Labor Day Weekend: On the GeoTrail in Coshocton

 

It's become almost a tradition. Labor Day and geocaching with TaGeez & ShelleyJean. This time we headed down to Coshocton, Ohio for the Coshocton Ring GeoTrail. 

The Coshocton Ring Trail offers fun, free, family-friendly activity you can do any time of the year! There are 45 NEW caches placed for you to find. In order to earn the coin, you must log a total of 16, including the Cache to Rule All Caches, complete the passport, and get a cool Coshocton Ring Trail Coin.

Seen on the way! Such a good sign!

We were limited on time so we headed out Friday afternoon to grab some Ohio counties on our way. Did you know Switzerland is in Ohio? At least Little Switzerland is! Sugarcreek is home to the Guinness Book of World Records "largest cuckoo clock in the US". 

Tick Tock Virtual GC9P769

We were lucky enough to be present during the mid-hour entertainment, occupying ourselves beforehand with a nice little Adventure Lab across the street.

Lovely adventure into the town of Coshocton, where we spent a night at the Coshocton Village Inn. Jacqueline at the front desk gave SJ a heads-up that the onsite cache was kept behind the desk. And, with that, we grabbed CCR #45: Council of Elrond GC9RXM0. 

Since we only had the day, we got an early start. The fog was out and there was a bit of a chill in the air. It lent an air of mystery for a beautiful day ahead!

First stop was the Old Fort. 

"Located just south of the present-day south bank of the Tuscarawas River, near West Lafayette in Coshocton County, stands Ohio's oldest building. It is a small (16' X 16') sandstone structure, with rifle ports, known as the 'Old Stone Fort'. That the 'Old Stone Fort' is Ohio's oldest existing building, and one of the oldest European-built or early US buildings west of the Appalachian Mountains, is not in question. The question and the mystery is, who built the 'fort'?"

Dew covered

Now to start the geotrail. Caches are laid out into 3 rings: Narya, Vilya, and Nenya. You need to complete a total of 16: minimally 3 from each ring plus the CCR #01: The Cache to Rule All Caches. 

To simplify, I ran a pocket query for the series and then color-coded each ring. Voila! We had a plan of attack!

We spent 4 fabulous hours driving the backroads of Coshocton County. Farm stands, Amish Markets, cemeteries, libraries, and several of fabulous local businesses. We also detoured for a Carnegie Library and a local quilt shop. 

TaGeez and Scrapcat

Low-flying planes

And the final cache was impressive! CCR #01: The Cache to Rule All Caches included the final stamp we needed to complete our passports. Afterwards we visited the Coshocton Supply Company, where we met the indomitable Mindy! Lovely lady who enthusiastically awarded us our coins, sold us our t-shirts, and directed us to the local sites (including the horse-drawn canal boat). 

The Coshocton Supply Company is situated in historic Roscoe Village, a fabulous brick-lined downtown situated amongst other shops and down the road from the Warehouse Restaurant, "home of the legendary onion rings". And, MAN! They smelled and tasted delicious! More than enough for 3 hungry cachers!

Sadly, it's time to head home, but we had a little time to grab a few more counties and enjoy a little more sightseeing. My favorite stop of the trip was the Mount Vernon Dog Fountain! What a hoot! SJ, can we go back when we do Belmont? 

Must Love Dogs Virtual

TaGeez having too much fun!

Scrapcat and TaGeez in Mount Vernon

TaGeez is such a trooper! Another county down!

Swartz Creek Covered Bridge, Wyandot

In the end, we checked off 8 more Ohio counties and making plans for more on the way to the Belmont Geotrail this Fall!

Another fabulous adventure with the Super Sexy Trio (SST = Scrapcat, ShelleyJean, and TaGeez)! Coshocton is a friendly little town, nestled in small hills, and steeped in history.  We thoroughly enjoyed exploring the backroads but, more importantly, spending time together!

Coshocton Geocoin and Discover Tags

If you decide to visit, Mindy from the Coshocton Supply Company said they still have about 100 geocoins left. One Trail to Rule Them All!

