2020-05-10: Jeeping and Geocaching in a Florida Forest Finding some Creative Caches!

WOW, it was a fun day! Welcome back to my AwayWeGo's Geocaching Adventures Blog. Normally my adventures are roadtrips finding geocaches that focus more on the destination. Today was all about finding some creative geocache containers in the Osceola National Forest. So come on aboard the GeoJeep and let's see what kind of crazy caches we can find...

After talking to some of our local geocacher friends, we heard about a fun power trail (a lot of caches along a road at or near the minimum required distance apart) where the majority of the geocache containers were unique and amusing. These were located within the Osceola National Forest in North Florida, not far from the campground which we were staying in Fort White.

After a few hours of wheeling and tromping through the woods, we had found a total of 41 geocaches with only 1 DNF. Unlike the other of my blog posts, I give you the caches GC# and link to the geocache page. However for this blog, because I'm showing you photos of the geocache itself, I'm not going to provide that info so that you might be pleasantly surprised when you find it yourself. Your only hint as to the location is that they are just a few of the nearly 1000 geocaches hidden within the Osceola National Forest.

I leave you now with photos of these creative geocache containers. If these are sparked your interest in this hobby, feel free to ask a question or leave your comments below. I always look forward to hearing from my readers.

See you next week...

 

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2020-04-19: Geocaching Florida From Fort White to Cedar Key to Find a Closed Island, a Ghost Town, and an Old House

Hello everyone! So after our quick couple of weeks at the Georgia project, we're back in our home state of Florida to start a new project in Fort White! We arrived mid-week and check into the River Run Campground. After working the remainder of the week, we had the first weekend off so it was time to go exploring and geocaching along the rural backroads of Florida. So hop on in the GeoJeep and let's go see what we can find...

First on the list for Saturday was driving on up to Discount Tire in Lake City. After two years and 100,000 miles on the GeoJeep, it was time to finally upgrade to some new tires and wheels. Because we do drive it a LOT, I didn't want to go too big and loose the 16-18 MPG. But I did want something that looked a little more off-road than the originals. I like it! What do you think?

On Sunday, we decided to take a drive on over to the Gulf Coast at Cedar Key. What a great way to spend a spring day but on a beach in Florida, Right? NOT! We drove all the way down here only to find that the island is closed off to non-residents because of the virus. Well so much for that plan. We head back towards Fort White grabbing geocaches along the way starting with two quick roadside caches on Hwy 24 on the way to Cedar Key (GC1AHDY, GC6FJWA).

Approaching Chiefland, we grabbed a roadside geocache on CR345 (GC4YP47). Then in Chiefland, we passed by Barnhill Landscape and they had a landscape display which I just had to stop and get some pics of. This one especially was my favorite of an old school bus crossing a rickety bridge. I give you two versions; the black and white photo below and the color photo from a different angle at the top of the blog post.

The next stop was for a geocache at the ghost town and Levyville Cemetery (GC44F5N). The history of Levyville is short. The Levy County seat for only a few years in the mid-1800's. The town slowly disappeared after losing its position to Bronson in 1870, and was virtually non-existent by the early 1900's. The railroad could "make or break" a town, and bypassing Levyville definitely broke it. There was a brief Civil War skirmish fought in the area as well. The "new" courthouse, built in 1867, which became redundant when Bronson became the county seat, was sold to the newly-formed Masonic Lodge #51 in 1870, and eventually moved to Chiefland. All that remains of this historic town are two cemeteries. This one has nearly 60 interments with the oldest belonging to Levi Wright who died in 1858.

Then there was "This Old House" (GC3HAY9) located in Bell, Florida. I couldn't find anything out about this house or when it was built. It does kinda remind me of the Jed Clampett house before he moved to Beverly Hills.

And finally, an Earthcache at the Suwannee River (GC679MY). This is what natural Florida looks like. The water level was a little high at this time. This is just one of the many public boat ramps to access this 246 mile long river which flows from south Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico.

