BomberJjr's Geocaching Blog

Schools Out For The Summer!!!

2008-05-29T12:09:00.014-04:00

Well, it's been quite a while since the last time I posted on my blog here, but since then, I've reached cache #400. In fact right now I'm up to 433. I've also created two new caches, not including the cache I referred to before, Falcon's Nest (GC162D5), has long since been published. My newest caches are Along the Mumford (GC1CFFX), and one that I actually put out in a rock quarry (pictured above) in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, which is called Becket Quarry Cache (GC1BKHP). I have done quite a lot of caching this spring at school over in Fitchburg State College. That's where I found my 400th cache find called Rebel's Treat (GCJJWX), and I'm still going pretty strong. I'm hoping to continue to have a good summer with lots of caching.

Later this summer, I hope to take a trip with a couple of my friends out to the Cleveland, Ohio area to visit Cedar Point and to see an Indians game, not to mention find a few caches in a new state. My summer has just started and I can't wait to see what things I might get to do and place I might travel to. I will have to keep this blog updated.

P.S. Congrats to Sonny and Sandy of the Podcacher Podcast (a great geocaching podcast and my favorite overall podcast out there) on your adoption of baby Sean! You two will make excellent parents.

College Caching

2007-09-20T23:43:00.000-04:00

I know its been a while and I even acheived my 300th find milestone and went to a huge event since my last blog, The Great Northern Tier Geocaching Tournament 2007, but I thought its better late than never to get back into the swing of blogging again.

At the beginning of this month, I went through a big change of scenery when I went off to college at Fitchburg State College. After moving in and getting used to my course schedule, I was back to geocaching. My first cache while staying in Fitchburg was Sky View GeoCache, which actually happened to be placed in Prospect Park, the area that is home to the first cache I ever found, Hide of the Heron. This was just a quick find while out and about buying food for my dorm room.

A few days later, with some extra time, I decided to head out for a few more nearby cache finds. The first cache was Walton's Mountain Cache, which was a multi cache that put a great spin on parking lot caches. Then it was off to a very quick LPC called RUNaWAY View Micro, which was in a quiet part of a BJ's parking lot near the runway for the Fitchburg Municipal Airport. The final cache of the day was A Walk On The History Side., which was a very well hidden cache hidden in a very well preserved old cemetery which dates back to the 1700s. I was amazed to see such old tombstones in such amazing condition. I had actually been to this park a few times, but had not even realized that there was an old graveyard behind it. As I had no print-out for this cache, I had to call up my dad, BomberJohn for a hint after a good while of searching with no success. With the quick call, I had a much easy search and eventually found the cache.

Also, just yesterday I placed a brand new cache within the vicinity of the college, but I am still waiting for admin approval so I will leave that for next time.

Extreme Geocaching: Rappelling

2007-07-09T16:04:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago, my dad, BomberJohn, mentioned that he had an interest in attend a geocaching event called Cliffsides and Grapevines, in Swansea, MA. The event was a day of learning how to rappel and belay taught by geocachers, RLahti (Ron) and Downy288 (John). I had always seen these events posted, but had always thought them to be something too extreme or requiring more skill, but I took the day off from work and headed to the event bright and early with BomberJohn.

When we got there somewhat early, there was noone to be found, so we headed to the event cords to a massive rock with very high cliffs, but waited until a bit after the event was scheduled to start and still nothing. We headed back to the parking lot and met up with the crew we were looking for. We then got into our harnesses and hiked back out to the rock, which we found out was named Abram's Rock, after a Native American man that used its caves as his home, until he was forced to leave the land.

After an orientation of the rock, Ron went through basic instruction and the technique of rappeling and belaying. We tried setting up on the ground, and then all of the geocachers tested out theses techniques on a 10' wall. With our confidence in rappeling boasted it was on to the 30' wall on the other side of Abram's Rock. Looking at the edge of the wall had me a little nervous, but once strapped in, it was really only a longer version of the 10' wall. I then learned to leave height out of the equation and began to really enjoy the sport. With a few runs down the 30, Ron and John had a Tyrolean set up, which is basically a horizontal line used for crossing cravasses in the mountains. This one was setup with a decent drop and was more of a backwoods roller coaster. For over an hour, we took turns sliding down and as time drew close to 3:30, when I had to leave for another appointment, we told Ron we would have leave early, but he suggested that they have the 60' wall set up for use before we left so we could get a chance to find Cliffside #6 which was stuck in a crack halfway down. Of course, we agreed, the rope was quickly set up and we sent BomberJohn down first to act as the test dummy to make sure the knots would hold. Before heading down, I remembered I had a Red Jeep TB in my Cache-Pack and decided there was no better deserving place for one to be placed and stuck it in my pocket. With a much more confident rappel down, I reached the cache spot and requested to be belayed in order to open and log the cache with both hands. I quickly signed the log, placed the Jeep TB, replaced the cache, retook control of the rope and rappelled the second half down.

Ron then gave us a gift of a Downy288 geocoin as proof of our acheivement and we gave him our thanks and one of my new pathtags, but time was ticking and we had to go. Truly, this was one amazing event and I will always remember how much fun BomberJohn and I had here. I hope we can someday soon attend one of the Cliffsides and Grapevines CT Style events, which is a higher level of the same thing and put our new skill to more use.

