#terracaching

We have another amazing tale from JASTA 11, this time on the hunt for an 8 year old cache in the swampy Fakahatchee Cypress Forest. Read on for the full incredible story: 

With the first snow of the season falling here in New England, my thoughts travel back to warmer days, lush, green vegetation, and a TerraCache that had sat alone in a swamp for almost eight years…

The Fakahatchee Strand: the world’s largest strand swamp, the orchid and bromeliad capital of the continent, a subtropical wilderness, the Amazon of North America. When one thinks of a jungle- thick vegetation, humid air, and the sounds of animal calls blasting from the trees are what comes to mind. The Fakahatchee is all that.

Back in 2010 I was planning a visit down to Naples, Florida. Of course that meant targeting some choice caches. I didn’t want numbers caches, I wanted to experience an environment that was very different than what we’re used to. I was looking for caches that were, to put it simply, ‘off the beaten path’. I had come across one of those, hidden fairly recently. Well, plans for that trip fell through and much time passed. Fast forward to 2017 and once again we were planning to vacation in southwest Florida – so, it was game on!

TCAAV – Fakahatchee Cypress Forest. Hidden in March 2010. Over a mile from the nearest ‘road’. Still unfound after seven years. Yes! So I contacted a Florida local and his ‘snow bird’ sidekick, they would come down and join in the trek through the strand. So I researched the swamp, checked the water levels almost daily, and created a packing list of items that I hoped would help meet the challenges of the swamp.

February 17, 2018: the big day was finally here. I was up early to get to the park near dawn. But I would be making the slog alone, my partners having bailed out on this adventure a couple days earlier. No matter. With less noise being made I’d have a better chance of seeing a Florida panther or a maybe a black bear, maybe even a skunk ape! So, with my jungle boots on I added gore-tex leg gaiters ‘cause I’d be more likely to come across a water moccasin or some other snake than any large mammals.

A short walk down a pathway (called a ‘tram’, they are left over from when the swamp was logged for its cypress in the 1940s and ‘50s) and it was time to dive into the jungle. Crossed a narrow drainage next to the tram and then stepped up a little into the swampland itself. January and February is the ‘dry’ season in south Florida, so it’s a great time to walk the swamp. The water level was usually from just above my ankle up to mid-calf. But there were plenty of spots where there was dry ground to step on. But those spots are heavily vegetated. Vegetated with things that will either poke you, trip you, or cut you. So, in picking my poison, I chose to keep mostly to the wetlands.

As you can imagine, traveling in a straight line is impossible. Creeping along, circumventing obstacles, it’s necessary to plan out your next couple moves ahead of time to keep from putting yourself in to a dead end of briars or other heavy vegetation.

All through the hours I was in there, birds were a constant companion overhead in the trees. Lots of chatter. I don’t know what kind any of them were, save for the hoots of an owl. Other times I would get startled by loud crashing in some nearby palmettos. But anyone who has ever walked through palmettos knows that they make a racket at the slightest motion. Sorry, no skunk ape.

No alligators either. With the drier conditions, gators spend most time wallowing in their holes. Aside from some small lizards and a frog, the only reptile I came close to was a solitary water moccasin…

At about .4 mi south of ground zero I encountered the largest water crossing yet, a canal about twenty feet across. I searched up and down a little, hoping to find a fallen tree across the canal with no luck. So, I threw some objects into the water to be sure I wasn’t going to surprise anything. Holding my machete in one hand I went on in to the black, mid-thigh deep water, and came out the other side uneventfully - into the cypress forest.

The terrain from here on in would largely be dry. Anticipation was rising as the distance to GZ kept dropping, but so did the anxiety. Would I find it? Was it even still able to be found? It had been almost eight years. Lots can happen out here in the ‘Amazon’. Would I be walking out of the swamp this evening empty-handed?

