Unmaintained caches .... sometimes the better of two evils

Ecuador doesn't have much geocaching going on. At least not compared to the movement that takes place in North America and Europe. There are a few cachers there but the majority of

Metro Park SE

caching done there is by tourist visiting the country. While there one of my favorite activities was placing tourist-friendly caches. By this I mean caches that are easily accessible to tourist who have a limited amount of time to get to a cache between one of their tours and going to the airport to head to the Galapagos Islands or on to Peru.

The best place I found to place geocaches that tourist could easily find was in Parque Metropolitano. We placed the second one in the park but the longest standing cache there to date back in 2007. It is Metro Park SE (GC15JCC). This cache has proven difficult for many for many because it is well-hidden and because, if you don't have much time, like many tourist, it is a good walk to the far end of the park and takes some time. The elevation doesn't help as you huff and puff to get there in the thin air.

Reforestation

The next long-lasting cache I placed is one called Reforestation (GC168M3). When I placed it the area was cut back and had just a few bushes in ankle high grass. Dispersed throughout the area were small saplings that were recently planted to replace Eucalyptus trees that had previously been cut down. Now, as you can see from the photo, it's a jungle out there.

Karen's Caper Travel Bug Hotel (GC182AC) and Brandon's TB Boarding House (GC1K4MD) are two of the tourist-friendliest TB hotel caches in the country. They are both placed very near the entrance to the park so that the tourist can get out of their taxi right at the entrance gate and make a short one-minute trek into the woods to claim their prize, drop

Looking up while at Karen's Caper

their trackables and still get back to what they have waiting for them.

What makes these, plus a number of others we have placed, so special to us is that we no longer live in Ecuador but have been able to leave a gifts that keep on giving. The choice that obviously faced us upon departing from Ecuador was whether to archive these caches or simply leave them for folks to find and then archive them when they finally play out. With no one to call on to maintain them (there were no active geocachers nearby who were able to maintain them) we knew that they would deteriorate over time. We left them. They have proven to be gifts that have truly kept on giving, both to those who come to Ecuador and geocache as well as to me. I have been joyfully watching the messages come in as tourist and a few Ecuadorians alike, have continued to find them. We've had some go missing, requiring that we archive them.

It's been almost three years since we left our beloved Ecuador behind. We feel just a little bit closer to our home-away-from-home when we revisit the caches there on geocaching.com!

Check out these interesting caches!!!!

Here's a few interesting caches I've come across in my travels. I won't say where so as not to create a real soiler.

Gate intercom cache

This one had us looking. We drove up to a gated area with a garden all around. There was a large rock on each side. The GPSr pointed to one of the rocks. That's where we began our search. We looked and looked. We had a time schedule and were getting in the car when I decided that maybe that wasn't a real doorbell/intercom box. Sure enough, it was the cache.

Another cache that caught us by surprise was one of those electrical-type caches. I've seen them before but just wasn't thinking along those lines the day I looked for this one. I was the driver so three others were already at the GZ looking all around the sign. I came up and joined the search, looking in all the obvious places they had looked before it dawned on me that I ought to look at the fake box. There it was!

Some of the caches we find are nothing more than attractions to some strange art. This one seems to represent an angel of some kind. It's located at Guilford Technical Community College near Jamestown, NC. We had to spend a while dodging muggles and turning over stones to find the "one" stone we'd have to turn over to find the cache.

A Great Christmas Gift from some special friends!

One of the nicest gifts I received for Christmas, right there along side my Kuerig Coffee Maker, was my one-year membership as a Premium Member of Geocaching.com. Two really good friends, Chickenlvr413 and Chanak80, were so kind to give this to me as a Christmas gift. It has opened up more caches right close to home!

My new job is keeping me in the office and hard at work. I'd really like to get out and hit the trails to find some caches but am held back right now. I'm hoping that this kind gift will motivate me to get out and find some more caches!

