Geo-Sarge's Geocaching Travels

Fall is a great time.

2009-10-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the beginning of the fall colors. This is the best time of the year to be out in the parks and the wooded areas that are all around the city. All we have to do is look for them. The colors are only going to get better as the days progress. Soon there will be a blanket of white and the colors will be gone till next year. Take the time and look for them before their gone, you won't be disappointed.

The Bash!

2009-08-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well I had been looking forward to the 2009 Midwest Geobash (GC1HKTM) at the Fulton County Fairgrounds in Wauseon Ohio since March of this year. The Bash is my first Mega-Event.

I decided to camp at the fairgrounds, mostly because I could not find a better price than $30.00 for four days and three nights. So I headed out, bought a text and sleeping pad and all the other small creature comforts I would need.

As the day approached I started to feel like I was back on active duty preparing for a major field exercise. Keep in mind when I retired from the Army I swore I would never sleep in a tent, on a sleeping pad again, unless hell had frozen over.

I left out on the morning of the 23rd at 0700 to set up camp and check in by 1000 when the event officially started. I would be there thru Sunday the 26th. I took off an additional day from work to pack up the car.

The morning of the Bash it was raining in Cleveland, and it rained all the way to the Bash. As I set up the tent it was raining and this task took about 10 minutes. The finishing touch to my camp site was the flag pole with the MIA-POW Flag proudly flying in the breeze. Finally the rain stopped and the sun came out.

I had the honor of watching good friends Michael and Maggie of TeamDotOne sign the event logbook . This was a special time as the event was their 5,000 found cache. Then I spent the day caching in the local area with them and enjoying good times. Later we attended all of the event activities as well having a great time sitting around campfires just enjoying everyone’s company. All in all there were about 30 of us from the local area all with our tents clustered in the same area. All in all there were about 1,300 people from all over the country and from Canada there for this great event.

The weather Friday was gorgeous and we spent time swapping PathTags, doing the Poker Run, and making new friends. I headed of to bed around 2300 on Friday night after spending some quality time around the campfire. Friends told me that as I slept soundly in my tent around 0600 on Saturday Mother Nature decided to test everyone’s tent pitching skills. They told me many people were up in the rain trying to put their tents back up. People were heading for cover in their cars as their tents collapsed. May pop-up campers were leaking. All the while I slept thru all of the excitement. At 0700 I awoke to the sound of a light rain on the tent. I thought to my self what a great way to wake up! I had never slept better. As I emerged from my text I stood up and stretched. I filled my lungs with the smell of a fresh rain on the grass. Then I looked around and saw many tents flat on the ground. As I looked around all I could think of was, thank god for Army training in how to properly pitch a tent. Your tax dollars at work! People looked at me and asked - “Didn’t your hear the storm?” “How the heck did you sleep thru all the noise?” and the one I liked the most “How the heck did your tent stay up when the others didn’t make it?”

I looked at them, smiled and replied, “Army Training”.

I spent the rest of the day with friends just enjoying being with everyone. And on Saturday night we watched the space station pass over head. This was the best vacation I have had in over 10 years.

I got up early on Sunday morning, broke camp and headed home. I had a mission to complete. I had to do the cache page write up and hide a very special geocache. I had to hide the geocache honoring TeamDotOne reaching 5K at the 2009 Midwest Geobash. The cache was approved Monday morning and held from being released to the world wide Geocaching community until TeamDotOne were able to claim First to Find honors on their special cache. You can find their cache “TeamDotOne’s 5K Milestone (GC1WD9V)“ by following the link to the cache.

This year was an absolute blast. I fully intend to be at the 2010 bash!

The Road to 3K

2009-02-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

Since my last post many caching memories have taken place. I have cached in eight states, and reached my 3,000 finds geocache milestone on February 7th 2009. I also went on to hide 23 geocaches for other geocachers to find. I have cached in Ohio where I live and Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia. During that time I have created my own path tag to give to close caching friends as well as a signature wooden nickel. I have even joined three close friends brewing our own bier that we brewed, bottled, and labeled. It’s know as “Golden Chum Bucket Brew”.

In May I will be going to the Mega Event called GeoWoodstock VII in Bell Buckle Tennessee. I’m looking forward to meeting cachers from far and wide. I hear there will be people from as far away as Nova Scotia. I’ll be spending the four days and three nights in a tent at one of the local camp grounds. Gee just like old times on active duty with the U.S. Army.

