Geocaching at High Rock Ford and Other Adventures

Brugger had one of her semi-regular artsy-craftsy retreats this weekend in Hillsborough, NC, which isn't too far from Mebane, NC, which is where Catrina's Tequila & Taco Bar is, which is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, which led us to decide that I should go geocaching in that area today so we could meet up for lunch after she was finished with her retreat. The weather forecast called for significant rain today, but after I'd been out of bed for about an hour and things hadn't gotten particularly wet, I reckoned I was gonna give this plan a go.

 

I went first to the High Rock Ford trail along the Haw River in Rockingham County, where a relatively new multi-stage cache awaited my attention. I've gone geocaching in that area many times, but I wasn't aware of this trail or its history. Apparently, prior to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse during the Revolutionary War, both the British and Continental armies set up camps here. It's a beautiful area, and I love discovering places with that kind of history. It wasn't a long or difficult hike, and I found the cache, so I call that a win across the board.

 

After completing the multi, I headed over to Elon University in Alamance County to hunt a couple of more caches and check on the status of one of mine (happily, it was fine). Then I made my way eastward, snagged a handful of other caches, and met Ms. B. at Catrina's. It was kind of fun because we got there at exactly the same time, coming from opposite directions. In our experience, the food and service at Catrina's has always been top-notch; it's been one of the No-Dead-Weight Irregulars' favorite destinations since those particular miscreants and I started caching together many, many years ago. And so it was today — great margaritas, great street tacos, and especially great salsa. I suspect it was the farthest I've ever gone for a lunch date, but it was with Kimberly, so it was worth the torture of geocaching and otherwise having a nice time. Plus, the only rain we got was a relatively brief downpour near Danville on our way home.

 

Put me down for more days like this one.

Remains

 

L: The Fungi from Yuggoth; R: High Rock

High Above the Cane Creek Mountains

Today was a geocaching day for me, and a hot one at that (the heat index hit over 100 degrees out there). I headed down early this morning to meet a couple of the No-Dead-Weight Irregulars—friends Debbie (a.k.a. Cupdaisy) and Scott (a.k.a. Diefenbaker)—at the Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area, a few miles south of Burlington, NC. There were six newish caches on the hiking trails, which range from moderate to rugged; we managed to find them all and put in a little over three miles on the trail.

For me, the highlight of the hike was reaching the relatively new Monadnock Observation Tower, which rises 80 feet above the treeline at the summit of the mountain, offering some stunning 360-degree views of Alamance County. At first sight, the tower doesn't look all that tall, but after a 1.5-mile, semi-strenuous hike, plodding up those hot metal stairs took some doing. I hung out up there taking pictures as long as I could stand it—about ten minutes—for that sun was blazing. At least below, we were mostly under tree cover.

 

Once done at Cane Creek, we drove up to Mebane to have lunch at Catrina's Tequila & Taco Bar, our favorite Mexican restaurant in the area. The steak and chorizo street tacos with diabla salsa are to die (or maybe even kill) for. And the margaritas are mighty good (unlike so many places, they have a decent amount of tequila in them).

 

After lunch, we went after a handful of nearby park & grab caches, and I finally headed home. And now I'm gonna sit back, have a beer, and wilt, for the heat is hot.

Geocaching Panther Branch

Friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) and I met up this morning at the Panther Branch Natural Area, in Orange County, NC, near the little town of Efland, to get in some hiking and geocaching. The natural area borders the Eno River, and the trails offer some great views from on high—as in big hills; oh, me feet!

 

We put in a good couple of miles on the trail, and then we headed after a couple of dozen park & grab hides in the Mebane, NC, area. I've gotta holler real loud about Catrina's Tequila & Taco Bar in Mebane, where we had lunch; they reliably have THE best Mexican food and drink of any place in the region that I've been. The street tacos and margaritas are especially praise-worthy.

 

A few pics from the trail below.

Happy Diversion

Today, our usual Sunday morning geocaching outing consisted solely of the Old Farts — Old Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), Old Rob (a.k.a. Old Rob), and Old Rodan (a.k.a. me). Our initial plan was to see if we could snag a few in Mebane, about 25 miles down the road, and then a few in Hillsborough, another 15 miles or so farther on. However, just as our aging gang was hobbling out of the house, notifications popped up for a series of six new hides in Burlington, which is several miles closer than Mebane. So, we altered our course and diverted to Burlington Springwood Park, which is a fairly large — and this morning, a very busy — facility. By the time we arrived, around 10:00 a.m., there were already several softball games in progress on the ballfields, and a disc golf tournament was just getting going. Muggles coming, going, in, out, up, down, and all around....

Undaunted, we parked the Rodan Mobile and set out on foot after the caches — five traditionals and one mystery cache. Each traditional contained information necessary to unlock the final mystery cache. The heat was hot, we hiked about three miles, and we had trouble finding a couple of the caches, so by the time we found the entire bunch, the evil day star was on the verge of getting the better of us. In the plus column, we met a family of cachers, whose team name — Phersjm — we knew from their many geocaches in the area, but this was the first time our paths had ever crossed in the field. Actually, our paths crossed twice, which was nice.

Happily, the No-Dead-Weight Irregular Old Farts scored six of the almost-maybe-kinda-sorta coveted first-to-find honors. And we met a very friendly black rat snake, who slithered by to check us out for a bit. He let me get quite close to him to take a few pictures, which I appreciated.

After all this, we headed on over to Mebane, where we found four more caches and an excellent lunch at Catrina’s Mexican Restaurant, which has become one of our favorite lunch destinations when we're caching over that way. Great food, and an extensive selection of it. The Rodan Mobile arrived back at Casa di Rodan about 3 o'clock and disgorged a bunch of weary, sweaty, filthy-dirty old men. Well, I'm not saying dirty old men, except, well, maybe, there's Scott....

Bye for now.

Dude just keeps on slithering out of the greenery.

He's easily a six-footer, if not more.

"Hello, Mr. Man, I am ready for my close-up."

Lake Mike Hike

It has been too long since the No-Dead-Weight Irregulars all got together for a geocaching outing. Today, at last, the usual suspects — Ms. Fishdownthestair (a.k.a. Natalie), Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), Old Rob (a.k.a. Old Rob) and I — headed over Mebane way to Lake Michael, where a couple of relatively new caches awaited our attention. The temperature wasn't as awful as it often is this time of year, though we still had plenty of heat and humidity to go around. We found our two target caches, failed to find a lonely puzzle cache (the last find was in 2014, so it's probably missing), successfully completed a very nice multi-cache at a very old graveyard, happened upon what might have been some kind of Lovecraftian monstrosity lurking along the trail, and knocked out a newish hide in Burlington on the way home. For lunch, we opted for our customary Mexican fare, this time at La Fiesta in Mebane. Pretty danged good, it was.

Seemed like old times, it did. Next week, we're hoping to target a fairly new tunnel cache in Hillsborough. Been a long while for one of those, as well.

A few shots of today's sights follow.