Desert Geocaching

Fire and Ice

2012-01-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

Here's the adventure, the story comes later:

Just cruisen

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One big long adventure!!

2012-01-16T22:43:00.001-08:00

What an amazing weekend!!

So, early in December, I start emailing a fellow named Mike over in Livermore from http://offroadexperience.com/. After a lot of fun talking about offroading, the Nevada desert, and a few train wrecks, he invites me out to their company party this weekend. Wo am I to turn down such an awesome chance?

Friday night, I join him, Earl, and Bruce for dinner in Fernley and hang out to continue the conversation until way late. I think I was cross-eyed as I was driving home but was in a totally hyper mood. We were going to roughly head north, to a place he called Schoolbus, and then pop over to Eagle Pitcher. Fun thing was there were a few caches along the way, including an FTF.

Saturday morning, I'm loaded up into the Land Rover and we're off down the road up towards Winnemucca Lake. Head out of Nixon onto a road I wasn't even aware of into a mountain range I had yet to play in. We wiggled our way across old flash floods (Mike having been out here so often and for so long that he could tell me when the flood was and what his crew did to get the road back into drivable condition). We then found the FTF cache and continued up to School Bus. Two big old yellow buses from the 40's (?) were sitting there. Formally used as living quarters, then had long been abandoned and some idiots found them and started blowing holes into the entire vehicle. Damn. We stopped for pictures, then off against up a few washes and then to a split, where one road skirted the top of a wash, the other straight into the wash and the "Rock Wall". Of course we went into the wash! I've been with BigTruckCrew and a few others crawling up rocks, even tried my hand at it, but I have to say, that ride up was one of the smoothest I've been on. Then We got out to take pics of the rest on the convoy coming up. First was the red Tacoma with Bruno and his son. Followed by Earl in the white Taco. And last Bruce in his black Cherokee. Afterwards, we continued up a steep long pull from the bottom of the range right up to the ridge. Crossing over the range, we were taking to a hunter's blind where we stopped for lunch. Then down again on the other side of the range, straight into a gully and out into a long flat valley with a sizable dry lake bed. Blasting across that, we stopped at a windmill and played with the three inch thick ice that had formed. Further up into the next mountain range, we stopped at an old site of a bomber crash from the 1940's. We paid our respects, examined the remaining debris, and then continued north to the Velvet Mine and over to Eagle Pitcher, before turning east and dropping down into Lovelock. Dinner was back in Fernley and another long great conversation had that night.

Sunday, after swinging by to say farewell to the guys, I hooked up with Puzzleman who had plans to head out to Yerington and around to Schurz before coming into Fallon. Well, since I was free, we met up, grabbed a puzzle cache we both needed and then opted to switch routes and head into Fallon first. Almost totally cleared out the Carson Sink area for him and I got to enjoy the day bouncing around on the old Pony Express trail down through there. Had dinner at Jerry's and loved hanging out with great company.

Monday, being a holiday, hung out with my Dad and we had plans to head over to Truckee to rescue a travel bug. But I happened to glance at Twitter in the morning and a local Carsonite was mentioning white stuff. Look out the window to see a light coating of snow all over the road. Had to post on Facebook and was promptly harassed by THREE of my so called friends! Course, one accused me one whining, one was my mother (she has the right to harass me) and the third is from Canada where he just LAUGHED over my so called "snow". Sheesh! The drive over the pass was uneventful and beautiful with the snow filling the cracks of the granite boulders throughout the mountain. TB retrieved and we swung up to Tahoe to get pictures before coming back down to go up to Cabela's for lunch. I had an elk burger, yummy!!

Once I got home, I settled in and took a look at the SPOT data I had been sending out all weekend. Then I discovered the Spot Adventures. Well, the results are below. Click on the title above the widget to go to the adventure page itself. But I do love the automatic geotagging of the pictures. I think i will use this page more often, I like the results.

Pictures below.

Off Road Experience and Adventure

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ORE Weekend

Lame attempt

2012-01-10T21:10:00.000-08:00

Endless nights under an unforgiving moon.
The ceiling offering no protection from the rain within,
Staring and searching for that which can never be.
Against all that is normal and accepted and assumed.

The trail unbroken save for a single path behind.
Footprints alone in the vastness that few can comprehend.
Surrounded by others, but a stranger in a strange land.
Alone in a sea of friends, a lost soul without a guide.

A companion to face the path ahead, beside and equal.
Back to back, shoulder to shoulder, utter faith and absolute trust,
That which society denies and cannot understand
Close enough to be more than friends, but never more than friends.

Look for the one who does understands, who also does not touch that way
For a moment of joy, before a night of sorrow.
Never more than friends, but a bond far closer than friends..
Reaching out into the darkness, seeking and finding...

A warm heart with a gentle presence, a cold nose with a steady purr
And a hope that sleep comes soon.

Weekend caching

2012-01-09T22:09:00.000-08:00

Nothing much happened this weekend.

On Saturday, Puzzleman and I cleared out as much as we could of Fallon.

On Sunday, Dad ad I cleared out as much as we could of Carson.

Literally, that's all.

Fallon Caching

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New Years weekend

2012-01-03T19:30:00.000-08:00

Yay! Another three day weekend!!

Friday popped into town quickly to catch the UFC fight and hang out with Puzzleman again. Silly man, when most normal people would be resting at home, not him! He's hanging out with the rest of the crazies. Sheesh! But on the way in, I grabbed some pictures of the still burning Laurel Fire... a 300+ acre WILDFIRE in December.

Anyway, Saturday and Sunday my Dad and I headed out for some off roading fun. There has been no precipitation at all. Which means the roads up in the mountains are free and clear. We headed up Long Canyon on the western edge of the Stillwater Range. There's a cache up there that hasn't been found since 2008. We were hoping to be the second to find on that elusive cache, but alas, it was not to be. After a 30 minutes search, we gave up and continued on up the road to Wildhorse Pass and around the Humbolt Sink. Got a handful of caches and then home to await the new year. Though I crashed around 10. Ugh.

Sunday, we were back out on the road exploring from Dayton Valley Rd over to Adrian Valley that we explored last week. That was an enjoyable ride and an awesome location to boot. Took a ton of pictures as we made our way over to Hwy 95. Then it was off to grab two new FTFs. While those were fun and successful, the best time was when we found a patch of loose dusty sand and blasted through it with the Jeep. I had a great time grabbing pictures of that!

Monday was just a time to hang out with my buddy and chillax after the stress of the holidays. Didn't do a whole lot, picked up a few caches, and just chatting lightly about flotsam and jetsam.

All in all a great weekend! Hope yours was as well!!

Here's the pictures,

New Years

Geocaching and Exploring

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Christmas Weekend

2011-12-26T20:44:00.001-08:00

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

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Adventures in high places

2011-12-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-14T20:28:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-27T22:38:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-31T11:16:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-10T13:27:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-06T11:43:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-21T00:35:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-20T01:55:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-19T06:54:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-18T13:02:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-03-17T05:37:00.001-07:00

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!! :-)

A vision of the future

2010-11-24T23:06:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was thinking about where I am and where I am going, following all the threads that seem to be coming together and felt good about the pattern that is emerging.

When I was little, I vaguely remember wanting to help people when I grew up (you know, the firefighter, police officer, or EMT) but yeah, that angle didn't pan out. Though I still enjoy helping people, but more information based. I love sharing knowledge and learning about this desert I call home.

I'll admit that the romantic image of Indiana Jones sparked the interest in history and archaeology, but yeah, the whole school thang to become a *real* archae never appealed to me. So I do the next best thing, headed out and visited petroglyph and prehistoric sites throughout the Great Basin. That's fairly easy as there are numerous sites!

Then one day while I was working three folks walked up to the Club Booth all wearing shirts with the same icon. In an over-eager puppy pounce, I learned about the Nevada Rock Art Foundation and so walked into the second day of volunteer training class, taught by Alanah Woody. I still remember working on my first drawing, going back to double check a line, and hearing Alanah tell me in no uncertain terms that I had no choice, I would be out at Lagomarsino. Here was my chance to be an "archaeologist" at least as close as I thought I would ever be.

When the volunteer sign up form came out, a question at the bottom asked about GPS experience. This was 2003, GPS wasn't all that common, it had only been two years since Selective Availability had been turned off, and so I actually needed to do research on what in the world GPS was. Imagine my surprise to learn that there was a game based on this little device! Within a few days, I read an article by Richard Moreno in the Nevada Appeal who went out with the Wild Nevada crew to a small ghost town called Davytown outside of Winnemucca, all with the intent of geocaching. Talk about timing, I'd never heard of this game and here within a few days of each other, I am seeing numerous references to it! So, with a few more searches on the internet, I end up with my very own GPS and an amazing adventure had begun.

That thread has pulled some interesting changes into my life, the largest of which is the path that now lies before me. Allow me to explain how a chance meeting 7 years ago set in motion a sequence of events that finally illuminated the answer of what I want to be when I grow up.

My passive interest in petroglyphs introduces me to Alanah Woody, and NRAF.
A questionnaire leads to becoming an active geocacher.
That obsession creates a sharp spatial awareness, a sense of place in my home state.
An aptitude for computers and GPS experience over the years prompts Alanah to suggest I learn GIS. I ask how, and she simply says "Go back to school."
By returning to school to learn about GIS, I begin to believe I can eventually become an archaeologist.
Geocaching introduces me to other activities: off-roading, hiking, backpacking, biking, spelunking, kayaking, camping, bouldering, etc.
One day in 2009, I find myself on a 20 mile bike ride, followed by a 3 mile paddle. I realize I can become "that outdoorsy person".
I realize that the last seven years have given me the confidence and skills to pull all my interests and passions into one focused goal.

And a vision came to me, a vision that sharply defines a moment in my future that I want to obtain, a vision that extends beyond "I want to be a ...." and actually gives me a concrete point to fix upon and work towards. I already figured out what I wanted to do, but it was very vague. This is more specific and tells me the skills I need to work on to put everything on paper and say to the Universe: "This! This is what I want! This is my dream, my goal, and my life as I will live it!"

My vision: I am an archaeological technician for the Forest Service (or BLM, or whoever will hire me). There's reports of a potential site somewhere that's virtually inaccessible. I pack up a weeks worth of supplies and set out along a river in a kayak to a remote landing spot. After setting up camp along the edge of a clearing, I hike further to the base of a cliff. I am able to scale the rock face to climb into a narrow opening of a cave. From the opening, I can see a ledge where it is possible, if precarious, to walk along the face towards the top of the cliff wall. Donning my helmet and headlamp, I enter the cave and see signs of pictographs along the walls and scorch marks on the ceiling. I take photographs and sketch a basic layout of the location before carefully exiting and returning to camp. There is much to discover here and care must be taken that it is protected and preserved for the future.

I will get there. I may never be lucky enough to make a discovery on my own, but I will gain the skill set needed to be ready and able to go anywhere and do anything that is needed on a site. The PhD can have the glory, I will be there to ensure that everything they need is documented, analyzed, and recorded properly.

Bring it!

Wherigo home to Reno

2010-09-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Good morning Holden! You're such a cute doggy, yes you are!

Okay, time to get up. As the long hike today was cancelled, everyone (except poor Tammy, back out with the boys to the soccer games) took the time to sleep in and catch up on rest before going at it again. We were running so slow, Dave texted Scott and changed our meet up time.

Pile back into the truck, joined by the Dominator, and headed out to Manito Park. Scott had told me yesterday that this place used to be a zoo before the Depression, now it's a beautiful park with lots of flower gardens. We parked at the Duck Pond and watched the various ducks and geese fly around and be chased away by the kids on the grass. I always think of that scene with the pigeons in Final Destination 2 whenever I see someone doing that... morbid mind that I have!

While my Wherigo player isn't the best, I am able to use it, somewhat. So I fired up the cartridge and we began the wander around the park. WOW, this place is amazing. So large, you could spend all day wandering and never get tired of it. I loved the Duncan Garden and the Japanese Garden was fantastic. Course, today was senior pictures, so we had numerous groups of girls with photographers wandering around with us. Each stage asked a simple question of you and once answered, gave you the next location. Very straight forward and clean, I'm going to base my Wherigo off this one, once I find a place for the final. Anyway! Took a detour off the cartridge to head over to the Japanese Garden where the guys all got a great laugh out of me scratching my head in puzzlement over a cache placement. Eventually I got it, but not before I think they busted a gut trying to hold in the amusement. But I did have some fun with the camera again. Koi are so pretty!

Found another cache before making our way back on track to the Wherigo. Uh oh, battery dying! I've gone this far, NOOOO. But yep, it crashed on me and I wasn't able to save my location. So the guys took me to the stages and I took a ton of pictures to answer the questions when I got the thing working again (darnit, I want that completion code!) and was able to make my mark on the final while watching Dave and his son play baseball with a stick and tennis ball I'd found. Holden was making a great catcher, short stop, outfielder, and thief. LOL

Back to the truck to head for lunch. I saw Zips again and figured why eat at the same places I have here when I can eat someplace new. We grabbed food from the drive thru and headed to a park for a picnic. On the way we passed through a construction zone where they had completely torn the street up all the way (to my amazement) down to the cobblestone! That was neat to see! We watched some girl's playing in the water toys at the park while talking, reliving the weekend, and me all bummed out I was down to my last hour. Did get another cache while there in the park, but still, my last one in Spokane (for now).

Gave Scotty a big hug goodbye, told him to tell Christy thanks and goodbye, and jumped back into the truck. It was off to the airport and my time here was done. I bid farewell to Dave, thanked him and Tammy for their hospitality ((I don't care if that's how you roll, I will pay you back.)) and went in to make my way through the TSA checkpoint.

