5/5 Geocaching trip report

“The trip began when divinity and trooper arrived at our house late Friday afternoon. After the gear was loaded we were off to the Irish Wilderness. We made a slight detour in Pocahantas, AR due to a navigational error but were soon back on track. Now between Pocahantas and the Irish Wilderness, there just aren’t any towns or stops. Of course this is the section that the women decided they needed to pee. As fate would have it….up ahead, neon lights. Of course, the Missouri state line and a “state line juke joint”. Perfect. While I walked our dog, Shelby, the women went in to do business. From what I can tell the guys in the juke joint were very inquisitive as to what three women happened to be doing in the neighborhood. Also, from what I can tell, the women gave up their plans for the weekend. I spent the next two days worried a bunch of drunk rednecks would show up on trail.

After that brief stop it was straight to the trailhead and a short hike across the dam at Camp 5 pond to the campsite. After dinner and a cordial or two, we were about ready to hit the sack when it began to drizzle. Just a brief rain and it was over. The rest of the weekend was beautiful weather.

Saturday morning, I took off on the North Trail while the women went in to Whites Creek Float camp via the south trail. Their hike was about 8 miles while I took the 12.5 mile version. Given detours while finding the geocaching clues and one side trip down to the 11 point river at Bliss springs, I wound up doing about 14 miles before the day was done. The first 8 miles of the North trail are well defined in most places, but in a few places the trail is almost non existent. I had to pick my way through a few spots until I found the trail again. The terrain rolls through this area with 40 to 80 foot gains and losses continually along about half the trail. Other than the one climb out of Whites Creek (about 150 feet) the remainder is flat and runs through mixed hardwood and pine forest. The solitude was great and was really enjoying the hike. I was able to readily obtain the first three geocaching clues and covered the first 8 miles to Bliss springs in about 4 hours. There I had lunch, filtered water and just enjoyed life while listening to the water gurgle out of the spring. It looked to be flowing at a rate of about 50 to 75 gallons a minute to the best I could calculate. After lunch, I strolled down to the old home site on the 11 point to a great view. Then I backtracked, resumed the north trail and climbed up and out of Bliss spring. After about a 200 foot gain, I leveled out above the 11 point for some spectacular views of the river. About an hour after I left Bliss and at about the 10 mile mark, I began to run out of steam. Every small pull just zapped my energy. I stopped twice in one mile and was beginning to wonder what was wrong with me when finally the carbs I took in at lunch began to k ick in. I was soon back up and motoring along again. I cruised around the east side of Orchard Hollow. The trail was well defined, but I began to worry that somehow I had managed to hit another trail that wasn’t marked on my map. I was reading the topo map and it showed the North trail cutting across the upper end of the Hollow. However, the trail actually wound its way up and over the saddle at the top of the hollow before cutting back to go down the other side. Once I rounded the bend and started back I a little more comfortable that I was on the right trail and finally saw a trail marker. The first one in over a mile. Seeing this I picked up the pace as I was following a contour line on an open trail. When I reached Whites Creek (again, I had crossed it earlier way upstream) I checked the FSR radio and cottonsocks answered letting me know they had already reached the Float camp. About 30 minutes later I was there to find out stickmon and dutch oven dave had not arrived yet. After sitting around for 20 minutes we decided to hike on down to the 11 pt to see if they had pulled in down there. About half way down the trail, cottonsocks calls me on the radio and says, they are pulling up in the caonoes, come back. So I turn around……after about a tenth of a mile I get another message……turn around and go back to the river……so I go back about a quarter mile to the river…..where I wait….,and wait…. And finally hear from cottonsocks again…..”where are you”….”on the river bank”……”well we are at camp”….”well where is camp?”……”on the river bank”……..by now you get the picture. After a brief discussion via radio about directions, I finally tell stickmon to just whistle. He does, I hear it, draw a bearing and 200 yards later I am at camp.

