Monday, September 19, 2016

A Very Historic Tree and Upcoming Events

A very Historic Tree (and geocache)

Sunday morning, as I was resting a very sore ankle, Nana came running into the room yelling to change the channel!  I immediately switched over to the local CBS channel to see an excellent news article on a very sick White Oak Tree in Basking Ridge NJ.

Nana & I had first visited this very same tree last year.  After attending GeoWoodStock XIII, we had made a very large circular trip through the North-East grabbing all types of "older" geocaches before heading back home.  One of the last stops on our trip had been to the Virtual geocache: GC799B - Tie a yellow ribbon.


  As we arrived at ground zero for this fantastic cache we were drawn to this fantastic White Oak tree.  The limbs of this tree were not only supported from the ground but they were also supported with huge steel cables from all directions to keep the tree from collapsing under it's own weight.  The tree is over 600 years old which means this tree predates both America and Columbus.  This tree is considered to be the oldest in New Jersey.  George Washington is said to have walked past this tree and the graveyard surrounding this tree contains the graves of more than 30 Revolutionary War soldiers.  


You can imagine our dismay when, while watching this news report, we found out the tree is very ill.  I hope that the Virtual Geocache survives the tree as there is enough history not only in the churchyard but in the town to merit it, but just in case, it might be worth your time and effort to give this geocache a visit in the near future.  I did notice as I was writing this blog that the number of visits to this cache in the last few days has increased dramatically.


It will be well worth the visit if you could possibly schedule a trip to this cache
 before the tree passes away.
You will remember it always.   

UPCOMING EVENTS
Here are some other events in the area we plan to attend.
 Mark your calendars – hope to see you at some of these events!

Tuesday – September 20 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6Q9N0 – 3rd Tuesday – HIDEY AWARD RALLY – GCHR Sept Event
Rick’s Cafe
6 till 8 PM
Thursday – September 22 – Chesapeake, VA
GC6RGY0 – AACC – September 22, 2016
Elizabeth River Boat Landing Park
4 till 6 PM
Saturday – September 24 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6RM57 – Clean the Lakes Natural Area - CITO
Lake Lawson/Lake Smith Nature area
9 till 11 AM
Thursday – October 6  – Newport News, VA
GC6T6CA – AACC – October 6, 2016
Huntington Park – Newport News
4 till 6 PM
Tuesday – November 1 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6Q9TM – The Nominees Are…..
Rick’s Cafe
6 till 8 PM
Saturday – January 7 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6HYJ2 – 10 Years! Milestones M-n-G and Hidey Awards!
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
5 till 9 PM

Till next time!!!
Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!


Suffolk Nana & Papa - - - or just plain ol' - - - -  SNAP!!!  


On Twitter at: @SNAPgeocaching
On Instagram at: snap_geocaching

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

North Carolina Geocaching, Upcoming Events and The "COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Day Award

North Carolina Geocaching

Nana & I teamed up with Jim & Lynne (jtmlam59) last Saturday (9/10) and headed towards the NE part of North Carolina to see if we could grab some geocaches.  We had a target list of 47 caches some of which neither had found, some that SNAP!!! had found and some that jtmlam59 had found.  SNAP!!! ended the day with 23 finds while jtmlam59 had 25 smilies.  We did have some trouble with a few caches and even had 2 caches where even a TACO (telephone a cache owner) did not help!!!  

We did hand out a few favorite points during the day.  Here are our favorite caches found Saturday.


GC4690C - Bridges of Perquimans County
Hidden by pattycake3
A nice size cache uniquely hidden.

GC5ZKZN - Up River Cemetery - Est 1865
Hidden by steve-n-kim
Nana loves cemetery caches!
A fairly easy puzzle cache

GC6NDBT - daddy rayrays cache
Hidden by pattycake3
an evil evil cache

GC6K2BA - Betweixt and Between
Hidden by Wheels
cute with a little bit of trickiness

UPCOMING EVENTS
Here are some other events in the area we plan to attend.
 Mark your calendars – hope to see you at some of these events!


