This is a "Heads Up" for anyone who owns a cache at either Lake Lanier or Lake Allatoona. Both lakes are at above normal pool levels, so any cache hidden in the last couple of years could be either in trouble or need their information sheets updated.

For example, this weekend I visited a cache that was supposed to be accessable on foot -- it was on an island. Another was 152 feet into the lake in 20 feet of water. A third was fine.

I would encourage you to check yours out. This is because I don't like frowny faces.

Which caches were they? I have a cache on Lanier that is accesible by foot, but only when the lake is low.

You would have been notified by a note on the log page.
I'm sure Trailerman posted his findings on the pages of the problematic caches. That way anyone else looking for those caches wouldn't run into the same problems and the cache owners would be alerted and they could act accordingly.

Well it appears the one that he hunted on Lake Lanier is Quest for Lula. The only thing is that when I found it, the actual cache seemed to be in a area way above flood stage. Some of the previous finders had indicated that the cooridnates were hard to read. I would if that is the problem.

If I remember correctly the coords are a little off. If you go by the hints and not the exact coords, the cache is a lot easier to find.

Well my GPS put me right on top of it. It was so well hidden it took awhile to find it, since I circled out looking (and not finding). But when I went back to the location the GPS pointed and looked harder, I found it right there.

I'm always a little off. The GPS just puts it into feet!

quote:

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Originally posted by Slayerette:
I'm always a little off. The GPS just puts it into feet!

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Almost everyone knows that, but just admit it and don't blame the coords

quote:

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Originally posted by Slayerette:
If I remember correctly the coords are a little off.

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After all what did the coords ever do to you. (Except hide, change or lead you in the wrong direction).

[This message was edited by AllenLacy on March 11, 2003 at 02:57 PM.]

It wasn't the coords. It was me. It was all me. The coords were just along for the ride, they are innocent of all charges.

CAUTION -- long post.

Sorry to be so mysterious with prior post. I guess I figured folks with caches near the shoreline would know to look.

The ones I tried were:

GC20E3 -- Regdar's Riches, which is now on an island.

GC236C - Little River Cache. The directions say to cross the dried up slough. It is about 12 feet under water. The cache is fine, but more like 4 terrain going through thick underbrush and briars.

GC2E75 -- Quest for Lula. This one, according to my reading of the coords, is about 152 feet out into the river in what I would guess is 20 feet of water. I could have the coords wrong, but I looked very, very closely. They are faded, but I think I had them right.

In all three cases I emailed the cache owners and told them of my findings. Haven't heard back from any yet. I hope I am off on Lula. Goodness knows I bushwhacked enough to earn it!

'Twas a frustrating day Sunday. Another cache I searched for had been destroyed and removed, and on another I had the wrong coords. I downloaded a .gpx file, used gpx2html and plucker to put the caches in my GPS and PDA. Behold! The coords in the GPSr were wrong. I'm still mulling that one over.

It's sad some caches are flooded out, but it's a good lesson about man-made lakes.

Most dams that aren't designed to be overtopped have emergency spillways, Lanier included. If you can get that elevation (as from a topo map) then all you have to do is make sure you can get to the cache without going below that elevation.

(If you look at it closely, you can see that the boat ramp and parking lot at Lanier Park are actually designed to act as the emergency spillway for Buford Dam. So, when the 100-year flood comes, I wouldn't park there if I were you.

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Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

phat.bak is in Alaska for the Ididarod(sp). Not sure when he will be back.

Well since trailerman got to the second stage, and phat bak isn't around, so now that I am at home, I emailed the coords that I got for the actual cache. I still think it was far enough from the water that it would not be under water even if the lake level is 1072.03 which is 1 foot above "full pool".

FALSE ALARM!!! I am so embarassed! I had the wrong coordinates for Quest for Lula! Allen Lacy straightened me out. Very, very sorry for the incorrect posting! My bad!

Your forgiven -- you did find The Game of Life afterall!

Seems like I need to check on these two caches and modify the cache pages. They are due for a resupply anyway. Thanx Allen and Slay for the assist on Lula. It'll take me a couple of weeks to catch up at home and work before I can check on them, tho. Just glad to be back where it's WARM!

Mush On!

I posted a few pix while I was up in Nome, if anyone is interested. They are in the 'Non-Geocaching' area under 'Alaska Pix'.

[This message was edited by phat.bak on March 18, 2003 at 06:11 PM.]

I checked on Lula today and found that it has been stolen. (Or else I hid it so well that I couldn't find it myself. - hehe) I have replaced it with a new ammobox that I brought along, just in case. Also remarked the other coords with Marks-A-Lot show they are clearly visible again.
I'll bet that since the orginal tupperware was white, it was spotted from the lake and ripped off. There is a LOT of boat traffic here now. It is still agressively hidden.
Anyway, it is good as new. Sorry Trailerman, but thanx for the heads-up. Will check Little River next week.

It has been so long since we had a really wet spring season, many cachers may not know that the area lakes, Lanier and Allatoona, were developed primarily for flood control and were designed to hold back water well above the normal full lake level. I am not sure how high above full Lanier could go, but about 20 years ago, Allatoona rose about 15 feet above the normal banks after some heavy spring rains. In areas where the bank is moderately sloped, water was hundreds of feet up into the trees, and many of the parks and picnic areas on the lake were completely submerged.

FWIW,
CharlieP

Allatoona is forcast to to be 12 feet over full pool sometime next week. I was over by the Wildcat Island Cache this morning with the lake at 8 feet over. I'm pretty sure that cache is drowned if not gone.

I have not been home for over a week, am in South Texas this week, but I heard there was significant flooding in West Point. I was rather shocked to hear that, as the Corps of Engineers spent a few bazillion dollars back in the '80s to build a massive flood control dam there. Was the dam out of order this week, or just mismanaged?

I also heard there was flooding in Chattanooga, which is less surprising since there's not much flood control storage in Nickajack lake or the lakes upstream of it, they're more or less "run of the river" projects.

Anyone been to Morgan Falls this week, during the crest? I would LOVE to have a picture of what Morgan Falls Dam looks like when the river really cuts loose! My cache out there is on pretty high ground, but I'll bet it's hard to get to now!

I love seeing dams with the spillways open and spilling ... can't wait to get back to town tomorrow and drive up to Allatoona!

ScottJ

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Scott Johnson (ScottJ)