Christmas Weekend

What an absolutely amazing adventure I had this weekend!!

So, it all started on Thursday when I had a great conversation with my buddy about some future plots we have in mind. Bwhahaha!

Friday, I went out with my Dad to IHOP. They are FINALLY back open! For those reading this who don't know, back in September, IHOP was the place where tragedy struck our dear precious Carson City. But now, they are open again, proving that the wounds will heal. At least there was a ton of patrons all enjoying breakfast, and I got my blueberry pancakes again! Dad and I then just kicked back and relaxed until it was time for me to head up to Tahoe and hang out with my Mom, Stepdad, and the neighboring friends for Yule dinner! Yum yum yum, oh the ham was delish and the company very enjoyable!!

Saturday had plans kind of going back and forth and ended up just caching along the highways with two great friends. Mostly it was just a chance to grab those caches along the pavement that always get passed because we're heading off somewhere else, and they're so easy and quick that "We'll get them another time!" Today was the day. Over lunch I think I surprised one of my friends by saying something he hadn't heard before. Dear sweet little me came up with that?!? I did love the look on his face though. PRICELESS!

Sunday, being the big Christmas day, had my dad and I going out on our traditional holiday "Go get lost" adventure. We discovered a road that headed south out of Fort Churchill down through Adrian Valley. Never been there before, let's go check it out! We found a valley filled with cottonwoods lining old railroad beds and head high sage brush swallowing the old fenceline that benchmarks were set next to. Several roads took off from there into parts unknown, but our goal today was the valley. Once we escaped out from Wabuska, we headed south to Yerington and a cache set out by the NvNuts ... don't ask, it's a Goobie and Randy thing. But hey, it was an adventure and THAT was the important part of the journey. Dad and I also finally decided we were tired of just looking at the neat tunnel on the side of the highway and we were going to drive through it! So we did. :D Then, headed further south past Smith where a cache called Talking Rocks had caught my eye. Sure enough, petroglyphs!! Happy wolf!! After we got home, I noticed that all of Yerington was clear, except for this one puzzle sitting on the confluence. So, we rented the movie Holes, solved the puzzle, and drove to Reno to claim the find. I like BIG empty areas where there are no unfound caches.

Monday, I hooked up with my buddy again to go cache around Fernley. It was mostly just a numbers run and clear out an area that is filling up again. So I think we got 19 caches in the south east portion of town, with only two we weren't able to find. Not bad, not bad at all.

And now, my laundry is done, a new anime series is sitting in the Netflix queue (Tears to Tiara) and all my pictures are finally uploaded. Take a look back through the last three entries and they all have pictures now.

Hope you had a great weekend as well!!

Christmas Weekend

Christmas Weekend

Share your Adventures with SpotAdventures

Adventures in high places

Winter, the season I usually dread due to the high amounts of annoying white stuff and the low levels of the temperature. Well, for some insanely bizarre reason there is a noticeable LACK of any sort of precipitation and a decidedly LOW average temp. So what am I to do when I am not huddling underneath a heavy blanket while lying in front of the fireplace?

Go caching of course!

Saturday, my Dad and I head out to finally conquer the cache that has been sitting on the south side of Highway 50 for YEARS and I have yet to get. Oh it's not due to lack of trying, I had previously tried twice for this cache. But the first time my car overheated due to the steepness of the road and the second time a spring holdover snow drift covered the road. But now! There is no snow and the road was wide open for the Jeep to climb climb climb all the way to the top of Fairview Peak! Grabbed the cache, the peak register, and the replaced benchmark at the summit! Whoo hoo!! Took some fantastic pictures while up there as well. but the coolest, COOLEST, sight we saw was the herd of 10 bighorn rams! Got LOTS of pictures of them and enjoyed being able to see our beautiful state animal.

Afterwards, we went and finally cleared out the new cache at Wonder, then the two on the road to La Plata. I am stoked in that aside from Mt Augusta and Jobs Peak, the southeast corner of Churchill County is now CLEAR! I have two at the far north end of Dixie Valley yet to get, as well as the peaks, before the entire eastern half of the county is cache free. Slowly, slowly, I am getting the county cleared.

Also had some fun getting a seasonally appropriate picture to send out as a Holiday greeting come Sunday. Of course, with the lack of snow anyway, I had to get creative. Dad came up with a great idea. Hehehe

On Sunday, Puzzleman and I decided to head south and clear out a few remote caches he needed and I knew how to get to. Since we were heading that way, I checked to see if BrazAm wanted to go with and she jumped at the chance. So the three of us headed up into Sunrise Pass and grabbed one of the more remote ones deep in the mountains, before turning back and heading down El Dorado Canyon. This is the canyon that separates Carson and Lyon county. I hiked down the canyon on my big spring break hike-a-thon and then Dad and I jeeped down it with the Reno 4x4 folks. So, as Puzzleman navigated his Jeep north through the canyon, I was relating where the modified rigs went down in the creek. Soon, we came to a spot where the creek had washed away the road, so the trail went down into the creek before coming back up on the other side of the washout. Normally not a problem, just drop down, splash around a bit, and then crawl back out. But wait, this is December, and it has been ungodly cold...

What is it about me navigating Puzzleman to the brink of an ice filled zone??

Thankfully he had learned his lesson about listening to me, and we parked to investigate. Not wanting to risk it this time, I asked how far away from the cache we were. 1 mile. Hey, it's a road the whole way, let's hike! So off we go, sliding across the ice when the trail crossed the creek, and just enjoying the chilly but sunny day. I love lithe cache down in the canyon because of the archway that it is hidden in. Lots of pictures were taken, and I got to play a bit with BrazAm's new 3D camera. Ohhhh spiffy pictures!! The hike back was uneventful and we headed back out to civilization.

All in all a great weekend spent adventuring with my Dad and my friends. Whoo hoo!!

Fairview to El Dorado

Minor cosmic event

Oh, yeah, forgot about the lunar eclipse. Guess I got so wrapped up in my trip to SoCal I forgot to link the pictures. Oops.

Enjoy!!

Lunar Eclipse

Desert Pinstriping

This weekend really wasn't that much of an adventure overall, though Sunday did make up for it. Friday and Saturday spent time hanging out with friends and generally doing not much. So we'll just skip those days.

Sunday had me and my dad heading out to the Desatoyas again. There was an FTF up the to grab we had previously tried for, but the snow kept us out with only one rig. So, we returned with two! I led in my 4Runner and he followed behind in the Tacoma. Yes, we're a Toyota family, though dad now has a Jeep for the serious stuff. Anyway!

The cache is called OMFG and the author goes on about how this is ATV accessible, serious Pinstriping guarenteed, etc. sounded like standard remote Nevada to us. Rated a 1*/5* it looked like a good adventure. So off we went! The canyon was one I had previously explored, but I didn't get too deep into it due to a large boulder that nearly filled the road and the overgrown willows on the other side. But we we went, squeezing past the boulder and diving nose first into the thick groves of willow and aspen. Pinstripe is an understatement, I think the whole outer coat of my paint was steady scraped off! Narrow snow covered road, a couple tight washed out areas, and a stream crossing for good measure.

We got up to the saddle and noticed the ground cover was very sparse, and just a lot of rocks. So, we continued up and parked at the summit of the hill with the cache a mere 300 feet away. Score! FTF was ours!

Then, we went back down to the saddle and eyed the road going to the second cache of the day. But it was way down in the gully, the snow was thick on the road, and there was no way we'd be coming back up that road in that condition (see I did learn something from ice hell road, look before going over the edge). So I hiked down and followed the road. The GPS showed a fork about half way, but when I got there, the road clearly went to the left, and the "fork" was a barely visible game trail that may or may not have been there sometime within the last decade. Someone was on drugs when they digitized that road! Gah!! But, I was on foot and my boots can go anywhere! Got to ground zero where there was an old cabin just there, and a pine tree with a huge ammo can under it. Cache found and I was heading back up the road.

