Terrorist threat to geocaching

Just when you think it can't get any worse, there's this:

President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using the navigational technology, the White House said Wednesday.

But at least there' s this bit of good news:

President Clinton abandoned the practice in May 2000 of deliberately degrading the accuracy of civilian navigation signals, a technique known as "selective availability.''

The White House said it will not reinstate that practice, but said the president could decide to disable parts of the network for national security purposes.

On the other hand, if there's a major terrorist attack in your area geocaching may not be at the top of your list of things to do.

More on the sad news

The cacher's handle was Smokey Stover. You can see his finds here. From his log entries it sounds like he was really enjoying himself. His final log entry is eerie:

It was getting late afternoon and I didn't want to fight rush hour traffic and the low sun so I'll wait until later to chase after #3. This is fun.

The cache he was attempting (#3) was a bonus cache, the third in a series. He found the first two to get the coordinates of the third.

This is sad

A geocacher in San Antonio died while seeking his fourth find. News article here. A discussion about the accident is going on in the Groundspeak Forums.

Initial news reports said he died from a fall in a ravine near the cache:

A man out on a scavenger hunt ends up dying while searching for the treasure. Police say it looks like 64-year-old James Max Chamberlain fell off a small cliff at Eisenhauer Park, off Northwest Military Highway.

Chamberlain went on the scavenger hunt Saturday morning using a hi-tech GPS system he had just bought. His wife called police Saturday night after he didn't come home.

"From the evidence, just leads us to believe right now, that he was walking along the trails, got to his destination, and he either slipped and fell down the ravine, or was trying to walk back up the little incline and slipped back," said Lieutenant Rosie Vasquez.

Chamberlain's death appears to be an accident.

Folks in the Groundspeak Forum provided this update:

The local radio news reported this hour that prelimary reports are pointing to a heart attack as the cause of death. It will probably be awhile before that shows up on the web and for a link to be posted.

All this highlights the need to observe common sense safety guidelines when caching.

• If you cache alone, be sure someone knows where you're going and when you're expected to return.
• Always have a partner when you attempt physically challenging caches. This will vary based on your personal condition. A cache which might be easy for one person might be impossible for you.

Rocketeers, Runners, and Re-enactors

We found this one at 9:25 am... again! We actually found it back in April but neglected to log it then. So we came back today to find it and log it, and to drop of the Jeep TB that's been burning a hole in our pocket. So it was deja vu all over again.

T: USMC swizzle stick
L: Jeep TB

Our first hide! Sawmill Run

Our first hide is near our home coordinates. We had fun researching the history of the area for the cache. It's a shame that all the development is destroying what little remains.

Penderwyn

We found this one at 1:57 pm. Very nice area. We drove past the cache, turned around and parked right in front of it. Easy find, the hint really nailed it. Someone drove past while we were signing the log, but we didn't see anyone else.

T: Balloon pin
L: Turtle magnifying glass

James Dean Didn't Die Here

We found this one at 12:41 pm. We figured who really died here before we found it. We would have never expected such a historic site would be in this location. It was creepy, with a relatively fresh black wreath marking it.

That's Annie and Pepe posing in front of the creepy wreath.

T: Jeep TB
L: Wooden car puzzle

Yellow Line

Found it at 3:41pm. Annie met Kayakin2 on the VRE last week, so we made a point of seeking this cache out (turned out to be the only one we did this weekend). A nice short hike, we didn't see anyone on the trail although a lady walking her dog passed by while we were checking out the cache (she didn't seem too interested). As we were driving out we saw someone starting down the trail who may have been another cacher... We'll know for sure if he logs his find here.

T: Little silver power ranger and two AA batteries.
L: Scooby Doo key chain and Breast Cancer Stamp Pin

Stonewall Jackson's Arm

We found this one on a day trip to the mountains in Shenandoah. Very interesting history, we had heard of the fate of Jackson's arm but didn't know all the details.

Pepe had a good time following the trail through the corn field.

Bike in the Burg

What a great day for a four stager - even without a bike. We met Looking Glass with David and Will at all the stages.
Pepe the Chihuahua thought it was great too and walked the whole way.
We almost lost our car by parking on the road close to the third stage instead of in a parking lot. So don't get too lazy. Found the benchmark too by walking the long way through the park. Left a jeep travel bug and Looking Glass snatched it up real quick.