The BomberBoyz Hit GW5

2007-06-01T12:44:00.000-04:00

It was months ago that BomberJohn and I began to plan our trip south to North Carolina to attend GeoWoodstock 5 (GCZKVX) and this past weekend, it all came together. Last Friday, BomberJohn picked me up from school at 11 AM, after my madatory high school graduation rehearsal and we started our 12 hour drive south. The ride was long, but I as we'd find out the next day, it was well worth it.

It was an early morning for a vacation weekend, as we woke up to be over at the NC Fair Grounds in Raleigh for our first ever Mega Event for 8 o'clock. After registering, receiving our complimentary things, buying a t-shirt and geocoin, checking out all of the geocoin vendors, and, of course, meeting Sonny and Sandy of the Podcacher Podcast, we decided we'd spend the afternoon geocaching around town and return for the evening events.

The first few caches, ATM 3, ATM 2, ATM 1, and Jacks Not Evil...Really! were all caches along a well kept bike trail which passed close-by to our hotel. At the cache, ATM 2 I found a small collection of transportation tokens, which I took through a swap, as I have always enjoyed collecting coins and tokens from around the world. After these finds, it was over to Eastgate Park, where we found Jack's Magnetic Keyholder, with the accompaniment of a fellow geocaching family attending the event, and Ahhh..I Don't Know Hon..., both of which were a bit tricky, but failed to stump the BomberBoyz as the nearby micro Sticking Around in Eastgate park did. With these cache finds under our belt, we picked up lunch and headed back to GW5 groundzero.

The fair ground was now completely buzzing with hundreds of geocachers. Dinner was an amazing BBQ buffet with chicken, pork and steak tips, many sorts of salads and a choice of either strawberry shortcake or a moist chocolate cake. Our stomach full, we met up with Sonny and Sandy once again and had a better chance to talk. They were even nice enough to give me a Podcacher pathtag, despite the fact that I had none to trade. After chatting with the Podcacher crew, BomberJohn went on to find some other cachers that had pathtags for trading and swapped for a few which he had yet to collect and we then headed back to the hotel, but not before stopping at That's a fairly good sign..., which we saw cachers finding and logging as we drove by all day.

The next morning was another early morning as we packed up and went on our way back north. On the way back we plotted out a few quick caches off the highway to stop at in order for me to claim the states we drove through as cached. First was Roadrunner: What's love got to do with it? in Virginia, Easy Pick Up at a Park & Ride in West Virginia, The Lost Cache and Bowman Buisness Park Cache at an industrial park off I-95 in Maryland, and after stopping in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to get a room for the night and eatting out at a Damon's Grill for dinner, we searched for An A-Plus View of Some Super Stores. Monday morning we hit the road again and stopped in New York to find Not Big, Not Blue, which was another micro at a Park & Ride parking lot. From there we drove straight home with plenty of memories, geocoins, and my ambition to create a pathtag to repay S&S back for their own.

Florida Caching

2007-04-27T14:30:00.000-04:00

Since last year, when mention of my senior class trip to Disney World first started, I was on the GC website looking up potential cache finds in the area. As details came in, I learned that we would not be able to leave Disney World Resort grounds, but that still left me with a handful of virtuals within the Disney parks. Friday the 13th roled around and it was time to head south for our trip and I was sure to pack my Garmin 60CS and the cache listings for the Disney virtuals.

The week was great. Day one in the parks was Saturday, on which we headed to both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Which both virtuals had fairly easy logging requirements. We had a blast at Epcot riding Mission Space, Test Track, and experiencing the different country showcases. At the Magic Kingdom we got to ride Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean, and the trecherous "its a small world". For day two, Sunday it was off to MGM Studios, but just minutes after arriving, the sunny weather we had seen for the past two days disappeared and a 15 minute downpour roled through. After the rain subsided and we were back on rides it was lots of fun. In the afternoon we made our way to the back of the park to ride the excellent, Rock'n'Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror. Here, I also got to accomplish my third virtual of the trip, by observing features of the decor of the attractions. For Monday, we all headed to the two Universal parks. We had tons of fun riding the Mummy Ride, ET, Spiderman, The Hulk, The Dueling Dragons, and seeing Shrek 4-D. Tuesday was our day to make it over to The Animal Kingdom. At arrival, we bolted to Expedition Everest, then went to Dinosaur, rode the Kali River Rapids, and made our way back to the Tree of Life to see Its Tough to be a Bug. After the show we finish the last virtual by hunting for the listed animals carved in the tree required to be found for logging the cache. We then went to see the Lion King show and ride Everest and Dinosaur once more, before leaving and going to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. To end are time in trip to the Disney parks, we hopped on the schuttle to Epcot again, to ride Soarin', as it was too busy the first visit and to watch the Illuminations show. After watching the amazing light display, we went back to the hotel to pack before bed. The next day was a relaxing day at Blizzard Beach before heading to the airport to fly us back to Logan.

#200!

2007-02-19T22:41:00.000-05:00

This Presidents' Day morning I woke up and thought, "three more to 200, lets go do 'em" so I looked through some log sheets I had ready for caches in the area that I was looking at. I decided I'd try for The Whistling Tree (GC10B1t) and Clamming on the Branch River (GC107QV), both of which were along the trail system behind Burrillville Middle School in Burrillville, Rhode Island. I had been to this area before with BomberJohn will visiting The Mustang Cache.

