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How about Passingwind’s “St Peter’s Dome” earthcache, GC1BAQA. Along the way you can also hit Morgan Falls which is neat as it’s iced over in the Winter. Big parking lot and prtobably a 3-4 mile round trip. Snowshoed up there about 4-5 years ago. Great view from the top and the trail is gradual and snowshoe friendly.
If I may humbly recommend the Ice Age Trail Loop near New Auburn GC11V75, it is about a 4.5 mile loop with 4-5 caches along it. Trail starts and ends at the visitors center and passes through some great ice age topography. Perfect for snowshoing as the visitor’s center also rents snowshoes to those who don’t have any. A very popular snowshoe route with the locals.
Ripping into someone with 10 posts and 3 months experience??? Seriously? TOTALLY uncalled for. Grow up and give a newbie a hand, I don’t care how heinous (or, in this case, minor) the offense is. Shamefully immature.
Congrats and WAY TO GO on an amazing accomplishment! And, a big thanks for everything y’all do for the game especially here in Wisconsin. You guys bring out the best in geocaching. On to the next 10K!
And, on a side note, I would have stuck with golf longer if I had known then that it is preferable to triple bogey every hole and just go out once a month or so. If we applied the same anti-numbers reasoning to golf, we would have to say that Tiger Woods is whacked for wanting to do it on a regular basis and doing it well.
That’s actually a really good analogy and probably explains the difference between mere mortals, like many of us, and the few who are able to cache enough to gain such impressive numbers. I like golf, and hunting and fishing and geocaching and backpacking and watching tv. If I did any of these things everyday on my day off for years on end I would get sick of it. (even eating ice cream) It’s enjoyable to just get out and do these things every now and then.
Then there are the Tiger Woods, Michael Jordans, and Mother Teresa’s who are driven by something else. Driven not to simply do or to be good, but to be great! Their passion for what they do never wanes because of their drive. I think that is extremely impressive to have the motivation to pursue something to the point of greatness. I admire and am envious of those who have that drive, at anything, because I know I don’t and I wish I did! I’d probably be more successful if I did.
I’d bet many of us who enjoy watching the exploits of our fellow active cachers are a bit envious and wish we had the passion to enjoy something that much. I know I do.
I would personally LOVE to cache more and rack up bigger numbers and explore larger areas of our great state, but I know that my wife would not want to, my kids would get sick of geocaching and I would get burned out pretty quickly. Of course, every relationship is different. Some partners and their kids are A-OK with the other being gone alot doing their own thing, or even enjoy caching at the same level as they do. That’s great! I admire that degree of understanding. Plus being single and/or retired is a big key too.
We are at 1148 since 2004 averaging around 200 caches a year. Fearing burnout, I know for a fact that our modest pace is the key to our enjoyment of the game. It keeps us excited about the next time we can go because we don’t know when it will be! It’s not a given that this weekend or next weekend or after work we’ll have time to go, so every opportunity is precious. I’m confident that at this pace we’ll be enjoying geocaching for as long as we can physically do it, well into our retirement!!!
Way to go Big Z and Robin!!! May you find a lifetime of happiness. Congrats!
Jen and I were a mere quarter mile from the summit of Maine’s Mt. Katahdin, a 7,000 foot granite monolith that juts commandingly from the vast North Maine Woods and also marks the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, when the fog rolled in. By the time we reached the summit and the cache ‘A Sight to Behole’ (GC93F0) we saw the first flashes of lightning from a freak unexpected thunderstorm, a deadly scenario when you are above treeline and your head is the highest point on earth between Katahdin and Mt Washington in New Hampshire. Couple that with the metal trekking poles (aka lightning rods) that we held it all added up to imminent disaster.
With thunder rolling and lightning touching down all around the mountain in a matter of seconds, Jen and I raced as quickly as we could down a bit to a spot where we ditched our poles and positioned ourselves behind the leeward side of a not-so-prominent granite boulder. Donned in our raingear yet still getting soaked, we sat and prayed in silence, as the storm raged all around us, lightning touching down, thunder getting closer. We held each other tight for warmth, after all it was September and at this altitude it was a mere 45-50 degrees. I assured her it would all be ok, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking of the Ranger who had mentioned that just last week there had been a lightning fatality on the mountain.