Now the funny thing about this cache was it was placed on June 10th, 2010 per the log book. There is a signature from June 19th, 2010 that was their name and the names of the owners. The cache was published on June 22nd, 2010. I think that made up the FTF after publication and the first to log it in over a calendar year! Go us!

Back up near the top, I was really struggling. I was sweating up a storm, but it was so freaking cold (23* when I checked) that any time I opened my coat to cool off the sweat would freeze. I was getting nauseous and light headed and ugh, need heat NOW! I forced myself up that last 300 feet and collapsed into the truck shivering like mad. Ugh, I hate cold.

But we got those two, and after a quick bit of research, we're able to log the two Lonely cache challenges in Reno on Monday. One required 20 caches with less than 20 finds on them, the other was looking for a cache that hadn't been found in over a year. Done and done!

Pinstripes

Thanksgiving

This week was a short week due to the holiday, so allow me a moment to start this blog off right:

I am thankful for my Dad (who does some pretty awesome things and willingly drives me all over kingdom come in search of random ammo cans) and for my Mom (who is always fun to be around and makes me laugh every time I see her).

I am thankful for my best friend who, through simply being a part of my life, has significantly improved my quality of life. Our adventures are epic and our friendship the most important relationship I have.

I am thankful to my other friends, both online and off, who always give me a reason to smile. My circle of friends is small, but everyone is a special person to me and I value the friendships I have made.

I am thankful for a steady job, a solid roof over my head, and a reliable income as I know that these basic things are not available to far too many people.

So, with all that, now how did I spend this weekend?? In the most remarkable adventurous way, of course!!

Wednesday (yep, the weekend started early all right), I get off work and head into Carson to grab a quick bite to eat before joining the gaggle of geocachers in the mod approach to a night cache. About 18 (?) of us headed up to work on Bogyphobia and enjoy a pleasant evening in the hills north east of Carson. I had a blast, even if my asthma was really making life miserable for me.

Thursday, my dad and I get up early and head out to the middle of nowhere. I had received an email for a cacher in Canada, asking for help with a local puzzle they have. He asked if I would go out to a set of coordinates (or if I knew someone who would), use a metal detector or similar device to locate a short bar of steel with two clues tacked onto it. Sure, why not? Sounds like fun. So off we go! Trouble was, it was WAY out there - and that's by my standards that think Austin is a great place to get lunch. Anyway, it turns out that our trip was a good one, as about 30 miles west of Eureka, we see a huge dust cloud explode right over the hill from us. The car ahead had run off the road, flipped, and rolled a few times, before coming to a crumpled stop. The driver was banged up but OK, though unfortunately her little 8 month old puppy did not make it. We called 911, waited with her (my phone being used to call family), and filled out a statement for the NHP Trooper that was first on scene. Afterwards, we continued to our destination where I got to use a metal detector for the first time!! (Surprisingly, I was able to rent one from work. I really have to utilize that outfitter more often.) Anyway, I set my GPS at the given coords and my Dad stuck his hiking pole into the spot to measure out the "couple meter" search radius. When the loop of the metal detector kept getting close to the pole it would beep. After a few times, i chucked the pole away, but the beeping continued! The steel bar was RIGHT THERE! That was some pretty sweet coordinates!! Then, we headed out to an old charcoal kiln where we got FTF on a four month old cache. Beautiful spot! We left there at 2:50, and then five hours of straight driving later, I arrived at my Mom's house for a late turkey dinner and conversation with her's and Jim's friends. Back home to crash before the morning!

Friday morning rolled around way too early, but I did get to harass Puzzleman. He swung by and picked me up to head down to Rachel for a weekend of major caching and events as Moose Mob is FINALLY back in the states for good. The 6 hour long drive was TOTALLY worth it to see my buddy. We got down there after grabbing the Earthcache in Tonopah and the Virtual in Goldfield, secured our rooms, and headed out to go grab the rest of the icons in the area to fulfill the "Busy Day" challenge (find 6 different types of geocaches in a single day within a 100 miles of Rachel). We succeeded, found 9 FTFs to boot, got stuck in the sand, were rescued, continued playing around the playa, and ended the night with 45 caches. WOW!

Saturday morning found us grabbing a quick breakfast, finishing loading up all the field notes from yesterday, then heading out. The goal? The two giant geo-art cache series that lie north of Rachel. First we tackled the UFO, a huge 51 cache hiking series that is the shape of a large UFO. There was barely a trail from the other cachers that had done it, but we finished it in time to head back and grab a snack/lunch. Around that time, I got a call from BrazAm that she wanted to come down and join us. I stressed the distance involved, but she decided that hanging out was worth it. So, I talked Puzzleman into changing our plans a little bit so we would finish the Alien Head early and be available when my friend showed up. Off to the Head we went! Though, damn, there's a road now out in the field that goes straight to every cache in that series (all 51 of them). So, we made REALLY good time hiking around that and clearing out that bunch! Then we headed north and picked up a slew of caches along the road as we pushed to reach another 100 milestone for Puzzleman. The sun had set by this point, and the fingernail moon was fleshed out by the backlight, so a full sphere was up there with Venus right behind and a brilliant outline of the mountains gave the whole view a nice setting. The evening was BEAUTIFUL! Around that point, BrazAm showed up, we grabbed a quick dinner, then back out onto the road to try to finish tonight. But with the two long hikes for us, and the 6 hour drive for her, we were exhausted. But at least I got to put to use the double bed room I had as us girl's hung out and chatted.

Sunday morning, another event, and we filled up the Jeep from nvtriker's extra gas can before heading out to finish the road from last night and grab a bunch through Rachel. we cleared another milestone for Puzzleman, and got the Busy Day challenge for all three of us. Then it was off back down the road to home. We stopped in Tonopah for lunch, then again in Hawthorne to clear out a five stage, 5 star difficulty, multi along the Walker Lake. Score, we got that one before it got too late, and now it was a mad dash home before any of us fell asleep. Then, when I got home, I discovered my dad had succeeded in getting a switch installed to raise or lower my power antenna while the stereo is on, so I will stop breaking it when off-roading through trees. I was stoked and played with the switch all the way home. Antenna go up, antenna go down, antenna go up ...

Total for the weekend? 200 caches found! Wow, that certainly destroyed my previous Best Weekend numbers, as well as my Best Day! I think before hand it was 60 something, now it exceeds 130ish O_o

Anyway, that's the weekend. Enjoy these pictures!!

Thanksgiving Adventure

Weekend class and cache

Sometimes, things just happen.

On Wednesday, I have class at the college's High Tech Center. Our instructor informed us that the weekend class would be starting at 4pm on Friday. HUH?? Seems I forgot to put something into my calendar.

So, Friday rolls around and I wake up and go through my normal routine of reading Twitter. It starts like this...

Brush fire reported in the Caughlin Ranch area.
Evacuations ordered for western Reno.
Caughlin Ranch fire raging out of control.
Homes threatened, wind warning in effect, evacuation center full, schools closed.

Yeah, Western Nevada is having a rough year. I get to work early, as I need to be in Carson early. Today was also a day I got to go out into the field, where the sand dunes are, and right before the raging winds fanning the monster fire in Reno arrive in Fallon. Ever been in a sand storm? Yeah, fun ... NOT!