Now while pulling those miles I was wondering at points why I was out here pushing so hard. When stickmon reaches in the cooler and produces a nice cold Coors, I forgot about every step. Dutch oven Dave and stickmon the proceeeded to build a fire, break out a ton of gear and ultimatley produced one of the finest meals I ever had. I will let stikmon describe it but folks….it was great. After more cold drinks around the fire, it was finally bedtime where I slept like a baby. We woke up the next morning to the smell of cinnamon rolls and egg and potatoe caserole in the dutch oven. Breakfast was every bit as good as dinner and by 930 I was ready to pack up and hit the trail.
Now by this time all three of the women decided they wanted to float out. So, it looked like I would finish this entire hike as pretty much a solo hike. Doing the prudent thing, I jettisoned all my unnecessary gear to be taken out by canoe and left camp at 1000 with about a ten pound pack. Food water and emergency gear only. I quickly climbed up and out of whites creek and was making about 3 miles an hour, stopping only for the geocaching clues. The South trail is much, much more defined than the north leg and I was able to follow this trail with no problems. Except for the climb out at the float camp and the climb back out where the trail crossed whites creek again, it was relatively flat and wide. Very nice views through the forest.

Being armed with the geocaching final coordinates I walked straight to it and thus completed the adventure. It was a true 5/5 and my 261st find.”

“Great TR! Pics coming?”

“Sounds like a great time. You're quite the hiker these days. Guess you're not missing working all those weekends!”

“Sounds like fun. Soooo, c'mon!! What was the clue you could only get at night? And why?”

“There are plenty of pics. I am sure stikmon will post his usual array.

Last two trips have been for a total of about 51 miles.

I am just not going to take another job that makes me quit enjoying life. Hell, money isn't that important to me. Having said that, I do have to go back to work soon. I had an offer I turned down b/c I felt like it was going to be the same brutal pace all over again.

In the mean time, yes, I have enjoyed the hikes.”

“I keep thinking that I need to get to the Buddy Holly crash site memorial cache in rural Mason City, Iowa, before the corn gets picked. Kind of a combination mystical dead music person -- and "build it and they will come" in the requisite cornfield. :-)”

“Well lizs, you would have to had been there. The clue only made sense at night. Hell, it made perfect sense.”

“Our trip report will be to follow....the "girl's view".
BTW.....the girls did closer to 9.5 miles :)”

“If the girls did 9.5, then I raise my total to closer to 24 miles. I hiked out the same way they came in plus the 14.5 I did on Saturday.




By the time this is over, I will have hiked 50 miles!”

“oh sure, Chili, don't spill the beans! phhhhhht!!! lol

Trooper, hey, you've got a new handle there, kinda.. lol! How's it going? Are you gals gonna quit cooking and haul Stikmon home with y'all to become a man servant?

LOLOL!”

“Apparently, the guys with canoes get all the chicks.”

“Actually, it's guys with incubators, but who's counting?”

“"Apparently, the guys with canoes get all the chicks."
chili36
12:50:19 PM
10/04/04
ignore this user

Hasn't worked for me yet.”

“Yeah Liz....I couldn't remember my old password.....hee hee”

“"It looked to be flowing at a rate of about 50 to 75 gallons a minute to the best I could calculate."

Please, do tell the procedure for this :)

Nice trip report, Chili.”

“Oh yeah? Well I got my 6th this weekend! I found a $10 gas card in it too! So there!

Congrats chili! :)”

“I had such a good time on this trip!!!!!.....my face is sunburned...and my feet......I have sandle outlines...LOL...”

“That's how you gage the success of a trip, how many freaky tan lines you come home with. I always love the bandana line half way down my forhead myself. LOL!”

“LMAO Nigel”

“Most of my hikes I don't end up with tan lines, only dirt lines.”