There have been more memories created with my extended family the Geochums than I have room to list. And to be sure the caching bug does not die with me, I have gotten two of my daughters, and my granddaughter hooked on the sport as well as my two son-in-laws. They are “The Army-Brats“, Joni & Dave and “Team M.A.N.“ Melissa, Aaliyah, and Nathan. The pictures are some of my favorite memories from the last two years.

The Old Stump

2007-04-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

I took a day off from work to get out and enjoy the warm spring weather. The day is Thursday, April 19th 2007. Today is also the day of the monthly Northeast Ohio Geocachers cache and coffee night at Cyber Pete’s in Bedford Ohio. My goal today is to find my 800th cache before going to the coffee night. While I was out enjoying the warm weather today with O-Dis (My GPS Receiver) we came upon a cache named “The Old Stump” that has been hidden by fellow Geocacher snppla. The cache site is located 41 degrees 20.690 minutes North by 081 degrees 27.520 minutes West. As we approached the cache site O-Dis kept leading me toward the broken tree in the distance. The closer we got to the tree the taller the stump became, and we soon realized that the tree broke and fell at a point about 20 feet up from the ground. We looked in all the obvious areas but could not find the elusive geocache container. We were looking for a small Tupperware food storage container that measured about five inches square and about three inches deep. After about 20 minutes with out much success I walked back about twenty feet to get a fresh look at the stump and tree. As I stood there in the woods looking at the tree scratching my head I noticed the corner of something clear and also green. Could it be? Well, we walked back toward the tree and it disappeared from sight. Odd, geocache containers normally don’t move on their own. I backed up and the object reappeared near the break in the tree. This could only mean one thing. I would have to walk up the broken section of the tree toward the area where the tree was still attached to the stump. Well, times wasting, so I walk to the end of the tree that is on the ground. As I walked up the tree and near the break I noticed a three foot gap that would need to be crossed to reach the elusive prize. I carefully stepped across the gap and looked down. Yep, there it is. The prize was at the top of the stump. Once I had the cache in hand I signed the log and left one of my signature Geo-Sarge Wooden Nickels. After I placed the cache back in it’s hiding spot I sat down to think about my adventure. As I was enjoying the warm weather and the feeling of success I looked around enjoying the great view from my perch. It was about this time that I looked down. Holy &$*%@!! What the heck was I thinking? It didn’t look this far up from down there? I must be nuts! What looked like 20 feet from down there, looks like100 feet from up here! No problem, I’ll just stand up and walk down the way I came. Somehow that always sounds easier than it ends up being. Once I had my feet back on the ground I realized that this tree was a very special tree. This tree held my 800th find. What a great old tree!

Finding Number 500

2007-03-01T20:47:00.000-08:00

Today is January 14th 2007. Today I reached a caching milestone. While out caching I realized that I was about to find the 500th cache. Finding 500 caches means I am half way to the major milestone of finding 1,000 caches. I could not have asked for a nicer cache to come in at this milestone. The cache is named Gorgeous Gorge and was placed by the Bedford Historical Society. The cache site is located at 41 degrees 23.050 minutes North by 081 degrees 31.914 minutes West. The area is rich in history and is a beautiful area to spend time outside enjoying an area that can make you feel as though you have stepped back into time. As I listened to the sound of the water rushing over the falls in the gorge I started to think of times past. The sound of the falls made me forget that it was the year 2007. As I listened to the river I began to dream. As I dreamed, I began to travel back in time to when the area was wild and untamed. As I stood near the falls, I dreamed of times long ago. Times when the wilderness stretched so far that the moon would pass thru the night sky more times than you could count. As I dreamed, my head was pounding with the deafening roar of the river; the heavy spray of water from the river soaked thru my clothing, down to my very soul; and the cold… the bone chilling cold that would not go away. As I continued dreaming, I saw times that had past. I saw people and events form a time long, long ago that I did not recognize. As I watched the events play out in my mind, I became more and more confused. How could these things be happening? I asked my self, “Where was I?” “Where had I gone?” As I tried to make sense of all that was happening to me I started to hear a voice. A voice of someone in the distance calling out to me. As I dreamed; I struggled, trying to find the source of the voice. As I strained to hear, and see, I slowly realized that the voice was coming from the river. How could this be? As I strained harder, looking at the base of the falls trying to find the voice. A ghostly image appeared at the bottom of the falls, and was calling out to me. I could not believe what I was seeing; neither man nor beast could survive in that violent area at the base of the falls. The ghostly image seemed to be giving a warning, “careful small and insignificant human, careful; or I will take you from this place. I will take you from this world and you will never return.” As I struggled to wake from the dream like trance, I realized that I had ventured to close to the falls. I look down and became dizzy, stumbling back away from the falls. Later, I tried to make sense of what had happened to me. Could it be that the river has a spirit as the Native Americans believe it does? Is it possible that the spirit of this river saved me with it’s warning? I know what I believe, but you will have to decide for yourself.

