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Nova & Nikki
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Their friends at the cache site
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In December 2008 this became a tribute cache to both Nova and Nikki.
A nice hike through a wooded area is necessary to find our first hidden cache.
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A few NovaNikki stats
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• Toledo's oldest active geocache
• Toledo's 2nd geocache ever created (1st was GC35C)
• Northwest Ohio's oldest active original GC Geocache
(1st created was GC2FD)
• Northwest Ohio's oldest active cache to be 1st found
• Ohio's 3rd oldest active GC Geocache (as of 06/12/2011)
(See stats explanation at bottom of page) |
Since is cache is located near private property, it must be accessed ONLY through Swan Creek Metropark.
Please start your search ONLY from one of the two public parking areas listed below and do NOT cross any private property.
Enjoy and respect this beautiful setting and plan your trip to conclude before sunset, when you may hear the screech owls begin their evening hunt. Please respect park hours, park rules and all "Private Property" and "No Trespassing" signs you may encounter.
This cache is placed so that NO DIGGING is required, just good eyes and a good GPS reading A good GPS reading may be difficult here when foliage is heavy.
Please bring your own writing utensil, as they regularly disappear from the cache. :(
When the mosquitoes are in season, you many want to be prepared for them, especially near the cache. Ticks could also be in the area, although they have not been mentioned in logs.
A few yards north of the cache, there is a nice vantage point where you can see Swan Creek at the bottom of a steep embankment. Watch for small herds of white-tailed deer in this area and near the cache, as they travel many miles between other wooded areas along Swan Creek. If you are observant, you may also catch a glimpse of red fox, chipmunk, mink, weasel, opossum and of course raccoon during your walk. Please do not feed the wildlife.
If you travel to the cache from the furthest parking area, you will cross the historic Fulton Line, which was once a disputed boundary between Ohio and Michigan. Evidence of this Line still exists today, although not evident here. The Toledo War of 1835 was fought over this boundary. If you are interested, take a look at ToledoWar for a brief description and links to more information on this curious bit of local history. At the time of the War, the position of this cache would have been only several hundred feet into Ohio from Michigan.
Please look inside the lid of the container for special instructions for this Geocache.
During warmer seasons there was once Polaroid IZone camera in the cache so you could take a picture of yourself for the log book. We occasionally scanned these pics to be posted here in the online logs. Pictures in the log book prior to October 2003, were NOT posted here unless requested so. Pictures taken after October '03 were automatically posted here, unless specifically requested otherwise. The camera is no longer used, as it became too difficult to maintain, and the film became obsolete.
NovaNikki Geocache Tribute History:
Nova died on July 25th, 2006 just two days before her 12th birthday. Nikki died on December 6th, 2008, a just before her14th birthday. They will be missed by all their caching and non caching buddies.
This cache was originally located on private property with permission. It was disabled for two months in the spring of 2001 due to downed power lines at the first cache location. The second location was fifty feet away in an area that became too low during flood seasons. The third location was actually chose by a geocacher without my knowledge about 40 ft away. Since it was a good location, I chose to keep it there. As I discovered later, this location was actually on Metropark Property. The cache was temporarily disabled in November of 2006 due to soaked contents. The cache was re-enabled with a new container, new contents, and a new location on March 13, '07. This fourth location was actually chose in July of 2006, so that the cache would be further from private property and barking dogs, and this time decidedly on Metropark Property. In late April of 2021, someone had moved the container 235 feet from the geocache location. Luckily we found it, and took it with us for some much needed maintenance. It was returned mid May, cleaned sanitised, with a new log book and 2 dozen new swag, Signature, and trackables to a better 5th location only a couple dozen feet only from the 4th location.
NovaNikki Trivia:
This cache was almost renamed, "NikkiNova" because it was the only way they would pose for a picture. Therefore their picture above was actually reversed, so the cache could remain "NovaNikki."
NovaNikki Stats Notes (explanation of stats from top of this page):
When "NovaNikki" was hidden on 03/04/2001, Geocaching.com assigned it the 1007th GC Code of GC3EF. A cache called "ancient lake" currently displays that it was hidden on 01/23/2001, which would make it the oldest active geocache in Ohio. However it was actually the 11,710th created GC Code of GC2DBE by Chuck Fackleman and Mark Robinette and later adopted by "swampy ranger". Therefore the "ancient lake" cache page was created 10,703 caches later than the "NovaNikki" cache page. Accordingly, we feel the hidden date for "ancient lake" should actually be 12/23/2001 not 01/23/2001.
Further evidence to substantiate the error is based on the fact that another cache was created immediately before it by Mark Robinette (one of the same cachers) on 12/23/2001 called, "glacial trailing" which was the 11,709th created GC Code of GC2DBD. This cache was also adopted by "swampy ranger". Since GC Codes are assigned sequentially, "ancient lake" was actually created after "glacial trailing".
Additionally, the oldest log for "ancient lake" is dated 01/06/2002.
Since both caches are dated the 23rd of the month, we surmise that this obvious date error may have simply been caused by accidently selecting the wrong month when the page was created.
Therefore in all probability, "NovaNikki" is currently the 3rd oldest active geocache in Ohio, and the oldest in NW Ohio. If this assumption is correct, then that makes the oldest active cache in Ohio (which it currently claims to be already on its cache page), "Shawnee Lookout Cache", hidden on 02/18/2001, and assigned the 794th GC Code of GC31A. Clearly much older than "ancient lake".
Another less probable possibility, is that "ancient lake" actually existed prior to 12/23/2001 on some other geocaching website or newsgroup that predated Geocaching.com.
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