A Different Kind of Emergency Kit

If you've been to one of gsix5666 Happy New Year's event, everyone wins a door prize. This is a popular prize for "those in the know".

But what kind of "Emergency Kit" is it? 

Have you ever been caught out in the woods for a bio-emergency and have been unprepared? Keep these kits in your caching bag. So, what is it? Yes, 5 rolls of dehydrated toilet paper - just add the included water!

And before you ask, yes, gsix does work with the scouts!

My 2025 Puzzle Resolution

I'm normally not one for resolutions, but I made a geo-resolution last year. We started to notice that more and more of the caches on our "solved-but-not-found" list were getting archived. 

Geo-resolution? To find 75% of the puzzles on our list by New Year.

How'd we fair? After removing caches that were archived during the year, we finished the year with approximately 53% found, and we're happy with that. My guess is about 200 of the remaining puzzles are part of geoarts, and we just didn't have the time during crazy last year for that kind of commitment.

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So, are we going to do it again? Yes. With 237 still unfound, we're going to shoot for finding 50% of them this year.  This may not seem like such a mean feet, but remember - like last year - we continue to add new puzzle solves throughout the year.

Phoenix or Bust! A Trackable's Adventure

You know how it is? I was sent to Phoenix for work in December, and I decided at the last minute not to carry my new trackable with me. As our Engagement Summit was in downtown, I assumed I wouldn't have access to a cache large enough for a trackable. 

WOW! I was wrong! I Waymo'd to a fabulous cache in the Phoenix suburb called the Bookworm's Haven. My adventure was my favorite part of my trip!

Now I've decided this trackable needs to visit, too!

Sending this out with the mission to visit Bookworm's Haven (GCAANNB) in Phoenix, AZ. 

After I meet its mission, I hope it continues to travel to other libraries, too. 

 

It wouldn't be New Year's Day without a geocaching breakfast at Hope Lutheran Church.  About 100 Cachers (some coming as far as Hamilton, Ontario) converge for food, chatter, and door prizes!

HNY26-17th Annual Geocaching Breakfast Event

Bobo's Dad, Bobo, TaGeez and Scrapcat

Then 11:00 AM strikes, and it's time to geocache! 433 geocaches hidden by 17 Cachers from Commerce Township to Harsen's Island - Romeo to Detroit. Traditionals, Mysteries, Wherigos, Multis and Letterboxes. 

It was cold (19°) but glorious to be out! TaGeez & I did a great job picking our area to cache - we scored 34 FTFs out of 37 finds! SO many animal tracks and quiet roads. We love caching BWY Gand and Ramblin Rumble caches.

We jokingly called this picture 'Scrapcat finally climbs a tree!'

Last year was such a hard year so I'm taking this a sign of a good start to a fresh year. Looking forward to many more caches, more souvenirs, and more time outside. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Have you ever Waymo'd to a Cache before?

I’m in Phoenix for an Engagement Summit, and I arrived with a baggie of trackables. Unfortunately, there are no sizeable caches near my hotel, so I started looking further out…

Wait! What’s this? Is this… a Waymo?! 

OMG! A driverless car???? Saw this on CBS Sunday morning, but we don’t have these in the (currently) frozen tundra of Michigan! WOW! That made heading out for a cache even more irresistible! Where can I go and when can I find time to get there? 

Searching "nearby", I spy the Bookworm's Haven about 6 miles from downtown. OK, so that makes this a double puzzle cache because you can’t plug coordinates into the Waymo app, so I had to solve that first. Luckily the CO confirmed the address for my peace of mind.

Thursday afternoon arrives, and I found free time during a quiet lunch to head on out! What a hoot! LOVED the ride! And Waymo’ing to a cache should be a square on a geo-Bingo card!

I arrived within 16 minutes to the cache, and then I watched as my car just drove away... I could've booked this as a stopover in the Waymo app, but it would've only stopped for 5 minutes, and I didn't know how long it would take me to solve the puzzle to unlock the cache.

 Residential caches are always awkward, but me, in business casual, standing alone with a Ziploc full of trackables? Luckily, the container was obvious, and the puzzle was quick.

This was a fun, well-maintained cache! I enjoyed it immensely. I signed the log, swapped trackables, and left a path tag for the CO.

❤️ Fave point for such a nice cache and fun puzzle.

Then I had to stand around for another awkward 8 minutes until a new Waymo could arrive. I love to drive, but I really want a driverless car now!

Michigan State Parks GeoTour 2: Upper Peninsula Adventure 4

It's amazing how time flies!

TaGeez and I are on the last day of our Michigan State Parks Upper Peninsula GeoTour. We started our day in Sault Ste Marie and am heading towards home. 4 days of fabulous weather and happy memories!

MSPGT2-UP: Brimley State Park GCAPW31

First cache of the day, and I love it when you can see the dew glistening on the grass.

The volunteer at the ranger station said she watched other caches jump down the embankment and cross the little creek for the cache. We decided to mosey around the corner from the station and take the easy way in. 

MSPGT2-UP: Straits State Park GCAPW3N

Last of the UP GeoTour caches! We finished our region! 

Although we passed this crossing over the Mighty Mac, we didn’t grab this that first day because we crossed in the dark. If I had any regrets from the last geotour, we didn't spend enough time here to enjoy the views so we saved this for last.

