As the pilot, I just get to sit back and drive where the Co-Pilot tells me to go. How's your navigational skills!?

Now if we were REAL daring, we could try to find it without doing any of the stages. If you read the page closely and look at the pdf, it just might be possible. (I think) But if I'm wrong it would be a long hike for nuthin'.

Nah!

If you look you will notice the date on the map is 1988. You might be surprised as to what has changed in the 15 years since that map was made.

Waited for awhile for co-pilot but attempted this one solo. Got all the needed numbers BUT wrote 2 of them down wrong. DOH! Knew I was looking in the wrong place for the final, so I bailed out after a call to 'cache911'. Thanx to Allen, I now know where my error was. I'll be back for it.

"Give to a pig when it grunts and a child when it cries, and you'll have a fine pig and a bad child." -Proverb

The hike today was much quicker, without whining crew in tow. I suggest these parking coords for final cache 34.32.670 83.27.064, it saves at least 3/4 mile each way, probably more.
The tunnel is amazing, especially the amount of fill that had been done without excavators or dozers. Got a link to more local history?
Found the cache and so has the YoYo Man.
Thanks for all the work and a great cache.

Sorry about that phat.bak. I woke up this morning and was sore and all I could think about was rolling over to get more sleep. Did you get my e-mail friday evening warning you I might not make it? I hope you didn't wait too long...

By tomorrow I should be back in the saddle, sounds like you got a lot accomplished though, so I guess I'll watch for someone else going out there to tag along with. I may even get ambitious and attempt it solo, although probably not as soon as I would otherwise.

Geocaching is like Pokemon for grown-ups. "Gotta cache 'em all!"

I haven't seen an email and waited until 10.
Maybe next time.

"Give to a pig when it grunts and a child when it cries, and you'll have a fine pig and a bad child." -Proverb

Went back early this morn before the heat cranked up. Followed the footprints of the 2 previous finders until the creek. Then they disappeared. I think we took 3 separate ways at the final approach. Anyway, it's hard to imagine this thing way out here in the middle of nowhere.
This will go on my watch list. Great cache!

"Give to a pig when it grunts and a child when it cries, and you'll have a fine pig and a bad child." -Proverb

Guess I took the LONG hike into the cache. The GPS said it was 2.32 hike one-way. Wooo! Between the heat and the hills this one definitely lived up to the 3.5 Terrain rating. If anyone has access to a helicopter, there's a landing spot on 0.2 mile from the cache.

BEWARE of TICKS! I went into the woods at the WRONG place near the tunnel. I was covered in ticks. I stood in the middle of stream for 15 minutes flicking them off. I must of had 10+ ticks on me within 2 minutes of entering the woods.

Checked out the tunnel, took several pics then moved onto the cache. Found cache without any problem. I took the Toy Army Soldier TB. When the cache page becomes active, I'll log it.

I left a little something at the top of the tunnel. I don't know if anyone has found it yet, but keep your eyes open. Feel free to keep it or place it in the cache.

P.S.
I have one more major roadtrip planned, then I'll hit the bricks hard looking for a job. That should make racheljulia happy.

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I left a little something at the top of the tunnel. I don't know if anyone has found it yet, but keep your eyes open. Feel free to keep it or place it in the cache.

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I came upon it guarding the tunnel while exploring. Left it as is.

"Give to a pig when it grunts and a child when it cries, and you'll have a fine pig and a bad child." -Proverb

My daughter took care of your little toy. hehe.

This is what I e-mailed Allen:

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My daughter and I enjoyed visiting all but one of the historic markers in the LRWMA so much yesterday that we returned today to visit the last and hike on to the cache.

It was very interesting reading the history of the folks who lived, farmed, and made moonshine, in this area the early part of the last century and before. If it hadn't been for your efforts we would never have known about this. So much of our history is lost - it's good to be able to read something like these markers. The government did a pretty thorough job of clearing away the original structures when they bought the land. Without these markers (and your coords pointing to them) these homesites would be completely lost to history. Without your posting of the coords the only people to see these sites would be hunters who just happen along by chance.

Anyway, we picked up some cans yesterday and picked up another half dozen today. We enjoyed the tunnel. That's a cool spot. The hike to and from the cache in the July sun ragged us out, but it was worth it.

We ran into Slayerette at the second river crossing. We were standing in the river with our shoes in our hands when she and her dog came by. We chatted awhile and then she continued on across on to the cache and we continued down to where we'd parked. I assume she made it out ok. We waited at our car for about a half hour but had to head home. I did snag your other cache on the way out.


Thanks again for the fun and for the history lesson.

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Great cache Allen!
~erik~

[This message was edited by ~erik~ on July 20, 2003 at 10:18 PM.]

I have just returned from Hell!

I decided to pack up the Dog-A-Potamus and head out to try this cache. Found all the steps and headed to the cache launch site. Saw Erik's car and knew I was in the right spot. D-A-P and I trekked it towards the cache/tunnel and ran into erik and Cat at the creek/river. D-A-P swam around in the water to cool off her dogs and I chatted with erik and Cat since they had already found the cache. After a nice chat off we went our separate ways.

