Cachemanian Devils

This Alabama snowbirding is all right.

2010-01-20T22:10:00.000-06:00

We've been at our rented condo on the Redneck Riviera for three weeks now. Orange Beach, AL which is on the eastern side of the entrance to Mobile Bay. The first two weeks were very cold but the weather has moderated and we've been out quite a bit, even in the cold (which isn't really cold to us.) We've been out to Fort Morgan, Pensacola, FL, the Emerald Coast down to Destin and explored the east side of Mobile Bay. Along the way, we've chalked up 50 geocaches. That's not as many as we had aimed for, but we'll catch up. Our goal is 200 for the whole trip - 100 each month. We'll make it.

Up soon - back to Gulf Breeze and Fort Pickens in Florida, out to Dauphine Island in Mobile Bay and off the the Louisiana bayou country for a one or two day cache-a-thon. We also have to check out the Naval Air Museum at NAS Pensacola. They have the original fighter bar from the NAS Cubi Point Officers' Club, which was in the Philippines. When the US turned Subic Bay and Cubi Point over to them, they dismantled this legendary establishment and brought it back to the home of Naval Aviation. I am proud to say I have danced on that bar while reciting Gunga Din with a fellow LT. Can't wait to see it.

That's all for now.

Ice Christmas

2009-12-26T22:57:00.000-06:00

The storm was a bust, at least around here. We got a lot of rain. Yes, rain. The temp was close to 40 on Christmas Day. If it had been all snow, we'd have easily gotten two feet like Duluth did. So it was slush in the evening and solid ice in the morning and that's the way it stayed all day. Everything outside is enclosed in hard ice.

Also last night, the snow plows took out every garbage can on the street. We were out at 7:00 AM chipping ice-encrusted garbage out of our driveway. But hey, know what? It doesn't matter because we're off to Orange Beach, AL on Monday. Winter is almost over for us. In three days, we'll be geocaching on the Gulf Coast.

White Christmas

2009-12-22T23:30:00.000-06:00

The weather forecast is for up to 20" of snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So much for our holiday geocaching. Forecasters here in MN always forecast snow like it's a catastrophe. It's like they have to offer the worst case scenario so they don't get sued. It's never as bad as they say it's going to be. This one could be the real deal, though.

We're off to Gulf Shores, AL on Monday to spend two months on the Redneck Riviera - the Gulf coast. So we get the best of both worlds - a white Christmas and a warm winter. We're overdue for a real old-fashioned butt-kicking nostril-sticking Minnesota winter. I'm glad we won't be here for it, although last year, it was winter until almost May. Seven months of winter. That means we could come home in March and still have two months left. Where's Al Gore when you need him?

We're back - just in time for the holidays

2009-12-11T00:21:00.000-06:00

Hi again,

It's been a while since we posted anything. In fact the whole blog/website was down for about six months while we lived with minimal technology as part of our simpler lifestyle. But eventually, we got the itch again. We've been to too many cool places and this is the best way to share them.

This is an open thread to enable responses and comments from anyone. In our Christmas letter, we invited people to check out our website and/or comment in our blog.

So here's the opening thread. Hope to hear from someone over the holidays.

Don and Patty

Geocaching on Mother's Day

2009-05-11T14:22:00.002-05:00

For Mother's Day this year Don and I combined 2 of our favorite things; geocaching and Dairy Queen for a very pleasant afternoon.

We went out to Lake Elmo Regional Park Preserve to do some caching and get a bit of exercise . We planned to get 3 caches that were located on the outer paths of the park. The A loop which is 3.7 miles long and goes completely around Eagle Point Lake seemed like the best route to take us to the caches.

The day was cloudy and cool which was actually perfect for a long hike up and down hills. There were a few other people in the park, hiking or on mountain bikes but for the most part we were alone. We planned to start with the cache that was the farthest from the parking lot and work our way back grabbing the other 2 caches as we go. We should have grabbed a map of the park before we started out but we didn't. So we had to rely on our GPS's and the occasional posted maps along the trail.

