A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

geocache watch

Geocache Watch: Pratt’s Rocky Cache (GC11YQN)

Pratt’s Rocky Cache (GC11YQN)

People who are fans of cool caches that take a little while will like this one.

It requires hiking. One needs to climb and figure out coordinates and do some math. And in the end, if you treat yourself to climbing to the top of the rocks, you get an amazing view.

I have wanted to do this cache for a long time.

It’s one of the closer caches that I hadn’t done. Mainly because it’s a high terrain/high difficulty and some of the stuff needed to do, I wasn’t sure if I understood. Brent and I tackled this one a couple weeks ago and it’s really a wild cache.

It took us about 2 1/2 hours, but we also explored some.

The whole area, which is just outside the village of Prattsville, is a wild spot to stop.

The views are magnificent and the whole cache is well worth the trip. If you like old-school quality caches, this is one you’ll love.

The details:

Geocache: Pratt’s Rocky Cache (GC11YQN).

Location: Prattsville, New York.

Date placed: April 29, 2007.

Date I found: May 30, 2011.

The ratings: 4 for difficulty; 3.5 for terrain.

Time to do the cache (to and from): Total time about 2 1/2 hours.

Total hike: With all the bouncing around and exploring, about a 1/2 mile total (but there’s climbing and hills to overcome).

Scenic?: Yes. The rocks and carvings are wild alone. Go to the top and the views of the valley are remarkable.

Tips: Bring a compass and some paper — and writing utensils.

Overall HooHaa Rating (1-10): 9.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Geocache Watch: Beverly (GC28)

(Note: I am going to bring back a feature that I will do sometimes called the Geocache Watch. Basically, when I find caches I enjoy or are historic, I plan on posting them here and talking a little about the cache etc. This won’t be done on a regular basis, but here and there when I feel I can remember a cache or whatnot.)

Beverly (GC28)

It’s the third oldest active geocache in the world.

Yes, in the world.

When I was researching my trip to Chicago, I was looking for caches. As when I travel to a new state, I try and find where the oldest active cache in the state is and I found that Beverly (placed on May 13, 2000) was going to be somewhat close to where I would be.

Sweet!

A little more research showed that it shouldn’t be too bad of a hike and there were nine or 10 caches along the trail, too. Even better. I set it up to meet a somewhat local cacher who hadn’t done this historic and the two of us and his son set out to get all the caches on the trail. It was a warmer day and some of the trails were not so maintained, but we ended up getting nine caches (one DNF).

Beverly, itself, was a historic cache. That’s the draw to this one. Outside of that, it’s an ammo can in the woods with no real view or anything. It’s in an interesting section of the woods in a pine area. When we found it, it was hanging in a tree and I saw it from nearly 150 feet away. The pile of sticks below the tree seemed like the spot it should be, so we left it that way — so as to hopefully not have it go missing (not that it has over the years).

Overall, a cool experience. However, not that jaw-dropping experience I had kind of hoped for, being it was such an old cache.

The details:

Geocache: Beverly (GC28).

Location: Barrington, Illinois.

The ratings: 2 for difficulty; 2 for terrain.

Time to do the cache (to and from): We did all of the caches on the trail and it took about 2 hours. I would imagine someone moving quick could do just Beverly in 30-40 minutes.

Total hike: The trail was about 1.75 miles roundtrip (for all the caches). It would appear Beverly is probably about a mile roundtrip.

Scenic?: Not really. It’s an historic cache, however, which is the major draw.

Tips: Coordinates were pretty decent. Once you are in the area, it shouldn’t be hard to find. Not the original logbook, unfortunately.

Overall HooHaa Rating (1-10): 7.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.