Thank you much. I'll have to take a gander at it. It sounds fairly imteresting to try out. Plus would get to see a good section of the state. Thanks for the help.
Thank you much. I'll have to take a gander at it. It sounds fairly imteresting to try out. Plus would get to see a good section of the state. Thanks for the help.
I think you may be able to complete it in the alloted time, but my problem is there was always a DNF at one of the ill-maintained ASP's, and they seemed to be in the corners of the state!
My advice:
1) Make sure before you hit the ParkCaches that they are valid before wasting your time. Contact the AGA liason first if you notice a problem with the recent logs.
2) The DeLorme challenge is easiest except for Grid #53, which must come from Blytheville (at the time of this post).
3) Some of the counties are tough, as a few counties only have a few caches.
4) Beware of county line caches, as it is difficult to differentiate boundaries and/or the cache owner has it misidentified.
5) Have Plan B caches in case you DNF something.
6) Remember that one cache can count for all three challenges (e.g., ParkCache in a certain county on a certain DeLorme Grid).
7) Use your PAF option if you get stuck; you don't want to have to go back to Chicot County for one cache.
8] Don't be afraid to nightcache, even in state parks.
9) Camping eats up a lot of time unless you're just bare-bonesing it in the back of your truck eating canned Vienna sausages and beans. Eating out and sleeping in hotels eats up a lot of money but is convenient.
10) Keep accurate records so you don't accidentally miss anything.
Good luck and have fun!
I hope that this is no longer true since ArkGeo volunteers have taken over maintenance of almost all of the ParkCaches. But we still have 7 state parks where volunteers are needed, so if you live in the vicinity of one of these parks, I encourage you to volunteer to help out. The parks where we still need volunteers are:Originally Posted by captaincooder
NORTHEAST ARKANSAS AREA
Crowley's Ridge State Park
Hampson Archeological Museum State Park
Herman Davis State Park
Jacksonport State Park
Lake Frierson State Park
NORTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS AREA
Bull Shoals White River State Park
SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS AREA
Conway Cemetery State Park
Check out this Forums Topic for more information:http://www.arkgeocaching.org/modules...cb0ecc1d8e8839
"Wildness is a necessity." -- John Muir
"I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth." -- Steve McQueen
I made the arduous journey back to Mammoth to sign the correct sheet of paper, but the clue was missing. I contacted PJ, who will address it.
Stinks that no one's available for those corner caches of Conway Cem and Herman Davis.
There's a new cacher in the Bull Shoals/White River SP area named Semipaw. He seems pretty enthusiastic. I have corresponded with him previously. Perhaps I can recruit him. That cache was another that gave me trouble.
My advice:
1) Make sure before you hit the ParkCaches that they are valid before wasting your time. Contact the AGA liason first if you notice a problem with the recent logs.
Yup. If I get to the point where I'm definately going to do it, then I'm making a few phone calls.
2) The DeLorme challenge is easiest except for Grid #53, which must come from Blytheville (at the time of this post).
I think I spent a whole night looking into grid 53, and came up with the same conclusion.
3) Some of the counties are tough, as a few counties only have a few caches.
4) Beware of county line caches, as it is difficult to differentiate boundaries and/or the cache owner has it misidentified.
Good call.
5) Have Plan B caches in case you DNF something.
I'm a teacher. i alsways have a backup plan...but again, good call.
6) Remember that one cache can count for all three challenges (e.g., ParkCache in a certain county on a certain DeLorme Grid).
that's the central part of my plan....I map the park caches, and then see what counties/grids I am missing, and then plan the trip accordingly.
7) Use your PAF option if you get stuck; you don't want to have to go back to Chicot County for one cache.
I need to get everyone's phone number. Serious question...why don't we ahve a ArkGeo phone directory (voluntary participation of course)
8] Don't be afraid to nightcache, even in state parks.
I have no night vision. I'd have to be escorted.
9) Camping eats up a lot of time unless you're just bare-bonesing it in the back of your truck eating canned Vienna sausages and beans. Eating out and sleeping in hotels eats up a lot of money but is convenient.
That's the one thing I'm still debating
10) Keep accurate records so you don't accidentally miss anything.
iphone + laptop. whee.
Definitely good advice.
Ash--good call on the AGA phone directory. Something else I thought would be useful would be Twitter. (Finally! Something useful for Twitter!) Everyone linked would get a message and only those free would bother responding. The problem with Twitter is that your phone is limited to one account (as far as I know), so you can't split your Superman and Clark Kent identities. Correct me if I'm wrong...because I want to be wrong on this one. Another recent innovation by Facebook is the creation of subgroups that you can divide your friends into. For example, I send out a FB message of "Can't find GC1234 "Evil Micro in the Woods" Help! to all my friends, they're going to be wondering "???" But you would know exactly what I'm talking about.
A good idea would be to look at recent logs for those ParkCaches and see who has signed the logs, then PM them for their phone number. At least most of us in ArkGeo would be happy to help.
Another bit of advice would be to keep your head down and focused. It's easy to get sidetracked on snagging other caches en route, especially Earthcaches, and it really cuts into your time.
These are all great ideas. As captaincooder said you MUST stay focused and not deviate from your plans. Recently I was on an 'insane' tour of Louisiana completing the state-wide challenges there in a five day, 3000 mile whirlwind trip trying for an FTF on the new Louisiana State Park challenge and literally drove right down the now World Famous "Hang 'em High" series just outside of New Orleans. I would have LOVED to grab them as I literally drove right over them (The new elevated highway is over the old highway for much of the journey). I only had five days to complete the challenge as I told my wife when I would be home. Sticking to my plan and caching some twenty hours a day had me completing my goal and back in Arkansas within two hours of when I planned to be. Yep, I like these kinda trips!
Good luck if you attempt this. I've been trying to figure out a good week for us to go do the same if we can find someone to keep the baby for a week.
I've been trying to get in touch with someone on the board to help with things just like that. I do website development for a living, and there are a ton of things we could implement here to help encourage collaboration and communication between cachers...A phone directory would be GREAT for people like me who always are somehow missing that one contact that they need to get in touch with....Originally Posted by ashallond
Cap'n: a lot of the twitter apps that i use on my iPhone can access more than 1 account. I use the official twitter app and Echofon.
Both of them I have two accounts set in....1 of them is my school twitter, and one is my personal account.
Sorry guys I don't twitter but I am willing to give out my number for the PAF thingy