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View Full Version : 2012 Geocaching Year in Review



KSDS97
01-03-2013, 11:30 PM
Well here we are in 2013 and I have so many caches left to find. So as I was thinking about my first year caching I chose to share my adventure with you. This all started in Sept of 2011 when I created an account. In Dec 2011 I went Premium and went seeking my first cache leading to a complete and utter dnf although I had no idea what one was and was chicken to log it as such. Regrouping we looked an easier larger regular kind of cache because that micro was so good to me. On Dec 31th 2011 we found 2 caches and the adventure was on. Over the next few weeks we found a few caches and then we (me, wife, festess) went on a little state park grab fest (Lake Poinisett, Parkin, Village Creek, Lower White River). HUM [:)] it was a very eye opening trip, found the caches but we failed to get the clue at village creek. When we got home we found a couple more and ended with 10 for the day. That was Jan 19 and on the 22 I started my first streak of 5 days. Then we made it 14 days in a row. In Early Feb we grabbed another 3 state parks (Magazine, Nebo, Dardenelle) but I forgot to write down the clue at Magazine. :evil:. Then toward the end of Feb we made a two day state park tour de Arkansas, day one was to be Jenkins Ferry, Marks Mills, Moro Bay, South Arkansas Arboretum, Mesuem of Natural Resources, Logoly, Conway Cem. but it did not quite come out that way. Spent to much time grabbing caches on the way and finding ourselves not getting all of them. We made the 1st 4 that day and got to the Arboretum at 445, it closes at 5. We made the grab and got out just in time. Spent the night in Texarkana and got up the next day to finish our mission, Conway Cem, Millwood, Cossatot, Queen Wilhemna. Lets say this is where the fun began. I twisted my ankle on a cache in Texarkana and was limping the rest of the day but we got Conway Cem, Millwood and Daisy and went home. I then went streaking for 71 days which led to my next great State Park Road Trip. Bull Shoals, Mammoth Springs, Lake Charles, Powhattan, Davidsonville, Lake Frierson, Crowellys Ridge, Herman Davis, Hampson all in one day. Got up and out at 5am home by 11pm and got 8 out of 9. Then came the April Adventure Logoly, Historic Washington, Posion Springs, White Oak Lake. Made for another long fun day. I missed a cache on May 6 and I was very tired and just could not get it going again. But during the few months we did go camping and found a few more Parks, Petit Jean, Woolly Hollow, Jacksonport, Crater of Diamonds, Pinnacile MT, Toltec, Plantation, Cane Creek, Louisiana Purchase and Mt Magazine. Yes Mt Magazine....remember the missed clue, umm I took a picture of it out of focus and all but did not write it down. But I had a lot of fun. Then came the cache bash and re energized me. Grabbed 38 caches that weekend and got to talking with Mark Willis which leads us to the next great adventure Labor Day Cache Attack of the Arkansas Great River Road. A 101 cache day taking us from Little Rock south on Hwy 65 to the Louisiana State Line and back, Out at 5 back at 11pm. Picked up Lake Chicot then and added Arkansas post during the Summer. Now on to Oct Adventure a two day journey out west to get Lake Fort Smith, Devils Den, Prairie Grove Battlefield, Hobbs and Withrow Springs. We left around 8AM and stopped in Clarksville for a GolfNutz Cache, you all need to get you some of them they goooood. During that grab the nice lady said a strom was on the way, excuse me but where is the sun they said we was going to have. So just outside Clarksville it started hailling and we pulled over. After 20 minutes we got under way again and made it to Alma and grabbed a couple as we started up Hwy 71. Lake Fort Smith was missing again, so we headed for the Grove and got there around 4pm made short work of it and headed up the road to the home of the Hawgs and ate at the Catfish Hole. Good eats baby. Grabbed a room and got up the next day and got sleeted on but we did get all the parks in this trip and had lots of fun. Later in Oct the wife and I with our daughter made a Branson run up Hwy 65 and found some great caches on that road. Stopped in Harrison for a fall leef check and then took in a couple of shows in Branson. Then ended the month camping at Lake Catherine. Nov adventure we took in Hot springs and Lake O, and somewhere during the year we went to Degray. This brings us to Dec and the end of year one of caching so You guessed it a New Years Cache Dash, Mes of Natural Resource, Cossatot, Queen Wilhema. Fun yes except on the seat. Now you all remember that snow at christmas it only a week latter and I am going to the higest peek in ARkansas. UMMM WHAT WAS I THINKING. :confused:. Visited some places I other wise would not have. Did get two of the three and made it to the top[ of the Mountian to find the park shut down as well as the cache. SO we visited Mt Magazine on the way home and GOT THE CLUE! SO to sum up the year, it was blast. Visited all but 3 state parks, visited 2/3 of the counties in Arkansas and got almost all the DeLorme Pages done. Found a 100 caches in one day. Logged a 1068 caches, traveled according to my trackable dog tag 10,750 miles. Logged 61 Trackables, Hid 50 caches. And currently have been streaking for 148 days in a row. It is so much fun, its better than _____. What will the next year bring? Tell us your caching story.

