Out for a Walk

25 March 2005 @ 20:39 | Posted in » GPS Games, TerraCaching

Dissatisfied with the state of the local caching scene, I have branched out into some other activities. Recently I have been involved in the neverending scavenger hunt. With several days off for the Easter break, I have been looking at various routes to nab some of these which have lingered.

The other night, however, I stopped by Scout’s site. It had been a while since I had been there. While mulling over some cache ideas, I thought about a virtual which would encompass a geogolf course. I logged in to set up a downtown Millville course. The course was created and as I looked it over, I began becoming excited to do this course.

I had caught the geogolf bug several months ago. I really like the idea of randomness and the thought of caching without containers to maintain is a plus. Unfortunately, I became sidetracked after my initial course and I didn’t get back to it until just now.

One of the issues with my first course is that the distance was so great that I had several waypoints which landed in areas which were ungettable. That is part of the problem with randomness. This time around, I opted for a one-mile radius. With the center being downtown Millville, I envisioned a nice leisurely stroll through my town.

The arrangement was that I would cache Saturday and Monday. But I indicated I was just going to scoot out for this. “I’m going to walk downtown Millville. I’ll bring you home a doughnut,” I said on my way out the door. I came right back with the doughnut. Silly me, I forgot that the geogolf waypoints need to be modified (too long) for the GPS. In the transfer, it crapped out after the second waypoint, so I had to re-load the GPS. Sigh . . .

I finally got things going. I parked near the Oar House. I figured after a round of golf, I should celebrate at a 19th hole. And then I was off. I decided to go for the first hole. About .25km from where I had parked, it was an easy hole-in-one. Standing on the sidewalk on Mulbury St., I got to within 5m after I had rounded the corner and then come back on the slingshot.

Next up was hole 18. That took me to Buck St. The waypoint was between the Millville Fire Department and the Verizon building. I walked on the parking lot of the fire department until I got close. At 6m, I marked the point and left, so as not to draw too much attention.

On the way to hole 7, I passed a house adorned with lots of purple. It caught my eye, so I snapped a photograph. Further down Buck to Broad was where the hole was. I crossed Broad so I was on NW corner. 4m. The waypoint is a bit back into the street. I decided 4 meters was good enough.

Down Broad, across High and the railroad tracks I went to a driveway on 2nd Street. Hole 13 was within five meters. Across the way there is a laundromat. There was a distinct scent of laundry detergent.

Next up was hole 12 which was had at the gate in front of 403 E. Broad St. The waypoint was done the path behind the gate. I let the GPS settle. Leaning my arm over the gate, I was able to get to within nine meters.

While heading toward hole 2, I passed two interesting things. One was a sign that said Only Trashy People Trash the Ground. I initially thought this might make a good ShutterSpot, but I thought better of it when just two doors down I saw a another sign. I zipped across downtown to the river. I came in high and realized I wasn’t going to quite be where I wanted to be. But before I left, I spotted two trees. Each had a thick metal wire on it up high with a log fastened to it. I looked at this for a while and could not rectify what I was looking at. I scooted down the hill to the walkway at the river. There was a group of children with a man fishing. Then I heard a loud voice counting. I looked up and saw an eight-man shell coming underneath the bridge. There is to be a regatta at some point. Vineland High started a crew program a year or two ago and this was their current team. Coming from a school that routinely rowed at Henley (won several time too) and hosted the Nationals a few times, I was surprised with what I saw. These guys did not stroke together whatsoever. Once they passed, I realized I only needed to move a few meters to get to the hole. So far, I aced all the holes.

The children and the guy picked up their gear and headed toward 49. I stopped and took some photographs along the water. As I left the river walk, I met up the fisher people again as they dropped their line over the bridge. I passed and negotiated the traffic to cross to the other side. Standing on the curb I nailed this hole (#5) as I looked at the sign indicating this area was to be the future of home of Patriot Park. That is a recent doing, so named by a student from the school at our church.

So far everything had been going great. I started downtown found several and was now moving out along the river. After hole 5, I headed further down to hole 9. Hmmm . . . as I approached, I saw this was going to be a problem. The waypoint looked like it was on Silverton Marine’s property. I decided to head up to Silver Lake and turn. Perhaps there was a way in from that approach. As I turned, I saw another waypoint right there. Yup, right on the side of Silver Lake Road was hole 17 right by the utility pole.

I continued on from the utility pole to White March stream. Hmmm . . . no approach there. Sigh. I backtracked to Riverside Dr. I walked onto Silverton’s parking lot to see how close I could get. I saw the problem. The river bent into Silverton’s property. The shoreline there is all behind a fence and unapproachable from this side of the river. I decided to go into the office and see if I might cajole my way onto their property. No dice. Hmmm . . . I am pretty certain this waypoint is able to be aced from the water. And as I walked away from the property, I had thoughts of going home to fetch my kayak. The closest I could get (inside the office) was 140 meters. The first non ace of the course.

