Perception

When I woke up on Tuesday morning I noticed that there was a new cache (Perception - GC11C8K hidden by SouthernGirl) that was only a few miles from the house and in area where one of my caches is hidden. The cache listing recommended doing this cache by kayak or boat. Since I don't own either one I decided to be true to my caching name and do it on foot even though I knew the terrain would be tough. When I parked the car at the end of the dam I noticed that my GPS showed that the cache was only 4/10 of a mile away. I thought to myslef "This won't be that bad". I took off down the side of the dam and across the field to the bottom of the hill. Standing at the bottom I realized just how much of a climb this was going to be. So I took off up the hill zigzagging in between the pines and popcorn trees that are scattered across the lower portion of the hillside. About half way up I really began to feel the burn in my legs and was really sucking wind. I stopped to rest for a few minutes and noticed that the cache was only .25 miles away now. About fifteen minutes later I finally made it to the top of the hill after stopping several more times to suck up some oxygen and let the burn in my legs subside. By this time the GPS showed .18 miles from the cache but I had to figure out how to get down below the bluff line that I was now on top of. I followed it around to the left where I stopped several times to take some pictures of the lake and the creek flowing into it. I got one good picture looking up the creek with a popcorn tree in the foreground. I only wish the lighting had been better to get a better shot of this view. I finally made my way around toward the end of the bluff and found a way to slide my way down from small tree to small tree in order to get to the bottom. Why is it that those pesky little trees called "Devil's Walking Stick" that have the thorns growing all up and down their trunks only grow on steep hillsides when you need something to grab onto? After sliding my way down the hillside I stopped to take some photos looking downstream. Again, the lighting didn't help much today as the sky was heavily overcast. I noticed that I was only 450 feet from the cache and headed that way. After walking about 50 feet I came upon a mini forest of Mayapple plants and spent some time crawling around on my stomach getting the ants eye view of these interesting little plants. Most were only 4 to 6 inches tall. I love these little plants because later in the spring they will have a beautiful cream colored blossom with a yellow center that pops out below the umbrella of leaves at the top of the plant. Later around the first of May; hence the name of the plant, a small greenish colored fruit appears. I once read somewhere that the Cherokee Indians used the root of this plant to make a tea to treat constipation. I'll take their word for it. I got so interested in these little plants that I had almost forgotten why I was in the area in the first place. So I headed on to the cache. When I got to where my GPS was leading me there were about a million places to hide a cache. I finally found it after searching for about thirty minutes and I even used the hint. After signing the log and replacing the cache I decided to explore upstream. From that point the creek got smaller and noisier as the water ran over the rocks as the creek began to climb higher. I followed it for about 200 yards taking pictures along the way before I noticed that the bluff had broken down and became just a steep hillside again. I decided I would just go straight up and over the hill to get back to the car instead of going back the way I had come. This time the climb was even tougher than the first time but I need the exercise. Once I reached the top, it was all downhill back to the car. So, a cache that was only 4/10 of a mile from the car, ended up taking 2 1/2 hours round trip. I do recommend that if you attempt this one on foot that you take plenty of water and some energy bars. You will need them. This is the kind of cache that I love to find. Hard to get to and in a beautiful place that I did not know existed. I definitely recommend this cache to anyone even if you do wimp out and use a boat.

Mini Caching Marathon

Friday morning I loaded up all my gear and headed toward Clarksville for a mini caching marathon. I was going to see if I could break my previous record of 42 finds in one day. I started the day at GolfNutz travel bug motel. For some reason I had not stopped to get this cache yet. This morning there were 2 reasons for doing this one. First, to get rid of a couple of travel bugs that had been in my posession way too long. Second, to retrieve the key to go find the new Champion cache. After returning the key I found quite a few around town that I had not looked for in the past and a few that had previously eluded me. After finding 18 in town I headed toward the Harmony area about noon. I felt like I was well on my way to surpassing my goal. When I had found about half a dozen caches in the area it began to rain. Seriously thinking about giving up and going home, I decided to just keep going and the rain soon stopped. After a few DNF's and quite a few bumpy miles later I headed for home unsure of what my total count was for the day. When I logged all of my finds later that night the total came to 42. Oh well, so I didn't beat my record. I still enjoyed each and evey cache even though I must now say that I truly hate micros in the woods. Overall it was a great day of caching and I got to see lots of wildlife and a few of the first flowers of the Spring. I did not take any pictures although my camera was in the seat right beside me the whole time. It looks like we might get some rain this week so I will try and get some good waterfall photos to post and maybe do a little caching too. I am also going to hide a few this week. My goal is to have at least 20 new caches around Russellville before the big Clarksville Event in April. Ya'll come find 'em.

Most scenic spot in Russellville!!!

There is an area behind my house that I believe is the most scenic spot in Russellville. I hike down to the river and back quite often just for exercise and to soak up the sights overlooking the river. The photos posted above are from a bluff overlooking the Arkansas River in an area that most people will never see as it is on private property. I found this area a few years ago when I was just out wandering through the woods behind the house. There are several creeks that run through the area and some really nice waterfalls. One of these days after a good rain I will go down to the bottom of the bluff and get some photos of the falls to post here. Yesterday there was only a trickle of water running since we have not had any rain in a while. I wandered along a creek that I had not followed before. It was mostly dry except for every now and then a little water would run out from under some rocks, trickle down a few yards, and disappear again beneath the rocks in the creekbed. As the terrain started to get steeper the water reappeared and the stream got a little larger. I followed it about a half mile further till it came to the top of a bluff that I had not been to yet. The creek spills over the edge into a small pool about 50 feet below. There is also another creek about 30 yards to the left that creates an even taller waterfall. This area has lots of huge boulders, a great view out over the river with the top of Mt. Nebo sticking up on the horizon. I tried to get some good shots of the area but with my old camera and not having a wide angle lens the images just don't do the place justice. I looked for a way to get down below the bluff and there is just no way down there. I know of a spot to get down by the other waterfall that I found a few years ago and I can follow the bottom of the bluffs around to these falls. This area should make for some nice waterfall photos someday. After exploring around a bit I headed on over to the bluff in the top picture and took a few photos and sat and soaked up the sights. At one point I was sitting there and could hear a hawk down below me. I looked down and he was sitting in the top of a tree with his wings spread. By the time I went to get my camera and got back to the edge he was flying away across the river. I took a few more photos and headed back to the house to get ready for work. Man I really wish I could find someone to pay me to hike!!

A learning process.

I am just now learning how to do all of this stuff. so I decided to post a picture from a hiking/geocaching trip I made back at the end of January. This is Falling Water Falls along Falling Water Creek near the the Richland Creek Wilderness Area in Arkansas. It was a beautiful day to be out. I found 6 caches that day. Four of which were hidden near waterfalls and another at an area called Pedestal Rocks that is just awesome. My total hiking distance that day was 7.3 miles and I shot 87 photos also. The sun was going down at the time I took this photo and it ended up being one the best shots of the day. I am certainly not even close to being a good photographer but I just enjoy sharing them with others. I am still using a Panasonic PalmCam that is about 10 years old and only 1.3 mega pixel. I would really like to have a better camera but I just can't convince my wife of that. I am about to go out for an exercise hike and will post a couple of pics later today from that hike.