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Geocaching and Camping part 2

 Good morning everyone.  This week, we are off to Kansas for the oldest and most favorite caches.  The oldest cache is also the most favorite cache in the State.  Maybe you have heard of this geocache before.  'Mingo' GC30.  The oldest active geocache in the world is located in Kansas.  Placed May 11, 2000, it has been found 7,808 times and has 2,982 favorite points.  The second most favorite cache in Kansas only has 975 favorite points.  That would be 'There's A Bug On The Bump On The Log' GC4K4QN.  Hidden in August, 2013, and it has been found 2,772 times.

Last week I left off at the conclusion of the first week of my camping trip.  As mentioned, we did a spur of the moment planning of a second camping trip.  There was a spot available for the dates we wanted to go and sm66 had the time off.  All that was needed was for me to get the time off from work.  If I couldn't get the time off, then I'd be going to work from where we are camping, which isn't that far from my work anyway.  Maybe a fifteen minute drive.  I did get approved, so we could fully enjoy our week of camping.

Once again, we had good weather.  A little chilly overnight, enough that we needed the heat on inside the trailer.  One of the best things about camping when it isn't so hot out, no bugs.  Mosquitoes mostly.  There was still wasps.  We did keep the wasps occupied while we were sitting outside.  sm66 poured a little bit of wine in a small bowl and a small amount of one of my coolers in another.  The wasps loved my cooler and not the wine.  I can't blame them for their choice of beverage.  I'd choose a cooler over wine any day of the week.  I also brought a ne book to read.  I didn't read this one as fast as my last book.  In fact, I'm still not done reading it.  It is very interesting, as it covers the early part of Sally Field's life and career.



We did try that Randonautica app again.  The last time we tried this, it kept taking us to the middle of farm fields.  Now we're in a provincial park.  We weren't about to go trekking off into the bush in the dark, so it had to be a location that was easily accessible.  One of the reasons for not wanting to go off the beaten path for this was the wildlife.  In particular, the coyotes we heard howling at dusk.  This time, the app took us to the north part of a group use camping area.  Since it was a week night, and in September, we figured that the group use areas should be empty.  We drove to the location provided.  Ground zero for this was actually just off the road and in the bush.  Without a clear path to get there, (we'd be bushwhacking in the dark), we decided that this would be as close as we would get and returned to our campsite.



The following day, we went for a walk alomg one of the many hiking trails in the park.  Coincidently, we'd be walking near where Randonautica brought us the night before.  We didn't go check out that ground zero now that it was daylight.  That adventure was done.  We are on a hike to enjoy the trail, enjoy each other's company, and get an Earthcache that is on that trail.  'Ice Mountain to Gravel Hill' GC7D2W1.  This is a somewhat newer Earthcache, as it was published in October of 2017.  It has only been completed 35 times, with twelve favorite points (one of those being me).  This Earthcache was put together by local cacher, 4elements5senses.  I have been to this Earthcache about two years ago, but I never submitted the answers.  This time, I plan on getting the answers, sending them to the owner, and finally logging it as found.  Ground zero is at another watch tower.  This one does have signs that you can read and learn something about the area you are in.  It also provides a really good view of the surrounding area.




Back to our campsite where we just chilled and relaxed the rest of the time.  We did notice at dusk while we sat at our campfire, the migrating geese landing not very far away.  We could hear them honking, but I also noticed the lack of howling from the coyotes that had become an evening routine.  Our last night of camping, we could still hear the geese honking at 11:30pm.  Usually geese are quiet at that hour, unless something was stressing them out.  Maybe the coyotes came to visit.  

I did manage to capture the sunset from our campsite, and the light pollution coming from the city.  Because it was cloudy on our final night of camping, we could see the lights from Winnipeg reflecting off the clouds.  One of the things I love about camping; getting away from all the city lights and actually enjoying the night sky with all the stars and spotting satellites as they fly by.




That was the second week of our camping trip.  Both weeks were awesome.  I could live like this all the time.  Simple, relaxing, and take each day as it comes.  The one thing I would have that we didn't (although we did discuss bringing these for the second week), was having our bikes as well.  Until next week, be happy, stay safe, wear a mask (it does help slow down the spread of covid), wash your hands (it also helps slow down the spread), and most of all, have fun.  Life is too short to be miserable.  Peace out.




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