December's Featured Geocacher

Well, better late than never! This is the second installment of our monthly featured cacher. The inaugural "interview" was very well received and we appreciate all the great comments. So without further adieu, we'll introduce the featured geocacher for December: goatsandvettes!

With the roar of horsepower and the smell of burning rubber, goatsandvettes sped into the geocaching world in February of 2008. A resident of Fort Smith, goatsandvettes can be found tearing up the asphalt from cache to cache along with jay jay55. If you've been geocaching in Fort Smith then you've probably experienced this duo's creative and fun hides. As much fun as their caches is reading their online logs explaining their misadventures while geocaching. Enough of all that, we better get to the interview before goatsandvettes speeds of again!

How did you hear about geocaching and what was your first hunt like?

TheCLB told me about it. First cache was Tramlaw Kelley Hwy. Pulled into parking lot she said, IF we had a gps with us, it would be point that way and then as we drove thru parking lot she said now it would point that way. Pulling into ground zero was asked where would you hide a cache..after several incorrect guesses, finally the the term skirt lifter was explained. Soon I was signing my first cache and hooked.

How did you choose your handle?

From a combination of two cars I own. An 2005 Pontiac GTO (the GOAT) and a 1977 Corvette (the VETTE) which became goatsandvettes

After your first find, what about geocaching has kept you interested?

Being raised in the country I enjoyed getting out and hunting (though I haven't hunted anything alive for a long time).This hunt gives you a quarry that is so stealthy, impossible to hear, blends in with the surrounds and hides in plain sight, knows few boundaries around existing amongst us in the city or country. Can watch you in silent laughter as you hunt, prod, and poke for it. Be within inches of you and invisible. Survives all elements from freezing winters to egg frying summers. The night hunts are some of the most fun. Where else can you walk around in circles in the dark, with a flashlight in the middle of the woods and not be considered strange. Well, at least not strange by other geocachers.

Of all your hides, which is your favorite and why?

If you mean hides, as in one I put out, that would be some disassembly required. Took a while to figure out how to assemble and make it difficult and fun to take apart but easy to reassembleg almost anyway and it still work for the next cacher.

If it one I found, it would be one I found earlier and then took JJ to to find. The Dock of The Bay. A beautiful lake, stars above, a cool night, and she found the cache and I found the Caching Partner I will spend the rest of my life with.

What is your favorite type of cache? (traditional, puzzle, multi, etc..)

I like all of the caches for the most part. I enjoy the challenges of multi's such as Curve Appeal or the infamous "gill specials" but like those micro's in the middle of a busy muggle filled area. I like the urban ones as well as those in the woods. The woods ones are best at night when your caching partner hears "lions and tigers and bears" lol.

What was the most embarrassing thing to happen to you while geocaching?

When after numerous attacks upon JJ by "Man Eating Armadillos" and "is that a bear" or "are there coyotes out here.. wild things live in the woods", (she's a city girl), I was "Scared by a little baby bunny rabbit that took off as I was about to retrieve a cache". Might as well make it public knowledge as JJ logged the "attack of the bunny rabbit" on the cache log.

Geocaching, is it a game or a sport?

Both, a game where you can use strategy, the knowledge and skills you have and you learn, and you get to keep score, but also a sport where you can "hunt" in the woods", where you can explore the sides of mountains, hike and climb into the locations. I think Geocaching is both.

What surprising thing have you discovered about yourself through geocaching?

That this is one thing I prefer to not do alone as other hobbies but to do with someone (ie JJ) anytime day or night. I am surprised that I will traipse through the woods at night in the freezing cold to look for a cache and enjoy it laughing all the way and actually get up earlier to go to a "Meet and Greet" then to go to work and be happy in doing so.

What GPS do you use?

I use a Garmin Etrex Legend HCX for when I get out to locate the cache. I use a Garmin Nuvi 260W loaded with caches and logs to find the way into caches via roads.

Do you have any geocaching goals and if so what are they?

Just to place more caches, find more caches and keep looking for and placing more challenging caches.

We'd like to thank goatsandvettes for taking the time to answer our questions. As always if anyone has any suggestions feel free to let us know. We'd love to hear from you! We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and have a happy new year! Happy Caching!

Camouglage

Wow. Is it getting closer to Christmas already!? It's been such a hectic time. Doctors visits, birthdays, and everything else that makes the holidays so crazy. We celebrated my nephews birthday this weekend. He was of course spoiled rotten again. LOL. Why my sister believes an eight year old needs an iPod is beyond me.

We've been hiding caches like fiends the past couple of weeks. We've hidden four Terracaches (two virtual and two physical) and an ALR geocache. I was really nervous about the geocache we hid but it seems to be well received. That will teach me for reading the GC forums too much. LOL. Our ALR cache is a challenge I dreamed up named Calliope's Challenge. In order to log the cache you must find thirty consecutive caches and have an online log length of fifty words.

We had both my nieces and my nephew over at the house all day today. All the kids just love hanging out together. My oldest niece even helped me paint an ammo can which gave me the idea for this post.

I enjoy painting caches we are going to hide. I'm not very good at it but I believe it adds something special for the finder to have a camouflaged ammo can waiting. I even leave a little note on the cover of the logbook thanking them for hunting our cache. I try to stock them with really good trade items. We can't afford much but thanks to A to Z in Alma we at least have some nice toys. Hardly anybody ever lists what they trade so it's hard to tell what most cachers think of the trade.

Anyway, I thought I would talk about how I camouflage an ammo can and maybe get some input from anyone reading, especially if they have never attempted it before. I'm interested in getting better at it so any input would also be most appreciated.