What a fun way to end this tour. Container is already showing some wear, but it did make us chuckle… and crave S’Mores! 

Now off to the scenic overlook! 

[SIGH] Now to turn towards home. Always sad to cross back over this bridge.

Follow-up note: deep respect to the hider. They reached out to us, asking for more details on the wear of the container. What a class act!

MSPGT2-NL: Pigeon River Country State Forest GCAPW47

“Hello, dirt road, my old friend.

We’ve come to bounce on you again”

[TaGeez singing this to the music of the Sound of Silence]

This was a pleasant detour from the freeway to the cache, even if our windows are painted in sand!

Nice work on the pole! We saw several of these on the last tour, but this was a first for us this time. 

Afterwards, we headed down to the lake for the view before heading to the quilt shop and lunch in Gaylord! This day is going too fast!

MSPGT2-NL: Hartwick Pines State Park GCAPW3Y

Last cache of this adventure and what a place to end it! LOVE the old growth forest at Hartwick Pines! Sad to see Visitor Center is closed for renovations, but we enjoyed the hunt for this cache.

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Michigan State Parks GeoTour 

Upper Peninsula Edition [GT4F8]

We spent 4 Pure Michigan days traveling 1,727 miles to grab a total of 25 caches, 18 from the GeoTour. The skies were blue and the 3 Great Lakes even bluer! Contrast that to sandy roads and changing leaves - pure joy! We can't wait to grab the remaining 10 tour caches we need!

Michigan State Parks GeoTour 2: Upper Peninsula Adventure 3

TaGeez and I are on our third day of our UP adventure for the Michigan State Park GeoTour. Today we went from Marquette to Sault Ste Marie - sandy backroads, Lake Superior views, and the North Country Trail.

A full-day's drive along Lake Superior! We were lucky - weather was Pure Michigan blue, and, with the schools in, that left many of the parks practically empty. 

MSPGT2-UP: Kingston Lake SFCG GCAPW39

This was our first find for the day. We left Marquette early in the morning, skirting the bay, and driving through Munising. Eventually we hit our first dirt road of the day. Lovely lake, so we stopped for a few pictures. Except for the rustle of birds taking off, it was so peaceful here.

Then off to the cache for a quick, fun find. Glad we read the directions earlier today and remembered to bring the water jug! 

We replaced as found and dropped a trackable, running into another pair of Cachers as we left. Little did we know as we turned onto the dirt road that this would be the last pavement we would see for many, many hours.

MSPGT2-UP: Lake Superior SFCG GCAPW3B

Speaking of dirt roads, we had a choice to make. With construction on the "road", we had a choice of taking a 2-hour detour or driving along a several mile 2-track used by ATVs and lumber trucks. Well? We were in a rental, and the bonus is reliving the stories of our heroism later! WOW! So glad we rarely passed another vehicle. There was almost no signage and definitely no GPS so drove it by instinct, knowing that if we attempted to stop, we were stuck in the sand.

Traveling this road, we saw the cute little town of Grand Marais and the fascinating waterfall outside of the Au Sable lighthouse on the way. 

These are not great pictures, but it was fascinating seeing the waterfall spilling into Lake Superior!

At the State Forest Campground, this has been my favorite cache of the trip so far! A beautiful Lake Superior beach, the North Country trail skirting the water, and that awesome container that made me laugh! 

❤️ Fave point! 

MSPGT2-UP: Mouth of the Two Hearted River SFCG GCAPW3J

After a very long drive on a very dirty road (and no data connection so navigating the old-fashioned way), we ended up on the North Country Trail again! This road was so sandy and rutted that we had to pull over several times for speeding ATV's and dune buggies. 

It's amazing how much time it takes to go so few miles on a back dirt road. We finally made it to this rustic campground; Stage 1 was a quick, fun find, and stage 2 was close by. Afterwards we walked over to the water’s edge to check out the island in front of us.

So very peaceful. 

MSPGT2-UP: Tahquamenon Falls SP GCAPW3P

Tahquamenon Falls is exactly the type of state park cache for this series! Beautiful views, nice shops and food nearby! It was also quite the culture shock after bumpy, dirty roads and rustic campgrounds.

We arrived later in the day (after spending hours on sandy roads only fit for ATVs!). TaGeez and I moseyed to several photo stops along the Upper Falls before solving the puzzle for the final. Good puzzle. 

Afterwards we moseyed to the Lower Falls for some peaceful reflection, too.

Here we spent a lot of time sitting on benches and reflecting on our blessings. Really, as crazy busy as our lives have become with life changes occurring over the summer, we are lucky we could spend this time in this amazing state.

MSPGT2-UP: Whitefish Point State Harbor GCAPW3R

All that peace and wellness in the world fled at our final stop for the day! Normally I love Whitefish Point, but why is the final HERE? Do you have a contract with the hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes here?!! 😵‍💫Absolutely miserable! 

After spending miserable minutes in the swamp, being eaten by skeeters and cursing anyone within hearing distance, we headed to the actual point to soothe our souls. Here we visited my Virtual... Did you know it's the 50th anniversary of the sinking this year? 

And then we walked the boardwalk to the beach to let the cold, lake breeze cool our bug bites. 

We turned to Sault Ste Marie for one last overnighter before heading home the next day.

My final thought? Amazing that we could have so many different experiences in one peninsula.