Hyde County, North Carolina

If you find yourself tiring of the urban caches and have nothing better to do this (or any other) weekend.  Take a very nice country drive down to the area surrounding Hyde County NC.  Hyde County is just over 1400 sq miles and includes Ocracoke Island.  You can knock Hyde county off your NC checklist though by grabbing two really nice caches near Englehard NC.

GC381EG - PorkChop's Rest Stop is located in the heart of Englehard

GC3TBJF - Dixie Invincibles is a really nice historic cache located just south of Englehard

Just north of the Hyde County line is a series of caches by ScouterHal.  This CO has gone out of his way to take you on a driving tour of the Gum Neck area.  A series of seven caches awaits you.  Some are located on dirt roads but take it from us - those dirt roads are much smoother than the average paved road in Virginia!!!  The cache page promises you all sorts of scenery and for the most part - the area delivered.  We just happened to hit this area during planting season so we got to see a lot of dirt fields!!!  There was a particular cache we were heading to that took us through a Wildlife Management area.  We were traveling down this dirt road at about 35 mph when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpses of two turkeys.  The male had all of his tail feathers on display!  I immediately slowed down and told the others I was backing up and to get the cameras ready.  As I slowly backed the SNAP-mobile up, they opened their doors, cameras in hand.  All of the sudden we heard laughing!   "Don't bother.  They are decoys!" said a voice from the woods.  So much for a great picture!  Look up GC1CZX6 - Welcome to Gum Neck, the page explains how all four of the seven caches are interconnected and a quick look on the map around that area will reveal the other three caches in the series.

On the west side of Hyde County is a little town called Belhaven, NC.   The small town contains 5 caches (as well as the emergency room I visited due to the ammo can bite I received from the above caches).  Note:  If someone reads this and makes the trip - please give me a hint on "The Bells of Belhaven" cache that we couldn't find!.

There are numerous other caches in the area, most in small towns while driving to Hyde County.   The weekend we went down to this area proved to be a very good geocaching day!

As always - Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

SNAP!!! - Suffolk Nana & Papa

Another great geocaching trip

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog on how sometimes, the best geocaching trips are the last minute trips, with no planned agenda other than to stay gone for a weekend and go geocaching.  On the other hand, we just completed a geocaching trip that had been on the calendar for months.

Several months ago we found out that one of our sons who geocaches under the name of GeoChef74 had several of his caches nominated for a local award for Best Geocahcing Series in the Northern Virginia area.  There was an event planned to name the winners of the awards and Nana & I figured it would be a big surprise if we showed up.

While planning this trip we noticed there were quite a few different types of caches in the area.  Once you have been geocaching for a while, you will begin to hear about Geocaching Challenges or Challenge Caches.  One of the different types of Challenge Caches is City/County – where you must find at least one cache in every County and Independent City in Virginia.  Another type is Types of Geocaches (sometimes called Busy Day Challenges) – where in order to claim a find on the cache you must find 5, 6 or 7 different types of caches in a single day.  We had been working on the County/City challenge for quite some time but while looking at the map of the area we realized there was a pretty good chance we could qualify for the Busy Day challenge if we were lucky.

We got up early and found a nearby Traditional cache but then ran into a problem at an Earthcache.  To claim the find at the Earthcache we needed to be able to get inside a local spot but the hours of operation had changed and the place no longer opened at 8AM.  We hung our heads and moved on to a nearby Virtual and grabbed the needed information for that find.

We then proceeded over to Claude Moore Park and assisted the NoVaGo geocachers clean up around the park for their CITO event.  After turning in our trash bag we then grabbed a very nice and well laid out Puzzle cache in the park.

The next few hours we hung out with the NoVaGo cachers at the award event and got some directions to another nearby Earthcache.

Our son did not win the award for Best Series but as the event wrapped up we all piled in the vehicles and headed over to a quick Multi-cache nearby.

We followed the directions the local cachers had given us and then walked part of a fantastic biking trail to claim our Earthcache for the day.

As we made our way back to our son’s house for what ended up being a very nice dinner and visit, we grabbed a few more caches in the area but ended up grabbing a very nice Puzzle box in downtown Fairfax to qualify for our Busy day Challenge with 8 different Types of caches found on a single day!!!