We buy our ammo cans from a scrap metal dealer in Glenwood, AR. He literally has hundreds of 50cal cans that he sells for $1. Pretty sweet huh! The downside is you have to look through them (which he encourages) and sometimes mix and match lids. So the first step in preparing an ammo can for a hide is to check the rubber seal. Without that the can will allow moisture in and ruin all the contents. The second thing to look for (in older cans) is holes. The best way to do that is simply hold it up to the light while looking in the interior for any light a hole may let in. Now that you have a can in good condition it's time to paint!



The first step in camouflaging a can is sanding off any rust. You'll want to be sure to do that outside since I was told some older cans used lead based paint. I'd err on the side of caution and wear a mask or at least be outside when you do this. Once you've sanded all the rust off go ahead and cover the can in a coat of primer. I do this to protect the can (hopefully) from rusting any further.



Once you've let your primer dry cover the can in the primary color you wish to have. I usually use OD green or brown. I use the Krylon camouflage paint mostly. Their oD green is a little light compared to some darker ones made by BLP Mobile Paints that I sometimes get from the army surplus but they dry very quickly and can also be used on plastic which is an added bonus. You could use a cheaper version of brown though. It would just take longer to dry.




When that's dry then you need to paint the secondary colors of your camouflage. This really depends on what you want. For this can I randomly sprayed light beige (ColorPlace..cheap at Wal-Mart) and then went back over part of it with some Krylon camouflage beige. I also reapplied some OD green in some places I felt were too light. I try to stay away from the edges when using the lighter colors. You can also get shades of your color choices by varying how close to the can you hold the spray paint. This takes some practice (I'm still working on it. LOL.) but it is worth it.




Next I'll choose some leaves and/or grasses to use. This again depends on where you're hiding the cache or just what you have available. I use some small maple leaves I picked up in the crafts department at Wal-Mart. I've also used grasses form a nearby field and leaves from a neighbors bush (shhh..don't say anything). Just anything you want would work. First I'll hit the edges of the can with black and then lay whatever material I'm using on the can and Highlight around it with the black. I really recommend the Krylon black since it dries faster and you won't get any streaks from moving your material around but you can use the cheaper stuff, just be real careful! Keep repositioning and spraying until you have the look you want. Remember that the lighter colors will darken after a couple of hours. Don't be afraid to experiment! You can always repaint the can if you're not happy with it. Here's what I ended up with:



The lighter colors darkened some after a few hours and I was really pleased with it. You can affix a geocaching label to it or make a stencil and spray one on there. Which is what I do. You can download a PDF at Sissy-n-CR's website. I just bought some blank Mylar sheets at Wal-Mart and, using the copy I printed from their store, laid the template under it and cut it out with an exacto knife. It works okay. I'm going to buy some later. Just so I don't have to cut anymore out. They have both Geocaching and Terracaching stencils available so check them out.

Well that's all I've learned so far. I keep experimenting and so far I've made a lot of improvement. I've also had some abysmal failures. You should have seen how my attempt at digital camouflage came out. Ugh! LOL. It was horrid. I'm currently working on trying to paint an ammo can to make it look like bacon!? I'm almost there. Happy Caching!

Carving Up Some Fun

The Thanksgiving holiday has passed. It's always a little saddening to see it go. Relatives only seen at this time are making their journeys home as my wife begins her yearly ritual of inventing new and interesting ways to use leftover turkey.

We spent some time at my wife's aunt's house for the holiday. For the second year I was asked to carve the turkey's. They always prepare two of them. My wife has a lot of relatives. I should first explain that her family is a very traditional southern family. So carving the turkey isn't a chore, it's a place of honor. I felt honored and enjoyed my labor as an endless line of my in-laws paraded by and with a wink would try to grab a quick piece without my wife's aunt noticing.

What does all this have to do with geocaching? I dawned on me as I carved away that we geocache like I carve a turkey. I debone it completely. I even save all the little bits in a separate plate to be used for sandwiches later.

That's how we cache. Like a large piece of turkey, we enjoy the caches which always lead to a unique area and an adventure. We can't overlook the others though. Absolutely not! You see while that little piece of turkey may not seem like much all on it's own, taken together with all the other pieces you have the makings of another adventure. At the very least, you've got a fantastic "day after" sandwich! Now who doesn't love that.

On another note we're getting excited about some really fantastic locations I've been interviewing some locals about. I have a list of no fewer than four waterfalls to check out. If I can find them. LOL. We do love exploring so it will be fun anyway.

On the topic of exploring Arkansas. There is a fantastic program that airs on AETN entitled "Exploring Arkansas." Just as the name suggests, it's a weekly program that highlights fun places to explore and discover in our state. I highly recommend it. They even aired a segment on geocaching. Now how cool is that!! I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday and as always; Happy Caching!

Earthquake Ridge Trail

My wife and I were lucky enough recently to spend some quality time together hiking the Earthquake Ridge Trail near Mena, AR.

Fall in Arkansas is a wonderful time to get out on a trail. The weather is perfect. If you're lucky enough to catch the colors at their peak it's an experience you'll never forget.

After our morning ritual of getting the kids ready for school we made our way south to the east end visitors center of the Talimena Scenic Drive. There is a phenomenal trail system here that hikers can use to enjoy short hikes to several miles by combining different trail loops. The Earthquake Ridge Trail is also one of the best mountain bike trails around. Well, so I've read. I'm 100% positive that if I ever biked a trail I'd probably kill myself.

