Alma Pond and the canoe that could!

It was Memorial Day - a day to celebrate, reflect, give thanks and subsequently paddle my ass across open bodies of water to fulfil zero day obligations.  And as it would be on this beautiful sunny Memorial Day, I would also be able to test out my Szuchie Mark I canoe rack system by driving down to Alma Pond near Wellsville, New York.  So with our floatable steed Starseed thrown atop the Suvie, Chicky and I headed out nice and early to try and beat the heat before temperatures creeped into the 90's as predicted (WTF - this is springtime in NY, that's way too damn hot!).

I was a little leery about my hodge-podge canoe rack, but I'll be danged...the thing worked perfectly!  I was so proud...I might have to market them and make trillions.  T.S. Thule and Yakima, there's a new cowboy in town!  Ironically, as we were heading south driving through Belfast, a pickup truck passed us going the opposite direction with three canoes/kayaks on the hood - - all supported by a pair of two-by-fours.  So clearly I'm not the only person on Earth who isn't content in spending $300 on two slivers of Swedish-fabricated plastic.

The highlight of our pre-paddling day was stopping in Wellsville for breakfast.  There's a little place on South Main Street called The Modern Diner.  This was a "greasy spoon" in every sense of the word - highlighted by the novel fact that above the counter there was a sign that indicated the distance of just about every legitimate town in New York State.  So as I sat there nibbling on my omelet, I found solace in knowing Arcade was only 43 miles away.  Haha.

At around 9am we hit the shores of Alma Pond.  According to the DEC, this is an 86-arce artificial impoundment located on the headwaters of Honeoye Creek.  Up until a week ago, I didn't even know it existed - but once I noticed there was a canoe cache here called The Far Side of Alma Pond by Brownout, I knew I had to pay a visit ASAP.  And boy I was glad that we did.  Within moments of detatching Starseed from the sultry grip of my Szuchie Mark I's (the shameless plugs probably won't end anytime soon), we were preparing to cast off from the hand launch.  With the exception of one fisherman we ran into as he was packing up and heading out, there wasn't a soul to be found anywhere around Alma pond.  That = hecka awesome.

Chicky's butt...er...the pond I mean...after casting off!

The pond was extremely peaceful, and almost entirely surrounded by woods.  It was an amazing setting.  The two things that I found odd though, were the extreme abundance of huge swarming flies (eww...gross), and the fact that the lake was really cloudy.  Reading the DEC website now, I realize why that was:

Despite being a very shallow pond, aquatic vegetation is lacking due to the lack of transparency of the water generally caused by algae blooms and turbidity due to the feeding activity of the bullhead and carp.

That would explain the pea-soup thing Alma had going on:

That's some hardcore turbidity going on there.

The cache from the hand launch was a little under a third of a mile, so it wasn't going to be a very long paddle before arriving at our first stop.  Of course, as we got out into the center of the pond, we got a better perspective as to the beauty of this spot.

As we closed the last 400 feet to the cache we picked a point along the shore in a little cove to dock our dinghy and hike into the woods to find the prize.  This was a superbly secluded spot, and once we mastered the art of parallel parking a canoe, we exited the boat safely and prepared the 150 foot trek to the cache.  Here's a couple shots from our cove-away-from-cove:

The woods surrounding the pond were as stunning as the pond itself.  Lush vegitation, little babbling runoffs and plenty of big happy hardwoods.  I was excited as I approached the zero, because this cache had not been found since August 2010 and being the first-finder in nine months was a neat bonus to all this nonsense.  Sure enough, there was the cache ready to be found.  There's not much else I like more than finding a big old 50-caliber ammobox waiting for me!

There was some celebratory whooping-and-hollering to be heard as we cracked the can and did our admin duties.  We made sure to rehid it nice and good for the next fortunate finder, and returned to our cove to decide what we would do next.  According to the GPS, there was another cache called Alma Pond a half-mile away that was located right along the shore.  Sure you could park within 100 feet of it, but we came all this way and had to squeeze every second out of our paddle time here.  So it was decided to cross back to the other side of the lake to find this cache.  Safely into the canoe, we pushed off from shore and started northeast to our next destination.