Saturday, I finish up the class and get my antenna fixed on the truck (literally, the wind was so bad, driving into it going to Carson *broke* the antenna of my truck!), then I hooked up with Puzzleman to go attempt to find his glasses that were blown off his face yesterday as he was out caching in that wind. We failed at that, found three caches, and were an hour behind finding the FTF on the fourth cache just down the road! I think it's time to go home. But tonight was also the Shogun/Henderson fight on UFC so I went down to Bully's and sat with Tarry and Jac watching the fights. By luck another friend of mine was also there and I got to meet her husband. :-)

Sunday, I met up early with Puzzleman and we headed out towards Fallon. He has a goal (dare I say even a plan?? *inside joke*) to reach his milestone by Wednesday, so when he and I head down to Rachel to meet up with MooseMob, he can time everything right so where each of his next two or three milestones can continue his Mystery Icon goal. If you were to look at his profile, the last bunch of milestones have all been Puzzles. He likes having the mystery icon for each one. Anyway, we'll head down there to work on the Alien Head, the UFO, the Busy Day challenge, and a few other goals that may or may not include any of the ET caches, we'll see.

Oh, Sunday. Yeah, so we got out here and headed south towards the Carson Lake to cut over the Boonjug Mountains and grab a few caches around the geothermal plant, then headed south towards the public access through one of the ranges, and out along the power line grabbing my caches I had scattered out there. Then back up north towards Sand Mountain and into town, finishing off the needed number of 31 caches today. We stopped for pizza and made our plans for the weekend. One of the few times the new geocaching beta maps have actually proven useful.

This weekend has actually been kind of quiet, mostly due to the sudden class that I had forgotten about. The weather has also dropped from mild summer into winter rather quickly so it was cold, cloudy, and generally dreary. But, I got to spend time with my dad and my friends, so all was good.

And next week is a three day week ... YES!!!!

Pictures!

2011-11-20 (by Eye-Fi)

Veteran's Day weekend

WHAT an awesomely full weekend!!

Okay, so everything started Thursday night after work. A long time ago, I thought one of the signs of being an "adult" was being able to go out to shows, or bands, or events and just go with no worries. Well, Churchill County High School is putting on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and today was opening night. So, after a delicious dinner of girilled salmon, I went! Great show! Only issue was with the sound, but the actors were really energetic and the kids were a joy to watch. I am glad that I went to enjoy the local talent.

Friday, my dad came out and we went caching in the far remote regions of Churchill County. I have a goal of clearing out the entire county of caches and I am down to about 30 or so. The first one we got was Shoshone Pass to Dixie Valley, WAY the freaking far out there!! Then it was down Edwards Creek Valley to go try for two up in the foothills of the Desatoya Range. Unfortunately, there was too much snow up that way, so we'll have to come back later. We backed out and continued down the valley to Eastgate, whe we turned up the old route of Highway 50 before heading up another valley to a place called the Dens. Apparently, there are two creeks, Big Den and Little Den, and on flows down into a steep canyon and thus forms a great big waterfall at the back of the canyon. Took the easy hike along the trail to get there, skipping across the creek. Ducking under trees and falling leaves, and crunching through dry snow. I got to the first waterfall, a small one down below an outcrop that the trail went over, and I looked around - a saw an ammo can! I had found a cache that was archived 4 years ago! I'm claiming the smiley! Continuing the hike, I got way into the back and my jaw dropped! The huge waterfall was cascading over the rim of the canyon and slicing through a thick layer of ice that had formed along the outer edges. The pool at the bottom ws ringed in icy formations built up by the spray. It was a beautiful location! Totally made my day! But once I got back to the truck, my dad was talking with two hikers who were being intoduced to geocaching. So I shared the pictures I had just taken. Then it was time to head home. A quick stop at my house before going to Carson to meet Bern to work on the new night cache in the hills above Centennial Park. It's a 3 mile hike along the walking trail up there that bouts you face to face with some disturbing phobias. Good thing the weather was nice, the company better, and the puzzles easy. I had a lot of fun on that one!

Saturday morning woke up and had one of Mom and Pop's huge cinnamon rolls! Oh that sugar high lasted all day. Since I had no plans, Dad and I went up to Reno to sign the log book for the County Challenge. We'd already signed the real book in Vegas, but I do silly things like that. We continued north, just exploring, and came out in the large off road area north of Antelope Valley. And there is a sign that says Moon Rocks! Ohhh let's go!! We got to the site, eventually, and there was a TON of vehicles and people all watching these awesome rock crawlers doing their thing in defying gravity. So we hung out for awhile and watched, taking a lot of pictures and generally marveling at the ability of these machines. Afterwards, we headed back into Reno and I must have been more tired than I thought as I slept all the way back to Carson. We hung out at the house, while working on a new geoart concept, before I ran over to hang out with Puzzleman for awhile before the big event for the night. Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company presents ... THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!

I was in HEAVEN! But as I could write entire pages on that show, I will spare you all and get back to the weekend. Summary of the show was posted on Twitter during intermission: DO NOT MISS,

So, Sunday, I met my friend BrazAm early at Starbucks and we decided to head out to the Dead Camel mountains. Knowing Puzzleman needed those caches as well, we pestered him until he showed up also and we hit the road! First stop, Fort Churchill to grab a cache along the river. Then it was off to one that has been a thorn in my side since it published, Fat Man's Misery. Endless looking at the map failed to reveal a road to this one and it was a few miles from the road. But, I am either getting better at interpreting aerial imagery or there was a new image because today, I SAW A ROAD, and we parked 300 feet from the cache! Yippee!! Then it was up into the Dead Camels. Now, the fun part was when Puzzleman got to a section of road with the whoopty whoos created by the dirt bikes. Knowing I rarely have my seatbelt on, he took off and sent his little Jeep bucking like some wild bull with me trying my best to hold on for the entire ride. WHEEEE, that was fun once I gave up trying to do anything and just bounce with the little Jeep. When he finally stopped I think all three of us were busting a gut from laughing. We got down to business then and found five more caches before heading down the mountain. There was one more section of bumpy road, but being on the edge of the mountain, Puzzleman didn't hit it hard. Unfortunately, it was one of those whoops where if the first one isn't taken just right, the road takes control of the rig and throws you around like a rag doll until you pass through it. Since I still didn't have my seatbelt on, I cracked straight into the roll bar above me and my still aching shoulder was slammed into the bar. Let me tell you now, I really hate those sections of roads where there is nothing you can do but hold on. Ouchie. We finished up in the range, and headed back down to grab lunch and download a new query. Next goal? Lahontan! We got down into the back section of the reservoir and wound our way onto the sandy narrow roads above the shoreline. One cache not found, two more found, then we tried finding a way down to the next one. We took a new (to us) road and were having a great time, until we found the No Trespassing sign in the most inconvenient place, NO turnaround! The first attempt was made at a million point turn (very narrow road and in the bottom of a gully) but when the edge of the road gave out and pulled the Jeep forward, the plan was made to just use the bushes for stability and go cross country back up to the road and turn around that way. However, once the Jeep left the road, the soft sugar sand took hold and we sank! A few attempts were made at self recovery, but the sand was just too soft for branches, rocks, or anything to provide support and so help was called for. We were eventually rescued and on our way back to Carson. I dropped BrazAm off (who may question the sanity of doing out with me again) and both Puzzleman and I took my Dad to dinner as a HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you.

All in all an excellent weekend and I had a truly awesome time!

Pictures!!

Veterans Day weekend

Day of the Dead and the Living

Honest, the title isn't as depressing as it sounds.

So Friday is payday and a Friday as well, so things started out fantastic! Until I looked outside. What is that WHITE STUFF on the ground??

After work, I decide to head back into Carson, but not before swinging by the dojo to let them know that a lot of stuff is going on and I'm not able to attend and remained focused on what is being taught. Figure it best to put that on hold verses just neglecting to show up every week. Denise seemed supportive but also tried convincing me to continue studying. I don't want to quit and I want to continue learning, just... Yah, other stuff. Met up with Puzzleman in Carson to see his new tattoo and mid way through our conversation he learns he needs a cache for that day on his calendar. Eek, off we go to Washoe to grab one in freaking cold weather at 11 o'clock at night! WTH?!?!

