COORDS Are Final For My There Be Dragons Here Multi Listing Series - W00t!

Yes I am one happy geocaching hider. After all the work and investigation along a nearby greenway I finally have all of the coordinates in place for my geocaching series There Be Dragons Here.  So all of the ammo boxes are ready, filled with swag, FTF prizes, notebook and proper signage. The coordinates have been registered in the four listing services and just waiting final approval from two of the sites. The geocaches get hidden tomorrow and once all are approved I will officially publish them to be found. I am very excited and also interested if geocachers will just go for the ones on their listing site and ignore the rest or go for the whole series. I now have officially placed a hide on all the main services.

Will let you know when it is ready and the GC number for the first of the series. Good luck everyone and I hope you enjoy the quest.

-HeadHardHat

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HHH's GotD: Ammo Boxes

Small Cami Ammo Box Geocache

Everybody has their own preferences when it comes to geocaching. Maybe it is the number of geocaches one can find in a day. Others enjoy being out in the fresh air and experiencing something other than a work cube or other enclosed space. For me it is the geocaching containers themselves that gets me going and one of my personal favorites are Ammo Boxes. 


I don't know if it is because there are so many possibilities of things an ammo box can hold or if it's the pirate within I just have to open up the chest to see the booty inside. I always seem to move just a little quicker when I now the size of a geocache is a regular. You just never know what types of treasure you may find.

Open Ammo Box

Sure most of the time the 'treasure' is dollar store swag but the principle of treasure hunting is still there. For added excitement throw in the kid factor. Watch and you will see their faces light up like a holiday morning. It's infectious and you can feel their excitement. I know because I feel the same way. What can I say, I'm obsessed.


So let's talk a bit about these sturdy geocaching containers. An ammo box is usually metal and was used at one time or another for holding and transporting ammunition or other important items. They are extremely rugged, water proof (or at least really resistant) and above all inexpensive. A small ammo can can run you $4 to $6US. A large around $15 to $18US. There are many places to purchase them but my favorite is at our local Army surplus store.


There are several sizes of ammo boxes: There are the smalls that have a single lock on the side and a handle on top. The mediums that can very in height and width. I have seen them tall and skinny and short and stocky. All depends on what they were used for. Then my favorite the larges. Usually they have a lock on each side and can carry a ton of stuff.


Ammo boxes are great fun to find. Because of their size the resourcefulness behind the hide can be quite unique. It is always based on the creativity of the hider. Many people simply cami up an ammo box and hide them under the proverbial 'tee-pee of sticks' others have more in-depth hiding places. All are filled with the anticipation of geocaching goodness.


Until the next geocaching adventure...


-HHH

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HHH's Lunchtime GotD - Love That Sound

Let me paint you a geocaching picture. You're in the woods with loads of potential hiding spots all around you and the pine needles are deep. There is no apparent hiding spot for the cache. No handy pile 'O sticks to make you go aha. What do you do?

You utilize your hiking pole to search for potential hiding spots. You poke and you prod and then suddenly it happens. That wondrous pwang of a sound that can only be of a hidden ammo box just below the leaves and needles.

For me personally that never gets old. Whether its your first attempt or your fiftieth that feeling of "aha, gotcha" gives quite a thrill.

Today's Lunchtime Geocache of the Day was just as described. The area was thick with logs, stumps and heavy pine needles. As shown above there was no trace of the geocache until I actually found it with the pole. A very satisfying find indeed. I took the travel bug that was inside and placed some new swag including one of my signature first aid kits.

Now on to some food!

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HHH's Lunchtime GotD: Ammo Box in the Woods

This lunchtime geocache of the day took me .20 of a mile following a nature trail in a very swampy woods. In my humble opinion now was a really great time to go for this geocache because I can imagine the skeeters during the summer months.

The trail was a combination of asphalt, pine needles and good ole fashioned dirt. Some spots were wetter than others but the 200' bushwack was uneventful. If it were more towards spring you would definitely have to keep a better eye out for snakes, spiders and other common critters.

This particular hide was fairly easy and nestled in a nice above the water line hidey hole. Everything inside was secured in large storage baggies and perfectly dry. I added to the mix some swag (my first aid kits) and a travel bug.