I made a huge mistake at this point. I didn’t really plan this outing. How hard could it be to walk my downtown? Instead of nabbing hole 10 which was in this area, I kept chasing the closest waypoint. That was hole 4. I cut across from Riverside Dr. past Cedar and into a neighborhood. As I travelled, I realized there was no throughway in the direction I was going to need to take, so I backed up and went around the block the other way. I saw a bunch of children playing near where I wanted to go. “Splendid.” As I approached, I found I was mistaken and really wanted to be in the middle of the block. There was an empty lot on the corner which permitted me to get closer than I would have, but I still ended up being 29 meters away. And so went the thought of the kayak hole nine and a perfect score. Hole three was further up. It ended up being on Rt. 49, but I didn’t realize that at first. I probably could have cut through the apartment complex, but opted for Pt. Pleasant Cemetery instead. I wish I had brought the name of the grave I want to research there. Anyhow, I cut through and came back toward downtown on the south side of 49. This waypoint is on the road in the eastbound lane. The next waypoint, hole 11, was up Brandriff. I have not paid attention to this area in the decade-plus I have lived in this town. I had a suspicion I was going to be skunked bigtime on this one and another. As I approached the river, I saw a trash can. This can resembled those that you find in parks. “Hmmm . . . is this a path leading down to the river? I never knew there was one here.” I headed down and as I was closing in, I saw a couple boys. Then I saw an older woman. Rather than draw attention, I continued on. I am very happy I did. Although I ended up putting more than 1.5km (the way the crow flies) onto my trip, I had the best part of the day on this previously unexplored path. The path wound around the river. Several recently constructed foot bridges took one over the areas where the river drifted off into little lakes/bogs. The path ended up up at the Little League fields on Sharp Street. I am certain I will be back to place a cache out here. Rather than something on the path, I will break out the kayak. I want to explore those offshoots. My prediction is that the GC.com crowd, once they discover this area, will drop three to four micros along the path. Anyhow, on my way back out, I sought the golf hole. It is in one of those swampy areas. I could get no closer than 29 meters.

Hole 14 was the real challenge of the day. It was on the opposite side of the river. Rather than the nice path I had for 11, there appeared to be no access over there. I humped it over the bridge and saw what looked like it might be a path. I continued along the road, circled around, and sought an entry. All the way to Sharp Street I went again, only to be stymied. There was one entry and the gate was open. But the barbed wire kept me from walking down and there was no way I could offer an excuse to be there. I decided to check out the path I had seen at the bridge. I scurried down the side of the road and sure enough there was a path there. This appears to have been an old railroad depot/stop. The area appears to be a party spot for young boys as there were pages from girlie magazines about. I snaked along the river seeing where I had been a while ago. Eventually the path ended at a fence . . . that was basically not there. There was an old brick building there which has a turbine of some sort in it. Lots of grafitti colored the walls. This building is directly on the water. The company I had wanted to cut through sat on the other side. If I could have climbed out the window area on the other side, I may have been able to continue, but I am too old and too big for that these days. I marked my position at 84 meters away and headed out.

Coming out of the old rail bed, I realized I was tired and looking at what I had in front of me, realized I had not gone about this efficiently at all. I basically looped my four clover leaves around the center point. Just not good navigation whatsoever. I had been chasing the next closest hole each time. That was biting me in the but now as I had to go to a kitty corner quadrant now. Hole 6 was easy enough. In the middle of an empty 3rd Street.

From here, it was over to 2nd Street as I headed away from downtown once again. I walked around the block and saw a crew putting up brick on the house next to where I wanted to be. I stood in the driveway of the Corner Stone (Christian Items) to log this hole. I was seven meters away at this point.

Then it was back by the brick crew. They probably wondered about me. Hell, so do I. I realized now that I was headed right for the water tower I didn’t know about which I should have logged for a scavenger hunt, instead of the one two hours away that almost caused me to crash. As I approached, I took a look at my pedometer. A few more steps . . . one, two, there it is: 20,000 steps on this trip alone. I had been walking for some time now. My feet hurt and I knew I had a blister. This is what I get for not wearing the proper shoes for this “quick” jaunt downtown. Anyhow, I opted not to ask to go into the Harris Industrial Park. I walked to the fence beside the tower and marked that I was 94 meters away. I do not know how much closer I could have gotten. By now I was much further into this than I thought I would be and it was time to finish, not explore.

There were two holes left: 8 and 10. Hole 10 was closest, but I realized I had totally screwed up earlier as I left this one unplayed on the other side of the river. Determined, I took off for 8 first. I explored an area of town we don’t normally go to. As I approached the end of the road, I was greeted with a nice smell. Then I realized where it came from. I was at the Millville Iron Works and they were “cooking” today. I walked around the yard and then followed the tracks. These eventually lead to where I had hidden some caches a few years back. I was also in the “backyard” of Otto’s. I got to within seven meters before marking it and turning and heading for the last hole.

Hole 10 was close to 1.5km away at this point and with the route that was needed, it was going to end up being about 2km altogether. I contemplated getting the car and just driving to it on the way home. Nah, I had hiked this entire course and I wasn’t going to give in on the last hole. I backtracked across the river. I had slowed down my pace quite a bit and that was fortunate as I found a benchmark on the bridge. Neat. I continued on by the future home of Patriot Park, past Silverton Marine, and left over White Marsh Stream to JFK. I have driven by here a number of times, but never realized it was a trailer park. But it is one of the nicest trailer parks I have ever seen. Neat, clean, and the “trailers” in tip-top shape. My feet were dragging, but I plugged on. The hole was set way back. I had pocketed the GPS so not to have to carry it. When I next looked at it I saw I was 50 meters beyond the hole. I turned around and nearly zeroed out at 26 Jackson.

Then began the long hike back to the car. Once I got back to the future home of Patriot Park, I picked up the pace. The end was near and I was eager to my reward. I had to wait for a few lights, cross a few streets, climb a hill, etc. But then I saw the car. I dropped off the pack and the GPS. I noted that I had walked 26,966 steps and travelled 15.90km. Yes, it was time for the 19th hole. At the bar, I ordered a tall Flying Fish. This is how golf is supposed to be played. Thank you Scout for such an awesome outing.