T-ShirtDynasty

Was taking a "tightness" thread too far off-topic in the football forum, thought I'd ask here if anybody has done or currently does Geocaching. Anybody? Got GPS?

You can find more info at http://www.geocaching.com

Check out the 300 year old tree we visited this weekend. That's my five year old staring up at the amazing height of the thing.

PatsChick87

That pic is just amazing!!! Thanks for sharing. Can I ask what species? And where was it, or is that cheating?

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T-ShirtDynasty

The wife has been nagging at me for years to get my arse out of the house / office and just do SOMETHING (and preferably take her and the family with me). Finally, I did it... and discovered Geocaching on the way.

Basically I set out to start fishing again, like I did when I was a kid with my Old Man. One of my first trips out to find a new 'secret' fishing hole, my buddy and I spent half a day in the Maine woods trying to find a lake we saw on satelite maps but which we never heard anyone ever talk about. Looked big enough for good sized Lake Trout but hard enough to get to, to make it worth trying. We had a great time trying to find the lake, but got turned around several times and hit dead-ends before heading home. On the way home we decided we needed a GPS unit to figure out exactly where the hell we were.... that would make our search so much easier. We figured aloud, they were probably so expensive that we couldn't afford one. (I was imagining $500 to $800 range!)

As soon as I got home that night, I hit Amazon.com just out of curiosity, wondering how much these GPS units really cost. I was surprised to find that there were many GPS units that were really affordable. So I started reading reviews on the low to mid-range units (like $90 to $250 range), and many reviews mentioned a term I never heard before..."Geocaching" After seeing this term a few times, I finally had to Google it and found the Geocaching Website and fell in love with the idea. BUT, I figured there'd be nothing going on with this game/sport way up here in Northern Maine. ...I entered in my zipcode in the search box anyway. I was stunned! There was TONS of action around my area!

I was hooked. I could use the GPS Reciever on road trips with the family, fishing, hiking, finding that damn secret lake my buddy and I were looking for, and try this new Geocaching thing. I researched my ass off on these units and came up with a #1a, #1b, #2, and #3 (plus the one I REALLY want someday). I saw the Walmart.com site had all my top 4 listed, so I hit the local store to see what they had in stock. I couldn't decide on paper between my #1a and #1b, but my Wallmart only had my #1a in stock, so my mind was made up for me, I was the proud owner of a Garmin eTrex Legend. I've since figured out that I got lucky, and this is the perfect unit for the price range I was in. And after using it many times now, I just love this thing. My fishing buddy loves this thing. The whole family loves it.

And we've been having a blast geocaching. Sometimes it's just me and the wife, sometimes with the kids, sometimes we bring my buddy and his wife and kid. We've had a lot of fun with it, and I'd highly recommend it!

(Plus, if some people here start caching, that's more people I can mail travel bugs to for a really big jump from Northern Maine! )

Here's the whole family with that awesome tree. Probably can't see, but that's a pink Flying Elvis on the wife's hat, Pat Patriot on my hat, and another Flying Elvis on the 14 year old. The little one's Patriots hat was in the truck. We're a Pats Family!

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T-ShirtDynasty

I can't believe I didn't even wonder what kind of tree it was! I have no idea. All I know is it takes 11 men to wrap their arms around the thing, and it was planned to be cut down for the Trans Canada highway until a local guy raised a stink about it and got a little movement going to save the thing. It was amazingly tight.

It's up in New Brunswick Canada, about 15 -20 mintues from Fort Fairfield, Maine.

Try entering in your zip code into the Geocaching home page, I'll be there's some neat stuff around your area you didn't even know about.

Earlier that day, we spotted a Bald Eagle in her nest overlooking one cache. She was laying low, you can JUST see the top of her head, so we're going back to get better pics someday.

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PatsChick87

I'm intrigued, now I'll have to check it out! We go through NB on the way to Nova Scotia in the summer and it would be cool to find your tree!

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T-ShirtDynasty

It's a bit out of your way, on the way to Nova Scotia, check the Google map here.... but you could find the tree without a GPS, you can see it from the highway with a dirt trail that you can drive up with a 4WD, or a 5 minute hike. I hear there's some amazing stuff in Nova Scotia as well, that's one of the trips the wife and I plan on taking soon. Most of the people hide caches in areas of senic or historical significance. It's a great way to learn about an area, and see some amazing sights.

PATSNUTme

Is that another eagle flying above the eagles head in your pic? Could be just a part of a branch but I stared at it for a second and it looked like a large bird gliding above.

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T-ShirtDynasty

Took me a second to see what you meant... yeah, that's just a branch. I don't know where the other eagle was, but usually there's two of them sitting there watching the people that hit the cache. We actually didn't even know the one was in the nest until we got home and looked at the pictures on the PC, then you could see the head sticking out, but when I took the pic of the nest, I had no idea there was a bird in there. Was kinda of bummed because the kids (and I) wanted to see 'em, but we're going to try again on a nicer day.

jczxohn1

That's an awesome tree. Saw a maple at Aldemere Farms on a nature walk that was purported to be 400 yrs old. Massive old thing. Aldemere is in Rockport, Rockland or Camden, don't remember which. They have something going on there once or twice a mo., even in the winter, if you're down that way. We have a summer place in Jefferson, top of Damariscotta Lake.

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Felger started his question, "Correct me if I'm wrong," BB quickly interjected, "I can't wait--"

Flying Fungi

'tis likely the mighty oak (Quercus spp.)

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