“rosey - I wondered the same thing. I think he tosses a leaf into the flow and timed it over the distance of precisely 1 meter. He then measured the width and depth of the channel and added an estimate of the narrowing of the channel with depth. This gave him speed and volume, he then applied the rational method to account for the roughness of the channel and any vegetation present to account at a true flow rate. The last step was to convert it back to gallons, but any knucklehead can do that without a caluclator or reference. It's the first few steps that are particulary impressive, IMO.”

“omg.,...BLOOD...how did you get that pic of me?????”

“On The Onion...”

“we set up the usual camp scene, we started the usual fire, we cooked the usual food, we ate most of it, and drank most of it and went to bed. woke up, made the usual breakfast, ate it all, broke up camp in the usual efficient manner, floated out at the usual speed to arrive at the take out at the usual time...the only difference is that we had a bunch of shiela's in the boat.

Dave and I did save some canoeers boat. It was fully submerged and in a very tough rapid, pinned up against a gnarly root wad, and it took us over an hour to get it out of neck deep freezing cold water. Now that was fun...the rest was well...just usual.

too much sun, too much fine colors, too much crystal clear water...lousy weekend!”

“You are such a LIAR!!!!!!”

“phhhhhhhhhhhhhhhttttttttt :-p~~~~~”

“He is soooo lying.......the food was AWESOME!!!!!...the views were beautiful......and the company was GREAT!!!!.....”

“It was a great trip, with great company. I'm glad to hear that everyone who participated in the trip made it home safely.

Will definitely have to do it again sometime soon... chili & cornbread sound good to me, especially on some cool, fall evening around a campfire.

A similar technique should be tested in the future--float down with full packs on day1 & hike out with light packs on day2.”

“""It looked to be flowing at a rate of about 50 to 75 gallons a minute to the best I could calculate."

Please, do tell the procedure for this :)

Nice trip report, Chili."
roseymonster
02:06:31 PM
10/04/04

Nothing as complex as the dayhiker method although I did comptemplate that for a while.

I simply took my one gallon water bag put it under where the spring was flowing out and roughly estimated that it was filling in about one second. Certainly not scientific, but it was close enough for government work.

Let's put it this way.....the water was flowing out of the hole in the rock pretty damn fast.”

“be some sort of sexual inuendo in that statement...but, even I dare not tread there.”

“chili - that's it? What sort of supposed analyst are you?”

“dayhiker, don't confuse analyst with engineer.

We don't over process things.”

“So while you are a consulting type of attorney you are providing value to the client, but once you quit consulting you are over processing things? Does this have to do with billable hours?”

“My input here is that we did about 9.5 miles. We girls were looking for a spring that we never did find!!!!!!!!! I set up camp for CHILI and myself and PACK ALL his crap for him.”

“By the way that was me Cottonsocks saying that logged under Chilis name.”

“By the way that was me Cottonsocks saying that logged under Chilis name.”

“de javu”

“For those of you into Geocaching I am trying to have some new caches up in the area of the TC4. There are a few virtuals but there will be some real caches on LMU's campus if I can get it done this weekend. Actually I am taking one of my classes out tomorrow to look for places and maybe leave some. However they will not be 5/5.”

“""Apparently, the guys with canoes get all the chicks."
chili36
12:50:19 PM
10/04/04
ignore this user

Hasn't worked for me yet."
Lurching Zombie
12:51:12 PM
10/04/04

Maybe your canoe isn't big enough...


LMAO..hahahahahahahaha”

“OH my goodness!!!”

“OH my goodness!!!”

“ROFLMAO...hahahahahaahahah”

“hey kpeb, cool. I had checked a week or so ago and saw one cache listed on the campus, but apparently it was in danger of being lost to construction. And I saw the tunnel virtual one listed. lol, lets all crash while trying to count things going through the tunnel. :-)

I stayed in a house at Lincoln Memorial University once, like 98-ish?? Was there with a friend attending an IMBA (that's International Mountain Bike Association) conference at the site. Neat place. Those little houses just killed me. Are they still there? Is that married student housing or what?”