Traditional Cache - GC29RY1 – A Tiny TB Hotel

Virtual Cache – GCFB0E - Cold War Echoes: Nike Site W-83C

CITO – GC45MBZ - NoVAGO 2013 CITO at Claud Moore

Puzzle Cache – GC2RVB3 – A Walk Along Vestal’s Gap

Event Cache – GC45VT8 – 2013 NoVAGO … Celebrate Spring At Claud Moore

Multi-Cache – GCGPWG – Virginia Trains and Roads

Earth Cache – GC2AJ1D – Quarry Overlook Earth Cache

Letterbox – GC3P481 – Independence Day

As Nana & I were driving home the next day we stopped in each city and county we needed for the Virginia County and City Challenges.  By the end of the trip we had found caches in 11 different Counties and/or Cities, filled in 3 more Delorme pages and had a total of 30 finds added to our total.

Yes, sometimes the best geocaching trips are those last minute – just take off – trips, but you can have quite a lot of fun on the planned trips also!!!

As always – Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

SNAP!!! – Suffolk Nana & Papa

We found out the hard way – we need to add some items to our first aid kit!

One standard item most geocachers carry with them while out and about is a first aid kit.  Our kit contains the standard bandages, ointments, poison ivy pens, wipes, etc.  We found out the hard way this last weekend, we need a better stocked kit!  Compounding the need for a better kit was the fact we were at least an hour away from the nearest Emergency Room!!!

I was standing behind the large tree in amongst the vines and briars in Hyde County North Carolina.  My intent was to pick up the nice big ammo can we had just located and pass it to another member of our caching team so it could be opened, inventoried, signed and returned to me to re-hide.  What happened, quite by mistake, put a big hole in our caching day!  As I lifted the can, preparing to pass it out, the can popped open on one side.  This resulted in the bottom of the can swinging open, pinching the palm of my right hand at the pivot point.  OUCH!

I, of course, dropped the can and noticed the missing chuck of meat from my palm.  After passing the can to my team, I extricated myself from the vines and thorns and then proceeded to clean my wound, apply a sorta-clean bandage and apply direct pressure to stop the bleeding.  We shortly realized we needed more gauze and bandages than we had available.  My intent, at the time, was to get the bleeding to stop and then bandage the wound good enough to continue caching till we got back home and then and only then access the need for further assistance. 

We finished with that cache and then decided to keep on caching.

Several caches later I slowly came to the realization that the bleeding, although it had slowed, was not going to stop.  A quick check of the SNAP-mobile’s Nuvi showed the closest medical facilities to be at least 40 miles away, or, in caching terms, at least 3 or 4 more caches down the road.

We continued westward towards Belhaven, North Carolina, grabbing a few caches along the way.

Belhaven is a cute little coastal town in Beaufort county North Carolina.  Their claim to fame, at least as far as I was concerned on Saturday, was the fact that the town not only contained 5 caches but also contained a very nice Emergency room.  45 minutes after checking in I was released.  My hand was now wrapped, the bleeding had stopped, and as I found my caching team mates waiting for me, I had only one question for them.  “Where’s the next cache!”

Nana & I have decided to restock our first aid kit so it will be of a little more use.  Hopefully it will be a long time before we have to use it again!

Special thanks to the Belhaven Hospital and the doctors, nurses and staff of the Emergency Room .  They were all extremely nice and helpful, pleasant to deal with and I am extremely thankful that they were on duty Saturday!

As always, Stay Safe & Keep Caching!

SNAP!!! – Suffolk Nana & Papa

Last minute geocaching trips are sometimes “THE BEST”

As I pulled into the driveway from work Friday evening, Nana met me at the door (oh-oh!!!).   She pulls me aside and says she had an idea - "Let's take off and go geocaching!  I’ve had a week full of kids and it’s time to go off by ourselves!  The car is full of gas and I have everything ready to pack, let’s go caching!"  (Whew!)

 

After talking about it for a few minutes, we decided to leave early in the morning and head to the Eastern Shore.  I think she had her heart set on Greensville, NC but by the end of the weekend I think she was more than happy with our quick weekend trip up to Assateague and then into Maryland and back home again.  We ended up finding 34 caches on Saturday including and 25 on Sunday!!!

It had been almost 3 years since we had cached on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and I was anxious to go back and see some more of the history of the area.

Some of the highlights of our trip were:

Cape Charles, VA - 2 nice caches right on the waterfront.  One of them is an earthcache:  Chesapeake Bay Bolide

Indiantown Recreation Park - a beautiful little park located just east of Eastville, VA - we found 5 of the even caches in the park!

