More NoDak caches bite the dust!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Now that I have my lovely bride all moved in with me here in Williston, we decided to grab a few of her first North Dakota caches yesterday.  We managed to find 8 more local caches, and had to DNF two that we were unable to locate.  There seems to be very few active cachers up here, as many of the caches we have found were not previously found since last October.  

There are still about 30 caches just within a twenty minute drive from us.  We also plan on hiding a few of our own now that we are permanent residents.  We are also going to be sending a few travel bugs out into the world, we are tossing a few ideas around for a theme, and a goal.  

Stay tuned, now that our lives have seemed to settle down a bit, we should be a little more active in the caching world again.  

 Log signed, after sitting six months under the snow since its last find...it was in great shape!

Cache replaced, another one that lasted well through the long winter....Little Muddy River in the background.

Back Home Caching

Monday, March 28, 2011

I have been home since Thursday morning, and have really enjoyed being home for a little break.  I have been eating way to much.  But it has been great hanging out at my normal places, and seeing some regular faces.  

Ruth and I finally headed out for some caching this morning...it has been so long since we have done some serious caching.  We found all 17 caches we set after, so it was a very successful, very beautiful spring caching day.

Here are a few pictures taken on our journeys today.

 This was a great cache in an area that recently became public property, it had a nice boardwalk, and a great view.

 Heading in!

 Are there boards on the boardwalk?

 The view of Big Green Lake in the background, you can see Sugarloaf behind us at the southern edge of Norwegian Bay.  Perfect Day!!

 Yup, there are boards.

 Another view of the bay

 Closeup taken with the Ipod...awesome caching tool!!!

 This is a picture of a log in a cache that we were unable to sign due to us stupidly forgetting the pen in the truck.  Will be sent to the owner, hoping they do not delete our log.

Now that the weather is getting better in North Dakota, and the snow is melting, I hope to finally get some caching done over there.  Keep posted!

Finally, my first ND Cache!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Yesterday I finally got my first cache while out here in ND...instead of typing the story over, I said it pretty well in my log...here it is.

----This is my first ND cache!! I am living here in Williston temporarily from work, I am from Wisconsin. I have been in town a little over a month, and have been wanting to cache since day one. While at work today I started to talk about caching with my boss, and he said "lets go find one" he downloaded the app for his IPhone and off we went. This was the closest cache to work. I quickly started using the title as the hint like was stated in the description. With my boss's help we were able to make the find pretty quickly. He would have had no idea how to find it, but I have found this style before, and it caught my eye right away. I just looked at him and said "I see it" he was blown away and said where. I snagged it and he was amazed. Great cache, and great container...thanks for my first ND cache....many more to come.

He will be setting up an account and going back to sign and log this cache! Another member of the caching community!----

Now that he is hooked on caching already, he said we need to go out today again after we get a little work done at the shop.  So maybe I will get a few more caches today, but not sure. 

It felt good to get a find after such a long dry steak.

Still No Caching

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Well, I have been here in ND for over a month now, and I still have not gotten a cache.  I have been working allot of hours, and for being so far from my routine, have stayed pretty busy.  I will be flying to Kansas in a few weeks for some training.  I will definitely be sure to get at least one cache near the hotel so I can add Kansas to my list of states. 

As for now, I have basically come to the conclusion that I will just wait until spring before I do any caching around here. 

Keep in touch everybody, I miss WI and the abundance of caches there.  There are caches over here, but the area is so un-populated with caches, and cachers.  Many of the caches up here have not been found for months.

New Life Out West

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Just to let all of you in blog land know, I have recently moved to North Dakota for work.  I will be here at least 4-6 months, with the possibility of moving out here permanently.  My company is paying all of my living expenses, including housing, food cable, internet, everything!  It really is a great deal, I also got a huge raise, monthly bonuses, and they pay for me to fly home every four weeks.



Now that I am here, and settled in, I am hoping to do a little caching.  There is a allot of snow on the ground here in Williston ND, but I think I can find a few caches if I try.



Here are a few pictures of my house, the area, and things I have seen out here in my first week.

 Me and my new truck, about 5 minutes before I pulled out of the driveway.

 My view for most of the trip.

 My home away from home, its older, but the price is right, and its warm and cozy.

 This is the reason I am here...ND Oil Fields.

 The bridge over Lake Sakakawea...beautiful area!

