Out enjoying the day with a short hike
And short was all it was. About 10 minutes into the hike, I simply ran out of energy. I wasn't tired, I was breathing alright, I was just simply out of juice. So I turned around and headed back.
Today just isn't my day.
Trying for two FTF's - failed the first. Now about the second...
It was just one of those mornings. A cache had been published while I was out hiking yesterday (RoadRunner claimed it was his "Evil" side showing when I called him on it.) **Rake - RoadRunner is Nevada's Volunteer Reviewer, imagine my confusion when you talk about your friend!!** Then, this morning, he published another one, so I dragged b0neZ out to go grab both.
Unfortunately, when we opened up the first (a Bug and Coin Hotel) there was Team Bernsports signature. A quick look online showed he and his son bagged it last night. This area is just south of my notify circle of Found caches, so I never got the note. Off we race to the second cache!
There's a cute little park in the Indian Hills area that used to have an insanely clever cache by Churm - it was a log book in a baggie underneath the plastic cover of the rock bench. The glue had come loose, so nothing was holding the arm in place. Sadly, that cache was muggled, but it opened up the little bird-watching area to another cache.
We combed through the rocks for a good half hour - both the Garmin and the Delorme leading to the same spot. But, defeat was in the air and we gave up on the cache to head home, watch the season finale of Lost: Season 3 (I'm still catching up) and catch a nap before heading up to Reno.
The Nevada Rock Art Foundation was having their monthly presentation and this month was a pre-screening of a documentary done on Rock Art in general, primarily led by Dr. Alanah Woody. A mere month after she gave the thumbs up on the video she had the heart attack that claimed her life. The producer dedicated the film to her.
Afterwards I hung out at the Bennet's for an impromptu gathering and talked with a few of my friends that I only get to see for one week out of the year. And I learned that we're returning to Lagomarsino in MAY!! And continuing work in September - hopefully we'll get the groundwork done and begin the work up on the cliff face. 5 years at a single Rock Art site and the prize gem sits so close to completion. I'm hoping Gus will continue to let me stay with the GPS site of it. Not only is it using ArcPad mobile GIS software - but what geocacher out there wouldn't droll over being able to handle a Trimble with sub meter accuracy?! No joke, I could move a foot and it was reflected accurately on the screen.
Now to plan my hike for Friday - Maybe I'll do Prison Hill, or maybe I'll see about getting the Stonehenge cache that's been just sitting there mocking me.
Hoping this snowy excursion leads to one FTF.
This one was published a few days ago, but as most of the cachers around here are good weather hikers, I figured I'd try for a cache in the snow! At times, my feet sunk into the drifts up to my knees. It was fun.
Now I'm always of the belief that if a cache is hard to get to (ie, high terrain stars) then it should be easy to find (ie low difficulty stars) and vise versa. There's one hider around here that, after you hike up to wherever it is you're going, has you looking for a small or micro container hidden in a rock pile!! Now - I hate rock pile caches in towns with nearby parking. These are pointless caches. But to try to find one after a hike, when you're exhausted, and all you want to do is find it quick so you can enjoy where you are? I don't care if the ammo can is empty - just have the cache an easy find!
Why do I bring this up? This particular cache is a sports bottle that's been camoed and stuck into a small opening under a big rock with little rocks on top of it. And the hint? "Just look O.K."
I don't know about you - but with the level of inaccuracy GPS units tend to have and the shere number of crevices possible on the top of a decomposing granite hill - this made me annoyed. Thankfully, the coords were right on (though certainly not where I would have hidden a cache) and I was able to make my mark and set off back down the hill before all three of my electronics gave out.
Today was a good day - tomorrow might be a different story as my knee and legs realize just what I did to them today. :-)
2/26/2008
You found The Finger and The Thumb
Nice ride for another great cool day of caching with geospyder.
So, yesterday, I see a post from geospyder that he'll have today free and would anyone like to go out with him to snag a few new caches. What the heck, I replied and set the time. After seeing b0neZ off to work, I headed up to Sparks to hook up with spyder. We headed out for a great day of caching, watching the storm roll in, and hitting a bunch of caches. We even checked on a few of his that needed to be maintained. One we found on the wrong side of its hiding area - but luckily it survived the recent purge of "Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful" clean ups.
We finally called it a night when the rain started in and the wind brought with it chilly temperatures. All in all not a bad day and one I truly enjoyed!
Sorry this isn't longer - I've got a splitting headache right now - and I'm severely depressed about the fact that I had to come into work tonight. I can't stand gamblers - so answer me this - why in the world did I put an application into another one?!
2/22/2008
You found BMH's Replacement, Valle Verde Vista, Hole in La Plata, Upper Deck, the Springs of Richard, Simpsons Movie Series - Bart was here., Bed & Lunch ?, Ernie's Place, Simpsons Movie Series - The Dare, Let there be light!, Heli Overlook, Route 22 - South Bound., I "love" Bulls
You couldn't find den2's first cache, Anchors Away
Trying to find the cache.
Well, yesterday my hiking partner bailed (other commitment) and since I was dressed for job hunting, I kept that up. So, no hiking yesterday.
Today, decided to get going. However, there was a chance that I could get an application into a new casino that's being built. So a quick stop there and my interview was done. I totally wasn't expecting it so I was dressed in my usual hiking grubbies. Oh well.
Decided to head up and get the cache I had meant to on the 6 mile day hike. Pulled up to the parking area and hiked up to the trail. I felt totally psyched that I managed to get up to the trailhead without stopping and trying to catch my breath. I somewhat hesitant scramble up the boulders (as my shoes were now wet and muddy and I had a cell phone in my hand doubling as a GPS) got me to the site of the waterfall.