“My input here is that we did about 9.5 miles. We girls were looking for a spring that we never did find!!!!!!!!! I set up camp for CHILI and myself and PACK ALL his crap for him."
chili36
08:51:24 PM
10/05/04
***cottonsocks posting under my name***





What a crock of #&%!$...she didn't carry my gear.”

“I didnt say I carried your gear. I had to pack it all up along with putting tent and crap up for camp that night as well.”

“Oh, sort of like I do every trip.”

“Friday Oct 1......off I go as soon as I get off work at 1pm....heading to Memphis and then to Chili & Cottonsocks......another adventure.....Look out Missouri....here I come!!!!......wooohoooo........O M G the traffic on 72 to Memphis can be soooo slow.....I arrived and threw my gear in Trooperrx's vehicle and off we go......wow....it seemed like it took forever to get there.......you know how it is when ya are anxious to get somewhere..... it got dark and I got sleepy riding on the hilly winding roads......we stopped in the middle of nowhere to use the rest room....wow...what a scarey place....bunches of country men stopping for beer in their pickups.....( gotta love the country boys!!!)...eventually we arrive and hike in and set up camp....nice fire...nice company......but I am usually ready for bed as soon as it gets dark.....so off I go.....and it started to rain....don't ya love the sound of rain when your in your tent dozing off???...
Up before dawn...and I started to pack up...I had Mountain House Pasta Primavera...yum.......and some tea......( I hate oatmeal)....so Chili heads out first.......and the girls finish up and we head out about 1/2 hour later.... we were on the trail a little while and we hear a dog crying in the distance......Socks says..."that's my dog".....and sure enought here she comes......Shelby wanted to hike with us girlies!!!.....Socks led the way and did a GREAT job......we got out the map every now and then and checked out our location......we chatted and laughed and had a GREAT time....we were walking along and Socks yelled and took off jumping & running......Troop yelled..jumped and went airbound for quite a ways...she wasn't even running...just flying thru the air....and they were yelling snake!!!.....I stopped and looked over the situation....the snake, a copperhead about 4 ft long had been crossing the trail and ran into Socks foot... ..it was off the trail by then ( probably had a heart attack and died) ...so I hurried along.....and we were all laughing..ya know ......the laughing after having the #&%!$ scared out of ya laugh....LOL.....boy can those girls move when they want to......( we also ran into a black snake later on the trail ...Socks beat it half to death with her trekking pole.....and it wasn't a poisonous one,..LOLL..)...so off we go....we came to an area where there was a big blowdown on the trail...so we figured maybe someone made a detour trail...so we followed it to the creek....and there was waist deep water(on me...LOL..) and a wall of rock across from it....no where to cross there.....so we found the trail and went around the blowdown and found the trail again.....the beavers were kind enought to build a dam for us to cross.....we decided to go visit Fiddlers Spring.....well...it was the wrong trail...so add an extra 2 miles to our hike.....we went down the trail FOREVER and finally I said ..ok..I am sitting down...and I took off my pack and sat down.......the girls decided to join the "Old Broad"...we snacked....yum...pepperoni & ritz crackers.....I gave away all my slim jims....ewwww...they have that thick skin on them......I was peeling it off....Troop said she likes the skin....ewwww...so I gave them to her, Socks and Shelby for snacks....so off we go....and we retrace our steps to find the real trail.......as we come close to the trail Socks just takes off running.....Troop & I have NO idea what is going on so we freeze.....but not for long........Troop starts screaming and swatting...and running..I wait a few seconds...realize it is bees of sorts...and I run too......Troop got stung twice on the arm....they were huge hornets and they hit hard......she instantly started swelling.......Socks took tobacco and put on it...but it was still painful......and then we began the uphill......the trail had been fairly easy up till now.....it was a butt kicker......so we stopped after a bit and Troop asked Socks..."how much farther?"