It was a perfect clear, cold, sunny morning when we started down the trail. We began from the visitor center and hiked counter-clockwise from the trailhead sign. The first part of the trail has a lot of ups and downs and can get your heart racing a little at times. There were a few colors left on the trees which we enjoyed as the trail wound its way north near the highway. I really didn't care for the trail being within sight of the highway but thankfully there was little to no traffic on a Tuesday morning but it could be a nuisance in the warmer months with all the tourists. It would ,however, be ideal for someone who is looking for a nice day hike and isn't accustomed to being in the woods. Which actually may have been the intention of the trail builders. I did get an awesome picture of my lovely wife and another of some scenery before the camera batteries died.

We stopped at the point where the trail crosses the highway and turns south to listen to what must have been 50 blackbirds flying around among the trees just across the road. They were making an amazing racket and we enjoyed siting on the guardrail and listening to their chaos before a motorcycle came by and spooked them off.

The western side of the loop was a much easier hike and there were some interesting rock formations along the way. Nothing spectacular but worth the visit. The colors on this side were much better and seemed to be peaking in a couple of spots which made for some beautiful scenery. We stopped and climbed up a small ridge to sit back and eat a snack while taking in the scenery.

We were having a fantastic time but all too soon we came to the end of the northern loop and had to end our hike there. We wanted to do the southern loop but we had to go check out some resale shops in Mena which turned out to be a very serendipitous adventure in itself. We plan on returning this weekend and taking the kids along the Orchard Trail which is another at the visitor center and is an ADA accessible trail. It is paved and has interpretive signs and benches along the way. Depending on how the kids are doing along the hike maybe we can loop down the Carriage Trail and back to the parking lot. Hmmm...maybe I can bribe them with some McDonald's. LOL.

On another note I wanted to thank everyone for their feedback on our little "monthly cacher' feature. We've selected the geocacher for December via the tried and true name from a hat method and will be contacting them shortly. If anyone has someone they'd like to nominate, ideas for questions, or anything else of note just drop us a line. Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving, or as the kids say "Happy Turkey Day!", and Happy Caching!

November's Featured Geocacher

This is the inaugural installment of a monthly feature I'd like to post here. Every month I'll post an interview with a different geocacher. It's a great way to get to know some other geocachers in Arkansas and hopefully even learn a thing or two from some of them.

This month's featured geocacher is Ar-Hick. I hope you enjoy reading this feature. Be sure to post your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section. But now without further ado, and a special thanks to Ar-Hick, let's get on with the interview:

If you've ever geocached in Conway county, then your name is likely on the log of November's featured geocacher Ar-Hick. Ar-Hick began geocaching in January of 2007. He has hosted and co-hosted two large events in Conway county as well as attended 23 events from all over the state himself. This Morrilton native is always willing to help another geocacher. So if you happen to see an overall clad geocacher behind the lens of a camera at your local event be sure to walk up and say hi.

How did you hear about geocaching and what was your first hunt like?

I got a gps for Christmas and after playing around with it a friend at work told me about geocaching.
I checked it out and saw that one was less than 2 miles away. I loaded up the kids and we headed to Woolly Hollow SP to look for "Wild and Woolly".
Having the coords on paper and a gps we started walking in circles around the park, trying to get the numbers to match. I did not know how to "GOTO" yet and this made for lots of walking. Finally got to the right spot and began to search, could not find it a "Ammo can". This made me more than ever determined to find a geocache and that is how I became hooked.

How did you choose your handle?

First choice was Hickory after my favorite tree, taken. So I added Arkansas to it and it was OK. Nope too long to sign on a logsheet.
AR-Hick short and it kinda fits my personality. I may live in town, but my heart is in the Ozark Hills of Arkansas.
Not to mention that I have been called a lot worse than a Hick before.

After your first find, what about geocaching has kept you interested?

Just over 10 years ago I quit drinking and drugs I had a lot of time and no real hobbies. At first it was the challenge of finding what others had hidden and how they had done it. Geocaching gave me something to do and keep my mind occupied, it has kept busy and out of depression even though I now would rather cache than do just about anything else (a new habit or addiction). Now it is more about the friends I have met and the places I can see and visit. I never knew I would find so much looking for tupperware in the woods.

Of all your hides, which is your favorite and why?

Currently: Donum ex Amicus (GC1GVXQ)

This incorporates something from my friends and great cachers.
Woodwalker9 - who gave it to me while on a caching trip to Searcy. it was just some junk and had lots of potential. His friendship means so much to me and I don't know how I ever survived without him.
RKLMBL - whose strength and intelligence I have borrowed from and they have shown me how to not take the little things so seriously. Just someone you want to be around.
Cachemates - The Master of Camo and it was Jerry's skill whom I was trying to mimic. His caches have scared, amazed, entertained and just had a good time while hunting them. They are some of the best folks in the world and I am glad to call them friends.
4wheeling-1 - the best cacher who I have ever seen and my wanting mess with his head. Caching and Jeff have gotten me through some tough times.

What is your favorite find?

Too many to pick just one.
Each cache has it's own "personality" and means something special to me.

Geocaching ; is it a game or a sport?

I think it is a game, if it was a sport someone would be making money playing it as a professional.
I have not figured out how to do that yet, all I need is to get Garmin, McD's and Exxon onboard and I would be good to go caching like a PRO.


What have you learned about yourself through geocaching?

You are never to old to learn new things. I have started doing things that I would have never done before.
E-mail (at home), hikes, camping, creative camo (I have never been very creative) and visiting with folks from every walk of life and making new friends.


What advice would you give to a new geocacher just starting?

Find a 100 before you hide your first. Hide at least 1 to every 100 you find.
Learn to tell stories and write a little something in each log, this ain't school and nobody is grading you.
Have fun and don't think that you can't find it, it's there!
If you live in Arkansas join the Arkansas Geocachers Association, it is a great place for answers and to find out what is going on.

