Hardcore Event III Event Cache

We hope for the Geoweekend to consist of three event caches, as listed below.

1. Campfire Event (Friday, April 4 @ 1900 or 7pm for you non-hardcore individuals) – Bring your marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey's bars. this simple event will give cachers a chance to sit around a campfire and enjoy some geo-camarderie. Nothing fancy.
    
2. Hardcore Event (Saturday, April 5 @ 08:00) - This event will take place Saturday morning and is where some of the more dedicated and "Hardcore" cachers will head out through the swamp to get our Hardcore series.  I may just have to hide another one or two out there to tempt some repeat visitors. 
    
3. Picnicking with the Gators Event (Saturday, April 6)- This will be a lunch time event for the survivors of the Hardcore Event and those to scared to go "Hardcore". It will be held at Lake Shelby and hosted by Smarky (Sandy Harris).

   The State Park may bring out a johnboat to ferry people to Gator Island (Gator Bait I cache) and  Grass Island (Gator Bait VII cache). Some wading will be required  The Park will be asking a donation to help cover the cost of fuel and the employees.  A donation amount will be set at a later time.

As for the Hardcore Event, see below:

Warning:

The terrain for this cache is very treacherous.  You will likely encounter a lot of marshlands, briars, smilax, 7 ft tall cat-tails, ticks, poison ivy, poisonous snakes, and maybe even an alligator or two.  There are many downed trees in the area and large holes where stumps burned out during the fire.  In many areas the ground is extremely soft.  There were places where my feet sank several inches and my staff sank a couple of feet with very little pressure.  It is possible that you will come to an area where the ground appears solid, but there is a large burned out area underneath it that can cause a cave in under your weight.  During the wet season, you will likely have to wade through the marsh to get to the cache and you may sink to your knees muck.  Make sure you have a cell phone and a friend with you.  Enter this area at your own risk and DO NOT TAKE CHILDREN AFTER THIS CACHE (During the summer of 2012 a cacher chose to ignore this rule.  His 12 year old left in an ambulance, with a very nice cottonmouth bite on his leg)!!! You are entirely responsible for your own safety and survival on this cache. Neither the Alabama State Park System, the Cache Owner, or Geocaching.com can be held responsible for injuries incurred on this journey. You have been warned of the dangers going in.

 
This picture was taken when the caches were first hidden several years ago.
Now the area is extremely thick with Cat-tails and some Smilax and other growth.

This is the event to make all other events quake with fear.  A group of dedicated geocachers asked for a "Hard Core Event" believing there must be safety in numbers.  The participants in this event will being joining together to go after all four Hard Core Caches in one day. What you need to participate in this event.

1. Some Good, high, boots, PREFERABLE SNAKE BOOTS.  To complete this cache, you may find yourself in areas that are deeper than your boots are tall. On my last trip through I was above my knees and that was in December when the water level is generally lower.
2. A good SOLID walking stick.  The terrain is very unforgiving and you will need all the help you can get. Most of the time, the cat-tails will require you to drag your stick behind you, but you will want it in the deeper holes.
3. Lots of food and plenty of water.  This series will take you SEVERAL hours to complete. The new, Hardcore Multi-cache is 3-4 hours by itself.
4. A lot of courage. These caches are not for the week at heart or those with balance issues.
5. Determination to proceed no mater what. If you turn around half way, you will likely be wandering out of the swamp by yourself .  That's when the gator will git ya .

 
The Original Hard Core Crew. You can find comments from their journey here.

The Route

The Journey will start at the posted location at 0800 or 8:00 a.m. for you less hardcore individuals.   We will then separate into two groups.

Group one will be made up of cachers that want to do the five original caches.

1. They will travel approximately 1.1 miles down Gulf Oak Ridge Trail.  This is an asphalt trail and will be the easiest part of your journey.
2. From here (the included waypoint) you should see a fire trail heading down a steep incline, into the marsh. 
3. You will follow this poor excuse for a fire trail to the first cache (Dragon Fly).
4. After dragon fly, things get pretty easy for a while.  Next in line will be (Island)
5. After this you will make your way, mostly along an old tertiary dune to (High Ground)
6. Up to this point it has all been fun and games.  From here things get really ugly, really fast.  You will go through deeper, slimier swamps here than in any other part of this journey.  The goal of course is (You'd have to be CRAZY!).
7. Now comes a decision. Have you had enough, or do you want to go for the Gold and get the multi.  If you are going for the Multi, save Cold Feet for last, it will be easier that way.  If you are not, the prepare for some deep water wading as you head for Cold Feet and out of the swamp.
8. Now all that is left is to find your way home.  I would encourage you to travel WSW until you get back to Park Road 2 and then head NW to get back to the starting point.

Group two will be made up of cachers that only want to do the new Multi-Cache.

1. This group is set aside for the bolder, more adventurous types.  All I will be providing you with are the coordinates to the first stage.  It will be up to you from there.  At each stage, you will find a "preform" zip tied to a bushy thing that was green when I put it there. The final stage is a 30 cal ammo can. I won't tell you how many stages there are or what route you need to take.  Your success will be upon you and your team.  The cache name is "Just Plain Mean".

I should note that the Cache Owner (me) will probably not be joining you on this journey.  Whether you succeed or fail will be entirely up to you. I have traveled that swamp many times by myself and have no real desire to do it again.

It will be interesting to see how many people sign up for, and follow through with this event.  When you sign up, please state when group you plan on being in.  Please don't kiss or feed my gators while you are out there .

We play hard !
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Image by Rita Naugher