Saturday morning woke up way to early and decided to go get a pic of the tattoo, forgetting what time his morning schedule was. So instead I go drop my truck off at Les Schwab to get a brake check done as Toyota reported problems (good news, nothing worth commenting on was found). So, while that was being done, got the picture I wanted and went to breakfast. Retreived my truck, then we went out to grab some cache around Dayton and clear out a small section south of Highway 50. Some fun times had there and I really enjoyed getting way off the road and into the backcountry. We finished up with one out on the Savannah's Peak road, before heading back into Carson to go to the Nevada State Museum El Dia Del Muertos (always thought it was Dia de Los Muertos, but they didn't have the "Los" in there) to watch a group of Aztec Dancers celebrate their deceased loved ones and give an opportunity to the audience to honor those they have lost. Got video of a little bit of it on my Qik page. Afterwards, we went down to grab Chinese dinner at my FAVORITE restaurant, China Jade Horse, before coming back in time to meet up with BrazAm. She's a new cacher I met and have been going out with lately and totally enjoying my new friendship. She's the one who took the pics of me up at CommRow on Wednesday. A great time hanging out with her over tea and just chatting about stuff going on. Later, I also met up with Puzzleman to arrange details on Sunday's adventure. Then dad and I were off to see Puss in Boots. Not a huge fan of Antonio Banderas, but in this, I love the voice he gives to that feline. MEOW!

Sunday woke up due to the stabbing pain in my shoulder. My arms have been aching since CommRow which was to be expected as I normally don't climb boulders, but that ache has for the most part faded, except for this stinging pain right above my shoulder blade. It hurts to even pull the gear shift back. Tarry asked me where is was and pushed on a few places on my back, until he hit right on that muscle and shot pain down my arm. He suspects it's the supraspinatus muscle and advises me to see a doc on it as I may have done something to my rotator cuff while on the wall. DAMN!

Anyway, woke up early, met up with everyone at the AM/PM and off we went to Sheckler Reservoir. Puzzleman needed a ton out there and I needed two that I was having a hard time getting out to. So I led him through the maze of twisting dirt roads all around that sea of sage and sand and we eventually cleared the area of caches. He also took the time to play in the sand with his new tires and new confidence when driving off road. I think I got a knarly video of him plowing through a washout area. He also raced fast through the straight stretches and I almost felt like the navigator or an off road rally racer, "Left coming up quick, okay, right! Now an S-turn to the left and take a right at the fork!" it was GREAT! Definitely had a good time.I think in all we grabbed 13 caches in two and a half hours before lunch. LOL afterwards we headed south and he cleared out the area north of Bravo 16 and we began the trip up into the Dead Camel Mountains. Unfortunately, just as we got up into them, the day's storm caught up with us and it was raining/snowing, windy and freezing cold. So we called it a day and headed back into Fallon to retrieve my truck and they could head home.

All in all a great weekend, and I am definitely looking forward to next weekend as it is a three day weekend and I get to caching with BrazAm! Whoo hoo!

Here's my YouTube channel, the two most recent videos are Aztec Dancers and Bugs-Eye View of a Jeep.

Pictures are currently uploading, so they will be along shortly.

Day of Dead Camels

Scaling a wall

So, a short while back, CommRow opened up in Reno. This place took the old Fitzgerald's and morphed it into a huge rock climbers paradise (IMHO).

Outside is a massive climbing wall that extends from the second floor to the roof. And on the second floor are two huge bouldering walls in the rough shape of a room sized boulder. So, this aspiring rock monkey had to go play.

Today, I had an appointment in Carson and so took advantage of the time to get my truck fixed. Two broken engine mounts, lovely. I met up with my new friend BrazAm and we hit Reno to have some fun. Headed up after a stop at Starbucks and I got the chance to introduce her to map reading by making her find where we were and also navigate us to places along our route. We chatted and talked about everything as I took us to downtown Reno.

Inside, got the low-down on the place (food and bars open at 4pm, but the walls were open). There's a $12 day use fee that opens access to the inside and outside walls. BrazAm settled in to take pictures and I got onto the wall. I am seriously STOKED that I was able to not only climb, but climb several times, and a couple times even reached the top level of holds. I worked mostly on the flat surface but a few times tackled the convex wall, though I was not strong enough to try the concave wall. There was also a huge overhang to play on, but yeah, not now!

Afterwards we headed to Pho 777 for lunch, and I went for boring and grabbed simple Wonton soup. More chatting and talking then off to go find the Ides of March geocache that also needed a bit of maintenance to return it to the correct condition. That was simple but BrazAm took a second to work out the puzzle part. Then it was a stop at REI for me to spend my last birthday present and grabbed a hand exerciser to help strengthen my fingers and forearms for holding onto the rock easier. I also picked up a mini little waterprrof bag that my phone fits perfectly in for when I go out on the kayak. That'll help me answer my phone or take and send pictures while on the water. Been having to remove the phone from the dry sack until now.

Back home found us hanging out with Puzzleman who we caught eventually after he had to mess with us as to where he was. Sometimes I question why I put up with that silly man! Talked about our fun day and made plans for more exploring as I want to drag BrazAm off road and find the more remote and fun caches and unique and beautiful areas of this state.

And now for school, but I had to share because I had an absolute blast today! Whoo Hoo! (definitely made up for the news from the appointment today... :-/ )

Me on the Wall!

CommRow

Up a canyon!

Another fun weekend of exploring.

Originally the plan had been to go out on Sunday up into Goni hills to see how Puzzleman has improved over his years of off road experience. But those plans fell through.

So, to start with, on Friday I headed into Carson to grab a quick cache, dinner with my dad, and then hang out with my buddy. There a times when one can have an uncomfortable conversation, a regular conversation, a silly or superficial conversation, but then there are times when the conversation is everything that a discussion nees to be. Open, honest, and mature. I had one of the best talks I've had in a long time and it was GREAT! I miss that. That is one of the best reasons to have a truly best friend. Anyway, I digress!

Saturday morning my dad and I headed up into the area south of I-80 outside of Fernley to continue my goal of clearing out Churchill County. Sunds like a massive project, but I am less than 60 caches away from that goal. I hope to finish it soon-ish. Maybe by the end of the year?? We headed out to the old Central Pacific rail bed, then over to the hot springs of Nightingale. From there we visited a cool outcrop of rock and the site of an old salt works. Afterwards we crawled up to an old site of one of the Transcontinental Airmail beacons. Then back down to the valley to find a huge basalt boulder than as soon as I found the cache, I dug out my new rock shoes and scrambled right up the face. OMG are those sticky!! My toes fit into the tiniest little ledge and I had full control. WOW that was awesome! Then we discovered an old mine site (in the middle of the valley, go fig) and explored what should have been an emergency airfield. After that we came across a tufa field. According to the cache page, they were called Mugwumps. Totally weird pillars of tufa that are a blast to climb on as long. You have gloves! Ouch, that stuff is murder on skin! Back home, I went to see the UFC fight which was boring until Penn's bout came on. Overall a great day and a lot of fun clearing out more caches.

Sunday, the original plan fell through, so we headed south to Rickey Canyon outside of Wellington, where the 2006 Rally went through. They left behind a line of caches that has been sitting on my map every since! So, grabbed a friend of mine, and up we go! Having been there before, I knew what the scenery was like, but neither of my friends did. The look of WOW on their faces was incredible to see. We found a handful of caches up there, mostly Rally ones, a few that had been placed before and after. Then I found a new road to explore and we headed straight down the mountain side into a really beautiful canyon named Minnehaha. It was so awesome down in there we had to place a cache. That road exited into Topaz Ranch Estates where we set off in search of food (and another cache) before heading south through Wellington and grabbing a few more along the highway, while most were drive up and grabs, two proved interesting. One had a very unique camo cover and the other had us running back to the Jeep in fear of it being driven away without us! Thankfully, all was good and all but one cache found.

Another awesome weekend with great friends. I am really lucky to know such good people who make me smile all day.

Pictures!!