It was gorgeous on the lake, and I really enjoyed every minute we spent floating about.  A half-mile in a canoe is extremely short, and in no time we rolled up near the cache site.  We saw a parking spot, so we pulled up and unloaded.  It seemed that every time we got close to the shore, the flies would become a swarming obnoxious mess.  There must have been 100 huge flies buzzing all over the place here.  It was surreal, and yes...a teeny-bit gross.  Haha.  Once we left the shore, it was mostly bug free, and after the GPS got done screwing around, it gave us a bead on the cache, and once again I was signing into an ammo can that I had paddled too.

Our parking spot for the Alma Pond cache.

Seemingly confidant in our unblemished canoe-wrangling skills, we attempted to re-enter Starseed and continue our sojourn at Alma Pond.  For whatever reason (be it the swarming flies, the sweltering heat, or the general euphoria one feels from geo-yachting), I sort of lost sight of the prize...and by that I mean the ability to maintain my balance while keeping Starseed afloat.  One second I was watching Chicky stabalize the canoe from shore while I hopped on and tried to keep her sturdy...the next moment I'm cannonballing into green water...

SPLASHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

Now that I was sufficiently wet from the neck down, I assessed the situation (while trying to ignore the fact that I smelled like week old fish).  Thankfully Chicky was high-and-dry on land with the electronics, so the only real harm done was that we had to dump a dozen gallons or so of pond water out of Starseed.  This was done pretty quick, and "Boarding Part II" went much more smoothly.  Here's what I look like after being B's D. in P.W.

By the time we arrived back at the launch, I had started to dry off.  Also, the pond had attracted quite a few visitors who gathered along the shore to fish, sun bathe and enjoy the amazing Memorial Day weather.  This was a great start to the canoeing season - here's hoping there are many more!

The great non-catered Pennsylvanian adventure...

I'm not exactly sure how we ended up in Northern Pennsylvania today...but for whatever reason, I feel like Cayuga and I were in search of a breakfast nook that accepted Mastercard.  Truth be told, we've traveled hundreds of miles for much less impressive reasons. 

Anyway, in a desperate search for bacon and eggs, we ended up screwing around Allegheny National Forest.  Located in Pennsylvania, and encompassing over 512,000 acres of territory (I just looked that up and might have pooped a little...WOW that is big).  There are many popular sections of ANF, but one of the more popular is the Kinzua Dam region.  The dam is considered one of the largest dams east of Mississippi River, and certainly an impressive sight to behold.  The dam in-turn created the Allegheny Reservoir.  The reservoir is 24 miles long and covers over 21,000 acres.  That's a whole lot of water folks.

What's that mean to this story?  Not much.  I'm just super fascinated by the stuff I just learned.  Haha.

Seriously though, our trek took us to the reservoir, and a spot called Rimrock Overlook.  This rocky bluff overlooks the reservoir, and boasts rock formations that are multiple stories in height.  Check out the link - because this is a most excellent spot (especially "the tunnel" and some of the caves in the area).  There's a couple ways to visit Rimrock Overlook.  The first being you can drive up the mountain and make the short walk to the cliffs.  The other is start down by the reservoir and hike the Rimrock Trail up.  Doing half of the latter was our plan of attack today - seeing as there were a couple new caches that we wanted to check out - one called Rimrock Trail Cache by Kcepenn being approximately halfway up the trail.

I know I know...I've bored you to death.  How about a picture?  Here's what the trailhead at the bottom looks like:

From there we started our journey by finding a pretty quick park-and grab, before finally sinking our teeth into a little "in the woods" hiking.  The trail was beautiful - and of course very much uphill.  Haha.  I didn't complain too much (which is normal hiking faire when uphill hiking becomes involved).  And because you're   been oh-so-amicable about reading this blahg, here are some more pictures to ogle over:

The start of the Rimrock trail before all that fun uphill stuff.

Cayuga doesn't only find caches...

The sun peeking through the ANF woodlot.

Aww...ain't he just the most precious thing.

