GCTCB7 Cheesy Rat

Second find for the day. Talked my Pirates into doing a second geocache as long as we were out. This one looks like it is with a bunch of others up the Santa Fe trail, but it is on the other side of Monument Creek.

GCTCB7 Cheesy Rat Reg 1.0/2.5 Pirate #1MrWitzAbout Pirate #2 #3 Found-It log: May 27, 2006 by WitzAbout

~11:50am Mr.WitzAbout and my 3 pirates. Started going on the wrong side of the fence. Then we went the right way. Looked around for a minute or 2. Thought I saw something. Pirate #3 zoomed in and confirmed it was the cache. The over-bag has seen better days. Pirates took a toy each, for 3 total. Left 3 items: Car, Photo frame, air force keychain & suction-clip. SL. Thanks for the cache! Saw a garbage truck pick up a dumpster on the way out for a bit of excitement :)

View of the area

GCV8Z3 Hefe's Hideaway

I felt bad that I was not able to log Deena's Heffalump into a cache in NY. Even though on it's first travel, it got all the way to where it wanted to go! :)
So I had to put the Heffalump into a cache - and what better than another cache from the same team that owns the Heffalump. :) I packed up the pirates and headed out to this cache. Okay, I got confused on which cache I was going to at first. I had driven behind CompUSA and thought it was that one. I checked the GC-ID on my palm, and found I'd gotten caches mixed up. Then I remembered, this one was behind the Albertsons/Game Crazy/Juns mall. So we drove down, and was glad to find parking in back as I saw on Google maps. The dumpster was a little stinky, but we were not that close. I can just imagine the Pirates reminiscing: 'yeah, my dad used to take me down stinky alleys behind shopping centers' :) :) . I was a little nervous when I truck pulled up as we were returning to the car. I was afraid I was parked in the way of turning around. But the truck seemed find, backing up to a loading dock without needing to come very near to my car.

GCV8Z3 Hefe's Hideaway Reg 1.5/1.5 MrWitzAbout Pirate #1 #2 #3 Found-It log: May 27, 2006 by WitzAbout

11:23am Mr.WitzAbout and my 3 pirates. Parked behind the shopping center. At first the GPSr was pointing down the cliffs, and I was worried. Followed a trail, and found the cache without much trouble. The pirates picked 1 toy each, for 3. Put in 4 items: Kodak hotwheels car, picture frame, large blue die and superball. Also left TB Deena's Heffalump. I got the TB all the way to Central Park in NYC as it wanted - but I could not find any place in NY to put the TB. So it came back here. I thought it somehow appropriate to put it in a different cache by the same owner as the TB :) Thanks for the Cache!

4 Items for the Cache

GCT81X Light Saber (the 3rd)

After finally finding a cache this day, and going to my school reunion, I got back to the computer to read that the bomb squad had been called out to this one of my caches. I diabled the cache. Not a fun thing.

GCT81X Light Saber (the 3rd) Small 1.5/1.5 Disabled log: May 19, 2006 by WitzAbout

Will check when I get back in town

GCF17B Top of the loop

After being 0/5 for the area and 0/7 for New York, I finally found a cache! It was raining, but I was determined. There was a hole in the rain around the cache. The satellites were giving me trouble in this area - headed one way, then it would say: hey, it is 150 feet the other way! I waited 5 minutes for another satellite to come into view, and finally got to the right area. I would say this is a small, not a regular - as there was barely enough room for 1 of the 2 travelbugs I had with me. I wound up taking the second travelbug back with me to Colorado. But I was so glad to finally find a cache in New York. I would have put money on finding a whole bunch more. I will have to make sure to always have the hints with me from now on :)

GCF17B Top of the loop Reg 1.5/1.5 Found-It log: May 19, 2006 by WitzAbout

Finally found a cache in NY! After striking out for days, I finally found a cache. Left Dexter Dog TB who wants to go to Hershey.

GCGZ10 Bear Mountian Number 3

I tried to do this one from the road. I bushwacked up a steep mountainside and found the trail. I spent a bunch of time bouncing all around the coordinates without luck. If I'd had the hint with me, I'd have had a better chance.

