Farewell Mushroom March

I've been putting out geocaches for about four years now.  Some are basic.  But in most cases I'm trying for more.  An interesting container or highlighting an obscure bit of local history.  A couple of series caches have been on nature themes, such as the Strange Fish series.

One such series I did a couple of years ago was called The Mushroom March.  There was a woodland trail known to be popular with people out looking for edible mushrooms, so I decided to make things a bit more interesting and have five geocaches along the way.  Each had a specific theme.  Each one got harder.

Geocaches are rated on a star system.  One star is easy, five is really hard.  So MushroomMarch-1 I figured would be walk up and there it is.  MM-5 would be devilishly difficult.

As it happens I succeeded all too well.

Most of the containers I placed "weathered in" to the point that my star ratings were not nearly hard enough.  

As this series was pretty isolated it did not get many visits.  It's a very pretty walk, but lots of mosquitos.  So recently I decided to discontinue it and add more caches closer to home.  Here's a retrospective view.   That is, if you can see 'em!

Mushroom March 5 - Illusions.

The slight angulation could be a tip off, the container was starting to sag.  It had not been found in 18 months.  For those who did it was very popular.  Over 60% Favorites rating.

Mushroom March 4 - Alice.  Sometimes geocachers decide to change things on you.  This one was left upside down which makes it far easier.

In its proper configuration it was at least the four stars I gave it.  A hunk of wood in the middle of a forest full of downed lumber..

Mushroom March 3 - Attack of the Mushroom People.  This one honored a cheesy Sci Fi flick of my youth.  By now your eye is trained in so of course you see this paltry three star...

Mushroom March 2 - Homer Price  This one you can see.  Note that it actually has mushrooms growing not only next to it but ON IT!

Which brings us to Mushroom March 1.  This is right next to the parking lot and as such does get a bit of traffic.  I was tempted to leave it in place.  It's only a simple one star difficulty, right?

Well maybe not.  Here, lets sweep away some leaves.

Anyway I did decide this one could stay "in play" albeit with a higher difficulty rating.  In case any intrepid geocachers have read this far, congratulations and here's an even better hint.