Great Friends….Great Caches
I set about writing an article on some of the great caches in my neck of the woods, but I had a hard time coming up with one. In addition to that, the caches that continued to come to mind weren’t necessarily “great” caches by some standards. It seems to me that when most people think of great caches, they think of epic hikes, tough hides, or unique containers. What I kept thinking of were the caches where I had the most fun, or maybe had some nice scenery. The really fun caches that I’ve done have usually been found with a group of cachers, and I think it sticks out in my mind more of the company, and the journey as opposed to a particular cache. This brings me to one particular caching weekend.
It all started out innocently enough. Back in late May of 2004, Bjorn74, Coaster, and I, from the Columbus, Ohio area, decided to head down to Cincinnati for a weekend of caching and camping with a few friends down that way. This also happened to coincide with the height of the 17-year cicada, better known as “Brood-X” at the time. We got everything loaded up, and headed on our way. Even though we were starting out late in the evening, we decided to snag a few caches on the way down to the campgrounds. The second cache that was on our route was the Sailing Cache. For whatever reason, Bjorn74 has less of a cache-sense than a dead critter-sense. Of course, we pile out of the truck, and promptly find what has to be the largest catfish I’ve ever seen….being eaten by buzzards. At the time it seemed that no cache run with Bjorn74 would be complete without the dead animals, so we felt that the rest of the weekend would certainly have to be nothing short of invigorating. Barring that, this particular find was a typical find. After signing in, and replacing the cache, we got back on the road, and only had time to rack up a DNF. We were soon at the campgrounds, setting up, and getting ready for the next full day of caching. We were off to sleep while visions of little yellow smileys danced in our heads.
In the morning we were joined by Cincinnati local cacher Draegon, who would be our tour guide of sorts. Essentially this consisted of him driving us to the parking area for various caches, then sitting back and laughing at us as the other three of us tried to find the cache. Another thing you have to understand is that Ohio is vastly different in terms of geographical features. Here in Central Ohio, it’s mostly flat, with fields and suburbia abound. I believe this to be they stereotypical area that people imagine with thinking of Ohio. Southern Ohio however is an entirely different place.
See back about 70,000 years ago this area was greatly influenced by the Wisconsinian Glacier. The Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, and the Ohio River are all products of this glaciation. The glacier stopped somewhere in Kentucky and West Virginia. As the glacier retreated southern Ohio was left with high hills, and deep valleys due to water run off, and glacial till deposits. Here in Central Ohio, there wasn’t much left for the glacier to drop off, so as I mentioned before it’s relatively flat here. Needless to say we Central Ohioians weren’t in shape for the more demanding Southern Ohio terrain, which seemed to add to Draegon’s pleasure. All of this information is necessary to help define the following events.
The start of the day was somewhat uneventful. We just had a good time finding caches and seeing the Cincinnati area off the beaten path. We were driving to one particular cache when Draegon mentions that there are 3 caches in a park we were coming up on. These caches were not on our “to-do” list, but he assured us that they would be quick and easy. From the road, the park appeared to just be a small local place, so we agreed to stop for a moment to grab them quickly, and then continue to our intended destination.
We park and head down in to a grassy valley, where we were surrounded by the calls of the cicada. The entire surrounding woods were filled with them, making it difficult for us to talk to one another if we were any distance apart. Imagine the “white noise” sound of a dial-up modem being played at a horrifying volume. It was also around this time that Bjorn74 discovered that if he ran ahead, used his hiking pole to shake the smaller trees, and ran away many cicadas would come screeching directly at Coaster, Draegon, and I, causing us to react in such a way that kept him amused for much of the trip. Those beady red eyes still haunt me my dreams.
The three caches we were in search of in the park were CellBlock 1138, Get The Lead Out!, and Forcebox Mt. Washington. From the time we found CellBlock 1138, to the time we found last one, Forcebox Mt. Washington, our “quick” side trip took nearly an hour. This included going up one wall of a steep valley, back down to the bottom, up the other side, then down and back up that same side a little further down. Winded, tired, and deafened by cicadas, we headed back to the Geo-vehicle, reminding ourselves that our definition and Draegon’s definition of “quick and easy” were vastly conflicted.
The remainder of the day was filled with more antics, camaraderie, and great caches. A few highlights were Forcebox Lunken Airfield, aptly named for its proximity to Lunken Airfield, where we got to see a small air show in progress. Hail Mary, Full of Grace provided a wonderful view over downtown Cincinnati, the passing boats on the Ohio River, and what appeared to be the X-Games or something similar taking place. We also visited Climb On! Where we met up with 4leafclover and her 2 “cloverettes.” This area used to be a reservoir which was drained and turned into a park. The walls of the dam are still in place and can be used for rock-climbing. There are also many little lizards which run amok there, which is very uncommon in most other parts of Ohio.
The icing on the cake of this day was taking a drive up to Caesar Creek State Park to participate in what was our first night cache, Caesers Darkside. Stepping back a moment again to backfill some information. Evenings in Ohio can be cold, even in the summer. The Draegon-mobile was a convertible Geo Tracker. Driving at highway speeds for roughly 45 minutes made for 4 very chilly cachers by the time we arrived. Pulling into the parking area we were greeted by 4leafclover and family again, Johnnie Stalkers, Team Truncheon, and Web-ling. In total there were 14 cachers there to take on this one cache. This was a great cache, involving a hike on a well established trail, and across a swinging suspension bridge to find the cache. For some the bridge alone would be too much during the day, let alone in the inky darkness. Again, this was a great experience due to the company of other cachers. Some we knew previously, many we just met, but it was as though we were all long lost friends. To conclude the trip to the cache, we met The Chestnut Gang, on one of their first caches. It was nice to meet them, and nice to see them taking on a difficult cache, undaunted by their relative freshness.
The next day was again filled with caching, cicadas, and glacial till, only without our guide. Upon deciding that we were finished for the day we decided to pay our guide a visit in the evening. Draegon proposed that the best way to round out a full day of caching was with a nice round of more caches. We were whisked away to some urban caches, and a few tricky hides including Draegon’s own cache, The Lucky Cache which proved unique in its camouflage, and provided my 300th find. From there we found a couple more caches and took respite to Draegon’s home to rehash the day’s events.
Upon arriving back there we discover that there were tornado watches, and severe thunderstorm warnings being issued. Rather than retreat across town to our flimsy tents we decided to stay there until the storms passed. Bjorn74 promptly fell asleep on the floor; I guess harassing cicadas all day really wears one out. Coaster, Draegon and I took residence on his back deck to watch the storms, and further chat about caching. Once the storms concluded we rousted Bjorn74 from his slumber, and headed toward the campground. At this point we were roughly 25 miles, as the crow flies, from the campsite. Apparently, the quickest way to get anywhere in the Cincinnati area is by way of Kentucky. Taking our host’s advice to do so, we traveled around the city, into and back out of Kentucky, and arrived about 45 miles, and an hour later to our campsite. Luckily our tents and such survived the storm with nary a scratch.
The next morning was a leisurely trip home, caching along the way though some of the more rural areas of our state. We parted eventually ways, taking with us many memories and laughs. It is times like these that just simply cannot be replaced, and no matter how many caches I find in any kind of unique area, I don’t think they can replace the memories fashioned in friendships.