This past Saturday (January 7) was a beautiful day in the Lehigh Valley, so I pumped up the bike tires and met my Geobuddies at the Plainfield Township Rail-Trail. Knowing that this winter cannot remain so warm and cache-friendly, I’m jumping at nearly any opportunity to get out and find some new parks, trails, and geocaches along the way.
Along the trail there is a nice, long series of caches. We started with GC21EDF and got as far as we could in a few hours. We only made it about 3 miles, finding 13 caches along the way and logging two DNFs. (We’re nearly 100% sure the containers have been lost.)

As usual with the local rail-trails in nice weather, there were plenty of bikers (ahh, ‘bikers’), joggers, and even a coupla horseback riders! We stood aside to let them pass, but it turns out they preferred walking on the grass anyway.

Here’s my bike with some new accoutrements overlooking a nice cliff and stream down below. Newly added features to the bike are the mirror, water bottle holder, rear rack (my cache bag is strapped on with the new bungie cord). Also installed, but inactive on the trail, are my blinky lights (safety fourth, after all)!

The last find of the day was a fun one. The coordinates seemed way off - but from the location posted, we could see this one in a very clever hiding spot! I was volunteered to make the grab, being one of the lightest in the group. It definitely would have been a hard one to get solo.
Here’s hoping we continue to have a mild winter and the bike and cache bag get some more action! There are another 20+ caches on the northern end of this trail which must be added to my logs. :)
On the evening of December 29, 2011 I ventured out into the woods with my Geobuddies to attempt GC38829, our first nighttime cache, through state game lands in the middle of winter.

Suiting up for our first nighttime cache adventure. I had two pair of pants on, hiking boots, three layers, plus winter coat. I stayed rather warm for the entire trek.

Just one of the many obstacles we had to overcome. This was an easy one… thankfully the two sets of pants I was wearing mostly protected me from the thorns I bushwhacked! From the listed parking coordinates, our path sent us through a rather untamed briar patch. While plowing through the thorns, we saw three flashlights in the distance on the path we were trying to get to. We assumed they were fellow cachers and this was confirmed later on…

A beautiful night for a hike through the woods! There were light flurries for pretty much the entire hike, making a gorgeous scene - especially since we were all warm and in the company of friends.

This is actually a water “tower” which signaled the start of the marked path to the actual hide. All marked with reflective bands in trees! We’d already been through the hardest part of the trek (thorns, swamp, half-frozen puddles) so this is where it got quick to complete the journey.
We managed to make up a lot of time here and by the time we made it to the first stage of the multi-cache (and puzzle location) we had caught up with two of the flashlights we saw earlier. After a short conversation with the guys, we learned that they were with a friend we’d previously met at a few geocaching events! She’d already started investigation on one route while the rest of us pondered our choices and decided on the other route. Just as we were getting ready to go that way, Brenda comes back and we all go down the correct path together. Eventually we found the final marker; smile marks the spot!

Once the final marker was found, the resting spot of the cache itself was rather easy to locate. Here’s the group uncovering the cache:

And investigating the loot:

Group shot!

And since our pals had a better route to the car, we hiked back with them and they gave us a lift to our parking spot, saving us from the thorns again. Many thanks to Team Vauction for the ride!

Imagine two bears, through the sight of a rifle. The bear in the middle of the crosshairs is smiling and pointing at the bear next to him.
—
Gary Larson (gary_larson) on Twitter (via slacktory)
No idea if this is the “official” Gary Larson on Twitter, but it’s hilarious.
(via nickdouglas)
No cat, this is not the way you are supposed to drink water.
(Source: funnyordie.com)
Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinions at all.
— Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
There are things one loses in giving up God, and they are not insignificant. Most importantly, you lose the guarantee of redemption. Suppose that you do something morally terrible, something for which you cannot make amends, something, perhaps, for which no human being could ever be expected to forgive you. I imagine that the promise made by many religions, that God will forgive you if you are truly sorry, is a thought would that bring enormous comfort and relief. You cannot have that if you are an atheist. In consequence, you must live your life, and make your choices with the knowledge that every choice you make contributes, in one way or another, to the only value your life can have.
— Good Minus God: The Moral Atheist - NYTimes.com (via nickdouglas)
(via nickdouglas)
During the 1950s and early 60s, the highest tax bracket was over 90%. Granted, this was a marginal rate, meaning that not all of someone’s income was taxed at this rate.
This was an effort to discourage mindless greed, and it was thought that this would ultimately benefit the economy. The theory…