All in all I had a blast finding this cache. Now for some lunch.
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When The Weather Sucks, Paint Some Ammo Cans

The weather in North Carolina has been extremely rainy. This is a far contrast from the 500 year drought we had a couple of years ago. So it appears that mother nature is replenishing the moisture content for the region in spades.

When it is as moist and gloomy as it has been it really shuts down my options. I can't really film any GeoSnippits and catching pneumonia just does not thrill me at the moment. What to do, what to do? Well if you are fortunate enough to have your own garage or very ventilated work space. Why not paint up some geocaches? In fact why not cammi up some ammo cans?

The photo above is the finished product of a very large ammo can I painted earlier this week. It has a primer base, green and brown flat paint over the primer and some textured paint highlights to top it off. This would be perfect for that wooded spot somewhere near you and since this is super sized you can really stock it up. Have you ever considered a large geocache theme like say books, music or DVDs? This particular size can hold a ton of swag and a themed geocache gives the swag an extra purpose.

Here is a link to my GeoSnippits Video: How To Paint Ammo Boxes.

So if you are bored and can't think of something to do. Why not go and get your next fantastic geocaching hides prepped for when the sun comes out and you're ready to get on the trails.

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Taking WRAL's Richard Adkins Geocaching

Here's a quick news flash! I had a great time today taking Richard Adkins from WRAL out geocaching. He is doing a special interest piece about our great game, sport and obsession and I had the pleasure of showing him some of the local finds.

We spent the late morning going to several geocaching sites and I answered all his questions about what geocaching is and how it makes a fine family activity. By the time we were finished he had seen a bison tube, 35mm, cameoed regular and a well stocked medium ammo box.

The segment airs Friday at 5:55pm! If you miss the actual airing, do not fret. I will will have all the links so you can see it online. Be sure to check in regularly to get all the geocaching goodness.

Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com

HeadHardHat's Father's Day Geocache Gift

I was recently asked by one of our GeoSnippits viewers (thanks Casper) for a suggestion in making a Father's Day gift. The father is heavy into geocaching.

So I sat down and asked myself, "What would I want"?

After sorting down the ones that I knew I wouldn't get like that all nighter at Hooters or a date with the Horn sisters I came up with the video you see below.

After doing this video it dawned on me that this could be used for any geocacher in your life and for any occasion. In fact I have already received tips saying you should hide this somewhere for the geocacher to go find. Just remember to give the coords where you hid it. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did putting it together and be sure to send in the videos of them finding/opening them. Have Fun!



If you want to see this video on you tube go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmO20NOaijE



Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at http://www.geosnippits.com

Happy Camper Finding Lake Devin #1

Lake Devin is near Oxford, North Carolina and it had in it's local trails two geocaches that have been taunting me since I started geocaching a year ago. Lake Devin #2 was a geocache that I had tried several times but with no success.

This afternoon was a continuation of a glorious sunshine filled day with the highs in the mid-sixties and a feel about it that just screamed the beginnings of Spring. I was staring at a three day weekend and my boss was kind enough to release me of my daily grind so I decided to give Lake Devin another crack.

Lake Devin #1 was placed about half a mile into a park like set of rustic nature trails. I do so love walking such trails especially when you have a large lake in the background and yet surrounded by trees. Very scenic.

I found ground zero right away and the hiding spot was quite obvious. Within a few minutes I had signed the very nice log, traded travel bugs and was on my way for number two well pleased that this was finally off my list.

Regular Cache in a Brier Patch

All I can say is ouchie! Those thick brambles can really getcha. Back to those in a minute.

What a day we had today while out Geocaching. We started out fairly early which turned out to be about Eightish. Headed straight towards our first cache in the Southern Raleigh, NC area. Wouldn't you know it that just down the road was a North Carolina original and an addiction to me. Yup the Krispy Kreme donut store was within smelling distance and we had to stop by and get them fresh and oh so yummy.

After I came out of my sugar coated stupor we moved on to the rest of our planned Cache Raid and took on twenty seven geocaches. Unfortunately two of them were DNFs but thems the breaks. We had an absolute blast and yes even when we get scrapes from those nasty brier patches it some how does not hurt so much when you are staring at an ammo box.