GCGZ10 Bear Mountian Number 3 Reg 2.0/2.0 Posted note: May 18, 2006 by WitzAbout

Could not find this cache - did not have the hint with me :(

GC238E Stony Point Battlefield

The area was interesting and the lighthouse was pretty neat. Frustraiting not to be able to find another cache - 0/3 for the day, 0/4 for the area. Took some looking to find a way down that did not say do-not-cross. Wound up coming back past some of those signs.

GC238E Stony Point Battlefield Reg 2.0/2.5 Wrote note: May 18, 2006 by WitzAbout

Could not find the cache. Spent more than 30 minutes looking. My GPS kept jumping more than 30 feet around the area. I also did not have the hint with me :( Quick note: the sign on the way in said 1779 not 1776 :)

GCFB9B Silvermine.Overlook

The gnats were horrible trying to get to this cache. That, and it was steeper than I expected - but I guess 2.5 is accurate that way.

GCFB9B Silvermine.Overlook Reg 2.0/2.5 Posted Note: May 18, 2006 by WitzAbout

Checking my notes, this is one I tried back in May but could not find. Did not have the encrypted hint with me. That probably would have made the difference.

GCGYWV Bear Mountian Number 2

Seems this one can't be done without the written clue. The coordinates are right at the building - but the cache is up the trail according to the hint. I'd tried to look up the hint on my Cell phone, but it would not connect.

GCGYWV Bear Mountian Number 2 Reg 1.5/2.0 Couldn't Find log: May 17, 2006 by WitzAbout

Drove in with hopes of a quick find. I recognized along the driveway that this was the spot where my sister got married. My GPS has been a little crazy lately - and I could not find any sign of a cache. I had a terrible run of bad luck trying to find caches in NY. First in NYC then in this area.

GCE826 In the Ramble

GCE826 In the Ramble Reg 2.0/1.5 Posted a note: May 16, 2006 by WitzAbout

I spent about 25 minutes looking for this with my step-father. My GPS was going a little crazy in this spot. Most of our searching was over a fence - which made me feel a little nervious if a man in blue were to take sight. But we saw very few people back here - amazingly secluded! But, unluckily, this was strike 2 (of 2) for us today. I had a Travelbug TBQ1FC that wanted to go to Central Park. I got a picture of it at the boat lake, so it did get it's mission complete - but I would have liked to have placed it in a cache in the park. Hope the next person finds it with no trouble. Keep on 'cachin!

GCM90X Lakeside View

When I looked for caches in Central Park to take the Heffalump TB to, I was transported back in time. The spot I found on the lake was what I knew as Birthday Island. When I was a kid, we lived in NYC - and my parents took me to the boat lake and boated over to an 'island' to have my birthday. They even called it 'Birthday Island'. I remember being disappointed for a moment when I realized it was a peninsula. But it was a plesant reminder and neat to return to this for geocaching. Unluckily, we could not find the cache. I think it had gotten affected by the serious rains up to the day before. I am glad to see that it had been found after my attempt - and it is interesting to note that it seems to confound about half the cachers! :) Of course, that suggests it it not a 1.5/1.5

GCM90X Lakeside View Small 1.5/1.5 Couldn't Find log: May 16 by WitzAbout

I took my step-father out for some geocaching since I was visiting the area. I had a travelbug TBQ1FC from Colorado Springs that wanted to see Central Park. I thought it would be great if I could put it in a cache in Central Park. We looked for about 25 minutes. Based on the clue, we were pretty sure the *point* it should be. But we could not find it. We wondered if all the rain may have affected the site. I did get a picture of the TB near the spot, so I wa able to complete the TB's mission that way. I hope I just somehow missed the cache, and that it isn't missing. Good luck - keep on 'caching.