Granny Codine and her neice Modean

Geocaching puts you in touch with lots of nice folks. Here's a case to prove my point. After learning about geocaching I had the pleasure of introducing it to a special friend. She just has to be my most favorite geocaching friend for 2013! Her name is Granny Codine. She's a character to say the least. She gets around to visit the folks in the nursing home and is sometimes invite to help friends roast other friends. Granny Codine is right funny to listen to. For that reason I thought it appropriate to place a cache in honor of this friend. It turns out that Granny Codine has a neice or something. She's a dental technician and goes by the name Modean.

Modean

While out in the country near where Granny Codine goes to find her roadkill, I placed a micro in her honor sometime back. It goes by her name and is GC445AX. Several folks have ventured out to find it.  So far none of them have seen Granny. Thank goodness! As I understand it she dresses up like a normal person and goes geocaching on those double days like January 1st (1/1), February 2nd, (2/2), March 3rd (3/3) and so forth. So be on your lookout when out in the woods south of Greensboro, NC.

 When our church has the wild game dinner, even though it's just for men, I'm going to invite Granny for sure. She'll probably provide most of the take.

Recently Granny was so kind. For Christmas she gave me a premium subscription to geocaching.com. I appreciate her and wish her a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I went out and placed a another geocache in her honor, only to have it disapproved by my reviewer. He felt it was too close to a major highway and that geocachers would park along this Interstate to get to the cache. I've seen thousands of caches just like mine but its not worth the time to argue it. I went back to move the cache to another nearby location and hope it gets approved. 

Granny Codine

Moses H. Cone Mansion along the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC

The Mansion thanks to Larry

One of my favorite places to travel and cache is the Blue Ridge Parkway. There is so much to see along the parkway, which runs from southern North Carolina to northern Virginia. Every chance we get we head up to the parkway. During winter months you have to check ahead to see which portions are open as winter weather closes stretches at higher elevations.

Twice during the last year I had the chance to visit the Moses H. Cone Mansion along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Moses Cone became famous in the late 1800's as he and his brothers, all wealthy men, invested in the textile industry and providing means of employment for thousands of North Carolina residence. As a summer get away he built the mansion, known as Flat Top Manor, along what is now the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Walking the trails thanks to Christina Dulude

From the lake thanks to T.Cowart

On our first trip during cold weather we found the part of the parkway near Blowing Rock, NC open. We had driven up from Greensboro, NC along highway 421 to intersect with the Blue Ridge Parkway just east of Boone, NC. We were able to travel southwest along the parkway, stopping to pick up geocaches along the way. Since geocaches cannot be placed on parkway land, most caches are just off the parkway. As we traveled along we found ourselves stopping to take in the marvelous views from the many overlooks along the route. What beauty!

One of my favorite caches was THE Blowing Rock Rest Area Cache (GC3R7RK), which is the closest cache to the mansion. The first time I came to the mansion I was with sumajhuarmi. The rest area was closed so I had to pull off the road and walk into the rest area. The cache was back in the rhododendron in an area free of muggles. It was an easy regular-size cache.  I walked a little further to catch a glimpse of the mansion from a distance but went no further. I knew then I wanted to come back to see the mansion when it was opened. We continued on our trip and spent the day in Blowing Rock.

Later in the year, during the warmer months, I came with three colleagues on a pastor's retreat to the Valle Crucis area. We stopped at the mansion on our way and spent about an hour. The mansion now houses the Parkway Craft Center. There are all kinds of wood and weaved crafts and much more to browse through and purchase. While I didn't get to tour the mansion (I don't know when that is possible) it was fun to walk around the grounds and take in the view. There is a beautiful lake at the bottom of the mountain the mansion overlooks. At times during the year there are carriage rides through the area. There is a walking trail that cuts underneath the Blue Ridge Parkway that's worth a walk and a little exercise while you are here.

The Parkway has some nice caches. If you have the time you'll want to cruise the parkway and grab these while taking in the beauty of the place. Stop in at the mansion too!

Bear Country and Geocaching

Bears in a tree!

Not far from our home is a business park that is well organized with lots of greenway walking areas, picnic areas, schools for the employee's children and woods. Naturally, there are also a number of geocaches in these woods and fields. One of the caches that grabbed my attention was Rock the Cazz Beah (GC4Q8TX). The cache was simple and fairly easy to find. What I liked the most was the location and the art work. Two bears were climbing a tree to get to the beehive and the honey.

