Mike's Geocaching Blog

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Coos County CleanUp!

Remember Whac-A-Mole?

Trying to keep your home range “cleared” in this geocaching craze is very much like play the Whac-A-Mole arcade game.  Just when you think you have them all - well, you know the routine!

Today was the day to get out and “Whac-A-Cache” !!

Started the day with two caches in the Sumner/Fairview area - Reprod’s Revenge and Chair View at Fairview.  Based on some of the early logs for Chair View I was hesitant to look for this one - sounded like it was really close to a residence.  In reality, it was far enough away to grab comfortably without feeling like I was being watched intently.

Decided to drop down to Coquille and get TheOFam’s two new caches, Horsin’ Around and Scary Movie.  Both were fairly easy finds and nicely done by this new geocaching family.

As I returned to Coos Bay I decided to swing in a get Dancin’ for Cache.  I had been putting this one off for quite some time due to it’s location at the front of a local business called The Bachelor’s Inn!  There seemed to be minimal traffic at this point so I just pulled in and grabbed it quickly.  As I was returning to my vehicle, two minivans pull up right next to me and a whole group of people starting piling out.  Their behavior was suspiciously familiar!  In addition, the group was a mix of grandparents, parents and kids with one of them holding a stack of papers and a little blue GPS.  I knew what I was witnessing!  I introduced myself to the aforementioned cachers called TheOFam!  Small world.  We chatted a few minutes, I gave a couple of “You’re warmer…. you’re warmer….” prompts then left them to the fun.

It’s always a kick catching other cachers “on the hunt”!!

So, picking up these five caches leaves just seven (7) caches in Coos county proper:  Three down in the extreme south end near Powers, a paddle cache in Coos Bay and three at the north end of the county in the dunes/Lakeside.

Whac-A-Cache is just not a satisfying geocaching strategy!  It’s just best to enjoy getting out and be happy to some new scenery!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Holiday Hiking in Florence Dunes

Took advantage of the day off to go after Kenny Art’s trifecta of caches in the south jetty dunes and a fourth one at Clear Lake just north of Florence.

Easy
Not So Easy
Difficult

The three caches in the south jetty dunes took me through a little different type of dune ecosystem than normal - this area was a sea of Portuguese broom (an invasive plant species and NOT fun to walk through) with small islands of pine plantations.  The pine plantations were rather unusual in that they were growing in nice straight rows indicating they had been planted rather than seeded in.  In addition, some of these plantations were a rarely seen type of pine - Monterey pine.  Walking under these pine forests was quite nice - a soft pad of ground mosses and needles made for a picturesque scene.

Okay, maybe “picturesque” isn’t quite the right word - more like a hobbit forest?

Upon returning to Coos Bay, I found Numb Bricks and Senior Chiefs Revenge

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Blog Redesign!

Many thanks to my sweetie for updating my blog design!  You da’ bomb!!

Oh look, there’s my hiking pack and walking stick under the tree!