A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

geocaching power trail

The weekend has arrived…

This is going to be one busy weekend.

Today is supposed to be one of my book review posts for the challenge I am in. Alas, it’s not written. I’m going to have to do something I hate to do and be late with it. I haven’t finished the artwork and just am not in the mood to write a review. I should have done it weeks ago when I finished the book. Alas, I slacked.

I’ve, unfortunately, slacked a little too much in that challenge. I haven’t commented enough on other reviews and I’m mad at myself about that. I plan on rectifying that for this month’s selections.

Anyway, back to the weekend.

It starts today with the Relay for Life. I’ve blogged a bit about that, so I’m sure most readers know about it. I won’t go into the full plea, but you still have time to give and have a chance to win a super sweet quilt. The Relay is a really good event and many people in the community come out for it. But it’s also a little smaller than in the past. Things go in cycles, though.

I relay in the memory and honor of those close to me who have passed or have battled cancer. And to raise money, which is what it’s all about.

Our local one runs quite long (more than 14 hours), so many people don’t stay the full night anymore. I know I won’t be able to do it as I have plans for the rest of the weekend. The few years I tried to pull the all-night thing, I ended up being so exhausted, my whole weekend was ruined. I realize we’re doing a good thing, but my feeling is this — we raise money. That’s the good deed. Walking around a track all night or playing games isn’t what it’s about.

And our team — of seven people — has raised more than $2,200 for the cause. Hopefully we’ll be beyond the $2,500 mark by tomorrow night. In the end, that’s what I’m most proud of. Raising money.

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Saturday is going to be a geocaching day.

Two of us are heading down toward the Kingston area to do a newer “power” trail. In all, I have made a list of more than 65 caches. On that list are mainly traditional caches, but a few mystery ones are thrown in. One of those is a night cache.

OK, let me explain a couple of things. A power trail is one where it’s set up for people to get a higher count of finds on a certain stretch of a trail or road. This trail is about 30 caches in about a 12-mile stretch of road. There are a lot of different things and, apparently, some really nice scenery. So I look forward to taking the camera and maybe getting some good shots.

At a night cache a few years ago.

The other thing is the night cache. For those who are casual cachers or don’t cache, a night geocache is set up where you have coordinates to the beginning. Then you follow fire tacks to the cache. It’s really quite cool. This one is supposed to be pretty nice, so I’m looking forward to getting out and finding it. It should be a nice cap to the day/night.

I haven’t had a “big” caching day in a while, so I’m excited about this one. We’ll be all over as the list, as of now, is just shy of 70 caches. We might not get them all, but we’ll give it a go. The fun part will be dropping one geocoin in a place to help its journey. I look forward to the overall day and fun that it should bring.

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On Sunday, I’ll be heading to Pennsylvania for some disc golf. That is, as long as nothing else comes up. It’s not as far as it might sound as the back roads will get me there quicker. It’s actually only 68 miles.

Ready to play some disc golf.

This course is 12 holes and is supposed to be really good.

So my plan is to hopefully play it two — maybe three — times and then head home. On the way, I plan on picking up 5-10 geocaches, too. I’m not usually a fan of caching solo, but some of these caches are in the middle of no where or some older cemeteries, so I don’t mind as much.

With the weather looking good, I’m just excited to get out and throw some plastic and find a few treasures along the way.

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A couple of weeks ago, I had a phone interview. It was for a job I would consider a “dream job.” I was pretty amped to get the interview (though, to be fair, phone interviews are so hard. You can’t read people and they can’t read you. I’d rather be face-to-face as it gives you a better chance to deal with things as they come along.)

In the end, it didn’t turn out so well.

In my own mind, there were parts I knew I didn’t do well on. But, at the same time, I thought I answered several questions well and thought my experiences were a perfect match. Alas, it didn’t work out. I didn’t make the final three and didn’t get a face-to-face interview.

The same day, however, I received a call for another job. While it would just be for the summer, it would be an enjoyable job where I can hopefully learn a few things. I have the interview (face-to-face) next weekend, so I’ll look forward to seeing if I fare better when I get to talk in person.

The first situation, though, is why I am excited to have a busy weekend. This job hunt — and as long as it’s been — takes a toll on you. It really taxes you mentally and physically, so sometimes you need a busy and fun weekend to let your mind wander in other places. Hopefully this weekend will help me clear my mind and get back at it next week.

Here’s to hoping you all have a great weekend as well!

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — a minimum of $5– you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted lap quilt or pillow. Click here for all the information!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

 

1,500 finds… really?

Aliens, UFOs and a power trail...

One of the most used sayings in geocaching is “It’s not about the numbers.”

Though, in reality, numbers have a big part of the game.

