Nearly every day, both my OneDrive and my Facebook memories remind me how much I hiked last year. I talked with my new department head when one of the memories made me particularly embarrased at the amount that I hiked this year. That amount? Zero. So, wither One Guy Outdoors? I mean, my last post before this came in October and titled “AWOL“.
I mean, on this day last year alone, I discovered a pirate graveyard.
In A Word: No
If you read that last post, nothing changed. I tried to get back into Geocaching. I planned a way to get the final 300 caches I needed to get to 1000 for last year. Nothing inspired me to follow through with that plan. Work got way too busy, Christine took a job where she now commutes just as much as I did, and I stopped having time after school for my little hikes.
This year, I watched as all of the memories flooded my timelines. I also ignored them and dug deeper into my hibernation with indoor activities like Lego and miniature painting. So, why all of a sudden the change of heart and this post? First, I promise no actual change of heart. Second, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want to. And, what exactly is it that I do do? Eh, I really wanted that joke to land. Poop jokes are always funny.
As I drove Quinn to drop him off for a friend’s birthday party, I he and I talked a little about my hiking habits last year versus this year. Then, as I drove home, I got an idea. It seems sustainable given my current energy level and commitment to Geocaching. I can find one geocache per month on a special day in those months. The following outlines the first 5 months of the year.
31 January – Birthday Cache
14 February – Valentine’s Day Cache
20 March – First Day of Spring Cache
9 April – Easter Cache
31 May – Memorial Day Cache
Epilogue
So, no. No to wither One Guy Outdoors. This year represents a reset of the page and my commitment to outdoor activities, geocaching included. One find per month gets me to 1073 by the end of the year. Add in souvenirs and bonus finds (most likely in Europe during our trip) and I can get to 1100 by 1 January 2024. The next major milestone is 2000. I doubt, with all of the finds near my house more or less gone and geocaching getting less popular around here, that I can ever consider 1000 finds in a year again. But, I have this entire year to come up with a plan and a theme for next year.
I last posted in May. I’m not sure why I stopped then. I can explain my more recent inactivity. It’s going to sound stupid, but that’s okay. I’m not the kind of person who shies away from sounding stupid every now and then. Also, I can’t explain why I’m suddenly back in October 2022. Maybe that will come through as I write this post.
I haven’t been geocaching since early in September. After successfully finishing my 365 day streak…I got absolutely nothing for it. I thought they might give me one of their virtual souvenirs for completing the streak. Nope. All I get is a mention on my statistics page about my streak.
And, so, I got frustrated by that development and got out of the habit of finding geocaches. I also said to my wife yesterday that I don’t have the same kind of time this year that I did last year. I took on two new clubs and am team leader. The only days that I get out close to on time is every other Monday and Friday. Even so, I am currently at 693 geocaches found this year. While exploring the boat ramp where Liam got his senior pictures done, I came to the realization that if I find 7 more geocaches this month, I’d only have to average about 5 per day over the last two months to get to the 1000 I hope for this year.
The Adventure
Mathematically, the more geocaches that I find in October 2022, the less I will have to average over the rest of the year. However, now that I’ve completed two of the longest “power trail” series of geocaches, it now becomes more difficult to find clumps of 5 to find every day. Therefore, I need to do some research and planning to properly utilize my free time.
Luckily, now that I know that the Geocaching web page doesn’t offer any souvenirs for streaks, I don’t have to kill myself finding caches every single day. I can find some on every other Monday, Friday, and maybe pick up some of the slack on the weekends. True, by taking off most of September and October I made things difficult on myself. But, aren’t comeback underdog stories the exact type that Americans love?
So, stay tuned as I figure out how to get these 1000 caches. As this post shows, I already have some ideas to get me to at least 700 by the end of October. I can go back to Pisgah State Park in New Hampshire for about a dozen. After that, things start to get difficult and that’s where I need to sit down with the map and put together a plan.
Epilogue
Truth be told, I don’t know what I will do if I actually succeed in finding the 1000 geocaches in 2022. The streak kept me interested and I can find inspiration to push through the end of the year for 1000. After that, though, what goal can I come up with to keep getting outside and keep this page alive?
