Thanksgiving Weekend (Part 3)

This is part 3 of the recap for the last minute trip Nana & I took Thanksgiving weekend.  You can read Part 1 of this recap by clicking here and Part 2 by clicking here.

We stayed Friday night in a nice hotel near Newark and then decided to finish up the northern side of the canal and then proceed to the southern part.  We also decided that with all the problems we had with the hunters we would stay near the canal and not venture anywhere into the woods so as to not tempt our fate.

We finished up the few caches (5) we had left on the northern side then took a very old and high steel bridge over to the northern side.  Saturday was about 10 - 15 degrees colder than the previous days and to top things off there was a steady 15 knot wind that was gusting up to 25 knots.

Now on the north side of the canal we kept finding caches one after another.  One of the cuter caches we found was in a bird watching area.  This is not a Duck (GC3WGPC) earned a favorite point from us as being creative and unusual (compared to the others along the canal).

There is a small portion of the caches along the canal that require you to walk/bike.  We found a place to park the SNAP-mobile and then proceeded to walk the 2.4 mile round trip hike.  We did all the odd number caches on the way to the end and even numbers on the way back.

We were heading towards C&D H/B #11 (the fartherest cache from the parking area) and about 250 feet from GZ when all of the sudden there was a volley of gun fire.  Really really close gun fire.  Yes we were in the No Hunting area but we were really close to this old rusty fence that was the boundary.  Needless to say we did not continue towards GZ but instead turned around immediately and headed back to the SNAP-mobile picking up the even number caches along the way.  It was about this time that I realized (in case there was any doubt) that Nana & I are addicted to geocaching.  Here we are hundreds of miles from home, over a mile from the SNAP-mobile,  temperature in the lower 40s with very gusty wind, gun fire all around us - and we are geocaching!!!  Yes - we are addicted!!!

We finally made it back to the SNAP-mobile, slowly thawed ourselves out and then continued westward picking up caches every three or four telephone poles along the way!

When we got to the end of the southern side we were rewarded with a puzzle cache (C&D #55).  We made the puzzle cache much harder than it should be but eventually made the find.

The last cache we attempted on the day was Mason Dixon Stone at C&D Canal (GC2TRQ5) - this was Pam's favorite cache of the day as it not only was a puzzle cache but also gave us a Benchmark and a Waymark.  The only problem was that the final to claim the geocache was back along the canal in a hunting area.  We claimed the find for the Benchmark and Waymark but left the actual cache for another day.

Cold exhausted and tired we then decided to make the 4 hour drive home and use Sunday as a rest day before the work week starts again.

We loved the C&D canal but wish we knew ahead of time how close to the hunting areas we would be.  Guess we will just have to make another trip to the area to pick up the caches we skipped.

Recap of the weekend:
174 - total caches found
surpassed  4000 finds and 4100 finds
added 5 different months on our Jasmer chart (in 2001 and 2000)

Just s a side note - we were thinking of all the local geocachers down in the Hampton Roads area while we were doing these caches - so much so we decided to take a special pic just for a particular group in our home area.  Now before you judge me too harshly - please remember - I (Papa) am no longer any where as nimble as I used to be - also - this was my fist time trying this.  Dean - the below pic is just for you!!!!

Favorite Caches on the day were:
C&D 55 End of std Delaware Caches - GC2T6KG
This is not a Duck -    GC3WGCP

Winner of the "Coveted" Nana & Papa Cache of the Day Award - The entire C&D series published by The Delaware Commission

As Always - Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

SNAP!!! - Suffolk Nana & Papa

Thanksgiving Weekend (Part 2)

This is part 2 of the recap for the last minute trip Nana & I took Thanksgiving weekend.  You can read part 1 of this recap by clicking here.

We stayed near Woodbridge Va the first night and got up early on Friday morning to get a good start on the day.  During the evening we had discussed our plans for the next day and decided to start the day with Virginia's oldest active cache and then proceed over to the C&D canal in Maryland and Delaware.

Burke Lake Park (GC175) is currently the oldest active geocache in the state of Virginia.  We made our way up to the park and only had to walk a very short distance to make the find.  I looked to be a beautiful day although it was crisp and cool when we made the find.

From Woodbridge Va we slowly made our way over to the C&D canal and started our trek along the canal just after 12 noon.

Nana & I had picked a beautiful day to do the canal but we did learn a valuable lesson.  Don't get us wrong when you read this, we highly recommend the series but plan out your trip better than we did.  There are well over 150 caches along this canal - most of them are named C&D ###.  There are numerous other caches here but they are further inland from the canal and require going into the woods - sometimes for quite a distance.  Our problem was this was a major hunting weekend and on more than one occasion we were scared to go any further inland because of all the hunters and gun shoots we heard.  Bring some blaze orange if you decide to do this series in the fall.

We started on the north side of the canal at the western end and proceeded east and at the beginning of the day we even grabbed a few caches that were inland from the canal.

If you have never done a power trail they are an interesting way of increasing your numbers.  Make sure you read the page for the first cache in the series as there are usually notes and other information included on that particular page.  For instance:  the page for C&D #01 contains the following note:

NOTE: there should NOT be any DNF's. Take a few spare micro containers and logs with you. If you find a cache is missing, just replace it (claiming a find) and move on--better for you and much less work for the Commission

We moved along the canal heading east and didn't really have an problems until about the half-way point of the canal and that was when we first started noticing all the hunters.  A little further on we started hearing the gun shots and shortly thereafter we decided that unless the cache was right on the canal we would leave it for another time.

If you go to do this series also check out the waypoint information available on C&D #01.  These will tell you how to get to certain parts of the trail.

The good news is that they are the process of paving hte northern side of the canal.  This did cause us to detour around several caches to get around all the vehicles but on our way back we were able to pick up the ones we had skipped.  It looks like they are making a bunch of improvements on the trail but be prepared.  There are absolutely no rest room facilities any where along the trail!!!

Out of the 80 caches we did on day two of this trip, 79 of them were along the north side of the canal.  We replaced one container, added baggies to a few more whose logs were soaking wet and replaced a few logs with new ones.

We did run into (not literally) another cacher, (Ovaron) who was biking the entire canal - WHEW!!!  If you have the time - please read his log (click here and scroll down to November 23, 2012) it was an amazing feat.

Although we did not have a winner of the "Coveted" Nana & Papa Cache of the Day we decided while talking later that night that the entire series will receive the award.

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon.

As Always - Stay Safe & Keep Caching.

SNAP!!! - Suffolk Nana & Papa