That's it. I'd like to thank Ar-Hick again for taking the time to answer these questions and allowing all of us to probe his mind. LOL. If you have any suggestions for questions or want to nominate a geocacher just let us know. I'm out for now. Happy Caching!

Mount Magazine

Our initial plans were to spend the rest of the year in hibernation. With the holidays fast approaching (I swear Christmas comes earlier every year!) and all of the budget constraints involved with them we decided to slow down and wait for warmer weather.

Well you know what they say about the best laid plans! With the weather transitioning between the humid days of summer to the cool days of fall the forests had begun to display one last masterpiece of beauty before the leaves fall. A collage of colors beckoned us from our windows and on the news every day. To put it simply..we couldn't resist.

We decided to visit Mount Magazine State Park and enjoy a Sunday afternoon on the mountain. We arrived and decided to have a picnic before we set out along the Greenfield trail. My wife is quite the "picnic gourmet." The kids always look forward to eating whatever she's cooked up, or maybe they just get excited because it's the only time we let them drink Mt Dew.:) Regardless, it's always a treat. As my wife prepared our feast the kids were busy collecting walnuts from around the picnic area and trying to crack them open. We enjoyed our picnic while watching the various travelers on motorcycles and various other vehicles go by. I did notice how so many were very nice. Looking at our parked "jalopy", which has been the source of apparently many jokes, I felt reinvigorated to continue working on getting more people to experience the joy and wonder of our state.

With our belies full and the kids hyped up on caffeinated soda, we started off from the picnic area to hike down the trail in search of the 10th Anniversary Cache / Human Remnants cache by hot rod on foot and bike.

The trail was wonderful! The temperature was perfect for a hike and we were having a ball listening to the leaves crunch beneath our feet and just generally horsing around. Our six year old daughter was hiking in the lead and would occasionally stop us to tell everyone we needed to stretch or call a family meeting about whatever important topic had entered her mind. It was so cute! We made the short hike to where we needed to leave the trail and bushwhack to ground zero and find the cache.

The placement of this cache was perfect. Well stocked so the kids were very excited and far enough off trail that a geo-trail shouldn't form and you could let the kids look at the contents and sign the logbook without worrying about being muggled. The kids decided on their "treasure" and we traded items from the cache and after a quick inventory I recorded everything in the logbook as well as a thanks to the owner. The hike back was great. The boys were doing the worm and the twins even decided to roll down part of the trail. We had so much fun and it really reminds me of how the good lord has blessed our family so much. I honestly pray in thanks for all of our financial difficulties. I believe without those we would have lost sight of what is truly important and what true happiness is.

After our hike we spent some time in the visitors center and enjoyed watching four chipmunks run around below the wildlife observation room. The kids were thrilled and a couple of older ladies really enjoyed watching the kids laugh and squeal with excitement whenever one of their furry objects of fascination would chase another or climb close to the windows. It was awesome!

Leaving the visitor we made our way to park at the trail head for Signal Hill Trail. Our thirteen year old had never visited the summit and wanted to see the state map monument there. I was also very excited at trying to attempt to recover the original triangulation station MAG. We enjoyed the short hike up and I set about hunting the station with our oldest son. It was the first time he had ever helped me and we were both very excited about finding the "Holy grail" of Arkansas benchmarks. It wasn't too long and as I checked a location he exclaimed he saw it. Yes! I was so thrilled. We recovered the both reference marks quickly after that and then I let him find the cache. It was depleted of swag pretty bad so we restocked it and I signed the log indicating our visit. We took some photos and were preparing to head back but the kids asked if we could stay awhile and let them play. It's those little moments I'll always remember. All the kids were playing catch with a foam ball one of them had brought along. My wife and I sat on a nearby bench and held hands while the kids scampered around laughing. Our eight year old even told some hikers which trail they needed to take to reach the lodge.

It was getting later in the afternoon and we had to sadly end our visit and head towards home. We stopped at a couple overlooks along Cameron Hill Overlook Drive on the way out for some pictures and just to soak in the view. Mount Magazine is a wonderful park and we'll look forward to returning time and time again. I hope they hold the ArkGeo annual event here next year. So far that's the only event we plan on attending if possible. We'll just have to see. We have a wish list that seems to just keep growing and growing. There are just so many wonderful places to visit and enjoy together. We're already looking over locations to camp and visit when the weather warms up. It's going to be great! Is it spring yet?

Memories At The Lake

The first rays of the morning sun were just lighting our carport as I tucked the kids into the backseat of the car. Snuggled under their blankets, they sleepily exclaimed they were ready to go. My breath hung in the air as my wife and I double checked our list. Tent-check, cooler-check, coloring books-check, kitchen sink-everything but. I am always amazed at what we can cram into a four door Ford Contour. We were ready to go and with a turn of the ignition we began our long weekend of camping and geocaching in and around Crystal Springs on the southern shore of Lake Ouachita.

This is a wonderful time to be in the Ouachita Mountains. The many hues of green are just beginning to tease the visitor with the impending explosion of color that should be in full effect over the next couple of weeks. My wife and I enjoyed the scenery around us as we traveled Highway 270 toward Crystal Springs. Well what I could see along the way. Sometimes I wish our car had an autopilot so I could just sit back and enjoy the landscape as it passes by. It always makes me wonder what the view for travelers by train would have seen so long ago.