I tried rebooting the pages again last week. That, as evidenced by nother week of radio silcence, failed. So I find myself, on 2 April 2022, attemping once again to make myself relevant through my writing. Well, aside from the fact that I often fall back on writing as my hobby to destress, I heard a podcast recently. “Wow!” You may think, “The guy who listens to podcasts during every commute heard a podcast! Stop the presses!”
Okay, okay, I get it. Perhaps that introduction leaves something to be desired. Let me explain further. The episode in question came courtesy of Planet Money. They told the story of a man who started a web page about soap operas without knowing a single thing about soap operas. He hired a freelancer to write for him and sold ad space with Google. By the time he sold the page for about 3/4 of a million dollars, it made over 40,000 dollars a month in ad revenue.
The epitome of success for an entire generation.
Hear me out. I’m not saying that my weekly ramblings are worth 40,000 dollars a month. However, I don’t think that I’m out of line to say that it might be worth more than the *checks spreadsheet* absolutely nothing in income that I currently make. So, time to research how to make that happen. In the meantime, enjoy the still (economically) worthless content. How long will it take to actually get caught up to 2 April 2022.
Monday, 21 March 2022Tuesday, 22 March 2022Wednesday, 23 March 2022
Monday 21 March 2022 and Tuesday 22 March 2022
I saw the names of the geocaches on the map and they made me chuckle; Sasquatch, Unicorn, and Cockapoo. I admit that they took longer than expected to find, but I still made it home with plenty of time to spare for dinner. Then, on Tuesday, I ended up on the other side of the Birch Hills Wildlife Management Area (WMA). That might not mean anything to you, but the geocaching web page offered a souvenir for hiding a geocache during the year. I tried to hide one earlier in the year, but the people who ran the conservation area denied me permission to do so.
While researching other areas to hide geocaches, I found that Massachusetts gives implied permission to all WMAs. I used that to my advantage a couple of weeks ago and found some nooks in the BHWMA to hide two geocaches. They approved them and I got my souvenir.
There’s the souvenir!
Wednesday 23 March 2022
We administered PSAT and SAT tests on Wednesday. They gave us the afternoon to prep and grade. I actually took advantage of the time and caught up on nearly everything. Then, after school, I went to find some geocaches at Dennison Lake. Originally, I thought I might find one set of caches, including some multi-caches (a type I haven’t found in quite a long time), but I ended up going the other way. Along that path, I found a letterbox hybrid cache. Letterboxing is a precursor (I think) to geocaching in which you are given a location and then clues from that location to find the treasure.
This one made me walk something like 75 steps, turn right, and the letterbox will be there. Apparently my strides were too long because I overshot the area by a good 25 feet. I circled back, though, and found the letterbox. You’re supposed to take a stamp and leave a stamp, but I don’t have stamps. I probably should get a stamp because I recently accidentally found another letterbox by accident. In both cases, I left a sketch of Garfield.
Thursday 24 March 2022
A student said to me in response to the pictures, “Was the school day really awesome?” I replied, “Goodness no.” “Oh, that makes sense,” he said, “because I didn’t think it was anything special.” “Yeah,” I finished, “the place I hiked was amazing.” “Oh yeah,” he said to a peer,’you found a crypt and a lake the color of Baja Blast.” In addition to that, I hiked down and then up and then up and then down. I found two caches that went hidden for over a year. In the biz, we call that a resurrection. I often write it as “rezz” in my logs because I’m cool like that.
Honestly, I can’t explain it any better than that. The hike down took me to an amazing river. Then, I searched for a good 45 minutes before finding it. My log read, “I poked and prodded with my hiking stick. *squish* *squish* over and over for 45 minutes *squish* *squish* *thud*. Wait, was that a thud? *thud* Definitely a thud.” Then, the other log (after another half an hour of searching), “This is the reason that I love this hobby.”
Friday 25 March 2022 and Sunday 27 March 2022
On Friday, I returned to the scene of a crime, as it were. When I went to that trail system a couple of weeks ago, I parked in a spot that poved inconvenient for another person. She called me an a-hole and I told her to eff off. Ah, the unspoken camraderie of fellow hikers. This time, I hiked for a short period of time to get home for dinner and trivia night. We won.
Then, on Sunday, I took Quinn to the YMCA to sign up for and practice for little league. While there, I noticed a cache was activated again. They only activate it for the spring, summer, and fall because they hid it in their front yard and they don’t want the liability of someone falling on the ice. I took Quinn over and he looked for it while I looked up if we were actually in the right spot. We were and he reported, “I just found a birdhouse.” Bingo.