I headed behind the school equipt with my winter gear, a telescopic pole, my 60cs, my cache-pack and cache print-outs. As I reached the woods I passed kids sliding down a hill, happy to not be in school for the week. I traversed the icy trails, which happened to spiral toward the cache, by the route I ended up taking. When I reached the area of The Whistling Tree, which was named for the nearby tree that looked as if it was actually belting a tune, I had to look for a little bit, but not to long, as it it had been uncovered the previous day by a local cacher. As I signed the log, a noise grew closer and louder, and then I saw it in the air; a huge military helicopter just above to the south. I then replaced the cache and continued on with my goal to reach 200. Carefully hiking across sheets of icy snow, I began to appreciate my decision to bring along my telescopic hiking pole. When I got to the cache area for Clamming on the Branch River, I noticed tracks and spots where some cacher had obviously searched aroung, but failed. I too was near giving up, when I spotted a small bit of something that looked out of place for the area, which much have been slightly uncovered by the recent DNFer. After 5 minutes of digging, the unusual container was clammed out of the snow and I was just one cache away from the milestone I was looking for.

For the final cache of the day and #200, I thought I'd check out Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (GCCC88) on the shore of Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg in Webster, Massachusetts. This is actually the longest official name given to any body of water in the enitre world and I thought it would be perfect for the big one. As I searched for it, a muggle came by and seemed like he thought I was up to no good. He actually walked back to his truck and sat there watching for a few minutes to make sure I was harmless. After he passed by, the uncertain hint became clear and I found it with little no problem. There it was in my hands #200! I signed the log, made a sig card swap, and left with the pride of reaching my milestone.

And a Happy New Year

2007-01-04T21:49:00.000-05:00

As school was cancelled today due to the death of the beloved principal of Sutton Elementary School, Mrs. Simonian, I thought I would take Snidy and BenMac out on a caching trip to Milford, MA. The first stop of the day was at the newly placed Old Stone Bridge Cache (GC100ZY) where we met Milford4+ while heading to the cache location. It turns out that she actually knows the hidder, seekerjay, and was the one to introduce him to the sport. He has since passed her by many caches. After a great hike, quickly finding the cache and chatting with Milford4+, we parted with our new friend and hiked to the nearby cache, Field of Ferns (GC7044), which actually sugested other parking cords, but ended up only being an average cache hike along very nice trails. This was a just quick find and log and we were headed to the car to get over to the Cameltoe Cache (GCMXK3). Cameltoe ended up being a traditional high tension power line cache, but when we find the container and opened it up, we found that it only had one pen that had dried up months ago and we hiked out to it unprepared. As proof of our find, all I could do was leave one of my new 2007 BomberJjr signature cards. As we got back to the car, the team was feeling a bit hungry so with the new 60CS, I was able to track down a closeby Wendy's and navigate ourselves to it, passing the parking area for our next find, the Frontier Cache (GC456A). After filling our stomachs and loading up with calories, we needed this one last cache to help us burn off some energy. The cache was one placed nearly five years ago in a municipal park with a great bike path. We followed the bike path for quite a ways and realized we were not getting closer but were really circling the cache, so when we spotted an unmarked trail off to the side we went into the woods to get to our destination. Once there we over-estimated the hide job and over shot the easy spot that we later found it in. It was great to see such an old cache still up and running, although it probably could use a removal of some of the junk inside. We found our way back to the bike trail by continuing on the trail rather than turning back, got to the car and then had to get back home for BenMac, so he could go to work.

Merry Christmas...

2007-01-04T20:30:00.000-05:00

This Christmas began with a trip out to Leominster to stay with my dad, BomberJohn, on Christmas Eve night. The next day I unwrapped four great new 2006 Massachusetts geocoins (a collectors set and an extra nickel version for logging). I was also able to log many new geocoins that my dad had recently received thrrough trading with his friend frf. He even gave me a Travel Bug dogtag that he had received from the previous SNEG monthly event. After a couple days of celebrating the holiday, we figured it was time to get out and hunt down a few caches across the border of New Hampshire.

Before actually making our way across the northern border, we decided to try for two caches in our home state of Massachusetts in Ashburham. The caches were Mike's Midstate Movie Madness (GC5281) and Mt. What da heck? (GCH0HQ) in Ashburham State Forest. Mt. What da heck? actually ended up being a climb to the top of the 1800', Mt. Watatic, which may have had some of the coolest trail I've seen while geocaching. Once at the top, BomberJohn and I could see for quite a way. After finding these caches, we hiked back out to the car and drove north to the Granite State.