TBQ1FC Deena's Heffalump

TBQ1FC Deena's Heffalump Travelbug Posted a note log: May 16, 2006 by WitzAbout

I tried to find 2 different caches in Central Park, NYC with no luck: GCM90X GCE826 But I did get a couple of pictures of the Heffalump at the boat lake in Central Park (There was supposed to be a cache right in that area!) (visit link) I will find a different cache in the general region in the next few days Keith aka Mr.WitzAbout

Central Park Heffalump at the Boat Lake

TBG8R8 Dexter Dog

TBG8R8 Dexter Dog Travelbug Retrieved-it log: May 15, 2006 by WitzAbout

I've had this bug before! :) Picked this guy up waiting at the airport. Well just outside the airport property at the bug hotel. Only took me 20 minutes extra to get this TB on my way to the airport Monday. He didn't have to wait long, as I saw him dropped in Monday morning (yes, I'm one of the lurking watchers of this TB :) ). I am now on the East Coast, about 3 hours driving time from Hershey. I will not be able to get him all the way to his destination, but he is much, much closer. I will get him into a cache - probably in NY State, just North of New Jersey in the next few days. :) Mr.WitzAbout

GC5E9B Mondo's Bug Hotel

GC5E9B Mondo's Bug Hotel Regular 1.5/1.5 MrWitzAbout Found-It log: May 15 by WitzAbout

Found this one back on the 15th. I had written a note for it - but just realized I never did a find log for it! It took me a few minutes to find the cache - my GPSr had me looking on both sides of the road. But even with the time it took to find the cache - it was only 20 extra minutes total to get the TB from this cache. Mr.WitzAbout alone on my way to the East Coast for a few days. Picked up Dexter Dog TB - this will get him much closer to his destination of Hershey PA. To save time, I decided to drive the dirt road. Okay - I have a sedan, so driving up the curb was a bit risky :) I drove past the cache side by about 30 feet, and found what looked like an area that had been parked-in/turned-around-in a few times :) While I was searching, a truck came barrling over the hill. The driver gave me a bit of a look, but didn't stop. I tried to look innocent. I bet he thought I was looking to water a tree ;-) It was nice to be able to pick up a travelbug on my way out rather convieniently. Thanks for the cache! Signed log.

GC5E9B Mondo's Bug Hotel

GC5E9B Mondo's Bug Hotel Regular 1.5/1.5 posted a note: May 15 by WitzAbout

Headed east this afternoon - if I'm running on time I'll stop by and grab Dexter Dog - but I probably won't log it officially until late tonight or tomorrow - thanks!

TBQ1FC Deena's Heffalump

I was going to be in the New York area - just a few blocks from Central Park in just a few days - so how could I pass up taking this Travelbug along?

This is a brand new Travelbug - just created, and put in it's first cache - the same owner for the TB and the cache. And on it's first travel, this TB is going to make it to it's destination! So I asked what does the TB want to do after it reaches its listed goal.

TBQ1FC Deena's Heffalump Travelbug retrieved-It log: May 14, 2006 by WitzAbout from Hefe's Travel Bug City

Picked up the Heffalump, seeing as I'm headed in the correct direction. What does the heffalump want to do after reaching Central Park? :) I'm headed back east for a school reunion. I was born in Long Island, but lived on the Upper West Side of Manhatten for 10 years as a kid. We would take bike rides in Central Park down to the Sheep Meadow. MrWitzAbout

GCVEF1 Hefe's Travel Bug City

GCVEF1 Hefe's Travel Bug City Large 1.5/1.5 MrWitzAbout Pirate3 Found-It log: May 14, 2006 by WitzAbout

Found this one today with Pirate #3 - late afternoon. Another cacher stopped by just as I was walking away from my car - nice to see them! I popped by this cache to pick up a TB that wants to head east - and by luck, I'm heading the right way. Nice, easy walk. I wasn't sure at first if the cache was hidden under some old signs, but it was nearby. Very nice cache - very convienient. PLENTY of room! SL Took TB Heffalump and a necklace. I left a few toys: butterfly, bat, pirate, and 2 large dice. (see picture) Thanks for the Cache! Mr.WitzAbout

Left toys

Attended/Found Logs From My CITO Event

As a measure of the success of my CITO, I am going to list the wonderful feedback I got on the logs for the event. I am very pleased with the turnout and the wonderful responses I got - and the great job everyone did!

GCTYHG Midland Trail CITO Sunday 4/23 CITO 2.0/1.0 Attended log: April 23, 2006 by 2/3 Marine (296 Found)

Thanks Witz Crew. You're real good at putting events together. Very nice to meet cachers for the first time and see ones I know.