At the north end of the lake we had to leave the A loop trail to find our 1st cache. Since we didn't have a map we were not certain where the new trail was heading but we continued on anyway trusting in our GPS. We did find all 3 caches and got back to our car after a 3 hour hike. We did grab a map on our way out of the park. With the added distance from the 2nd trail we figured that we had walked over 6 miles. Not a bad adventure for us middle agers.

Since we had gotten such a good hike in we thought we could use a little Dairy Queen refreshment on the way home. We each got a hot dog and I got a free small sundae for Mother's Day. Don was able to get a free cone because they had served up one too many for the group ahead of us. Not a bad deal for $3.51.

I'd say Mother's Day 2009 was a huge success.

More orienteering

2009-05-05T09:45:00.003-05:00

Hi again,

Last Saturday, May 2, Patty and I went to the orienteering meet sponsored by the MN Orienteering Club at Afton State Park over looking the St. Croix River. For those of you not familiar with it, Afton Park is also referred to as Afton Alps. It's a major ski resort in Minnesota. It has some pretty drastic hills as you can imagine. However, unlike Sand Dunes Park where we were last time, it has lots of landmarks, so it is fairly easy to orient yourself.

After our Brown course debacle at Sand Dunes, we decided to throttle back a notch to the Orange course. It's still an intermediate/advanced course which requires good navigation skills and a decent level of physical fitness.

This particular course was 4.7 km as the crow flies with 14 points. That's a lot. We probably walked twice that in this terrain. Our navigation was dead on. If it hadn't been, we wouldn't have finished in the allotted time, which is what killed us last time.

Patty is getting quite good at map reading. Some of the points were tucked away very nicely and we didn't see them until we were on top of them. Our geocaching skills came in handy for that final search.

The weather was perfect - sunny, cool, windy - but it still got quite warm out on the trail. We had our CamelBaks with us filled with ice and water, so we had lots to drink. Also our walking sticks which are really useful for cross country movement and our walkie-talkies.

The handheld radios are a recent addition to our equipment list. Sometimes we split up to look for something. Other times, we just drift away from each other, which is easy to do in some of wilderness we travel in. The radios are great for staying in touch and really allow us to safely expand our outdoor activities on the fly. We take them out every time.

So the bottom line - mission accomplished. A good long walk, perfect navigation and we finished the course with 30 minutes to spare.

Next meet on May 17 at Lebanon Hills Park in Eagan, MN.

More later ..... Don aka Alpha6

Weekday geocaching

2009-05-02T19:54:00.002-05:00

Hi again,

Man, is it really May already? I find myself doing exactly what I said I would not do when we started this blog - too long between entries. I don't know where the time goes. Must try to do better.

Anyway, it's been a very active week. One of the highlights was a weekday geocaching jaunt to Prior Lake, MN. It's about 30 miles away and I taught school there for five years, so I've remained attached to the area. Now that the weather is better, we can be out more and do some walking between caches instead of doing drive ups like we do in the winter.

We found a cluster of geocaches around Jeffers Pond. This is a quiet area made up of several ponds with trails winding around and through them. There's a lot of old growth forest. When you get into the property, it's hard to believe that it's so close to developed suburbs. We weren't expecting much. A quick trail hop and six caches in the bag. It turned out to be much bigger and more beautiful than we thought.

The caches themselves were moderately challenging. A couple of them were very well hidden. The biggest obstacle was the distance between them. The ponds in the park require a lot of roundabout walking to get to a point. We were out almost three hours and covered a good five miles. It was a great workout on a gorgeous spring day and we had the place to ourselves.

Next up - orienteering this weekend.

