Ohio GeoClash is in the books!

 

Another Saturday rolls in, and TaGeez & I found ourselves at another Mega event, Ohio GeoClash & Festival 2023, in Tiffin, Ohio.

We've never been to a GeoClash before, but we're trying to include as many adventures in this crazy summer. As far as we can figure out, cachers are grouped into 5 subgroups and go caching for points for their team. 

By the time we checked in, the groups were out so we decided to take it easy and let the whim take us. We did the onsite Adventure Lab, and we moseyed over to the Art Festival in the center of the park (OH, that lemonade was SO GOOD!)

Because of the heat, we decided to head into town for a few caches, historic cemeteries, more adventure labs, and, of course, lunch! Our favorite adventure lab was the Historic People of Tiffin Adventure Lab, with this beauty as its final. 

After doing the Historic Figures AL, we started to see those founding father's names all over Tiffin!  After a few, impressive local caches, we then headed home (with a quick stopover in Toledo).

Somebody seems like he had a good time 😊

WoW! Seneca County is very cacher-friendly, and they are rolling out a new Pizza geotrail this upcoming weekend! The last 2 were impressive so we're adding this one to our summer agenda!

Michigan's ORB GeoTour

 

Winter was long, and TaGeez & I really missed the Belle Isle Event this year. So, we were really excited to see the Ogemaw-Roscommon Bureau (ORB) GeoTour (GT4D5) released in Michigan in May! TaGeez took off from work, and we headed for the weekend in middle Michigan...

... with a detour in Bay City for Cops & Donuts. Geocachers, POWER UP!

First stop is the kick-off event in West Branch. It was a cold morning, but the chamber supplied coffee and goodies. However, most of it was ignored for the caches in the parking lot, including one of the geotour caches! Woot! We started early!

10 am hit, and the geocaches published! We were off! Funny that there were so many cachers at the kick-off, but we really didn't fun into them at all the fun spots including pretty local parks, the Ogemaw fairgrounds...

stopping at local cemeteries...

... and for taco trucks! Funny, we were on this super rural road - nobody around - when I said, "I'd love a taco right now!" We rounded the corner to find this food truck in the general store's parking lot! The loaded nachos were a FIND!

The parks were beautiful, with a nice mixture of boat launches, Rec areas, woodland, scenic drives, and beaches. Both Roscommon and Ogemaw picked some of the prettiest spots in their counties.

Did you know that Ogemaw is bigfoot country? 

And a natural spring? 

This spot was a little odd. This park contained the grave of George the orphan fawn, a display of taxidermized deer, and a petting zoo. The caretaker, however, was lively and so excited to see so many new visitors!

Of all the memorable spots, I know we will one day return to the Flats. This is a multi-mile birding sanctuary nestled between a highway and major road. 

This beauty, however, was a few miles away along the scenic road (filled with waterways, Eagles and many, many mosquitoes!)

You can't visit Roscommon without visiting the Firemen's Memorial. The cache here was perfect, and it was lovely to see the geocachers respecting the property.

We finished the GeoTour in plenty of time for the closing event so we headed into Kirkland Warbler country for a little bit of birding and a little bit of caching. No luck seeing a warbler, but here we were surrounded by BlueJays and bluebirds. 

SPOILER: Here are some of my favorite cache containers. Many of the West Branch caches were hand-painted by the community.

West Branch Geocaches

The Houghton Lake caches tended more towards the gadget or specialty caches, like the awesome Markey Park Cemetery cache. I awarded so many favorite points on this trip!

Houghton Lake Geocaches

We ended Sunday at the Weekend Wrap-up event, where we collected our coins!

Look what we earned! Closing event

ORB GeoTour Geocoins

This geotour did Michigan proud, and we had such a great time. Print out a passport and go!

MOGA Swag!

TaGeez, the ever-supportive, saw me counting my loot from MOGA 2023 (MOGA! MOGA! MOGA!). 

"What're you going to do with that? Will you even look at it again?"

"Hey, don't come between me and my precious!" (She hisses in her best Gollum voice!)

Luckily he is always very supportive of my swag habits! He even bought me this little cutie to carry in our travels 💚

MOGA! MOGA! MOGA!

 

MOGA! MOGA! MOGA!

That’s the shout that resounded from the U of M Flint ballroom on Friday and Saturday!

This last weekend was MOGA 2023 Cars Coneys Caches

Our first event of the year, TaGeez and I enjoyed cruising the backroads of Genesee County, where we nabbed over 115 caches and adventure labs including my 12,000^th find!

We enjoyed the Friday Night – Kick off, where we grabbed our swag and ran into friends coming out of winter hibernation.

Attended the GPS Maze at MOGA 2023

Completed an 82-stop GeoArt including the Tree of Shoes!

Ran into our old buddy, Signal again!

Earned the final “Wheelof Challenges” souvenir from April’s Geocaching HQ

And, our most favorite part, enjoyed driving the backroads of Genesee County to complete The Preservers GeoTour GC4D6. It was 9-stops at local nature preserves – so many birds, waterways, budding trees, and 1 disc golf tournament! Our favorite stop was pretty Buell Lake (TPGT – Grand Master Snapper GCA6W9T).

Luckily, Michigan weather was on our side this weekend with 82 degree days and sunshine.

Thank you to all the Auto City Cachers for the amazing job putting this on!

Milestone Achieved! 12,000 caches found!

I hit the big 12,000 today at MOGA 2023 in Flint, MI!

Thank you for my best geo-buds, TaGeez and ShelleyJean, and all the cache hiders who made this happen! ❤️

Adventure Lab App Update: Photos!

Just saw this on another site! You can now add photos to your Adventure Lab reviews in the latest update!

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!