This Week On Michigan Magazine: Show 1611 Rose Wunderbaum Traines / Geosnippits w/Andy HHH Smith

Recorded on 3/16/2011 Join us as we visit with Metal Sculptor Rose Wunderbaum Traines of Mt. Pleasant Michigan. We visit with Rose at the newly dedicated gallery of Art Reach of Mid-Michigan at 111 Broadway in downtown Mt Pleasant. Then follow us as we hit the geocaching trail with Head Hard Hat Andy Smith of Geosnippits. A beautiful sunny day draws the geocacher out for more exciting modern day GPS treasure hunting.






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You can see GeoSnippits on Michigan Magazine (RFDTV Network) twice a week!


GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
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Twitter me at
@headhardhat

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

HHH's Fire Hydrant Geocache Modified...

A big thanks to Cornellfinch from Portsmouth, England who twittered me this post in the groundspeak forums.

Apparently a geocacher who goes in the forums by kywaterfowler took my fire hydrant geocache up a notch. See Below:

If you are a member of groundspeak you can see the whole entry here:

http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=252638

Check out my GeoSnippits Video showing how to make this cool geocache by going here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1YCbcphy7E

I absolutely love it when someone takes a cool idea and makes it their own.. Way to go!

GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------
Twitter me at
@headhardhat

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

Geocache Placement, Just Because You Can...

Went out today after all my mid-day Valentine's activities were done to see if two possible hiding areas were acceptable. They were only a couple of miles from where I lived so I figured I would be gone an hour tops.

You know how a good idea seems great at the time but if you do the slightest bit of research it goes straight into the dumper? Yeah well, geocache area number one stopped me cold when I started hiking into the area and a big fat No Trespassing sign was staring me in the face. Well shoot this was going to be my my first really mean geocache hide. The area in question currently is dormant of the Kudzu plant. You know the plant that ate the south? Right now the vines have completely died into a mass of dark brown. Even now it is starting it's regrowing and in a few weeks the plants will once again be climbing sixty feet into trees, over signs and anything else not moving. Yes I was going to put a geocache smack dab in the middle of one of these fields, but nooooo, darn legal formalities.. Will have to search for a different spot. Needless to say that blew almost an hour of time right there.

Geocache area number two had better possibilities but a few strikes against it. I wanted to do one of my famous "string" hides. That is when you find a nice area to put your geocache and instead of putting in a nice hidey hole on the ground you hang it from Cammi parachute rope up into a tree. That way not only does the finder have to spot the cache in the tree but also figure out where the tied rope is to get it down.

The issues I had with this area is first it was on Highway 42 which is a terribly busy road. There is a parking area but you would have to cross said busy road. For some no big deal but for me I don't want anybody getting hurt. So that was a strike one. Next getting down to the stream area of which I wanted to put said hide you had to go through a fairly trashy area. Over the years people have dumped refrigerators and standard garbage you see on the side of the road. Again for some no big deal for me all I could think of was snake hideouts. Things were starting to look a little shaky. I scouted around anyways thinking if I did find a perfect hide that I would increase the difficulty and tell for kids to stay away from this one. So off I go and after 30 minutes of scouting I did find a nice placement location. Was actually about to get the final readings and all and that was when I noticed the tiny grill and matrice. I do not know if the person or persons was still living in the area but I sure as heck wasn't going to put one of our geocachers in danger. Sorry not my style. So I quickly took a photo or two and got the heck out of there.

So even though it looked good on paper to put two really great geocache ideas. It does not necessarily mean that you should. Checking out the area first is a great way of knowing if a geocache is a good placement or not.

Day For Finding Past DNFs

Well today seemed to be a perfect day for taking previous Did Not Finds off my list. This geocache I attempted last fall and the area way very swampy even for horse trails. Went out today and walked right up to it. Not bad for a Friday the 13th.

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.

It Is The Size That Counts

Nano found near Raleigh coffee house. Just to show you the size to scale. That is the writing end of a pen on the right and the magnetic nano to the left. Figure it the equivelant to your pinky fingernail in size.