People like finding a lot of caches. Sure, I would assume most enjoy quality with the quantity, but people don’t usually like to go out and find only a cache or two — especially if they have to travel to find them. Now, this isn’t everybody. Believe me, I know some people who will travel many miles to do one geocache and be fully satisfied.

I’ve become like that. I’ve been through the phases — the early excitement, the numbers run, the grab anything you can get your hands on…

Now?

I like to mix geocaching with other things. I still absolutely love events, especially the really big ones. I haven’t done many geocaching days recently.

Take, for example, Wednesday. Two of us headed to Schenectady to play disc golf and we grabbed two caches while there. It was a nice mix. Over Labor Day weekend, I hit up that major disc golf event. For the weekend, I think I also added five caches and most of them were pretty solid ones, too.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against a numbers day. I just haven’t had the chance recently and haven’t really looked to do it. There are a lot of new caches in the area, though, and I’d like to get out one day and get them all.

But I think it’s fair to say that I like quality over quantity now. And with that in mind, it’s probably why I won’t be heading out to Nevada any time soon to do a major power trail.

Just because I won’t be going out there doesn’t mean others won’t.

A power trail in geocaching terms is a trail where people can get a large amount of finds in one stretch — it could be a few miles or many more.

Enter the Extraterrestrial Highway, which is in the desert in Nevada. A few years ago, a couple of people placed the ET Series, a trail of upwards of 1,000 geocaches that dotted the side of the highway. They were all film canisters and the owners encouraged you to bring spares, in case one was missing. Alas, eventually careless geocachers (it happens) caused the Nevada DOT to get involved and everything was archived as it complained to Groundspeak, the owners of geocaching.com.

This brought the ire of more than geocachers, however. Businesses, who were seeing a lot of traffic during the off-season were peeved. Motels, which had closed normally, were upset at the lost money. Geocachers wrote the Nevada DOT saying how they had planned to take their vacation money elsewhere.

People from around the world planned to do this loop of geocaches. Whether you agree with this type of trail or not is irrelevant — it drew a lot of people.

More than 500 geocachers had logged that series. That’s a lot of people. And a lot of money.

So the tourism industry threw a fit.

Usually, caches won't form what looks like a solid line...

Then, geocaching and the Nevada DOT came together. Some rules were made. Some other things were discussed. Soon, a second series was in the works. A big event was planned to release them all. Excitement was back.

This time? 1,500 in the series!

And that doesn’t include the two side-trail series — one that forms an alien’s head and the other that forms a UFO. Those are each, I believe, 50 caches. So that’s another 100. On top of these, there are other caches out there along this trail and right off the trail. It would be hard to not try and do them all. When all said and done, I have a feeling someone could get upwards of 1,700 caches or more while out there. Of course, you’ll be going a day or more without sleep, or snoozing in the car. You need to make sure you have a lot of supplies!

There is a distance that people have to adhere to in between caches — .10 of a mile. These caches are set up for that. This series (not including the side-trail caches) is about 175 miles long. Part of it, about 60 miles, isn’t on a major road. There’s not a lot of spots out there with cell service. It’s desolate.

In other words, don’t go doing this alone without telling someone where you’ll be!

On the cache pages, they do tell you a bunch of things you should do before doing this:

  • Start with low numbered caches & work towards higher numbered caches.
  • Make sure you have plenty of water.
  • Cell reception out here is not great so don’t count on having phone service.
  • Make sure someone knows where you are heading.
  • Make sure you keep a full tank of gas (closest gas stations are Ash Springs, Alamo and Tonopah).
  • Make sure you have a good spare tire.
  • Be careful! This road isn’t very busy but still well traveled. Watch for and yield to oncoming traffic.
  • Pull completely off the roadway. (All tires to the right of the white line)
  • Driving with your Hazard Lights on will help others see you.
  • Probably not a good series to have small kids or pets roaming around.
  • This area is OPEN RANGE, there are cows on the road and they have the right of way.
  • If traveling at night, watch your speed and don’t over do it.
  • Have fun!

A lot of good advice there, I think.

If you want to see more, the series even has its own website!

It wouldn’t be my goal to do this series. BUT, if there was an SUV full of some caching friends, a lot of water, some good subs (we’d have to eat) and some extra gas and all, I’d probably do it. If you did it with the right people, I imagine it would be a whole heap of fun (and I could try and find a creative way to make each log original…), but I wouldn’t do it out of the blue or with, say, just one person.

How about you other geocachers? Would this interest you? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments below.

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Reminder! Contest going on! I am holding my first (of hopefully many) contests this week. It runs from Sept. 11- to 12:01 a.m. Sept. 18. You can see all the details on the contest post. Enter for your chance to win!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!