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by Happy Meadow (98 Found)

Had never been on this trail before. Hot day but had a lot of fun meeting new cachers and visiting with cachers I knew. Good job WitzAbouts'.

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by Explorer99 (911 Found)

Excellent day for the event and I enjoyed meeting all the people whose names I’ve seen in the cache logs. I will leave my GeoCoins for the people who wanted to log them. Thanks for the cache.

Found log: April 23, 2006 by Team GPSaxophone (820 Found)

What a beautiful day for a cleanup! I had never hiked this trail before or been to this park. I think the best part of this CITO was the couple of people driving or riding by that yelled "Thank you" when they spotted our full trash bags. It's always nice to be recognized by the community for lending a hand. Maybe next time we'll have tshirts that identify who we are and why we're cleaning up. Thanks to the WitzAbout crew for hosting this CITO event. You did a good job.

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by Hefe3 (152 Found)

nice day! Enjoyed putting names and faces together. Really big KUDOS to the Witz gang. Thanks.

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by Dew Crew (33 Found)

It was very nice to talk with a few cachers, a lot I didn't know, and some I did. Also a lot from the forums! Saw a bunch of geocoins. Nice to talk with Sax. I recognized rustybeercan too. I planning on putting together one in Norhtern Michigan next year. Thanks WitzAbout! I don't think anybody got the tracking numbers for my coins. I'll grab them back.

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by mtn_goat (232 Found)

I had a great time and met a lot of new people. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Thanks for putting this together!

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by hikerRon (1203 Found)

a VERy nice event, on a beautiful day. it was good to visit with friends and meet some new ones as well. thanks Witz, for all the time and effort you invested while putting this thing together!

Found-it log: April 23, 2006 by The Johnson 4 (55 Found)

We had a great time. Thanks for the effort in putting this event together.

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by nursegirl (266 Found)

Thanks to the WitzAbouts for hosting another successful event. I had a lot of fun talkin' cache and pickin' up trash. It was a perfect day for it. Had fun seeing old friends and meeting new ones too.

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by Geo Spy (228 Found)

I had a lot fun today. Someone should have brought a scale and a prize for heaviest bag. Oh the things you'll find out there. TNLN and again I had lots of FUN!

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by Bhob (2122 Found)

Great event, excellent crowd, flawless organization. I especially appreciated that this event was held on a day other than the one in Denver - it gave me a chance to do a little payback twice this year. Thanks !

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by MrCOgeo (128 Found)

A big thanks to WitzAbout and of course family for a great CITO event! (What's a great captain without his crew?)Really good work and even enjoyable at that. It's nice to be able to give back this weekend. Always great to see everybody.Thank you for the CITO event!

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by sparrowPI (380 Found)

Had fun seeing everyone today and it was a good thing to clean up...Mr/Mrs SparrowPI

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by RustyBeerCan (538 Found)

Great day to be out on the trail and meeting everybody. BIG Thanks to WitzAbout for hosting the C.I.T.O. event and to Everyone for pitching in on Earthday weekend. I have never seen so many Geocoins in one place before and was given some really great ones to add to my collection. Thank You!

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by Buzz Lightyear I (194 Found)

Thanks WitzAbout for organizing the CITO. We got there late but headed up the trail and meet Hiking fool and started picking up trash. Enjoyed seeing everyone and talking GeoCoin.

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by gorillagal (138 Found)

I had a great time meeting new people, putting faces to names, etc. Thanks for organizing this event!

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by team w-bar-v (278 Found)

We had a wonderful time helping with the trash out and seeing old friends and meeting new friends. A gentleman who lives in the area told us he appreciated our cleaning the trail up, also half of the bicycle people said Thanks too. Keith, you and your family know how to set up an event. Job well done. Enclosing some of my favorite pictures.

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by cache_venturers (169 Found)

Thanks Witzabout for setting this up! Very well organized! Great day for picking up trash...thank goodness for the breeze!

Attended log: April 23, 2006 by doc4001 (445 Found)

Caching provided another "feel good" day for us today, happily doing our part for Earthday. Good project, good social event, gathered a few hints on my DNFs. Chuck & Pegge

Attended log: April 24, 2006 by 4krejcis (184 Found)

We had a great time too while giving back a little. Thanks so much to the WitzAbouts for setting this up. We appreciated the geocoin prize too!