More later ...... Don aka Alpha6

Orienteering lessons learned

2009-04-22T15:15:00.004-05:00

Hi again,

Last Saturday, April 18th, Patty and I went to an orienteering meet at Sand Dunes State Forest near Zimmerman, MN. The park has some unique geographic and topographic features, most notably - sand dunes. Right in the middle of Minnesota is an area that is more like the north shore. It even reminds me of Fort Bragg or Fort Benning. Thick pines and brambles, no real landmarks and lots of sand.

The Minnesota Orienteering Club (MNOC) stages meets at various parks and forests through out the year and Sand Dunes Forest is the toughest. That means it probably wasn't a good place to try our first advanced course - but we did anyway.

Orienteering courses are color coded by difficulty rating - white, yellow, orange, brown, red, green, blue - with white being the easiest. Difficulty is increased through point placement and course length. The biggest jump is orange to brown. That's where the course setters start placing points out in the boonies and away from the trails.

Patty and I have been orienteering together for a couple of years and I did a lot in the Marines. We're pretty good with a map and compass and are beyond just walking along the trails looking for points. So we tried a brown course.

The course was nine separate points with a total distance of about four kilometers as the crow flies. Depending on route selection, it can easily be double that. There's a three hour time limit.

We started almost 45 minutes into the window, so we only had two hours and 15 minutes to start with. We found the first point with a little difficulty and walked right up to the second point. However, we completely screwed up #3. It was a long leg. We got to our attack point (the point where you plan your final approach) and looked around for an hour. It finally occurred to us that we were one ridge over. We crossed over some low ground, climbed to the next ridge and found it shortly thereafter. By then, it was too late to move on to #4, so we headed back - humbler and wiser.

Nevertheless, it was a good day. We went geocaching for three hours earlier in the morning and bagged six of them. We found out we could navigate at the advanced level and were able to troubleshoot and re-orient ourselves. We need to get faster to be successful in the advanced courses. That may or may not happen. Neither one of us in interested in getting fast. I don't know that we could have finished the course in the max time allotted even if our navigation had been dead on. If we pick up speed, it will have to be through better navigation, terrain association and route selection. I'm not putting on tights and running the course.

The weather was gorgeous and we spent six hours out in the woods. We probably walked 10 miles. On the way home, we stopped at Culver's for our favorite meal - burgers and fries with a concrete shake. Then we went home, started popping Ipuprofen and prepared to do nothing for 24 hours - which we didn't.

Next meet on Saturday, May 2. Is it really May already?

More later ...... Don aka Alpha6

Caching in Wisconsin, Part II

2009-04-20T09:37:00.000-05:00

Hi again,

We had a busy week last week in Wisconsin - visiting family, house hunting and geocaching. We geocached in Port Washington on Thursday. It's a great little seaside village with a real waterfront feel and heritage. But it's kind of small with around 10,000 people and no major medical facilities or shopping centers. It's hard to find a bank or a pharmacy even. It's also an area of steep hills and drop offs. Pretty to look at but difficult for casual biking, etc. But we had a great time geocaching. They even have a webcam cache, which is our favorite kind. We also spent some time talking to a charter fishing boat Captain, so we may go out with him when it warms up a bit. So it looks like Manitowoc as a permanent re-settlement area down the road in a year or so.

Our next big adventure is an orienteering meet at Sand Dunes State Forest in Zimmerman, MN on Saturday the 18th.

More later ..... Don aka Alpha6

Geocaching in Wisconsin

2009-04-14T23:14:00.002-05:00

Hi again,

We're in Wisconsin for a few days visiting family. So we decided to get some caches on the Lake Michigan shore around Manitowoc. Nice place. Small town nautical feel to it but all the heavy industry that used to be here, especially ship building, is gone. The S.S. Badger, a cross lake car ferry, runs out of here from May to October. It takes four hours to get to Luddington, Michigan. Every car gets sniffed by a K-9.

We got seven caches today. Biggest problem was the cold and the wind. It absolutely will not warm up. It was downright bitter on the shore. There's a lot of history here and a number of the caches are built around that. There are a lot of multi-caches here. In those, there are actually a series of caches that lead you to a final cache, so to get credit for one, you have to find 2,3 or 4. We don't do multi's very much.