 

That's it for today. Not a very big roadtrip, but a nice drive nonetheless. Until next time, see you back here soon...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2019-07-28: Geocaching Through Ghost Towns, Cemeteries, History, and Finding an Old Corvette

Welcome back fellow geocachers, travelers, explorers, and Jeepers. Today is cemetery day it seems. On this 300+ mile backroads roadtrip from Central to North Central Texas, I visited several cemeteries searching for history and a ghost story to tell. As usual the passenger seat in the GeoJeep is open, so climb in and let's take a drive through the spooky alley of trees down the middle of the cemetery.

Leaving Killeen, Texas, my first stop as usual is the Dunkin Donuts for an iced coffee and a bagel. Then US-190 west to US-183 north in Lampasas. I make a quick stop for a geocache (GC435CN) at the radio station in Lampasas which for some reason I always skipped before. But today it seemed to be calling for me to stop.

I exit off US-183 near Bozar onto FM1029 going off some very rural backroads driving heading north to my next geocache (GC370W1). Upon arriving at the Trigger Mountain Cemetery I stopped for a photo by the sign and felt that I just had to wear the hat also with a name like Trigger Mountain!

The Trigger Mountain Cemetery is a rather large cemetery for just 13 interments here. But it is also well maintained by the very small community. The first listed burial here is that of 5-year old Riley Burgess Hays in 1904. His father, the Rev L. L. Hays is also buried here and lived to be 99 years old passing away in 1961. The cemetery is still in use today with the most recent burial in 2018.

Down another dirt side road about a half mile was Trigger Mountain Hunting. The small geocache (GC3CEEF) had a difficulty rating of 3.0 and a terrain rating of 3.5. Tucked away in the trees, brush, and weeds, it was not an easy task on this hot July afternoon! But success was had and I was able to sign the log.

Continuing down the very rural dirt backroads, I came to the next geocache at Brown's Creek (GC3BYJ4). Down a steep embankment to the creek, this small cache a D4/T4 rating. But with the water currently shallow, I was able to keep dry and stick to the taller rocks to make my way across.

After leaving the creek and just down a little further I came across a cemetery with a historical marker. I check my phone again but I'm not showing any geocache listed here. So I check out the cemetery and read the historical marker: "North Brown Cemetery was named for creek followed by homeseekers. This burial ground originated about 1857 when death struck at a nearby campsite. In the 1870's, North Brown farming community surrounded this site. It had a school and held church services in the schoolhouse. In 1895 local leaders A. A. Boulter, G. M. O'Quin, and J.S. Weatherby secured a deed to the acreage in which graves had so long existed, and North Brown Cemetery Association was formed. After school had closed, proceeds from sale of its site were pledged in 1967 for cemetery care. Pioneer families continue burials here."

Well I just couldn't let this historical cemetery and these pioneers go unnoticed. So I found two headstones of original pioneers and hid my own geocache in a nearby tree (GC8BNKX).

Working my way through the backroads to the small town of Priddy, I had two cemeteries and two geocaches to find. The first was at the St. John's Cemetery (GC22Z1J) with just over 600 interments dating back to 1902. The other was the Zion Lutheran Cemetery (GC19E1A) with over 200 interments dating back to 1889. This older cemetery contains most of the early German settlers to the town of Priddy and has this kinda spooky entrance with the rows of trees. I couldn't decide which I liked better this color photo or the black/white which I opened with at the top of the page.

Trying to make up some time now, I make my way back over to US-183 where I can move a little fast and put some miles behind me. One quick roadside geocache (GC5MVPM) and continue on my way.

But as usual I soon find myself off on the backroad headed towards another cemetery geocache. This one was for the Routh Cemetery (GC1NTWE) in a little community called Blanket. Supposedly named by a couple of surveyors who happened upon some Indians taking shelter under blankets placed over some bushes to give them some protection from a rain storm. As for the cemetery, the oldest marked grave is for that of 19-year-old Elizabeth Routh who died in 1876. She was the daughter of Simeon Levin Routh who is believed to have brought his family out here from Tennessee as part of the Peter's Colony Group to help settle Texas in the 1840's & 50's. Simeon was laid to rest here in 1890 along with his wife and many of their children. There are 58 interments here in total with the most recent in 2005.

