SRT Smiley, Exeter Rail Trail
On Saturday, I went for the SRT Smiley series of geocaches along the Schuylkill River Trail, between Conshohocken and Philadelphia. Once I found all the caches, I ended up with a smiley of smilies geo-art on the geocaching map. The caches weren't actually arranged in the shape of a smiley. Those were all puzzle caches so the map shows the puzzle coordinates but the actual cache sites were arranged linearly along the trail. I think the hike would've been about 4 or 5 miles one way but I changed parking locations midway because of a big half-mile gap between caches. I also took the opportunity to find other puzzle caches, such as "Happy Halloween 2013", "SD³", and "Truncated Icosahedron", since I was in Conshohocken. Those were pretty easy since all the difficulty was in the puzzles instead of the cache hides.
Sunday began with a short detour to Alapocas State Park to tackle "Can You Dig It?" It's near work but I figured I no longer had daylight after work to go for it. So I might as well go for that on the weekend. Well, it was harder than I anticipated. I went to the posted coordinates and saw that the terrain was much higher than the rating. Reasoning that the coordinates were probably incorrect, I went back up the path and checked every spot that matched the description and hint. Finally, I found the cache 1,400 feet from the posted coordinates! It was a hard-won FTF! The cache owner will likely have to resubmit the cache for approval with both Groundspeak and the state park though because it's off by too much. And then there may be proximity issues with other geocaches in the park.
After that, I went to Berks County to do what I'd planned for the day: the ESRT series of caches along the Exeter Rail Trail. That 3.5-mile round trip hike didn't take too long, so I went onwards for more geocaches in Exeter, Mt. Penn, and Reading. "These are a few of my favorite things.." in Reading was a treat because it's near the Pagoda. I always wanted to see that but it just wasn't on the way to anything else in Reading, so I didn't get around to it on previous trips. I think it's the most interesting landmark in that city.
Saturday:
SRT-Smiley-B (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-A (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-C (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-D (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-E (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-F (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-H (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-I (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-G (Pennsylvania)
Happy Halloween 2013 (Pennsylvania)
SD³ (Pennsylvania)
Truncated Icosahedron (Pennsylvania)
Don't fence me in (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-P (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-O (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-N (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-M (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-L (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-K (Pennsylvania)
Lily's Place (Pennsylvania)
It's About Time (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-J (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-Q (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-R (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-S (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-T (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-U (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-V (Pennsylvania)
Thank You Taxman (Pennsylvania)
Keep friends close, but caching friends closer! (Pennsylvania)
Happy Meal (Pennsylvania)
End of the Line (Pennsylvania)
Red Dot (Pennsylvania)
Water View (Pennsylvania)
Abandoned in place (Pennsylvania)
Look Toward the City (Pennsylvania)
Sunday:
Can You Dig It? (Delaware)
ESRT Tree (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Cardinal Red (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Another Stump (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Point Seven Five (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Big Stump (Pennsylvania)
Woods,Trail,Bridge (Pennsylvania)
Silent Lucidity (Pennsylvania)
OfficeWoods (Pennsylvania)
ESRT One Point Seven Five (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Stumpy (Pennsylvania)
Gotta Love That Albert II (Pennsylvania)
From Trash to Treasure (Pennsylvania)
Remembering "Jack" (Pennsylvania)
Geo Pit Stop (Pennsylvania)
Y KNOT (Pennsylvania)
BrEaK StUfF (Pennsylvania)
Gettysburg Sesquicentennial 1863 - 2013 (Pennsylvania)
These are a few of my favorite things.. (Pennsylvania)
Skyline Cache (Pennsylvania)
Squiggles (Pennsylvania)
Literary Loot (Pennsylvania)
His Majesty's LPC (Pennsylvania)
Reeds & Reeds (Pennsylvania)
LIFELINE (Pennsylvania)
Immaculate Reception (Pennsylvania)
Haunted in Berks County: Brinton Lodge (Pennsylvania)
Sunday began with a short detour to Alapocas State Park to tackle "Can You Dig It?" It's near work but I figured I no longer had daylight after work to go for it. So I might as well go for that on the weekend. Well, it was harder than I anticipated. I went to the posted coordinates and saw that the terrain was much higher than the rating. Reasoning that the coordinates were probably incorrect, I went back up the path and checked every spot that matched the description and hint. Finally, I found the cache 1,400 feet from the posted coordinates! It was a hard-won FTF! The cache owner will likely have to resubmit the cache for approval with both Groundspeak and the state park though because it's off by too much. And then there may be proximity issues with other geocaches in the park.
After that, I went to Berks County to do what I'd planned for the day: the ESRT series of caches along the Exeter Rail Trail. That 3.5-mile round trip hike didn't take too long, so I went onwards for more geocaches in Exeter, Mt. Penn, and Reading. "These are a few of my favorite things.." in Reading was a treat because it's near the Pagoda. I always wanted to see that but it just wasn't on the way to anything else in Reading, so I didn't get around to it on previous trips. I think it's the most interesting landmark in that city.
Saturday:
SRT-Smiley-B (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-A (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-C (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-D (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-E (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-F (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-H (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-I (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-G (Pennsylvania)
Happy Halloween 2013 (Pennsylvania)
SD³ (Pennsylvania)
Truncated Icosahedron (Pennsylvania)
Don't fence me in (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-P (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-O (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-N (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-M (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-L (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-K (Pennsylvania)
Lily's Place (Pennsylvania)
It's About Time (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-J (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-Q (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-R (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-S (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-T (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-U (Pennsylvania)
SRT-Smiley-V (Pennsylvania)
Thank You Taxman (Pennsylvania)
Keep friends close, but caching friends closer! (Pennsylvania)
Happy Meal (Pennsylvania)
End of the Line (Pennsylvania)
Red Dot (Pennsylvania)
Water View (Pennsylvania)
Abandoned in place (Pennsylvania)
Look Toward the City (Pennsylvania)
Sunday:
Can You Dig It? (Delaware)
ESRT Tree (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Cardinal Red (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Another Stump (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Point Seven Five (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Big Stump (Pennsylvania)
Woods,Trail,Bridge (Pennsylvania)
Silent Lucidity (Pennsylvania)
OfficeWoods (Pennsylvania)
ESRT One Point Seven Five (Pennsylvania)
ESRT Stumpy (Pennsylvania)
Gotta Love That Albert II (Pennsylvania)
From Trash to Treasure (Pennsylvania)
Remembering "Jack" (Pennsylvania)
Geo Pit Stop (Pennsylvania)
Y KNOT (Pennsylvania)
BrEaK StUfF (Pennsylvania)
Gettysburg Sesquicentennial 1863 - 2013 (Pennsylvania)
These are a few of my favorite things.. (Pennsylvania)
Skyline Cache (Pennsylvania)
Squiggles (Pennsylvania)
Literary Loot (Pennsylvania)
His Majesty's LPC (Pennsylvania)
Reeds & Reeds (Pennsylvania)
LIFELINE (Pennsylvania)
Immaculate Reception (Pennsylvania)
Haunted in Berks County: Brinton Lodge (Pennsylvania)