Onacock, VA has a series of six caches which tour the quaint old town and visit some of the historic sights

Makemie Monument Park, located on the Chesapeake side of the Eastern shore is a little park way out in the middle of no-where-ville.  Unfortunately we were unable to make the find here but the park sure had some great scenery.

Chincoteague has plenty of caches spread around the fishing community and nearby Assateague Island has an Earthcache and a Virtual.

Favorite points were awarded to the following caches over the two days of Caching:

GC3FTT1 – The Bunker – hidden by Banshee74 - located in the Virginia Eastern Shore Wildlife Refuge the cache is located at the site of old Fort John Custis.  The bunker used to house 16 inch guns used to protect the naval bases and shipyards located in the Hampton Roads area. There were about 800 soldiers stationed to defend the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay.

GC3CGX9 – CJS – Cape Charles Historic Dictrict – part of the Captain John Smith series.

GC38V65 – What a wreck! – hidden by Kivotos – located down a small trail there was apparently a meteorological tower here long ago.

GC33T6B – Another bank in the red – hidden by Kivotos – lovely scenery near a public boat ramp

GC3PQK5 – Nursery Keeper (Micro) – hidden by TeamMedlock – located in a small park which was commemorated to a local Nursery owner.

GC2YRB8 – The Healing Garden – hidden by Banshee74 – a tricky little cache in a lovely memorial garden

GC3CGZ8 – CJS – Onancock #2 Ker Place – another of the Captain John Smith series – a beautiful old house and garden.

GCHN4C – guard the beach – hidden by volks-man – a very nice stroll down the beach and then inland a little – guarantee you will remember this location for quite some time!

GC39Z63 – Farewell to Sassy – hidden by Run&Hike – antoher scenic location and a great story to go with the cache.

GC1BPNK – Chincoteague Bay Earthcache – hidden by Run&Hike – located near the above cache, the scenery here is to be remembered.

GC17D0C – Crossing the Wagram – this cache had been on our DNF list since the last time we were up this way.  Almost three years later we redeem ourselves by making the find!  Hope the cache owner doesn’t mind if I steal this idea for our own version.

GC16XED – You get a line, I’ll get a pole! – hidden by Run&Hike – another great cache idea we might steal for our own version!

Winners of the “COVETED” SNAP!!! Cache of the Day were:

Saturday – GCBBF7 – Assateague Lighthouse – hidden by lidar0101 – A virtual cache full of history!

Sunday – GC2WVGV – Ahoy Mate, Curtis Merritt Harbor – the location was great but the cache container was even better.  Nana & I have almost 5000 finds and had never seen this before!!!

The view from our room!

When we made it back home late Sunday we totaled up the finds.  1 Virtual, 1 Puzzle, 1 Letterbox, 4 Earthcaches and 52 Traditional caches – plus I got to do them all with my great caching partner – NANA - not bad for a last minute trip!!!!

As Always – Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

SNAP!!! – Suffolk Nana & Papa

Large Geocaches

After a day (or several weeks) of finding Nano, Micro and Small Geocaches nothing will brighten your day like stumbling upon a large geocache.  In an effort to help you get some really big smiles I have combined this list of the large geocaches around the Hampton Roads area.  DISCLAIMER: The following geocaches are listed as LARGE which doesn’t mean that some of the cache owners didn’t have a trick or two up their sleeves.  

Working from the peninsula southward they are:

Peninsula Toy Box, GCMPHF, a 1.5/1.5 cache located deep in the wilds of Newport News Park and hidden by VA CHB.  Nana & I really enjoyed the hike to this one!  Originally hidden on Feb 5, 2005.

Turkey's Delight, GCNP18, another 1.5/1.5 cache also located deep in Newport News Park but hidden by 5 Lost Marbles.  Although Nana & I haven’t tried this one yet it is on our list!  Originally hidden on Apr 28, 2005.

Raiders of the Lost Ark, GC34RA8, a rather unique and very well put together 3.5/2.5 cache located in the woods just south of Newport News Park and hidden by Scottish Cavaleryman.  This cache earned both a favorite point and was Named the winner of the “COVETED” SNAP!!! Cache of the Day award back on January 29^th, 2012.  This cache is a multiple Hidey Award Winner!!!  Originally hidden on Oct 7, 2011.

