Geocaching and Power Trails

Good morning everyone.  The top three areas in Manitoba for favorite points on caches are:  Winnipeg -18,588  Dauphin - 3,718  Pembina Valley - 2,417.  Manitoba ranks sixth in Canada for favorite points on caches with 41,217.  Top three areas in North Dakota are: Grand Forks county - 4,100  Cass County - 1,793  Burleigh County - 921.  North Dakota ranks fifty first in the States with a total of 13,149 favorite points given on it's geocaches.

This week I want to look at Power Trails.  Some people love them, others loathe them.  There's nothing really creative about the hides on a power trail in general.  Usually a film canister or a preform attached to a telephone pole, and spaced out approximately 160 - 180 meters or .1 of a mile.  There's no limit to how many caches make up a power trail.  Some stretch for hundreds of caches, even a thousand or more.  Some find doing power trails to be mind numbing tedium.  Larger power trails have a tendency to not be maintained by the owner, but by the cachers doing the trail instead.  Power trails are about the numbers.  Quantity over quality.  The type of cache for power trails will vary slightly.  In my opinion, for the most part, trails are traditional caches.  Some are in the form of puzzle/mystery caches that form a geo-art (a picture on the geocaching map).  There's even a geo-art in South Dakota made up of Wherigos.  Power trails can be along the side of highways, lesser country roads, even on hiking/biking trails.  Doing a power trail  by yourself can be physically exhausting.  You're driving to every third telephone pole, getting out, running through a ditch, signing the log sheet, running back to your car, moving down another three telephone poles, repeat.  I have done trails by myself and with others.  Some say that doing power trails with a group of friends is more fun as you share stories, laughs and adventures.  It outweighs the tedium of driving to every third pole.

In a group situation, usually you have a driver, navigator, signer (signs the log sheets in the car) and a runner (the person who drew the short straw and has to run back and forth from vehicle to cache).  Sometimes in a group situation, there can be multiple vehicles.  What happens is what is called leap frogging.  One vehicle does the odd numbered caches and the other does the even numbered ones.  Basically passing each other over and over.  In this case, you're actually not stopping at every cache.  Some people have a problem with this practice since you didn't physically find that cache.  You drove past it.  Another practice that happens is the signer has pre-signed log sheets.  The runner takes one, places it in the found cache, takes the log sheet that was there and brings it back to the vehicle to be signed and placed in another cache on the trail.  The log sheet that was in cache number one, could wind up as the log sheet for cache number ten or further down the trail.  The purpose to this practice is to speed up the process.  It's about the numbers and how many you can claim found in one day.  Less time at ground zero, the better.

What could be the most famous or popular power trail is the ET Highway Power Trial in Nevada.  This power trail was actually shut down by the Nevada Department of Transportation for safety reasons.  Business owners in several towns along the trail, and geocachers themselves from all over the world, protested loud enough that the gruelling power trail was brought back to life.

If you're about to attempt a power trail, it is best to do some research first.  What type of containers are they?  What are the ditches like?  What type of roads will you be driving on?  That is very important as some of the roads could be nothing more than country dirt roads that are not maintained.  Getting stuck in mud or snow is a possibility.  Bring food and water if you plan on being out for the entire day.  Make sure your vehicle has enough fuel and know where you can fill up if you should require more.  Some will bring spare cans of fuel so they can refuel on the spot and keep going.

A power trail can come in handy if you're doing a daily find streak.  If you can resist the temptation, find one or two on the trail and come back the next day and find one or two more.  Some will find one just before midnight, wait and find the next one after midnight.  Two caches, two days, one trip.

My very first power trail was just outside of Winnipeg.  The Headingley Cooperative Power Trail.  I did this one in the Winter.  I quickly learned the pattern, every third post.  I found fifty five that day.  Some power trails will take you to interesting places.  That is one of the positives of power trails.

I've driven on almost every type of road possible.

The Correction Line Cooperative trail goes past a wind turbine farm.

It was doing a power trail in the Dauphin, Manitoba area that I came across these curious cows.

This particular trail is Northeast of Winnipeg.  I rode my bike to get this preform trail.  What I did (and others will do this too) is find every second cache going in one direction, then find the ones I skipped going back to my vehicle.

I completed the Planetary Pursuit challenge by doing a section of a geo-art in the Winkler/Morden area of Manitoba with AF Girl and Hakliva.

My most recent power trail adventure was doing a small portion of the Winnipeg River power trail.  I have done the South section by myself, and the North section with two other geocachers, angelFreak and Drewhouse.  I still have about fifty eight caches in the middle to find yet.  One day I'll complete it.

Looking North along the Winnipeg River Power Trail.  Two hundred and sixty three caches make up this trail.

When doing power trails, you can tell if you're at the right ground zero by the beaten path (geo-trail) to the host.  Usually it's a trampled path in the tall grass.  In this case, it's foot prints in the snow.

One of the newer mini trails is at the very South of the city.  It's on a road that isn't maintained.  I chose to walk this trail and not risk getting stuck.  Some did drive it, but there was some nasty ruts that could swallow a small car.

Another issue with power trails is the ditches you have to cross.  Sometimes they're dry and navigating is easy peasy.  Sometimes they're filled with water.  Boots will get you to the other side, but sometimes there's more water than your boots can handle.  That's where hip waders come in handy or a small inflatable raft.  Sometimes they're frozen.  Some ditches are shallow/flat.  Others are almost worthy of a high terrain rating.  As in the case above, I was about six feet down before going up the other side, then back down to get back up to the car.  With frozen ditches, you run the risk of slipping and falling.  This happened to AF Girl when we did the Planetary Pursuit challenge.  She slipped and bruised her tailbone.

When you have a group of cachers doing a trail, instead of signing all the names, they'll come up with a shortened name.  In this case, WRR is short for Winnipeg River Rats and consisted of eight geocachers.  Notably absent is the date on the log sheet.  Another tactic to speed things up.  Just initial and go.  Don't waste time writing the date.

That is my look at power trails.  Until next week, be safe, have fun, don't get stuck, and enjoy.  Peace out.