This has been an amazing weekend. I'm really lucky to have four awesome friends up here, and have now met a few more new friends. This will not be my only trip up here, that's for sure. That's what I love about geocaching, I've met some of the most remarkable people through this sport. We always say geocaching takes us places we never would have known about, but it also introduces you to people you never would have known. There's no way that my path would have crossed with those of Scott, Chris, Dave, or Tammy - but I am incredibly grateful that it has!

And yes Dave, I know I overdo it on the sunshine and rainbows stuff, but I am glad to know you guys. You treated me far better than just "well taken care of", you guys really went out of your way this weekend. Thank you.

More pictures from the weekend: 2010 Spokane Trip

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears - not quite!

2010-09-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday came early as some moron left the alarm on her phone set to loud! Having crashed at 2am, a 6am buzzer is highly annoying. But it was suddenly improved by the sudden appearance of a black nose and happy to see me tongue. Good morning, Holden! Tammy and the boys were heading out to an early soccer game and both boys got a good laugh at Holden crashed out on top of me.

Then I heard Dave stumbling around and before long, Scott was at the door. Ugh, is the sun even up, it's awfully grey out there. (Dur, Pacific Northwest, yeah, clouds are on order for the day). The guys loaded up the canoe onto the truck and we headed out for the next adventure. The original plan was to paddle around Horseshoe Lake and go down a river, so we left Scott's truck near the pull out point and piled into Dave's to head to the lake. Along the way, we saw several flocks of wild turkeys crossing the road! Cool!! Haven't seen them before!

Today might be overcast and cool, but the lake was like glass. Oftentimes I was able to get a perfect reflection of the surrounding trees and hillsides in the water. Plus, I got to play with my Dad's camera by dunking it straight into the lake to snap pictures of the plants and debris. I love waterproof cameras!! We passed by an absolutely beautiful waterfall as we headed towards the bend, where our first cache of the day was hidden. Dave steered as Scott

reached out to grab the spot and between the two of them, they got me within easy reach of the decon. Snagged it, inked my name, dropped off the TB I had brought up with me. Replaced it and we paddled just a bit south to a little beach.

Pulling up our boat onto shore, we hiked up a steep trail to the ridge of the canyon. As I got close, I had to pick up my jaw. A massive cylindrical hole, straight down into the rock, opened up right in front of me. Devil's throat, Devil's well, Diana's Punchbowl, you know the type. Such a perfect gaping hole that your brain refuses to grasp what it's looking at. Surely both Scott and I, having not seen it before, were impressed! I think the sheer number of pictures I took prove that! But then we looked around and noticed that our guide was no where to be seen. Um, guess it's time to head to the next geocache.

Straight through the forest we go! I kept finding

game trails that peter out and I think Scott was following his own, though we were bother slaves to the arrow pretty much. I find a ridgeline to follow and end up in a steep drop down to the lagoon area below the waterfall. When I finally emerge onto the rocks at the base, where I beautiful poem is posted in memory to the waterfall's namesake, I look up to see Dave looking down. Oh it's up there! By the time I scramble, rock-monkey style, up to the top, Scott has reached the crossing and Dave is waiting on the other side. I'm silly and brave

and so find the small midpoint rock to brace my foot on and over the water I go. Scramble up, find the cache when Scott arrives and we stand there chatting.

And once again, Dave disappears.

Finally we get tired of waiting and head back to the stream crossing. As I'm watching Scott get into position, Dave comes running (thought Puzzleman was the only one who did that) down the steep hill, saying he saw a mountain goat. What? Cool!! Once all back on right side of the stream, we head back through the bushes to the Devil's Well and down to the boat.

The paddle continued around the eastern part of the Horseshoe, lazy, relaxing, and oh so awesome. One other boat was out there fishing, so we just rowed around them and headed back into the bend to get closer to the waterfall. As we passed near the first

cache, Dave spots a turtle perched up on a log in the water. He slipped away before I could get pictures. We floated into the secluded lagoon below the waterfall before running up on a sand bar. Lots of pictures while there! As we backed off the sand bar and headed into the lake, Dave points out where he saw the mountain goat - then sees the goat up on the ridge sunning itself. WHOA! I'm seriously impressed that the camera got a good shot of it even that far away!! AWESOME!

Made it back to the truck after floating towards an old rustic white cabin that was just bordering of eerie. As the guys were putting the boat away, I looked for the parking lot cache. Then they came over to help. Then another pair of cachers, MtnGoat50 and Love2Ski, pulled up and came over to help. Then Scott started to call a phone-a-friend, but just as he was getting instructions, Jim found it! Whoo Hoo!!

Off we go to get Scott's truck, and he heads off to do some maintenance, while Dave and I head back for lunch. He asks if Zips is ok. Um, what's a Zips? Oh, burger joint, cool! I'll have one of those! While eating, I got to listen in on the results of the soccer games this morning and enjoyed a nummy bacon cheeseburger. But, before long, it was time for the rest of today's adventures!

Headed out and turned north, way north, we're still going north, Holden keeping me company in the back seat while Tammy and I dozed off occasionally. It's been a long day for everyone! Turning off the main highway, we headed up into the mountains near the Survival School up there. Long bumpy road led deeper and higher into the range. We picked up a few caches along the way, and I began noticing that we were heading towards a peak. Ohhh that means benchmark!! So I loaded that information while the road climbed and climbed. However, we were up here at 6pm, and the road was heading up, and west - Hello SUN!! Several times Dave had to stop and wait out the setting sun before he could continue driving.

We pulled over at a great vista point and everyone piled out. Though cold, the view was amazing. I took lots of pics, Holden played around the area, and Tammy and Dave were hanging out on another rock outcrop. It was very peaceful being right there. But as my fingers started getting cold, I wandered after Holden to move around a bit and was led to a 6 foot "cliff". Thinking

I could climb it, I started stretching my fingers as Dave walked up. "Find anything?" "Oh, just a cliff to climb if my fingers can grab the rock." He makes some reply that I miss due to the wind. I scramble up and sit on top with him looking up at me. "You know, you're now where I took the spoiler pic." "Huh? Spoiler pic for what?" "The cache." "What cache???"

Apparently my GPS didn't have the cache that I was only 4 feet from. Turns out I was sitting on it! And they had been waiting for me to find it! ARGHHHH So I logged that, as as we continued up the mountain, I quickly load in additional caches that missed my PQ. Oh looky, there's one on top! DUR! So I scored that one and the benchmark along with one of it's Reference Marks (couldn't find the other but was too cold to really look). Then down we go to join Both Christy and Scotty for the next night cache! Only one phrase describes that downward drive: Bumpity bumpity bump!!

Got to the starting coordinates and headed out on the first leg. You can read my log for the entertainment there! But it was fun chasing after the little firetacks while pretending I was a train. :giggles: Then off to the second stage, where I was a bit more careful in keeping track of where I was verses where the tacks were saying I should be. Both final coords in hand,

we're off! The last stage involved another firetack trail until the end. Then a puzzle was presented that I had seen similar ideas from (and had borrowed one for my own, that in turn was borrowed for up here) but I didn't want to do what the usual stunt is. So spend time looking around for the second piece, then tried pulling and turning to see how far I could go. Oops, that got tighter. Um, Scott, I think I messed it up! "Just release it." Um, HOW?! I've never done this before!

That bit of info was apparently the one response he hadn't been expecting! LOL

Tested out a few ideas after he came to the rescue, but neither panned out, so returned to my original search pattern. Ah HA! There it is! Did what needed to be done and off we go! Along the road, I hear the others commenting about big tracks and that the whole herd must've gone through. Puzzled, I listen in more and hear "Wow, that moose track is huge!"

MOOSE?! No WAY!!

Soon the final was in hand and my name inked onto the log book. We all head back, discussing plans for the next day. Originally, we had wanted to hike a trail around Tower Mountain and

grab the good vista caches along there. But my flight was earlier than I had thought and it cut our time too close. So instead, we planned on heading to Manito Park and working on the Wherigo there as well as touring the gardens and picking up the caches inside. Back at the truck, I crawled into the back seat with Holden, while Tammy sat up front, leaving the guys to work out the details as only locals can.

Then for the long drive back. We bumped our way down the road swinging around corners and watching out for the squad of Air Force guys we'd seen out in the woods earlier. As we came around one corner, a MOOSE came out of the forest and started walking up the road.

OMG!!!

We followed him up the road for a long time, as he was taking his time walking along and casually stopping to admire the view our headlights were providing. I tried getting pictures, but they all came out fuzzy and dark (oh why couldn't we have seen him in the daylight?!) Eventually, he left via a trail that Scott says was very near a camp site he's considering. We picked it back up to vehicle speed and made it back out to pavement and back down to Spokane. Once back at the house, it was another night of crash, out cold, and a wake up lick from a big black nose attached to beautiful brown doggy eyes.

And the title of this post? While I didn't see those animals, in one day, I was able to see wild turkeys, turtles, a mountain goat, and a MOOSE for the first time. Pretty impressive day all around and one of the highlights of my geocaching experiences.

Spending time in Spokane!

2010-09-10T15:21:00.001-07:00

I had an AWESOME weekend!

But first, a little back story, to bring everyone up to date. Last year, I received an email from a guy named Scott asking about my Diabolical night cache. Happy to share the information with another lover of night caches, I told him about the cache. But then he drops the bomb, he, his wife, and their friends would be coming down to do my cache.

... from Spokane.... WASHINGTON! OMG!

A great friendship started and they have kept in touch via email and text and have also returned to do the Diabolical sequel and Puzzleman's Ancient Treasure. As well as a few more recommended and favorite caches around the area.

A short while after they left, I noticed on Dave's FB page a maniacal laugh followed by a link - that led to the cache page of an epic night cache placed up in the woods north of Spokane. I immediately put that on my watchlist and watched the FTF and DNF logs come in. Ohhhh, sounds like so much fun. The only hitch, it's a 5 mile hike in the woods in the dark. So my dear sweet daddy gave me my birthday present early and I'm on a flight up to the great state of Washington to see what evil plan has hatched up here.

I love airplane flights, makes me really really really wish I had taken a geology class. I love the way the earth fractures and bends and levels out. Then that green stuff shows up and blocks the ground, stupid trees. Short stop in Boise before heading over to Spokane where I was met by Dave of the Nelson Crew. We ran a quick errand before heading straight for the border of Idaho to grab me an Earthcache in my 5th state (now to place three for Platinum Master)!

The location was Cougar Bay, where a short walking trail led us past several information kiosks. Gathering the information we needed as we walked, I enjoyed the time out in the woods (more green stuff) and seeing how my lungs liked having more oxygen available. Guess I pushed a bit too hard as not only did Dave comment about my reported "turtle pace", later in the evening my knee reminded me that it still dictates when and how I go hiking. Ah well.

Back to Washington to get a home-cooked dinner. Yum Yum Yum!! Then Scott swung by and it was time to head off.

Before I get going on the big event for the night, allow me to introduce Holden. I was wondering about the title of the night cache, but as soon as I got to their house, I was immediately greeted by a very curious, very friendly, and oh-so-lovable doggy (who's breed I can't recall at the moment). I passed the initial inspection sniff and had a constant companion all weekend long. In the morning as soon as the bedroom door opened, I heard :bound-bound-bound-LEAP-thud: Oh, good morning Holden. ((shhh, don't tell anyone, when I go back, it'll be to see the doggy, who cares about the humans. Oh, HI GUYS! LOL))

Anyway, so off we go. The plan was to meet up with LookoutLisa (aka Cache-Advance) and Loren 27 at the parking coordinates of Holden's Pot of Gold NIGHT CACHE. We loaded up, doubled checked our gear, verified the GPS locations (followed me the wrong direction - whoops, which way is north?!?) and off on the trail we go!

Now, I'll let my log speak for the rest of the night (Thanks Dave!) http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F9oGbLb&h=b16a2

Once we were heading back, we took the time to stop at the Bonus Cache nearby and to once again turn off all the lights and admire the clear sky filled with stars and framed by the barely visible tops of the pine forest. A truly truly awesome night, spent with amazing people, and filled to the breaking point with adventure.

Tammy, Dave, Holden and I all headed back to their home and I just collapsed onto the couch and was out cold. It's been a long time since I was that exhausted, but oh man was it worth it!

Plus this was only the first day, I've still got Saturday and Sunday waiting, both of which are filled with more adventure and great times.

Memories - Meeting abeyoni

2010-06-14T17:29:00.001-07:00

I happened to make a comment on Twitter that the cache Team Goobie was going after was the one that I had first met abeyoni at. And applejohn wanted the story, so here goes.

January 13th, 2004

Three new caches had published in Reno. One was bobthecat's Dash Through Reno's Past, another was LaughingGravy's Parks Walk-About. I can't recall what the third one was, but I know there was one. Back then, there weren't too many cachers in Northern Nevada, much less FTF hounds. Caches could sit for days or weeks back then. Abeyoni was the FTF king. He'd look through the Newest in Nevada and find the new ones up north and go for it, regardless of where it was. His was the name you saw on all logs. He was the one to beat.

On this morning, I had time and figured I'd try for it. The other multi was downtown Reno, in an area I wasn't familiar with. So I took the chance to head to Mira Loma park. I was worried about the mile plus walk that the Gravies had mentioned on the page. But holding the print out (long before paperless caching here) I made my way to the coordinates. By cutting back and forth I was able to get the information needed and head off to the final.