Course, at this time my bluetooth GPS decided to die, Tracky decided that my 15 minutes of fame were up, and my Garmin had a pair of bricked batteries. Joyous!
I crawled all over the hillside looking for the cache, even went so far as to carefully cross the creek at the base of the falls thinking it might be over there. Nope, no such luck. So, after 40 minutes of blindly scrambling around the snow and ice covered rocks and steep slope, I finally broke down and called John.
He directed me over to the area that I'd determined to be the correct spot from one of his pictures. He directed me to a ledge that I scrambled up onto while not being able to see the cache. John told me it shoul dhave just been there, mostly out in the open. I described the area as best as I could, and he confirmed I was in the right spot. However, no cache is to be found.
I think this one went the way of mine that I had up there previously. One muggled cache.
2/20/2008
You couldn't find Negative Ion Generator
Today's goal was Negative Ion Generator, the only waterfall in the area and vitually unknown to most Carsonites. I had a cache up there when GPS the Game was having it's players hide treasure chests around the country. Once that was over, I simply swapped out the containers and submitted it to GC.com.
3 miles later, I was still more than a half hour away - though only a half mile according to the GPS, however, the road bends and climbs - from the cache and I was at my mid-point for my time limit. Needed to turn around. Made it back to the house with time enough to realize my calves are now killing me. Luckily, Smith's is nearby and IcyHot stocked on their shelves.
Now, awhile back, JennyCraig came through Nevada and set some virtuals up at various SHM's (State Historical Markers) along Hwy 50. At the time all was good with those, cept these two were from San Diego and shortly to be transferred out to Hawaii (tough life, eh?) and they needed someone to watch the markers for them to make sure the caches remained findable. Since I had been following them that day, they asked me. Sure thing! Well, one had coords that were wrong and they couldn't get the coords changed in time before the policy changed and look - one archived vitual. The second had the wrong type selected and they couldn't get that changed either before the policy did and there goes another one. The reviewer at the time... well... let me just say I'm glad we have a local reviewer now.
The weather was cool, windy, and clear the whole way out. But once we finished the Rock Station Cache repair and headed past Cold Springs (only to learn the litle bar/restaurant/mini-mart had burned down!) the snow began falling. We climbed up into New Pass and the snow was really thick. Clearing the canyon, we discovered a desert draped in a thick white blanket of snow. A total and complete winter wonderland. Even highway 50 was a flat path of white.
So, once midnight rolled around, my Valentines present was a medium heart red Gorilla wearing a leather biker jacket with a Love Heart on the breast and LOST: Season 3 in his hands!
Decided today was the day to start hiking and grab Bear Rock.
Originally it was going to be Lori's Lookout as that's the cache closest to me that is yet unfound. Mostly due to the final waypoint being a hiker (at least until the gates open again in May). However, when I entered the coordinates again (after losing them already three times), I saw that it was further away than I thought. But, Bear Rock was the closest so I trudged up the hill, through the snow and the mud, to make it to a outcropping of bare (Bear) rock way up in the hills. There was also the second of two lonely trees up there right by the rock, so now I'll be able to spot that site while driving by on Hwy 50 below. Found the cache quickly, typical Duke.Johnson cache of a hiker followed by a micro/small cache. Thankfully this one wasn't a 40 minute search and I was able to make my mark and go focus on being at the site. Sat on top of the big rock and watched the traffic drive by while I ate my lunch.
On the way back, I turned on the TrackMe feature of the Tracky software that my dad introduced me to. Posted a note on both forums that anyone was welcome to follow me while I made the trek back. Funny, took over 2 hours to get my lazy bum up there, about 20-30 minutes to get back. It was steep!
Now that Bill's awake (somewhat) I'm going to see if I can talk him into going caching with me to pick up the remaining ones in town.
So far, I've found:
2/12/2008
You found Bear Rock
Got an email from Mama Gravy asking if I wanted to join her and CandyCorn on a trip out to Fallon. Well, DUH! Geospyder jumped on board after I posted I was heading out there on NGA.
The little dirty green Jeep took the lead and I navigated to numerous caches. I learned my lesson with BroncoCacher and WhtWolfDen you always load EVERYTHING when everyone in your group has different finds. Saves on headache as to who found what and who's memory to rely on.
Shot straight out Highway 50 and grabbed a couple right along the road. Then into Fallon. Time kept us to the main corridor through the town. I know I barely made a dent with the 25 caches I picked up. CandyCorn got 30, and I forget how many Gravy and Spyder got. The fun ones of the bunch were the ones on the flood gates. Tricky little caches. Only had to call John twice, thankfully! We also got spotted by Fallon PD while rustling around in a bush looking for a bison tube.
Mostly it was a numbers run and a day to get out of the house and enjoy one of the first beautiful days that we've seen in awhile. Spring is around the corner and it's starting to show.
Today we hit:
2/8/2008
You found Reading Is FUNNNN!!!, Senior moments everywhere!!, Shm #215 Dam, Lahontan?, Lil House Tin , Flood Gate: Brush Garden, SHM # 19 Ragtown , We're not in Vegas anymore. , Jinxy-Poo, GAS CACHE, Undercover, "Minty" , Spear Bar , Flood Gate:Old Rice RD, RICE PATTIES, Casey's Bottom, Flood Gate: Coleman Road Walkway, Wal-World , Raley's Believe It or Not, Everything and Meds Too, Jezabel's Cache, American Way to Bank, Fcc , Safe Way to Shop, Rocks Galore, Park Cache