An hour or two of cold, wet and fear passed before it was time to make a decision. It was getting late. Do we risk it and make it down off the “technical” parts before dark all the while dodging lightning, or
risk spending the night on the mountain risking hypothermia and who knows what? The storm began to ease so we started the mad scramble down the boulder fields of the mountain. Just then the clouds cleared and blue sky appeared giving us a grand panorama of the Maine wilderness! But, it was shortlived because just as we got to treeline the next wave of storms ravaged us and the mountain. Buckets of rain, thunder and lightning but we were much more comfortable in the protection of the trees and easier hiking. Well after dark we stumbled into camp, wet, cold, exhausted yet thankful that God had given us that short window of clear weather that allowed us to get off the peak and down below treeline. But, in the end we got the smiley so it was all worth it! An experience and a hike/climb that we will never forget.Eau Claire’s been smoke free for about a year now and many of the bars and taverns that were hurting have established outdoor smoking areas attached to their tavern. Arguably, they are holding their own, and I don’t believe any have gone out of business.
I don’t believe in intrusive government, but seriously, smoking has had it’s day and that day is long gone. It belongs outside and quite frankly, exposing a child to secondhand smoke in the home is borderline abusive.
There’s actually a scene in the Exorcist, made in the 70’s, where the doctor examining the girl lights up in the hospital! Considered outrageous by all standards today, 30 years from now I imagine people will be incredulous that smoking was allowed indoors at all.
04/15/2009 at 2:03 pm in reply to: The zumette has arrived! Congratulations Ralph and Robin! #1905943CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Had a feeling it would be any day now. Oh what a joyous and glorious day for Ralph and Robin! Hope to catch the THREE of you on the cache trail later on in the future.
How’s about the Orange Moose in Black River. GC71D4
A very interesting and thought provoking change.
I see it as, once the cache has been found the geocaching ends. Everything beyond that is non-geocachng related. The ALR may be worthwhile, many things are, but where does it end? You could conceivably be asked to do 100 hours of community service and prove it in your log, write a letter to your congressman or raise money for the Girl Scouts. It’s all “worthwhile” but it has nothing to do with finding the container, although there are many AWESOME ALR’s out there.
Any challenge, puzzle, requirement or whatever it takes to actually locate the cache is fair game. If you can incorporate doing 100 hours of community service into actually finding the container, then it should be fair game. Doing it afterwards is worthwhile, but in my opinion, not geocaching related and shouldn’t be required. I like the optional part and think many of us would do them anyway.
I applaud Groundspeak for continuing to clarify just exactly what the definition of geocaching is.
Jen and I are incessantly uncomfortable with stealth, and to some degree caches that require them. So, for those we use the “acting like we belong there approach”, if our actions will not create suspicion. Of course it depends on the situation.
If kids are around, or a cache is placed near a school, grocery store, or other overly public area… I admit, I make a list and search those caches in the Winter, night or seasons when generally noone will be around, or occasionally they get onto the dreaded ignore list. In a wooded area and poeple are around I generally just pretend I’m counting caterpillars, inspecting root systems etc, etc…
If someone asks what I’m looking for, generally a straightforward answer gets a favorable response.
Here….lurking in the weeds 8)
Way to go, Spud! You’ll be chasing down the Big Boys in no time!
This year, teaching myself how to use a little HTML to spice up my cache pages. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the tutorial in the tech talk forum!!! It was very useful to a tech delinquent like myself. I’ve finally gotten around to adding the WGA logo and link (even though it’s the old logo) to my cache pages.
Otherwise, staying in tune with the WGA forums has increased during these Winter months and my list of prospective new cache locations has increased. Even though Winter is perhaps my favorite time of year to geocache, weather and temps have been a little difficult this winter so actually getting out there and finding a few is definitely down for us.
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