Course I hadn't cached too much in Reno and promptly got lost in the Hidden Valley neighborhood! Left, left, right, left, I remember zipping back and forth so where my track log was a useless wiggling mass of lines! Oh how much I've come to rely upon Google Maps now and how fun it was to jump into caching blindly trusting a GPS with no accurate map!

Finally made it to the end of the road. No other cars around, did my wandering around the entire valley have someone sneak by me and make it out and back? Only one way to find out! I set out, following the monochrome arrow that was saying "Go that way!" Up the hill I went, looking for footprints and finding none, until the screen showed 10 feet and the cache was found. A blank logbook (an honest to goodness log book no less!) awaited me and I penned my name and story on the sheet before closing it up and heading back.

The trail ran along the top of the hill, before descending down to a gully leading out to the park. As I began the downward slope, a tall guy with a baby riding in a backpack was turning to begin his climb up. We both stopped and stared at each other. Without ever having met, and far enough away that faces were indistinguishable, I heard him shout up "NevadaWolf?" There was only one person it could be, only one person heading up for the first to find on LaughingGravy's new multi. I shouted back "Abeyoni!?"

That was the first day I got to meet one of my best buddies. The grin on his face was absolutely massive and the huge I got was one of the biggest. No way was I just going to bail, so I walked back with them (AJ being just a tiny thing back then, I can't believe how big he's gotten in the last 6 years!). We just talked as Abe searched and AJ looked on. Finally the cache in hand, he signed their names and I got the picture. AJ happened to see the sparkly wolf stickers I was putting in caches at the time. The next thing I know is he's coughing and choking. Dad saved the day (though not my stickers) and we left the cache laughing and continuing the conversation back to the cars.

One of the best days ever. I'm still smiling as I write this entry. Thanks applejohn for asking for the story.

Gaining momentum

2010-04-25T00:49:00.000-07:00

One week left.

Work wise, they've hired a new gal that I am training for the courier job and film scanning. It stinks that I don't understand the film request side as I hate having to answer "I don't know" to her questions. But, our boss is around and I'm leaning on her to help make sure the training is complete.

Personally, I think that the stagnant energy I unleashed by clearing out the clutter has swept me off my feet and all I can do is hope the stream is going in the right direction. As the sailing painting says in the doctor's office, "Trust that the wind knows where it's going."

Why do I say that? Last month I unloaded a lot of stuff that has just been sitting around. Afterwards, I went through and smudged the house, opening all windows and doors, and generally renewing the place. The Universe returned the favor.

I decided to go back to school full time (or three-quarters at least), I found the courage to quit my job, I've now moved, and the best news of all? I may have been in the right place, right time, and found a job already.

Got a call on Wednesday that if I was still looking for employment to get in touch. I did better, went down there and talked with the manager. Set up the appointment for an interview on Thursday at 12:30. (Covered my class with two folks taking notes and letting my teacher know.) Thursday, I headed down and went through my first real interview. The manager told me he'd put my name on the list for the district manager and I'd be getting a call on Friday. Friday rolls around, I have a great conversation with the DM, and soon, I'm called back to sign the authorizaions for a background check. :fingers, toes, and eyes crossed: There's nothing I'm aware of on my record, I really really really hope whatever the results are that it's satisfactory and the next phone call is a positive one!

I'm in freefall right now after closing my eyes and taking the plunge, all I need to do is sit back and let the flow carry me towards my goal. So far, things are working.

Caching wise, we finally placed a new cache at one site from the Dodge Campout, went out and found one while it was cold and raining (and then WAP'd the log to psych the owner out), and had a FTF surge when 5 new caches by sierradogs published. Those were fun in that Puzzleman and I were going to hike out to see the beavers along the river, but the photographer we were going with had the wrong time so the hike was cancelled - instead, we head out and start bagged FTF after FTF. Second to last we find ourselves outside sierradogs house having a great conversation, enjoying the puppy's (okay, old body, puppy at heart) sniff tour of the yard, and a fantastic drive through the sheep herds up on the hill to get the final cache. Well, I drove, Puzzleman hiked straight up and beat me by a mere 8 minutes. The pest.

Saturday, Trekrr and I cleared out his house in preparation for me moving back in. Then Sunday we spent the entire day dismantaling one house and moving the entire contents over to his house. I'm actually writing this from my new room. It'll take awhile, but I'll have my place set back up. This is just another step towards my goal. Save as much cash as I can and finish the classes I need for my degree.

I'm on my way!

A leap of Faith

2010-04-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

Another same ol week. For the most part, until the weekend, that is.

A few caches published, of course, while I was at work. So I had to wait till afterwards to grab them. Trekrr and I even picked up one in Reno after driving around randomly and looking for a place to eat, ending up in Spanish Springs at a joint called Ghengis Grill. YUMMERS! I loved it and hope we can go back up there.

Then Friday rolled around.

I finished up my morning deliveries, made sure my worklist was caught up, and strolled into the Big Boss' office. "I've been thinking," I started, "that it's time for me to go back to school and finish my degree. Here's my letter of resignation."

Two weeks. In two weeks I will no longer be working. Two weeks to figure out what in the world I'm going to do. But in two weeks, I'm going to set out on a path that I can't see and trust in the most important thing in the world, the vision I have for my future. I finally have a vision, I finally can see beyond the darkness, I finally know the answer to what I want to do with my life. Now to get there!

Saturday, Trekrr and I headed down south to finish clearing out Gardnerville. Once again DNF'd the mini micro one, I'm convinced it's not there. Headed back into town, grabbed my gear, and off to Starbucks I go for our monthly meetup. I was hoping to get my homework done before hand. HA! Who am I kidding?

Another awesome turnout. We even had OKRA and TopazGeogoats stop by and hang out with us. And I got to get rid of more crap. House is slowly being broken down to the basics.

Sunday there wasn't a whole lot of energy to do much, so we drove up to Tahoe to check out the snow level along Kingsbury Grade. Even grabbed an Earthcache along the way. Then back to Carson to take a stab at solving Bernsports new cache, Caching in the Stone Age. We had a good idea where it was supposed to be, but once Puzzleman and BigTruckCrew/Lil Miss Muffit found it, we were convinced.

I had a second reason to find this bugger - the pest of a cache owner put the false coords 94 feet from my front door. I'll get even, don't you worry (unless you're Bern reading this, then you worry and everyone else can sit back and enjoy the outcome!)

First campout of the year!

2010-04-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I got an email from BigTruckCrew linking to a post on Reno4x4.com. It was some guy from Carson Dodge/Jeep inviting all off-roaders out for a day of "geocashing" and camping. He said later that he does know how to spell it, the "gal in the back" didn't.

So that was this weekend, but first the beginning of the week.

Monday morning I'm getting ready for work when suddenly my texts go off. Three new caches, two SHMs and one out in Washoe State Park. Figuring everyone would go after the SHMs, I took off for the one in Washoe. Get out to GZ, have some guy ask me about my truck rack, then continue the search. Nothing! What gives!? Soon another rig pulls up and NVGeoscouter joined the hunt. I had to bail and later on there's a DNF note that says the cache was found during the easter egg hunt. Ah well.

But something on the page catches my attention, a Nevada State Parks Geocaching Challenge? Ohhh. They've since posted additional information, one cache in 6 northern state parks and 6 southern state parks. Three challenges, find the North, South, or Statewide caches. Hurm... ROADTRIP!

GOt my GIS Mid-Term back, whoo hoo 96%! Now I can't wait to see what my Math score was. Erk.

SO Friday night I pack up my bag as if I was hiking the whole weekend. Must...build...up....strength ::thud::

Saturday morning, 5am (ARGH!) Dad picked me up for a quick breakfast and then off to Carson Dodge. We get there and Bill Baker, our host, is waiting with donuts and several other folks. We get the lowdown on the challenge. Go to the coordinates, find the ammo can, and pick it up, keeping the prizes inside and returning the cans. Okay, we can do this. I had brought my netbook to map out the locations and once the sheet of coords was in my hand I started typing away.

We headed out towards Mexican Dam Rd, picking up one in the hills, then south towards Hot Springs Mountain, grabbing two more - and having fun with a range gate that was all the remained of a long gone fence. The one up on Hot Springs was a steep rocky climb, and once we were about 100 feet from the cache, the road banked behind a tree.... and vanished! Dad had to back up and turn around all while sitting at a seriously sharp angle. Loverly.

The last stop on the route was down by the airport, and that cache had been picked up already. So, we had 4 of the 15 sitting in our rig and it was now 2 hours into the hunt. We turned back north to go see if any others were left.

The nice thing about clearing out all of the Eagle Valley and surrounding area? I can say "It's near "______" and Dad can start driving right up there while I fine tune the directions. Think about it, we knew every cache, every access road, almost every hill, and now we were looking for more caches. So I give directions, we get right up there, and find another cache. What?? Why is this one still here? It's only a half mile from the start point.

We check the next one, and find it, and the next and find it. What's going on?? 7 caches now found, despite a long detour, an hour lunch, and an hour dinking around on a road that we saw going off in a different direction (dumb No Trespassing sign...). So we head over to the other area and finally, two caches missing. The others must've come here first.

Off to the campground which was down at a ghost town site of Centerville, south of Markleeville. I've known they close several of the passes over the mountain during the winter, but still it was a trip seeing a big gate across a main highway. All we needed was Gandalf shouting "You Can Not Pass!"

Camping was a blast, though chilly! My 15 degree bag plus the Reactor liner worked out really well, except my toes. I think it's course my rainfly wasn't blocking the mess panel enough and letting in the wind storm right by my feet. Yes, wind storm, it was cold and WINDY! but I slept safe and sound in my little tent. Experiment was a success, now bring on the camping season!!

Sunday, we headed up into Sunrise Pass after a delish breakfast at IHOP. It was fun once again being the only Toyota in a herd of Jeeps. We even stopped an picked up two caches on the road, and got to play in a big sticky nasty mud puddle. One of the Jeeps got stuck briefly, but that's cause my directions weren't clear and she drove too close to the moat edge. I did get pics and video of the rest of us going through. Bill, not only our guide but also one of the sales guys, threatened to put the muddy Jeep on the showroom floor. Now THAT I would buy! LOL

After I got home, Dad and I got to wondering if the rest really were found, so back out into the hills we went and ended up finding two more of the caches he placed. This guy's geo-sense is sharp! While several were to close to existing caches, many were in open areas and almost all were in places that were downright awesome! Two are going to end up with regular caches at them once I stock up some of the cans Clark Gable got me. Also his coordinates were dead on, not bad for a newbie who hasn't done much caching. If he were to get into this full time, we'd all be in trouble and having the adventure of a lifetime!

An Easter surprise

2010-04-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

Not much happened during the week. It's Mid-Term time, so in Math we were studying and in GIS we were handing the test back in. Otherwise a usual work week.

Summer classes will be starting soon, so I need to sit down and decide how I'm going to spend the next three months. I'm so close to my GIS Certificate of Achievement that I want to knock out as many classes as I can.

Now the weekend was interesting. Originally the plan had been to go hiking up the Indian Hills area on Sunday so Puzzleman could go with us first thing in the morning. However, the winter storm warning moved our hike up to Saturday. I took my fully loaded pack (all 25 pounds of it) and lugged it along with Puzzleman, BigTruckCrew, dragonflynv, and peruhuntress. I think I did fairly well despite the weight, but the cold air and soon snow eventually took their toll. While the rest went after a few more caches, I made a beeline back to the rigs, (eventually) fired up my JetBoil and had myself a cup of Starbucks VIA while I was sitting there in the snow and waiting.

Sunday, Dad and I enjoyed a quiet restful breakfast, until my phone texts went off. 6 new caches all over the valley! However, our food had just arrived, so we would go out afterwards and grab them. It was actually interesting. Bernsports was running late for a family get together and Puzzleman was running late for something else, so while those two FTF'd everything, Dad and I were the only ones to get all 6 the same day.

Not sure entirely why, but lately, I don't really want to log the caches I'm finding. Maybe it's something to do with the 3000 hanging off the end of my name, but since then, I've been writing notes on any I find and then Ignoring the cache to get it off my active list. Got about 10-15 logged like that so far. Maybe I'll do that for awhile, at least until I want to get back into the smiley side of the game.

Not much else going on. Just surviving day to day.

Spring Break

2010-03-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

I'VE BEEN ON VACATION!!!

Okay so to sum up a fairly busy week - well, you've already seen the first two days.

Monday; never was called so spent the day around Washoe Valley clearing out the few caches I had left. The morning started in Davis Creek, the afternoon up Pagni Canyon, then later up and around the hills above Washoe City. I walked Davis and Pagni, but the DNF above Washoe City really burnt me out and so I drove to the last one. Went back to Carson to grab lunch and call the gal, but her phone was off, so I went up to Six Mile Canyon below Virginia City and drove to a cache that was WAY UP THERE. I'm not usually spooked on heights, but narrow mountain Jeep roads where there's nothing between me and the valley floor... um, yeah. I'll walk.

Tuesday; After a doctor's appointment, I headed out to El Dorado Canyon and hiked out to the lone cache out that way. OMG, this place is beautiful! I absolutely loved the easy hike (flat dirt road walk) as I crossed back and forth over the creek. The cache also was great, resting below a really funky arch that resembled a castle's gate with turrets. Then it was a hike back out to once again try camping out. Yeah - fail. I'm just too stressed over the idea of "something out there". I'll try again when the weather warms up over night.

Wednesday; Time to hike up and around Virginia City. Originally was going to hike Ophir to Jumbo and down to Washoe - hahahahahaha a mapped out 12 miles. Yeah, that ain't happening! So drove up to the "x" (where the two roads come together) and hiked up toward Mt Davidson, picking up two caches, skirting a horse herd, and plowing through a valley of snow, and about 300 ft of knee deep snow to get to the cache. And all of this before heading to Reno for a backpacking basics class at REI.