More fun in the woods!

At the bottom looking toward a small portion of the reservoir.

Work it baby.

This venture out into ANF was exceptional, and from there we made a few other stops before slowly starting our way north.  There were a myriad of other new caches, but most of them were pretty unimpressive, unimaginative and unscrupulous.  All that junk aside, there was one particular spot that I loved.  It was located in Frewsburg, New York in a park called Erlandson Overview Park (and the aptly named Erlandson Overview Park Cache by the Carlsons).  How the hell we landed in Chautauqua County, New York is beyond me, but what we discovered was one of the highest points in the county, which if you looked nice and hard, you could see Chautauqua Lake off in the distance.  And in a Szuchie's Grand Escape first, we're going interactive!  Think of it as a much more interesting "Where's Waldo?"  See if you can find it in the picture below:

Trust me...Chatty Lake is in this pic somewhere...

The hills are alive with...breakfast I hope!

A great vantage point from Erlandson Overview Park.

Plenty to see here - and some nice trails to boot!

From there Cayuga and I slowly wrapped up our whirlwind adventure.  Ironically, after spending several hours driving all over Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania, we never did find a breakfast joint that would take credit cards!  We failed...but hey, we had fun in the process and saw some pretty sweet sights!

Necessity meets stupidity (AKA: How I changed the world with $10.62).

There have been many inspiring artists, inventors and thinkers throughout the annals of history.  These Renaissance men created beautiful images and items of untold use with their own hands.  They looked at the world around them and sought answers for the questions surrounding mankind.  Their brilliance had no end, and when they seamlessly mastered one vocation, they would explore another to the benefit and awe of all humanity.  You have heard their names as examples of the most ingenious minds of all time...Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo, Issac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Colonel Harland Sanders....the list goes on and on.  They were innovators, and their contributions still amaze us today.

This story is not about such a scenario, individual or circumstance.  Not even close.

You see...a couple of years ago, Chicky procured a canoe.  It's pretty.  Here's a picture of what it looks like floating on grass:

It's named Starseed (because all sea-faring crafts need a name).  The name of this particular vessel was derived from a Canadian rock group named Our Lady Peace and their song Starseed.  The story goes that, as we were trying to decide what to name the canoe, this jaunty tune came on the radio.  Being one of our personal fav's, we had to try it out...and the name stuck.  Inconsequential history is fun right?

Since that time, we've had to haul Starseed around using my parent's pickup as it was the only vehicle we had available to us that could carry around a 150-pound yacht.  Of course using the truck came with a slew of strings attached, including a hefty gas bills.  The negotiation process alone was traumatic!

Anyway, this past winter that all changed .  I purchased my Suvie, and now had something that could transport our dear Starseed from one location to another.  The hitch in this well designed plan, was that while my Suvie had roof rails (the rails that run parallel to the sides of the vehicle), it didn't come with crossbars that ran from one rail to another.  When I asked the nice people at the Nissan dealership how much installing two cheaply made slats of plastic totalling seven feet would run me, they smiled and said, "$300 dollars, with about $75 to install."  After I finished laughing in their faces and inquiring if they realized how ridiculous they sounded saying that out loud with a straight face, I decided to do some research of my own.

Apparently crossbars for a Nissan Suvie are forged in the fires of Mordor and varnished with the tears of angels because well known roof rack distributors like Thule and Yackima wanted well over $300 for their product.  So I was reduces to skulking around discount rack places.  It was there I learned that my Nissan has the largest damn roof rails on earth.  It would take you a three day trip just to circumvent around their girth.  I like my Suvie, but WTF Nissan!?!?

Nation.....I'm not a tightwad, but to pay $300+ for something I'll use a handful of times a year seems excessive and dumb.  Especially for something that is just glorified PVC pipe clamped to my roof!

And then it hit me....eat your heart out Da Vinci:

Yes folks, handcrafted from the tawdry isles of Value Home Center - I give you the Szuchie Mark I roof crossbars.  They are sleek, aerodynamic, can handle 200 pounds of cargo, and are designed with Sharpie block lettering.  All this and more can be yours for the affordable price of $10.62. 