On day one, the boss hands us the company credit card and says, "go get whatever you need for your house", so we did.  Notice the flat screen!  He will also be getting us an xbox if we want it.  Really nice to be taken care of!

Stay tuned, hopefully I will find some time for caching this next weekend.

Happy New Year.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

I have not faded away into cyberspace, I am still alive. 

We would like to wish everybody a happy, safe, and successful new year. May 2011 be better than 2010 in every way.

We have been so busy in the shop working on Chistmas gifts for friends and family that we have not had any time to go caching, or even do any blogging.   Now that the holidays are over we might find a little time to get out into the woods again. 

We will be sure to post pictures and stories of our next adventure.

Still Alive

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Just letting everybody out there in blog land that I am still alive and kicking.  I have been super busy lately in the wood shop making gifts and other projects.  Its too bad, because this is my favorite time of year for caching.  I am hoping to be able to do some caching after this deer season is over.  I already have my two deer, but I still like to go out and help my group fill their tags as well.  Keep stopping back!

10-10-10 Caching Run.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

We decided at about 1:30 this afternoon that we should probably make a quick run to put our name on the list of cachers that logged at least one find on 10-10-10.  I am so glad that we did, because it was a perfect weather day, we found an awesome cache, and we picked up our first souvenir icon in the process.

We threw together a quick 5 cache run in Brandon, which is only about 10 miles from home.  There were some new caches that we figured would be great for a fast run.

One cache called "When Hemp Was King" was particularly great for many reasons.  First off, it involved a scenic hike on well defined trails.  Second, it was a fun offset cache.  Third, it was well hidden and a challenge to find.  And finally, it was in one of the coolest ruined building sites we have ever seen.  

 This cache was placed at the site of a former hemp mill.  Hemp was king of this area, and this mill started it all.

Check out some of the pictures below.

 Geo Beacon Ahead!

 The long and winding trail...beautiful hike.

 The base of the stack

 The cache in hand.

 Not sure..water retention area?

 The view up the smokestack.

 Roller for the hemp rope?

It was so fun to explore.  No matter where you looked, there was more to explore.  This cache has been added to our top-5 list.

Another Milestone Today!!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Today I went caching with my parents who were only a few finds away from reaching #200.  I recommended a cache for them which we had found over a year ago.  I offered absolutely no help, as I feel they needed to find the milestone on their own.  I walked behind them the whole way, and they did a great job.  "Fox Proposal Point" is an excellent cache that still remains on our top 5 list of all time caches.  It is a somewhat strenuous hike, and a little of a "which way do we go" type of cache.  The views are great, and it fit the bill for their milestone perfectly.

It was an absolutely perfect day for caching, sunny, cool and just enough breeze to make it comfy.

 Here they are with #200 in hand.  Well done team "OldyWeds"

 The view from the cache.  They main river heads to the right where there used to be a dam.  The dam was removed in 2003 as it was no longer needed, and blocked any fish from moving up-river.  The channel to the left was where the locks were.  No dam, no need for a lock system. 


With the milestone cache, which obviously was not logged by us, we ended the day with 7 finds which is good considering a few of them were longer hikes.  What a great day, I love caching in the fall.

Skeet and Caching Saturday.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Saturday was a perfect day, for a few reasons...one, the weather was beautiful, two, I shot some skeet, and three, we did some caching.

We started the morning off with some breakfast at our favorite local cafe, we go to Kristinas every weekend.  It is the place where everybody knows your name, and the cooks come out to say hi to us every time.  We love living in a small town.

After breakfast we headed to Oshkosh to shoot a few rounds of skeet at the gun club we are members at.  I am pretty new to skeet shooting, I shot my first round in June.  I have not shot a 25 yet, but I do have a 24, and shot 17,19 & a 23 on Saturday.  I absolutely love skeet shooting, it is such a challenge, and every shot poses a different challenge.

Here I am about to shoot the high house bird on station two.  The bird in the picture is moving away, and requires about a 2 foot lead.

In this picture I just shot high house station 8.  This bird literally passes right past the barrel, and you shoot it from about 10 feet away.  You have to be super super fast, and lead the bird by only a few inches.  I dusted this one pretty good, you can see the dust cloud, and most of the right side of the picture is filled with chips.  I love station 8.  If you have never shot skeet, or any clay target, do yourself a favor and give it a try.


