TMHCR - #001 (Take Me Home Country Roads) Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

GR8Caches: The time has come and gone and this series saw a lot of activity over the years. It was placed on 03/13/2013 and retired on 03/13/2021. It wasn't the plan to retire it on the same month and day but that just worked out to be the case. Here is more about this cache and the series in general. It stared out as 92 hides that grew to 100 later on. It lived for 8 years in total. 56 of the caches made up the WV GEOART! This the first cache had the most finds with 694 and #98X had the least with only 153 (that was one of the 8 introduced later). This cache had 171 favorite points at retirement.

We have no plans for a replacement series but do have ideas of what we would like the next GEOART to be. Time will tell if we ever do something this big again.

Thanks for all the visitors we hope you enjoyed the series and have some good memories from doing it! Danny and Danielle (GR8Caches)

More
Hidden : 3/13/2013
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:



"Take Me Home Country Roads" (TMHCR) geocache/geoart trail.

If you read only one cache page make it this one. This is the information page for the entire series. We have focused on making this a quality power trail (if there is such a thing) and a geocacher friendly trail. We have a few guidelines we are asking you to follow while doing this trail so please be sure to read this page. Happy Caching and please read on.

  1. General Cache Information
  2. Guidelines
  3. About Sleepy Creek
  4. Special Thanks
  5. Nice to know things and a few warnings
  6. Questions and Answers
1. General Cache Information
The current trail consists of 2 sections. The GeoCache Trail (44 traditional caches) and the GeoArt Trail (56 unknown caches). Except for 001(first) and 092 all of the containers are the same and we would like to keep it that way. On June of 2016 we added 8 more caches bringing the total to 100. They are not in order with the rest of the series. Look for 093X to 100X these are also all hanging. The first and 092 cache are Ammo cans and they have spare/extra cache containers with log sheets already in them. Remember to bring something to sign the logs with. The log sheets are not in baggies nor do they require any folding. Here is a picture of what the containers look like and the log sheets.
Sample container and log sheet
You can start your hunt at cache 001 or cache 092 it makes no difference. You will find most hints start with LSR or RSR. This is to indicate which side of the road the cache is on. LSR is for left side of road and RSR is for right side of road. The side of the road is indicated as if you were doing them in number order. So if you are doing the caches backwards just remember to switch the left to right and so on.

All of the tradition cache listing pages are exactly the same except for the hint. You will need to solve all the unknown cache pages to know where to find the final for those. So those cache pages are all different.

Most caches have been placed on the preferable side of the road in terms of terrain. Read the hint to save time. You are looking for a small test strip tube, just larger than a film container (see picture above if you can). They should not be far into the woods, most are along the tree line but some had to be placed further in due to a number of different reasons. We worked hard to make the coordinates good but that might not be the case for every cache. Feel free to send me suggested updates. Watching the waypoint averaging was like watching paint dry.

About 6 of the unknown/mystery caches might require you to walk the road. They are past the gate and it will be locked at times. You will likely need a 4X4 past the gate if you chose to drive to those. A little walk will help to break up the trail.

The unknown/mystery caches should be easy to solve. If you know your West Virginia history then you might not even need to hunt for the answers.

This "pdf" file will make your life a lot easier. Download it and print it out to work on the questions in one easy to follow format.

2. Guidelines
The guidelines are not intended to be burdensome but to ensure that all have the same enjoyable experience while doing the trail. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and support of these guidelines.
  • Follow all Geocaching guidelines and rules.
  • Try and find the cache! I know power trails are mostly about numbers but please give the hunt a fair attempt. The hints should aid in finding the cache faster.
  • When you do the first cache make sure to take some containers along with you. This will help me maintain the trail. If you gave it a good search then replace the container for us. After all you want to log it as a find and we want you to find it as well.
  • You are welcome to sign ahead and switch out the containers.
  • Team names are encouraged; this will help save space on the log sheets.
  • I want to strongly discourage the adding of pre-made sheets of paper already signed.
  • If you are using stickers to sign please use as small of a sticker as possible.
  • Bring a trash bag and do a little CITO. If everyone picks up just 2-4 items per visit think of the difference we will make.
  • When you are done return any leftover containers. This is not about the cost but is about the fact that it takes me at least an hour to drive here. (We hope some people do this backwards or we might have a problem with the last container filling up...)

3. About Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area
Sleepy Creek WMA is located on 22,928 acres, mostly covered with mixed oak and pine forest, although about 3,500 acres are covered with mixed hardwoods. You can camp here but it is very rustic. That also makes it less crowded. Solving cache #043 will be right near the camping kiosh/sign in. We should be around $5 per night and there are a few areas to camp at. Some right along the lake. This is a hunting/fishing/hiking/exploring the wild, wildlife area. There are a ton of trails for hiking. The roads are not great but you will find them acceptable for most any car. Beyond the gates the roads get rough very quickly and you will likely need a four wheel drive vehicle with good ground clearance. Only about 6 of these caches are beyond a gate.

Funding for Wildlife Management Areas such as this cache site location comes from the sale of hunting licenses and taxes on guns and ammunition. Hunting is the primary use for which these areas are managed. The WMA is patrolled by Natural Resource Police Officers. When geocaching on WMA’s you may encounter an officer. It is their job to check users in the area. Please be respectful of them doing their duty and answer questions courteously. They are not there to prevent you from caching, only to keep everyone safe and law abiding. Thank you for your cooperation.

