Thursday, June 16, 2011

Armstrong County Geocache Trail

I have mentioned a couple of times that Hubby and I like to geocache.  Up until now, we have been very casual cachers, not really logging our finds, just doing it more for the heck of it.  Then, I heard that our county  Tourist Bureau was going to be sponsoring a Geocache Trail.  They would be hiding 26 caches all over the county.  You get a special book to record your finds in, and once you find 20, you can get take the booklet to the Tourist Bureau and get a geocoin.  Suddenly, the spirit of competition got to me, and we were off.
Allegheny River in Templeton


Over the Memorial Day weekend, Hubby and I found the 16 caches that had been made public up to that point.  Because they were spread throughout the county, we did certain areas on certain days.
Armstrong County Courthouse

 Then, last week, more were released, and we found enough to get our coin.
Calhoun Schoolhouse


I have to say, this was probably one of the most fun projects we have undertaken as a couple.  We went to each cache site together, though in a couple of instances Hubby retrieved the cache alone (I had to avoid poison ivy).
Rural Valley

The weather was simply stunning each day we went out, and I got some fantastic pictures,  not only of the cache sites, but things we saw along the way.
Wattersonville

 On our first cache, we even picked up a travelling companion- a very friendly caterpillar.
St. Patrick's


Since we started working on the trail, my love for geocaching has really taken off, and I have done a lot of caches myself while Hubby is at work.  But in terms of every cache on the trail, we did it together.  I could have done the last ones alone, but I really wanted this to be something we earn together.

Now I wonder what my next caching goal should be?  One from every county in PA?  One beginning with each letter of the alphabet?  By the time the summer ends, I would love to have found 100 caches.  We are at about 58 right now, so I think we can make that goal.

I am really thankful to the Armstrong County Tourist Bureau for sponsoring this.  I loved revisiting some of my favorite places in the county, and finding a few new favorites as well.
Keystone Lake

To see all the gorgeous shots I got while geocaching, check out my album here.