We stopped in Pencil Bluff to hunt a couple of geocaches there and to hide one just north of town. The kids were of course wide awake by now and livid with excitement. They love camping and couldn't wait for us to arrive at the campground.
We took some time and drove through the Thompkins Bend campground on our way to check it out. I was surprised at how nice it was. I have to admit I had been biased against Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds. This stemmed from a short visit to one that I really didn't think was very nice. I mistakenly assumed they were all old and run down. This trip opened my eyes.

We finally arrived at the Crystal Springs Recreational Area and it was very nice! The grounds were well kept and the bathhouses were in better shape than those at Lake Ouachita State Park! They even had hot showers. The tent only sites weren't the best in the world but we didn't have the funding for the nicer ones. The number one and two tent sites were fine though. They each had of course a tent pad and grill along with a fire ring and picnic table. Everything a family out for a weekend of camping could ask for.

After camping the first night we went into Hot Springs to complete the requirements for the "Tah-Ne-Co" EarthCache. We had a wonderful time visiting the visitors center and walking along Central Avenue. We returned by walking the promenade and visiting the cascade.When we returned to the car we got some cups and made hot cocoa from the springs for the kids. We drove to the tower and had a picnic nearby before we parked at the overlook on top of Hot springs mountain and hiked down to Goat Rock. It was just a fantastic day. We roasted some hot dogs over the campfire for dinner, our kids favorite, and then settled the kids down for bed.

Our last day was spent hunting geocaches around Crystal Springs. There was plenty of beautiful scenery and the kids always enjoy finding "treasure." We had so much fun we hated to leave. With winter fast approaching and all of the constraints of the holiday season it will be awhile before we get to go camping again. I love our little trips. There's just nothing like sitting in front of the campfire while watching your children run around playing whatever made-up game their imaginations have dreamed up. Watching them explore or share discoveries with each other. I even love the many questions they ask about all the nature around them. It's during these times I realize how truly blessed my wife and I are. Of all the places we've seen and memories made, sharing them with our children is true happiness.

Getting Outdoors On A Budget

It's been awhile since we've written anything in our blog. We have, of course, been busy with the kids and the new school year. Our oldest son is enjoying his first year of football and we can't wait until he plays his first game. GO BULLDOG'S!

We are still getting outdoors as much as possible. Though not nearly as often as we would like. Which is what got me to thinking about some of the difficulties of not only getting outside with kids but how to do so on a very tight budget. In this post I'll discuss how we have overcome some of the budget constraints.

There are a great many, what I like to call "pre-packaged", ways to get outdoors. These tend to be on the expensive side. Motel rental when far from home, restaurant expenses, and fees for attractions. This is often enough to discourage many families from even attempting to even try. There is where geocaching has made a world of difference.

We use geocaching, as well as other outdoor games, as an online "guide" to interesting destinations. Most of these are relatively unknown to the public at large. In contrast, they tend to be the best of the two. Kids will always enjoy a visit to an amusement park. But they enjoy a visit to a beautiful waterfall even more! The difference being the "pre-packaged" visit is fun, but visiting a unique location is an experience with memories that will last a lifetime.

So the first step is just using online, as well as guidebooks, resources to choose a destination. I'll be posting links to all of the resources we use to locate places of interest later. With the site selected the next obstacle to tackle is the expense of sleeping arrangements. The best answer for that is camping.

The expense of basic camping gear is almost non-existent when compared to motel fees. A tent (large enough for six people), lantern, and a cooler are all you need for a great time camping. While most people think of camping as a primitive experience, modern campgrounds have quite a few amenities. A modern campground has water (great for refilling containers), and showers (kids get DIRTY! LOL.), as well as grills and picnic tables provided. They are patrolled by staff and quite safe.

Camping is an adventure. Our children love exploring the area and looking for wildlife. Especially bugs! By choosing a campground that offers other activities, such as swimming and hiking, it guarantees for a fantastic trip. State parks are the best but there are quite a few fantastic campgrounds at bot Army Corps of Engineer areas and those managed by the Forest Service. In fact our favorite campground is Albert Pike which is managed by the Ouachita National Forest. Irregardless where you stay, you'll save a bundle of cash camping. For instance, our family attended an event in Clarksville not long ago. Staying for four days at a local motel (at a discount) ran over $240.00! A recent four day camping trip to Albert Pike cost $40.00. Now that's a difference! Not to mention the fun and memories made while camping far outweighed the experience at the motel. It's a win-win, more fun for far less money.

Once we've selected our destination and where we'll be camping, we use the internet and guidebooks to see what there is in the area to enjoy. Without fail, there is always more to do and see than we are capable of in the time of our visit. All of which are free of course. The selection of locations to see depends on the weather, time, and distance from the campground. We usually start with the one place we came to see in the first place and then work from there. The list is inevitably longer than we could possibly hope to complete but by doing that we always have a plan B, C, D etc. This allows us to be flexible. Which is a must when exploring an area with children.

Now we have a place to visit and plenty of things to see so now we need to figure out what it is we're going to do abut food. From experience, my best advice is to keep it simple. It's too easy to start gathering food stuffs and go overboard. You won't need it. Simple meals like sandwiches and hot dogs are best. The kids even get to help prepare dinner if you choose to grill. They love that! Boxed snacks (Goldfish, Graham Crackers, etc.) work best for snacks. They hold up to heat and don't get crunched while traveling as easily as potato chips do. They are healthier also. We like to take two graham crackers and place some peanut butter between them for a healthier "power snack" than chips or candy. It keeps the kids full longer also. It's also a lot cheaper to buy two liter drinks to refill squeegee type cups than to purchase cans and other drinks. Don't forget everything you'll need to make s'mores! That's a must. LOL.