Thursday; Dad got off work early, so we headed down to Gardnerville to clear out the southern end of Carson Valley. The big fun came when we decided to get a cache 4.1 miles north of us, but the page indicated the roads were "not passable". So a 21 mile detour that took two and a half hours finally got us to that cache and now the east side of the valley is clear!

Friday; I got a note posted on my new cache from CastleDwellers saying that since I was on vacation, why wasn't there any more new caches out? Okay, FINE! I spent the day driving around and placing 8 new ones, including a revival of an awesome multi that was abandoned by its owner. RoadRunner published one in the afternoon, two in the evening while I was out watching How to train your Dragon, and the remaining five the next morning. TAKE THAT!

Saturday; Took the truck in to be serviced at the fancy new Toyota dealership, then it was back down to Gardnerville to clear out the west side of the valley. Only four were left, but it was a great adventure. The last two were really fun as one was in a Rock monkey's paradise and the other was overlooking a "closed" lake. Afterwards, we were invited to hang out with Puzzleman and Bookmarked at the Firkin Fox for dinner and to watch UFC 111. Still have no idea what's going on in those, but it's interesting to watch.

Sunday; After logging everything in, I realized I was only 6 away from the big 3000. So, before heading once again to Truckee, we grabbed 5 really quick ones in Reno. Then breakfast, where the unheard of phrase "Sorry sir, we're out of coffee" was uttered. HOW is Burger King *OUT* of coffee at 9am?? Anyway, onto I-80 we go, up to Truckee, and we set up camp at that stupid Jeffery Pine tree. Round and round we go, up and down the bark, pulling out everything that resembles a tail. An hour into it, I requested a very generic hint, and then 35 minutes later, the cache was in hand. 4 trips, 9 hours and finally that bugger was ours!

Not a bad week at all. Too bad I have to go back to work in the morning.

Found
3/22/2010 CDM ~ Coin Exchange
3/22/2010 Coconut Crab
3/22/2010 FTF-TAG you're it #17:RKT Revenge! (Hounds&Hares)
3/22/2010 "Sagebrush mountain"
3/22/2010 Cinco de Mayo King of the Hill cache
3/23/2010 The "Hole" View
3/24/2010 uphill battle
3/24/2010 Last Name Peak
3/24/2010 Is this a forest or a jungle OR A TAIGA?!?
3/24/2010 Escarpment
3/25/2010 "bailys' skater"
3/25/2010 "bailys' east valley"
3/25/2010 Motorhead
3/25/2010 FRED
3/25/2010 Nutcracker
3/25/2010 PINEfrogNUT
3/25/2010 GEO-PIG
3/25/2010 Shady Grove
3/25/2010 "Baily's Cache 3"
3/25/2010 "Well-watered" Panorama
3/27/2010 hi... dis is mebbin
3/27/2010 Something Fishy in the Rocks
3/27/2010 OFF the Rez
3/27/2010 Rocky Situation
3/27/2010 Into the Blind
3/28/2010 RFN #7
3/28/2010 RFN #10
3/28/2010 RFN #9
3/28/2010 RFN #8
3/28/2010 El Peacie
3/28/2010 Camouflageus Cacheia

DNFs
3/22/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find Rafflesia (Hounds & Hares)
3/24/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find Is this the Geigers the Jumbos or the Kingsburys?
3/27/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find bailys' "not here again!"

Getting on the move - it's SPRING BREAK!

2010-03-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

The extra daylight is definitely helping!

So, after work, I'm now going for a walk. And three times a week, hopefully, my Daddy will be joining me! So this week, we walked along the bike path by the prison to check on a cache stage, then circled back around the sewer to the truck. Tuesday and Thursday are my really push it days, so I tackled the face of Lakeview Hill and got right up to the shoulder below the summit (ran out of light). Wednesday, Dad and I walked the bike path by the freeway before class. Thursday I took on Prison Hill and found myself a nearto cave. Friday I was helping a classmate with the classes she missed, so nothing there.

BUT! Friday at 5pm I was officially ON VACATION!! WHOO HOO HOOO!!!

So, Saturday morning, early, I packed up my big backpack with all my camping gear. My goal: walk/hike as often as possible and carry all the gear to condition myself for the Tahoe Rim Trail. My first target was Hot Springs Mountain, and the three caches still left in that area.

Drove up to the last turn around point before entering the mountain itself, and with backpack on and loaded, began the trek up. Surprisingly, I didn't huff-puff as much as I normally do, which made me psyched beyond all belief. Got up to the first cache site and sat, enjoying my lunch, the view, and the funny whizzing sound that just went by... O_o wha?

And ANOTHER! BULLETS!!

I dove behind a big rock, smashed my back against it, and huddled as the ricochet came over the ridge right over and around me. Once the hail stopped, I grabbed my gear and raced downhill and around another hill to put more distance and dirt between me and the shooters.

The good thing about this, is that as I detoured the LONG way around them, I came upon a deer herd, one of whom was not happy I was there and motioned that I "keep moving" as s/he huffed at me each time I paused. That was just COOL!

Found the second cache with no problems, followed the trail from the tailings to the old rock house (our third cache find ever), talked with a guy carrying a big military style gun, and then set down the ravine to pick up the final cache. As I stood on the road to Sand Trap, I was pretty darn proud of myself as I had just hiked up and OVER Hot Springs Mountain. Whoo Hoo Hoo!!

But my feetsies were hurting, so called Dad for a ride, grabbed dinner, then headed up into the hills to try camping out on my own for the first time. Alas, that didn't work out so well as I just could not relax enough to sleep - I kept stressing myself out that "something" was out there.

Sunday, Dad and I headed up to Truckee to once again try for that bugger of a cache. A couple hours into our methodical grid search, the owner himself swung by and we had a great chat. He loved our string grid method and wanted a picture of it. Being very kind hearted, he gave us the general area to search, but another hour into that and we still had nothing. Ah well.

Back in town, we picked up the two new ones before heading south and clearing an area of Carson Valley. All was well and good until we DNF'd one near another archived cache. One log claimed the other cache was still there, just at the bottom of the well. So, we had to go look - and hey, there's a Myntz tin down there! Whoo Hoo! An hour of fishing with a magnet-filled bison tube snagged us the tin and we lifted it out with high expectations. What cache is this, can we find it and log it, ohh how fun!

Dad pried the rusted tin apart and we both saw old dead mints... Well, bummer!

Still made for an interesting day. No camping tonight. Tomorrow, Monday, I'm supposed to meet up with a gal who said she knew of a place in the PineNuts where a vein of garnets is right out in the open. Can't wait!

Spring Forward and Seize the Day!

2010-03-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today was an absolutely exciting day!

Okay, so this week, I still managed to work out (which helped today), attend class (I'm feeling more and more jazzed about classes, even scored the bonus challenge question in GIS), and bopping my way through the day.

Did however decide that my house and truck were getting WAY to cluttered! Everything was stagnant, dirty, oppressive, and it had to GO, NOW! So, I hosed off the excessive mud on the truck, cleaned it out entirely, and bought boxes for the weekend attack.

Started at the back of the house and went room to room, space to space, and if I hadn't used it in a year, it went in a box. Trash or Donate, no other option. Took most of the day between boxing, cleaning, having the truck washed and vacumed, and straightening out the mess, but in the end the house felt lighter, more open, and definitely healthier. I opened up the windows and doors and let the chill spring air circulate throughout the house, letting in both fresh air and sunshine.

Did learn that a family of cachers with a Girl Scout is helping in a Rummage Sale to raise funds for a European trip, so my destination to FISH was changed to their truck. In the end, took three boxes of clothes, stuffed animals, and knick-knacks, a bag of books and movies, and another small box of airsoft stuff and more books, all left my house without a single bit of regret.

I asked for nothing except to get this crap out of my house. But, it is a certain time of year for the Girl Scouts, and with all this working out, I'm sure I can tolerate some *Thin*ness.

Also had our monthly Starbucks get-together (next week being the usual week, but with Spring Break coming up, neither Puzzleman nor I will be available) and I think there was 18-20 folks that showed, including RenoRaiders! Whoo Hoo! Awesome time, everyone seemed really energetic and engaged and it was just an overall great meet up.

Then today was the big hike. We hit Prison hill, circled north on the loop trail, and cut down to Fat Boy Slim.

I managed to climb from the cache site inside that gap up to through the small opening at the top! WHAAA HOOOO!!!!!! Work outs are definitely helping as I doubt I would ahve had the arm strength to pull myself anywhere last month. I'm going back to play at least once a month - maybe once a week...?

Now that the time has been reset, there's PLENTY of light after work. So I'm going to be going on flat hikes three times a week and climbs twice a week. One more week until spring break, and now that the weather is warming up (mid-60's this week) I'm going to be going hiking more and more and camping once the nights are comfortable.

There's a sponsored "geocaching" campout by Carson Dodge/Jeep next month I've signed up for. Sounds fun, and I haven't jumped into anything blindly lately. Might as well go on faith and see what happens.

A Hike, a Newbie, and an FTF.

2010-03-07T22:04:00.001-08:00

Another week of not doing a whole lot. Until the weekend that is. :-)

Classes are going great, got a 100% in my math class and I'm having a blast in GIS (midterms are next week). Been daydreaming more about my nomadic life. I think it'd be awesome to buy a travel trailer, get a seasonal job with the BLM, USFS, or various camps, and live that lifestyle, just moving from place to place. The RV dealer showed me a little Shadow Cruiser (?) that was absolutely darling and seemed big enough for one person and a cat.

Yesterday was the REI garage sale and while browsing, I happened upon the biggest score! One guy was looking at a Garmin eTrex Venture HC - he put it down, I snatched it up. "Won't turn on." Hurm, new batteries and it powered on to the Garmin splash screen then died. Software issue, maybe? I put that down and spotted a guy with a DeLorme PN-40. He put that down, I grabbed it. Tag said: "turns off by itself." Um, okay, new batteries in, let's see.

While testing that, I bumped into LeakySpoon and swapped them coins (I now have a RoadRunner/MooseMob double headed geocoin), then just sat around waiting for the mysterious "turn off" of the DeLorme. While waiting, a guy walked up and asked if I was looking for a new GPS. I thought he'd found the eTrex so wasn't to eager for what he had to show. But he handed me a bag with (no joke) a Garmin Oregon 400T, $99.83.

:jaw drops:

Apparently the previous owner had installed additional maps onto the internal memory, wiping the preinstalled topo and base maps for the unit. So, the unit had NO maps whatsoever. The tag read "???may not work???". I thanked the guy and promptly sent out emails, texts, calls, tweets, ANYTHING, to let the cachers of Carson/Reno know about this steal. A friend in Carson took up the offer (or the "dreaded text" as he called it), showed up at REI and installed his 24k topo SD card. Worked like a charm!

And my DeLorme still hadn't "turned off". I say "my" because I walked out of the store with it. New toy!

Sunday morning, I met up with Puzzleman and DragonflyNV (new cacher) for a hike up the V&T hill. She scored her first 6 caches, Puzzleman picked up his remaining two, and I got a 3 mile hike out of the morning. Not bad at all.

But boy did I crash afterwards. Came home, slept, then was called by Dad to go look at high-density SD cards. After that it was a trip down south, and we picked up a few caches along the way.

Then a new one published, very near the road we were already on. I pull it up on Google and... it's in a backyard? Fiddle with the numbers a bit to match where we guessed it to be, and after an intensive search in a tree, were about to give up. We saw a few 4-wheelers pull int to fix their rigs, so stood and watched and listened to them long enough that the cache owner came out to double check his coords. Had a very nice chat, enjoyed the FTF find, admired the stars in the dark desert, then headed back in for food.

This was a good weekend.

3/6/2010 NevadaWolf grabbed Moose or Roadrunner? (Moose Mob Geocoin)
3/6/2010 NevadaWolf grabbed RoadRunner or Moose? (RoadRunner Geocoin)
3/7/2010 For Chicks Who Quilt
3/7/2010 Carson Valley Travel Bug Hotel
3/7/2010 Enter the Desert

Signs of spring

2010-03-01T20:56:00.001-08:00

Several good things have happened: A few trees are starting to show signs of new buds, the storms are turning to rain over snow, and the sunlight is lasting longer after work. Soon Soon Soon!

So last week, I completely enjoyed the walk with neogeo_rr, his son, and nvsrvyr along the southern line of the V&T. Great day for a walk! Then nvsrvyr and I headed over to Riverview so he could pick up the Don't Be Alarmed cache. I enjoyed standing around admiring the river and (silently) laughing as he searched. We then bounced around north Carson, grabbed dinner, and headed over to Starbucks to hang out awhile before the rest of the group showed up.

17 folks in all, including a newbie from my work, three newbies who'd found a cache while out on a hide, a few folks coming back into the game, and a handful of our usual suspects. And over the course of the week, we've seen 11 new accounts/folks total pop up, Carson is waking up! But towards the end of the night, the snow began falling.

Sunday found the storm back and that cancelled our trip to Truckee. So, it turned out to be a lazy day and a single find where I was finally able to drop off the coins from Diabolical.

Nothing much happened the rest of the week. Chores, school, talking with a friend, the usual. still not hiking/working out, though beginning on March 1st, I'm changing that. I've got 20 days to get into shape for my week off and DARNIT! I'm going to do it!