‘Beep-beep’, my Delorme signaled two hundred feet to target. Later a single beep let me know I was within forty feet. I was there at last…

I sat down for a snack and some much needed hydration and took in my surroundings. Nothing caught my eye. After all, it was a small, green decon container I was seeking, and surrounding me were stumps, live cypress, and many, many vines. It would be like the needle in the haystack. On top of that, the gps was having a bit of difficulty locking a signal under the thick canopy. Distances and directions drifted. I wandered about a little, checking the obvious places. As I looked around, I spotted a very interesting strangler fig climbing a thin cypress. With camera in hand I walked over to get a good picture. And there it was…

Euphoria is the only way to describe it. It was still there, after all this time, and I managed to find it.

Looking at the photo, you can see that I wasn’t the first to find. Deep teeth marks show that it had got the attention of something at some point in the last almost eight years. With holes in the container, the inside was a mess. We cleaned it out, taped up over the holes, and added a new log in a baggie.

This was probably the most extreme terrain I’ve traversed to search for a cache. All the things I hoped for in this cache were achieved. I came away from this hunt with great sense of satisfaction and some fantastic memories, all thanks to TerraCaching!

FOR LOVE OF THE HUNT!

For more on the hunt for this TerraCache, please check out our video

TerraCaching is often combined with member’s other interests and can take us to all sorts of interesting places. Read on to discover some incredible locations through the experiences of JASTA 11:

Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT): An accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, a body of water or an obstacle. In a typical CFIT scenario, the crew is unaware of the impending disaster until too late.

Mountains are amazing things. We are drawn to them for their majesty, for their beauty, for the challenge in taming their summits – sometimes for no other reason than ‘because it’s there’. Mountains are strong, unyielding, and unforgiving. This can be particularly devastating to an aircrew that has lost situational awareness.

Along with Terracaching, mountain hiking and aviation comprise much of our interests. With this edition of The Written Log, we share some examples of where we were able to combine each of these passions:

Mount Abraham, Vermont

On June 28th, 1973, the pilot of a Cessna 182 was trying to navigate through Lincoln Gap in a cloud bank and struck the northwest slope of Mount Abraham, about fifty feet below the summit of 4,017 feet. The pilot survived the crash. According to local lore, he climbed out of the plane and walked down the mountain. Much of the fuselage structure remains intact with pieces of twisted wing metal scattered about. The engine is missing, probably hurled far away into the thick forest.

Here, you can search for TC9U3V.

Camel’s Hump B-24 Liberator Crash, Vermont

Vermont’s third-highest peak was the scene of tragedy back in 1944. On October 16th of that year, U. S. Army B-24J Liberator (#42-51067) was out on a training mission when it crashed into Camel’s Hump Mountain in the darkness of a moonless night, killing nine of the ten crewmembers aboard.

The sole survivor, Pvt. Jimmy Wilson, 18, of Jacksonville, Fla., lost both hands and both feet due to frostbite as he lay injured in the wreckage. He was rescued by five teenage members of the Civil Air Patrol, some 41 hours later.

Investigators found the wreckage near the top of the 4,083 mountain, the debris field covering more than an acre of land. When we visited, we were only able to find the largest piece – the remains of the right wing, now laying upside down on the slope. 

Across the path, about ten feet away, TC1IB6 awaits your find!

Mount Waternomee B-18 Bomber Crash, New Hampshire

The tale behind this crash had interested us for quite some time. As the story goes, on the evening of January 14, 1942, the tiny villages of Lincoln and Woodstock were alarmed by the sounds of an explosion on the side of Mount Waternomee.

That afternoon, a Douglas B18-A bomber with a crew of seven, had taken off from Westover Air Field in Massachusetts to patrol for German U-Boats some 250 miles out over the North Atlantic. Hours later as the plane was returning home in total darkness and worsening weather conditions, the crew miscalculated their position by mistaking the shoreline of Lake Winnipisaukee for the coast south of Boston. 