That's the basic way we do it. As with anything, we learn more as we go. We take notes while we travel to help remind us of later of easier, cheaper ways to do something. There are so many wonderful places to visit in Arkansas I don't believe anyone could see them all in a lifetime. I'll add some links to our blog so anyone visiting can check them out and use them, as we have, to get outside and enjoy the wonder of our natural state.

Crystal Park Road

Many geocachers have placed caches along a route. Some are intended to help boost numbers and others to share an interesting area with other geocachers. Of course those are just generalizations, there are combinations and a myriad of reasons otherwise.
Our family enjoys planning trips to unknown areas. I actually have no less than eight different websites bookmarked that I use to try to find all available information about an area before we visit. I use them to find everything from historic locales to swimming holes. Of course we look at all the caches in the area also.
It was for the before mentioned reason that we were so excited to visit likestocanoe's Crystal Park series of caches placed along Crystal Park Road and part of the Womble Auto Tour. This series had everything! Beautiful Ouachita Mountain scenery, interesting historic locations, the perfect mix of conatiners that keeps the little cachers entertained, and caches that provide the more seasoned cacher with some challenging hunts. It just quite simply couldn't have been done any better.
The first stop in the series is Crystal Park Road. It's a simple roadside cache that is a great way to start the series. Any time the kids get to sort through traesure they have a blast. It was a great start and everyone was excited to see where we would be next! Of course we had an adventure there first. It's great to watch the kids just enjoy the outdoors and have a blast. Even if it does mean they make an impromptu slide out of the small hillside. LOL. There were far too many fantastic places we visited that day to mention in one blog. Some of the highlights were a recreational area built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) back in the mid 1930's. It has the kind of beauty that makes you take pause and let the world pass by. The cache there was a great hide. We even discovered a trail that we had no idea existed. It would make for a fantastic hike considering all of the natural wonder that can be seen from the road. We ended up spending over an hour at this location. Of course some of that time was because of technical difficulties I experienced with the cache itself. Let's just say that it was one of those situations that remind me of what a newb I am whenever I get to thinking I have any skill at all. HaHa.
Later we visited old buildings that had been used by the CCC as storage for explosives used in construction. Natural areas depicting the amazing beauty that can only be found in the Ouachita Mountains and a wonderful, refreshing mountain spring. That hands down beats any over priced trip to an amusement park. Have I said that we had the time of our lives yet!?
Our last cache hunt for the day was at an old homestead that had an abandoned crystal mine nearby. How cool is that! We finished off our day at the Charlton Recreational Area. It is another example of the many recreational areas built by the CCC. It still retains some of the original buildings and rock work but has been updated with modern facilities and even two jumping platforms for a fun way to get into the water. The wonderful thing about Charlton is that the water feeding the swimming area is spring fed maening that while the temperature outside is in the 90's, the water is a always cold. Very cold. It's awesome!
We have so many places we want to visit we'll run out of summer again before we do. Oh well. I'm still behind in posting everywhere we've visited but I'll catch up soon. Thanks to everyone who has taken a look. Leave a comment if you come by so we know you visited. Happy Caching!

Adventure In The Ozarks

We had originally planned to spend the weekend of June 21 camping at Lake Dardanelle State Park. I really wanted to hunt old river runners "Main Street" cache but our plans fell through. We settled on traveling north along old highway 71 to do some caching and visit some waterfalls. Our day was to conclude with a visit to Devil's Den State Park and the Devil's Den cave.

We left out early Saturday morning and started down scenic 71. It really is a beautiful drive. We traveled north until we reached Mountainburg and the MPC Walk cache. It was a great cache located behind a church on a neat little walking trail. We let the kids take a GPS each and conduct the hunt themselves which really added to their enjoyment. You can tell that by the look of victory on our son's face. They enjoyed it alot and it was just the beginning of what would be one of our best weekends ever!

After finding the MPC Walk cache we made our way to Artist Point Gift Shop. It's a neat little roadside attraction that has a mini-museum inside and of course tons of souvenirs. The best thing about it was there is a privately owned trail behind the store,(owned by the gift shop owners), which leads down to a wonderful waterfall named Artist Point Falls of course. The trail was great! There were some Indian carvings and a natural rock bridge along the way. The falls were running pretty well for late June and were well worth the trip. It was a very popular trail too! We met tons of other hikers and took loads of photos. Round trip it was 1.3 miles. It was a little steep going in and of course the hard part which is hiking out. The kids were fantastic. They just hiked along. The whole family just enjoyed ourselves being together and being among the wonderous beauty of the Ozark mountains. There's a magic at that location I can't quite put my finger on but we had the time of our lives. The photo on the right is about the best one my wife and I have ever had taken of us together and as a bonus our five year old son took it. It was taken along the trail after we had arrived at the falls and you can tell we were enjoying ourselves. It's a wonderful memory we'll always have and the day only got better from there.

After hiking to the falls we grabbed a few geocaches along the way and even recovered the Gaylor triangulation station. Seeing the tower was neat and we visited with someone who lived next door to the azimuth mark. Her kids even helped me find it. Of course bothe her kids and ours played for awhile while we talked about how it was such a shame to see this unique area so deteriorated due to the interstate being put in.

We arrived at Devil's Den State Park early afternoon and made a half hearted attempt to find a cache there but we were hungry so we gave up and had a picnic. Let me tell you, when Mrs. Navigator puts together a picnic it is out of this world! Yet another reason I'm on a diet. LOL : ). After filling our bellies and the kids playing at the playground, we started our hike along Devil's Den Trail. It's a self guided tour that is just packed with tons of things to see and explore. Our main goal was to explore Devil's Den Cave. I was a little worried about how the twins would do but once we got in there they absolutely loved it! The cave itself is 550 feet long. We were climbing around getting muddy and wet but also having the time of our lives. We made it roughly 450 feet into the cave before I decided it was time to turn around. It does get a little technical towards the end and with the kids and the lights we had it just wasn't the right time. I never could have imagined that I would have had three kids upset about leaving a dark cave!

