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.