This last Saturday found me out in Fallon with a co-worker and a group from the Sierra Club on a guided hike to Hidden Cave and Grimes Point, before ending at the Round House Gallery. This was the first time I've been to Hidden Cave! The intense smell of amonia (bat guano) made it hard to breathe, but seeing the condition the archaeologist students had left their excavation was totally worth it. They left half the cave untouched for future researchers and they had labeled the ground strata as well as various geological events that had left their mark, including a line of ask from the Crater Lake eruption!

We wandered around Grimes Point, then I showed my co-worker and her sister the other site I knew about. As we were walking out, I was asked where the road went. "Oh, to the quarry where there's Wonder Stone." "Wonder what?" We spent the next 45 minutes digging out wonder stones from the roadway. Wonder Stone is a reddish rock, with swirls of pink, yellow, white, and a couple other colors. I used to know how they were formed, but have forgotten that. The cool thing is these are all polished because of the water tumbling them against the sandy ground. Now whether that was from ancient Lake Lahontan, or more recent, again I've forgotten.

I finished the day by grabbing a few caches around Fallon and heading back into town and a rainstorm.

Sunday was OMG gorgeous! I hung out with Puzzleman as he introduced a new person to the sport, then went archive cache hunting (found the lid), and then finally got that pesky Earthquake cache that's been the closest cache to my house for quite awhile. Whoo Hoo! While on the phone with Puzzleman, I was struck by an awesome idea! So, between him on Google Maps and the home mapping software, and me out on the roads following his directions and relaying where I was and what I was seeing, we found a killer location for a new cache.

Course, it'll take a few trips out there to set up the logistics, but I LOVE the idea and can't wait to try to get it out there.

That's it for now. The weather is improving and soon, soon, I'll be out on the trails finding those caches up in the mountains!

2/21/2010 Recycle This!!
2/27/2010 Island
2/27/2010 Flying Angels
2/27/2010 Flood Gate: Stark T
2/27/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find Knotty Tree
2/27/2010 Flood Gate - Wildes Rd
2/27/2010 Dancing with Nature
2/27/2010 NAS Wetlands Nature Trail
2/27/2010 NevadaWolf posted a note for Emily's Cache!
2/27/2010 Cupid's Cache
2/27/2010 Curious Mail
2/27/2010 Stumped?
2/28/2010 NevadaWolf posted a note for Where Beavers Dare
2/28/2010 De JaVu Quake Times 2
3/1/2010 NevadaWolf posted a note for Tribute to RockinW

Sick and surviving

2010-02-20T07:37:00.000-08:00

There's a very good reason why I haven't been updating here in a couple weeks.... just give me a moment to think up one!

Seriously, I came down with the local crud a few weeks ago and since have had the joy of it moving into my lungs and making friends with my asthma. So, I've kinda been down and not really feeling like doing anything.

School started up again. During the week I'm taking Math 096 (yeah yeah, numbers are not my strong suit, despite what my teacher and grades say) and a GIS Extensions class. Currently we're learned ArcScene, which is killer fun as it's taking the 2D view of the data and incorporating the Z-value to create a 3D model. Plus it features a Fly function. So, whenever we finish each assignment, you can usually find a couple of us zipping around whatever dummy data was provided for the lesson. I've gotten pretty good at wizzing around mountains and canyons. One was really cool. We were playing with vertical exaggeration and took a small river in Tenn and warped it to the size of the Grand Canyon. Afterwards, I turned Fly on and cruised along the bottom of the river corridor. Wheee!!

Caching hasn't been much, though I have gotten a few in over the weekends.

Dad and I headed out to Fernley for a change of pace and found some fun caches while there. Though our first stop was in Reno and we were busted by nvsrvyr just as we found a little cache in a tree. Though we didn't grab any donuts from the shop nearby. Out in Fernley, I think Troll's House and Chutes N' Ladders were the funnest. One was beside a tunnel pass under the interstate and the other was on a seriously wicked jungle gym that I had more fun playing on than looking for the bugger of a cache.

A few new caches popped up in Carson also. Been having some fun FTF runs, though it seems the race has fizzled out for now. I was up really early one morning and had enough time to kill before to snag a little bison tube just as the sun crested the PineNut range. Then we discovered the notifications weren't working across the board and I learned of a cache that Puzzleman didn't get the text on. So I sent him a notice and he sniped that one after 45 minutes from publication. Of course, then Puzzleman's latest devilish cache pops up and I'm still stuck at work unable to do anything. ARGH!! But the fun one was when the WCCC (Weekly Coffee and Caching Crew) came through Carson and left one behind. It published while I was less than a half mile away and I had the perfect timing to go grab it! Whoo Hoo! Later, another case of whacked notifications hit. Elway7 posted a bizarre note on Twitter that the next morning I learned was the publication note from RoadRunner to me that I never got! 10 hours after publication, no one in Carson knew of the cache, so I forwarded the info to the only one readily available. Go Puzzleman, GO!

Elsewhere, Puzzleman discovered one really really REALLY (did I say really?) tough cache up in Truckee that has yet to be found! So, right smack in the middle of my cold bug, and during a snow storm, we head up there to tackle it. Well, it ended up tackling us and sent a few of its buddies to finish the job. 0-3 on Alpinebobl caches in Truckee. That sucked.

The next weekend, my Dad and I returned during a sunny day and spent close to an hour and 45 minutes up there at the one cache! That makes 3 hours over 2 trips with still no find. :grump: (we're going back up tomorrow to try AGAIN!). But, we did manage to cruise around Truckee and picked up a few in town. Though, downtown Truckee on a Sunday that happens to be Valentines day really bites. If you aren't shopping that is. LOL

So that brings us up to date, I think. Today I'll be going out for a walk with an online friend and his son before heading off to Starbucks to hang out with Puzzleman and anyone else who swings by to chat about caching and whatever else the conversation drifts onto.

Have a good weekend!!

Recent Caching Activity:

1/28/2010 WWJE-10
1/30/2010 NevadaWolf will attend Geowoodstock VIII (Mega-Event Cache)
1/31/2010 Donuts 4 Breakfast
1/31/2010 Books
1/31/2010 Stuck Truck
1/31/2010 Muggles
1/31/2010 Troll's House
1/31/2010 Chutes N' Ladders
1/31/2010 Thinking of playing games
2/2/2010 Loch-ness Monster
2/2/2010 Stein-heimer Park
2/2/2010 Rally Was a Good Boy
2/3/2010 WCCC in CC
2/5/2010 A gift from Dad
2/6/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find Camouflageus Cacheia
2/6/2010 Ohm's Law
2/6/2010 NevadaWolf posted a note for Insane Plight
2/6/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find Watt's Up?
2/6/2010 "bailys' overlook"
2/13/2010 1 2 3 A B C, The Next Step
2/14/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find Camouflageus Cacheia
2/14/2010 Put me in, cold.....
2/14/2010 Behave Yourself
2/14/2010 Court Case #783
2/14/2010 Truckee Chinatown
2/14/2010 Under Lock & Key
2/14/2010 Not Me............Yet!
2/14/2010 Watt's Up?
2/14/2010 Hanging Around City Hall
2/14/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find On the way to City Hall

Stupid sucky snow storm

2010-01-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

Well, this week totally bit.

Monday, ended up working on the petroglyph slides and completely felt bleh, so didn't do anything. Tuesday finally got in one hour with the weights. Wednesday, another bleh day. Thursday I was exhausted all day. Friday went to go see Avatar. Saturday, tried working out and felt as weak as a kitten - to the point where I could barely lift the weights. And today, just did nothing.

Tomorrow, semester starts, which means the gym is open until 8pm. I am so making up for this week!

I have gotten most of the slides done, which is good as starting on Tuesday I'm going to be buried in other homework and I want to have the slids done before March. Yeah, it's a little over a month away, but time flies when you think you have enough of it.

Have I mentioned these slides before? Seems I have, but I'll repeat myself. Ths time around, I'm labeling the slides from the petroglyph site at Grapevine Canyon in southern Nevada. Normally, I wouldn't name the site, but this is a huge public site, so there you go. Beautiful motifs and there's one shot with one of the volunteers standing in for scale. The place is HUGE!

I have gotten in some caching despite the storm that settled in on top of us. Finally got my 5 mile radius cleared again. Yeah! And tonight bagged two FTFs (to the surprise of the owner!) in the snow and dark and cold and harassment from RoadRunner. Sheesh, you'd think it be a good thing to be a good friend of the Reviewer, but noooo. Trust me, all you who aren't in daily communication with the RoadBird are better off!

1/23/2010 Gambling Bikers Earn Silver (Traditional Cache)
1/23/2010 Great Big Eagle Snot (Traditional Cache)
1/23/2010 Green Bibles Educate Sinners (Traditional Cache)
1/23/2010 Gentle Buffalo Eat Sage (Traditional Cache)
1/24/2010 Welcome to Boomtown (Traditional Cache)
1/24/2010 Where to from here? (Traditional Cache)
1/24/2010 Washoe Winter Dog Walk (Traditional Cache)
1/24/2010 Little Washoe Winter Dog Walk (Traditional Cache)

More awesome hikes and a few caches too

2010-01-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

So the week is still going strong as far as the work outs go. Managed to do something every day this week and feel pretty dang proud about it.

Picked up one of the new caches during my hike after work on one night, then was invited up to REI for some shopping and caching afterwards. That was entertaining, mostly in trying to find the right parking spot and trying to power the various electronic gizmos I have with me.

Then a new cache published late Thursday night, but after looking at the scene, I decided a .6 mile hike up onto Prison Hill at 10:45 at night wasn't worth it, so just grabbed a few others scattered around town. The next night after work found me hiking up there, though too late for the FTF. I had a great 2 mile hike straight up the hill the down the trail in the dark and only two moments of real heart stopping panic. I was seeing things and my mind was having a ball making my imagination run wild.

Saturday, nvsrvyr came down to pick both me and bookmarked up for a hike back up Jack's Valley Wildlife Management Area to get him the caches up there and the final to a multi that is really tough. We trudged up there, getting hung up on a cache that is feared to have fallen down the critter hole. Though Bookmarked really made an effort to dig it out. That's where Puzzleman caught up with us and we continued the hike up.

Stopping at one more cache before the long haul straight up to the top of the ridge where the final rested. The going was slow and tough due to the steepness and the sand drying out and become soft and loose again. Every step sank you in about an inch or so and the angle slid you downhill more often than not. Eventually we made it up there and I was to the cache site first...

... only to find it muggled!! NOOOO

The swag was left lying on the ground nearby, but the container and the logbook were both gone. Puzzleman wandered around the hill looking for it. Though up there, one side has enough boulders that you can make your way around, the other side is a sheer drop off that you have to see in order to believe, despite me telling everyone it was a steep drop. Gathered up the geolitter, took pictures as proof, ate lunch, then it was back down the hill.

Stopped by two more caches in a general bushwhacking approach. During the hike to one, I got a phone-a-friend call from sierradogs about the cache Fat Boy Slim. They didn't quite believe me it was there and took some encouragement from one "directing" the other inside to where the cache was located. I gave them enough hints that they felt confident finding it (though later ai received a text telling me the Mr. Sierradog was stuck in the cave and Mrs. Sierradog would be coming to dinner solo). A total of 3 miles of up into the mountain and down before reaching the vehicles again to head home. For it was time to clean up and head to the Firkin and the Fox for our monthly geocaching get-together!

nvsrvyr and I were there first so we got to enjoy the quite area for dinner, then Puzzleman and his family showed up and we hung out until everyone else came in. All told, we had Clark Gable, mdpebright, Junk Yard Dawg, sierradogs (and pup) - both of them, he escaped the cave, barefootfamily, Puzzleman and his wife, bookmarked, ejc365, and GoodNight Goofies came in late. Awesome get together and a lot of fun was had. I overheard a lot of varied conversations, too numerous to count. This is the type of get-togethers I love. Relaxed, sociable, and just plain fun and everyone in involved.

After all that, Sunday nvsrvyr picked up again to be on the trail by 9. We headed up to the first cache in Indian Hills (Money Rocks) and wound ourselves around the entire top of the hills. It took a couple stops to study the aerial images and the ground before us to figure the right road and the best approach to some of the caches and often times we found our judgement rewarded with an easy walk vs a trudge down and back up a ravine. The second and third caches we found quickly and we stopped briefly to have a snack while admiring the great overview of both Carson and Eagle Valleys.

At the fifth cache of the day, nvsrvyr made a startled noise and I looked up in time to see a massive black bird soaring right along the ridgeline in front of us. This great beauty kept circling around us, lazily holding the thermals and only flapping his wings a few times before a turn or to raise up higher. I took both pictures and video and later learning we were watching an immature Golden Eagle. Wow! Absolutely stunning and breathtaking.

Continuing on, we grabbed a creative cache by BigTruckCrew and Lil' Miss Muffit. Unfortunately, it had been placed in such a way that the 4 star difficulty was a 1 at best. nvsrvyr found it without a problem. Then it was once again down the hill to the flats and off to the next cache. Now, awhile back I had researched some older caches in Carson looking for the first. During that I had found a few other archived caches that had no indication of being picked up. One such cache was Indian Hills cyber-cache. My brain chose this moment to recall that name, recall we were hiking Indian Hills and put the two together. Pulling up the coords, by sheer dumb luck we were a mere 300 feet from the cache on the trail we were on! Go!

It had been archived on January 20th, 2003. Two folks found it a month later. We found it 7 years later. Moments like that are why I love caching. Finding the treasure no one else knows about.

We kept walking the trail, where we split for a time to get caches in opposite directions that the other already had. I headed north and nvsrvyr headed south and I caught up with him just before he reached the last little hill back to the Yukon.

