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.
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
./~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.
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.
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.
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.