The first cache that we found in the state was Conversville Cache (GCMA22), which was an average cache hike along the edge of a pond just off of Rt. 119. Once at the cache, we were suprised to open it up and find one of frf's signature plastic corkscrews. The next cache was the Stearns Lamont Forest Cache (GCVJVN), which was just up the highway. The hike in was about a quarter of mile. At the cache site we were almost stumped for a minute, until I happened to stumble opon the container. We both left with GPSrs in hand and headed over to the pizza reastaurant just 100 yards down the street from the trail entrance and as we left for a few more before calling it a day, I thought, "where is my GPSr?" After searching the road, the trail, and the restaurant thoroughly, results came back negative and so I was forced to say good by to my good old Garmin Legend. Still, neither geocachers or the restaurant have contacted me with any information. After the experience of losing my Legend, we continued on with BomberJohn's 60CS at the Wheeler Trail cache (GCTP1J), which was a very cleverly camoflagued cache in an area of very bad receiption. After carefully searching for about fifteen minutes, BomberJohn spotted it, we quickly logged the find, and we hopped back into the car to find What A Birch Of A Cache (GCKYJB ). This was an even more clever hide created by the owner of the previous cache, with better coverage and a better hint. Again it was BomberJohn who was able to picked this one out and after logging it and hiking to the car, we drove to the parking for Apocalypse of The Well School (GCWFRQ) as the sun began sinking low. We dashed through the woods along the hilly trail, to the cache area, it took nearly fifteen minutes to find, but we were successful and did our usual log sign. The trails were only slightly lighted by the twilight and by the time we were back in the car, the were almost completely in the darkness of night.

Over the next few days, BomberJohn and I looked at a situations of getting me a new GPSr and we settled on the idea that I would buy his for a cheap price and he would buy the upgraded 60CSx. I also decided to purchase a years Premium Membership to Geocaching.com, as I had postponed doing so for too long. When I got home, I had to try out my new GPSr on a newly available member's cache, Historic MA RR Station Series-#10 Uxbridge (GCR6BR), which was in the center of the nearby town of Uxbridge. When I first walked in the door from my stay at my dad's I was happy to see that the gpsfun Volunteer Geocoin (TBP631) I had won was sitting right on my dinner table. Also, with new cache notifications, I received an e-mail on Saturday morning that Stanley's Backyard (GC102C1) been placed. I raced out the door, only to find four previous finders' logs, as I was later than most because I had had to work early that morning.

Mid-December Update

2006-12-16T14:04:00.000-05:00

So far the month of December has very been slow for me on the side of actually getting out to cache sites, as the early setting sun and a busy holiday season work schedule have limited me incredibly. Despite this fact, I, as always, have not forgotten of geocaching. At this point in the month I have attended the SNEG's Great Grub Grog and Gab Get Together (GCZM15) along with BomberJohn, which was held at Doc's Bar and Grille in Milford, at which we had a great time meeting a few cachers we had yet to meet, talking to our friend Nerves, and logging a good bunch of Geocoins. Thanks to koneko (aka Madmin), we also got to see a genuine v.3 Moun10Bike geocoin. I also, finally got my hands on a Green Jeep TB.

Two days after the event, on a day off from work, my good ole friend Snidy and I headed over to Uxbridge to try out the multi-cache Bottoms Up! (GCPPR3), which had been on my to do list for far too long. It just so happens that this was probably the coldest day this fall so far. The cache was very clever as it involved a different way of going about it (don't wanna give it away, but trust me it was cool). The final was also very fun to find. This may be a very inspirational cache to me in the future planning of my caches to come.

This past Wednesday, due to a visit to UMass Boston gave me an excuse to head to the city on a school day and even find two caches with my geocaching critic mother. These caches were PO Square - Urban Cache (GCN6FJ) and Pocket Park #3 -- The Other Way In (GCN29C), in the downtown area of Boston. I suprised when she agreed to let me find some of these nearby caches and was even more suprised when she began to help me search. Of course being the great geocacher that I am, I was the one to find everything, but I got the sense that she somewhat understood the appeal of the game.

Also, this past week I received my Unite for Diabetes TB in the mail from Groundspeak. Its mission is to jump across the sea and reach Kordkuy, Iran, which actually doesn't even have a cache within 100 miles. In fact there are only 5 caches total in the country, 2 of which are temporaily disabled.

In future plans, I hope to take my friend BenMac and possibly Snidy out for a few caches on Monday afternoon, as BenMac has only found one so far. Also, with some talking to BomberJohn, it sounds very good that we will be checking out this May's GeoWoodstock 5 in Raleigh, North Carolina!

Something To Be Thankful For in Rhode Island

2006-11-29T14:42:00.000-05:00

It turns out that the weather ended up being great this Black Friday for a geocaching trip to Rhode Island with BomberJohn, despite the early week forcasts. We ended up visiting a total of 13 cache sites, 2 of which I had already found, 2 of which ended up being DNFs and 9 which were loggable caches for myself.

We began in Millville, MA with the multi-cache, Millville Lock and Triad Bridge (GCH4AR). Along the way to the final cache location we spotted two deer and dozens of deer tracks. After finding the cache we headed south over the Rhode Island border to the quick micro called We'll Never Forget 9/11 #15 (GCY9T8) at a great memorial site for Amy Jarret, the local and flight attendant of UA flight 175, which was taken hostage and crashed on September 11th, 2001.

With a few minutes to check out the park dedicated to this local girl, we moved on to In Honor of Nerves III (GCZBN7), Where It All Began... (GCNWVK), and The Mustang Cache (GC6C48), which were all pretty standard caches and quick finds, although The Mustang Cache was a bit of a trek along a huge tangle of trails. We then started to go East and found a spot for a lunch break. When done, it was off to the two caches I had already found, which were easy micros along the way to my next find, Keychain cache on Herring hill (GCZ8W2), and without road maps for RI on BomberJohn's GPSr, we ended up searching for a parking spot for much longer than we probably needed to. We actually ended up finding what my have been an even quicker way to the waypoint and found three benchmarks near the cache, one of which was loggable.