At about 7:40pm, the co-pilot, Lt. Woodrow Kantner saw what he first thought were dark clouds.  He turned on his landing lights and saw their error.  He tried to warn the pilot, Lt. Anthony Benvenuto, to pull up.  Benvenuto couldn't hear him and Kantner pulled up. But it was too late and the men could not prevent the disaster.  The plane hit a downdraft, stalled, and flew in through trees and crashed in deep snow on the side of the mountain.

The five survivors were rescued by local residents including a doctor. A crew of woodsmen had blazed a trail up the side of the mountain, bringing along toboggans to evacuate the injured.

We used our visit to this crash site to log LC7NP – Air Memorial.

(Years ago, there was a Groundspeak cache here, but the Forest Service had it removed due to searchers disturbing the wreckage looking for it.)

And probably the most interesting one of all…

Northeast Airlines Flight 792, Mount Success, New Hampshire

The hike up to Mount Success is reason enough to come here, but just a short distance from the summit lie large portions of a crashed Douglas DC-3.

On November 30, 1954, Flight 792 departed from Boston bound for Berlin, New Hampshire with stops at Concord and Laconia, New Hampshire.  On board were a crew of four, and three passengers.

Just after 11:00 a.m. the flight contacted the air traffic controller at Berlin Airport and requested weather information. The crew was advised that the weather was 3,000 feet overcast, with 2.5 mile visibility, and light snow showers.  This was the last contact with the aircraft.

On December 2, the wreckage of Flight 792 was spotted from the air on the southern slope of Mt. Success, 13 miles southeast of Berlin Airport, at an elevation of 3,440 feet. Two members of the crew had been killed, and the captain seriously injured, but the stewardess and the three passengers were relatively unhurt.

Located in the remote Mahoosuc Range near the border with Maine, the lower slopes of Mount Success are typical boreal forest of dense spruce and fir intermixed with deciduous trees. A bare granite outcropping known as The Outlook offers spectacular views into the valley below.

Log a photo of yourself inside the wreckage to claim a find on TCHWX.

We hope that you have enjoyed the short tour of some of our favorite special places. Whatever your interests or passions may be, there is a whole world of adventure out there to discover. All you need to do to get started is to step outside your door!

Montana is a very dear to many TerraCaching hearts. Our 10 Year Anniversary event was even hosted there by Yukon Jack, a legendary member! Read on to hear about JASTA 11′s Montana Adventure: 

“Big Sky Country”, “The Treasure State”, “The Last Best Place”. All unofficial nicknames or slogans for the 41st state, but here’s another you may not have been aware of: “The Birthplace of Terracaching”!

In October 2004, following a ‘meeting of the minds’ (with charter members Terradactyl and MountainBlaster), Terracaching founder AngryKid placed the world’s first Terracache in the hills outside of Missoula and the game was on!

Western Montana is a Terra-Target rich environment.

I recently had a quick business trip to Billings and having never been to Montana before, I looked up the nearby terracaches to see what cool locations to check out with the limited amount of time I had available. What I came up with were two awesome locations, both of them historic as well as scenic:

Pompey’s Pillar - TCUF 

Pompey’s Pillar, a 150 ft. tall sandstone rock formation about 25 miles northeast of Billings. In itself, the scenic aspects of the location are reason enough to pay a visit.

But there’s more to this place than its natural beauty, there’s history in stone here – literally.

A Nineteenth Century Graffiti Vandal?

In July 1806, Captain William Clark, co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was camped nearby. Clark later wrote that he climbed the sandstone pillar and "had a most extensive view in every direction on the Northerly Side of the [Yellowstone] River".

Captain Clark shared this view.

Clark inscribed his name into the sandstone along with the date, July 25 1806. Today the inscription is protected behind a brass and plexiglass frame – as the only remaining physical evidence along the route the expedition travelled.

Graffiti MT – TC2FH

When I first read the title of this cache, I really didn’t know what to think. Was this some sort of ode to artistic vandals with spray cans? That’s not really my thing, but it was nothing at all like that. It was beautiful scenery, geologic formations, and prehistoric art.

