The Hiker Series Caches

38.2k · March 14, 2004

My "hiker series" of caches is finally complete. "What the hey is the Hiker Series?" you ask. Well I'll tell you. Its a series of 8 caches in the Ramapo Mtns and if you do them all in the suggested order, it will make for a good afternoon of hiking in one of NJ's nicer areas. 6 of the 8 caches are new. The 2 old ones happened to be along the route, so I included them in the series (adding the designation "a"). Many of the trails in this area are new, or newly reconditioned and not on any maps, so this will serve as a nice introduction to a part of NJ that even locals may not be familair with. I've been placing the caches over the past month and bringing them online as they've been hidden, so many of you have already found some, or all of the series.

As far as I know, only Jonboy and Bassonpilot have made the compete hike. Expect it to take you between 3-4 hours to complete the circuit. Though the caches are rated individually, if you do the whole series, the terrain is probably a cumulative 3.5. I've done this route several times in the snow and it really kicked my butt. Its probably not as hard since the snow has melted, but I think it's still quite a challenge. Bring lunch, plenty of water, your camera and eEnjoy!!!!

Here are the caches:

Edited March 15, 2004 by briansnat

2.8k · March 14, 2004

Can't wait for a beautiful weekend to head out with the kids and make this loop. You sure make it fun for all of us cachers with your tremendous ability to provide the ultimate in cache seeking enjoyment.

Thumbs up Brian!!

1.1k · March 14, 2004

Well Brian, it looks as if KBer and I may change our plans to go to the "Gap" area this weekend, and go for this one instead. The trek and caches look good!

38.2k · March 15, 2004

Can't wait for a beautiful weekend to head out with the kids and make this loop. You sure make it fun for all of us cachers with your tremendous ability to provide the ultimate in cache seeking enjoyment.

By the time you get to the halfway point, the kids probably won't be as enthusastic as you are :rolleyes:

Edited March 15, 2004 by briansnat

2.8k · March 15, 2004

I know - maybe only the older girl will go with me. Might be good to do when the younger one has a birthday party. Or maybe I'll save it for when they both have something. I've done one of the caches already (Matapin Rock) but I'm sure the Series will still be challenging and enjoyable.

#5 http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=122850 isn't available yet. How has someone done them all?

38.2k · March 15, 2004

#5 http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=122850 isn't available yet. How has someone done them all?

Still awaiting approval. I'm assuming it will be by this weekend. Jonboy and BP did the entire hike, but this cache wasn't there yet. They had to walk the entire route though, whether or not it was there.

March 15, 2004

I've been waiting for the entire series to be in place. Looking forward to giving it a go.

March 16, 2004

Great! I am always looking for groups of caches in the same place, especially when it involves hiking. Now Joe doesn't have to deal with my (admittedly poor) plotting and planning skills because brian has done it all for me. I can't wait!

JandM

March 16, 2004

We have done 4 of the 8 in the series & I can't wait to do thes rest (2-5 remain). I plan to wait for some nice weather, pack lunch, and make a day out of it.

BTW, we found Brian's "Turkey Trot" cache this weekend and used method 1 (The Hiker's solution). This was probably one of the top 5 caches we have found! I highly recommend using Method 1 or you will really miss out on a nice hike, in a nice park, with some great views. Kudos to Brian for placing a bunch of new, high quality, caches in North Jersey over the last few months.

38.2k · March 16, 2004

Kudos to Brian for placing a bunch of new, high quality, caches in North Jersey over the last few months.

Hey, since I was out I was out of work, I figured I'd make myself useful somehow.

The party's over though. I started a new job last week.

March 16, 2004

Hey, since I was out I was out of work, I figured I'd make myself useful somehow.
The party's over though. I started a new job last week.

Congratulations, Brian!! - Hopefully you will have weekends off to do some well deserved cach hunting.

March 16, 2004

how do those trails hold up to this weather? i wanted to try and do the whole circuit this weekend, but i don't know if i can get my crew (lauren) to stomp around in mud and snow all day..............

2.8k · March 17, 2004

Hey, since I was out I was out of work, I figured I'd make myself useful somehow.
The party's over though. I started a new job last week.

Hey Brian - great news!!!

