erving and Northfield. Both times I spent more time than I probably should, but I also had fun and got some good pictures

Adventures in Erving, Warwick, and Northfield

On Sunday (the 16th), I took advantage of comparativey warmer weather to visit a place I put on my list earlier in the week. I never heard of the place, but I saw a waterfall on the map and that’s enough for me. When I told Christine where I went, she responded, “Oh, I’ve heard of that place. I would have gone. But, I wouldn’t have climbed a mountain.” That’s because when I got there and then, when I recounted my adventure, I said, “Oh, I have a mountain to climb here.” I survived in spite of having to take a couple of breathers on the way up and a likely concussion on the way down. See the video for more.

Near concussion after falling down the mountainside.

All in all, I found 5 caches on the day. I swapped out some geocoins and got some more ideas for travel bugs once they come in the mail. And, I just checked the mail and they came! Maybe I will write a midweek update explaining travel bugs and my bugs that I’m sending out into the wild. I, for one, am excited to see if they fulfill their destinies. Getting back to Farley Ledge, I took so many pictures and I want to finish out the other part of the trail, which is actually a part of the WBT. You probably recognize that from previous posts.

As I wrote on Instagram, “I respect God for making the Sabbath a day of rest. But, I have a mountain to climb.”

Instead, I more or less took Monday off. It snowed, then rained, then iced. So, I found a cache that I thought I found almost a decade ago when I first started geocaching. On Tuesday, I drove to Peterborogh because I found a small hiking area with a few caches. I also promised the girls that I’d go to the basketball game, so I needed something quick.

As a bonus, the morning sky at my school.

That’s when, as they say, the wheels came off. I got a text from Christine that Quinn tested positive. Because she just started a new job, I needed to take two days off with him, one to test and the other becuse his school made him quarantine for 5 days. While in Greenfield getting the tests on Tuesday, we found a couple of caches. Quinn grabbed a beanie baby owl from one of them. On Wednesday, I went to the dump and rewarded myself for finally getting caught up on grading by going to another wildlife reservation and trying to find a series of caches. I also thought I found a spot for another cache, but misjudged the distance. So, I need to go back and move it about 50 feet.

Correcting music, a few cache containers, and visiting an old haunt to pick up some ghosts.

Epilogue

I never expected to meet my goals this well. I thought maybe I’d keep up on the daily streak because that one means quite a bit to me and I’m over a third of the way into it right now. But, the finding 1000 caches has been so far quite easy. *knock wood*. Though, I will say that I’m finding less and less park and grab caches close to home on days where I can’t hike because of the cold. This week we were celebrating 10s. What comes next week?

January 17, 2022January 17, 2022

First Two Weeks 2022

Prologue

I originally intended to update this page almost daily. Since work still prevents that from happening, I tempered my expectations to weekly. Something further prevented an update last week. Therefore, as a result, I present to you the first two weeks 2022 for One Guy Outdoors.

You may remember that I set two geocaching goals for myself this year. I want to find a geocache every day for 365 consecutive days for a calendar year and then find another on the 366th for a leap year. I doubt I can keep the streak alive for another 2 years to complete the feat in an actual leap year, especially with the rigor of my second goal.

My second goal came to me in a flash of inspiration (insanity?) as I hiked in the dark along one of my favorite new rail trails, the North Central Pathway. What if, I wondered, I found 1000 caches in the calendar year 2022. That requires finding 3 caches a day. No problem, right? Actually, so far, so good.

I know I should build suspense, but we’ve been over this before.

First Week 2022 (26 found, +5 on pace for 1000, 386 total)

I started the year by visiting a place that will become a new standard visit in the coming year, the white blazed trail that runs through several local towns. This time, I took the dog to the part of the trail on the border between Erving and Northfield. I found the trail while finding another geocache in the area and promised myself I’d come back. I’m glad I did. We spent a good hour and a half in those woods and found 5 geocaches. Good start

Celebrating the New Year by hiking the WBT in Erving with Bups.

./~On the second day of New Year ./~, I finished the Harvard Forest series of mystery caches. I started the tradition a few weeks ago with Quinn. He since bailed on me, probably just for the winter, so I finished the last couple by myself. While in the area, I noticed a series of caches on Tom Swamp road. One of the local breweries names their beers after local haunts, so I recognized it from that. I went over to find the caches to keep pace.

Last Harvard Forest and some Tom Swamp Road.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I found two series of caches in Winchendon and finished offmost of what remains of a local trail in Jaffrey/Rindge. Then, I took off from work to Covid test, so I took advantage of that to search around Birch Hill Dam before getting the test. As it turned out, I missed the testing window. Oops. Friday brought a snow day, the test, and a quick park and grab to keep the daily streak going.

Finishing out the week at Birch Hill Dam and a Winter Wonderland

Week 2 (17 found, +1 on pace for 1000, 403 total)

This week started off less promising and it shows in the numbers. I went to finish off another part of the WBT trail on the Northfield side, but ended up DNF on two of the five for the day. Then, icy conditions limited me to only a couple PNG on Sunday. Also, I tried to hide a geocache I planned for over a decade and got denied. It makes sense that they want to keep the hobby away from schools, but it still stung a little bit. I moved the cache. Did that make a difference? Ah, but now, I keep you in suspense.

While hiking Monday, I received a text message from my friend Craig about watching the CFP. I talked a lot of crap about Alabama being plus money all day, so I figured what the heck. Why not? I finished another section of the North Central Pathway, but DNF’d a couple of them. I got back to my car about 6pm and over to Craig’s just about 7 after stopping for an unhealthy dinner. That meant I got home late on Monday. I texted Christine that I wanted to have only a quick find on Tuesday because I wanted to be home early.

Hike before watching the boring first half of the CFP Championship

The quick find on Tuesday took longer than anticiated because it froze in place. Wednesday went quickly and I got to exchange some trackables. Then, I drove into the hills of Warwick to find a state line marker cache after Dungeons and Dragons club and a conversation that went on for far too long on Thursday. A friendly local caught me on Thursday and I told her that I heard about the marker (truth) and was very interested in local history (half truth).

I finished the second week strong. Apparently, I have a reputation around school because a fellow math teacher and a couple of students asked me what hike I planned for the afternoon. Not one to usually plan, I actually found a loop trail in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire with a series of 6 caches. I only found 4 of them, but I need to go back to drop off a souvenir because the first of the 4 is my 400th find!

Epilogue

I consider the first two weeks 2022 an absolute success. In spite of some DNF, I found enough caches to stay slightly ahead of my pace to find 1000 in the calendar year. Also kept my streak of days going in spite of some challenges. I hiked familiar trails. I found some new places. If the rest of the year goes as well as the first two weeks 2022, I will have no problem meeting both of my geocaching goals. I don’t have any goals for hides, even if the main geocaching webpage made 2022 the year of the hide, but I do have several hides planned. Stay tuned to hear of the progress.