All part of the fun and I couldn't think of a better person to go geocaching with than my daughter Miss GeoNess.

A Day Full of Caching and Natural Beauty

This was a fun day.

I was able to spend several hours with my daughter geocaching and we were able to take some pretty nice photos during our adventures.

We started out with a preplanned CacheRaid of about thirty caches to try and find. With the majority of them in the Cary, NC area I figured they would most likely be micros and skirt hides. Not exactly what I would consider a day full of fun but maybe we could go for a personal best in total finds for the day. Boy was I in for a treat. What Daughter Geoness and I ended up doing is a lot of walks in the woods and on some down right scenic greenways. All in all, we hiked through three different parks, around several lakes and on some of the above stated greenways. The sun was out and temps in the mid 60s. You could not ask for better weather with the smells of Fall and sound of the leaves under your feet was quite invigorating. As we went we must have put at least five or six miles under our belt today. During one of our strolls off trail I found it quite humorous when we came up to a large log and I stopped both of us. Looking over at my daughter I asked, "What do we do now?" There would be this heavy sign, "I know dad, bang your stick on the log. Step on the log. Look around, THEN walk over." We are in snake country and it was important to me for Geoness to know the rules of the woods. We have not seen many snakes yet but I don't want to take chances with safety. A geocaching friend of ours was bitten by a copperhead this year and I do not want us to duplicate his accident. So I do what my dad did with me and teach the ways of the woods.

By the time we were finished only two caches were micros and the majority were of the regular size. Which meant a lot of tupperware, lock 'n lock and our personal favorite ammo boxes. We traded items in many of them where Geoness would get a trinket or bauble and I gave some of my signature first aid kits. I never seem to get any goodies anymore which is no big deal but the look on my daughter's eyes as she plunges into a cache is priceless.

The totals for today were a respectable eleven finds and two DNFs (Did Not Find). One of said DNFs I read later was because the previous cacher dropped said cache down a large hole... Ahhh well, them's the breaks. To sum up we made many a memory and laughed all afternoon. You really can't beat that type of family fun and we can't wait for next weekend to do it again.

Below are some of the more nature like photos we took today. I hope you enjoy them and come back real soon for more of our tales of geocaching.



Visit This Photo Album Here:
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Latest GeoSnippit Out On YouTube - Intro Regular Size Caches

The latest in the GeoSnippits Series is now on YouTube. This quick tutorial goes over one of the most popular of Geocaching classes - the Regular Size. Here you learn about Lock 'N Lock boxes and an inside peek of an ammo box. Host HeadHardHat gives the quick instruction on this interesting subject.

HeadHardHat's Ingenious Cache Inventor Blog Released

I really enjoy my "I'm NOT Obsessed" blog but I wanted another way of specializing one particular aspect of Geocaching. That would be a dedicated blog for the creation and discussion of making caches.

With this blog anyone can submit anything geocache "cache" related. Be it a how-to tutorial about camouflaging ammo boxes to the most ingenious caches you have ever found. We will take on all cachers.

The blog is called "HeadHardHat's Ingenious Cache Inventor" and you can go there by clicking here: http://ingenious-cache-inventor.blogspot.com/. I hope you enjoy sharing that little mad scientist in all of us.

Spending Quality Time in Cary, NC

What a great day daughter Geoness and I had on Saturday. We fully intended to blow our current number of finds record off the map. Our intentions were straight forward, get as many as we can and the sky was the limit. Go - Go - Go nothing was going to slow us down.

The plan for the day was sure simple enough. I created my cache raid list for the day with an over zealous one hundred possible caches to choose from. We would start about 9:00 am and go until sunset. Even started off with a nice breakfast then packed a picnic style lunch so we didn't have to stop anywhere to eat. Finished off with some munchies and a cooler full of water. Ready - Set - Go! Voom...