Saturday – September 17 – Norfolk, VA
GC6RCQ0 – Calvary Cemetery CITO
Calvary cemetery Norfolk
9 till 10 AM
you will earn a souvenir for attending this CITO
Saturday – September 17 – James City County, VA
GC6QHZ7 – Powhatan Creek PADDLING EVENTure
Just off of the blueway
10 till 11 AM
Tuesday – September 20 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6Q9N0 – 3rd Tuesday – HIDEY AWARD RALLY – GCHR Sept Event
Rick’s Cafe
6 till 8 PM
Saturday – September 24 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6RM57 – Clean the Lakes Natural Area - CITO
Lake Lawson/Lake Smith Nature area
9 till 11 AM
you will earn a souvenir for attending this CITO
Tuesday – September 22 – Chesapeake, VA
SUBMITTED - GC6RGY0 – AACC – September 22, 2016
Elizabeth River Boat Landing Park
4 till 6 PM
Tuesday – November 1 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6Q9TM – The Nominees Are…..
Rick’s Cafe
6 till 8 PM
Saturday – January 7 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6HYJ2 – 10 Years! Milestones M-n-G and Hidey Awards!
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
5 till 9 PM
The "COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Day Award

Every day we go out geocaching, we award favorite points to the caches that 1) make us smile, 2) we really like or 3) make us wish we had thought of that.  Then, later in the day, when all the caching is done, we sit and discuss the best of the favorites.
  
That discussion takes anywhere from 1 minute to sometimes 30 minutes.  We are trying to figure out which cache was not only the best cache of the day but which cache, if any, was worthy of naming as the winner of the "COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the day Award.

People ask us what it takes to be a winner of the Cache of the Day Award – well…. good container, lovely scenery, takes us someplace we didn’t know of, sometimes it is getting caught by the CO, sometimes it is just how the cache hits us.
 

Listed on the right hand side of this blog (towards the top) is a list of pages.  Each year, 2016, 2015, etc. has it's own page.  The 2016 page lists all the winners of the "COVETED" SNAP!!! Cache of the Day Award.

So far this year there have been 28 caches awarded this prestigious daily award and all of those are eligible for the "SUPER-COVETED" SNAP!!! cache of the Year Award.   The idea of a Cache of the year came to us in 2011.  We took each of the winners of the Cache of the Day and laid them all out and eventually came down to 3 or 4 best of the year.  Here is the small list of each year's winners:

In 2011 we took a trip to Pennsylvania and visited GC59AF: Thousand Steps Cache.  To this day both Pam & I think of it as our best cache ever and it was named the 1st SNAP!!! Cache of the Year.

The 2012 winner was in Smithfield, VA,  GC3PTB0: Smithfield's Porcine Parade.

In 2013 the winner was a WVTim cache.  GC44RDE - The Key is the Key.  Note: This cache is now archived but there is a cache just like it in Virginia Beach - see GC59VFY.

In 2014 the winner was a great Wherigo cache in Norfolk: GC4XD7M - The Hermitage Gardens: A Walking Tour - hidden by Prytz+1.

In 2015 the winner was a fantastic cache just outside Clarion, PA: GCT397: Train Trestle Falls - hidden by Captain Crash.

Till next time!!!
Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!


Suffolk Nana & Papa - - - or just plain ol' - - - -  SNAP!!!  


On Twitter at: @SNAPgeocaching
On Instagram at: snap_geocaching

Friday, September 9, 2016

A Great Log...

A Really Great Geocaching Log!

For those of you who won a geocache that we have found, or for those who know us - you already know that we love great geocache logs!!!  In our humble opinion, the only thing that is almost as good as finding a really great cache is writing and getting comments back on a really great geocaching log.  Recently, a good friend of ours was out enjoying a great water cache when his day took an amusing but interesting twist.  With both his and the cache owner's permission, and for your amusement and enjoyment, here is his log for Happy Paddle XIX - GC5P4QC.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

p.s.; in order to publish a log this large, it had to be split into three parts.  
---

Another day and another set of water caches to try and find.....and get to. The getting to challenge wasn't planned into my itinerary. Yes, I went into this trip planning for only a “three hour tour”.  I obviously didn't do the appropriate reading/research about these six water caches I planned to do today that included "Hell or High Water". I also didn't realize others had challenges finding a route into the series of five caches that included "Hell or High Water". I didn't realize that the geocaching map showed a WRONG non-existent entranceway to the five caches in question. Apparently there was a lot "I didn't realize". 