We made it to the tunnel (I put the yo-yo fish in the cache) and then the cache. Then D-A-P wanted to go back the river. So down we went. Her feet were a little raw from the gravel road so I get the bright idea "How bout we follow the river and meet up with the creek/river on the road and then take the trail back. WRONG! I never found the trail and I can tell you this was the number one most stupid Idea I had since that awful perm in the 80's! I was attacked by a snake, fell more than 50 times in the river soaking my cell and gps and watch to the point that they didn't work.
I thank God that I learned how to use a compass. From the last readings I had taken I knew I needed to go west for the trail and south for the car. I ended up following the river or walking the river the entire way back to the car. 3 hours it took. We climbed down water falls and swam through deep water. We occassionally would climb to the banks where there were visible wildlife trails and walk them until they dissappeared or veered off course. I am sore, cut up, scratched and waterlogged. When I actually saw the back of my car I nearly lost it. D-A-P used up the last of her reserved energy and bolted for the car. I have to say I did the same. I ended up taking off my t-shirt and shoes to drive home. I thought about driving without my shorts but I didn't think that would be to cool if I got pulled over.
D-A-P jumped into the back of the car and collapsed. I wished I could do the same. But I pulled out my gatorade and poured D-A-P some water who basically looked at me as if to say "You have go to be kidding!" "Haven't you had enough water today!"

I bolted for home while D-A-P slept in the back. I did stop at McDonalds for a double cheeseburger for my little trooper. It was the only time she woke up. She gobbled it up and then crashed again.

I have never been so scared in my life. I wasn't sure if I would make it back to the car before dark. That and I really had to pee!

We are fine. A little (lot) sore. A little (lot) relieved.

Thanks for another adventure Lacy's.

BTW I do not advocate doing what I did. Stay the trail. You will be much better for it.

Now I feel badly that we didn't go back and check on you when you didn't return after a half hour.


~erik~

I too tried to bushwhack back to the truck to save a few steps. DON'T DO IT! Luckily tho, I did make it back to the trail with a mile to go. Crossed one creek going in and two coming out. Plenty of briars up on those overgrown ridges. I'm literally cut to pieces.
I sympathize, Slay.

It usually isn't a good idea to take short cuts back unless a) you reasonable sure it is a short cut, b) you have a waypoint of where you are going. c) you are familar with the terrain.

The problem was the stream at the lower parking spot is different from the second crossing. It does join it, and so I guess you didn't notice that.

So be careful we don't want you to be the first geocacher lost in Georgia.

Note on my to do list is a cool location for a cache but there is no road, no trail for about a mile. You two are making me reconsider putting it out.

Glad you made it back in one piece at least. I'm sure the double cheeseburger made you a hero in the D-A-P's eyes. J.C. loves his occasional burger.

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Glad you made it back in one piece at least.

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I was pretty worried there for a while. I know where I made my navigational mistake. I saw a stream join the river I was in and thought it was going the wrong direction so I didn't turn. Wrong. That was the crossing.
I think I did pretty well given the 'Anne-Made situation'. Believe me when I say, I won't veer from the trail ever again. It's too expensive ($450 in gear) and way to scary.

Thanks guys for not giving me too many lectures. I know I was wrong. I'm just glad it's over.

I did enjoy the cache. Even the sidetrip was exciting. It re-enforced my bond with D-A-P and I have never been more proud of her. She was awesome out there. She knew when to lead and when to follow. Never whined or begged or quit. Her tail always kept wagging. Which is better than I can say for myself.

Ouch! And I thought from your past posts that you had seen it all/done it all when it comes to geocaching (mis)adventures!

Glad you made it back in one piece!

Sorry about your equipment.

If it gives you any comfort Slay, we were there fairly late yesterday, and visited what we believe to be both of the mentioned parking spots. There were no cars at either, so you had gone before we arrived. If we had seen your car there that late we would have made sure you came out before leaving.

We had a great time. Didn't head up until after church so we got a late start on things. I guess we found the first marker at about 4PM. After finding all but one marker we left the WMA to get some snacks for the Little Jackets since it was dinner time. We went back for the last one, found a parking spot about 1.68 miles from the cache, and assumed we were at the right place without decoding the parking hint. Having seen the note in this thread with a parking spot that was 3/4 of a mile and it being late we decided to try that. We found that spot and the GPSr read 1.1 miles. By the time we loaded Baby Jacket in his carrier, put Cutter on everyone and headed out it was about 8 PM. This trail is NOT good for a baby in a carrier and a 4 year old on foot. With daylight waning, thunder in the distance and the trail becoming fainter and not really heading toward our target we turned around at 8:30 and vowed to come back. Having packed wetshorts and Tevas I was hoping to get to play with Lil' Jacket in the streams, but that didn't work out.

But what a great day we had. During the hunt drove out to the Dove Fields and saw Deer, and turkey, and tons of rabbits. The strangest things were the really large field mice. I can't convince myself that those were rats on top of that hill.

My compliments to the Lacys. These historical places are truly treasures and we never would have known about them. I intend to find the Indian Guiding Tree when I return.

[This message was edited by geojacket on July 21, 2003 at 10:09 AM.]

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I intend to find the Indian Guiding Tree when I return.

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If you go straight across the road, you will see where a path/trail has been maintained. You can see the tree from the road at that point, I guess it is about 30 to 40 feet from the road. The spring is a little further back.

Edited to fix small mistake

[This message was edited by AllenLacy on July 21, 2003 at 10:52 AM.]