Prehistoric hunters who camped in Pictograph Cave left behind artifacts and over 100 pictographs, or rock paintings. The oldest rock art in the cave is over 2,000 years old.

The inspiration for future NYC subway ‘artists’?

Thousands of artifacts, ranging from stone tools, weapons, paintings and the instruments used, were excavated from the three major caves here.

The entrance to ‘Ghost Cave’.

Although I had only started to scratch the surface of the history and natural beauty Montana has to offer, I came away quite satisfied with my time spent. But also hungry for more and eager to return to “The Birthplace of Terracaching”.

(Oh, I almost forgot. Montana is also home to the greatest First to Find prize ever – Yukons Gold!)

Go on and get out there – For Love of the Hunt!

 JASTA 11 

For more information:

-     http://www.pompeyspillar.org/  

We’ve finally reached the hottest part of the summer! A perfect time for camping and water activities. Check out JASTA 11′s latest post about water related TerraCaches:

Recently, I spent a few days out in Boston Harbor, camping on an island, paddling, exploring. It’s an annual ‘sabbatical’ of sorts for me, one of the highlights of my summer. While out there I got to thinking “what is it about water that draws us to it, fascinating us, soothing us, spurring us to seek out adventure?” 

Adventure – that had to be at the top of my list.

Just as hiking and TerraCaching have become companion activities for me, so has paddling and TerraCaching. In support of my paddle-caching agenda, I thought I’d offer up some examples to whet wet your appetite:

Back on Snake Creek [TC60B2] by Z_Statman

dexter writes that “The St. John's and Snake River area is just a delightful place to paddle.”  But can you really relax when the local residents are in the water with you?

Quarantine Island [TC7EZJ] by JASTA 11

Speaking of locals, jonnybgoode was lucky enough to meet the ‘Mayor of Rainsford Island’ while exploring the ruins of a 19th century quarantine hospital.

Whatever Floats Your Boat - Culpepper Bend [TCCUM] by Cache & Keri

A 10.5-mile float through pristine wetlands and ancient forests of giant oaks and cypress, recommended by Z_Statman.

By now you’re thinking that I’m only going to pimp east coast caches. WRONG!:

Priest Lake Thorofare [TC79QJ] by Terradactyl

Terradactyl writes: The towering trees on both sides of the channel create a watery tunnel about thirty yards across. Although it varies in depth, the channel is relatively shallow. On this trip I saw deer, moose, osprey, heron, eagles, otters, and beavers in this short stretch of water. I saw evidence of black bears and grizzlies are certainly around. The slow paddle to the upper lake can offer a glimpse of wildlife both common and rare to the area; the entire Upper Priest Lake Scenic Area is a rich and relatively intact eco-system rife with diversity.

If flatwater isn’t your thing, there’s this…

Shoot the Bull [TCRT] by Yukon Jack

Yukon Jack describes this trip as “a gentle float thru pristine wild country with moose or beaver around each bend or if desired the last mile is a heart pounding class 3 whitewater thrill ride.” (Recommended by Terradactyl)

Sorry left-coasters, but for the last one we go back to Florida. Okay, I’m not really sorry because this one is a gem :) 

Grocery Place [TCD4E] by footTRAX

I haven’t logged this terracache, but I have made the paddle. (The cache wasn’t placed until after my visit in 2008.) A 13 mile loop paddle through mangroves and mud flats to a small spit of land where an old-time trading post once stood. Spent the night – an unforgettable experience!

You can read a little more about it here.

To finish, I believe we are inspired by the water — the sounds, the smells, playing in it, playing on it. It has a way of reaching all our senses just by thinking about it.

I hope I’ve got you thinking about a TerraCache adventure on the water. But I can’t help wondering, if ‘terra’ refers to solid land – and if you need a boat to get to it, is it really a TerraCache?

Enjoy your hunt (along with a paddle)!