Below shows what a nano looks like when taken apart to sign the log.

Lunch Time GeoCaching

What a sweet hide. This one actually took me a couple of minutes to figure out the geocache hidey spot. There are severa areas of possiblity and you know me. Even when I read the heeds of the owner I still have to find the most difficult way of finding the cache. This was no exception and I have the bleeding pokes to prove it.

Once I figured out the spot and had cache in hand I had not a single DOH but a Double DOH moment. The first moment was when I reached down to my pocket to pull out my writing utencil and realized I left it in the car which was about .15 of a mile away. DOH! Then I actually was desperate enough to think I could use a stick to at least mark HHH on the log sheet. Then I realized I had already taken my geocaching carrying pouch which of course had several pens. DOH - DOH !

Needless to say we are glad to see a new hider in the area and look forward to more geocache finds.
Signed log and took nothing but the 20 sided die was very tempting.

Miss GeoNess Breaks 200 Finds Which Puts Her In The Rankings

Yes she's small, she's wirey and she fits in holly and Cyprus bushes really really well!

Miss GeoNess who took some time today to be out doing some actual geocaching instead of doing the photography and filming for GeoSnippits has broken 200 and is now officially ranked in the Geocaching world.

I'm personally proud of her. Especially for those times when I am too pooped to keep going and it's her who says "One more Dad, one more..."

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.

Hello Mr. Ranger Smith Sir! This Isn't A Pik-In-Ik-Bas-Kit

When geocaching there is an infinite probability that something interesting is going to happen while on your journey. Today for me the probability became a certainty and the interesting was well, interesting.

It started out quite innocent like it should be. Another 4.5 geocache had showed up on the radar and was on my way home from work. This time instead of a traditional cache it was a Mystery/Puzzle type. I salivated while driving to this geo-site because even though puzzle caches can be torturous they also can be a boat load of fun. Since I was on my way home from work the sun was already on it's daily exit and I would have if I was lucky an hour of light left. No problem I thought to myself after reading my tasks. All I had to do was find a particular tombstone in the middle of a woods in a State Park, solve the puzzle based off of what I found on the tombstone and find the cache that was extremely well hidden somewhere off of the State Park grounds. No problem. At the very worst I would get the information off of the tombstone and come back tomorrow to find the geocache in question. Piece of cake.

When I arrived at the parking area my heart began to quicken as it usually does. This particular find would be clocked as it were with the big ball in the sky as the main time keeper. I pulled out my trusty army over-the-shoulder pouch and loaded it with my GPS unit, BlackBerry and all the assorted geocaching stuff I normally carry. Then it was out the door and into the woods for a tenth of a mile jaunt to the cemetery. There was already a sizable trail to follow and the bushwhacking would be to a minimum. At least to the first stage of the puzzle cache and before I knew it the tombstones in question were in site. I know for many people graveyards are a bit unnerving. I would think being by yourself in the middle of a deep woods and the sun going down might frazzle the weak hearted but it only fascinated me. Being from Michigan you get some historic things to see but down here in North Carolina you are IN history, absorbed by it. There were tombstones there that were dated before Michigan was a state.

So before I began I do what I always do while entering a graveyard down here, don't laugh, I did my customary moment of respect and ask those who would be interested that I meant no disrespect and I would be looking around for a little bit. I am a Yankee you know and back then us northerners were not very well liked. Why take chances?

Looking for about ten minutes I found the tombstone in question and quickly did the mathematical functions to contrive the needed coordinates. Luckily for me it was not deeper into the State Park and yet not a dozen miles down the road either. In fact it was in a spot that I might still have a chance to find it before my time was up and the sun down. So I quickened my pace and found ground zero. Of course with the difficulty the way it was I did not expect the cache to be exactly there but you never know. Five minutes later I must have picked up the caching vibe of the owner and had a pretty good hunch where it would be. A minute later I had the cache in my hand TA-DA! I pulled out my BlackBerry and used Geocache Navigator to log the find. Then I examined the cache itself and signed the log. Only two other people have found it to date until me. I was giddy with excitement and was just putting everything back when I heard distinct footsteps coming up from behind me. I turned and was given privy to the sight of two State Park Rangers coming up to see what I was up to.

