"Timber!" at Last

Lots of cars at all the local trails

Since getting out for exercise is one of the few legitimate reasons for going out and about under the current lockdown, the local trails are packed. Now, I frequent these trails, and I'm often out here when not another living soul is using them. I'm assuming that massive numbers of people now need alternative venues for exercise and hit the trails, rather than walk on neighborhood sidewalks and such. I had planned to come out after "Timber" (GC8NHY3; see "Quarantine Spring," April 3, 2020), which I had failed to locate last week, so about 11:00 this morning, I headed up to the Bigfoot Trail (a.k.a. the Bill Craft Trail) at the Taylor-Richardson Preserve just up the way.

About the time I got there, I received notifications on my phone that two new caches had been published — right there on the Bill Craft Trail! Thing is, the trail is almost 4 miles long, and both these new caches resided up yonder at the other end. I contemplated moving the car to the far trailhead, near Northern Guilford High School, but I decided against it and opted to put in the big hike. And... lord have mercy... did I ever hike.

I occasionally encountered folks on the trail, but in all cases, we kept considerable distance between us. After the first mile or so, I hardly saw a living soul out there. Rather than stop at "Timber," which lies at about the halfway point, I kept on trucking, figuring I might be able to get the first-to-find on one or both of the new caches ("Lake Rhodorooter" [GC8NRJF] and "The Outdoor Classroom" [GC8NRQW]), placed by friends Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom) and Punkins19 (a.k.a. Linda). Indeed, once I finally got way out yonder, I managed to make short work of both, and sign the coveted FTF slots on the logsheets. Now, needless to say, since we don't want to be leaving any microscopic nasties around, I scrubbed up both before and after handling the containers and logs, and, just for good measure, sanitized the exteriors of both containers. Those caches are now probably the cleanest things in Greensboro.

Even getting back to "Timber," it was a pretty long hike. I was kicking myself for not having processed the clues that had been evident in the puzzle solution on the online geocache page. Had the obvious smacked me in the head while I was out there on Thursday, I have no doubt I would have found the cache on my first outing. As it was, armed with the knowledge I should have acquired earlier, I made short work of this lovely little hide. The very well camouflaged container is one created by friend Robgso (a.k.a. Old Rob) and hidden by Ms. Fishdownthestair (a.k.a. Natalie). No matter, I greatly enjoyed both trips out to the woods, particularly since so much other time is now spent at home. I understand there's another handful of caches soon to be published on the Bigfoot Trail, and I'm sure looking forward to heading out there again.

I did find my first tick of the season, alas. The little bastard had just bitten me but hadn't really locked on. I hope he was the only one of his nasty little kind I might have brought home. Hateful little shits.

Y'all be safe.

This not horse area. You not horse here.

The woods were beautiful today.

Old feller successfully social distancing