After these few caches, it was time to head into the city of Woonsockett for a few finds. C.S.P. Cache (GCXQH9) was a supposedly quick find that, due to leaves and just the right container, was a bit more tricker than it should have been. WWII Memorial Pico (GCQJYD), which was an excellent way of making a creative and quick pico find, was a fun cache in a state park dedicated to WWII veterans. After these two, there was the DNF at River Island Park Cache (GCY5K9), due to a couple of muggles that just weren't going away.

As we began to head back North, we stopped at STOP&CACHE (GCWQ2A), a favorite of all cachers, a Lampost Cache and at Heritage Tree #1 - Blackstone (GCNJC0) for a DNF, despite what we thought was an giveaway hint.

Overall, BomberJohn had a really nice day of a handful of caches, which was good as we both needed to work off the turkey from the previous day. In upcoming news, both BomberJohn and I plan to get out to Doc's Bar and Grille next Wednesday for SNEG's first monthly SNEGeocachers Meet and Eat event/meeting (GCZ98M). Will make sure to add more on our night out with all of our cachemates next week.

A Month of More Cachin'

2006-11-22T21:27:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that I haven't been blogging for the past month doesn't necessarily mean I have given up on geocaching all together. In fact I've been quite involved in the sport for a senior in high school that has two jobs. A good handful of caches have been created in the area in the past month and most of my recent finds have been these. I also attended the SNEG Fall Back GEO-meet 2006 (GCYTZM) with my dad, BomberJohn on October 29th.

On Halloween night, Snidy and I decided to go to Six Flags for the last day of the season. We left school early a ended up with plenty of time to search for Hike or Bike along the CT River (GCNC5N) and Ma Veterans Memorial Cemetery (GCW343). Hike and Bike was actually a micro we had attempted this past spring, but because of time limits, were forced to leave. This time we found it, and realized the genius of the container. Ma Veterans was a two stage multi that began in a veterans' cemetery. hile doing the math for the final, the sun began to set and taps was played in the distance.

This past week, I was able to create a new Earthcache in Purgatory Chasm, as groundspeak began to re-allow them on geocaching.com. I simply named it Purgatory Chasm (GCZEYV), after the park it was placed. Nomad 64 today became the FTF cacher of this. Also, today The Jackal and I went out for a a cache hunt in Grafton to find the newly placed Wolf Den.

Though we weren't sure before, because of threats of rain, BomberJohn and I plan to make a geocaching day out of Black Friday. My guess is that we will both need the exercise anyway, after all the food we'll be eatting on Thursday. I'll be sure to keep my blog more up to date in the future and share the adventures that BomberJohn and I find on Friday.

Weekday Caching: Burrillville

2006-10-12T22:10:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, after a long of school, Snidy and I decided to do a few caches in Rhode Island that were recently posted. In a bit of free time I found at school, I printed out the cache pages for ole fishing HOLE (GCYFD7) and Burrillville Waterfall (GCYQ6K). As the bell rang, we rushed out to my house to get my GPSr and to head over to the town of Burrillville, RI via Rt.96.

Once we reached the center of town, we were a corner away from old fishing HOLE. We found a nice open dirt parking area with no muggles in sight. I spotted the hiding spot after about a minute or two of leisurely searching. The spot was perfect for a cache and the hiding job was very nice, but after so many caches, you tend to get an eye for hiding spots. While signing the log, Snidy and I were startled by a bus crossing the nearby bridge with an external loud speaker. We placed the cache back in its "HOLE" and got in the car for the next cache.

After the micro, we made our way through the many awkwardly placed stop signs and right of ways to Freedom Park (apparently in RI, traffic incoming from other roads have the right of way, while those driving straight must come to a complete stop, lol). This two part multi was placed in a local park with a playground and nice walk around a gorgeous dam waterfall (as common as these are in the Blackstone Valley, I really believe they are all very unique). The first stage was placed on the opposite side of the parking side of the park. This was an easy find for me, though Snidy had trouble seeing it when I asked if he could see it, although he has only seen or even heard of this hiding technique once before. After punching in the cords, we were brought back to the original side and it was Snidy's turn to use his sharp eye, as he was the one to spot the final. To our surprise, there was a Coin Fusion coin left in there by Team Fisur. He had recently seen me track down one of these and now it was his opportunity to snag one for himself. After a few minutes of logging and swag trading we took a few pictures and headed back north of the border.

While on the way home, I decided to stop at an entrance to the Douglas State Forest on Rt 96 that I had been eyeing to place a cache. This turned out to be much harder than I had planned it to be. The trip ended up being an endless search for a hiding spot that was unsuccessful. We looked for about an hour and came up with nothing. All I can image for that trail is a micro, as there really was no good hiding spots for a regular sized cache. Oh well, I'd rather wait for a good spot than to force myself to place a cache because no one has placed one in the area.

New Coins And Not So Much Caching

2006-10-06T23:40:00.000-04:00

The past few weeks have been very busy for me, what with my senior year starting, the birth of my niece, my 18th birthday, and my two jobs. Due to this, I haven't had all that much time to go out geocaching, but That doesn't mean I've given up on the sport. During this period I bought a Signal Geocoin and to my surprise, won a Personal Geocoin from Sonny and Sandy over at the Podcacher Podcast.