JASTA 11

dexter, one of our members, recently visited Cuba and placed the first TerraCache in the country. TerraCaching in Cuba is a bit different- read on to learn all about it!

On a recent People to People trip to Cuba, I placed a few TerraCaches for the next folks to hunt down. Finding these or other caches on the island may require some creativity as Cuba currently requires a special permit to bring a "dedicated GPSr" unit into the country see Import Authorization for current information. (This makes caching in Cuba, "Juuuust a little bit different", as Bob Uecker might say.) Cell phones and GPS enabled cameras seem to be allowed without an issue, however cell coverage is spotty and very expensive (how does three dollars per minute for data sound to you?). Wi-Fi Internet access is similarly hit or miss and expensive, so the question is: how can you find a cache without the usual technology?

The old technology still works pretty well...

Finding a cache  

Remember the old days, before paperless caching and really accurate GPSrs? Folks used to print out the cache page, use online maps and later Google Earth to preview the cache location to narrow down the search area, maybe print that out, too. Then once in the general area the search would begin. To update this old school approach, use your cell phone to either upload documents you can review off line, or take pictures of everything (cache page, maps, photos) so you can retrieve them on your camera or phone photo gallery to get the information in the field without needing a cell phone connection.  A photo of an area map you can review in detail will prove handy.

Placing a cache

Finding a cool new spot to place a geocache won't be a problem. 🤔 Maintenance, well, that's an issue, so unless you live in Cuba you are going to be placing virtual caches. Choose an interesting area that is clearly open to the public where walking about looking at stuff is acceptable. Once you have decided on a placement write up a detailed description to lead folks to the area as in letterboxing. Starting from a known public location, describe how to get to the cache area using narrative and photos to guide people along the way. Once there, your hint should direct people to the CC and FFC.  When you have access to the Internet, use Goggle Earth to compute the cache coordinates. The coords are needed to show the placement on the cache page map and will aid in the search even if they aren't available to you in the field.  

Cuba is a beautiful country and the people are friendly and welcoming. Hey, maybe in a few years, you can even use a GPSr to go caching...

Cuban Capital Building Restoration 2017

In the latest blog post from JASTA 11, we hear about his recent trip to Guam and a few new TerraCaches! Read on below: 

Hafa Adai (pronounced ‘half-a-day’), means ‘hello’ in Chamorro, the native language of Guam.

I really enjoy travel. Discovering new places, seeing different things, it’s great.

So when I found out that my job would take me some 9,000 miles away to the island of Guam, my thoughts almost immediately went to one thing: Tropical Terracaching!

Guam: A 210 square mile dot on the map of the western Pacific. Discovered by Magellan in 1521, colonized by Spanish missionaries, captured by the United States in 1898, invaded and occupied by Japan for 30 months before being liberated again by the U.S. during World War II. 

Jungles, coral beaches, and so much history, but no terracaches!

Something had to be done to fix that.

It is said that the Chamorro first encountered Ferdinand Magellan at Umatac Bay on the south end of the island.

The natives gave the starving crew food and water and in  return they took Magellan’s skiff.

For this, he burned their houses. Yet, the locals still erected a monument to this encounter. Find it and log a terracache at the same time:

If Magellan were around today, he’d be a Terracacher

The presence of large air force and naval bases highlight Guam’s strategic location. Remnants of conflicts past are to be found all around, like this Japanese Pillbox behind a large hotel…

… or this less-welcomed sight along the roadway:

UXO = Unexploded Ordinance

(you don’t want to be the first finder on one of these)

One old military artifact in particular had my interest. It’s rusting away on an old, abandoned target range located behind a large tourist resort. An M4 Sherman Tank, one of six armored vehicles parked out here near the encroaching jungle.