After finding the first cache that was alone on a different offshoot, Happy Paddle XXXV, I made a fruitless search for the entranceway to these other five caches paddling back and forth over and over again all to no avail. I just couldn’t find this entrance that the geocache google map showed as being there. So I decided to study the satellite map closer. Hmmm, there looks like might be a way in, but it is all the way off of another branch of North Landing River. I finally got reoriented paddled the mile or so to what appeared to be an entrance and finally found a possible way in. Did I mention that the water levels are quite low today? I surveyed the inlet and had a sinking feeling. Do I really want to do this? I would have to go over 400 feet down this very narrow log strewn swampy inlet to reach the wider waterway where these caches were located! I was having second thoughts. I could not paddle my kayak through due to the low water levels. I read the logs and the cache page for the Hell or high water cache. That is when I realized that I probably should have researched better before heading out on this caching adventure. There was a reason one of these caches was called “Hell or High Water”! The cache page informed me that if the water level wasn’t high, it would be “HELL” getting to it. I decided in my infinite wisdom to proceed anyways. I had my dive boots on and I hopped out and started dragging the kayak through this tiny channel using my walking stick to test the bottom and sweep for snakes as I slowly plodded my way step by step. I got about half way and suddenly stepped in a spot and proceeded to sink way down to my waist in muck. Startled, I grabbed the kayak to stop my decent and in my haste one of my fingers caught the tether of one of my Garmin’s that was hanging out of my safety vest pocket and sent it flying through the air in a perfect arc into the water and muck.  Crap, dammit! Hope it is really water proof! I made my way over to the spot where the Garmin entered the water and reached down to try and find it. Would I find it fast? NO! Unfortunately the bottom swamp muck was very loose for about a foot in depth and as a result it took about 5 minutes to find my Garmin, but I did find it! Luckily it was turned off. I had a second Garmin that I was using for navigation and to leave those very important breadcrumbs……so I would be able get my ass back out of this god forsaken place I was heading into! At least I didn’t send that Garmin flying.  After that scare, I continued dragging my kayak down this damn water deprived inlet. I finally broke through and arrived at a spot where I could get back in my kayak. Time for a beer! 

After getting Happy Paddle XVIII with no issues, I headed confidently towards this cache. Tough to get in, but once in everything seemed fine and easy going. My spirits were up, the rest of this was going to be easy peasy!  So relaxed, I proceeded onward with the song “Cool Change” by the Little River Band playing in my head.
As I approached the island mentioned in the hint, I looked up, and that's when I noticed the very large water moccasin sunning himself and all curled up right at the point that my kayak was about to hit. He didn’t seem pleased with my rapid arrival. I immediately jerked on my paddle to stop my momentum and....wait for it.....caught the lanyard on the other Garmin I WAS USING TO NAVIGATE WITH and watched admiringly as it went flying in a perfect arc through the air and splash into the water.  CRAP, DAMMIT AGAIN! Did I mention that this water was much deeper than where I had splashed the other Garmin?  So now I had a decision to make. Do I try and retrieve this Garmin? I of course thought back to the ORM (Operational Risk Management) I had learned during my time in the Navy and have always used in situations like this. Wait a minute; I have never really been in a situation exactly like this.
OK, ORM. So what are the risks?
Well, there IS a very large water moccasin
He doesn’t look pleased with my presence
The water is at least waist deep
The bottom is very loose
I have no idea how far I will sink into the swamp muck if I get into the water
There is that snake!
Water Moccasins are venomous snakes
I am solo
I would have to get in the water
Next step is to list strategies to minimize the risks:
I have a stick!
I can get more distance between me and the snake.
I have beer!
I can drink a beer!  (Got to stay hydrated)
I have a stick!


So I decided to implement ORM risk mitigation strategies and execute my search and retrieval of my Garmin that we spent at least $300.00 for. I looked warily at the water moccasin and he was just watching me (or laughing his ass off and daring me to retrieve my Garmin). I was at a safe distance now but the Garmin entered the water much closer to where the water moccasin was.
I grabbed another beer out of the cooler, drank the beer, then took my vest off, grabbed my stick and entered the waist deep water. I said to myself over and over that "they are more afraid of us then we are of them"! I slowly started searching so as to not disturb the damn water moccasin. Did I mention that he was very large?  The snake seemed like it was not going to move so I took my eye off of it to better focus on my search. I needed to find this damn Garmin fast!

After about a minute or more of searching I looked up to check on the water moccasin and.....IT WAS GONE! Where did that damn snake go? I looked and looked and there was no sign of it. Crap, is it in the water now?  I looked all around to no avail. Do they attack from under water? I looked back at my kayak and the damn thing was slowly floating away! I lunged towards and grabbed my kayak, looped the bow rope around my wrist and moved back to commence my search with new motivation to find the Garmin fast. That was not to be. It took over 15 damn minutes (at least it seemed like 15 long minutes) before I finally came up with the damn Garmin all the while wondering where that damn snake was!