Tomorrow, we're off to Port Washington about 40 miles south. It's the oldest man-made harbor in North America, dating back to 1770. We've got 10 caches picked out, including a webcam cache. We'll let you know how it goes.

Cache on ..... Don

Geodashing

2009-04-06T19:57:00.003-05:00

Hi again,

If you want some variety in your geocaching quests, give geodashing a try. Patty and I were out today.

Geodashing is sponsored by GPSGames and is a competition of sorts that starts over every month. We're permanently signed up as the Cachemanian Devils.

Every month, a computer randomly generates coordinates from all over the planet, gives them an alpha-numeric designator and plots them on a map. These are called "dash points". You then go the web site, search a target area and go for it. The dash point in effect becomes the cache. Points are awarded for getting to the dash point and submitting a detailed report on it describing the hunt and the location. We always submit photos too. The rule says you have to get within 100 meters of the point to claim credit.

The catch is - some of the points simply can't be approached that closely or gotten to at all. They may be in the middle of a lake or on private property or otherwise inaccessible. For instance, one of the dash points for April's game is on a runway at MSP.

Some of them you can drive right up to. Some require some hiking or bushwhacking. You can be as laid back or ambitious as you want to be. Geodashing is great for bad weather, impromptu outings or back country quests. You can literally end up in the middle of nowhere and find out you can't get to it. That's why recons with maps, Gazetteers and Google Earth are essential.

We went out today and picked up a quick dash point. The weather was cold and blustery and after six months of it, we've had enough. The point turned out to be in the front yard of a house in St. Paul Park, MN about 12 miles from out house. We navigated there with our trusty laptop loaded with Delorme Street Atlas, got to within 59 feet of the coordinates, took the picture and headed home.

More adventures in retirement soon.....Don aka Alpha6

Wimped out after all

2009-04-05T16:14:00.002-05:00

Hi again,

Well, we did what we said we wouldn't do - we skipped the orienteering meet today at Terrace Oaks Park in Burnsville. We got about three inches of snow last night and it was still coming down at noon time . And it was cold and windy. So we said the heck with it. We've had six months of winter and we're tired of it.

Orienteering in the snow. Let's see, all we have to do is follow the footprints. That's the one thing about orienteering that impacts adversely on it - in big meets, there are often traffic jams at the points, especially on the beginner courses.

We're stepping out into the intermediate/advanced courses this year, so hopefully we won't run into that as much.

Next meet in two weeks at Sand Dunes State Forest near Zimmerman, MN. Tough orienteering there because it's pretty flat and has few landmarks.

So we'll go up early, grab a couple of geocaches, orienteer, then stop by the Space Aliens restaurant in Monticello.

Can we party or what?

Until next time......Don aka Alpha6

Winter hangs on

2009-04-03T14:45:00.003-05:00

Hi again,

The big question in the Twin Cities today is "Will winter ever end?" The forecast for the weekend is snow showers with highs in the 30's. The weather has been nasty since early November. That makes five months of lousy winter and it isn't over yet. Next year, Patty and I are snowbirding for a couple of months.

Orienteering meet in Burnsville on Sunday. The weather is supposed to be bad but we're going anyway. We vowed to not wimp out of any more meets. We're running the brown-level courses this year - the beginning of the advanced category. The courses average 4-5 km, which 2.5 to 3 miles. That doesn't count walking around obstacles, back tracking, etc. Should be fun.

How's the weather where you are?

More later....Don (Alpha6)

Orienteering is back

2009-03-29T09:35:00.002-05:00

Hi again,

After a long winter, Patty and I went to the Minnesota Orienteering Club's annual spring clinic and tune up at HylandPark in Bloomington yesterday. The weather was perfect - bright sun, blue sky, light wind and around 40 degrees. This is always the first event of the year and offers many different activities for all skill levels. As usual, it was very well-organized and right on time. MNOC knows how to run a meet.