The Signal Geocoin is is a July 06 Signal Geocoin which has a picture of Signal as the Statue of Liberty holding a tupperware container. I named this coin Signal's Great American Tour Geocoin.

The Podcacher coin I recieved was a prize that I got for winning the Sonny and Sandy trivia contest. This tivia contest asked questions based on the two podcasters and of about 75 people, I tied with another geocaching team. I found this out almost a week after the show was posted, as I was very busy working and doing school work that week. When I heard I jumped out of my seat in disbelief. These geocoins are very well-known and very rare, and I was now the owner of one. After a couple weeks of waiting for the coin to come by snail mail, i finally was able to hold it in my hands. The front of the coin has the Podcacher.com logo and the backside has a beach scene with a glow-in-the-dark sun and a glitter shine ocean. After seeing the one BomberJohn has sitting in his collection, a while back, I knew I wanted one and eventually I got one.

As for actually going out for some geocaching, I currently have plans to go out next Friday with Snidy and possibly BenMac. I also hope to get a trip out to Boston to see theJackal and to do a little urban style caching sometime this autumn or early winter.

Sunday Caching

2006-09-11T22:43:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, after watching the Patriots beat the Bills in the first game of the season, Snidy and I decided to go out for a few caches. As the caches I have yet to find in my area are depleting, I decided to head out towards the Upton/Hopkinton area. We picked The King and I (GCQKPW), Sneakersalt (GCMFWY), and I-90/I-495 Bug Hotel (GC57A8) to hunt for on our trip.

The King and I was actually a cache named after Broadway actress Gertrude Lawrence, who starred in the play The King and I, who was actually buried in the cemetery that the cache was placed in. It was a pretty easy find, though the cordinates were off by a little bit. I even got a cool pin created for a geo-meet that took place in New Hampshire to add to my collection of sig items.

After finding The King and I in Upton, Snidy and I headed to Hopkinton to find Sneakersalt. Parking was very limited, as it was really only a small pull off spot along the woods. The trail was really nice and even had a picnic table near an interesting boulder. I had never seen this type of container while geocaching before, although I believe I've heard of them used before. The logs were a little damaged due to the unique container though. By the way, this was my 150th cache found. After signing the log, we hiked back and drove over to the close by, I-90/I-495 Bug Hotel.

We got to the roadside recreation area and immediately felt that we would like this one, due to the great scene of the pond and the well built waterside gazebo. Th hunt required a nice, easy walk along a flat path. We first searched found the cache in its cool little spot and did our usual signing and trading. I left one of my cards and took an unofficial TB (tracked my snail mailing the owner) called Billy Bob. We then walked over to the gazebo and took some great pictures. This was just a really nice park that I would definitely consider coming back to just to enjoy and have a picnic lunch.

A Lot of Work and Bit of Play For the Weekend of Labor Day

2006-09-05T15:22:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that I ended up working a lot this weekend, I was still able to fit in a little geocaching. On Saturday in between the shifts of my two jobs, I was able to squeeze in two caches in the Greendale area. These were Extra Butter Please (GCXFCC) and Indian Lake Accessible (GCRY2A).

I attempted Extra Butter Please first which was actually in the parking lot of the Showcase North Cinemas, which I'm familiar with, as I used to go there all the time before the closer, Blackstone De Lux 14, was built. I searched in this one spot where I thought the cache would be for about 5 minutes and then a pick-up truck oulled in nearby and the muggle decided to just sit in his car, so I thought it best to try another cache for a while and to come back afterward.

I headed over to the Indian Lake area, relying on my GPSr to get me there with just the arrow pointing to the cache. This was a cache in a small area near the back of a parking lot for a YMCA. This cache prove pretty easy, as it wasn't covered the best it could have been. Here I was able to snag a Green Rhinos sig card to add to the card collection. I then took some pictures and headed back over to Extra Butter Please.

Once back at the the movie theater, it took only about a minute for me to find. It was easier this time as I stopped looking in the spot I first thought it would be and thought to look somewhere else close by. I then signed the log and headed home to get ready for work.

On Sunday, I had to head out to Bob's Store in Shrewsbury to go school shopping and geniusly thought to check if there was any caches near the store. The closest cache was Hillside Cemetery (GCNVB6). After buying a few pairs of pants, I was excited to go out and find this cache. When I got there the gate to the cemetery was locked, so I parked at a nearby school parking lot and walked over to the cemetery. This was a really quiet and peaceful find in a light rain. I even found a gpscouts magnet to add to the collection of sig items.

For Monday, I hoped to do some geocaching with my friends but was asked to stay late at work and those plans were ruined. Ended up working 10-10, but at least it was time and a half.

Today was the first day of my senior year, and as usually teachers just outline the year and it was as boring as every previous year until in Wellness (Advanced Gym) when we outlined the yearly activities. It turns out geocaching is on the list and we will be go out sometime this year to find some local caches. I was so surprised. It should be fun.