There is a series in the area related to New England bridges. One of our geocachers is a transplanted New Englander and has placed a series of caches named after bridges up North. One of those is in this business park. I trekked to the GZ and began my search. All the office buildings surrounding the area provided a fishbowl experience for me. I was the fish and the employees at the water cooler were sure to have been wondering what the strange man was doing crawling around under the bridge.

Lost mind bridge

Has he lost his mind?

The iced over water made for a beautiful morning. I searched and searched, thus proving that I'd lost something. Fortunately it was too cold for folks to come out and ask me if I was all right. Finally I gave up. I'll have to come back when I am dressed appropriately and ready to fall into the water in order to get this one.

Another cache that eluded me was near a pond. I love the look of this area. As I tracked down the hill I realized that the cache was on the opposite side of the small spillway. The water flowing over the spillway was only an inch deep so I decided to cross it. I was fortunate not to fall when I lost my footing. I made it to the other side and purposed to go all the way around to get back to the car. I searched and searched but came up empty handed. That was all right thought. The hunt in a beautiful place is the real prize.

Waiting on an idea

My final cache in the business park was Waiting on an Idea (GC4PWFV). The title is a combination of thoughts as one clue. I parked nearby and walked to the GZ. It was a covered bus stop in the business park. I looked down and the "idea" that I was waiting for was right before me. I twisted it out of the ground, opened the light and found what I was looking for. I signed the log and was on my way.

Ok, so I called this "bear country". I guess the title is a little misleading. But the caches will be worth your while if you ever get down this way.

Geocaching the Grandover

Grandover Golf Course

One of the more exclusive residential areas around here is Grandover. It is a large golf complex with expensive housing and a large hotel for visitors. Thankfully some really nice caches have been scattered throughout the area. Most of the caches are part of a series called, "Geo-liter". While the name isn't all that appealing, these are often well done and well hidden caches. I sat out one morning to grab a few by myself. Most were fairly straight forward caches. There were a few that were more of a challenge than I was up to. For instance, climbing a tree is no longer a possibility for me now that I'm on blood thinners. I guess I'll have to bring my grandson along on a mopping up cache run to get to those that are out of my reach.

Great cache

Winter time along the golf course is pretty. I found several that were placed in beautiful locations. On one street there were some one million dollar homes being built. Across the street from one I found one cache in a fallen tree. One cache required me to work my way through the woods to avoid the briers that populated the open hillside. It was an unseasonably warm winter day so I'd decided to find a few caches on the way to the YMCA. So, here I was in shorts and paying the price as my legs got a little scratched up. Being on blood thinners the slightest scratch looks ten times worse than it really is. I came back from this hunt looking worse for the wear.

Tied off

"Suspended"

Probably my favorite cache was entitled Geo-liter 21 (GC47CH1). I
parked along the road near the golf course, trekked a short way into the woods and started my search at ground zero. It took me a few minutes to realize that I should look at the clue. "what happens to a kid who draws a picture of a gun at school", was the clue. I'd searched the ground around a log so now it was time to look up. I extended my search area out and happened upon some fishing line taunt across my path. I followed it down to the lower end to find it tied off. Then I let it down and found the "suspended" cache. I signed the log, snapped a few pictures and then hoisted the cache back into place. I like this kind of cache!

Stone walling

Further down the road I found another interesting cache. It was part of the Geo-liter series but

Underground

required that I climb into a culvert a little ways. Fortunately this was a larger culvert and I could sit upright. I got out my headlamp and soon had the large bison tube in hand. I had to wait out the passing cars so that I wouldn't raise too much suspicion from them as I came up out off the creek bed. I like this cache too!

Finally this caching excursion took me to some wall caches. There were several like this that were located in the stone walls that decorated

the entrances to the tunnels used by golfers in their golf carts as they traveled beneath the main road to get from one green to the next. These were pretty quick finds.

I really enjoyed the caching at the Grandover. If you get the opportunity to visit our part of the country, check these out.