Saturday, 26 March 2022
I went back over to Poplar Mountain on Saturday. I saw six other caches over there that I missed missed during my visit with Christine and Lilo. Two of them were on top of the moutain and they didn’t want to climb a mountain that day. I already made them climb part of it unkowingly, so I didn’t push it. Well, I wanted those caches, so I returned.
I found not only the caches, but wonderful vistas of all around our area. I also grabbed the other caches and dropped off some themed “swag” into a like minded pirate geocache. Somehow, I spent 6 hours out that day without realizing it. I said to more than one person, “I just lose track of time out there.” While not on the same level as Thursday, I enjoyed myself and wish all hikes can be like this one.
Epilogue
And, so I find myself on 2 April 2022 writing about two weeks ago. I want to find a way to share my adventures with others and give them the same thrill that I get from exploring right in our back yard. I always see the posts, “If I ever got rich, I’d just travel.” I want to show people that you don’t have to be rich. There are hidden treasures all around just waiting to be discovered. For now, join me tomorrow and hopepfully not weeks from 2 April 2022.
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.
C is for Cookie
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!
Rock the Vote.
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.
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?
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.
A slow start to the week.
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).
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
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!
Fitzwilliam Forest Loop
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.
I last updated the page about a week ago for my Caching Christmas post. Truth be told, you haven’t missed much. My recent adventures paled in comparison to the ones before Christmas. No getting caught at the top of an unfamiliar peak and having to hike back down in the dark. Not a single night cache. Heck, I even failed on the one big geocache I tried to find a couple of days ago. All in all, I took this rest week seriously, even in the context of Geocaching. However, I wanted to update everyone on my mini milestone of 360 while geocaching New Year’s Eve and talk about my (possibly) insane goal for 2022.
The Geocaches (Finds Numbered 351-360, Days Numbered 113-118)
Although I called them all adventures on my Instagram, I hesitate to repeat that mistake here. Almost all of them are of the park and grab vintage. Even the one hike only brought me about a quarter of a mile along the trail to find two caches. But, I kept the streak going. Plus, I got some good pictures. And, they’re worth 1000 words a piece.
Just some pictures from the last week.
The Lost Towns Adventure (An Epic DNF)
I actually planned to have a big adventure cache this week. Searching the map brought me to the Lost Towns Adventure. It involves visiting local landmarks from towns lost due to the flooding to create the Quabbin Reservoir. I found the first two (Prescott and Nichewaug) quikly enough. I then went to find Dana, only to remember that it exists at the end of an almost two mile bike/hike and no amount of driving would get me there. Also, they don’t allow dogs on the Quabbin trails and I brought Bups along. So, the adventure ends there. I want to try again in the spring when I get a new bike.
A Geocaching Goal for 2022
As I mentioned, Geocaching New Year’s Eve only represented an excuse to write this post. Now that I have, I can write about the idea I came up with while finding one of the night caches. The Christmas music played softly on my phone in the darkness as I hiked quickly to the destination.
“What if,” my brain interjected in the middle of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, “you tried to find 1,000 caches in a calendar year.”
“Hmm,” I replied. “I’d only hae to find 3 caches a day. 20 or so a week. That doesn’t sound so difficult.”
So, starting tomorrow, I plan to find 3 caches a day. Barring that, I will try to make up for it on the weekends and keep the 20 per week pace alive. Above all, I remain committed to finding at least one cache per day until I get the streak to 366, so that I can order both the calendar and leap year Geocoins. If I plan it right, though, 1,000 isn’t out of the question.
Epilogue
I wrote today mainly to show that the page hasn’t gone dormant again. At least for the next few days, I have the time to write. After that, at least in the short term, I’m back to teaching. Long term, your guess is as good as mine as far as employment goes. But, I make a promise (and those who know me know how seriously I take my promises) that as long as I am able, I will continue to write here.
I said in my last entry that I would try to find 350 caches before Christmas. I planned on finding two of them near the Birch Hill Dam. This plan met with some resistance. First, the caches were on either side of the river and we couldn’t cross the damn to get there. Second, well you will just have to wait for the second because it is basically the story of the day for Christmas Eve. Plus, it sets up for my caching Christmas story.