This weekend has been amazing. Some great hikes, amazing cache adventures, and hanging out with the most awesome of friends. Now let's just hope that I'm not in too much pain tomorrow - unlike the rest of the country, I'm one of the few who have to work.

1/12/2010 God Bless East Stewart
1/13/2010 Clear Zone #10
1/13/2010 Reno/Tahoe IAP TB Hotel
1/13/2010 WWJEat6
1/13/2010 A "Hi-Tech" Solution
1/13/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find Bakers Dz.13 - Chocolate Fudge
1/13/2010 WWJEat7
1/14/2010 Great Bargains Encourage Sales
1/14/2010 Good Boys Earn Stars
1/15/2010 Prison Break
1/17/2010 CV2D South
1/17/2010 Sunridge2D NE
1/17/2010 Indian Hills cyber-cache
1/17/2010 One of these rabbits.....
1/17/2010 Something Off The Wall

Something New

2010-01-15T21:58:00.001-08:00

If you follow my One Thousand Footsteps blog, you'll know that I was including screenshots about the hikes I was taking.

Well, I've slacked on that.

So now, I've provided a link to a MapSource file that I'll load my tracks onto. So you can see all the details you want for each hike. This should be easier than fussing with the pictures and getting them lined up just right.

Enjoy!

A week of walking and 2900!

2010-01-10T21:41:00.001-08:00

Sunday night, yeah, that's when I'll do this.

So Monday I started out on my daily walks. Took on the face of Lakeview Hill and after a half hour was back in the truck dead. Tuesday, HikingPam and I went out along the Mexican Ditch trail. Wednesday was a rest day (and department meeting) so no hiking. Thursday, Gus from the Nevada Rock Art Foundation handed me a box full of Clark County slides (YEA!!!) so I was so not into hiking and ended up at Starbucks sniffing Sharpie fumes and drinking tea. Friday it was right back up Lakeview Hill, this time I did the trailhead to the first shoulder and back in 20 minutes. w00t!

Details on those hikes, and any future hikes, can be found on my other blog, One Thousand Footsteps, here I'll just lightly brush over them.

This weekend has totally been a play day! Saturday, I went out with BigTruckCrew, lil miss muffit, and frankenscout to four-wheel around the PineNuts. This range is still snowy, so I didn't feel comfortable driving, I ended up riding along in the Orange Scout.

We headed up Brunswick Canyon, getting on dirt and snow before heading up to drive around a small reservior up there unofficially known as Lake LePew (or something like that). Found a cache up there and took loads of pictures of Eagle valley just covered in a thick fog. We then explored the spillway for the res before driving across the dam and down to the top of Lucky Canyon.

This canyon is steep, narrow, bouldery, and only for the most extreme of 4x4 rigs. BTC has a good collection of off-road monsters that go anywhere, and he was told his truck was "too nice". As you can see from the picture, Big Blue is a rough and ready rig, so BTC decided if that was too nice, he was in over his head. We hiked the canyon instead. From the top, we had a view of something that was later revealed to be of the old smelter down by the Carson River. Impressive view and once the fog cleared when we returned, everyone know where we were.

Then is was the hike down into the canyon. The top had two boulders set really close together that a Jeep might be lucky to squeeze through. You can see the rubber laid down by other rigs, But today I was glad we were on foot. Once we cleared that obstacle, we came around the corner to see the belly of this canyon. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! I want to see this place in the sunlight and also during spring or summer when the snow isn't covering everything. Bare stark spires of rock jutting out of the canyon bottom rising up and fading into the fog above us. It was really cool! And I know where the mouth is near the river. I'm so going back.

After the hike back up, we drove back into the PineNuts towards a mine that frankenscout wanted to show us. However, the Jeep he was driving started having issues after he bounced out of one snowy washout and sideways into another. It just kept stalling and wouldn't start. A few more tries only resulting in the tow line coming out and the Scout pulling him back towards civilization.

The night ended with a trip to Starbucks and life is grand.

Sunday, I woke up late (hike must've been tougher than I thought) and met up with Puzzleman to grab a few caches around town to brings my numbers up to 2899. Then it was off to Jacks Valley Wildlife refuge for an awesome hike up into the mountain to grab Two-Leaf Hakea, a cache that has been staring at me since April, when I had just cleared this whole hill! grrrr. Anyway, it was a great hike, cool bordering on cold, where the exercise kept us warm. Straight up and around for a total of 3.1 miles. Puzzleman got, I think, 10 caches while up there and I got my 2900th. Totally worth it, and the hike in the fog was simply surreal.

Great weekend and if I wake up tomorrow morning with only tolerable pain, I'll be stoked.

Goal Check:
Since I started this workout/eat better thing, I've improved on my hikes and according to my little scale, have lost 7 pounds!!! SWEET!

1/9/2010 NevadaWolf posted a note for Trinket Traders #5
1/10/2010 NevadaWolf found It's a brick...house....
1/10/2010 NevadaWolf found Great Basic Earth Search
1/10/2010 NevadaWolf found Gentle Balm Enhances Serenity
1/10/2010 NevadaWolf found Gas Burns Efficiently Safely
1/10/2010 NevadaWolf found Good Barriers Ensure Safety
1/10/2010 NevadaWolf found Two-Leaf Hakea

Adventures in Gardnerville

2010-01-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

Really trying to get into this habit, I think it'll help quite a bit once warmer weather settles in.

So New Year's weekend. Three (well, three and a half) glorious days off!

Thursday, my boss kicked me out of work early, so I laced up my boots and went for a hike. There's a new cache in town, Fat Boy Slim, that looked both challenging and really fun. One thing about BigTruckCrew caches, they never let you down! Unfortunately I got up there just as the sun was setting and finally zeroed in on GZ as the sun went behind the mountain. I had to call it off for tonight.

Friday, I went right back up there and sure enough, found the cache and was highly impressed with the adventure. Granted it was short and simple, but one unlike I've done around here.

I love caches that are more than just an easy drive up or a tough hike. I can walk anywhere, give me something to climb into or up and I'll be a happy camper, regardless if it's right in town, or 10 miles down a trail.

Afterwards, my Dad and I headed down to Gardnerville to make a dent in the caches down there. We came away with 10 and had an enjoyable time with me learning how to use the netbook. I'm getting the hang of navigating with the DeLorme software.

Saturday I took a hike up to Bernsports new Earthquake cache. While he said there was no trail, I investigated Google Maps and found a road that got me closer. Trouble was it was half covered in snow. A couple tries here and there got me halfway up the hill before I had to set out on foot. a 40 minute climb up the gully found me at the cache site and a nice second to find on the log.

Once I got back down off the mountain, Dad and I went caching. Though first we had to stop and try to find a case for my new camera. But, none was to be found and I soon had a phone-a-friend from CastleDwellers. They were just outside the store looking for a cache. I too was unable to find it and we went off.

Our second day down in Carson Valley ound us hop-scotching CastleDwellers and finding another ten caches. Another fun day with some good caches along the way.

However it seems the hike yesterday took it's toll on Sunday as I crashed around 10:30p and only woke up at 10a to a text from b0neZ. Good thing too, I was still crashed out and having some seriously bizzaro dreams containing hiking, camping, and very very late math assignments. I don't want to know what my head it telling me on that one.

Spent today just camped out at home, watching movies, and surfing. Went to lunch with Dad and hung out with Bernsports to return his DeLorme CD. I know I know, I should definitely do something before bed. I'll either do my delayed workout or focus on learning more T'ai Chi. I'm trying to figure out how to do the full simplified 24 Movement Form T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Here's the video I'm watching to understand the written form: YouTube

So, goal check for my wandering ways:
Electronics - Netbook and new camera acquired.
Fitness - Two uphill hikes done, working out with free weights daily, t'ai chi in the evenings.

NevadaWolf found:
1/1/2010 Fat Boy Slim
1/1/2010 "bailys' s-s-rij"
1/1/2010 Stake Out
1/1/2010 "bailys' silo"
1/1/2010 Sit Down and Enjoy the View
1/1/2010 Play Ball
1/1/2010 Virginia Canal
1/1/2010 School is for the Birds
1/1/2010 bailys "spital"
1/1/2010 bailys' micro #11
1/2/2010 Lock Down
1/2/2010 Quaking Aspen? NO! Quaking Trees? YES!
1/2/2010 Jack's Valley #8
1/2/2010 There's No Mulligans in Caching #6
1/2/2010 Thirsty for a View
1/2/2010 "The Long and Winding Road"
1/2/2010 Hanging Around Genoa
1/2/2010 "bailys' lil devil"
1/2/2010 Orange you glad it's a micro - Take a Hike
1/2/2010 Fetch This
1/2/2010 Go to the park sucker
1/2/2010 SHM #120 - Walley's Hot Springs

1/1/2010 NevadaWolf couldn't find bailys' "mini micro"
1/1/2010 NevadaWolf requested L+L=Love & Marriage to be archived

Looking towards 2010

2009-12-31T23:01:00.000-08:00

December 31st, 2009

Another year is coming to an end. For many this year has been especially hard. So will 2010 find renewal or more suffering? How much darkness must we pass through before the light at the end of the tunnel is finally revealed? Or can you see that light and so keep walking, hoping that the light will grow bigger and brighter, finally revealing the escape so longed for?

For me, I feel like I'm sitting at a cross road. I feel I am so close to the end of one journey that something as light and gentle as a breeze will topple everything. The point of the knife is narrow and sharp. But I am so close, to lose hope now would ruin me. To lose faith in that there is something else waiting would crush me.

Let me tell you a thought I had the other day. I am the type that when asked, "Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?" I would always stare blankly. To me the "future" was no more than a year away, and to look to far ahead was to see only darkness. I am in awe of those who actually have a plan, have a vision, have a goal that they can see and work towards. Because that is not me. I have no goal, no vision, no desire, no ambition. I know I shall never make a lasting mark upon this life. I shall not say or do anything that will survive past the memories of my friends. I'm no one. My future is dark and has been for a long while.

The sense of urgency begins to take on a whole new meaning when one views it in the light of time running out, doesn't it?

But then, I realized that maybe what I had always viewed as a physical end may be more of a spiritual end, or at least an end to one life and the possible beginning of a new one?

Could it be that the sense of urgency was not to hurry up and race to the finish line, but get my affairs in order to cross the starting line? Maybe the sense of disconnect, the overall lack of caring, and the cutting off and isolation from what was is merely the shedding of a skin that has grown far to small and dried out. Scorpio, snake, eagle, phoenix, rebirth and renewal. Maybe I have just held on for far to long.

So this year I have a few resolutions. The most important is to satisfy this beast and begin wandering as much as possible. To that end, I've already begun working out and once it warms up, I'll hit the trails and start walking.

I will hike at least a full section of the Tahoe Rim Trail by summer's end.

I will go camping at least once a month.

If this is indeed a rebirth, then I will not fight it but embrace it. I must have faith that once I reach the other side I will emerge stronger and more at peace with myself.

Happy New Year, ladies and gentlemen. To your health, happiness, and prosperity!

Archy in a Box

2009-12-27T10:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I found a really cool idea at World Market. It's a terra cotta Archer from China's First Emperor of Qin's Terracotta Army.

Only, it was sealed in a clay block and tools for excavating it are provided.

COOL!

So here's a series of pictures as the archaeologist in me went gah-gah and I totally had fun. Click on the picture, it's a link to my Picasa album.

Terra Cotta Excavation

Diabolical Revelation

2009-12-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

One year ago, I unleashed upon Carson a journey unlike any that I had seen in geocaching before. It had taken years to make it from my head to physical form.

Combining ideas that really impressed me and fresh ideas that I believed were new. It took awhile to complete, each stage growing and evolving as time went on. Finally, the last piece was in place and my Diabolical cache came to be.

For the cache itself, see Now *This* is Diabolical

But, evil is fleeting. It's been one year and time has come to lay this demon to rest. So, dear Reader, since I believe that geocaching can only grow through cachers talking and sharing those caches that truly stand out, allow me to share what has become my masterpiece.

First though, my sincerest thanks to everyone who came out and braved the dark. My heartfelt gratitude cannot be expressed in mere words.

Stage one:
From the parking coordinates (those listed upon the cache page), the cacher would stand in a dirt clearing where two roads cross. By shining their flashlight around, they soon would spot a square reflective marker off in the sage brush. The reflective tape is on the face of a thin post wired to a piece of rebar and supported by rocks. The curious cacher will always try moving the rocks or pulling the post up - neither of which gets you anywhere. Once they've exhausted the usual methods, the cacher will eventually remember the point about the UV Light. Shining the light upon the post reveals the coordinates to the next stage a quarter mile away.

Stage two:
While not intended, the easiest route to the coordinates causes the vehicles headlights to shine upon the reflective marker. The cacher investigates the post using UV to reveal the message "Feeling at the end of your rope?" Looking closer, a 35mm attached to the rebar is discovered. Opening the container shows a string wound around a spool with a black disk at the end. Eventually, the cacher will realize that they need to walk out to the end of the string ad begin walking in a circle until the next step is found. A PVC pipe is tied into a nearby bush and removing the cap, the cacher can see another 35mm at the bottom. If the cacher hasn't wrapped the string back up, and if they aren't equipped with an extendable magnet, the black disk (magnet) can be lowered into the tube and the 35mm removed. Inside is a black piece of paper that UV light will show the next coordinates.