 One of the reasons for this geotrail was to highlight this beautiful area and show that it has a lot to offer. There are many great caches in this area so when planning your visit take another day and do a trail or two. Also check out the night caches they are as good as night caching gets. If you have any questions about the trail just send us an email.

Here are some additional links related to Sleepy Creek WMA:

4. Special Thanks
This trail would not have been completed as fast if it were not from the help of MD8baller and scothy1976 in placing caches.

Many others offered to help and we appreciate all the offers. We got many suggestions that helped in the outcome of this trail, thanks to all those that offered ideas. Thanks to all those who have created geotrails that we completed we learned a lot from those.

We also want to give special thanks to fishercacher(s) for their MOS (Miles of Smiles) geoart trail that gave us many of the ideas for this geoart trail.

If you wish to thank us for creating this trail then write us a nice log about your experience on cache #1 and give it a favorite point. That is the best way we know you can thank us. By the way TFTC is fine for all the other logs.

5. Nice to know things and a few warnings
  • Sleepy Creek WMA is a hunting area. It is the busiest during deer season. To find information on hunting seasons visit the WVDNR site.
  • This is a remote area full of wild life be mindful of your surroundings
  • There are no gas stations for miles
  • There are no restrooms with running water for miles
  • There are no public phones for miles and cell phone service is poor to none
  • The roads are dirt packed with some gravel in places; your car will get very muddy if it is wet and very dusty if it is dry.

6. Questions and Answers
As we get questions from cachers, we will add them to this section of the cache page.

Q:  Upon solving the answers it looks like numbers 44, 62, 64, and 73 - are all off the road by up to 1/10th of a mile. Is that correct?
A:  You are correct. 44, 62, 64 and 73 are not exactly on the road. You should still be able to drive to all of them but 73. 73 is one of those beyond the gate that will likely require you to have a 4X4 to get to it, as long as the gate is open.

Q:  Would it be appropriate to walk along this road instead of driving? Could we take a rugged wagon with us? Our daughter is four years old so stopping to get out of the car often doesn't work well for us.
A: The first 30 in the series are pretty much flat and could be done easily by walking. In fact most of the trail could be done by walking however there are some areas where the wagon might become a challenge due to the hills. You would just have to be very careful in those sections. There is very little traffic and for the most part the road itself is very wide. Of course it is mostly hard packed dirt with gravel in places.

Q:  About how long do you think it will take us to complete the trail?
A:  That is a really tough question. There are many factors that will impact the amount of time it takes to complete the trail. How many of you are doing it together? Are you signing a container while driving to the next? Can you drive past the gate and not have to walk the one section? My rough answer is most people are taking between 4-6 hours as at least a team of 2. Put in your log for the first cache how long it took you so others know. In fact in the first cache a log detailing your entire experience will help others prepare better.

Change Log (This will be a summary of changes to the trail by date):
May 3, 2013
Replaced 001 and 092 with a small glad container after the ammo boxes were taken. This is temporary.

Also replaced 002, 003, 004, 086, and 089.

The following were moved and coordinates were changed: 001, 007, and 092. I updated the coords on 002.

Changed the hint on 001, 007, 090, and 092.

Made the following premium member only caches: 001-008 and 086-092. Others may follow based on missing caches.

Updated PDF file.

June 27, 2013
Placed new ammo cans back at location 001 and 092. The area seems stable again so the cache thief's have not returned. HooRay!!!

Aug. 30, 2013
It appears the cache thief's have moved on so I am changing all caches back to non-premium. This way everyone can enjoy the entire trail. Please remember that membership does have it privileges and if you don't have a membership consider getting one. I know there are lots of families with little ones and it can be expensive for the entire family and that is why I am changing them back.

Oct. 25, 2013
The trail will be off limits to all caching during prime deer season. Some type of hunting is going on year round in this area but during this time is when the hunters are in full force. For your safety no caching or logging will be permitted from November 25 till December 7. That goes for all TMHCR caches. NO CACHING ALLOWED!

Oct. 13, 2014
The trail will be off limits to all caching during prime deer season. Some type of hunting is going on year round in this area but during this time is when the hunters are in full force. For your safety no caching or logging will be permitted from November 24 till December 6. That goes for all TMHCR caches. NO CACHING ALLOWED!

Updated questions for caches in the series:  #61, 77, 78 and 85.

Updated the PDF guide to reflect the updated questions for #061, 077, 078 & 085. Provided additional help to make it easier in figuring out the actual answers.

Dec. 07, 2014
Enabled listing and removed text about hunting season at the beginning of the page. Added one new QnA. The trail will be off limits again Nov. 23, 2015 - Dec. 05, 2015. Please be careful someone is always hunting in this area.

Nov. 01, 2015
Updated the page and PDF with minor changes. Changed the link location of the PDF help file.

Added to page temporarily: The trail will be off limits to all caching during prime deer season. Some type of hunting is going on year round in this area but during this time is when the hunters are in full force. For your safety no caching or logging will be permitted from November 23 till December 5. That goes for all TMHCR caches. NO CACHING ALLOWED!

June 03, 2016
Updated the page and PDF file. Due to adding 8 more caches to the series. You can now do 100 in a day just by doing this series.
We want this to be a quality power trail so if we have missed something that you tink would be useful for others to know, let us know and we will consider adding it to this page.

This page was last updated on 06/03/2016

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

YFE - Va I bs snyyra gerr ba tebhaq

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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