Moun10Bike, who maintained the last Project A.P.E cache in the states for more then 10 years, had to archive it. The original stash was stolen. According to Groundspeak policy the Project A.P.E. caches are archived in this case.

A lot of people mourned this loss, but there was one who didn’t. You can read his note to the discussion here. It leaves a little aftertaste and makes me wonder if this person knows more. However, this is not the place or the time to start a hunt for the muggle that hit us hard.

The cache had been muggled several times over the last year. It just makes me wonder, if there was someone not liking the cache there after so many years. And if so, why this person was not able to get in touch with anyone of us to talk and make something up. This reminds me a lot of the events around the E.T. Power Trail in Nevada.

Many of MAGC Germany planned to visit the location over the next year. stefmaus and I started planning our trip for next summer the other week. I guess we will change plans now.

Thank you, Moun10Bike for maintaining this cache so long.

I just wish we could set up a plaque or something like that in the area to find the cache as it was done for the original stash in Oregon. I just don’t feel like I want to travel to Brazil for the last remaining cache of the series.

Update: There is a discussion about this in the forum.

Our first try was disturbed by hard rain (which we ignored bravely) and a young lady guarding some stuff loaded into a ground shuttle. Off course we broke off, rather than continue searching as Klingon warriors would.

We went out visiting some local furniture stores. Though we had not success in finding what we wanted in the stores, it was an interesting experience. People of this age really go into shops to buy furniture. It’s really about time that the replicators are invented…

At the second try we had success right away. It’s a nice hide!

Captain Robert Donovan
CO, USS Trailblazer
Ambassador to the Staunton Sector Group

Personal Log of the Captain – Stardate 100826

Usually I am not about numbers. Well, I am. Sort of. Every week I generate statistics of my finds. I love comparing my statistics with other and chimping about who is better and such. I also try to keep my found traditionals below 85% of my total finds and fill my cache matrix.

But usually I don’t write about numbers. I prefer to write about special finds, great hides, views, locations or whatever else I stumble upon while geocaching.

This find combines both. It is a very special find for me and a number of finds one can be proud to achieve.

My 900th found cache was placed by my best friend. We started out geocaching together two years ago when Steffi and I visited them. Back then it was a great excuse to buy the GPS, but in the few days Mike, Lee, Abi, Steffi and I cached together, we realized it was more.

Now we visited Mike and his family again. We had a great time, cached together, but somehow our numbers did not raise as much as we thought they would.

On our last planned evening in the area we tried to go for it, but had bad luck. We had a lot of DNF’s, it got dark, it got late and it was our last planned day in the area. I was very sad and should have spent the time with the family, instead to go for a number.

Next day Steffi went really ill. We wanted to drive to Washington DC, but she had to see a doctor. After that we asked if we could extend our stay with them for one day to give Steffi some rest. Gladly Mike and Lee agreed. Thank you so much for your support!

So we skipped our visit to Washington DC. Steffi went to bed and I went on a mission.

I had 6 caches to find for #900. It was a hot day again. Pretty humid. My wife was sick and sleeping. But I was on a mission. I was a Federation Captain. I was no weakling. I ignored everything the Klingons said about me that way. I would succeed.

I took the rented cache shuttle to several caches. Waited at some for what felt like an eternity. Searched. Did not find some. Found others pretty fast. Took detours as our rented navigation system had maps from 2005 (5 years old!).

It took me the whole afternoon. The sun was already setting. It was a beautiful evening. And then, on a highway, I had marked my 900th find! (Actually find number 899 was one of Mike’s caches too.) It was a hard bit of work, but it was all worth it!

Now this is where the statistics come in. This find will be forever on the board of my milestone finds. It will be displayed on the stats forever. And this makes me proud!

As my Klingon friend General Huntar would say: Qapla!

Captain Robert Donovan
CO, USS Trailblazer
Ambassador to the Staunton Sector Group

Adventuring in Charlottesville

Something that is important for me is making sure that my family have glorious adventures together.

I use the word “glorious” with special care as what I am really saying is that I want us to make memories.

To often these days, we see families that actually do very little together and so are left wondering later in life why they have drifted so far apart.

Originally, we had wanted to venture towards Richmond but that trip fell through with us selecting a trip to Charlottesville as the replacement alternative.