That, folks, is called foreshadowing. And yes, it and this ghost of an apple tree and that statement are meant to be foreboding, too.
I received a souvenir from going out on Christmas Eve. Quinn only received cold toes. Lilo, too, because she stepped on some thin ice and her front paw fell into the water. As Meatloaf said, 2 outta 3 ain’t bad. In this case, though, it most certainly was bad. Hopefully caching Christmas Eve doesn’t bring a pox on our family.
A cool new concept on Geocaching that doesn’t necessarily add anything to the hobby other than giving virtual things to collect, too.
December 24, 2021 (Day Number 111, A DNF)
Quinn chose to come with me today. We also brought the dog. A ten minute drive got us to the parking area of Birch Hill Dam about 3/4 of a mile away. I know what you’re thinking. Trust me, I thought it at first, too. However, this walk took us along a paved service road, so no chance of it increasing 3 or 4 fold like the one in Shutesbury. It took a little longer than expected because we stopped a couple of times, once for a cool ice sheet and another for a waterfall.
Cool Ice Wall with Water Behind at Birch Hill Damn
Quinn noticed the icicles in the back first.
We made it to ground zero of the geocache near the dam. If I didn’t wander across the rock wall to the actual dam, I’d have thought the name of the cache, “Water, water everwhere” was sarcastic or a joke. As evidenced by the videos, we found plenty of water on the walk, but none at the actual cache area. Unfortunately, as you probably deduced, no cache either. We tried twice with no success. I admit. Terribly unexciting and anticlimactic.
Driven by the streak, I found another cache across the river. Actually, I found it earlier as a backup and realized it was across the river when I wandered earlier in an attempt to grab it quickly after the other one fizzled. Driven by the streak, I loaded us back in the car and drove across the river. Technically, we drove over a bridge, but you get the idea. After parking, I geared up and leashed the dog. Cue the slow motion preparation montage.
December 24, 2021 (Day Number 111, Find Number 349)
We started walking. As soon as we passed the gate, I promptly slipped on a patch of snow covered ice. Aren’t you glad I cued the slow motion? Wasn’t that so much funnier in slow motion? I benefited from the slip though, when I realized that I left the bag in the car. Handing the leash off to Quinn, I slowly and painfully walked back to the car, retrieved the bag, and went carefully back to the gate. This slow motion brought to you by actual old age, not perceived coolness. Again, the hike went mostly smoothly. I need to spice these things up with more action or maybe intrigue.
You want action? Check out this tiny bridge.
Imagine if you will, Quinn, Bups, and I standing on the shore of this mighty body of water with only that single beam to cross. We give each other a knowing look. One of us may not make it to the other side alive. We have a duty to ourselves, our country, and all of you to find and extract that cache. Quinn performed his duty, crossing the bridge without hesitation. Lilo sized up the thundering river, coiled her back legs like springs and lept across the chasm with ease. I took a deep breath and then one step onto the beam. Another deep breath. Another step. Two more and then…my foot slipped! I lost my balance. Quinn reached out for me. Lilo barked and looked around for a stick in case I fell in. I saw my life flash before my eyes.
Just kidding. We all made it across without incident and continued down the path to the hiding spot. Quinn started to complain that his toes were getting cold. I doubled my efforts and checked some of the logs to see if the coordinates were solid. Turns out they weren’t, so I expanded my search. Finally found it, grabbed it, and dropped off a couple of trackables since it was a “hotel” and there weren’t any in there. When we returned to the car, I advised Quinn to take off his shoes and socks to help warm them.
If you’ve ever wondered what a cache looks like and what the heck is a “trackable”.
December 25 (Caching Christmas – NMAIN NSAL, Day Number 112, Find Number 350)
You may remember from my previous post that I wanted to find #350 before Christmas. That’s part of the reason I had two caches in the queue yesterday. Since I didn’t, that made the find on Christmas extra special. First, as usual, some background.
I bought a Jackbox bundle through Humble Bundle a few months ago. Aiden said he enjoyed playing the games. Anything to get time with your teenagers. Well, my laptop charging port went haywire and I have yet to get it fixed. So, I bought the most recent game on our XBox and we played it Christmas Eve. We enjoyed it so much, we wanted to play with the extended family. But, we forgot the XBox. Oh no!
