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?