Stage three:
After parking, the cacher discovers the reflector further up the hill than expected. Once there, the UV light reveals two columns of numbers. Every possible idea is tried, from UTM to spelling to adding to anything until it becomes clear the number is a phone number written top to bottom left to right. So row one was 87, row two 76, row three 87, row four 74, row five 70 (don't try calling, I'm cancelling the number shortly after this publishes). That number was bought through http://www.onebox.com/ and costs just under $10 per month. I had my friend SKWERL record the message that provided the coordinates and cachers were welcome to leave a voicemail. I got some really entertaining messages from that stage!!

Stage four:
Parking provides a spectacular view of Carson City at night. The reflector lies downhill a bit and has the UV message 340, 89'. This is an offset stage, cachers can either use the GPS Project Waypoint function or manually figure it out. The location is a pile of rock that was there with an ammo can inside. The final location is on a hill with a clear and unobstructed view of the city. At night, one can see all the city lights and if the moon is full, the surrounding mountains. But it is dark enough to enjoy the stars above.

So there you have it. My pride and joy. Feel free to borrow any ideas that may help you create a truly wicked cache. I want to thank Team Alamogul, westycrew, and Team GeoDragon for inspiration and help on this one.

My second journey is still out there is you dare:

A Diabolical Journey

On a quest for 1000

2009-12-20T18:44:00.001-08:00

Dad and I started caching the same day, on August 3rd 2003. But because of work schedules, and degree of obsession with the game, I racked up the numbers while he enjoyed a more sane pace.

But today he was within 10 caches of reaching that great milestone of 1K. So while testing out the new setup, we started picking up a few. Then it became we picked up enough to set him at 999.

Oh what to do?

I sent out a Twitter request for suggestions and was soon standing beside Catch the Wave, a water cache that I'd heard much about. We looked, headed down to Chevron to get the needed supplies, and were soon back at Ground Zero.

Teamwork got this cache in hand with only a half gallon rather than the usual gallon and cheers went up for his 1000th cache find.

Not a bad day at all. :-)

Today, 12/20/2009, we found:

Sign Of The Times 4 (FTF at 12:21p)
JGMTC VII
A Partridge in a Pear Tree
Two Turtle Doves
Three French Hens
Four Calling Birds
Five Golden Rings
Six Geese A-Laying
Seven Swans A-Swimming
Catch the Wave

A journey of a thousand miles....

2009-12-19T18:26:00.000-08:00

As Legolas said, though referring to something else, "A shadow and a threat has been growing in my mind..."

A bit of back story first.

A few years back, I got the idea in my head to just drop everything and go wander. Drift wherever my feet or interest or roads take me. When I run low on money, simply stop and get a basic job to build funds up again, then head off.

That got put on the back burner due to many obligations that have come up, but still, it's there. I'd follow with interest other vagabonds, who took the ultimate act of courage and struck out for a new life. Amtrekker being one that I had the pleasure of meeting.

But then, about a month or so ago, the shadow began growing. It swelled in size and strength, until it weighed upon me like the chains borne by Marley. I couldn't get it out of my head and the utter sense of urgency, the sense of NOW, could not be shaken. For once, my life was beginning to line up in such a way that the whole thing was possible.

My credit cards could very well be paid off this month, a big hang up as wandering acquires no income. School semester has now ended, leaving me with the choice to continue on. And... well, let's just say that the other big responsibility in my life doesn't have quite the hold it used to.

Could I do it? Could I drop everything and just Go. No destination, no goal, no objective, just put on a backpack and let the wind carry me off. As the Master wanderer said, "It is a dangerous business going out your front door."

Well, not exactly. Still enough ties here to hold me back. But, to appease the monster that has been dominating my concentration and focus lately, I figured I'll start by taking steps.

One idea I have is to actively blog my journey/adventure/whatever. Now I do have my phone, an HTC Touch Pro 2, but typing to type anything of length is almost nightmarish. And lugging around the laptop is just a bear. So, the solution? A netbook!

I've been wanting one of these for awhile, and seeing habu using it to navigate to caches and then seeing nvsrvyr's Mission Control set up really really made me want one. And what better little device to haul around and blog and surf and whatever while on the road??

So, I have now taken step one.

I'm currently writing this on my new Samsung N130 and it's rigged up to go fully mobile cache wise and totally mobile for recording my journey for whatever adventures lie before me.

A Great Day

2009-09-20T22:06:00.001-07:00

I have had a remarkable day!

A 20 mile bike ride, followed by a 3 mile paddle down the Walker River. All with some awesome awesome friends.

I am going to be so sore tomorrow!!

Egads! Update!

2009-08-28T23:52:00.000-07:00

Hurm, so I last posted on 5/13/09

Yeah a bit has gone on since then. I'll see about going back and trying to do a play-by-play, but until such time, I'll hand you a summary of sorts. Now, I am caching in between these events, but this is just touching on the big moments over the last few months.

Memorial Day Weekend July 23rd-25th
Drove down to Vegas, had truck issues, redrove down to Vegas to hang out with the Moose Mob Expedition in covering a good portion of the southern tip of the state and over the course of three days scored 80+ caches. In short, AWESOME WEEKEND!

May 31st
Dad and I head out to Yerington to clear out the town and to play the new Tic-Tac-Toe series that was out there. That was a really fun day and, although I lost the game, we really loved playing!

June 7th
So I tweet that I'm almost to 2500 caches, and habu! found out I wasn't really motivated enough to score that big milestone. So I met up with him in Tahoe and we spent the day caching around and seeing some spectacular places that I didn't even know about! I think the best one was the hike up by Horsetail Falls and the old ruined cabin, well, no the best one was going after one in an area that left me feeling like we'd been transported away from the Sierras and found ourselves in the marshy lowlands of Florida. It was GREAT!

June 21st
Dad and I return to Yerington in the hopes of completely clearing town. We were mostly successful, though I really enjoyed the cache at the Bluestone Mine. That was a great adventure and a really cool location! That's what I really enjoy about caching!

June 27th
I suddenly got to thinking that, in my opinion, a really great cache are those that you are eager to share with someone that is visiting and you really want to impress them. Then I looked at my caches and realized that I didn't want to share any of mine (well, except Diabolical). So, I archived them. Took all day, but 23 caches bit the dust and I feel immensely relieved! I think a general spring cleaning of cache hides is in order every now and then.

June 28th
Dad and I head out to Fallon to clear out the area around Soda Lake. We score some great caches, have a fun adventure in the hot (100+) sandy desert, and got that chunk of town cleared. Of course when we get home a new Earthcache published -- right on Soda Lake. ARGH!!!

July 5th
Hooked up with Big Truck Crew and a group from Reno 4x4 to go real 4-wheeling. Puzzleman and I were the only stock rigs on the run, but we made it though with only mine injuries. The cool thing was bagging some of the trickier caches along the road and seeing an old well-built road leading from Virginia City to Dayton right over the Sutro Tunnel!

July 24th-26th
Vegas Princess didn't realize Tahoe was so close when she was up here last month and so returned, with Moose Mob in tow. The goal, Depth Perception! The 5 star cache I've been eager to get since I learned of it and the one I've been saving that special 5/5 square on my grid for. Why? Because it's the one you need to DIVE into Tahoe to retrieve! We scored that one and spent the rest of the weekend driving around the lake grabbing caches. Oh yeah, then there was that incident involving El Dorado County Sheriff....

August 12th - 16th
Ah, the big week long caching, camping, and exploring the desert vacation! Puzzleman got the idea to head WAY out there, finish the DeLorme, and to bring his telescope along to take advantage of NO lights being out in the desert. So, we spent three nights out on the desert floor (one at Spencer's Hot Springs, the next at Steptoe Creek, and the last at the Boundary Peak trailhead), cleared out the central section of needed quads, scored the oldest caches in the state, and generally had the most exciting time and the best adventure. I loved every minute of it and really really really didn't want to come back.

So that's the highlights. Again, I'll go back (maybe) and update each event with the full details. Or not. I really need to learn to send an email post whenever I do something awesome. But again, I've taken to Twitter and since it doesn't involve the hassle of turning on my laptop and connecting to the net, it's much easier to post there.

But I do want to get back into logging here. Just like my Field Notes, I know it's easier to just post from the field, but as I detest generic logs, I'm actually sitting down and writing a log. I just will have to get back into the habit here.

Thanks for sticking this out with me. Hope to see you again soon!

Down time

2009-05-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I figured I'd take today and update this and actually write something for the previous month that I have neglected...

That was, until I sat down to do it.

For some reason this week I've been under a serious weight, generally giving me an apathedic outlook on life to the point where I haven't even bothered going after a cache despite several publishing - including one named after me! I just haven't gone out.

I don't know what's wrong, wether it'll pass or not, but I do know that trying to backtrack on this might take awhile if ever.

Tis the curse of Twitter - I'm blogging over there 140 characters at a time.

Mother's Day weekend

2009-05-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

Not much caching done as it is Mom's day. But I did get some in.

Earlier I was told about an odd-ball double cache over by the hospital and asked if I remembered any archived cache being there. Since I woke up at 7 and we were planning on heading out around 10, I had some time to investigate.

Turns out that some Rally school used a nearby lamp post to place a stage of a "Night challenge" and it was forgotten. That was back in 2006. Seems that since then, only 1 in every 4 caches managed to find the real cache and instead logged the temporary one. That explains Puzzleman and nvsrvyr's confusion yesterday!

After I removed the offending LPC, b0neZ, kindergeek, and I all headed out to his folks and watched a movie while catching up on family happenings. Afterward, we headed up to Tahoe for my mom's and had some delicious burgers after a game of badminton.

As we were driving home, I managed to get power back into my phone and discovered that RoadRunner was busy! But, we're still 30 minutes away and there's no chance of me getting down in time, so I just ignored them. Not one to be ignored, RoadRunner called and asked how the FTF hunt was going. Since I wasn't, we just chatted a bit before he had to go. Then he published 3 more!! Of course I called him back to harass him over such a move.

Once I dropped the guys off, I went to enter coords - and something happened...

I don't know what, nor why, but my mood dropped drastically while I was putting in those numbers. Rather than trying to hunt for any caches, I just drove up into the hills overlooking Carson and tried to sort out why I was suddenly depressed.

I hope I can shake this feeling soon, but I feel like I lost it.

DeLorme Planning Trip

2009-05-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

I still find it odd that there are two separate groups of DeLorme Challengers going down to the southern end of the state on the same weekend.

So I needed to get my truck ready. I took it in first thing (oy 7:30am!) to Les Schwabb and soon my little boy had a new set of trail boots. Course they were far too clean, so I went and played in dirt and mud before taking him over to Toyota to get his checkup done. Ahh, happy truck!

Then met up with Puzzleman at Round Table to map out our route - his actually, I couldn't get Friday off. Once we finished that, it was time to head up to Fernley and grab some caches before meeting up with the second group.

That was a fun trip, and that Jeep managed to find a good handful of caches that we had already found the last time we went through Fernley with the Reno crowd. Dinner time came and while everyone was eating, the plans came together.

Total, we're looking at myself, Puzzleman, Bookmarked, nvsrvyr, Lost in Reno, nvH20fowler, and Nitro929 are all heading down to Vegas. Watch out Southerners! Here comes the North!

More FTF's

2009-05-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

Not much going on lately, cept for the random night post that leaves half of Carson scrambling for their vehicles and the other half laughing hysterically at home waiting for the logs.

FITO - Flash In Trash Out

2009-05-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

Whoo Hoo! I finally got a CITO Icon!

So, today was the day of the Flash Mob/CITO. Drove up with Trekrr first thing to the Labyrinth in Rancho San Rafael where everyone met up in their silly hats. The original idea was to walk the labyrinth, but once it was discovered that the path was placed in memory of victims of domestic violence, that idea was stopped. So, we just chatted for 15 minutes and got a good picture out of it.

Afterwards, it was time to introduce ourselves to the Ranger and find our area of trail maintenance. I ended up at the end of the line so we worked the beginning of the trail, clearing weeds, thorny bushes, rocks, and overgrown tree branches. I do say our section looked the best. ;-)

One of the cool things discovered was that while Green Jack was ready to hack a limb, a little yellow Bush Tit flew out and he nest - WITH EGGS - was discovered. The limb was quickly delared off limits and everyone came to look at the brave little bird who flew back and sat so still on her nest we really had to look to see her.

All in all a very fun day!

Remote FTF attempt

2009-04-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

There's a new feature on Nevada Geocaching Assoc, a map of all caches in Nevada with no finds on them - ie FTF!

Trekrr spots one smack in the middle of the state, New Pass Summit, and decides that we should take a stab at that one. So into the truck we go and out on an adventure. He'd mapped out the entire route, using Google Maps to find the right path up as there were numerous side roads that went nowhere.

Once we got up into the canyon, the snow began to worry him. I, of course, was willing to walk it once the truck couldn't go any further. So, up the canyon we went, higher, and higher, winding around through the canyon, until we came around a corner and stopped...

Why's that tree lying in the road?

Ah well, back down the mountain and head off to Austin for lunch and start picking up caches on the way back into Carson. You can be sure this won't be the only trip up there, that area was fantastic!!

Mad dash for cache!

2009-04-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

The fun thing about having some hiders in town in that periodically, if your an FTF hound, you get your heart rate tested as the panic sets in as to who can get there first.

Yep, been at that again!

Wendover and beyond!

2009-04-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Puzzleman has it in his mind to do the DeLorme.

So, this weekend we headed out I-80 on a quest to bag as many DeLorme pages, the Oldest Caches out east, two additional states, numerous counties, and whatever else we could find.

So Friday night was the monthly coffee hour and there was an amazing 20-25 cachers who showed up! Awesome time all around and a great chance to finally put some names and faces together with their caching handle. Later, while packing and geting ready, Black Fox got his cache published right outside Starbucks. But I opted to get ready vs head out.