The Year 2006 in Pictures

2006-12-23T17:36:00.001-08:00

The end of my first year of geocaching is rapidly arriving. To the Geocaching world I am know as Geo-Sarge. Since I first started geocaching in April 2006 I have seen many places I did not know existed and made many new friends along the way. During the year I have found over 418 hidden caches, hidden three caches of my own, and attended three group-caching events. To help keep track of the distance traveled I turned my Army Dog Tags into a travel bug. A travel bug allows the geocaching.com website to track the mileage between each cache as the travel bug moves from cache to cache. Since I first started in April I have traveled over 1,409 miles going from cache to cache using over 50 gallons of gas. Since the year has been filled with many great memories I thought I would share some of the pictures of those memories collected during my journey. Remember, it’s not about the number of caches found or hidden, it’s about the journey.

Last Day of Vacation

2006-12-23T17:36:00.000-08:00

I took vacation to spend a week doing what I enjoy most, geocaching with O-Dis. Since today is the last day of my vacation O-Dis and I decided to find a cache we have been having problems finding. We headed out to find "Red Wanted It This Way", located at 41 degrees 24.706 minutes North and 81 degrees 41.069 minutes West. When we started into the park area where the cache is located we noticed a stream running deep and fast. We came prepared with my 12-inch high waterproof gore-tex combat boots that I used on active duty in the Army. We followed the path along the stream as long as possible. Then it was time to head into the water and work our way up the stream against the current. After an hour of picking our way around the deep holes in the stream we arrived at the cache area. At this point O-Dis said the cache was 40 feet up the hill. I asked him if he was sure. He looked at me and said those two famous words, “trust me”. After we climbed to the cache O-Dis and I gave a well deserved Hoorah yell to celebrate our find. We logged our visit in the cache log book and left one of our “eyes” to help keep an “eye” on the cache. We stopped to enjoy the view of the area from the cache. The temperature was dropping and the water was rising, so we decided it was time to head back to the car and call it a day. We climbed back down the 40 feet to the stream, stepped into the water and headed back down the stream to the car.

A Trip Around the World

2006-09-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

Since Maggie moved out and went to live with the Army-Brats (Joni & Dave) it had been a while since I had gone geocaching. O-Dis, Maggie’s big brother had heard that Maggie had moved out and called to say he was looking for a place to stay. When O-Dis asked if he could move in I said sure thing! As I was waited for O-Dis to arrive from the East Coast I called the Army-Brats and asked if they and Maggie would like to join Grandma, O-Dis and me for a day of geocaching. As everyone was eager to make this a special day of caching Joni picked the cache to hunt. Joni had heard about a Puzzle Cache located in the Cleveland Zoo that was placed by the Cleveland Metropark Rangers. This one sounded like fun, so off we went to find treasure, gold, (well maybe not real gold) and good times. The cache we were seeking is named “Take a Journey Around the World at the Zoo”. The Geocaching.com GC number for the cache is GCT22E. The Zoo is located at 41 degrees 26.820 minutes North and 81 degrees 42.703 minutes West. The park Rangers have hidden six laminated tags inside the Zoo each marked with a different letter and a single digit number. We were given the coordinates for each of the six laminated tags before we started. We also received a briefing about special requirements while hunting this cache by the Metropark Rangers. Always a good idea to get a safety briefing by the Rangers before departing on a trip around the world. The numbers and letters on the tags are needed to substitute into the final coordinates to arrive with the correct location for the cache that is located at 41 degrees 26.ABC minutes North and 81 degrees 42.DEF minutes West. Well as we progressed thru the Park Rangers puzzle finding tags we saw areas of the Zoo that we never really took the time to visit before. We got to visit Australia, South America, North America, the Polar Artic, Africa and Asia. Well we were in each country we learned about the animals from each country. We had a really great time and made the entire trip around the world in about three hours. We had lunch at one of the local eateries and took some souvenir pictures as we went to help us remember the great time we all had on our trip. The Cleveland Metropark Rangers have done a great job with this cache. May the Geo-Gods always smile on them in all that they do.