We were so excited after exciting the cave we decided to just go ahead and hike the remainder of the trail. There was a lot to see. Even another waterfall which unfortunately wasn't flowing very well despite it having rained on us for a short while during our hike. It did provide a nice place to get your head wet and cool down though!

We got back to the trailhead and cleaned the kids up before our return trip home. As we drove back the way we came to take I-540 for the return trip home we saw seven deer along the road.

The following day we took the kids swimming at Natural Dam. That location is just spectacular. The locals have trashed it pretty bad which is a shame. When we finally found the cache there it was destroyed. It's an older cache and the can had started leaking ruining the contents. I had an extra on hand so I replaced it and the swag. In a weird way I felt honored to help out in keeping such a fantastic cache going. I'm taking the summer kids out again later this week and then we're planning a trip to the Womble Road Auto Tour and all the neat caches placed there. I just love summer. Happy Caching!

Kids Summer Group - Week 1

It's been a very busy week! After what seemed whirlwind event attending things were starting to calm around the navigator home and then came the time for me to start leading a group of kids in the summer SBMH (School Based Mental Health) program. I had kids from kindergarten all the way to eighth grade.

The kids were of course separated into groups. The first two groups that I had were all older. I had several meetings with the program director and he basically said where we go was up to me. Now at first that sounds fairly simple, but this would be many of the kids first time out in the woods and of course their first geocache! See the problem. A lame experience and it could turn them off of being outdoors altogether. Not good.

I found a nearby cache that was perfect. A great cache at a historic old dam with a roughly one and a half mile hike in along a trail. As the day approached I was very excited. We all met at the school and after introductions we loaded the bus to begin our adventure. Of course the bus wouldn't start! After half an hour of wondering what we were going to do it was discovered that the rear exit door had been improperly closed. Apparently that triggered a safety trigger not allowing the bus to start. On our way finally I talked to the kids about geocaching and what is involved. They asked all the usual questions about what a cache was, are they buried, is there money, etc. Everything was great until we got about half way there. That's when the rain started. Ugh!! That's what happened last year!

It rained all the way to the parking area and I knew it was going to rain the whole time. I was surprised to see that it didn't bother the kids one little bit. They were actually excited! We made our way from the trail head for the Bomber Trail which we would follow to The CCC Dam Bomber Trail cache. We had a great hike in and made wonderful time. The kids were so excited when we arrived at the Dam. One thing that shocked me was that as we hiked in I talked to them about what the CCC was and about trail ethics. When I asked them about the mountains we all call home not one of them knew their name. It was sad really to see such great kids deprived of enjoying everything nature has to offer.

I took them in groups across the Dam and they loved the hunt and of course trading! I'm glad I brought an extra large bag of swag for them to go through. They cleaned me out!! LOL. The looks on their faces as they found the cache and went through the contents was priceless. They had a blast! So did the therapists that went along. They asked more questions than the kids did.

I took the younger group out the next day. The therapists were still tired from the day before and really didn't want to hike very far. I decided on taking the kids to Talimena Treasures - Pioneer Cemetery cache. After my orientation we walked the short distance to the cache. Some of the kids from yesterday had asked permission to go again today which I thought was cool. The did have fun! Anyway, the kids hunt for awhile and i finally go to show them where the cache is hidden. Only I can't find it!
Oh no. I'm starting to freak out a little and my mind is racing for an impromptu plan b when one of the grade school kids looks at me and says " I see a white Tupperware, is that it?" Yep. it was. I was shown up by a little kid. It was hilarious. We all had a great laugh and the look of pride and accomplishment on that little boys face was all worth it. I'd go through a thousand little embarrassments to see that!

It was great taking them out and we have two trips planned next week. Culminating with a trip to Mt. Magazine State Park. It's going to be great.

National Trails Day CITO Event

This past weekend we attended the Natinal Trails Day CITO Event hosted by lake Ouachita State park. I honestly didn't expect to have as much fun as we did. It was just a quick cleanup and then I figured my family and I would hike some trails, grab some caches, and then go swimming finally settling down at our campsite for our favorite dinner: hot dogs and s'mores!

What a surprise that event turned out to be. There wasn't a large turnout but everyone that did had an incredible time! Our host for the event was park interpreter Susan. She did a marvelous job organizing the cleanup and keeping a bunch of easily distracted, sweaty geocachers on task. Of course after all the trash was collected we settled down to a wonderful lunch provided by the park. Afterwards, she even took us out on a enormous tour boat to grab some caches. How cool was that!

Susan's just starting out geocaching and is working on hosting another event this fall at the park. This one will be a campout also. Oh yeah! Our favorite!

We made some new friends over the weekend also. It was the husband and wife caching team of QuartzCachers. I'd spoken to Bruce briefly at other events but had never had the chance until this one to hang out and just chat. Both our families hit it off. Especially the kids! We're going to hook up in Hot Springs to do the Tah-Ne-Co earthcache located in Hot Springs National Park. It will take the better part of a day to do it and ging along with friends just promises for a great day.

ArkGeo 2008 Annual Social

It's been awhile since I updated anything. We've been having a blast!!! So many things going on and so many places we've visited. You just have to love summer!

We were recently featured in an article about geocaching. It was published on May 30th in the Exploring Arkansas insert of the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette. I have to admit it was pretty cool to be interviewed and see our family pictured in the newspaper. You can't see it online anymore without paying for it but I saved it on Photobucket.