After the skeet range we headed out to do some caching.  Our first few caches were DNF's, we are sure the caches were missing.  They were caches along a "rails to trails" abandoned railroad bed.  It seems the DNR did some major tree trimming because GZ for the first two caches was completely leveled, and the took down some pretty substantially large trees.

After the two missed caches we were able to find 7 caches.  A few nice walks, and few cemeteries, and a couple nice multi caches.

Here Ruth is looking for stage three on "Flat Jack Goes For a Nature Walk".

 Here is a view from the same cache.  It was a great walk.

 

The leaves are sure changing color, and actually starting to fall from the underbrush and smaller trees.  What a great day!

This is what a freshly trimmed ground zero looks like.  Not a friendly sight when looking for a cache!

We are hoping to get out again this weekend, and hopefully I will have more to post about, and more pictures of the changing fall scenery. 

#600 and The Tunnel Of Terror

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Yesterday we finally made the drive southwest to grab our 600th cache.  It was an absolutely perfect day for caching...low 60's, and sunny.  We started the day with 583 finds, which meant we had to find 16 caches to reach 599 and set ourselves up for #600.   It was a fun trip with a great mixture of cemetery hides, park hides, a few guardrails, and a few hikes.  We usually aren't big fans of these park and grabs, but when we have a milestone in sight, and shorter days, we do what we have to, and a numbers run is always fun. 

We finally got ourselves to 599 and headed our way to New Glarus for #600.   Finally after watching the cache for a long time, waiting for the time we could make the trip we pulled up to the parking coordinates for "The Tunnel of Terror".  We love the hikes on the old railroad bed trails, and this one happens to run through a tunnel built in the 1860's.  This will go down as one of our favorite caches, and will be added to our top 5 list here on the blog!  We spent over an hour exploring the tunnel, and the area around and above it.  What a perfect setting for a cache! 

Enjoy some pictures taken throughout our day of caching!

 

 Just after we started the hike, a sign lets us know we are not far!

 

 We are just about to hit the entrance as a few bikers make their way out.

 

Throughout the tunnel there is allot of brickwork and repair jobs that have been performed through the years.

#600

 

 This picture was taken in the very center of the tunnel.  There was just a shade of light from behind us.  We put the camera on the tripod, and set the shutter speed very slow.  Just enough light got through to make a pretty sweet picture.  You can actually see our shadows while standing behind the camera.  We could see absolutely nothing, it was pitch black, but obviously enough light made it through...good stuff!

 

The view from the top of the tunnel.

Here is a plague at a site of an earth cache we did later in the day.  If you can't read it, this spot was washed away during a flood.  The breach allowed Lake Delton to completely empty into the Wisconsin River.  Homes were destroyed, a highway washed away, and a lake was emptied to just a muddy hole.  It was interesting to watch this unfold on the news.  A great earthcache!

The grassy area where the deer are standing is the new fill added when the breech was filled.  In the background is the Wisconsin River Lower Dells area where the lake emptied into.  The water carved a 300 foot wide, 700 foot long, and 30 food deep gorge.  The lake took only hours to empty its over 600 million gallons of water.  This is one of the most beautiful areas of the state.

Adult Novelties and Bakery??? Really??? Only in Wisconsin!

Finally a little caching.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Right now I am sitting in a hotel in Marshfield WI, we attended a birthday party today, and Ruth's grandparents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary tomorrow.  Today after the party and after checking in we were able to go out and grab 3 quick caches.  It is not much, I know, but we have not gotten any caches in the last two months, well besides the one across the street from my buddies house.  It felt great to sign a log again. 

Both of us really hate hot weather, so, I am sure we will get much more caching done from now until next summer.  It was a busy summer, that is for sure, but every time we had a little free time, walking in the woods with the bugs and the heat did not sound like a good idea.

We were already talking today about finally, after flirting with the idea all summer, of getting out next weekend to knock out our 600th cache.  We really want to work our way down to New Glarus to find the Tunnel Of Terror.  With the nice weather, and some free time next weekend, I think it is finally going to happen.

Stay tuned, as we are sure to grab some great pictures in the next month of caching...the colors are really going to start to pop soon.

Still Slow

Friday, August 27, 2010

Still not much going on in our world when it comes to caching.  We are hoping to get out on Sunday, but if it is too hot we will stay home.  We are still so close to 600, and really want to get there. 

Hopefully we can post some finds were made, and maybe snap a few pictures on Sunday.  Stay tuned. 

