Hi, FF!

After a slow start on this last morning of 2006, Rich and I decided around noon to get outside and enjoy the sunshine for a few hours. I wasn’t able to join him on the hunt the first day your cache was available (another sunny, warm day, and I was stuck at work all the daylight hours!), but he promised that we’d come back. Today was the day. We took a different route than the one you recommended; we know the area well and had something a little different in mind. Our walk was muddy and wet in spots, though we were lucky not to be trudging through snow like we would be most years in December. I found the cache without incident and without assistance, and all was well inside. I signed the logbook and took the Capt. Rich T-B (with a name like that, how could I resist it!) but didn’t make any trades. The “Ultimate Party Mix” tape was hard to pass up, however (I admit I do like most of those songs — which is one good reason why I don’t host parties).

After returning the cache to its hiding spot, we wandered the trails some more and found a good spot for some target practice. The clouds soon moved in and the temperature dropped quickly, but the conditions were still pleasant for our walk out of the woods. As Rich always says, any day like this is one less day of Winter, so I’ll take it! Thanks for a fun little diversion on the last day of a really terrific year. Happy 2007!!!

Zhanna

(Logged on 20 December 2006)

Howdy, Guys!

Gee, I never expected to be the first one to this cache, especially now with so many hot local cachers all around me! However, this cache is right in my backyard, so to speak. When I saw the new notice pop up on my laptop last night, I knew exactly where it would be. I have named this section of former coal-mining land—bounded by the Casey Highway, Route 247, and the Marshwood Road—the “Marshwood Triangle,” and I’ve been exploring, hunting, and mountain biking here for most of my life. The trail network is totally familiar to me, so I used a different approach than the parking coords you provided. (There are actually a half dozen or more ways to get to the site.) I found the cache box at roughly 11:00AM without any difficulty. It is well hidden, and it’s only a tiny bit tricky to access. After signing the log book I grabbed that really gorgeous “Fox-and-the-Hound” Geocoin (I hope to get it back in circulation again real soon), and I left a couple of my Geocaching fridge magnets.

I was able to combine this cache hunt with a slow, casual late-morning squirrel hunt. My partner, however, couldn’t join me today, but, with rifle and GPSr in hand, she was strolling right alongside me in spirit, and I know she was wishing that she could’ve had the day off, too! (Next time, Zh! OK? 😉)

Thanks for such a fun cache on such a terrific, sunny December day. (For me, every day like this one is one less day of real Winter!)

~Rich in NEPA~