Dad, as usual, to the rescue. I offered to get the XBox. And, caching Christmas?! I thought I found all of the caches near my in laws. Turned out I messed up a setting somehow and more appeared when I did my search. NMAIN NSAL was less than 5 miles away and a park and grab. Perfect. Cache found. XBox retrieved. Night saved?
Not so fast. The controller I picked didn’t work and we weren’t able to play Jackbox with the whole group. Bummer. But, the rest of the holiday has gone well in spite of the fact that I’ve spent the last two days searching and applying for new jobs. Oh well, can’t win em all.
Epilogue
As with many of our adventures, the first adventure has been the more adventurous. However, I’m personally excited about Christmas Day. Geocaching doesn’t recognize the 50s as official milestones, but after not being in the hobby for so long, I’m taking all the wins I can. Caching Christmas got me to 350 and that’s good enough for me. Yesterday I found another puzzle cache in the Harvard Forest among gunshots and threatening clouds. Today, I want to check out a place in Athol after dropping Liam off for work. Not sure when I’ll get around to documenting them, but stay tuned.
Today’s visit to Rocking Stones served once again as therapy. Even though I wrote less than two weeks ago this time, much happened in that short of a time. First, I’m seriously considering a new job. I got my observation report from that observation mentioned in that article. It was not great. In fact, it is looking more and more like it is the beginning of the end. It mentioned reminding me of my “role and responsibilities as a teacher”. I don’t think I need to tell you that is both demoralizing and dehumanizing. But, I just did.
And, so caused quite the stir by posting this on social media. Several colleagues reached out and I thank them for that. As I said to several of them, they are one of the only reasons that I continue to fight for the stupid job. I thought this might be my actual chance at redemption. That failed and now I’m done. Past time to move on..
How did I go from “guess I’m in this for the long haul” to “past time to move on” so quickly? Well, as Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around every once in a while, you could miss it.” Let me slow things down and tell you about my adventures in Shutesbury and then Rocking Stones.
Wednesday’s Cache: MA NET 14.2 (Day Number 109, Cache Number 346)
I planned this one the night before. As I scrolled through the map on the Geocaching web page, I saw this one hadn’t been found for over a year. While this should put me off, geocachers take pride in “resurrection” caches. Plus, I planned a back up in case it went missing in the year plus. Eventually I ended up on another of our patented undermaintained dirt roads that is evntually going to destroy the undercarriage of my tiny Honda Fit.
Not this time, though. So, I parked in a muddy area and hoped that I would be able to pull back out when done. Okay, it’s a 3/4 mile hike. Doing a quick calculation in my head, “At an average pace, it takes a human about 15 minutes to walk a mile. So, this should take about that.” A few things. (a) It is 3/4 mile as the crow flies. (b) While hiking, I thought, “Oh boy, the return trip is going to be a bear. It’s all uphill on the way back.” So, the terrain isn’t at all flat.
I tried uploading a video to show some peaceful rain drops, but it didn’t work so it’s a lame sign.
As a result, my 15 minutes tops hike turned into more like a half an hour to 45 minutes. That’s still not bad, but the scenery at this time of year was very brown. To add insulto to injury, I found almost no running water other than a small stream. As many of you know, I seek running water. I never knew why that was until a few weeks ago hiking with my wife. We found a large waterfall while hiking a place called Bear’s Den in New Salem. Funny enough, it is different from the place called Bear’s Den in Athol.
Small stream found at the beginning of the hike.
Why, though, running water? What I discovered at New Salem Bear’s Den is that running water calms my thoughts. It slows down my brain and lets me live in the moment. Life according to Ferris Bueller and all. “Wait, what’s this? Is that running water I hear in the distance? Double time it, soldier!”
Bridge ahead. Oh, talk about a troubled bridge over running water. Well, here goes nothing.
Finding this cache was one of my most daring (?) adventures in a while. It made me think of when I was a kid and me and my friend Rusty played “Pluto Explorers” near the frozen creek behind my house. We both ended up soaked, but clearly that’s now a core memory for me. I wonder what ever happened to Rusty.
In any case, these caches are usually hanging from a tree. Looks like it is that tree near the shore. Wait, is it? No. Hmm, they wouldn’t hide it over *pause for effect, realization hits* there. Crap. Yep, there it is. Watch the video for the rest of the story.
The rest of the story. Oh, and I did get my boot wet on the return trip, so I sort of lied.