Geocaches, Pizzas and Friends - Seneca County

TaGeez, ShelleyJean, and I headed to Seneca County with our new friend, geostasee. For today we are enjoying the Slice of Seneca County Geotrail!

geostasee, ShelleyJean, scrapcat, and TaGeez

Under clear blue skies and with a lovely breeze, we spent our Saturday finding 19 traditionals, letterboxes, multis and a puzzle from Fostoria into Tiffin and out to Attica. Each cache was associate or located near a different pizza place, and, with every find, we punched or wrote a passcode on our passports to earn a really cool (2-piece) Pizza Tour Geocoin served up in a mini pizza box!

Seneca County is very friendly to geocachers - this is not the first tour we enjoyed here. As we stopped at the Caverns, walked the trails of the preserves, or stood outside the parlors gathering puzzle clues, friendly locals cheered us on and were fabulously positive.

We lunched at a Tiffin diner, but dinner was a highlight at Reino's Pizza & Pasta in downtown Tiffin. Founded in the 1950's, the staff was friendly, and the owner stopped at our table twice. Dinner for us was a delicious Hawaiian Pizza Foldover and Garlic Bread with cheese! Next time we visit we'll return to try the pasta.

Our favorite geocaches of the day were the SSCG 04: 🍕 Here Today, Gone Tomato GCA9D2T at the local library and Iron Triangle Rail Park Caboose (Webcam) Virtual GC9P8VX.

Thank you to Seneca County for another fabulous experience. We appreciated the well-maintained caches taking us across the county plus the ability to pick-up our geocoins at the local hotel at the end.

International Geocaching Day - 2023

Lucky in Dublin - Riverboxes Geotrail

The Dublin Arts Council really know how to treat a Cacher!

Dublin, Ohio is now known for more than Cornhenge!

ShelleyJean and I headed to Dublin (a suburb of Columbus) for their Riverboxes geotour!  Located along the Scioto River, this series included 18 Letterbox stops (5 not listed on the app) plus a 5-stop Adventure Lab to earn a prized Chris Mackey geocoin + 2 path tags! 

Download their passport and pack your stamp & stamp pad (or Bingo dauber - cheap & portable ink!). 

Now, I don't normally post spoiler pictures, but so many of these Letterboxes are so special and widely photographed. If you wish to see them yourself and stay surprised, just scroll to the bottom of this post to see the really cool geocoins!

**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**

First stop (for us) was the Big Turtle, but be prepared to wait. This was a very popular park, and there were a lot of mini-muggles who stopped by to pet the turtle and his friends. This was a great start to our adventure!

Big Turtle Riverbox GC8KT24

While visiting the Big Turtle, make sure you stop for a visit with old "Leatherlips"! Last time I was here a pandemic sprung up - hoping this visit will reverse the curse!

Sha-Te-Yah-Ron-Ya Virtual GC7B8FP

After Leatherlips, we headed letterbox-to-letterbox, running along one side of the Scioto River and up the other side. This was a good plan because, after the last letterbox, we were in a great place to start the sequential Dublin Limerick Adventure Lab.

House of Spirits Riverbox GC9R8AC

Here is one of the new Riverboxes. They had a big roll-out event in August, and it's situated on such a lovely riverwalk - packed with pedestrians! Completed both Equal East and Equal West for a special path tag.

Equal East Riverbox GC9RFVN

Geocoin embedded in the base!

Next up was this beauty following a lovely boardwalk, where we spied blue herons perched in trees. Fitting, isn't it?

Vigilant Vegetation II Riverbox GC8KM4X

Don't get so fixated on the hide that you don't look around!

Didn't they always say that Ohio is flat?!? Climbing down under the road to this new beauty - I could really feel it in my calves at this point! There was a lot of ups-and-downs -- at another letterbox, it was 230 footfalls from the top of the stairs down to the river and then back up!

Equal West Riverbox GC9NAYM

Another coin in the base!

This big guy is 6 years old! He's looking pretty good, isn't he? Imagine our thrill when we spied him amongst the pine trees!