Crater Raider, GC2K86H, another cache on our to-do list.  This is a 3/1.5 cache located just north-east of the Newport News-Williamsburg Airport.  Originally hidden by RiverratJTAC on Dec 19, 2010.

Forgot the Galoshes!, GC2KKBE, a 3/2 cache located just west on Denbigh.  A short hike will reveal this cache to you!  Originally hidden on Dec 24, 201 by RiverratJTAC.

The tackle box, GC3WFP4, another cache on our to-do list – this is a 3/2 cache located on the Poquoson waterfront  and hidden by DiddyK1 on Sep 9, 2012.

It's a Log Way Home, GC3NNJJ is a 2.5/3 cache located in Riverfarm Park near Oyster Point.  You will enjoy this large park.  Hidden by Vaalltheway and originally hidden on June 16, 2012.

A Cache for Jay Before He Croaks., GC14JXV.  This is a tricky 5/5 cache located in Northside Park in Norfolk.  This cache earned a favorite point from Nana & I.  Hidden by seymorechase on Jul 23, 2007.

H.R. Curse of the FTF # 21 - Lone Star Lakes, GC20TF8.  Located in Lone Star Lakes Park out here in Suffolk.  This is a 2/2.5 cache hidden by Eddienadeddie on Nov 8, 2009.

High Five, GC3Y6ZK.  The camo job on this cache is amazing!  Located in Bennetts Creek Park in Suffolk, this is a 2.5/3 cache hidden by toystory2 on Oct 6, 2012.  This cache earned a favorite point from Nana & I and was the Winner of the “COVETED” SNAP!!! Cache of the Day Award!!!

 Lie in Our Graves, GC1HPZW.  This is another cache on our to-do list but we have logged a DNF at least once on this one.  Hidden in Virginia Beach near Norfolk Avenue this is a 3/4.5 cache hidden by DMB4Life on Oct 31, 2008.

Briar Patch , GC363YK is a 2/3.5 cache located in Sleepy Hole Park in Suffolk.  An interesting cache location with a really nice view of the river.  Hidden by toystory2 on Oct 16, 2011.

Joe Isuzu, GC24BAR.  A 4.5/4.5 Cache located just off of Military Highway in Chesapeake.  This cache earned a favorite point from Nana & I and was hidden by Little Joe on Feb 25, 2010.

Hunt Club Farm, GCKMPG is a 1/1.5 cache located at a business just off of London Bridge Road in Virginia Beach.  This cache was hidden by tomcatATgod on Sep 23, 2004.

Duplicity, GC2X8RW is a 4/5 cache located just off of N Battlefield Blvd in Chesapeake.  A rather unique cache hidden by the Adventure Stones on May 30, 2011.

Southside Toy Box, GCMMJT.  Believe it or not this cahce is still on our to-do list as every time we think about heading out this way it rains.  Located in the Princess Anne section of Virginia Beach this is a 1/1.5 cache hidden by Episcodad.

SNAP 26 - A Nice Walk In The Woods ?!?, GC2H5G5.  Bring your mosquito spray if you attempt this one in the summer.  This cache is located near a boat ramp in Suffolk.  Rated a 2.5/3 cache and was hidden by Nana & I on Oct 23, 2010.

SNAP 35 - CD Exchange, GC2PCE8.  Located near downtown Suffolk, it is a short walk to make the find.  This cache was hidden by Nana & I and is rated a 2/2.5 cache and was originally hidden on Feb 26, 2011.

SSL #17 Welcome To the Jungle, GC44CCT.  At this time of year you should have no problem getting to this cache but beware in the Spring and Summer months.  Rated a 3/4.5, this very simple puzzle cache was just hidden (Jan 13, 2013) in Cypress Park in Suffolk by S&Slaird.

Hole In One, GC14769.  Watch out for flying golf balls when you go to the Las Gaviotas area of Chesapeake.  This cache is rated 1/1 and was hidden by CookieFinder on July 8, 2007.

Stop, Drop, and Roll, GC24WHB.  Another cache on our to-do list, this cache is located in Northwest River Park in southern Chesapeake.  Rated 2.5/3.5 this cache was hidden by TandA21on Mar10, 2010.

There are four more large geocaches located between the Virginia state line and Edenton.  Nana & I have only done one of them but we plan on trying for the others when we head down that way for the Elizabeth City Meet n Greet on March 3^rd (see GC453AE).