Still on the rural backroads, I don't know if you could call this next one a ghost town when at it's peak it only had 100 residents. Owens, Texas, also known as Clio (GC2QM9D), is located eight miles north of Brownwood on U.S. Highway 183 in central Brown County. The town was settled in the early 1870's. The post office, granted in 1878 as Clio, was renamed for E. Owens, who donated the townsite in 1910. It closed sometime after 1930. John W. Yantis promoted sawmills in the area. In the 1930's the town had a school, a church, two businesses, and a number of scattered homes. In 1949 Owens had one business and a population of 100. In 1953 it had a population of forty and no businesses; and in 1965 the population was sixty. No census data was reported for Owens after 1965. In 1983 the community had two churches and a single business. It was still shown on county highway maps in 2000.

Making my way back to US-183, I'm still on the rural dirt and gravel backroads when I pass by this one house with an old 1969 Corvette just sitting there with no tops covered in dirt and dust open to the rain and weather. Made me sad to see that beautiful car being neglected. 

So now I start driving north on US-183 again and after a little bit I see a sign for a cemetery. I look at my phone but don't see a geocache in the area. Well I just have to investigate that further. It is sad finding cemeteries in such neglected care. The rusty sign above the gate just has the name Reagan on it. I can't find much information about this cemetery other than those who are buried here. The Find-A-Grave website shows there to be 14 burials, 12 of those between 1879-1955 and the other two in the 1990's. Though the odd thing is that I can't figure out why it is called the Reagan Cemetery. There are no Reagan's interred here and I can't find a ghost town or community called Reagan. Another website states that it also goes by the name of Latham of which there are two here by that name from the 1880's. Oh well, I find a spot and hide a cache here myself (GC8BNM4). Maybe somebody else will come along and shed some light on this place. Maybe bring some lawn equipment as well!

My last stop was for another geocache (GC22W7R) nearby in the ghost town of the Yellow Mound Community. I couldn't find much in the way of history and settlement. It had never really developed into an incorporated town. Just some local ranchers and farmers. Looking through newspapers for references of Yellow Mound, they started appearing in 1890 and slowed except for obituaries in the 1960's & 70's. Stories of oil discoveries and drilling in 1919-1930, then those stopped. Probably had a surge of workers during that time, but they too moved on. The most interesting newspaper story I found was on July 7, 1964: "Skeleton Discovered in Pasture" read the headline.

"A skeleton thought to be that of a man was found Monday under some undergrowth on a farm near the Yellow Mound Community, seven miles NW of Eastland. Sheriff Lee Horn, one of the officers who went to the scene, estimated the skeleton might have been there as long as 10 years. He based his opinion on the condition of the bones and a weathered shoe along side the skeleton. The find was made by a farm worker rounding up some calves. The sheriff said he would ask a dentist to check gold dental work in the hopes of establishing identity. About five years ago, a skeleton was found near Cisco, 10 miles west of Eastland."

I never did find a follow-up story to this one.

Getting close to work home in Munday, Texas, I was passing by the Brushy Cemetery. I stopped, but by this point it was 6:30 PM and I had already turned a 4 1/2 hour drive into almost 9 hours. Plus it was hot and I was ready to relax, eat, and settle in for the day. With the wind turbines as I backdrop, I thought it was a decent photo. Grabbed my phone, snapped a pic, and continued on.

That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the ride and my stories. I hope to see you back again soon for another of my geocaching adventures through history.

2018-03-11: Ghost Towns, Cemetery, a Gadget Geocache and More

Well here I go again. Another Sunday and another long drive back to West Texas. With some Geocaching stops along the way to break up the 360+ mile drive. Getting a little bit of a later start, I didn't want to get side tracked and spending a lot of time geocaching close to Killeen. So upon leaving home, I drove non-stop to San Angelo where I make my first stop at Starbucks.

Then heading SW on US-67 a few miles down the road by the Twin Buttes Reservoir, I make my first Geocaching stop at "A Little Bit of Sprinkles in San Angelo" (GC5BPYX). After a little bit of a search I came up empty. This one hadn't been found in nearly two years and had several DNF's. And now I've also added my DNF.

Just down the road was another cache called "Burt's Bees" (GC3XXXE) that previous finders also couldn't find. One of which said there was a damaged container. So I gave it a look because it had a few favorite points. Sure enough, I found what was left of a damaged container and nothing else. So I logged my 2nd DNF of the day and a "Needs Maintenance." Uggh! 0-2 is not a good way to start the day.