Our first destination of the day was the downtown mall and the Virginia Discovery Museum located there.

Although I have not stepped foot on the mall in a couple of years, I actually knew my way around a bit thanks to adventuring with friends from Germany a couple of weeks ago helping me find my way and actually locate a decent parking spot much quicker than I expected.

The temperature and overall weather were very pleasant with the time simply walking on the bricked walkways of the mall something in itself to enjoy … that and listening to the various street musicians along the way.

Outside the museum, we found a carousel powered with good ole merry-go-round pushing power.

Inside the museum, 3-year-old Abi became fixated on the various activities involving balls of all sizes, types and colors.

She used them to knock down pins, sent them traveling through tubes, let them loose in mazes and much more.

Because she had so much fun with this, it took a bit of time before we were able to make ourselves to the back gallery where we were surprised to find a small (and safely contained) hive of bees.

The hive itself was a treat to observe as a tube gave the inhabitants access from hive to the outside world.

All three of us were fascinated with watching the colony at work.

So many things were there to enjoy at the museum that we left for lunch and returned afterwards for more adventuring within.

Finally when we did leave, we went looking for geocache “Belmont Park” which was not far away.

Although it was one found by my friends a couple of weeks ago when I was adventuring with them, I chose to remain in the car at the time so as to save the joy of finding it for later.

You see, a sad fact for us in this area is that the number of caches are not quite as high as we would like.

For me, this means spreading out the finds and not going for them all at one time helps keep the enjoyment of the hunt going over the long haul.

This is the reason my family and I concentrate on savoring the adventures themselves as for us … it truly is not about the numbers.

We found the cache we ease but more than this were able to explore a small park that easily accessible of which Abi can have a lot of fun while burning off a bit of her energy.

I can honestly say that even though we left these adventurous places behind on this particular day, we will most definitely return a few more times in the near future.

More so because one of us had so much fun that she fell asleep in her mother’s arms when we returned home.

— Mike Tripp / Hunter of Stories

- – – – – – – – – – – – –

“Adventures of the Pathfinder” follows the adventures of “The-Pathfinders” (aka. Order of the Pathfinder, Klingon faction among the Ships of the Cache) of which Mike Tripp is a part as they explore the world with an adventurous spirit and a lot of fun.

Returning to the Trail

There was a time not long ago that I honestly wondered if I would live to see the day I might truly return to the sport of Geocaching.

Unfortunately, the last year has found free time more limited as it takes a lot to keep a young one at home when both parents work separate shifts.

But with the littlest one now beginning preschool, a fair amount of free time has been freed up with Geocaching being bumped to the top of the list of things I wanted back in my life.

Yes, I gain satisfaction from marking the finds as well as the challenges of seeking out those finds.

It gets my mind moving with the reward of a smiley when the hunt is successful.

More than this, however, is the physical activity that goes into an adventurous hunt.

When I was active in the sport previously, I not only lost weight but was in the best physical condition of my life.

I have no doubt this helped me when it came to surviving and recovering from my heart-attack a year or so back.

But in the time since, I have regained the weight and my health has turned south … with a primary reason being that I have lacked time to Geocache or even exercise.

Yet, the hunt resumes with the finding ofgeocache “SVCC CCCCC.”

After my own first time dropping little Abi off at preschool, I went out looking for this cache and marked the find straight away.

But my adventures did not stop with this one on this date as I also performed maintenance on three of my own hidden  caches as well as scouted out a location for a night cache that I plan to bring online within a week’s time.

— Mike Tripp / Hunter of Stories

- – – – – – – – – – – – –

“Adventures of the Pathfinder” follows the adventures of “The-Pathfinders” (aka. Order of the Pathfinder, Klingon faction among the Ships of the Cache) of which Mike Tripp is a part as they explore the world with an adventurous spirit and a lot of fun.

VICTORY AT LAST!

The quest for geocache “The Glorious Cause” has been one that my wife and I have had in our hearts for some time.

In fact, my wife says quite quickly that it was trying to solve this mystery the first time that caused her to want to take up the sport.

As a person who works with science each day in the lab at the local hospital, she enjoys the challenge of mysteries and unraveling those mysterious.

The first time we went looking for this one, it was when we first entered the sport and were much less experienced.

So the time finally came for us to take up this challenge once more.