arkfiremedic
01-04-2013, 03:47 AM
Wow! This sounds like my first year in caching and my adventures with the Arkansas State Park ParkCache, Arkansas DeLorme, and Arkansas County Challenge (FTF). I couldn't help but remembering back my escapades in completing these as I read your story. When I did the Louisiana State Parks (FTF), Louisiana DeLorme and Louisiana Parish Challenge, in a five day whirl-wind tour, it wasn't nearly as fun as Arkansas- because of course Arkansas is my home and always has been. Hope to meet you at an event or on the trail soon. Happy Cachin'! AFM

rklmbl
01-04-2013, 03:48 PM
paladinds1961, what a great story! We look forward to seeing what other write on this thread. Ain't geocaching fun!!!

thefab5willisclan
01-05-2013, 01:37 PM
Good times, good times... 2012 was a great year for thefab5willisclan as well. We Cached every single day of 2012!(We received our 366 days of Caching Geocoin this summer, and are currently at 511 consecutive days in a row with geocache finds!) Inched our way to number 51 in Arkansas. Found 1758 total Caches, thats an average of 4.8 Caches a day. Our best day was 121 Caches on a whirlwind Caching adventure with the artist formerly known as cardsfan55 and one of the hogwildfamilyof6. I've been in the gutters of El Dorado(and Magnolia, and Batesville), and the mountain tops of Harrison. Completed our favorite Challenge yet, the Razorback Challenge(GC1H6V7) We got to go to Geowoodstock in Indiana, What a great time that was!! Everyone should go to a mega event at some time in their life!!! I have met many friends this year as well, including Paladinds1961. Together we just hid a power trail with a total of over 100 Caches. My Wife and I also hid a power trail on 107(that we plan to extend soon ;) ) We also met a lot of other Cachers in 2012. Too many to mention them all.
I LOVE GEOCACHING!!! Thats the bottom line. We are looking forward to 2013 and what it has to offer. We are currently at 2400 Caches and can't wait to see how far we go this year.

Razz007
02-09-2013, 11:09 AM
I've been working on the same challenges for the past couple of years now, but my regular caching buddy, DaTexanBoy and I haven't been able to sync up our schedules again to finish it out. In addtion to the original DeLorme map challenge, we have also been trying to complete the New Delorme map as well. Problem with that is that several of the pages that border upon the Mississippi River do not have caches and the banks of the river change the shape of the map every so often. This one might be another year or two out if I am realistic about it.

I've had to slow down quite in 2012 and I hope to pick back up again in 2013. The Razorback Challenge is on my radar this year and, by golly, I'm going to finish Beale's Cipher this year if it kills me! :-)

I have several small goals rather than large goals in the lines of geocaching, which I plan to turn into Challenges once done. I saw a post about the limited number of challenges in the state and I wanted to contribute to them. I'm not much into ## Day streaks because my schedule doesn't allow for me to cache every day, but there are still plenty of others that would set the bar for others to follow and find a measure of accomplishment and hopefully enjoy them as much as I have.

thefab5willisclan
02-09-2013, 11:16 PM
I've had to slow down quite in 2012 and I hope to pick back up again in 2013. The Razorback Challenge is on my radar this year and, by golly, I'm going to finish Beale's Cipher this year if it kills me! :-)

The Razorback Challenge was our favorite Challenge to date!!! Beale's Cipher is a spawn of Satan himself. I had to quit working on it just to keep my sanity. But I think I will revisit it this year as well. Yes, even if it kills me!