Back on US-67 a little ways and I get the smiles again. I guess you could call this one an easy gadget cache or just a very creative geocache. Called "Hickory Dickory Dock" (GC6Q5QC), it's just one of those fun creative caches that someone put some thought into.

 

Then I found the nearby "Old House Gone" geocache (GC11J8E). I'm not exactly sure about the real history here. I don't think it was once a real house now gone. But it looked more like an urban outdoorsman camp. There was the remains of a mattress (just the metal springs), an old couch, and lots of old rusty tin cans scattered about.

One more quick geocache "To the Ramp and River" (GC1B6RP) around the Twin Buttes Lake area and I'm finally moving westbound again.

The next two geocaches on my list were for the Arden Community ghost town (GC113HK, GCMJ22). Arden, on Rocky Creek was named for John and Katie Arden, who settled a claim at the site by 1885. The community acquired a post office in 1890 with W.P. Moore as postmaster. A local public school was established in 1892. Two short-lived schools had operated before this in Arden district, one on Rocky Creek and the other at Sawyer. In 1915 Arden had a post office, a school, a church, and a population of fourteen. In 1947, when the community had one business and thirty residents, the Arden School was consolidated with the Mertzon. All of the businesses had been abandoned as of 1966, execept for a polling place used to preserve precinct lines. The passing of the school, low cotton prices, drought, and better opportunities in nearby larger towns were the primary causes for the decline of Arden. The 2000 census listed only one resident remaining. Since 1952 an Arden reunion has been held each Labor Day on Rocky Creek.

The photo above is where the school used to sit. The photo below is of the Arden Cemetery which contains just 44 burials and is still in use to this day.

In trying to make my way back to US-67, I passed by "Middle Concho Crossing" (GCMN76). A low water crossing for a creek but it was dry here today. That one was followed by another "Just Over the Hill" (GC11KTE).

Passing through Mertzon for a few miles to the south I arrived at the ghost town of Noelke (GC15Y5N). From the cache page: "Noelke is on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad and a local road ten miles southwest of Mertzon in south central Irion County. The small settlement began as Monument Switch on the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway when the road built through the area in 1910. The community was renamed Noelke in 1933 in honor of a local ranch owner, Walter Montgomery Noelke. The Monument switch continued in service in Noelke for some time after that, but county maps of the 1980s show only the location of the Noelke community. According to a local resident there was never a town here. Locally it was known as Noelke Switch. The Monument name came from a nearby mountain of the same name. The only building he was aware of was the railroad man's home which is gone. Old cattle pens are all that remain as this was the main place in the area for loading cattle for transport. Today trains pass through the area about twice a week on their way to Alpine. The ranch land for miles around is still owned by the Noelke family."

Around the curve a few miles away was my last stop and another ghost town called Pumpkin Center (GC15Y5Q). Again from the cache page: "According to a local resident, Pumpkin Center consisted of a store where area residents could get basic supplies and pick up mail. It was located at the junction of two county roads and along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. The railroad switch at this spot was known as Suggs Switch. Nothing remains at the location. With the establishment of Mertzon, Pumpkin Center ceased to be."

That's it for me today. Still had 140 miles to go from here. Better get moving cause it's getting late in the afternoon. I hope you enjoyed the ride. See you next week...

2017-11-18: Geocaching Close to Home at a Cemetery, a Nice Hike, an Old Bridge, and a Dancing Tree

Hello and welcome back to our Geocaching Adventures Blog. Today was kind of a lazy day. We did get out for some caching and enjoyed the beautiful weather, but stayed close to home in Killeen and Fort Hood, Texas.

Our first stop was a small historic cemetery and ghost town next to the airport. From the historical marker: "Brown (Okay Community) Cemetery" Elisha Ivy, for whom Ivy Mountain Road was named, established a home and store in this vicinity in the 1860's. In the 1870's, a community known as Liberty Hill was developed northwest of his property. In 1896, when the rural settlement applied for a post office, it's name was changed to Okay. Area residents supported churches, a school, and businesses, and Samuel Marion and Mary Elizabeth (Evans) Brown set aside land for a community burial ground formally deeding it in 1907.