What's that you say, how can such a high-quality peice of American craftsmanship be so affordable? 

Believe it or not, eight feet of PVC pipe is unlawfully cheap.  That alone was $8.  Throw in four caps for the ends, and a dozen zip ties...and you have yourself the most ghetto damn roof rack system on the face of the planet.  As this particular blahg entry has most unequivocally illustrated, I'm a total idiot.  But I'm not such an idiot that I won't run some field trials of this extravagant system.

So my plan will be to attached these to my Suvie, and spend the day doing what I would normally do.  If they don't fly off and impale any unexpected passersby, I'm golden baby.  This weekend I could be canoeing!!!

My Saturday Tour of Catt County

I woke up early this morning - and south into Cattaraugus County I went!  When May rolls around, that means it's time for the Allegany Geo-Bash, a huge caching event which is held in Allegany State Park.  This is an annual event, which first started in 2006.  At the time, it was a tiny local affair (with under 100 attendees).  Over the years, it's grown into a mega-event, with approximately 500 people visiting from all over the country, with even some people flying in internationally to attend.  It the largest annual event of it's kind in New York and Pennsylvania (but I have no real research to back that up...haha).

I'm not really the 'event attending' type (at least not as much these days...which I think probably needs some amending), but I did want to pop in and pick up some event swag and say "hi" to one of the organizers, a gentleman that goes by the handle of HeadMJ.  He's been responsible for placing some of my favorite caches in the park (which I have probably discuss ad nauseum in other posts...haha), so I thought it would be cool to meet him in person for the first time.  Anyhoo, checking out the event and meeting him was the first part of my plan.  The second was to work on the Enchanted Mountains GeoTrail (EMGT).

The EMGT's are a series of 32 caches in Cattaraugus County - one per each of the 32 townships.  The object is to visit each town, find the cache, write down the keyword, and upon completing all 32, you turn in all the keywords to get a coin or a tractor or some damn thing.  Hahaha.  Aside from handing out free stuff, the series was devised by the Catt County Tourism Department to bolster the regional economy.  If geocaching has taught me anything, it's that people will travel to complete challenges, series, and other unique caches.  So why not exploit that in the form of "tourist" dollars to support the local economy.  It's a pretty cool idea, which has been utilized in some form or another in other areas of the country.  The most notable one within striking distance from WNY is the Allegheny GeoTrail in North Eastern Pennsylvania.

Bored yet?  Yeah yeah...I'm starting to bore myself too.  Anyway...the purpose of all that rambling was to convey the following:  Eric + Catt County = plenty of nerdy caching.  Incidentally, that also means a lot of driving.  I visited the vast majority of south/southwest Catt County today.  All of the caches were relatively quick finds, so I won't blah-blah about them individually, but instead show you photos of everything I saw!  How "yay" is that kiddies!?!

The Main Admin Building overlooking Redhouse Lake in ASP.

The trailhead (and cutsie bridge) in ASP along the
North Country Trail (NCT).

Just 18 miles?  Nahhhhhhhhhhh...

Larch along the NCT in ASP.

Carrollton has the cutest critters EVER!

Looking at the babbling splendor of Rice Brook in Carrollton.

Onoville Marina...totally awesome!

An old cemetery in Conewango...the last stop on my
whirlwind tour of Cattaraugus County!

In total I probably put like 12,000 miles on my car and spent a small fortune on gas, but the end result was a great day outside exploring many places I had never visited before.  My only regret was that I didn't have more time, as I'm sure there were many quality caches that I passed which would have taken me to additional spots.  I guess it will have to wait until my next motorcar tour around the County.

Only 5 more townships left...then I'm done!

Puzzled and Lost in Stiggy Park

It was a zero day.  A zero day unlike any other.  Whoa…let me put the literary brakes on that…let’s not get too carried away just yet.  For most of the morning and afternoon, it poured out, just as it’s been prone to do every day this spring.  I was starting to think that the powers of nature were going to call my bluff (you know, the one where I flip the sky the bird and say I’m going caching come hell or high water.  Yeah, that bluff…)  Truth of the matter is, it’s mostly smoke and mirrors.  I would go hiking in the rain, but it probably wouldn’t be as much fun for me as it is for some psychotic bloggers I know.