Workmen's Circle Cemetary

2006-07-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

I was sitting around the house trying to decide if I should do the dishes and clean up a little. It had been awhile, and as I grabbed my dust rag and started the dreaded task of cleaning I saw Maggie, my trusty GPSr sitting on the window seat. As I passed by I swear I heard Maggie calling to me and asking to go out geocaching. I swear I heard voices as I walked up to it. Well, it sounded good to me, and as they say "That's my story and I'm sticking to it!" Anything to avoid cleaning, after all, the dust will still be there when I get back home. So I gave into Maggie and off we went in search of another hidden geocache. This time Maggie and I headed out to find "The Deadly Grapes", located at 41 degrees 24.793 minutes North and 81 degrees 43.233 minutes West. Maggie was doing her usual great job of getting us to the correct area and as usual she left the rest to me to figure out the exact location of the cache. When we arrived I found the cache was located in the "Workmen's Circle Cemetery". This is a Jewish Cemetery in Parma Ohio. All of the people buried here are Jewish Veterans and their families. As I walked around looking at the graves I noticed that in front of all the head stone markers the grave had a two foot by five foot planter with flowers growing in it. Of all the cemeteries that Maggie has taken me to this is the most unique one to date. After I located the cache I spent the afternoon sitting in this wonderfully peacefully place.

A Chance to Reflect

2006-05-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

Joni, Dave, Maggie and me decided that we wanted to find another hidden treasure before it got to late in the day. We asked Maggie to help us find the cache named "Above the Valley" located at 41 degrees 28.042 minutes North and 81 degrees 48.942 minutes West. As we followed Maggie's directions we realized that we would not be able to park close to the cache. It was located at a memorial to the local Police and Firefighters from the cities of West Park and Cleveland Ohio that had died in the line of duty. The memorial is located right off the side walk on a busy street in a really nice area over looking the valley. The cache was cleverly hidden out of site. Once we found it we stayed to enjoy the view and reflect on the these fallen heroes.

The Mysterious Pole

2006-05-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

Maggie and I took my daughter and son-in-law, Joni and Dave out for their first geocashing trip. We decided to go and find the "Little Imp" located at 42 degrees 27.938 minutes North and 81 degrees 48.363 minutes W.938 W 081° 48.363. As usual Maggie took us to the right spot and as usual we didn't believe her. She kept telling us the cache was the telephone pole. We even decided we had given her the wrong location and sent Joni back to the car to get the paper with the correct location printed on it. After checking with Maggie, Joni said "See. I told you I gave Maggie the right info!" Well, it was back to the pole. Then Dave said, "Found it!" Sure enough, there it was hidden in a hole behind an old style metal marker to help identify the pole. I have learned once again to trust Maggie and my daughter.

A Caching We Will Go

2006-05-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Mom and I were out looking for a cache with Maggie that we have been to several times. And we can not find the stupid thing. All total we have about five hours invested in this one and keep coming up blank. So we decided to let Maggie lead us to a different cache location. This one is called "Camp Swampy" because of all the mud and grass in the area. It is located at 41degrees, 289.119 North and 81 degrees 47.638 minutes West. As we followed Maggie’s directions we ended up at Holy Cross Cemetery in Cleveland. We ended up way in the back part of the cemetery and had to park about 1/4 mile from the location because the road ended. We headed to the location and found wild strawberries, black berries and Apple trees. As we got to the location we looked around and sure enough, there it was. It was placed in the crook of the tree in the center of the wooded area. The caches had many trade items inside. We took a toy soldier and left a bobble head toy in it's place. We also found a Geo-Coin that we are going to help move to another cache location. We signed the log, took a couple pictures then headed back to the car. We headed over to visit Dad's grave then decided to head home. We will be back for the fresh berries. All in all a nice day.

Mom and Me

2006-04-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Mom and I went out to decorate Dad's grave for Easter. While we were out Maggie and I took her on our next hunt. We went to look for the cache named "Mom and Pop Art" located at North 41 degrees, 29.326 minutes by West 081 degrees 42.055 minutes in Cleveland Ohio. I told Maggie the coordinates and off we headed. Maggie took us a scenic tour of the near West Side of Cleveland. We kept getting close but were having trouble finding a street that would take us to the area where the cache was hidden. Maggie took us past Jacobs Field, Home of the Cleveland Indians and also past the "Q", home of the Cleveland Cavaliers. We finally found a street that would head down to where we were headed. When we arrived we saw some odd looking metal sculptures. Maggie had taken us to "Hart Crane Memorial Park" named after a famous Cleveland Ohio poet located along the Cuyahoga River. As we looked around at the park I asked Mom where she would hide something if it were her doing the hiding. She pointed at a large metal arch. The arch was mounted on a base that was had a four inch ground clearance leaving room underneath. I looked under the one then the other. As my eyes adjusted the light underneath I saw a black object mounted the under side of the base. It was a black plastic "hide-a-key" box with a magnet to hold it to the underside of the metal base. When I pulled it loose we found the geo-cashing label and inside was the log. We signed the log and placed it back under the base of the arch. Mom enjoyed the finding the cache and the next thing I know she asks, "When can we go again?" Not bad for a person 85 years young.

