Geocaching in Kanawha County

Libby and I went geocaching again this morning. It was quite a change from last weeks adventure. Last week we had to wear thermal underwear. Yeah, I know that was oversharing but it was true. It was in the 30’s last Saturday and today we needed t-shirts. It is supposed to reach 72 today. I love spring.

This morning we geocached in Kanawha County. We live about an hour away from each other so we met in the middle to hunt. Our first two caches were hidden inside Little Creek City Park in South Charleston. I had never been to this park and was very impressed. I hope to go back with my grandson to let him play and hike when he gets a bit older. I can’t wait.

OK, OK , OK I will get back to this morning. One thought of Caleb and my mind goes off on its own. I swear I can’t help it. Being a grandma is wonderful. ::::::::::sigh:::::::::::::

This is Libby with our first cache. It had lots of toys and trinkets inside. We had a nice little hike to get our blood pumping. Going in wasn’t too bad but coming out was a nice little incline.

The second one caused us to hike in and climb a steep hill to a rock overhang. If you go for this one watch out for the poison ivy. Dead vines were clinging to all of the trees. Just because the vines are dead doesn’t mean that you won’t get the poison ivy. Trust me on this. I am highly allergic and love to hike.  This is Libby at the second cache.

While going down the trail we stopped to enjoy the scenery along the way. I don’t see how people can’t enjoy hiking. With scenery like this how could you not?

After these two inside the park we went to other areas in South Charleston and located three more. I took this pic in a lovely little hidden spot that had someone not hidden a cache there I never would have noticed. This was carved into a rock cliff. It is also a clue to finding the cache.

The last two caches I did not take my camera and I am kicking myself for not carrying it to the last one. It was on a steep hill and I didn’t figure I would enjoy hauling it with me. The cache was hidden inside a plastic skull and the person that hid it was very creative. They had attached plastic spiders and worms all over the dead tree that it was hidden near.

I really enjoyed my morning and you can definitely say that Libby is not a quitter. Despite having two prior surgeries on her knees she never wanted to quit. The last one caused us both to have to stop frequently to rest on the way back to the car. I will definitely be feeling it in my old grandma bones tonight but I would not have missed my morning adventures for anything in the world.

Mamie Thurman

On Saturday I went on an adventure with a good friend from work. We both share a love for ghost hunting and I wanted to introduce her to Geocaching so we combined the two things. What is Geocaching you ask? Geocaching is a wonderful adventure of looking for hidden caches all over the United States. All you do is go to www.geocaching.com and put in your zip code and you will find hundreds of hidden caches in your area.

 

The website will give you the GPS concordances and you simply enter them into your handheld GPS and go out in search of the hidden cache. I have over 700 hidden caches within 50 miles of my home. I can search for years before finding them all. The website will tell you the level of difficulty the cache is so you can judge if your children would be able to participate in that particular find.

 

Back to telling you about Saturday. In Logan County, West Virginia there is an old story of a woman named Mamie Thurman who was murdered and her body was dumped along Old Mine 22 road. She had been married to a member of the local law enforcement but was having an affair with approximately 18 of the prominent men in West Virginia at the time of her murder.

 

You can read all about her story of the murder, who was framed for the murder, how her body was removed from the cemetery and is now missing and all about the many scandals of Logan, West Virginia. Back in 1930s, Logan was a booming town and many millionaires lived there. It was also heavily populated with the mob and crime was rampant. Imagine if you can that it was during prohibition and there were speakeasy’s everywhere. You can read all about her story here.  http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/4478/murder1.htm

 

First we went to the cemetery where she had been buried because we had the concordances for a hidden cache. Unfortunately, because of all of the hills and rocks the GPS could not register and we did not find the cache hidden there. I was really amazed at how poorly this cemetery had been maintained. Back in the 1930s this was where the elite buried their loved ones. Now it is evident that it is just a place where local teens party and ride their 4-wheelers. The mausoleums were empty and many of them were filled with empty beer cans and bottles. Graffiti had been sprayed on them and it was sad to know that people had chosen to be buried there and that they were being so disrespected this way.

 

 

 

Next we went to find another cache. This one is told to be where Mamie Thurman’s body was believed to have been found. Libby and I stopped along the way and ate our packed lunches. Then we began searching along Mine 22 road. When we finally got close to where the cache was we parked our car and got out and walked. We did get some funny stares from the men who drove by. This area is mainly trafficked by mine trucks and the miners on their way to and from work. They must have thought it odd to see two 40 year old plus women walking along side the road with a GPS and a camera.

 

We found the trail that led to the cache and then we used the GPS to tell us when to stop along the trail and look for it. We quickly found it under some rocks. We left a small toy and took a patch that said, “Logan County” on it. We also signed the log book. We walked around and talked about where Clarence must have gone so long ago to dispose of her body and what could have possibly actually happened to Mamie Thurman. This is a picture of Libby with her first Cache find.

 

 

After we had walked a bit we found this mural on a very large rock. We had walked past this several times and never noticed it. It was shocking and still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

 

 

Check out the view from this location. Back in 1930 this view was not here. Several years ago the Department of Highways blasted out a large portion of the mountain to put in Corridor G. This view is what the result of that was.

 

 

I can’t say that we experienced anything ghostly. We really didn’t expect to really. The only odd experience that I had was once I had returned home I discovered that my camera battery had been drained. Usually I can take more than 800 pictures on a battery charge and Saturday I only took about 35. Many people have their own beliefs about Mamie Thurman and claim to have seen her spirit walking along the mountaintop where her body had been dumped so long ago.

 

I hope that she is at peace somewhere. Her murder was unbelievable in the way that it had occurred. If you read her story and have your own ideas on what happened to her please share.