So I sat there pouting, wondering if the clouds would miraculously disintegrate, while at the same time angels would fall from the heavens, choirs would sing, I would quarterback a team to the Super Bowl, I win a billion dollars, discover I was the Lindbergh baby, befriend the Cadbury Bunny and subsequently master Midas’ golden touch.

Believe it or not, I might be the Lindbergh baby, but in other news…the weather actually started to break!  According to Cayuga-Watch-4 reports from Amherst, he indicated that the sun did indeed still exist.  With a zero day cleaving a whole in my pocket, and the possibility of sunlight up north, I decided to head to West Seneca to try All is Not Lost by Hucklebuckle.  There was a smidgen of novelty attributable to this cache.  It has only 4 finders since being placed in January 2010, it’s considered a lonesome cache seeing as it has not been found in over a year, it’s a puzzle I actually solved (I’m as shocked as anyone), AND it’s placed by everyone’s favorite retired-twelve-times-over-but-still-caching cacher, H to the Bizzle!

This cache was a crazy wee puzzle, that required you to solve another puzzle, find that cache, and then get the coordinates for this puzzle.  Follow that?  The premise was based on the TV show Lost, which I know absolutely nothing about.  Normally I would treat you to a dweeby dissertation on important plot points, but I’ve decided that I can let Huck do that since he is now aware that this blog exists (and it’s about time he started pulling his damn weight anyway). 

All aspects of this cache were hidden in Stiglmeier Park (AKA: Losson and/or Stiggy Park).  THAT, is something I WILL ramble on about.  According to Hiking Trails in Western New York, Stiggy Park encompasses 308 acres of grounds, including nature trails and sports fields.  As geo-history goes, at one point in time this Park was a cache-finding oasis, to the extent that there were only a couple spots where you could put a cache that met Geocaching.com's distance compliance guidelines (which requires that all physical caches should be 528 feet (0.10) from one another).  Needless to say the park was pretty crammed with hides - but interestingly enough, almost all of them were decent and of the non-micro variety. 

Before caching, I didn't know this park existed - but since my first visit here (sometime in 2006), I've been here numerous times to hike and have wild and zany adventures.  Today was the first time I had set foot in the park in a couple years - so it was wonderful to return.  As I pulled into the parking lot, Huck sat there waiting for me.  Reunited (and feeling so good), we made our way to the first stop to retrieve the necessary coordinates for the All is Not Lost.

The great thing about Stiggy Park is that the trail system here is very well designed and even better maintained.  There are many wooden bridges, and the little swamps and other open hardwoods sections of the forest are exceptional.  Plus, the animals are really tame and often times deer will walk within 30 feet of you and not be bothered in the least bit. 

The trail in was pretty muddy - and since I was a dummy I was wearing crocs and not something more conducive to mud and water.  I sucked it up and soon we found the necessary information I needed to get to the final for All is Not Lost.

Huck striking a pose...I think.  Haha.

The view near our first stop!

After I had the coords, we returned back to the vehicles as we had to travel to a different section of the park.  This took us down a new set of trails, and some bushwhacking to get to the right spot to find the cache.  When caches aren't found for this long, I always wonder if they are still there - - but this section of the park was pretty remote, and upon our approach, I found the cache very quick!  The first finder in over a year...sweeeeet:

When I cracked the cache I was surprised to see some scribbles inside.  Then I realized it was something Chicky and I had wrote a few years back when Huck celebrated his "nearly" 1,000 cache find in 2007.  Apparently Huck loves the environment, so he recycled his golden ammo can.  :-]

Note the diverse amount of swag in this cache...
Yes folks, that's just about all of it.  Haha.

When it was all said and done, we returned back to the parking area and spent a hour and change chatting about the scene, politics, religion and all the other stuff you'd never expect to hear going down in Stiggy Park. It was good times, and a lot of fun.  This is how more zero days should be - fo' sho'!