It's been a while so it will now make you enjoy the weekends even more since they are only 2 days long instead of 7

38.2k · March 17, 2004

how do those trails hold up to this weather? i wanted to try and do the whole circuit this weekend, but i don't know if i can get my crew (lauren) to stomp around in mud and snow all day..............

BP and Jonboy did the circuit in the fairly deep snow we had a few weeks ago. I did it in the snow a few times myself, so its definitely do-able. And most of the caches were placed with snow on the ground, so they are findable in snow. I think it's supposed to be pretty warm this weekend, so most of the snow could be gone by then anyway.

Also, a lot of work went into avoiding muddy and wet areas when routing the trails, so they should hold up pretty well if the snow melts.

Edited March 17, 2004 by briansnat

March 17, 2004

Hey Brian...

Thanks for the great news on the cache circuit. This looks like it will make for an excellent weekend.... I look forward to it.

I must say.... the quality of the caches that you and others here in North Jersey have placed are fantastic. Just reading about them has really whet my appetite to get on the trail

BTW. Congrats on the new job !

Edited March 17, 2004 by Semper Securus

1k · March 17, 2004

First off, Congrats on your new job! Im glad to see that you got one last burst of quality caches out before returning to hell...errr I mean work Say...If we can get out there this weekend, this is all we need to hit the big century mark! What could be better? Spending the day in the great ramapo mountains AND finding almost all caches placed BrianSnat!! Many thanks Brian, we look forward to doing them

Im itchin' to go cachin'!!

Kar of TS!!

March 18, 2004

First off, Good luck and congrat's on the new job. Just keep your priorities straight, Geocaching & then work. Ahhhh .....if geocaching only paid the bills. :lol:

I can't wait to complete your hikers series. I'll probally head out this Saturday if the weather is half way decent. Thanks for all you great caches.

38.2k · March 18, 2004

Thanks for all your good wishes! The new job is a consulting gig, so may not last forever, but hey, it gets me indoors and inside a cubicle. What more can I ask for? Spending the past year wandering the woods, fishing and geocaching, along with all that sun and fresh air was getting to me. It feels good to put on a tie, uncomfortable clothes and sit in front of a computer all day!

Hope you enjoy the caches I placed during my time on the dole. Oh, and giveThe Ironman a try. I think it was my absolute favorite of all the ones I placed over the past few months and the poor thing's been sitting on the top of the mountain all by itself :lol: . And A Mine is a Terrible Thing is really cool...for those of you who never got to find Pheligan's GC3 when it was there, this is a must.

Edited March 18, 2004 by briansnat

2.8k · March 28, 2004

For anyone that can do this in 1 day, I'd highly recommend it. What a sense of accomplishment my daughter (10 yr old) and I got from doing this entire series yesterday. Brian wrote a nice email to us after we logged the caches which I showed my daughter and she was so proud - she printed it and put it on the bulletin board in her room.

The series had its moments on a couple caches that took a while to get to and find, but Brian's ability to send you along an amazing hike and look forward to getting to the next cache is amazing.

I'm not sure if we'll ever do another 5-6 hour multi-mile cache hike so this could be the equivalent of the NY City Marathon for us Northeast cachers. To see my logs for each, just visit the links Brian has in his initial post. We did all but 5A since we previously had logged (last summer) that cache before Brian incorporated it into the series.

Thanks again Brian - wonderful job!!

1.1k · March 29, 2004

A "Ditto" tp DEMP's comments. KBer and I completed the eight Hiker Series caches today (along with a couple more of Brian's). Thanks Brian for the time and effort to put out so many fine caches.

March 29, 2004

We found caches 2-5 yesterday (we had previously found the other 4) and really had a great time. This hike is as advertised. Kudos to Brian!!

38.2k · March 29, 2004

Looks like I'll have to up the estimate to 4-5 hours, particularly if you take the Millstone (1a) detour. That adds about 2 miles to the trip.

KBer and Quoddy are real maniacs. They did this entire series, starting with with the unrelated Oakland Overlook cache, which added a couple of miles to the hike. They were probably well over 10 miles in total when they completed it! Then they headed over to Norvin Green SF to bag my Mine is a Terrible Thing cache and made an attempt at Wynaokie High Point. That is some day of hiking! They certainly get the Haggaeus Award for this weekend!

