New Cache Owner Dashboard

With the blahs of staying-at-home, work-from-home, COVID-19, I found something to get excited about! Geocaching.com has released the new Cache Owner Dashboard!

As a Technology Trainer, I deal with a lot of dashboards, and high-five to the developers for this one.  The dashboard is dynamic so you can click boxes along the top for more info (missed having "Needs Maintenance" caches on our landing page). My Stats, recent logs and pictures! If you get inundated with log emails, you can send them to Clutter & just visit this dashboard periodically. 

WOW! 80% of my hides have been archived! Time to do more hiding! I like the helpful links on the left, too.  In the pop-up survey, the only enhancement I could think of is to denote logs where a Favorite Point was given -- I know some of them pictured have awarded me points.

Does the dashboard motivate you? 

Michigan's Kirkland Warbler GeoTrail

“The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.”

HENRY WARD BEECHER

And, so, that is how we felt Saturday as ShelleyJean, TaGeez and I headed up to Roscommon for the Kirtland Warbler's geotrail. With Governor Whitmer loosening the restrictions for COVID-19 travel, we were free to roam (with proper precautions - Have I mentioned that SJ bought a personal porta-potty? Brilliant!).

The brainchild of Mike Petrucha, the Kirtland Warbler geotrail was supposed to run in conjunction with the annual (cancelled this year) Kirtland Warbler Festival.

Welcome to the Kirtland's Warbler GeoTrail (KWGT) Launch. This trail will take you in a loop in central Northern Michigan through the Jack Pine ecosystem, breeding home of the Kirtland's Warbler. This tour takes you to a total of 25 caches with an amazing trackable geocoin as a reward (100 available)

Big kudos to Mike, who moved the launch event to a large parking lot for social distancing and even supplied homemade masks for those in need. No surprise that almost 100 geocachers attended - our first opportunity to get out and enjoy the sunshine in months due to lock down.

Ran into friends at the I-75 rest stop

ShelleyJean, TaGeez and Scrapcat - playing it safe

And away we go! It's estimated it's a 128 mile drive from cache to cache between Roscommon and Mio. It made for a very nice loop, and we ran into other cachers at most every stop. Part of the trip was on rural highways but a good portion were on these tiny Michigan logging roads!

Mural at one of our stops

World's Large Kirtland Warbler - Mio

Mike did things a little differently than most geotrails. As we found each cache, inside the container was a question to be answered from the geocache page. Great way to ensure we read them and learned more about the Kirtland Warbler and the Jack Pine ecosystem.

Kirtland Warblers nest at the base of the Jack Pine

It took us exactly 5 hours to complete the 128-mile trip, collecting smilies on 24 of the 25 caches (traffic jam on a narrow logging road so we skipped 1 outlier). We ended our geotrail in the Gahagan Nature Preserve where Mike awarded each of us a lovely geocoin. By day's end, he was down to 4 out of a hundred.

We had intended to walk and do a picnic lunch at the preserve so we detoured to a nearby park for cold fried chicken, green grapes, and Pringles. SJ brought her peach bread, which we enjoyed sitting under a tree near the baseball field. Absolutely lovely. 

With time to spare we drove up to Hartwick Pines State Park (Michigan's largest old-growth forest), where Shelley & I walked the trails while TaGeez napped in the car. Here we heard many birds, including, we think, the Kirtland Warbler, but we didn't see any. Nor did we see people - the trials were cool and peaceful under that lush canopy of trees.

For old time's sake - they got a new sign!

Tree Worshipper
Scrapcat visiting The Monarch

ShelleyJean, Bird Watcher

Chapel in the Woods

94 days in lock down due to COVID-19. We tried to keep our spirits up, but nothing could've been more restorative than out with friends, in beautiful Michigan, on a new geotrail. PRICELESS.

These Are an Interesting Times - Run for the Trees

The blog has been quiet lately. With COVID-19 and the Michigan Stay-At-Home order, admitting that you geocache has created a hostile environment over the last 7 weeks. The Governor of Michigan allows "social distancing exercise", but there are many vocal opponents in our local community.  Their point is (and I fully understand both sides), if you go out to find a box in the woods, you are endangering the weak and the compromised.

We've been living with a good and bad angel sitting on each shoulder, having an argument.

But we're wearing gloves. Those should be reserved for essential workers

And we made masks. Healthcare workers are in need of those

We carry sanitizer and wipes. There are elderly who can't find them

We've targeted lonely caches/ Yes, but who else is out there?

But we're walking in nearby parks. But the Governor said essential travel only.

Is Geocaching essential?  

We''ve been called selfish carrying on with our cache-a-day streaks. But, when everything else has been taken away, two people spending 24 hours a day in a 700-square foot house, and all your trips have been canceled, making that 700 feet trek from a parking spot to a cache location can be heavenly. Normalcy in a maelstrom of anxiety and turmoil - something one can control and enjoy.

Just lately as people are clamoring to return to normal and the COVID-19 curve is flattening in Michigan, some of the hostility has died down. Still restricting ourselves to just a cache a day (and taking ALL precautions at 6 AM!), we made our first "public venture" this past weekend.

Saturday, when all events around Michigan cancelled, TaGeez and I moseyed down to Belle Isle shortly after sunset to complete the Michigan State Parks "Run for the Trees" 5K fun walk on our own.

#RunForTheTrees #BobRoss #HappyLittle5K #MiStateParks

Sunset Point was peaceful and cold - the only other movement were the passing freighters.

Funny thing is... as we pulled in to park, we spied something along the waterline. A cache! 

Not only that.. it was a cache with a blank log - an FTF! And that is gold this month as Michigan Reviewers have placed a moratorium on cache publishing starting on April Fool's Day. Unfortunately, even though we had this in hand and signed the new log, we can't claim it. Rattrak confirmed later this was a new cache for the recently-cancelled Belle Isle event, and he's pulling it for republishing next year.

(SIGH) Hopefully this will not be the "new norm".

Stay Safe - Wash Your Hands - Happy Caching!