Fernley to Rickey

Another year older

And deeper in debt. Except my debt is actually getting taken care of, and I'm starting to tip towards (gasp) having a higher savings balance than debt! Wow!

So, my mom called and asked what I was doing this weekend. Well, I was heading down on Saturday to go replace a cache around Highway 6, and then Sunday the plan was to go kayaking. She says, "oh, so you won't be home at all? I want to take you to dinner."

Um, why.....? :thinkthinkthink: OH!!! is that this weekend!?! Crap, I forgot.

So, Friday night found me heading up to Tahoe to spend the evening with Mom at the Flight Deck enjoying nummy appetizers turned entree and listening to the band. Sadly, it was too loud for me, so I spent the night just watching. After we got home, mom and I talked for a bit before my stepdad came down and we all chatted and laughed way to much. I left there around 10:30, and headed back down the hill. Texted my best buddy before discovering I had a horrible case of insomnia! I ended up playing several hours of Mahjong, and watching about 5 episodes of Torchwood's Miracle Day before realizing it was 5:30 and why fricking bother anymore. I just got up.

Saturday, dad and I headed south to go repair a cache of mine that all week I had been receiving comments about it's poor condition. The drive was surprisingly short and the cache was soon replaced. On the way back, we stopped to get a former DNF and then two others up in a granite boulder field. This Rock Monkey was in Heaven!! I scrambled all over the first area, after finding the cache, then scrambled around the second area, after not finding the cache. I suggested we go up to REI when we got back into town to look at some proper rock shoes for me.

I had also dropped my truck off for an oil change and I was finally able to listen to the voice mail about two hours south of home. "Hi! We found out what is wrong with the truck. There are two broken engine mounts." Stupidly, my first thought was "did they do the oil change?" but at least we now know why the cruise control has been having issues. Ok, no off-roading for me until I get that fixed. Then up to REI we went where my dad found the most expensive rock climbing shoe they sold over in the Garage Sale bin. 1/2 price, SCORE!!! I have me real rock shoes now thanks to Dad's gift certificate and Mom's cash.

But while we were there, Puzzleman was also and he and his wife invited us out to join them at a Ruby River steakhouse. Sure! So we sat and chatted and had a great time over all. After we made it home, I jumped back into Pman's Jeep and (with a quick stop over to the Brewery Arts Center for a personal project), headed back to Reno to go caching. By the time we found four regular caches and he final to an astronomy based puzzle, Puzzleman had his 3000th find and I was finally having the lack of sleep catch up with me. I zonked out hard all the way home.

Sunday, I grabbed a quick breakfast with dad and met up with fobofobic before heading out to Lake Lahontan. There was a newish cache in the Narrows on an island and she had mentioned wanting to take her kayak out again. So, we found a previously unknown road that accessed the lake from the north, set up one truck at the end of the paddle (not my poor crippled baby) and launched into a little lagoon heading for the island. We eventually found that cache around noon and set back out onto the lake. I've never been on a body of water so calm and smooth that the clouds were reflecting perfectly! We were treated to cottonwoods changing, loons diving, and property for sale along the southern shore. Must investigate that one! We grabbed lunch about an hour later and continued down stream towards the second island and cache. I am still in awe over how perfect the day was. Few clouds filtering the sunlight, glass smooth lake, no wind at all, and out enjoying an AWESOME day with a friend. Pulled out at 4:30 and headed in to do a boat swap before going home. Ran into Puzzleman who had been caching south east of the lake today and we chatted for awhile. Got home, had dinner, and now am sitting kicked back in my chair and uploading photos.

I also got my new Travel Bug in the mail today, the NW Cache Buddy "Wolf". I had to have it!!

Tomorrow, I have a honest sit down dinner plan at P.F. Chang's in Reno. Yummy!! Boy am I glad I am not on a diet!!

Pictures from this weekend!

Boundary Lahontan

Death of Diabolical

This weekend was a truly awesome adventure from Friday night on.

The big event was this was to be my Diabolical Journey's last weekend. So I wanted to ensure that it went out with a busy weekend vs just slipping into obscurity.

So, Friday I met up with fobofobic, Charlie Baltimore, and Find Waldo for a run up into the darkness. As usual, it was a lot of fun for me and for those who hadn't done this type of hide before (unless they were experienced from my first Diabolical and then I really had fun with them!) the only glitch was the final was lying out about 20 feet from where I had hidden the replacement. Ah well.

Saturday morning spent the time with Dad having breakfast and just talking then driving around town going to the Halloween shops. I do love this time of year. Puzzleman was free in the afternoon so we went to go explore some areas he hadn't been in before and clear off some caches that were littering both of our maps. Had a great time bouncing around the hills. That evening was the monthly coffee meeting and we had a pretty good turn out. I liked how it came in two waves which meant those few of us that stuck around the whole time got to meet a lot of old friends. Finally, Snake and DarkStar showed up and we headed off for the second run of Diabolical. Aother fun night and the glitch there was both guys set to work immediately with the UV light before finding the first fire tack. BWAHAHAHAHA

Sunday, headed out again with my buddy and a friend of mine recently converted to geocaching. We went to Churchill Butte to clear off the caches up there. Also headed to Lahontan to grab a few new ones there and see an area that reminded both Puzzleman and I of SANCTUARY!!!! LOL stopped and had some pizza in Silver Springs before continuing south and into the backside of Churchill Butte. Now, you would think after all this time, Puzzleman would know when I suggest a road and state I haven't been on it before, he should seriously consider accepting the offer. As it was, he didn't and we bounced up a narrow canyon wash road up to a ridge line road that literally ran the spine of the ridge. After the third down and UP, he looked back and me and stated "You do this to me, every time! We really need to reconsider our relationship!" LOL needless to say we survived and found the cache. Back down at Fort Churchill got us the few in the park needed. Then across the river to grab my last one needed at the Buckland Trail. Oh how I love slogging through mud and muck in a cow field! But I did drag over a fence post to serve as a bridge through the softest part.

Back home, after stopping at Starbucks to log some finds, we played around Dayton, grabbing caches and just chatting about stuff. All in all it was an awesome weekend and one I am overly thankful to have shared with great friends.

Now, NEXT weekend is going to be busy busy busy!! But I'll fill you in on that then!

Pictures!!

Churchill Butte

Columbus Day weekend

Wow, what an amazing journey!!

It started a few weeks ago, when I posted on Twitter that my dad was selling his dirt bike. I actually got a response asking about it and introduced AZTech to my dad. Not to long after, I hear that we'll be making a trip down south to deliver the bike, and maybe go caching around there.

Then, I get an email from Roadrunner threatening to archive the cache of nvtriker's that bears my name! The nerve! Unfortunately, I missed out on FTF for that find, but it was there and plans were made.

I was also only 20 caches away from my 4000th milestone. Hurm, we'll be passing through the heart of the ET Highway power trail... I think I can get 20 caches.

I was also only one cache away from filling my Fizzy grid for the Well Rounded Cacher challenge, and the one I need to down south, as is the final. Hurm, this plan is starting to take shape!

So, Friday night after I finished my workout, my dad and I tossed all the gear into the truck and headed south to Tonopah. We pulled into town just before midnight to find EVERY HOTEL booked solid! The debate became, do we keep driving or just pull out into the desert and sleep in the truck? Thankfully, I had read that the Mizpah Hotel was reopened and so stopped in there to find two very helpful ladies welcoming us with the news they had rooms it was only their second night accepting guests, no one knew they were open. So, we got to stay in the Senator Key Pittman suite, where story has it that he passed away just before he won the re-election, but the party leaders kept his body on ice in the room bathtub until after the results were in. Truth is he died of a heart attack in Reno well after the election, but why ruin a good story!?! The room was lush, huge soft iron frame beds, an eagle claw tub, and a great overview of main street. In the morning, the staff even had coffee waiting for us right outside our door.