Introducing Geocaching to Yet Another Friend

2006-09-01T12:32:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, while hanging out at Snidy's house with our friend Ben, we decided to go out and do some geocaching, but due to limited time we figured we'd only get to one. We thought one was better than none and plus Ben had been wanting to see our hobby for himself. We ended up going to Horgan's Surprise (GCTB0N) in Auburn. It was a pretty easy find at a recreation area. We saw some older muggles practicing there golf behind one of the baseball fields, thank god the cache was behind the other one. I think Ben got a good impression, though I'm not sure if he'll be dedicating all of his time to the sport.

UPDATE:
After talking to Ben, it seems that he wants to go out geocaching again and I just helped him make a geocaching account. He now goes by BenMac.

Something Else

2006-08-18T18:09:00.001-04:00

A few monthes back I half-heartedly attempted a cache after the DNF of another cache in the Douglas State Forest/Buck Hill, but decided to try another day, due to the fact that it was such a long hike. This cache was, Is This the Beginning or the End (GCTB4E). While checking the condition of the cache online the other day, I noticed the Rhode Island caching team, Fisur, was the last to visit and as usual, they posted that they left "something else". Because I knew, "something else" was how Fisur referred to one of their untrackable geocoins, I decided that a trek out there with Snidy might just be worth it.
For today, I planned to do a few nearby caches with Snidy before he had to go to work for 4 o'clock, including Is This the Beginning or the End, but due to a late start it looked like we might not get to as many as we previously hoped. We started with the cache with the Fisur coin at a trailhead that was unlisted on the cache page, but looked quicker than the two entrances given (.99 miles compared to 1.20 miles). After about a half hour of hiking, we finally got to the cache site and searched for a few minutes. It was actually Snidy that spotted the cache container. We pulled it from its resting spot and opened it. It was then that I noticed the coin began to smile. I now had in my hands a CoinFusion Project 2006 coin that commemorated to forefathers of the geocoin revolution (Mount10Bike, Team Fisur, DHOBBY1, and Indy Diver). We then hiked out and found we might not have enough time to do another cache, so we decided to head back to Snidy's house to log our find and so he could get ready for work.

Weekend With BomberJohn

2006-08-13T17:28:00.000-04:00

As this week was a vacation at work, I was able to go out to Leominster to spend this weekend with my dad, BomberJohn. On Saturday, with a little free time we found, we decided to finish up a multi that my dad had started with frf and Lloyd&Jess. This multi was the Tour de Fitchburg (GCV1A7). In order to find the final, the numbers of the years found at a few nearby stages had to be munipulated to find the cordinates to the final leg. With the final set of cords, we headed out to find the cache. It turns out that the cache was actually planted in an area where we have previously found a cache. (Writing this the day after, it looks like the owner decided to drop a GJTB today, as I write this after just getting back from that area of the state.) After finding Tour de Fitchburg, BomberJohn remembered about the nearby Crocker Concervation Area. We drove over there and began to plan a cache that we would plant there the next day.
For Sunday, BomberJohn and I planned to do three Fitchburg/Leominster area caches, I hate micros(V) carter park (GCVDVT), White Puffy Cloud Cache (GCX4WV) and The end of the (steam) line (GCXDX9). The Carter Park micro ended up being a micro in a great, little park in downtown Leominster that we had been to before. We then hopped into the car and drove over to Leominster State Forest for White Puffy Cloud Cache by Team Lucky Cat. This was a new cache with really nice trails through the state park. We searched the rock wall for a few minutes and ended up finding the cache with no bees in sight, as it was posted that there was in the online logs. At this one, was able to trade one of my own signature cards for a Team Lucky Cat one, which had a nice story on the back. After hiking out of the park, we made our way over to West Fitchburg in the car to look for The end of the (steam) line, which was put in the new, West Fitchburg Steamline Trail Park. This was a really great park with an old steam plant and about a 1/2 mile section of a steamline pipe. The old plant, the waterfall, the nice, new trails and the pipelines made for many really nice pictures. As we aproached the cache site, we saw TheMaadMacks logging there find. At the time we weren't 100% sure thats what they were doing, due to the fact that we decided to keep our distance, because they were standing where we needed to be. After they left, we logged our own find and checked out the bottom of the railroad bridge, which will soon house a wooden boardwalk that will extend the trail. We then got to the car and went to the Crocker Conservation Area.
When we got to the CCA, BomberJohn and I thought we should scope out the area before he picked a spot for his first hidden cache. After a decent inspection of the conservation and taking a good few pictures of the structure in the reservoir, my dad settled on a spot along a rock wall. We moved around a few rocks to make the perfect fit and set up the container with a logbook, pens, and a FTF spinning geocoin. We then took a bunch of cordinate listings to form a solid set of cords for accuracy. After planting, BomberJohn's first, we went over to his house to then log our new finds and great new hide.

I would like to give a big congrats to both BomberJohn for planting his first cache, CCA Traditional Cache (GCXP3F) and to fitzfive, the FTFers that are the new owners of a spinning geocoin.