I had a feeling by our very first cache that it would set the over all pace for the day. We started by doing some hiking on the available greenways in southeast Cary, NC. We parked near Johnson Lake Park and was just going to hit one or two nearby caches then move on. It was so scenic and the weather was perfect for taking a long stroll. There were people everywhere and you can tell that this was one of the first times after a long hot summer that people could come out into the pine scented air and really enjoy it. Geoness went nuts with the camera and very quickly the fervor of finding the most caches possible quickly turned into "would you look at that" and "stand over there so I can take a picture". Did I mention the weather was perfect out? We mozied to our first cache which happened to be an ammo box under a log. With the trees being rather thick I found myself quickly playing the ever popular follow the bouncing arrow game. Walking off the path and bushwhacking towards what I thought would be a logical place for the cache I hear in the distance, "Found It".

"Doh!", I squeak from under my breath. "Your kidding right?", I hear giggles so this can't be good.

"Nope, I have it in my hands", my daughter says with that nanner-nanner pre-teen tone.

Sure enough there was the ammo box just asking to be investigated. We made quick work of signing the log and checking for any worth while treasures then the green painted cache was put back in it's hiding spot and we were back on the trails.

Before I could ask if Miss Geoness wanted to go back to the car she asks me if there were any other caches we could find. Because I was going by the Cache Raid list I had not done much research on nearby caches but it was worth a little walking to the next one. I mean how much time could another cache take or another and another... before we knew it we ended up picking up a few more before we actually did stop.

**Note - because there are so many caches there we will be going back to Johnson Lake Park real soon, would love to see it in the fall.

Eventually we made it to the car and continued on to our next cache on the list. I didn't realize it at the time but we ended up on the north side of Johnson Lake. We found a spot in a nearby parking lot and took a shortcut to the greenway in hopes of finding a couple of Horsegeeks caches. The view at this end of the park was no less spectacular with the lush greenery and shining water through the trees. We walked for about a quarter of a mile and came up to a very nice boardwalk that went over a more swampy like terrain. We had found our next cache location and after seeing the ground cover I told Geoness to hang back a bit and let me find this one. She agreed and I started up a small hill in the direction of the cache. I was instantly startled when I realized that I had walked right smack into an Orb Spider web. There is not too many things that will get your blood pumping more than looking eye to eye with such a large spider. Fortunately I had hit the lower part of the web first and the beautifully yellow, white and black colored beastie made it up to a large leaf. A bit shaken I continued my journey towards the suspected cache site. My suspicions were confirmed as I gazed down at the medium sized lock 'n lock box. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I realized what I would need to do next. You see the cache was placed inside a hole that two twin trees had made between them. The hole was about a foot deep and another foot wide. Perfect spot for a snake den. Leave it to me to go on the one hike in a wooded area without my trusty backpack. This would have been a perfect time to use my grabber tool which was, say it with me now, in said back pack. Instead I did the next best thing and prodded the hole with my walking stick and after being mostly sure nothing was in there I held my breath and reached.

My head instantly wandered to the visions of a fellow cacher who recently was bit by a copperhead. This of course caused me to miss the cache at first grab and actually took a couple of heart pounding tries before I managed to get the prize. Much to my relief I brought the cache back down the hill to my daughter who commented how much I was sweating. I smiled and said that it must be getting hot out and we can stop for a liquid refreshment break soon. After signing the log for this thrill filled cache I was happy to put it back for the next finder and move on.

The rest of the day consisted of several other green way hikes. I think we must have walked about five miles overall. There were several series that were fun including a lot of bison tube hunts. By the time it was getting dark we both were pretty bushed and we ended up with 18 finds for the day. Not the biggest amount when it comes to the numbers game but when it comes to the amount of quality time that the two of us shared it was priceless.

Adopted Cache Found! Durham, NC

Adopted Cache Found! Durham, NC

I just recently adopted about thirty caches in the Raleigh and surrounding areas. One of the first things that I wanted to do was get the ones that are either missing or damaged replaced. Today I had a chance to check out a couple of them and replaced Pretty Too and checked out Hippyism.

Pretty Too was recently destroyed by being in the path of a control burn area. It has now been moved to a safer location about 70 feet towards a stream. Hippyism is in the same park/trails area and was in great shape. I will be hitting all of my adopted caches in the next month or so..

Stay Tuned...

