YAY! My first geocoins came in the mail this week.
What is a geocoin you ask?
Well, a geocoin is a special coin created by individuals or groups of geocachers as a kind of signature item or calling card. Each geocoin is assigned a unique tracking ID which allows them to travel from geocache to geocache or to be passed amongst friends, picking up stories along the way.
How do Geocoins work you ask?
Because each geocoin is assigned a unique tracking number its progress can be tracked online through logs which the finder posts. There are different types of logs which can be made on a geocoin's personal home page, whether for virtually picking up or dropping off the coin, or simply for "discovering" the coin. You have the opportunity to share your thoughts on the geocoin page and to upload any photos associated with it. In addition, by logging a geocoin your online collection will reflect that you found that particular coin.
I ordered two coins from the Wisconsin Geocaching Association. One I plan to keep all for myself, and the other I plan to send off to have an adventure. I'm thinking out west to maybe visit The Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon. Two of my favorite places.
I can't wait until the weather gets a little bit warmer so the journey can begin! :D
I'm fairly new to geocaching. I have only been actively caching since around October of this year. I have been trying to take it easy and figure this game out as I go along. So this weekend I figured out a little more. I found out about winter caching.
Ahhhh snow. I love snow. I have lived in a snow state my whole life. Snow represents the changing of the season. I love watching snow fall on a calm night. I love the way snow blankets the ground and coats the trees. It is beautiful. This weekend though, the snow punished me a little bit.
I decided that since it was going to be a balmy 38 degrees on Saturday that it would be a good way to test my winter caching abilities. One of my favorite places to visit is High Cliff State Park. It is a nice park with lots of hiking trails, camping, rock climbing, horseback riding, and swimming if you dare to venture into Winnebago.
I set out to find all the geocaches that were hidden inside the park. As I pulled into the park I noticed that the season pass lane was blocked off. What the hell? I pulled into the ranger lane and was informed right away that there was a gun hunt going on in the park that day. This meant that half the park was closed. Damn it! The ranger let me know the boundaries and I went in anyway.
All right, so half the caches I was going to get I can't. No biggie, still others I can attempt. High Cliff was still blanketed in snow from the previous Monday's storm. Not a ton, but enough to cover my feet as I was walking. Why I thought that my hiking shoes were going to keep my feet completely warm and dry as I am hiking around through the snow is beyond me. I was obviously cache-crazy that day or something. My feet were so damn cold and wet! They stayed that way for the half-hour plus ride home, the visit at the parent's house, and the quick bite to eat with the fam. Yay fun.
Any way, I ended up logging four finds for the day, took in some nice scenery, got some fresh air, and got a lesson in the importance of proper footwear. It was a good day. :)
Geese near the lake.
Frozen Winnebago.
Since I am on hiatus from caching for a bit, and it happens to be Thanksgiving, I thought now would be a good time to post some pics I have taken while out and about.
The Fox River
Brothertown Harbor
Found this tree in an unexpected place. :)
This is why I love Autumn.
The BoardwalkI am experiencing a lapse in my geocaching activities as of late. With the daily beatings at the workplace and the recent unfavorable Wisconsin weather, I have kept myself inside. This does not make me happy. Looks like a busy weekend coming up with the holidays of course. Lots of family time planned for Thursday and back to work on Friday.
Maybe I will luck out this weekend and get some nice weather. Precipitation is acceptable, please just let it be above freezing! :-)
Since my geocaching will be slowing down during the "brrrr months", I will post some images that I have taken while out geocaching. One of the best parts about geocaching for me is the peacefulness of solitude and the new places I get to experience. I like to experience new places on my own so I can really take it all in.
Anyhoo, I will be posting pics when I can, or just rambling away on my other blog.
Happy holidays.
~A~
Any way, I was looking forward to going all week. Yesterday I was checking my work e-mail, like I do frequently from home, and saw that there was an issue that I needed to take care of right away. Needless to say I finished that up right around 11:20 am.
