Lake Wilson &
The Tree at Prairie Grove
January 31, 2004
Last spring when I got heavily into Geocaching I set this goal for myself of finding every
single cache within 60 miles of home. At the time it was an
obtainable goal, but then the sport really took hold in the
area over the next six months and the number of caches more
than tripled. This fall I made a compromise with myself and
adjusted the goal to every cache within 40 miles of home. With
several new caches springing up weekly, the total number within
40 miles by this weekend was 61. This morning I set off for
Fayetteville to reach that goal, and made it. It's a relief
too, 'cause I'm getting a bit burned out on the whole thing.
I left the house around 5:30 so I could
catch the sunrise at Prairie Grove State Park. I was there last
weekend and spotted this huge old bois d'arc tree (aka horse
apple, osage orange) out in a field by itself, and wanted to
get some pictures of it in the early morning light. I wonder if
the old guy witnessed the Civil War battle.
After that I headed East to a geocache
hidden in a Fayetteville's Finger Park. Then it was off to
Fayetteville's Lake Wilson to hike the Clark Loop trail to the
final geocache. This must be a popular place considering I
encountered two hiker couples on the trail, even though it was
a cold January morning with temperatures barely in the 20s.
There were some great views, particularly at the upper end of
the lake where it was covered with ice, and the ice covered
with light snow from earlier this week. Places like this are
why I'll continue to participate in Geocaching, though with
more discretion.
