The LAST day of SNAP!!!'s "GeoWoodstock and more" trip

For those that are just joining us, Nana & I have had this 9 day geocaching trip scheduled for almost a year with daily TARGETs we hope to do each day.  Here is a recap of the previous days.

Day 1 Target - travel to GeoWoodstock13 - accomplished
Day 2 Target - Events prior to GeoWoodstock13 - accomplished
Day 3 Target - GeoWoodstock13 - accomplished
Day 4 Target - Train Trestle Falls (GCT397) - accomplished
Day 5 Target - State Game Lands #109 (GC184) – accomplished
Day 6 Target - The Spot (GC39) – accomplished
Day 7 Target - NH #1 - Mines Follies - accomplished
Day 8 Target - Sleepy Hollow-1 - accomplished

We really didn't want to wake up.  This was our last day of what had been a fantastic trip.  Geocaching, historical sites, plenty of Earthcaches, Virtuals, even a Webcam or 2.  We drove on the beach at Lake Erie, managed to find 2 caches in Ohio and color that state as "found".   It had been great but here was dawn of our last day.  Hopefully a few more finds before heading all the way back to Suffolk, Virginia.

We slowly packed the car and headed towards today's target cache.

But first we found this great Earthcache, GC2C1D8 Potomac Marble - an earthcache about rocks, what more could Nana want.  I can answer that, she wanted to take the rocks!  Nope, can't have that!!!

GC172 - Backyard Stash - hidden in January of 2001 this was today's Target Cache!!!  There were three parking coordinates on the cache page and I am not sure but I firmly believe I picked the one set of parking coordinates that were the farthest away from the cache!  Anyway, it was a lovely walk through the woods and we actually passed right by (within 10 feet) of parking coordinates #2 spot.  <DRAT!>   Shortly we happened upon GZ and once again, it took us far longer than it should have to find the cache.  We took the long march back to the SNAP!!!-mobile knowing we had only a few caches left on our list.

The last two caches on the list took is to a small park with a lot of history.  GC330F - Small park for a big battle is a Virtual cache in this little park.  The other cache in this same park is named after one of the Generals who dies in the battle that took place here.

Although we spent a lot of the day traveling home we did manage to find a grand total of 4, count 'em four caches today!   2 Traditional, 1 Earthcache and 1 Virtual.

Hope to see everyone at the Picnic!

Until next time...

Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

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

Day 4 of SNAP!!!'s "Geowoodstock13 and more" trip.

Day 4 was supposed to start with rising from our slumber about 6 and maybe hitting the road by 7 or 7:30.  I guess it was the anticipation of the Day 4 "TARGET" cache that awoke us early, but as it ended up we were packed up and headed towards McD's for morning coffee just a few minutes after 6AM.

A mini version of the Vietnam Memorial

We grabbed a few roadside caches heading west out of Hagerstown and then proceeded slowly to the TARGET area grabbing a few caches here and there.  I had set up this trip planning to hit one main target cache each day.  While traveling between targets we mainly concentrated on 1) Virtuals, 2) Earthcaches, Memorials, and of course Nana's favorites: cemetery caches.

Circle of Soldiers Memorial

We made it up to Altoona, PA and grabbed our first Virtual of the day along with 2 cemetery caches before heading onward.  As we continued on grabbing caches here and there I managed to surprise Nana with a stop in DuBois, PA.  The city was renamed DuBois and was established as a lumber town by a relative of mine back in the 1800's.  A monument stands near the site of his grave and the view of the city from there is amazing.

Nana & Papa at the DuBois Memorial

Shortly after leaving DuBois we arrived near our TARGET cache for the day.  It must have been almost 3 years ago, while scrolling through some videos on You Tube, or maybe it was on Facebook, anyway, I happened upon this video of a cache near an old abandoned railroad tunnel and bridge.  Amazed at what the video showed, I immediately added Train Trestle Falls [GCT397] to our watch list and always planned on dropping by the next time we were in the area.

The entrance

After leaving the four lane highway, the leaving the two lane highway, then the country road, the gravel road and driving down the dirt road we turned around and found the parking spot.  We took several minutes to load up some water, apply the bug spray, grab the hiking sticks, the flashlight and change into the boots before eventually making our way down the trail.

At the entrance

Minutes later as we rounded a corner, the temperature dropped and we saw gaping before us the entrance to what must have been an awesome railroad tunnel.  There were some friendly muggles standing near their ATVs who quickly assured Nana that there were "no critters" of any sort anywhere inside the tunnel.  Ever so slowly we made our way through the tunnel (which we now know was about 0.45 miles) and slowly made our way towards the light, literally, at the end of the tunnel!

The view was fantastic, the walk out on the old trestle (which is NOT required for this cache) tested my intestinal fortitude just a little but in the end I was glad I went out as far as I did.  No, Nana did not venture out onto the bridge, in fact, she did not even make me leave the SNAP!!!-mobile keys with her before I ventured out!!!

The other side!

Would you venture out there?

All that was left from this point on, was a half mile walk down a really nice path to get to within 170 feet of the cache.  From there I will simply tell you your adventure has not ended.  I do not want to spoil all of your fun but I will tell you this:  Once we were back through the tunnel nestled snuggly in the SNAP!!!-mobile, waiting for the AC to cool us down, Both of us agreed, this cache was definitely in our top 3 caches of all time!  A real must do cache!

Part of the view

Can you see Nana?

Papa on the way back!

The cache is down this path

We finished off the day with a quick trip down the road and spent the night near Meadville, PA.  Can you guess which cache will be our TARGET for day 5??  It is really close by!

The Day 4 totals added another 18 finds for us.  1 Puzzle/Challenge, 1 Virtual and 16 Traditionals.

Our next blog will cover Day 5, the Target Cache for that day and , of course, the others we managed to squeeze in.

As Always - - Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

Suffolk Nana & Papa - - - or - - - SNAP!!!