The next morning had us admiring all the history of the building, from old walk in safes, to original checks signed by various celebrities who stayed at the Mizpah during it's heyday. And we found that one of the gal's behind the counter (associate, supervisor, manager? Never asked!) is a geocacher and wants to put one at the hotel! There is so much history in that holding it can easily be done without crossing into the commercial line. It would be fun to set that up with her.

We met AZTech and two other guys who's Geo-names I forgot. Dad and Dave finished business with the bike with the rest of us chatted and then we headed off to have breakfast and continue the conversation. Always a blast to meet fellow addicts of this hobby!

Back on the road, I needed to get some very specific caches along with non-ET Highway caches as we went down. I had already spotted the WherIgo in Rachel, the NVWolf and Team GeoDragon caches, an Arizona cache to fill in the map, the Ugly Corral to fill the fizzy, and the Well Rounded Final. That left me 15 needed. Then Dad suggests grabbing the Nevada Cacher Series of those who we know. So Puzzleman, Sierradogs, nvsrvyr, and LaughingGravy were added to the list. GeoJeepers, habu!, and MooseMob were also considered but those were placed too far north, grab some miscellaneous ones along the way and we soon found ourselves heading up to Mt. Irish for my goal of the NevadaWolf cache.

We came in off Highway 6, through Joshua Trees, that gave way back into short stubby sage, that soon filled with Juniper Trees as we made our way up the mountain. A very tight narrow road was cut right out of the side of the mountain, offering great views of the tabletop summit. Then, coming around a blind corner, I let out a piercing squeal - a rustic, broken down log cabin was sitting right there! WANT!! Jumped out to take a ton of pictures and admired the craftsmanship that has kept that place standing and fairly warm inside despite the logs starting to warp and separate in some places. Continued up the mountain to some amazing views and parked at GZ. That cache was just like the rest of his series, a preform with a log book, but I loved the location!! The ground was littered with small rocks, so I built my name out of them and signed the ground. Hehehe We continued down the eastern side of the mountain and I started telling Dad about the NRAF's recording project down here on the mountain. We started seeing rocks that looked a lot like those in the slides I had worked on and as we came to an area right beside the road.... PETROGLYPHS!!! So had to stop and take a ton of pictures! The day finished with us heading south and grabbing enough caches to get me up to 3,997. Ended with RoadRunner which I thought was cool. We decided to pull into Mesquite for the night, that way we were right at the border to jump across and fill in the map.

The next morning, I gathered all my PQs that had run. The plan? Head to AZ for a cache under the interstate, then out to the corral, then grab the final before heading north on 93, and meeting nvtriker in Alamo. Then off to the famed ET Highway and grab only the 100's of that monster trail. Spend the night in Tonopah and play around on Monday before heading home.

I discovered that the AZ border was only two miles away and we were already on the road needed for the first cache. So, we got to go play in a tunnel that cut under the interstate to allow access to the off road area to the north. The cache was inside and we had fun driving back and forth through the tunnel. Then it was off to the Ugly Corral. Course, it wasn't so bad, and the location was absolutely beautiful! I love the painted mountains down here and the Joshua trees just totally make it. But alas, we didn't see any desert tortoise while out there. The Well Rounded Cacher final was next (and my 4000th find!) then it was north to Alamo. Of course, grabbing a few others along the way not that I didn't need to hold off on my finds.

We met nvtriker, who is now the owner of the GJTB, who brought us some yummy peach spice bread as we stumbled around looking for a cache on a cattle guard. That was our one DNF. After a few preforms on the side of the road, Dave suggests heading to his Pale Raven cache, where teamwork was required. It involved climbing up onto some major boulders. Silly me tried to see if I could do it alone, but I don't quite have the arm strength to pull myself up there. Totally the favorite of the day! Then, we were back on the road, heading to highway 375 - the famed E.T. Highway and it's geocaching power trail.

Now, I have no interest in finding caches every 528 feet along a stretch of highway that just goes and goes and goes. But, I couldn't resist picking up a few. So, Dad and I decided to get every 100 and a few others like the Black Box, or Quarks. I started being able to figure out that we were traveling about a 100 feet per second based on the five second time between little piles of white rock on the side of the road. We stopped for lunch at the Lil A'Le'Inn in Rachel and took pics of the coins mounted on the wall before continuing on our way. I was finally able to figure out a few more things on the GPS Kit HD that I use on the iPad and from 4:59pm to 10:08pm we grabbed the beginning, middle, end and all 100s of the trail.

Back into Tonopah, fill up on gas, and while I am crashing from exhaustion, my Dad suggests heading on home. If he wants to fine, but I am going to sleep. We left Tonopah around 10 something and got home just after 2am. I think I will spend today just zoning out!

Great adventure!!! And here are the pictures (some of them, need to find all of them between my camera and my phone).

Columbus Day roadtrip

Peanut Butter

This story just came to mind after reading a conversation on LiveJournal

*********

I guess you could say its like allergies. Longing to be like everyone else and enjoy the things they can while knowing all the while that you have to stay away.

Like when you were a kid, and spending the night at your friend's house in your first sleepover. Everyone is there, all your best friends, and the feeling of happiness is just lifting you right off the floor. And Timmy's mom, because it what Mom's do, had so lovingly baked fresh home made peanut butter cookies. Carefully pressing that fork made grid into the top of each as they set out on the cooling racks. But no one could wait for them to cool, the smell of cookies called to the children like a siren and soon the kitchen was filled with eager hands and joyous faces. Those that had them before snatched up the biggest and best, tossing them back and forth in the air to cool the cookies enough to hold before popping them in their mouth and ending up with crumb caked lips. Others, less greedy, waited until the cookies had cooled and hardened then gingerly lifted them off the racks and savored each and every bite, letting the goodness last. And you, who had not had fresh peanut butter cookie before, took one of the ones left over and inspected it carefully before taking a few tentative bites. The taste filled your mouth and the warmth spread down to your belly. You try another bite...before the instinctive signal reaches your brain that something is wrong. The kids are all reaching for seconds as you hastily put the unfinished cookie down. You can't identify it, but while the others are clamoring in joy, you are beginning to panic in fear.

And so you learn, you are different. You don't belong. You have to be careful in a world filled with that which causes you harm. Sure, others say they understand, they can make sure you don't become exposed to peanuts or the oils. But then you find the candy with peanuts, or friends invite you out to the newest Thai place. And so you begin to hide, withdraw, feeling its not worth it. Even when you are on a plane, and everyone is enjoying their little packages of nuts, you sit huddled against the window, afraid to talk, afraid to touch, afraid of the risk involved.

Dare you risk shaking hands with the person who just had a handful of Planter's? Should you insult the friendly neighbor who brings over a family dish with Mom's secret ingredient? The world grows cold and lonely as you seek to protect yourself. Always wishing you were like everyone else. Wishing you could join them and not be afraid, free to choose anything from the menu, able to not have to ask or explain when the questions are asked. Instead, you are alone in a world that few can understand.

Yeah, something like that.

One Mega Multi

So I'm starting to clear out my 10 mile radius around the house of caches. I think I'm down to maybe four or five? One of which is a long 12 stage multi called Fruit Basket Upset. The cute thing was when this published I was watching an anime series called Fruits Basket. Really cute, I recommend it.

Anyway, because of other things with caching, I can only hunt down so many micros before my tolerance dries up. As this was to be 11 of them, I stretched finding them out over the course of a week. Two or three a night after work seemed to work out very well.

I did learn a few things though. Never wear sandals in the S Line Reservoir area, the ground is more ants than dirt and they bite. And walking through soggy meadow filled with cowpies while still in said sandals is really gross.

But in the end I found all the little pieces of fruit that had been scattered around the area.

However, the really cool thing was the sheer number and variety of birds I saw. One night, I watched an owl sit on a headstone at the nearby cemetery. Another day I drove by a bunch of pelicans and herons filling the water (as my mom called it, a puddle), scared up another large brown owl who drove right in front of my windshield, and chased a murder of crows up the road.