We were lucky enough to attend two really spectacular events recently. The first was the ArkGeo 2008 Annual Social. The event was a campout held over the weekend at Lake Catherine Sate Park and it was great. The event Saturday was filled with catching up with old friends and making some new ones. One of those is the caching team of likestocanoe. They are great people. Just some of the nicest , friendliest, I could go on but you get the point. They brought their boat out to the lake and offered to take everyone tubing! WOOHOO! You know my family was first in line. Well, my wife and kids were the only one's who went. A fun day was had by all. The ArkGeo CITO event held the next day wasn't as attended as I had hoped but there was a good turnout. We picked up all the trash we could find. That was a very clean park.

I did get to squeeze in some caching on Saturday night. I hunted the LC Distant Night Cache by SJClimber with a group of other cachers about 11:00 at night. I love night caches. They are really a fun way to hunt a cache. Especially down a trail. It was awesome. We grabbed a couple more caches on the way back before returning to the campfire for some more s'mores, hot dogs, and relaxation. Until the racoons came...

There must have been over a dozen of the late night raiders. Big ones too! They had no fear of humans. You'd chase one off and he'd run and stop just ahead of you and wait for you to give up. It was a war of attrition. They won. After securing all our food stuffs we just sat back and listened to the trash can lids fall. It was hilarious!!

It was a great weekend and we look forward to hopefully more similar events in Arkansas.

Kiamichi Caching

We've had the opportunity to do a little caching in Kiamichi country lately. I used to travel to Poteau, OK. usually at least once a month and have recently started again. Poteau and the surrounding area has quite a few nice places to visit as well as beautiful scenery.
On 29th of April my seven year old played hookey from school and accompanied me on a little trip. We were first to find on a couple of caches in Monroe but our favorite of the day was Old Frisco Trail - Forgotten Trestle by Kiamichi Muskrat. It was hidden on an awesome little bridge that was once part of the old frisco rail line and is now converted to a walking trail.

Our most recent adventure in Kiamichi country involved an afternoon hunt for theCLB's Secret Stache by theCLB. We had previously DNF'd this cache due to being unable to find the right road (reason #214 why I want a GPS with a map on it!) and after being lost for quite some time we gave up. When we started our hunt this second time we ended up lost in the same area. But after awhile and some keen navigating by my wife we found our destination. It was a short walk from the parking area to where the cache was hidden and imagine our surprise when we were greeted by a beautiful waterfall! It was such a wonderful little out of the way spot and is the type of cache that reminds you why you started caching in the first place. It's kind of funny when I think about it but had we never gotten started in this game that would be one memory that our family would have never been able to share together. I love this game!!!

I forgot to add in my previous post that I planted a letterbox in Clarksville during our trip. They have a lot of amazing caches there so hopefully our box "Doolin's Stash" will be a good addition for all of us that letterbox also.

Caching in the Ozarks

It's been awhile since I updated anything. I'm still getting accustomed to this site and while I have a lot more to learn I believe I like it better.
We recently attended the Clarksville or Cacheville, You be the Judge event in Clarksville of course. We had a wonderful time. We stayed from Friday the 18th until retuning home on Tuesday the 22nd. We hunted quite a few of the many creative caches here. That city is like the perfect storm when it comes to caching.

After the breakfast event on Sunday we made our way to the GCG0P0 Glory Hole cache. It was absolutely amazing! While hiking along the creek we were treated to several smaller waterfalls. I love finding older caches also. It's fun to read through the logbook recounting the adventures of other cachers who have visited in the past. I did note that while we do well in recording our adventure in our online log I've sadly been very lazy about writing in the logbook. Learn as you go I guess. I plan on doing much better in the future.

I've been in the process of replacing or removing all our caches. I really want ours to be real quality that cachers enjoy finding. So far I haven't really achieved that but I think with the new ones we place will be enjoyable for everyone that hunts them. They will be more difficult but I think in our area that won't matter much at all.

We're still enjoying all our other activities like Letterboxing and Terracaching. So much to do and so little time. It's a blast!

Scout Falls

This is a little late but it has been so busy here. I finally got the time to write about our little adventure.
On the 20th my wife and I decided that with the kids in school that day it would be perfect to go and hunt the Slate Falls cache (GCRRD0). There had been a record amount of rain recently and had even stormed the night before so we were excited at being able to see the falls flowing.
We hadn't traveled far up Poteau Mountain road when we met some Forest Service workers clearing debris from the roadway. They told us that due to seeing some other vehicles heading the other direction that they thought the road was clear ahead. Well, after driving a few miles we sure enough met with a large tree blocking our progress.
Another Forest Service worker pulled i next to us a short while later and together we waited for the work crew to reach us.
As we waited, she told us about a cave nearby known to locals as "Belle Stars Cave." It was also known as the boy scouts cave as they used to camp there in the 40's and 50's and had even built a rock fireplace for warmth inside the cave. She told us how to reach it and after seeing that we wouldn't have time to reach Slate Falls we decided to visit the cave.
We began our hike from the road and hiked down the mountain to rock creek. With all the recent rains it was REALLY flowing, enough to take your feet out from underneath you if you weren't careful, and it was cold! After crossing the creek it was a short distance to the cave and suprisingly a wonderful 20+ foot waterfall!!!
The whole area there is a protected archaeological site. We explored the cave behind the falls for quite some time and even hiked further down for awhile just to see what was there. Time was getting short though so we had to haul back up the mountain which was rough.
My wife and I had a wonderful time and we plan on returning later. We found another trail leading in from the North that hold who knows what treasures.