I remounted my kayak in record time. Looked around again for the damn snake, but it was nowhere to be seen. I then did what any other red blooded American would do after an experience like that and grabbed another ice cold beer from the damn cooler. After rehydrating, I went back to my search for the damn cache. I finally made the damn find after a short damn search. Still euphoric at being able to find my Garmin, I commenced to proceed further down this sheltered waterway towards the next cache hoping all along that the rest of my adventure would indeed be easy peasy.
I hope the damn Garmin's stay in the damn kayak for the remainder of my damn trip!  Oh, and the cache is in good damn shape!  I also added an extra damn tether (zip tie) to keep it in place. Original tether was getting pretty damn brittle. Thanks Dan!  Hope my description of my little adventure gave you a chuckle. Funny thing is it's all damn true!
By the way, I am adding this to my damn favorites! 
SL as jtmlam59. TNLN TFTDC!!! 
I hope you enjoyed the log.  I know you will agree with me when I say
 it was certainly a lot more amusing than "TFTC " or even "Found".

Coming soon - an amusing little contest for cachers in the Hampton Roads area.
Nothing big, but a idea I am borrowing from my geocaching friends "down under".
Look for details right here next week.
---
  Till next time!!!
Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!


Suffolk Nana & Papa - - - or just plain ol' - - - -  SNAP!!!  


On Twitter at: @SNAPgeocaching
On Instagram at: snap_geocaching

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Picnic Recap and Upcoming Events

14th Annual GCHR Picnic Recap

Early in the morning of the 13th Annual GCHR Picnic we had a terrific rain shower.  It lasted just over and hour but once it stopped - we had a terrific day!!!
Fast forward to last Saturday - Hurricane Hermine decided to pay the southern part of the Hampton Roads area a visit.  Lucky for us geocachers, the picnic is held in the northern part of the area.  Rain - yes we had it, Wind - yes we had that also.  BUT... it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could have been.  In fact - for those of you who could not make it - we had a pretty darn good picnic.


Somehow, the picnic committee came up with a huge tent!  The tent was large enough to hold the important stuff including our friends from Space Coast!!!


Just about everything, except the games, went off as planned.  Signal showed up at various times during the day and made everyone happy!
Multi-tasking... I was holding the umbrella and helping escort Signal to the morning picture
14th Annual GCHR Picnic Photo
After the photo and another brief rainstorm the Lab Caches were published and most
of the attendees took off in numerous directions.


I set up on a middle table and answered local information questions, GSAK questions and then watched about 300 trackables make their way from one geocacher to another.  REMINDER:  There are still quite a few trackables logged into the page for the picnic - please don't forget to log any trackables you picked up.

The Picnic committee and volunteers did a terrific job!!!  

Also - special thanks goes out to Dale and Barb from Space Coast Geocaching Store (click here to visit their store) - they not only showed up for the picnic but also donated geocaching gear to the picnic.  They drove all the way from Florida in the storm just to attend our picnic.  Please make sure to stop by their store anytime you need something geocaching related.
The log for the picnic
Thanks to everyone who braved the weather and came to the picnic!!!

UPCOMING EVENTS
Here are some other events in the area we plan to attend.
 Mark your calendars – hope to see you at some of these events!

Saturday – September 17 – James City County, VA
GC6QHZ7 – Powhatan Creek PADDLING EVENTure
Just off of the blueway
10 till 11 AM
Tuesday – September 20 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6Q9N0 – 3rd Tuesday – HIDEY AWARD RALLY – GCHR Sept Event
Rick’s Cafe
6 till 8 PM
Tuesday – September 22 – Chesapeake, VA
GC6RGY0 – AACC – September 22, 2016
Elizabeth River Boat Landing Park
4 till 6 PM
Tuesday – November 1 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6Q9TM – The Nominees Are…..
Rick’s Cafe
6 till 8 PM
Saturday – January 7 – Virginia Beach, VA
GC6HYJ2 – 10 Years! Milestones M-n-G and Hidey Awards!
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
5 till 9 PM

  Till next time!!!
Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!


Suffolk Nana & Papa - - - or just plain ol' - - - -  SNAP!!!  


On Twitter at: @SNAPgeocaching
On Instagram at: snap_geocaching