Sentinel Riverbox GC6TB7M

Caementum Charta II Riverbox GC8KM5B

I will admit I have one regret about this tour... we can only give 1 Favorite Point to a geocache! Finnian is my favorite (and final) find this year! Isn't he amazing? Well worth the trek to his hiding spot!

The Forest Witch and the Witless Fellow, Finnian GC6QAJH

It was a relaxing drive down, an enjoyable day of caching, and we ended it walking and dining downtown. Perfect adventure in such a pretty community!

Thank you to the Dublin Arts Council! We will be back!

Seneca County GeoTrail: Happy Caching on the Backroads

 So, what'cha doing this weekend? 

Funny how those words seem to get me and ShellyJean into the most trouble, isn't it? It's been a LONG winter with a lot of commitments so it was time to get away over Memorial Weekend. We had many options to choose from, but I'm glad SJ picked the Seneca County Geotrail (SCGT)!

Located about 1.5 hours south of Detroit (below Toledo & Sandusky), the SCGT runs from Fostoria to Tiffin to Attica. Honestly, I'm embarrassed to admit, I had never heard of these places, but I was game to SJ's suggestion. Turns out to be a lovely part of the state, flush with history, birds, and geocaches!

ShelleyJean and I setout early Saturday morning, with a plan to stay at the Hampton Inn in Tiffin overnight. 

There are 20 caches along the trail.  To earn the official Seneca County Geo Trail coin, you will need to complete 15 out of the 20 caches.  To receive the coin AND a trackable tag, please complete ALL 20 caches! [SCGT]

First stop was Fostoria, OH - originally famous for its Fostoria Glass.

Fostoria is now a destination for train-buffs as almost 120 trains passing through daily. We experienced their enthusiasm at the Fostoria Iron Triangle Railpark, families gathering with binoculars to watch the trains go by. Pretty fun listening to them reel off engine numbers and stats as we were busily groping the B&O Caboose for the geocache!

In addition to several caches around the small downtown, SCGT #6 was an Adventure Lab: Strolling in Fostoria. Not to give too much away, here are a few highlights from our visit: 

After a successful trek, we next headed to the Steyer Nature Preserve. To celebrate our arrival, the birds posed for pictures for SJ including two new "life list" bird, the blue bird and the yellow warbler! 

SJ took many beautiful pictures of the blue bird, so I hope she forgives me for picking "Mr. Grumpy Pants" for this post because I can't look at it without cracking up!

Photo by ShelleyJean

After the finding the cache, we sat on the picnic tables listening to the bird songs. This was definitely one of my two favorite stops - the other, Garlo Heritage Nature Preserve, happened to be a bird haven, too. SJ photographed 2 more "life lists" birds there, the Eastern Wood-Pewee and the Eastern Phoebe. 

Tiffin, Ohio, was a complete surprise! I wasn't expecting it to be so... established? Two Universities (Tiffin University and Heidelberg University), the lovely downtown including the Ritz Theatre (Michael Bolton in December!), and beautiful historic homes & parks along the riverfront. 

Here we spent the afternoon and the following morning completing 5 adventure labs, more geotrail caches, and several high-favorited puzzles. No GC codes here - I don't want to spoil these. 

East of Tiffin is the Attica-area, where we found the Garlo Heritage Nature Preserve, the geotrail Earth Cache at Seneca Caverns plus an Underground Railroad site while exploring the backroads of Seneca County! This was exactly the type of getaway we needed.

Dinner at The Wall Street Grill and an adventure through our first drive-thru convenience store ended our first night in Tiffin, Ohio. Sunday we completed the remaining Adventure Labs before turning home to Michigan. We had birding on the brain so we stopped at several Michigan State and Metro parks including the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge.  SJ taking more pictures, but I sat watching the REAL wildlife, park visitors on a holiday weekend!

The geotrail was a lovely adventure, and I feel so energized! We were so impresses with the responsiveness of the CO (Seneca County) to our (probably too-numerous) communications. One of the last, included a message that they are working on a new geotrail (with a Virtual Reward) and hoping we will come back. Oh, we definitely will! 💚