Slow Going in MuddyBottoms Land.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

It has been pretty slow around here when it comes to caching.  We have just plain been too busy to get out like we want to.  We did go last weekend and grab a few, but no pictures were taken.  It was nice, we were able to grab 17 caches without going to far from home.  That shows for sure that it has been a while since we have been out.  New cachers are placing caches in the area quicker than we are able to find them

I also have some long overdue maintenance to complete.  I have a cache that I adopted a few months ago and has not been found since because I made it unavailable since it is missing.  I still have yet to get that one going.  I really need to, not good!

We do not have too much planned for this weekend, maybe we can plan a run to get our 600th knocked out.  We really want to head south to the New Glarus area to grab a cache on our watch list.  It would make a perfect cache for a milestone.  Check this one out. Tunnel of Terror!!!  Hopefully we can make this happen soon.

New Poll Question.....also, we are actually going caching!!!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Check back tomorrow night, as we are actually going caching tomorrow.  Ruth and I will be going on a small 22 cache run with my parents.  It has been so long since we have been out, that there are actually quite a few new caches in the area.  There have been some new cachers that have popped up in the area, and it has introduced some great new caches, and great new cache ideas. 

So, hopefully we will have some stories to tell, and some pictures to share!

Don't forget to vote on the poll question for July.

Where has the time gone.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

I would like to apologize to everyone for not making any posts recently!!  I have been so busy with work, working in the woodshop, and our new membership at the local gun-gun club, that we have not had any time to go caching lately.  We plan on going out a little of the fourth of July weekend.  Please don't give up on us!!! LOL.  I will have a new poll question up and hopefully a post with some usefull content soon!

Keep on Caching!!!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Monday, May 31, 2010

I would like to wish all of you out in BlogLand a happy Memorial Day.  Do not forget the reason for the day, and be sure to think of the ones that have given us our freedom.  Without the sacrifices made by our veterans we would not be able to enjoy the life we live every day. 

Thank you to all who have given so much! 

To everyone, have a safe, and enjoyable day!!

Caching weekend up nort

Sunday, May 16, 2010

We had an excellent time caching on our trip to the Hazelhurst/Minocqua area this weekend.  We managed to find 18 caches during the day on Saturday, and a few on the way home today.  Not only did we find a few great caches, we also dropped of 3 travel bugs, and one geocoin. 

The main goal of the weekend was not really to find a bunch of caches, but mostly just to get away and relax a little bit.  We stayed at a resort we have stayed at many times in the past.  Blacks Cliff Resort is a perfect resort for rest and relaxation.  As always we enjoyed the cabin, the lake and the general relaxing atmosphere that only northern Wisconsin can offer.  Thanks to the owners Jenny and Troy...who are also cachers(The Gibbers).  They may not know it, but they are responsible for getting us started in geocaching.  Since our first trip to the resort, I have been following their Birch Bark Blog.  In the blog about a year ago they posted about one of their caching excursions and it prompted me to check out caching.  The rest is history!

Check out some of the pictures captured throughout the weekend.

This was the first picture taken of the weekend.  Ruth and I decided to get up early Saturday a.m. to go have a cup of coffee down by the lake.  The loons were talking(insert sound) and the fog was slowly moving to the center of the lake.  My favorite time of the day...god I love it up here.

Our favorite cache of the weekend was called "Arthur Stevenson's Homestead".  The history of the old house is so neat, and the area was a blast to explore.  If you are in the Boulder Junction area, do yourself a favor and find this cache(premium member cache).  

When we were exploring the homestead cache we also happened upon our very first Letterbox...we were looking for the cache.  We thought we found the cache, but quickly learned that we in fact had our first letterbox in hand.  We obviously did not have a stamp made, or with us, so we just made our mark in the log book, and put it back.  SWEET!

Here is the whole crew at another cache located on Lost Canoe Lake.  The water up north is so low, that this root system would normally be underwater.  

Team MuddyBottoms...such posers.

Here we are this morning before we left for home.  We are holding the two travel bugs we picked up during our journeys.  Thanks to Jenny at the resort for taking this picture and posting it on her blog as well.  Our mansion for the weekend was behind us...it was so hard to leave.  We will most likely make our fall caching trip back up to the cliff.  We better dedicate that trip to finding the rest of the Gibbers caches!!

T.F.T.C.(cabin)