2023-10-06 42 -78

Location

The woods of English Hill State Forest

Participants

Pedalpusher

Expedition

Writing this up very late, so I don't remember why I didn't bring Myka the Dog, but if I had to guess, it was probably because she would be more comfortable sleeping on the couch then dealing with the stress of an hour+ drive and a short walk.

Based on the pictures, it looks like it was a perfect fall evening and I would be able to start a Consecutive Hash (Previous Day's expedition can be found here). Without the Consecutive aspect, I probably wouldn't have gone seeing as I already had an Expedition to the .40 centicule.

I was able to park pretty much due south of the hash in a parking area off the road running by and through the State Forest. I recall it being an easy walk in as there was an old logging road that ran really close to the hash and a GeoCache (for a potential Hash Collision event). As I got to the cache area, I decided to try to find that first since I practically had to walk by it anyway. After about 10-15 min of frustrated circling in the woods, I gave up and stomped over to the hash where I was able to get a good reading and the standard pictures. I tried again for the cache, but to no avail. I guess this Hash Collision just wasn't going to work out...again. I think I'm running about 50% on these, but then again, that's not the game I focus on either.

I still had plenty of daylight left, so I set a timer and continued along the logging road to see where it went. I found that it kind of dead-ended a short while later, but there was a branch that went uphill so I kept going, but that turned more into a trail then an animal path and then it started to just look like woods. Rather than get lost as it was getting dark, I turned around and headed back to the car. On the way back, I grabbed another deflated mylar balloon out of the woods.

As I passed by the hash area, I couldn't resist trying one last time for that cache and somehow managed to find it next to the end of a downed tree. It was hidden pretty well and I guess I just don't like digging around when searching for caches; I probably walked by this spot at least 10 times in my earlier circlings. Making the Hash Collision official (I could see the Hash area through the trees), I took the cache over to a more open spot to take some pictures and sign the log so I wouldn't give away the location when I logged the cache. I then returned it to where it was found and rebuilt the sticks and such to hide it again before continuing on my way back to the car.

Photos

Made it to the Hash, even if I couldn't find the cache.
Accuracy.
At this point, I don't remember which direction I started taking pictures.
Hash Woods.
More Hash woods.
I think this may have been the direction I came from as it was more open and I was able to see the hash area from the cache area (making this possibly South).
Standard Stupid Grin.
View of the Hash area as I was heading back to the path.
The trail I was walking on at some point, but I think this is after finding the hash.
On the way back, I found and took this mylar balloon out of the woods.
One last chance at the cache turned out successful after all!
This reading is where I took the cache to so it's not exactly in the spot where it was found, but close enough to show I could still see the hash area from here.
On the way home, the setting sun lighting up the clouds in a cool way.