GCTYHG Midland Trail CITO Sunday 4/23

During my event back in February, there were some who asked for a Sunday clean-up event instead of on Saturday, the main day. So I set up this event for Sunday, the day after Earth Day - but still the same weekend.
The event started at noon at a local resturant. We had maybe a dozen people.
Then at the park we had about 16-20 people.
I was talking with one of the other geocachers about having a contest for the event - and he talked about hiding a special piece of trash. I liked the idea, but went a little further. I made up icons - of the geocaching clean up 'CITO' icon. I printed out about 12 to a page - 4 pages. I wrote different values on the back of each paper: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20. Then I taped the papers to bits of trash. Most of them were on soda cans I brought home from work. But I attached a few more on other trash already on the trail and on a few objects on the trail. Unluckily, I did not get to the trail ahead of time. So instead I set up while everyone was meeting up and driving to the end of the trail. I finished taping on the cans, got my bike out of the car, and headed down the trail. I had put the gear needed for the clean-up in the back of my wife's car. I had fun littering my way up the trail - tossing cans every few hundred feet.
I stopped a few times to tape up icons on spots. As I was about 5 mintues away, my wife calls and asks about the trash bags. Talk about a moment of panic. Then I remembered they were in a cardboard box in a bin. I finished up and got to the head end of the trail right on time at 2:00pm. I saw a few people already gathered around. Then I looked up the street and saw a huge number of people heading our way. I was amazed at the fantastic turnout.
I wound up staying behind cleaning up the trail head. Most of the group went ahead. Just one or 2 others stayed to help. There was a huge amount of cigarette butts to clean up there. After a while I headed off. My wife decided to drive back with our youngest. The other 2 boys had headed off with the group. I had a large amount of water bottles, extra bags, and hand cleaner. So I figured that I should try to catch up.
I caught up with a small group of 4 who were really doing a good job cleaning. I stayed with them for a while. Then my middle son showed up, leading another group heading back for cars. I was surprised to see him without my eldest. But I didn't make a big deal of it. I was glad to have him along. We worked our way up the trail, doing some more cleaning. I had a few of the icons left, so I seeded a few for the follow-up group. After a while, I decided it would be good to get to the end of the trail. I got back to the pavillion at 3:29pm. One minute ahead of schedule. Someone was playfully complaining about how long I took - so I playfully retorted that I was one minute early, and if they hadn't been in a rush, they would have been right with me :)
There was some car pooling back - I stayed with the boys and visited a bit more with other geocahers.
I was feeling a little guilty about being a little behind schedule getting everything set (again - happened at my first event too) - but the people at lunch said I was the most organized that they knew. That was a nice compliment.

GCTYHG Midland Trail CITO Sunday 4/23 CITO 2.0/1.0 MrWitzAbout Mrs.WitzAbout Pirate #1 #2 #3 Attended log: April 23, 2006 by WitzAbout

The whole WitzAbout crew attended - and hosted :) It was a fantastic turn out - and a wonderful effort! Thanks everyone who turned up to help with the clean up! This should put us in a much better place with the parks department - we have shown them very nicely how we give back to the community! Looking at the logs entries so far, see all the thanks - you are most welcome! I was glad to see so many I've met show up and was really glad to meet some new faces too! As always, there is never enough time to visit and talk geocaching - but I was happy to have a chance to talk with some of you. I really big thanks to those who hung back and scoured the trail for as much trash as they could! I was really proud of the extra effort you put into getting the trail really clean. I also have to add an extra thanks to Mrs.WitzAbout for helping me get everything done - she was fantastic! 5:39 Mr.WitzAbout - I will be posting pictures from this event to this log now :)

Meeting at the Park's Pavilion Large Group Heading up 21st for the CITO Getting ready to clean Lagging behind - clean trail Cleaning the Trail, Pikes Peak in the Distance 79 Degrees, Not a Bearing - Warm Day! Mr.WitzAbout Lugging Water and Supplies Pirate #2 wanted to take some pictures - so I have a picture of myself to add to the gallery :) Post Event, Back at the Park Post Event Group Picture 1 - Not as Good Geocaching Group CITO in Colorado Springs CITO cleanup Midland Trail to America the Beautiful Park in downtown Colorado Springs - Generating Plant and Cheyenne Mountain as our backdrop Main pile from clean up at the end Geocachers, Post Event Time

GCV8E3 Simon's Salute

Second time trying this one. The first time I tried this I was on my way to work. I didn't have my GPSr, but thought I could do it from the location on the map. I was wrong. I had tried for about 40 minutes the previous time. This time I had my youngest pirate along - we spent maybe 5 or 10 minutes and I found the altoids can well hidden.