Glad to have another one marked off the list!

Last weekend was a dud, just did not feel like doing anything. So Saturday went out with Dad for dinner, Sunday lounged around under Puzzleman came out and we went caching around Sheckler Res as that's where both our clusters of caches were. Knocked out a fair amount out there though we did have a sprinkling of DNFs along the way.

Pictures!

Reservoir Caching

The ice road from Hell

First, allow me to take you back to January.

Yeah, that's about where the intelligence ended....

So Puzzleman comes up with this great idea of going up into the Virginia Range between Hwy 50 and Interstate 80 (most of Storey County) to attempt a 5*/5* cache that's up there. Some idiot who shall remain nameless agrees to go with him and navigate to this difficult cache.

Up, in the mountains, in January. (Just want to make sure that is clear.)

The trip from Hwy 50 to the summit was uneventful and actually resulted in finding a few difficult caches (difficult in terrain not in hide) and found us on a fantastic dirt road heading up into the mountains. We're heading north, which means the face we were on was the south face of the range. It's January, remember...

Once we got to the top, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the entire range, golden grass and white snow under a clear crisp blue sky. (Didja catch that S word?) Our road leveled out as it crossed the saddle between two minor peaks, before switchbacking down into a gully, and then winding it's way northward deeper into the range. We crossed the saddle, and switchbacked down the other (north) side, into a gully, of a snowy range, in January (can you see where this is heading? Just wait....) The road bottomed out and turned back north and magically morphed from a 'road' to a muddy slip-n-slide that was on the side of the mountain. Wheeeeee not.

We live! And we keep going! O_o

Ah, the next fun is a long flat meadow, with a quaint little pond off to one side of the valley, grasses and trees and sage and a dark chocolate brown river of goo heading straight across the lowest point of the meadow. Yeah, let's try driving 10 feet over that way to make sure we don't sink! Rocks? Sage brush? Naw, that is anti mud protection and Titantic insurance.

We made it!! Let's keep going!!! Seriously, we've come this far and we're almost to the cache! O_O

Ok! So, we are now about four ridges deep into this mountain. The unnamed navigator says there is a road that goes straight to the cache! Ignore those first two roads, they take us out of our way... Even though yes they do go to the cache also... Eventually. Look, all you have to do is go that way and turn, it'll be easy! And then we can get out of here! Really!

One of these days he'll learn not to listen to me.... Her... Uh, the um unnamed navigator. Yeah.

But, in this case, he listens and follows the road as it topped out on a hill, and headed down again, into a gully (deep gully) with us on the north side of the steep road, heading down ... an ice and snow covered road in the shadow of the mountain. I'll let you read the title again of this post. :grin:

Now obviously we made it as I am typing this now, but as it is now September and this was in January well, we weren't taking any chances!

So fast forward to today! We're back, intending on actually finding the caches we originally headed out there for. The one rule for the day, AVOID THE ICE HELL ROAD. And we did, I think I did pretty good navigating as this time around I actually downloaded the maps and satellite images before we headed out. We found one cache for me down below, another down a great little canyon, the main goal of the day (after a text a friend), another that sent my lungs over the edge and resulted in me unable to speak due to lack of oxygen, a botched attempt to drive to three hiking only caches, and look we even headed back down the ice road. The winter was not kind to that dirt road. It's now rock.

But the fun wasn't over! Noooo, at the bottom of the gully was an old mine. We knew this, drove through it before, and knew about the locked gate that the power line road bypassed. But why are there concrete barriers on the power line road? Why is there a 5 foot berm on the power line road after the barriers? Hurm, sign.... "Property of US Bankruptcy Court. No Trespassing". Well, that's not good, LET US OUT!! Needless to say, we got out, eventually. And no one shall be the wiser.

Onward to locate two more caches, that are on such a new dirt road, Google maps did not have images for it! So while I was trying to navigate one way, the road was happily going wherever it wanted to go. I gave up after two false tries and just told Puzzleman, "Go that way." We finished our adventure after going up yet another very bumpy road that the recent off road race had not be kind to and found a one last dirt cache before heading north to a few more caches once we hit pavement again.

All in all an excellent day off road, spending way to much time being beaten up by the Jeep as it bounced over some harsh rocks, and generally enjoying this late summer day. We managed to get back into Sparks just as the rain started and the Jeep got a bath as we drove through Washoe on the way back to Carson.

I will say one thing though. On a hot summer day, at the top of a ridge after far too long looking for a micro, chocolate chip cookies hit the spot!

Ice Hell Road

Rings in the Desert

Yesterday slept in way to long. After deciding to actually get up and do something, I just wasn't motivated to put the fear away. So, head out to go place a cache!

But first needed cache stuff. A stop by Big R got me a new can and I bumped into a Boy Scout fundraiser, where half the group were fellow caches! So hung out and had a burger with them before swinging by the Dollar Store for swag.

40 miles later, I was on the southern edge of Copper Valley where I had seen a bizarre shape on the desert floor. A huge, 30 mile wide, 'bullseye' was carved through the sagebrush, the concentric rings narrowing in to the point where I was set to place a cache. I also found concrete slabs there in the middle of no where.

Tis a mystery!

Labor Day Adventure

WOW! What an awesome weekend!

Got off work early on Friday, so it was home to swiftly finalize packing before Dad showed up to pick me up. Off to the store for supplies, then met up with Puzzleman and BigTruckCrew. Off to Dixie Valley!!

In all, we had Dad's new Jeep, BTC's Orange Scout being towed by Puzzleman's truck, and the Gold truck pulling the toy hauler. Camp was located at the far north end of the valley near an old ranch (as is almost everywhere in that valley) tucked up against the mountain in a gravel clearing around the corner from a corral.

Once we set up the camper and the tents, we headed out for a shakedown up the Steam Shovel trail to grab the cache up there and see how things were going to be for the weekend. Nice and bumpy trail heading up and I almost would have had a KILLER video of Dad's rig crawling down a large boulder. But alas, I hit the wrong button.

Back at camp, the night's meal was a Dutch Over pizza prepared by BTC while Puzzleman and Dad set up the scopes. The only light in the area was from the soon to set moon and the geothermal well to the far north of us. We were able to see Capella, a binary star, and four of Jupiter's moons in the scope (P'man's wasn't aligned during the day and the sight's batteries died making alignment at night difficult), as well as a full bright Milky Way stretched from one end of the valley to the other.

The next morning after breakfast we set out southward to find an old mine against the hillside, a beautiful slot canyon (I LOVE LITTLE BOX CANYON!), and head up the Bobcat trail to find a few caches up in the mountains, Job Crossing and especially Cabin in the Stillwaters, that I have been wanting for a long time! All were found, pictures taken, and we were off back to camp to settle in for a hearty steak dinner and more stargazing (yay, got the sight working and now we had a computerized scope tracking anything we wanted!)

Sunday morning we set out early to head up Cottonwood Canyon and the goal for the weekend, Bolivia or Bust. We made it to within 2 miles of the cache, before a *large* boulder stopped both rigs in their tracks. Even BTC, our skilled off-road guide, couldn't coax the Scout to defy gravity and make his way up the rock. So we hiked the remaining distance. I love my Keen sandals! While the guys hopped back and forth across the creek, I just walked right through it! HA! However, the cache and the site were both a let down. The site only had to buildings, one stone the other wood, and the cache was soaked and destroyed. Still, the canyon made up for the disappointment at the end.

Headed back and broke down camp before returning to town and a delish treat of shakes and malts as we all said farewell for this trip. Totally totally awesome weekend and I am so glad that we got to hang out before the weather starts creeping it's way back towards winter.

Dixie Valley Adventure

Wow, let there be crickets

Has it really been 6 months since I've updated this blog? Wow, sorry about that!