"Well Shyte", I think to myself as I check out their authenticity.

To my rather sudden surprise was not of the rangers themselves but the obvious fact that they holstered 45s as side arms. For that spit second I am remembering the countless years of camping with my family all over the upper and lower peninsula of Michigan and Ranger Smith never packed a weapon back then. How changed was now Yogi and Booboo? My thoughts focused when they approached and asked what I was doing.

My father who is a retired cop always told me in these situations, no bullshit and tell the truth. "Geocaching", I replied. "Are you familiar with it"?

The tall fellow in green said yeah he new all about geocaching in general. I asked if he or his lady partner ever saw one before while pointing at the small harmless container. They came over and checked it out and he took the log from me and started reading it.

"You Head Hard Hat?", says he.

"Yep, that would be me", says I and he nods his head a few times.

"So if the geocache was over here. Why were you coming out of the Park over there on the other side of the highway road?". Obviously these two were watching me at least for a little bit. I explained what a puzzle cache was about getting part of the puzzle from the gravestone. I told them that I was very respectful of the area and nothing was moved or even touched for that matter. They seemed to be understanding what I was saying and I was mostly sure that I had done nothing wrong.

That was when my mouth got into the way. "I know that you have to have permission to place geocaches on State Grounds, right?" They nodded in unison.

"... and the boundary of the park is over there so this one is legal to be here, right?"

That was when he asked the question that momentarily jarred me. "Who's land do you suppose this is?", pointing to where we were standing. Now in the back of my brain I flash to a time where my mother had once told me that the swath of grass between the street and the sidewalk was owned not by us but by the city. If the same happens outside the city limits then it would be owned by the county.. or the...

"Ohhhh", says I. "Is this going to be a problem then?"

He stopped for a second and said that it wouldn't but he would have to make sure with his supervisor to be sure. With that I showed them exactly how to hide a geocache and asked if they needed anything else. They said no and wished me well. I returned the statement and went back into my car and left. You know that both of them headed straight back to where the graveyard was. Which I can only assume they were checking to see if anything was disturbed.

It only goes to show that when out geocaching it is in your best interest to have a behavior to be kind to the environment and surrounding landmarks. Because you never know when Ranger Smith may be watching you.

GeoSnippits - A Day of Geocaching with HeadHardHat Video

Hosted by HeadHardHat this GeoSnippits is more of an experience in Geocaching. Think of it as advanced tutorial or introduction into the world of geocaching.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to spend a day with an experienced geocacher as you go from one geocache to the next then this is the video for you. Filmed near Raleigh, North Carolina.

HeadHardHat takes you through the Piedmont including the Knightdale area down through Clayton. You will see every known size of geocache and some extra surprises.

So sit back bring the kids and enjoy a little walk in the woods with everybodys favorite Geocaching mentor, HeadHardHat.



Okay, enough with the You Tube descriptions and stuff. The truth is everything you see in this fun video is as it happens. When you see me surprised or joking or dead tired, that's me all over.

Sure there are videos out there with the well polished adventure super hero type who uses X-ray vision to pull finds from thin air or will jump on the nearest snake just so they can pick them up and show them to the camera. Sorry, my biggest task on geocaching day is where the best deal for coffee and donuts is. Oh, and as for jumping on a snake to show it for the camera? I don't think so. I will promise you this and that is if I do come across a snake I promise not to go screaming down the trail like a little girl. Unless of course I do and you will then get good video either way.

I really hope you enjoy this video and judging from the comments we are getting back you are. I love hearing from people how this encouraged them to go out and try geocaching. Then there are the others who for the first time get to see what a true geocache looks like in the wild. That just makes my day like you would not believe.

See you out on the trails folks...

You can see all our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos at You Tube or our GeoSnippits Home Webpage at http://www.geosnippits.com/