The Treasure of Tull's Bay; Tiffani #8, GC3BBJ4.  Located just over the Virginia state line this is part of the Tulls Bay series.  Rated a 2/2 it was hidden by knotfamilyfyte on Jan 22, 2012.

Which Came First?, GC3P9K1 is located just off route 17 on the way to Elizabeth City.  The cache is rated as a 1.5/1.5 and was hidden by pattycake3 on Jun 25, 2012.

Chicken Scratch, GC3WY8F was also hidden by pattycake3 and is just south of Elizabeth City.  It is rated as a 2/3 cache and was hidden on Sep 16, 2012.

Rocky Hock Buggy, GC3XCVM.  Another pattycake3 cache that is located a little further south (just north of Edenton, NC).  It is rated 1.5/1.5 and was hidden on Sep 23, 2012.

Of course there are other large caches out there for you to find: 5 in the Richmond area, several on the Outer Banks but the list above was a breakdown of those in the Hampton Roads area.

As always, Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

SNAP!!! – Suffolk Nana & Papa

J

Caching Series

Here in the Hampton Roads area we are blessed to have numerous geocaching series.  Here are just a few of the series that are available in the area.

Caching Nemo - 7 caches in this series - GC2C59D is the first cache in the series.  This is a really fun series and great for kids.

Fido's Lost - although only 2 of the original 4 caches in this series are still available both are well worth attempting.  GC12QW0

Christmas Lights (Newport News) - a fairly new series that is lads of fun!!!  GC41YYY

GCHR Battleship Series - over 100 caches based on the classic board game of Battleships.  GC3DX0F

Battlefield Blvd Series - just published in the last few weeks - a variety of hides as far as difficulty is concerned.  A 10 caches series that can easily be accomplished in just a few hours.  GC45FQY

D/T Grid - over 80 caches in this series that covers the entire Difficuly/Terrain grid.  GC3XYXF

ECUSA Welcomes You - spread all over the Hampton Roads area - GCV22G

 Get A Clue - A 10 cache series similar to the board game Clue - GC3EWX3

HR Alphabet Series - hidden by a variety of users - GC1GJRD

Just another Micro - JAM - a cute series up on the peninsula - GC1JJ5Y

Kilo India Sierra Sierra - 7 easy caches in this Virginia Beach series - GC42MKK

Oh The Memories (OTM) - another small series in Virginia Beach - GC3JBQR

Patriots Series - A difficult series located in Virginia Beach - GC37M78

Presents forDaddy - a cute little series just published before Christmas 2012 - GC431M4

Rock Band Series - commonly referred to by some as the Damn Neck Death March - this series is more easily accomplished on bikes - I do not recommend trying to walk it - GC38JAC

The 1st Day of Christmas - this series is in Gloucester - GC2KG58

The Enneagram Series - scattered around Virginia beach - GC2CZKJ

The Greek Myths - a new southside series - GC45BGA

The Treasure of Tull's Bay - a 15 part caching series spread between Chesapeake and North Carolina - GC3B4J4

Tom Hanks - a really nice series of caches on the peninsula - GC2NETC

USTA B Series - a small series in Suffolk - GC2VY8Y

WCP Series - a small series in Windsor Castle Park in Smithfield - GC21FK9

The Amazing Geo-Race - spread accross the southside - GC34T5R

HAVE FUN!!!

SNAP 2012 Year in review... and the Winner of the "Coveted" SNAP Cache of the year!!!!

Nana & I have had a terrific year geocaching not only around the Hampton Roads area but also in North Carolina, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland and Tennessee.

January found us geocaching around the local area but two of the outstanding geocaches we found that month were Raiders of the Lost Ark (GC34RA8) and Temple of Doom (GC37QBC).  We only found 96 caches in January but I was still recovering from the sickness I had over the holidays.

February started off with the 5th Annual Meet n Greet hosted by episcodad.  There was a terrific turnout and everyone had a tremendous time.  The month ended with the publishing of The Treasure of Tull's Bay series (see GC3AQP4).  One of the best geocaches we found that month was The Rune Stones of Harwood's Mill (GC1YBHP) a fantastic puzzle cache and we attacked it as part of a huge team.

March had us mostly in Virginia Beach.  Somewhere in the middle of the month we officially renamed the new Rock Band Series (see GC39AF3) as "The Damn Neck Death March" after we tried (unsuccessfully) to do the series on foot!!!  The new name stuck, at least for a few months as we received more than one comment about the new name.  Note: we still haven't finished all of the caches in this series.