Rt. 395: Up, Down, and All Around

2006-08-07T20:31:00.000-04:00

After getting out of work early yesterday, I decided to call up Snidy to see if he wanted to go out geocaching. I had a few scattered ones that I had been keeping my eye on and was in posession of a southbound geocoin. I ended up selecting two caches from the Webster/Dudley area, Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubuna (GCCC88) and Crawford Notch Cache (GCW4PX), which only be a short ride on 395 south and one in Auburn, Eddy Pond Bug Hotel (GCHHPH), for which we would drive to by means of 395 north and drive through a few back roads to return to Snidy's house afterward.
We pulled into the parking entrance to the Webster Lake cache (Chargogg...) and were completely shocked by the $20 parking fee. After learning of the price, we said no thanks and put the Cachemobile in reverse. From looking at previous logs, it looks like a visit after 5 PM will get me in there without handing over an arm and a leg to accomplish the easy find. Though bummed after the failure to get this cache, Snidy and I continued on to find Crawford Notch Cache at Ardlock Acres in Dudley. This was plot of land donated by the Crawford family, with a few nice trails that seem to have been worn in by ATVs. It was a nice little hike out to the cache site, which itself was a pretty nice place to stop and check out the cache. I actually left the Alec's Tribute Geocoin that I found last week in Auburn in this cache and picked up a Birdsong-n-Bud wooden nickel to add to my signature item collection. We hiked back out to the car and hopped back on 395 to Auburn.
In Auburn, we checked out theEddy Pond Bug Hotel, which BomberJohn had done monthes before. Just as my dad saw old men roaming around in the area, Snidy and I saw an older man doing just that. He eventually went back to his car and admired the pond. Once he was out of the direction we had to go, we got out of the car and took the short trek through the woods to the TB Hotel. The cache was an easy find. I took a MountainWanderer card to, again, add to the collection. Snidy and I then got out of there and went to his house to log our finds.

No Problems Here Houston

2006-07-31T21:38:00.000-04:00

While looking through a few cache listing today, I came across one that caught my eye because it contained an interesting geocoin (Satellite Series Geocoin). The cache was ...Three...Two...One... (GCWRGH) and was only about eight miles away. I jumped in my car and went off to the first stage. This area was a small park dedicated to Robert Goddard, the father of liquid fuel rocketry and hometown hero to Auburn , MA. It was a bit muggly here, but not to the point where a little stealth couldn't brush them off. These new set of cords pointed to another park in Auburn that was about one and a half miles away. It was another Goddard dedication, that is more well known to locals than the previous. I found the final with no problems and with luck found the geocoin still in the cache. After signing the log, I took a look around and snapped a few pictures of the park. The park was very well done and showcased a few models and a nice memorial stone for the great scientist. I had a great time looking for this cache and was lucky enough to add yet another trackable icon to the list.

There and Back Again

2006-07-27T22:11:00.000-04:00

What a great trip! This past week (Sun.-Thurs.), Snidy and I spent some vacation time up in Kennebunk, ME. We ended up doing seven total geocaches for the week. We started with two great ones on Monday called the KES Travel Bug Hotel and Massabesic Experimental Forest. The TB hotel was actually one not too far from an elementary school that was set up by an entire classroom of kids and their teacher. It was very nice. The second of the day was just an amazing hike that ended with a nice spot to rest and spend some time logging our find. It was a really great way to start the trip.
After taking two days to relax by seeing a movie, going to see the Portland Sea Dogs (won by the way!) and spending two hours mini-golfing we decided to spend an entire day of geocaching around the area. We went to Kennebunkport's Scenic Cache and reflection cache in the Lower Kennebunk/Kennebunkport area. These two were at the St. Francis Monastery and Shrines, which consists of many great outdoor sculptures and a places of prayer. It was a very peaceful place to spend such a nice sunny day. We then went to the Merriland River Fishing Tackle Cache, which had a very nice, long hike along a river and then headed over to the Wells Rec/Hobbs Pond Cache. This cache was located on a town recreation area with trails. I was a little disappointed with this cache, but only because geocoins that were listed weren't there and I forgot my keys in my car. After a call to AAA and a 1/2 hour wait, the car was unlocked and we made our way to 101 Dalmatians #43 (Ralph) at a rest area on I-95. It was a quick little micro that was pretty fun to find. As we closed our geocaching adventures, we headed over to The Clam Shack in Kennebunkport for quick dinner with my family and booted back South to good ole' Sutton, MA.

Northern Bound

2006-07-22T23:08:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, I plan to make a nice vacation trip up to the great state of Maine with my family and my geocaching buddy, Snidy. As of now we have a good handful of caches to attempt on our stay in Kennebunk, ME and are looking into a few more to add to the list. This trip will be Snidy's first out-of-state cache hunt and we hope to have nothing but success in our searches.
This weekend also marks a few other great geocaching milestones, the reaching of 300 finds by my dad, BomberJohn and 500 caches by both frf and Lloyd&Jess. I would like to send congrats to all these geocachers.

A Day of Caching With Snidy @ Buffumville Lake

2006-07-21T19:26:00.000-04:00

Last night, while checking on some of the local caches, I noticed that a cache called Enchanted Forest was holding a Volunteer Geocoin. I then decided that I had to pick it up, as I did not have one of these geocoins on my list of trackables. I called up my newest geocaching buddy, Snidy, and planned to headout for a nice day of cache hunting. It turned out that this and and another nearby cache, Cyclops, were holding the two sets of cords to a third cache by the name Eagle Has Landed. The day ended with me having a new geocoin to add to my lists, three successful finds and a great day spent with my friend Snidy. Though I was able to have such a good day today, it looks like my plans to go out geocaching tomorrow with another one of my friends, TheJackal, may be cancelled due to thunderstorms.