March 30, 2004

Looks like I'll have to up the estimate to 4-5 hours, particularly if you take the Millstone (1a) detour. That adds about 2 miles to the trip.

I'm always amazed how quickly some cachers (Hartclimbs, BP, Kber, Magoo, etc.)complete some of these caches. I don't dout that the times are accurate ... I did a few caches with Hart & one with BP - they had the cache in hand while I was still looking at the stupid arrow on my GPS and trying to figure out what direction to walk.

March 30, 2004

Skully do you have a Magellan GPSr?

I just did a bunch of cache's with Quoddy, he has a Magellan and I have a Garmin. At every cache it took him a few minutes once we were at the GZ area to get a more specific fix, while my Garmin beelined right to the cache.

It seems that the Magellan does a lot more averaging then the Garmin, which gives it a delayed fix when you are close in to a cache site, I surmise.

The difference between the Garmin and Magellan in the last 75 feet is remarkable. I was very impressed with how well the Garmin did as compared to the Magellan.

My two cents.

March 30, 2004

It seems that the Magellan does a lot more averaging then the Garmin, which gives it a delayed fix when you are close in to a cache site, I surmise.

Sounds good, but I have a Garmin. What's my excuse?

1k · March 30, 2004

I am still looking forward to doing this series. We headed out a few weekends ago to do this but got started a little too late. I ran out of gas on my way to pick up Krs, can you believe my car does NOT have a dummy light for low fuel!!! First time in 14 years of driving that I have run out of gas and of course it would happen when we are pressed for time!!!

Then we get to the area and I suggest parking where I had previously parked to find Matapin Rock. Wrong!!! That put us in the middle of the loop. Rather than jump back in the car and drive back down Skyline for a mile or so, we decided to press on and do them starting with Matapin Rock. I had found Matapin last summer but my teammate had never been to it and my other caching buddy Lunaruby had never found it, so she signed the log and we pressed on.

Aside from a little slipperyness on the trail here and there, the hike was fine, but the snow around Cannonball was almost knee deep in some areas :-( This we were not prepared for. Considering how much more we would have to go to bag any or all of them, we decided to end it there and just come back on a day when things are going more in our favor. We (or at the very least I) will be back to post a smiley for every cache in this series as well as the others located within the mountain :-)

Kar of TS!! :-)

March 31, 2004

It seems that the Magellan does a lot more averaging then the Garmin, which gives it a delayed fix when you are close in to a cache site, I surmise.

The difference between the Garmin and Magellan in the last 75 feet is remarkable. I was very impressed with how well the Garmin did as compared to the Magellan.

download the latest firmware and Calabrate the magellan,

it makes a BIG difference

scoobydooers

1.1k · March 31, 2004

It seems that the Magellan does a lot more averaging then the Garmin, which gives it a delayed fix when you are close in to a cache site, I surmise.

The difference between the Garmin and Magellan in the last 75 feet is remarkable. I was very impressed with how well the Garmin did as compared to the Magellan.

download the latest firmware and Calabrate the magellan,

it makes a BIG difference

scoobydooers

I am using 5.12 with my MeriColor. I recently used a Geko 201 in one hand and my Maggie in the other. I was amazed at how far my Maggie was lagging behind the Garmin, and how much longer it took to pin point once at the cache. This past Sunday with KBer seemed to confirm by previous finding. I still love the MeriColor, particularly for driving with DirectRoute, it's just this slowness to pinpoint during the final 50' to 75' that is a "problem". I didn't want to turn this into a G vs M discussion.

March 31, 2004

Skully do you have a Magellan GPSr?

It seems that the Magellan does a lot more averaging then the Garmin, which gives it a delayed fix when you are close in to a cache site, I surmise.

I actually have a Garmin e-trax Legend and I can't complain about the performance - so there goes that excuse. The only cache that gave us trouble in the series was #3. Obviously the size of the container had something to do with that, but on my initial approach the Garmin actually put me within 15' of the cache and ended up setteling down to around 6' right at GZ. The problem is that I searched everywhere else first rather focusing on the area by the GPS. I should know by now that this rarely pays off - especially with Brian's caches.

The Hiker Series Caches

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