GCV8E3 Simon's Salute Small 1.0/1.5 MrWitzAbout Pirate3 Found-It log: April 16, 2006 by WitzAbout

5:47pm - finally found it! Yay! Pirate #3 was along with me. I had my GPSr with me and it made a difference. Yet it had me going on different levels. First down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then up. Pirate #3 was examing some bushes when I finally found the correct spot. It seemed like a spot I had looked at when I was here the first day - but I don't think I checked that spot quite well enough. This was a nice find, and a fun follow-up from this afternoon's meeting. SL - Pirate #3 took a butterfly. I left 2 ladybug type toys - one red, one yellow. Nice hide! Thanks for the cache!

Somewhere up there Could give a hint

TBGWPJ M&M Bug Mobile

Cute punch buggy with an M&M theme! And it has a bunch of stuff inside. We added an M&M character inside. :)

TBGWPJ M&M Bug Mobile retrieved it log: April 16, 2006 by WitzAbout

Picked up this neat travelbug from the event today. This is a neat container and a neat idea. I have taken a picture of the current inventory. Glad to move this bug along!

TB PunchBug Inventory 4/16/2006 TB PB Side Top View TB PB Top Front View

GCTZD4 C.A.C.H.E.South April Meeting

This is the first meeting I've attended of the state's local sub-group. My event at REI in February had displaced the possibility of the official group's meeting time - unintentionally. I've been to 3 Denver meetings and a semi-local meeting in Castle Rock before. This turned out to be a smaller meeting, but it was nice. I tried to help out with the meeting, getting my foot in the door as a co-organizer. I'd asked about doing a raffle for the local group - in part to help fund the prizes I wanted to give out at my geocaching clean-up event next week. I got raffle tickets, that can be used for the group for quite some time. Sax, the local head and the event organizer, provided the ammo box. I provided a bunch of swag. One of Sax's daughters picked and packed the cache. I also brought along name tags that we well recieved, and a bucket for holding the small collection of travelbugs.

GCTZD4 C.A.C.H.E.South April Meeting Event MrWitzAbout Attended log: April 16, 2006 by WitzAbout

Mr.WitzAbout (only WitzAbout) attended. Helped out with the raffle - added one of my left over Easter-egg sized micro caches to the raffle pool as well. Turns out Grand High Poobah visiting from Denver won it. The Ammo can cache went to a lucky Kattrax. It was a pretty small meeting, probably due to the holiday today - but that made it easier to visit with everyone. We visited inside for a while, and then moved outside so that the resturant could clean up. There was talk about geocoins and hiding caches, and interesting night caches. Afterwards Sax went to check his new Saxy's Place cache. Our Denver guests decided they needed to do this one next - having tried it before the meeting. So I followed them to take a few more pictures and visit a little longer. A nice day and event. A few pictures to follow. Thanks Sax for putting this on! I look forward to seeing many of you at the Midland CITO next week! :) And at future events, including the CACHE-South meeting in Pueblo. Picked up an M&M Punch Buggy TB

Filling the Raffle Cache Meeting Table Meeting Table CACHE-South 4/16/06 Smiling at the Meeting GPSr located a doggy bag! Announcements Sax - Our Host Happy about the meeting View down the table Checking a devious cache Chatting as we worked our way out Outside the Resturant Checking out coins Takin' Cache Rare GC Icon Geocoin Grand High Poobah Relaxes I even got myself in the reflection - not even looking at what I was taking a picture of! :) Extra Hairy Geocacher Afterwards - Saxy's Place It has to be here somewhere! Sax is happy his cache was found! We stayed and talked while they searched. Sax wasn't giving much in the way of clues except that it was within about 20 feet. :)