As military installations in the area grew, the community of Okay was displaced and ceased to exist in the 1940's. In 1953, the U.S. Government decided to extend the runway at Gray Air Force Base, where the Brown (Okay Community) Cemetery was located, approximately 1,600 feet southwest of this site. The Army Corps of Engineers moved 70 graves, 30 of which were unidentified individuals, to this location and aligned the burials similarly to original positions. The earliest marked grave dates to 1882 and is that of infant David Davis. Today the cemetery is a reminder of Okay Community and the families who lived there.

After looking around at the different headstones, I forgot all about the cache and left without finding it. Oh well. Just means we'll be back another day!

Have you ever found yourself driving down the road and spotting something out of the corner of your eye and you just start laughing? Well that happened on our way to the next cache! Driving down Maxdale Road on the way to the small community of Maxdale, we were passing through part of the Fort Hood Recreation Area. It's just a wooded area set aside for hiking and some off road trails. I think the army base may sometimes perform some training maneuvers there also. But as I was driving though I spotted what looked like an old dead tree doing some John Travolta disco dance moves! Oh I just had to make a u-turn and get a photo. While the picture doesn't quite come alive like the images I had going through my head, perhaps the tree has the Fever on Saturday Nights! Maybe this is what the large walking talking trees from the Lord of the Rings movie do when nobody is around. HaHaHa!

OK, enough of the dancing trees. A short ways further down the road and we arrive at Parrie Haynes Equestrian Center and our next two caches (GC4B0BF, GC4B0BN). The first was by the office. The host there noticed we had been looking for some time and came out to inquire if we were looking for that "Geo thing." I said yes and she pointed out where it usually is but said some kids were playing around there and it may have been moved. Well we expanded our search and eventually found it, returning it to where she had said.

The second cache was a short hike down a trail. There was a trail ride or some kind of horse event going on, so a lot of muggles riding horses everywhere. Most were off in the woods, but occasionally we encountered one or two riding along the dirt hiking trail. When we arrived at the cache location it was in the middle of some trees next to an old windmill and watering hole.

Arriving in the ghost town of Maxdale, Texas, we first stop at the old truss bridge built in 1914 (GCMFXE). Crossing the Lampasas River, it has been replaced by a more modern bridge a short distance away. This cool historic bridge is no longer open to cars. Just the brave pedestrians willing to venture out onto the wood planks, some of which are missing. But there is a geocache hidden out there so of course I'm going! Though it isn't that bad, so I would have gone anyway. As for the cache itself, it hadn't been found in five months. Two of the last four cachers having logged DNFs were experienced cachers too. Even those that did find it had posted about the container being damaged and a wet log. I spend about 20 minutes looking and came up empty. Since this was a historical place and a cool location, and the original hider was no longer active, I decided to go ahead and replace the cache with a new container. I happened to have a magnetic key holder which was perfect for this location. Some disagree with this practice and I'd wouldn't normally do this if there wasn't anything to see here. But I wanted to continue bringing other cachers to this location. 

Crossing over the newer bridge, brought us into what's left of Maxdale, Texas. The area began settlements in the 1860's, it wasn't officially established with a post office until 1883. The town never really blossomed, reaching a maximum 50 residents in 1925. The post office closed in 1926 and the town slowly started declining. The population today is reported at only 4 residents.

Over at the Maxdale Cemetery is our last two geocaches, one traditional cache GC298G0 and one virtual cache GCG2EJ. From the historical marker: Established in the 1860's to serve the rural community of Pleasant Grove, this community is one of the oldest in Bell County. Land for the graveyard was given by Frank N. McBryde Sr, whose 1883 application for a post office for the community resulted in the name change to Maxdale. The earliest documented grave is that of Louisa Marlar (1849-1867), although an 1863 tombstone marks the site of a grave reinterred here from another location. Others interred here include pioneer settlers and veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Korea.

The one headstone that caught my eye was this one belonging to: "Thorpe and Mosley, Killed in 1876 by John Carver."

That was it for today. Like I said, not a big adventure but enjoyed the wonderful day and saw some interesting places. Until next time...