Yesterday’s Cache: Rocking Stones x2 (Day Number 110, Cache Number 347 and 348)
Geocaching introduces me to new places nearly every single day. Granted, I live in rural New England, an area steeped in history and hidden gems in nature. I found this hidden gem, again, while scrolling the Geocaching map on my phone. Bonus! It’s an Earthcache in the Rocking Stones Area in Barre. I think I explained Earthcaches before, but here’s a quick reminder. An Earthcache leads the geocacher to a, for lack of a better term, hidden gem in nature and asks them to perform a sequence of tasks related to the geology of the area. Bonus! There’s a traditional cache up here, too. Two found in a day for the first time in a while. This one actually required me to do some measurement and math. How could I say no?
The obligatory selfie to get credit. The rock formation in question. The hiding spot for the other cache.
Admittedly, today’s adventure was less adventurous than yesterday. However, I measured that bottom rock with a 6 inch ruler and my finger as a spacer to get the area. I arrived at 28.875, because of course I did, and an estimate of height of the overall formation at 10-12 feet. The person who listed the cache came back to say the “actual” answers were 27 and 11 feet. Not bad for a half foot ruler.
Epilogue
I meant to post this yesterday, but got distracted by the new Spider-Man movie and then finishing up the Hawkeye series. So, it goes up on Christmas Eve. I have my adventure for today planned. I want to find two more today to get up to 350 before Christmas as a goal I just made up for myself. They are part of series of dam caches, so running water guaranteed. No idea how to celebrate Christmas yet as a geocacher, but stay tuned for that.
Your time to shine refers to the time of the day that you prefer.
Question: Early bird, or night owl?
Seems like an easy question, right? I mean this is where I say, “Not so fast” and proceed to write a long form essay on the benefits of all the times of day, right? Not so fast on that not so fast. Honestly, how much can I be expected to writ about that particular subject? Thankfully, unlike yesterday, our “outdoor adventure” was not nearly as adventurous, either. This will be a quick post overall.
Today, Quinn and I walked with Lilo down to the library. Quinn wanted to check out a book and as has been established, when we have the time, Lilo and I go for a walk. Two birds and all that. Someone posted something on Facebook a few weeks ago that I shared. It said, “Adulthood is dumb. Nobody offers to show me a cool rock anymore.” It reminded me of a similar one that said, “Adulthood is dumb. Nobody asks me what my favorite dinosaur is” or something along those lines. When I shared both, I remarked that the person needed to find better friends.
I talk about cool rocks all the time. I’m not as into dinosaurs, but I will always sit and watch the latest Jurassic whatever with Quinn. Speaking of Quinn, he’s the reason I bring up these two ridiculous Facebook quandaries. During the walk, he asked the following question, “Do you think you can see Dynamax Pokemon from space?” I hope he never loses that curiosity. I know he will. We all do. What I really hope is that, like me, he finds it again.
Your Time To Shine
So, early bird or night owl? The answer to this question has, and always will be (I think), a night owl. Working as a teacher forced me to come to grips with the fact that there is a 6 am, too, but I never feel fully human until about 8 o’clock or so. I enjoy the silence of the house after 9 pm when everyone goes to bed. True, it is just as quiet at 5 am before everyone gets up, but I don’t feel like I have that freedom to watch 4 straight episodes of Portlandia or watch Deadpool again for the fifteenth time, as I did the other night with Aiden on the eve of the eve of his first day back to in person learning in over a year.
So, in spite of the fact that my alarm goes off every morning during the school year at 5:30 am, I stay up for just one more episode. Forget the fact that I’m actually awake at 4:00 am most mornings and can’t fall back to sleep because I’m worried about how the school day will go. I will still play some Minecraft or Atari 2600. That reminds me. I need to get that video recorded to upload. Maybe at 2 in the morning after I watch some ridiculous documentary about The Dana Carvey Show or Back to the Future.
Epilogue
Wednesday usually represents that day in vacation where I start to notice the passage of time and mourn (ever so slightly) my return to school. Today, that manifested as a shorter walk and more time on the computer to update the main 2 Guys Gaming page and this one. I will say that doesn’t leave much for tonight, so maybe I will actually get a chance to record that video for the YouTube page. After all, late at night is my time. What about you? What’s your time to shine?