......Socks..."about a mile and a half"....we go for awile and Troop asks..."how much farther?.....Socks..."about a mile and a half"......we go on...and after awhile....( still going uphill)....Troop..."how much farther?"..........Socks.."about a mile and a half".......well..Troop said some curse words.....and pointed out the fact that Socks had been saying that for more than a mile and a half........so we stopped at the top of our incline and rested......snacked and hydrated ourselves.....we took off and saw the bat cave....(Indiana Bats).....took some pics.....and off we go....we cruised into our destination before anyone else.....we were proud of ourselves...!!!...we saw 2 tortoises...2 snakes....hornets....& smelled a skunk
Chili arrived next and then Stikky and "Dishpan Dan".....hey..I'm old..I couldn't remember his name......I have never see so much camping equipment EVER......they had everything including a sink.....we found a great spot on the river and set up camp......Stikky and DUTCHOVEN DAVE ( hey..I knew it had something to do with a kitchen) cooked the most WONDERFUL meal......Southwestern Stew...Jalapeno Cornbread ......and fixed it in dutchovens in the campfire.......it was wonderful...the cornbread was sorta crispy and browned and so tender on the inside,...yummmm....and for dessert.....BROWNIES...yum........and guess what they pulled out then???
WHIPPED cream....(they said it was for the brownies...I have my doubts tho)...the had ICE cold beer.....what more could ya ask for???....it was awesome........wonderful food...wonderful fire....a starry clear night and GREAT company.......it was chilly.....good sleeping weather....
Up in the am....when I got up Dave was up..had the campfire going and made coffee...yummmmmm.....and then proceeded to make an awesome dish in his dutchoven...eggs...onions....hashbrowns...sausage and cheese......OMG it was sooo good.....and then he made us cinnamon rolls....O M G...to die for...... after we ate...Stikky and Dave rescued a canoe for some folks ( cause they are sweet guys) and while we were packing up some guys they knew stopped by and visited...a great bunch of guys...one had his young son with him...he said we had girl cooties..LOL.....They offered the guys leftover brownies ....and you will never guess what one of the guys pulled out of his gear......WHIPPED CREAM....omg..LOL..do all canoers carry whipped cream?????Stikky tried to pimp me off to some passerbys.......maybe if he had not refered to me as the "Old Broad" they may have made him a deal....off we go...I rode with Dave who is a very capable boatsman and never once was I afraid .... they said the rule was ya had to drink a beer if ya ride in the boat...so ..wooohoo..the beer was still ice cold.....the river was wonderful...very scenic and sorrounded by woods.....my fav!!! we saw 2 BALD EAGLES....wooohoooo...my first time...and a ferret...omg..I didn't know they were in the woods...(I guess I thought they were only in pet stores)...lots of BIG fish.....we snacked on leftover brownies and cinnamon rolls...yummmmmm.....and one of the guys made a fire and cooked bratwurst......(LOL...his brats kept rolling off the grill....I see humor in small things...) On the trip out we visited a HUGE spring......it was awesome.....and such a wonderful color.....Troop dove in....and I guess it is quite cold....nippy I am sure......off we go...almost the end .....we arrive.....unload gear......pass out hugs to Stikky and Dave and thank them for the wonderful time....and off we go.....Stikky drove Troop & I to the campsite......hey Stikky....check out your vehicle.....you now have my "brake" marks on the floor.....and my finger indentations on the "Oh #&%!$" handle above the door....I arrived home at 2am ...and since I get up at 3am ..I called in to work ....I don't think they would have appreciated me being there since I had not had a shower since Fri am....

This was a wondeful adventure......great food......beautiful area......and awesome people.....

Famous Irish Wilderness Hike/Canoe trip quotes....
"about a mile and a half"
"cream me"
"tampons don't burn"
"I have to pee"
"omg this food is soooo good"”

“When hiking with three women...



The phrase you want to hear is "cream me".










The phrase you don't want to hear is "tampons don't burn".”

“Another quote left out from the fine men canoers "get her done"
(clarification- this was not about me)”