The passing of a friend - alara

On January 23, 2019 the geocaching community lost a really good friend.

alara - 1958 - 2019

Most of the geocaching community knew him as alara.  Some in the geocaching

community knew him as the creator of "alara's wacky adventure" a yearly event

which always involved a road trip to hike up a mountain somewhere.

These hikes all involved friends, fun and geocaching but most of all scenic

views where we all could consider life, family and see the majesty of the world.

The last time we were together on the trails

Nana & I also knew him as Alan.  He was frequently our geocaching companion

on road trips and in the local area.  Truth be told, he is the primary person

responsible for SNAP!!! Geocaching.  He is the one how showed us

the ropes and taught a few simple rules to geocaching.  He taught us that is 

not always about the numbers, but about the adventure of finding the cache.

Resting on the way to the top

Back in early June of 2009, Nana & I had a total of 3 finds when alara

took us on a circular day trip from our home in Suffolk, down into North Carolina,

over to Murfreesboro, and the back to Franklin, VA before returning home.

16 finds on that day and we were hooked.

alara (and others) at The Rune Stones at Hardwood's Mill

Two years later, in October of 2011, alara introduced us to his Wacky alara Adventure.

He explained it was a yearly trip he undertook to tackle a geocache with

a lot of favorite points.  It usually involved a mountain with a really good hike.

The main target of this particular Wacky Adventure took us to

Thousand Steps Cache (GC59AF) located in central Pennsylvania.

alara at Thousand Steps Cache

    

 Nana & I found close to 2500 caches with alara.  He was one of the those

cachers who didn't log every cache he found.  I know he had found

over 100 SNAP!!! caches here in Suffolk that he had never logged.

He found his first cache on 6/11/2004 and his last, with Nana & I,

on 1/21/2018.

He was not only my friend and fellow cacher.

He was my best friend.

He will be missed.

SNAP!!!