April was our biggest month ever as far as finds.  We found a total of 635 caches this month and set a new personal record of 309 finds in a single day.  I doubt we will ever break that record but then again - we are talking about doing the ET trail out in Nevada!  Also in April we managed to find more of the Damn Neck Death march series and also started the Amazing Geo-Race series (see GC34QA0).  We still, as of this date have not finished the Race but plan on getting back to it now that winter has set in.  One of the single day road trips we did as part of Team S&M (Jim & Lynn of jtmlam59) was a tour of West Point then coming back to Hampton Roads via Gloucester.  We finished off the month by teaming up with Jim & Lynn to form Team S&M once again and attacking the Bling Shelter Power Run (see GC37PT9).  We finished off the entire run and then found out from the COs that they had just place another 50 caches along the trail.  Going back and finishing the run is on our to-do list.

May had us on three single day road trips.  One trip had Pam & I going up to Midlothian and visited fellow geocachers at one of their Meet n Greets.  For the second we formed team S&M and toured the upper portion of the Outer Banks all the way to the Virginia state line (the Corolla area).  The third trip had alara joining us to form Team TNA - we drove out to Roanoke Rapids and grabbed caches in several counties in that area.

June we toured Gloucester and Matthews counties, took a day trip to Williamsburg and had a really great time at the WWFM #9: Hokey Pokey Hampton Roads hosted by LeoCaptKirk.

July seemed to be a geocaching series month with a few side trips.  I had a business trip to DC and picked up a few older Virtuals around the capital.  We made a day trip to Petersburg to grab some more caches but most of the month we were busy with new caching series.  We started the Get a Clue Series (see GC3EWX3) which we never finished.  We then tried the Battleship series (see GC3F96T) which we also never finished.  We solved most of the Patriots series (GC37M91) but never went out and found them all (yet).  The one series we actually started and finished was Smithfield's Porcine Parade - this is a fantastic series using the new Smithfield Pigs that have been placed around the downtown area.

August was a month of local caches mainly concentrating on the Battleship series.

September started out with Virginia's first Mega-event - the HRGC annual picnic.  The rest of the month consisted of Team S&M attacking several different bike paths in the South Hill area.  Team S&M also made a short trip down to the Knotts Island area.  Pam & I participated in the M&G at the pier (GC3TYXV) and then had a great day taking the ferry over to Tangier Island.  There are only two geocaches on Tangier Island but it is well worth the trip.

October had us teaming up again with alara (Team TNA) and attacking one of the Wacky alara geocahes - GCP49Y - Hoop Hole Hide.  We then grabbed some other caches in that area and then headed over to Augusta county and started and finished the Miles of Smiles series.

In November Jim (of jtmlam59 and I went up to Fredericksburg and took part in the Night Caching events hosted by Chip'n'Lori.  Pam & I toured Williamsburg, Richmond and Petersburg but at the end of the month we decided (last minute) to take off and spent several days geocaching around the upper part of the state and finished the trip by completing the C&D Canal in upper Delaware.

For December  Pam & I started by going up to Charles City county and wiping out that entire county.  We then started the new D/T series but have barely put a dent into it.  I participated in all the events surrounding the 12/12/12 date and gathered a few caches in the dark between events.We finished up the year by taking a Christmas geocaching trip to the western part of the state.  We wiped out some more Virginia counties and managed to also get 2 more squares for the Virginia Delorme Challenge.

Pam and I were talking recently and decided to award winners for the year.  The problem was how do we separate caches but more importantly - how do we pick not only the best cache of the year but also the best trip.  To further complicate things we have day trips and then multi-day trips.  At the end of the discussion we settled on three awards.

Best single day trip during 2012:
Runner up:  our trip to Corolla with Jim & Lynn (jtmlam59)
WINNER:  Tangier Island

Best multi-day trip during 2012:
Runner up: The trip to Hoop Hole Hide and the Miles of Smiles with alara
Winner: C&D canal in upper Delaware

The BEST Cache of 2012:  There were numerous caches in consideration but once all the caches were listed there was an obvious winner.  Congrats!!!!

Smithfield's Porcine Parade

As always - Stay Safe & Keep Caching!!!

SNAP!!! - Suffolk Nana & Papa