Daughter Geoness Milestone of 100 Finds!

The second half of Team HHB miss Amanda aka Geoness hit the 100 find mark. Not bad for someone who just started a couple of months ago. She has already attended several events and has taken on Difficulty 3 / Terrain 3 caches. Like the one at the FlashMob Flower Hill caches in North Carolina.



Geoness has cache finds in five states including Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. Often seen with dad HeadHardHat in the Raleigh and many neighboring cities. Geoness competes with HHH to find the cache first so she can be the first to sign the log. She helps a lot when it comes to micros and small caches but her eyes light up the most when ammo boxes are the target.





Please help congratulate the better half of Team HHB, daughter Geoness on her latest find milestone.

Congrats Geoness!

North Carolina Five Day Road Trip To Michigan Summary

Fourth of July weekend.... What Fourth of July weekend?

Well another road trip to Michigan from North Carolina is under my belt. Think that is about a dozen or so now but the important thing is daughter Amanda is back home. The weekend blew by like it was not even there and I currently feel like I was run over by a semi. Below is the complete summary and there are several phone-in articles showing mainly my adventures going from NC to Michigan. Coming back home was for the most part tiring, wet and storm drenched. Add in the multitudes of traffic and beyond belief gas prices and you get the gist. Here are the stats:

Days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday July 4 - 6, 2008

Miles: 1874 - including visits to my family on east side of Michigan

Average Price of Gas: $4.19 with highest in Michigan

Hours Coming and Going: 16 hours going to Michigan (add in caching)
15 hours coming back to NC (holiday traffic)



Caching States:
North Carolina
Virginia
West Virginia
Ohio
Michigan

Number of Caches Found: 18

Number of Travel Bugs/Coins Traded: 26

Number of police cars sighted: 48 - no kidding. Including one near my first cache near RDU airport.

Visited:
Four cemeteries including are really cool one from early 1800s in Virginia.
Multitudes of rest areas (some even to use the facilities).
Almost went crashing down two steep, wet, muddy, brier filled hills whilst caching.
Was interrupted by a small herd of hill climbing cattle (did not know they can do steep trails)
Found caching partner in the form of a large black snake who decided to be resting in a bush I was looking in. Did not see the business end but the side of it I did see was like a 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe.
Drove through numerous thunderstorms in West Virginia mountains and near home in Raleigh, North Carolina

Mutant Mantis and my micro GPS travel bugs logged 1095 miles on this trip.

All in all a fun but exhausting trip. Glad now to get back into the caching hunts of home.

Daughter Geoness and HeadHardHat in Fuquay-Varina, NC

Well daughter Geoness and I took another swipe at Fuquay- Varina, NC for a couple of hours and pulled away with some nice nature trails and some Grab and Go's. Added ten caches to our ever growing list.

Seen to the left is her Geoness doing what she loves to do and that is finding ammo boxes. Sure she loves being first to find the micros. Mainly because the deal is who ever finds the cache first gets to sign first. But the ammo boxes is pure buried treasure.

I feel the same way too.. Shy of a half dozen ticks going for the ride we had a real great afternoon together.

I don't know who looks more forward to our time together but I know I am savoring mine while I can. She isn't going to stay 12 forever....

Lov'n Freshly Painted Ammo Boxes

Nothing says love'n like freshly painted cache ammo boxes. Note the subtle cami backgrounds, the textured stone finish, heavy sigh. Click the photo to really see the work done. Go ahead, I'll wait. You wouldn't believe what they looked like yesterday.

Shown here are two small caches (right and top right), one large night vision goggle box (center - thought I wasn't going to get them huh?), one larger but not quite trunk sized ammo box (left with two sided top) and a micro sized eclipse cache (bottom right).

Oh the plans that I have for these just makes me giddy. Can't give you all the specifics, hush-hush you know, but I can tell you one is going to be a mega Pocket Decoder mystery cache in the Garner/Clayton, NC area, one will be a nice sized cache for my BarnYard Fun series and another is upgrading one of my current TB hotels to include a deluxe suite (not the eclipse box).

Whew so much to do and the weekend fast approaching. I have to get busy...

L8tr, HHH