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Night-Hawk, Cantergirl, RPStew, Cassiliz, and Damned Rodan rocking the
Uhwharries
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Fifteen degrees at the ass crack of dawn, and five of us are heading to
Uhwharries National Park, south of Asheboro, to conquer the North Carolina Star
— 50 geocaches laid out in the woods in a star pattern (these are known as "geo
art"), each arm requiring just about a mile hike, so that at the end of it all
you come in with just about ten miles under your belt. And this is some rugged
terrain, with major elevation changes, and trails almost non-existent. Tom
"Night-Hawk" Kidd, Bob "RPStew" Stewart, Carol "Cassiliz" Deschenes, Jeanne
"Cantergirl" Allamby, and I met and conquered the beast — all but one of the
little beasts, which we figured might be missing (only to find out later it
isn't) — requiring just about seven hours in the field. A few mishaps along the
way; Cassiliz took several tumbles, fortunately all minor, and ye old Rodan
stepped onto a log to cross a creek, only to have said log break and drop Rodan
into frigid, knee-deep water. My knees did get a bit banged up, but happily,
this happened only a mile or so from the end of the hike, so I didn't have to
suffer all that long.
There are stars such as this in several states, including California, Georgia
(just a short distance from Gainesville, where my grandparents used to live and
which I still enjoy visiting), Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and others.
Eventually, geo artists hope to have stars in all fifty states.
Since it turns out that NC Star number 15 actually
isn't missing, I
reckon I'll have to go back and redeem myself by finding the sucker. Hopefully,
this time without falling into a creek.