We opted to do an independent untimed Score-O. In a regular meet, Score-O is a race, where you go get as many points as possible in a certain amount of time. The points are often close together and you can get them in any order. Obviously speed is critical. We didn't want close points and we're not very speedy. Since this was a practice session, we picked out a dozen points scattered all over the park and then went to brush up on our skills. Two hours later we had them all. We were tired and muddy, which is the way we like it.

There seems to be a friendly rivalry between geocachers and orienteers. Well, maybe rivalry isn't the word. I think orienteers hold geocachers in some disdain because of the GPS thing. Granted, navigating with dead reckoning, pace counts and terrain association is more difficult than following a GPS. However, good geocachers learn to read terrain and use it to their advantage. Orienteering develops that skill.

The real difference comes in what we're looking for. Orienteering points are large three dimensional orange and white triangles hanging in trees. Contrast that with looking for a camoflaged film canister. In fact, yesterday we found our geocaching skills very valuable in looking for the markers once we got close. Geocachers know how to scan and search.

So the two sports complement each other well. We enjoy them both very much. Our next meet is in two weeks, but we'll be geocaching and blogging before then.

More later.......Don aka Alpha6

'Tis the season

2009-03-26T19:15:00.000-05:00

Hi again,

Spring has sprung sort of here in the Twin Cities. The warmth and rain last week melted most of the snow except on those pesky north faces, so Patty and I were out caching twice. In geocaching, you learn to expect the unexpected and a couple of the caches did that. On one, we walked all over Sunfish Lake Park trying to get to a cache which the GPS said was .20 miles away. It was like walking in a rat's maze and it was really sloppy and slick. An hour later, we were in knee deep water in a standup culvert looking for a well hidden micro, which we found.

Now it's cold and snowy again. The first orienteering meet of the season is Saturday. The weather forecast is not pretty, but if it was easy everybody would be doing it, right? Actually, we wimped out last year because of the weather and have been kicking ourselves ever since.

More in a couple of days.....

Don aka Alpha6

Welcome to our geocaching blog

2009-03-22T15:57:00.001-05:00

Hi. Thanks for checking out our blog. Patty and I retired last summer and were worried about maybe being bored since we both had frantic jobs. That has not been a problem. We've taken to traveling, working out, orienteering and geocaching. We especially like geocaching and do it all the time. In fact, this winter it was -20 one morning and we went out caching just to say we did it.

We're in our late 50's but that doesn't stop us. We keep ourselves in good shape and were out hiking and geocaching in the Tetons last fall at 10,000 feet. Our goal is to get at least three caches in every state. So far, we've done 30 and will pick up about 10 more this summer.

We also enjoy touring historical places like battlefields. We even have a geocaching X-File. We saw a ghost at Shiloh Battlefield in February.

The geocaching community is growing by leaps and bounds. We have actively encouraged people to go out there and get started. It's a great way to stay sharp, get some exercise and see places you'd never get to otherwise. We always get questions from our friends and families about what we're doing. So we decided to kill a couple birds with one stone and put our travel chronicles on the web. We started with Flickr but it wasn't enough, so we built a full blown website called offthebeatenpath.ws. It's a one stop shop for geocaching, history, travel, places to eat, equipment and other information. You can read our ghost story and check out our Top 10 lists, including the Top 10 Ways How NOT to Find a Geocache. We've had fun doing it.

We started this blog to enhance the website. We can update it with current activities that might not make the website, but could be of interest to others.

You'll also find us on Facebook under Don 'n' Patty.

Posting here is easy. Guests may write a comment or reply to any existing post. Members may start new posts. Joining is easy and acceptance is automatic. Feel free to write about any of the activities covered in the website or any other related activity - advice, equipment, places or lessons learned you may want to share or just to say hi.

So again, welcome.

Don (Alpha6) and Patty (KisdRN)