Actually, I had forgotten about this until recently inspired to share it with a friend (Hi Qute!) and saw there really wasn't anything recent to share. So allow me to bring you up to speed, and when did I get 9 followers on here???

I think I am mostly settled into the new routine, though it has been a lot duller than I had hoped. Discovered a few new roads to explore, including one that cut through one of the bombing ranges out here, so of course I had to put a series of geocaches through that section. The road wound it's way back into the far hills and effectivelly blocked the lights of town, proving a great stargazing spot! As it wrapped around the mountains, the road topped out on two peaks and also went through a roller coaster section before ending up at a huge corral. Further down, the road became a partial stream bed and twisted and turned through a canyon that opened up into the salt flats at the bottom of Pucker Canyon. Plus found an 'island' in that salt flat where an old trough and corral stand amid the greasewood and Russian olive trees.

Another road I found goes straight up the eastern side of the valley and ends up way north in Coal Canyon outside of Lovelock. The ghost town of Coppereid lies along that road and has some interesting ruins. I cruised up there the night after the Rally and just hung out in the desert admiring the stars and watching the satellites crisscrossing the sky. Was serenaded by a pack of coyotes while out there.

Placed three new night caches out here that provide an introduction to the different techniques that I have seen. Still debating on bringing the Diabolical series out here, especially now that I have figured out a way to bring the phone stage back. Need to find an area where I can place them that is far enough away from town to block the lights, but close enough that I'll actually get visitors. Maybe I should explore Ramsey a little bit more. Can't think of a more remote area!

Summited two new county high points, for Churchill County and Mineral County. Desatoya Peak in Churchill proved to be an interesting access. My dad was with me as we headed up, and while looking at the topographic maps I actually found a pictograph site along the way! Lots of red and black shapes and squiggles on the cave wall. I need to go back and record it properly, but I had a mission today. We found the road that got us within a mile of the peak (two actually, Desatoya North and Destoya itself, the north peak is 6 feet lower than it's twin) so I slung on the backpack and headed off on foot. Followed the cow trails that snaked all over the mountain side to the saddle where I picked up the existing cache and then went to the highpoint to claim the peak register and the summit benchmark. Hid my own cache up there (yet to be found) before going down and up again to the North peak and claimed the cairn up here. Not a bad day overall!

Mineral county has a weird highpoint. The true highpoint is Mt. Grant at over 11k feet. However, in order to summit it, one must seek permission from the property owner - the US army. Sooo instead, Corey Peak, at 10,500+, serves as the accessible peak, and there's a road most of the way. Dad got the turn to just about 800 feet below the peak before the switchbacks got too tight and I hiked the rest. Another benchmark, another cache (this oe has been found) and another highpoint under my belt!

Have managed to get my kayak out a few times. Went paddling down the Carson River both in Carson and after the Lahanton Dam. Also paddled Lahanton so Andy could get the cache on the island. And! We went out into Washoe Lake and found the old pylons from the historic causeway that used to bridge the lake back in the Comstock days, THAT was a trip! It's always one thing to read about history, but to actually look down and hold onto the supporting pillar for a roadway that no one has seen in generations! Wow!

Work also has me bouncing around the country. Been to Florida, San Diego, and Texas for conferences. In Florida I managed to grab a cache there, and in Alabama and Mississippi, as well as a virtual outside the Atlanta GA airport. Go me with the states! In San Diego I met up with jahoadiandjohn and biked the Silver Strand and hiked around some interesting areas... Including an underground flume! That was FUN! In Dallas I didn't get out much, didn't feel up to it, but did grab a virtual outside my hotel and one at the Grassy Knoll where JFK was assassinated. Also got to hang out with some friends that just recently moved to Plano so it was nice seeing friendly faces.

Also started taking Danzan Ryu Jujitsu, just starting my third month and also just earned my first colored belt, so yay me, I'm a third degree blue belt! I'm really enjoying it, and while some of the instructors are focused on the martial side of the arts, I am wanting to focus on the internal aspects, where this is a means to improve my character and internal balance. The self defense stuff is just a nice bonus.

I think that's it. Haven't been out playing much lately as I'm trying to save money, since gas was eating me up. But this weekend, I'm going to go out playing with Tarry, Greg, and my Dad to go explore the ghost town of Bolivia and also play around Dixie Valley. This'll only be the second time I've gotten my tent out, the first being the campout at Fort Churchill where it RAINED! (Bonus, rainfly WORKS!) but it'll be nice to use my tent for more than just the spiderweb anchor point it's currently serving as.

By the way, you'll notice all the pictures are broken on my older posts. I had two Google accounts and decided to merge them. Well, the transfer didn't work seamlessly and so all the links were hosed. Here's the album for the pictures, but it is in some random only Google understands why order,

Desert Geocaching

Nothing more to add. I am hoping now that I know this works on my iPad, I will have no more excuses to not keep this updated. I am doing things, I promise!

Or just follow me on Twitter, it's easier! http://www.twitter.com/NevadaWolf

March 20th

First day of Spring

First day I did not have to go back to Carson. I suppose that means it's official now, I am a Fallon resident.

Had breakfast while waiting for nvsrvyr and puzzleman to show up then we headed off to the area locally known as Cache Alley.

But i'll fill in details later on that adventure. Goodnight for now!

March 19th - Moving Day

Today's the day. The final move.

Got everything boxed up last night and woke up early this morning. Just laid in bed a long time thinking, wow, I am really doing it.

Breakfast was delish at Mom & Pops, then we went to grab another UHaul trailer. Went shopping at Office Depot, then Bed Bath and Beyond. Rarely does my girly side come out but ohhhhh decorating!

Today was also the day to bring Kit out. She was not a happy camper riding in her carrier for an hour, then being let loose into a strange house. Oh poor traumatized kitty kat.

Back to Carson for a graduation party. Fun and good times hanging out with former co-workers!

Now I am sitting here in my new house, the living room somewhat organized, and thinking I really should have gone to bed long before 2am.

Ciao!!

March 18th

Another morning commute, though I missed a major accident by 15 minutes. Eek

Cache today was down an old dirt road that reminded me of an aged railbed. Followed it after logging the cache until I came to two spots where a birdge was needed and not there. Hurm

After work, unpacked a bit more and headed home to grab Dad then off to Reno for the REI sale. Picked up a pair of Black Diamond poles (tired of killing the Wal-Mart versions) as well as a pump for the bike and gloves for the kayak.

Then to Best Buy where I was flat out lied to THREE TIMES!

1) "Yeah, this cable will transfer pics and stuff." Box: This cable is not designed for data transfer.

2) "This one only prints. The copy button is fake, its the generic faceplate they make. See, its the same on all three models." Box: Print, Scan, Copy, and Fax

3) "The two ink cartridges are cheap so you don't spend a lot on ink." Box: 4 ink cartridges (Replace only what you need!) that average $28.

Attention store employees: It's OK to admit you don't know something, just find the correct answer! Arghh!

Was so irritated at that point that I just wanted to go home. We had a decent snow storm last night, it was low and slow all through Washoe. Came home and packed up the last bits of stuff. Today should do it... I am so tired of not being able to do anything besides drive and work.

March 17th

Still commuting, so still waking up at 5. Soon, soon, I can quit doing this 1 hour 15 minute drive.

Grabbed a cache that was a giant syringe and the rubber had swollen so bad I couldn't get the plunger out! Arghhh I will not break the cache but come on!!

Work was Fab as usual.

Headed home and found a new portion of Old Hwy 50 that I hadn't been on before. Then found two benchmarks, one called Squee even had the intact wooden tripod lying nearby!!

Home for dinner and then off caching with Puzzleman in Reno! Company definitely makes caching better!

Day 55 of my streak, two more and I'll pass Puzzleman's record. Sweet!

Going mobile...

Hurm, wonder if I can get back in this habit if I have the app staring at me from my phone's home page?

Stay tuned!! :-)