Although marching no more, this Sherman can be the target of your hunt

The island is also rich in natural beauty. Rolling hills with steep cliffs, waterfalls, and caves are abundant in the interior. We came across this large sinkhole known locally as ‘The Devil’s Punchbowl’ while exploring the grounds around our hotel. You’ll spot it easily if you’re out hunting for TC6NMJ:

We enjoy hiding terracaches about as much as finding them. Planting these hides gave us another great reason to do a little research and get out and explore. 

The chances are probably slim that you’ll ever find yourself going to Guam (I certainly didn’t think I would), but you never know. Life, like terracaching, can take you to some unexpected yet beautiful places.

And now, Guam can truly say “ Hafa Adai Terracachers! “

We hope you enjoy your hunt, wherever it leads you.

Happy New Years from everyone at TerraCaching Headquarters! We are so excited for every thing that 2017 will bring to our community. We have been talking about making some big changes this year- we will keep you guys posted here on the blog and on the Community Page, so stay tuned! In the meantime, check out this wonderful New Years post from JASTA 11:

I received a great gift from my kids this Christmas – one of those digital photo frames. You’ve probably seen them around, they display your photos in a continuous slide show. As someone who likes to take a lot of photos out on the trail, it was a perfect gift.

Recently, I read about an event called “Good Riddance Day”. For those of you that are like me and have never heard of it before, it goes something like this: On Wednesday December 28th, “anyone who wanted to forget that 2016 had happened could bring all evidence of the anxiety-ridden, tragedy-filled year to New York’s Time Square and have it destroyed in a large mobile shredding truck.”

This all seemed a bit bizarre to me. Sure, not everything was perfect last year. We can all surely come up with a gripe or two, or more.

But with my new photo frame mounted next to my desk and loaded with selected photos from some of my exploits in the past year, I found it better to enjoy reminiscing about some of the places that Terracaching has helped take us in 2016

There was an ancient fortress in Puerto Rico: 

CRZN San Juan (TC62J4) by Rideau Rangers

An early morning walk to a lighthouse on Oahu:

Diamond Head Light House (TCHBK) by Space Cone

Another lighthouse, this time on the tip of Cape Cod:

Wood End Light (TCEGL) by dexter

There was terracaching with a local yokel down in Florida:

South meets North on the way to Sunken Marsh (TCCXS) by rnrgrl

And wouldn’t ya know? He followed me home! (sort of)

Z_Statman gets a lesson in terrain at Ellisville Harbor Terracache (TC45GK) by dexter

But some of the best times were to be found closer to home, with good friends:

Nakitas, johnybgoode9, dexter, and Baddshadd09 joined me for food, laughter, and even a few insults at JASTA’s End of May Weenie Roast (TC5JZ3)

So as you can see, we had a pretty good year!

What will Terracaching bring in 2017? We hope for many more great adventures both near and far. There are many great places to visit, and we know of some more to introduce terracachers to. So look out!

Most of all, my greatest hope is to see our game grow and advance with

New, unique, interesting, and challenging terracaches.

More active members joining our community.

Spirited and thoughtful dialog about improving the TC experience.

And of course, the continued support of the folks behind the scenes that make this game and the website possible: Thanks Cash, Christa and Scott!

So everyone, let’s get out there and make the hunts of 2017 the best we’ve ever had!

Happy Holidays from everyone here at TerraCaching Headquarters! Our tight knit community makes us so proud - proud and extremely grateful for every member. In light of that, here’s the latest post from JASTA 11: 

With the holiday season in full swing all around us there’s so much to do, so many places to go, so many people to see.

As I contemplated what to write in this edition of the Terracaching Blog, I thought of many of the things I had to be thankful for. I also pondered the many heart-warming stories that are on the newscast each night. 

One story came to mind, one I had heard recently. It was simple, yet powerful.

It was about a man who planned a hike he knew he’d never be able to take. It was about that man’s boots. More importantly, it was about a journey.

This is the story of Paul’s Boots.

Cheers and Warm Wishes to the Terracaching Community both near and far! 

We hope you enjoy your Holiday, and your hunt!