Geocaching 101 class at Queeny Park
2020 Leap Day Flash Mob
SLAGA at Ted Drewes - 2021
2022 New Years Day Hike
Summer Pinic 2022
Rich & Charlotte - a couple of the founding members
Grilling Meat for the 2022 Fall Picnic
2022 Fall Picnic
Checking for new cache notifications
Bellefontaine CITO November 2022
2022 SLAGA Christmas Party
Cachemas 2022 Bonus Day
Tis the Season to CITO
- Details
- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 107
Cache In Trash Out® (CITO) events began in 2002 and are environmental initiatives that help preserve the natural beauty of cache-friendly spaces, such as parks, conservation lands, rivers and streams, forests, roadsides, cemeteries, and more. Per geocaching.com/CITO webpage, more than 363,000 people have volunteered at 18,000 CITO events worldwide since its inception. For several years now, virtual souvenirs have been awarded for attendance. Currently GC.com promotes clean-up efforts by dividing the year into two CITO seasons. For 2023, the CITO seasons run from Mar. 1 through May 31, and Sept. 1 through Nov. 30. Earn a souvenir by hosting or attending a CITO during a season.
"It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
- Details
- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 146
The Target: Proffit Mountain Cache (GCA1A3)
The Stats: D2/T4.5, ~16 mile distance, ~885 ft elevation change
The Time: September 30 through October 2, 2022
The Adventurers: Spiritwolf922 and socibutte
After many months of excruciating training, hard-core research, and detailed planning, the adventurers conquered their long-time, bucket list goal of hiking some of the most rugged terrain in Missouri along the Ozark Trail (OT) and camping overnight atop a mountain with amazing scenery, to obtain a single geocache.
While it was on her long-time to-do list, Spiritwolf 922 (Patricia) never actually thought she'd accomplish this hike and cache, as it was in the middle of nowhere and on a previous OT hike, she found she was 'woefully unprepared' for the terrain and distance. Socibutte (Melissa) on the other hand, had been waiting for years in hopes of finding someone crazy enough to attempt this much-desired adventure of hers, after hearing about the trail from her son. (Needless to say, he is now a bit jealous that mom completed it first!) So as luck and the world of geocaching would have it, these two discovered their common interest in casual passing and the rest is history. But here's a recap in hopes it might entice future Proffit Mountain geocachers.
Although Melissa often hikes, runs, caches, and travels solo, she decided an overnight backpacking trip was not the best idea for a solo venture. So she was only too glad when Patricia welcomed the idea of this new experience that would undoubtedly be a bit challenging. And while Patricia still had some concerns over accomplishing their goal, it was more comforting to have just a single friend who would understand and not be disappointed if at any point they needed to turn back. This would also be a good 'test' to see if they both enjoyed this new type of exploration. So this dynamic duo made their decision and developed their well thought-out plan to conquer Proffit Mountain by Fall 2022, and began planning six months before their trip.
The Legend. The Cache. The Architect.
- Details
- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 204
In pitch black, with walls and low ceiling of cold, damp stone, and floor wet with inches of water flowing like a stream, they question what form of mass lunacy has possessed them to venture far underground, bent over with aches and pains. But then...they spot a metal tag with an imprinted code.
Up, up, up along rustic trails, over rocky terrain and through forest undergrowth, they wonder why they follow one another, each step bringing more muscle fatigue, huffing and puffing toward some unknown. But then...they encounter a container with hidden clues.
This is the reality of what many have grown to love and 'hate' about the infamous, highly favored, D5/T5, St. Louis area, legendary geocaching adventure known as 'The Architect' (GC4CQ0V).
Published on August, 26, 2014, this Forest-Ghost (Ethan Rogers) and Curlycue109 (Julie Rogers) geocache was inspired by Ethan's love of adventure and finding hidden places. Indian Jones was another of his inspirations, but a Mississippi geocache he experienced, called '3 Degrees: BLACKOUT' (GC1KFAD), might have been the final catalyst. Upon his return, he knew he wanted to create a similar thrill in St. Louis. Ethan recalls spending the next couple years searching for tunnels around the area. "In 2014, Julie and I spent the good part of a year designing the cache (layout of stages, puzzles, story, containers, and finding the rest of the tunnels). The process was very difficult, but the final product achieved my goal of creating an epic adventure that would bring geocachers down in the tunnels of St. Louis."
Wolf Creek Bike Trail (Eagle Geo-Art) Adventure!
- Details
- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 178
The Wolf Creek Bike Trail/Eagle Geo-Art, in the Wolf Creek area of Mark Twain National Forest near Poplar Bluff, has been out since 2014. L Frank and Denmother (John and Laurie ElFrank) have been looking for the right time to get down there and accomplish the 68 relatively high terrain traditionals in one trip, which meant they would need three days, according to their plan. While years passed with different factors preventing their trip, finally in January 2023, after Publiclandfun posted 'The Eagle has Landed' event, the Elfranks checked their calendar and the caches, and decided that with additional cars and geo-friends, this challenge could actually be done in two days (Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, Sunday till noon). So after a Facebook invite, BnDMoritz (Bill Moritz), Geokid12 (Robert Klemme), and Joebum (Drew Gourley) accepted the challenge. The following is based on L Frank's account of their epic adventure.
A Cabin Fever Favorite - Winter Potluck 2023
- Details
- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 166
Our SLAGA Winter Potluck, held at the Pavilion at Lemay in the unique and historic Jefferson Barracks Park, is the perfect cabin fever escape to enjoy good food, hear latest SLAGA news, win prizes, find caches, and meet up with friends.
Santa Cachemas Steps Down from His Sleigh
- Details
- Written by Terri Nealon
- Hits: 206
Santa Cachemas has been flying his sleigh over St. Louis since 2015, but at the end of December 2022, he parked the sleigh and set down the reins, as he stepped down from coordinating our holiday caching fun we all know as Cachemas in St. Louis. But Major134 (Peter Shaw) wasn't SLAGA's first Santa Cachemas, as that honor goes to the creator of the 'game,' 87preludea20a3 (Brandt Teske), for whom we are all grateful.
As a matter of fact, Pete was an FTF hound himself in those early days, that he says were very competitive. He was fortunate to make two FTFs and get the coveted ornaments that Brandt made back then. Pete recalls his first thrill of Cachemas: "In 2012, I was traveling down I-270 with Nick1081, when Nick’s phone pinged for a new cache. It was Day 7 and in Winter Park, Fenton. We were right at the I-44 exit so we immediately exited, raced over to Winter Park and were able to make the puzzle FTF, a co-FTF. I gave the ornament to Nick since he solved the puzzle while I was driving. It was being “in the right place at the right time” that allowed us to log the FTF as the parking lot filled with cachers just minutes behind us. Both of us were hooked on Cachemas."
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