On our way to the cache location at Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton, Lee reviewed the information at some length — especially the hint.

She felt there was likely more meaning in the hint than what one first sees as surface value.

Her line of thought caused me to realize where the cache was hidden and on our arrival … I immediately found it.

However, I chose to say nothing at the time as I wanted my wife the chance to work her way to its hiding spot on her own.

As Lee began her search, I took time to follow our 3-year-old, Abi, around the cemetery as she found acorns and placed them in a basket she brought with her.

Going back to the beginning of the puzzle, she solved the puzzle yet again and began her search anew.

One searching for the cache location using the new coordinates from the solved puzzle, she followed the compass of the GPS back and forth as it bounced around off the trees.

The bounce effect became slightly frustrating but in the end she found the cache herself as had I.

For us, this is likely one of our favorite caches with a large smiley marking a find that previously had eluded us.

— Mike Tripp / Hunter of Stories

- – – – – – – – – – – – -

“Adventures of the Pathfinder” follows the adventures of “The-Pathfinders” (aka. Order of the Pathfinder, Klingon faction among the Ships of the Cache) of which Mike Tripp is a part as they explore the world with an adventurous spirit and a lot of fun.

Klingon Global Benchmarker @ Liberty Bell

Klingon Defense Forces – Intelligence Report – Philadelphia area

Today the Federation forces I have been sent out with stopped in Philadelphia. This is supposed to be a very historic area as temporary capital of the United States of America between 1790 and 1800, while Washington D.C. was under construction.

We visited Liberty Bell, the bell that is believed to have been rung to the public reading of the American Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776.

We also saw Independence Hall from outside, but didn’t take the tour.

It was an interesting stay, but too short for a more detailed report.

Qapla’

Ever since I first began geocaching, I became interested in geocoins.

These trackable items come in all shapes and sizes with me having a fair amount (still small by the standards of some) in my personal collection that I have either purchased or been given along the way.

I was honored last night when two dear friends … AltGofur & stefmaus … gave me a few new coins for my collection.

They include one honoring the first moon landing, another the space shuttle, the colors of geocaching and “Geo-Jack.”

To my friends … thank you!

Finally Getting Around To It

Originally, I found AshleyGoRound Cache after returning from a trip to the beach back in July … over a month ago.

However, time seemed to get away from me and the log entry never completed, but with friends visiting and more caches to be discovered later today … it seemed good to get this log entry out of the way.

This is one I visited previously without success in finding. The location had been recently mowed at the time of that first search which complicated things a bit.

This time, I walked right up to the cache and found it without any difficulties at all.

That log now completed, I am looking forward to geocaching this day with two good friends (AltGofur & stefmaus) as well as getting my feet wet once more in the sport … and returning to the sport with the full force of a dedicated seeker!!!

“Mega Smiley” Denied!

“Mega Smiley” is one smiley that is currently denied for me as although I have searched and searched … it was nowhere that I could find it.

Finding ground zero was easy as there definitely is a large smiley at the spot to be found but unfortunately it is not the one that gets you credit for finding the geocache.

On two different days and occasions, I searched the location with an extensive and long search performed on the second day.

I followed every geocaching trail I thought I could see as well as sifted through all the tall grass as well as searched the strands of lights around the palm trees to see if a micro might be woven in and well camouflaged somehow.

So diligent was my search that I walked away with scratches on both arms as one of the short palm like plants to the rear of ground zero was disagreeable with the search efforts.

Knowing I had family waiting for me to return as well as fearing I would be holding them up, I finally left location and decided it must be lost and gone.

Disappointment rose in me later as when I checked after having returned to our home in the valley, I learned others had found that which I could not.

Frustration and disappointment abound as I heave a heavy sigh, wonder at how out of practice I am as well as when my almost 3-year-old will be old enough to let (and even help) me search more depth, enjoyment and easy.

I find I miss the days of old when there were fewer demands on my time … time that currently (even on vacation) hovers only slightly above zero.

— Mike Tripp / Hunter of Stories

- – - – - – - – - – - – -

“Adventures of the Pathfinder” follows the adventures of “The-Pathfinders” (aka. Order of the Pathfinder, Klingon faction among the Ships of the Cache) of which Mike Tripp is a part as they explore the world with an adventurous spirit and a lot of fun.