A Peaceful Place to Visit

2006-03-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

As vacation is drawing to a close, and the weather today is nice, but a bit nippy I decided to find another cache. I went to GeoCaching.com and selected my next cache for the day. I decided to find the cache named "Cache Cache". I grabbed my bag of trade items, entered the longitude and latitude into my trusty GPS Receiver, that I have named Maggie because it is made by Magellan and off I headed. The cache is located at 41 degrees, 26.927 minutes North by 081 degrees 48.789 minutes West and is a small black tube about 6 inches long. When I arrived I at the cache site I found that it was hidden in a evergreen tree located in the Alger Cemetery in Cleveland Ohio that was established in 1824. After I found the tube hanging back inside the tree about 5 feet up from the ground I signed the log and left a small hat pin in the tube, replaced the cache log and cap then hung the tube back inside the tree where I found it. I spent the next two hours reading the stories of the people buried there. I found many young children that died in the first 6 months of life in the 1907 to 1911 time frame. I found many war veterans from World War One and World War Two. I found entire families that went back for several generations. I have driven by on the main street located two city blocks away and never new that the cemetery was here. This turned out to be one of the best cache finds to date.

This Can't be That Hard...

2006-03-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

I looked out the window and it looked like a great day to find another cache. So I grabbed my bag of trade items and headed out the door with my trusty GPS receiver in my hand. Today's goal was to find the cache named "LASER Brookpark" located at 41 degrees 24.563 minutes North by 081 degrees 48.197 minutes West in Brookpark Ohio. I was looking for a small glass jelly jar containing small trade items. And just like the other locations finding the general location was the easy part. I parked the car in a near by parking lot and headed into the woods. After walking around for about 10 minutes the GPS said I was with in one foot of the jelly jar. But the GPS was showing an accuracy of 15 feet, meaning that somewhere in a 30 foot circle I would find my prize. After looking under logs, down rabbit holes, in small over hangs by the creek I started to circle back and forth to get a better reading. I took off my hat and scratched my head, the GPS kept bringing me back to the same spot. It was getting dark and still no jelly jar. As I was getting stiff from walking around bent over to look under logs and rocks, I stood up and leaned back to stretch. And that's when I noticed that the tree in front of me had rotted off about 6 feet from ground level and looked odd. As I climbed up on a fallen log to look down inside I saw the small glass jelly jar covered in some old rotten tree wood. And in the jar were some US Flag pins and a log listing all the people that had found the jelly jar before me. I took out a flag pin and left a hat pin with trucks on it in it's place, then signed the log and put it all back in the jelly jar. I took a picture and placed the jar back in it's hiding place and covered it back up for the next person to find. I looked at my watch and realized I had been looking for about two hours. Gee time really does fly when your having fun!

On to the Next Cache

2006-03-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

I went out today on the way back from visiting with my Mom at Fairview Hospital. This time I went to the cache named [ Park O" Lame "How Munn-Dane"]. It is located at North 41 degrees, 27.659 minutes by West 081 degrees 48.758 minutes. I figured out the unique name when I found the park named "Munn Park" on Munn Road in Cleveland, Ohio. Neat play on words. The park was a little soggy, but the cache is a good one to visit. And once again I stood in front of the hiding place in the park looking a bit puzzled as to where the very small container might be hidden. The container was a little smaller than a 35mm film canister. I had to remember that the hider did not want the casual passerby to find it. Once I started looking with that in mind I saw the only place it could be, some where inside the tree stump in front of me. If it had been a snake it would have bitten me. I was almost standing on top of the hiding spot. This was a fun cache to find. I tried to take a picture of my self. It's not a great picture, but it was getting dark and I figured what the heck, it's a picture. Hopefully my picture taking skills will improve as I go.

Found my First Cache

2006-03-05T13:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally found my first cache. The name of the cache is [Park O' Lame "How Munn-Dane"] and is located at North 41 degrees 27.659 minutes by West 81 degrees 48.758 minutes. And as promised by the person that placed the cache, it is in the smallest public park. If it had not been for the cache I would not have know that the city of Lakewood Ohio even had this park. The city named it "The Lakewood Small Park". Well, it's on to searching for the next cache to find.