The event started at 12:00 pm. If I didn't get to the event before 12:00 pm, I would not know who was the designate. I wouldn't know if I was walking up to a cache mob or a mob of muggles!
So I hop in my MINI and head out. According to my GPS I could make it to the location with about a minute or two to spare. Things were looking good!
I was speeding along when I realized that I was not going to be able to keep the pace that I needed in order to get to the event in time. Once I exited the highway there were 45mph speed zones that I had to pass through to get downtown, and then 25mph once I got downtown. The outlook was bleak.
I told the MINI we had to move and put the pedal down a little further. Whoo-hoo! I love speeding! (Don't tell my boyfriend)
MINI and I made it downtown at 12:02 pm. Bummer. I saw GZ but could not determine what was what due to the fact that there had just been a parade downtown and there were people everywhere. I tried to find a place to park just to see if I could mosey over and pick-out the group. No parking spaces either! Grrrr. You'd think that I could find a place to squeeze my MINI into. Nope. This event just wasn't in my cards.
I am bummed that I missed the event, but I had a nice ride home and took a pic of a pretty tree.
That's all right; stormy weather makes it a little more peaceful. I found some neat finds today. A few firsts for me. I found my first cache that was hidden inside a seashell in the woods. :)
Silly place for a shell to be. You would have thought it would have been a quick find. Maybe it would be a quick find earlier in the year. All the leaves on the ground made it a little tough. But found it before it got dark.
Also found my first cache way up in a tree. Thought I was going to have to channel my inner-monkey to get that one down. I started to climb and realized that the camo peanut jar was taped to a large branch that was made to look like part of the tree. Very sneaky!
Anyway, found it and signed the log. I got caught out in the rain on this one. I was pretty far in the woods when it decided to switch from slight drizzle to downpour. That's OK, this one was worth it. I liked the area so much that I will visit again.
It was also a good day for me as far as trading goes. I like signature items and I had only found one signature item in a cache up until today. Today I found two! YAY! Traded some items for them.
All in all a good day geocaching for me. I was glad to get some in before it gets really cold. I have never snow-cached, so that should be interesting once we get farther into the cold season.
I'll keep you posted on that.
Keep on caching.
~A~
So on Sunday I ran out real quick to see if I could find a "seed" cache that was close to home. I have not yet hidden any caches and I thought this would be a good opportunity to get started. There are a few cacher's in the area that hide a lot of cache's and this particular cache is full of "seeds" so that others can start hiding too.
What a great idea!
I hope to plant my seed soon. I will keep you posted.
:-)
So today officially marks two weeks of caching for me. As of right now I have logged 17 caches. I hope to increase that number this afternoon.
So far the caching experience has been awesome for me. I love being outdoors and seeing new places. I have only logged 17 caches to date, but I have already found some places that I have never been to before. Some of these places were so close to home.
Geocaching has definitely made me more aware of where I am at. I notice so much more already. I can't wait to keep discovering new places.
So I am going out today to see if I can find a "seed" cache. I want to try and hide my geocache before the snow flies. By the looks of things, the snow is going to fly soon. Maybe even today.
Thanks to everyone who participates in this sport. I just love it!
Hello~
Finally got the GPS so caching is an option again. YAY!
So I have officially been caching since October 12th, 2008. Not very long, but in that short period of time I have managed to log 12 finds. Not too bad.
I am still in the early stages of caching where all I can think about is getting out to do it. I am crazy. :)
I went out yesterday and found a bunch. Bad thing though is all those Asian lady beetles flying around. They were so bad yesterday I couldn't even get out of the car. I missed one find because of them. They were swarming ground zero and I was not going to be disturbing them too much. Oh well, ended up logging five for the day. Got thwarted a few times by muggles also.
Muggles always seem to show up at the wrong times. No matter how secluded of an area, muggles always find me. Damn muggles!
Anyway I am going to try and go again today. I have to watch out for those beetles again.
Cache on!
~A~