Saturday, while waiting for Puzzleman and bookmarked, Trekrr and I calmly found the cache that everyone else panicked over last night. Soon that Jeep showed up and we were on our way! We're going on a Road Trip!!! First stop, Lovelock for breakfast (early road trip) and a required stop at It Had To Have One. Then out 80 all the way to Wells, turn north to Jackpot and we all got our first cache in Idaho! Back south to 80, and over to Wendover. Good lord, that place is bright!! Hopped across the state line to bag our second state, then it was off to bed as we were all getting very tired and it was really starting to show.

Sunday, we headed south for the other Oldest Cache and all the way to Cherry Creek where we once again DNF'd churms cache on the old box cars. Back up to Elko and fly home, stopping only a few times for a county and another required stop at the Wall outside Lovelock. Then it was dinner in Fernley and home.

I don't think I've been that exhausted in a long time. But it was a very successful and FUN weekend.

Splatter Caches

2009-04-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Whew, now that the Circle of 12 is DONE! all is left for me to do is keep my 5 mile circle clear.

Just a bonus that also means going on more FTF hunts... :-)

Yeah, i'm having too much fun messing with Puzzleman, Bernsports, CastleDwellers, and anyone else brave enough to challenge the night!

A Circle of 12 = 2300!

2009-04-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!!!

WHOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

:eh hem:

Well, after way to long, way to hard, way to everything, I'm finally able to mark off that last little treasure chest on my GPS within my 5 mile circle of Carson. I FINALLY FINISHED THE CIRCLE OF 12!

Allow me to explain this cache. The Huntsman, Duke_Johnson, whatever other names he uses, hid one multi that had a micro cache with waypoints set on top of 12 highpoints around Carson. Well, 10 of them anyway, 2 stages are oddly in town. Anyway, I started working on this half-heartedly. I mean, come on, 12 hikes and you only get one smiley?? But it was there, it was nagging, and it was going to be found one way or the other.

But I got stuck on 4 - a swarm of bugs kept me away from the cache site and I gave up. But, now that a few others have found it, I was going to finish it. Found 4, and with the help of Trekrr, found 5 and 6. 7 was almost on top of another cache, 8 was a cool hike with a nice overlook of Washoe Lake.

Then, number 9. The one that proved who was going to finish this and the one that made sure you weren't faking the rest. A sheer climb from the bottom of Ash Canyon straight up into the Carson Range. Sure, you're GPS will only say .25 mile, but you are climbing STRAIGHT UP that whole time. I think the only reason I kept going was because it was easier going up than down, I knew I was never coming back, and I was not about to let one cache go unfound. Find it I did, screaming and yelling the whole way, and even discovered an old mine road leading down again. To give you an idea of how exhausted I was upon finding that one, Trekrr was called to give me a ride back to my truck and had to get out the rope to pull me back up the creek bank.

10 and 11 were cake compared to that, though I think even the climb to Mt Rose was cake compared to number 9.

And soon, 12 was in hand and I took immense pleasure in marking that damnable waypoint FOUND!

On a quest for 2300

2009-04-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

And it involves a circle of caches...

You know, when things come together just right, there's no reason why would shouldn't take advantage of them.

5 miles, soon to be clear.
2300, soon to be found.
All Huntsman caches, soon to be checked.
Circle of 12 is going to fall....

But first I need to finish clearing out the town, so that's what I've been working on.

Years later, the multi is finished!!

2009-03-28T11:30:00.001-07:00

Heading up there!

2009-03-28T09:05:00.001-07:00

V&T Bridge

2009-03-25T22:18:00.001-07:00

A day of FTFs and Desert exploring!

2009-03-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

I'll expand on this later, but the short version is I managed to snipe the two FTFs that managed to survive last night's race and Trekrr and I spent a totally awesome day with Puzzleman and Bookmarked bouncing around out in the Dead Camels and the area. Scored a ton of caches too!

Watch your Step

2009-03-14T23:09:00.000-07:00

Had a great hike to one of the toughest caches I've done. But I did it and learned a lot along the way.

A longer log is coming, promise. In the meantime, check out the hiking half of the story over on my other blog.

One Thousand Footsteps

Third times a charm! Found it!!

2009-03-12T18:27:00.001-07:00

DNF the FTF, but a nice view anyway.

2009-03-11T18:25:00.001-07:00

How I spent the last 3 hours...

2009-03-08T21:04:00.001-07:00

Checking on a cache

2009-03-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

Early morning at Riverview Park

2009-03-07T09:02:00.001-08:00

Visit to Lake Lahontan

2009-02-28T23:47:00.000-08:00

Today, b0neZ, kindergeek, Puzzleman, and bookmarked and I all went out to grab a handful of caches around the reservior This has to be one of the funnest weekends I've had. I definitely needed it as I'm been getting a bit of cabin fever being in Carson and on pavement so much lately.

So, Puzzleman's seen that there's this cache on an island in Lake Lahontan. Knowing that the lake is really really low gives him the idea to go out and see if we can drive to it. Would I like to come along? Oh heck yeah!

So we head out, Puzzleman and Bookmarked in their Jeep and b0neZ, kindegeek, and me in the 4Runner. But we can't just drive straight out there, we have to spot and bag some caches along the way. And have some fun while we're out and about. The first stop was a cache up on a small hill outside Silver Springs. I waited below while the Jeep bounced so fast up the road it seriously looked like a cute little silver bug flying along the hillside. Then we headed towards an old Overland Station that's just off the highway and while the others either explored the ruins or found the cache, I got my trucky dusty on the dry lake bed.

One thing you need to know about Bookmarked - she *loves* being off-road. The faster, bumpier, and dustier it is, the happier she is. So when I pulled back up to the ruins, she ran down the hill yelling "Do it again! With me this time!" Her father obliged as he also loves having fun on dirt and they were having to much fun watching me out there. So I was the good little tour guide and took pictures!

Then we headed off to another cache I kept missing that provided a great overlook of the lake. Course, this overlook was just of how miserably low it is, but we were able to finally get up to the old tower and find the cache quickly. Puzzleman relayed a comment his daughter had made, that this is what geocaching is all about. Spending a day with friends and exploring new areas. I cannot agree more!

We continued on to a small pocket of caches where we found on in a culvert under the railroad tracks, then another up in a small range, and then (while the Jeep went off to get one I'd found already), we went exploring to see if a road went up to an Overlook cache nearby. Seriously, I drove *around* this hill looking for a way up, and not only ended up driving into a narrow, steep canyon with a stream bed for a road, but I also ended up driving into the back side of an old quarry - that had the main access gated and locked! Getting out of that was interesting and then reconnecting with the Jeep was another long adventure.

As we made our way over to the island, we kept looking at the lake and attempting to guess where we would eventually wind up. Found the nearest cache, and then we made our way over to the beach. Winding through some shoreline trees to a rough embankment of rocks found us .3 miles from the cache and a deep section of lake still between us and the island. The water was down, but not low enough! We're going to wait until summer when the drought really hits and look forward to being able to drive out.

Heading down the powerline road towards the next cache, the day was starting to grow late and we still had to decide which way to go home. The next two caches were quick, but not quick enough for the setting sun. The decision was made to turn back and head home the way we came in. I took the lead, and soon we found ourselves back on pavement and our rigs pointed home.

Another fantastic day and one that is re-igniting the adventurer spirit in me. I am so restless to get back out into the sand and sage, to ease my way up into narrow canyons, and follow old wagon roads past crumbling ruins of stage and pony stations.

I LOVE NEVADA!

2/28/2009
NevadaWolf found Lahontan View, Hawk Rock, The Gate Keeper, K7XC #6 - Lahontan Lake View, K7XC #19 - Lahontan Lake View #2

Some details on the FTF race!

2009-02-22T23:13:00.000-08:00

Problem with these late night runs is that between the time the cache publishes, I rush out the door, the cache is found and replaced, and I return home, I'm usually so exhausted I collapse right into bed and forget to log anything.

So, while I'm posting this later (3-6-09) allow me to detail out exactly how these nights usually go since until now I've usually just hinted at the madness that follows the Publication Notify.

2/20/2009
NevadaWolf found Hey Kelly & Joy, There's Washoe Lake!!!, Biking to School

Okay, so Trekrr and I were on our way to dinner up at Texas RoadHouse when the notice for Back to School came in. No time, I blow it off for whomever else to find it. However, once dinner was finished (an hour later) and a cache picked up on the way home, still no one had logged it. So, we swing by to pick up b0neZ and kindergeek, and we're off to the site.

This cache is located on a semi-busy street with no parking. So, Trekrr pulls as close as he can, hits the hazards, and out jump b0neZ, kindergeek, and myself. Trekrr drives off to circle the block. As we cross the landscaping to the sidewalk, I trip and fall and my phone goes flying of my beltclip. Gather everything up, follow the GPS, 40 feet, 20 feet, 5 feet - spread out, start looking. While this one isn't hidden by the Billow Clan, the owner recently received this one from Uncle Buck who has been putting out some insanely clever though just unusual enough to stick out caches. So, as the flashlights are sweeping the ground looking for ANYTHING my beam hits it and the cache is in hand!

We gather around, the log extracted using the required tweezers, slowly unroll the sheet to find.... SECOND?! Beaten by CeeBeeNV over 45 minutes ago. ARGH!!

Signal Trekrr and we all pile back into the truck and head home.

Now, you think that'd be the end of it, right? Oh nay nay! There are two other FTF hunters in our little town here.

While lying in front of the computer, my phone suddenly rings. The caller ID shows Puzzleman, but I wouldn't even had needed that once I answered it: "Yes?" "ARGHHHH!!!!!!" "Good evening to you too!" So, we spend the time talking as he's logging the sheet and I happen to mention that while out there I lost my stylus. He's kind enough to not only search for the little itty bitty stylus, but after *finding* that, he logged Trekrr in who I forgot to while I was out there. Wonderful!!

After that conversation was over, I checked my email to see CeeBeeNV finally logged in, so I log in right behind her, and then Puzzleman makes it home to log his. But, we're still missing someone....

Just before I head to bed, Bernsports makes his log - and a sad little purple frown graces his log. Apparently he got out there, his wife doing the same thing my dad was doing, and the whole neighborhood was echoing with the barks of every dog on the street. So between trying to search, and the constant racket make by the dogs, and the fear of the owners calling the cops, he was too rattled to focus and missed the hide. Imagine his surprise at finding a half dozen Found logs all claiming to be really quick and easy. Poor guy!!

2/21/2009
NevadaWolf hosted Carson Coffee and Chow
NevadaWolf found guarding the snag, and on 2/22/2009 found hole in one (after midnight)

For my event, I expected around 30-40 people, tops. Honestly now, Carson is not that populated with cachers. So imagine my intense surprise when over 60 showed up!! ACK! But we had an insanely fantastic time and met a ton of great new people as well as many of my dear friends who showed up from all over!

That night, while logging in and emailing Puzzleman, RoadRunner does his thing and I'm moving! Grab up all my gear, jump in the truck, reach for the GPS.... which is still in the house! Rush back in, grab it, and back into the truck, plugging in coordinates as I go. Three new caches tonight, one in Washoe Valley, two out by the golf course. I blow off the Washoe one, too far. Gun the engine and pedal to the metal out to the links. I'm lucky enough that I know where the trailhead is for these two. I'm guessing/hoping that neither Puzzleman nor Bernsports knows of this entrance.

I get out there, no one in sight, swing around to park, and glance up the trail - and am gripped by a cold gut feeling of "Do not go alone." I don't know about you, but when I get a feeling that is beyond general uneasiness, I obey without question. I've been told by my body a couple times to back off, not go, or simply something's wrong and I never want to mess with that instinct. So I parked the truck and waited....

Sure enough, here come some Jeep headlights. "You find it?" "Nope, waiting for you."

We both park and head out at a brisk pace (I'm a mere 5'4" while Puzzleman is all leg at 6' so I have to move to keep up). The first cache site is located and the search started. Our GPS units are all over the place. 5 minutes later, I'm looking far and wide and I see the power pole. "Oh! There's powerlines above us!" Puzzleman looks, thinks, and grabs the cache quickly after that. Smart-aleck. But an easy FTF for us!

Heading off towards the second cache, we reach GZ and are faced with an old concrete chute, a barbwire fence, and lots of willow trees. We search everywhere within 20 feet, including several places that certainly weren't a 1.5 star terrain. But after a half hour, we give and head back.

As we pass by the first cache, we see a truck on the road slowing down near where we parked. We stop and I turn my flashlight off. Waiting, listening - one car door... silence, then two doors slam. 3 people? Who has 3 people? We rattle off the other groups who may be out, when I catch sight of a flashlight beam hitting the powerlines above. Puzzleman tugs my sleeve and we rush off into the bushes along the side of the trail. I see another flash of light, brighter and closer, and we heard voices coming up the trail...

Freeze, silence, hide everything reflective on me behind Puzzleman's neutral coat and hat....

A guy and a boy walk by, talking, and waving their flashlights everywhere. The beam crosses us, swings back, then back again, locking in on us as we wait... "Dad, there's people over there!!" "WHAT?!"

Puzzleman jumps up and we greet a rather pale-faced Bernsports and his son. The four of us return along the trail to the first cache where I got to play Hot 'n Cold with them until it was found, then it was back to the second cache.

Again, we search and look, and poke and are poked, until 10 minutes later, Puzzleman calls us all over and says he wants to show us something. Telling us to turn off our flashlights, he waits a heartbeat, turns his off, announces he's done, and walks away. Wait?! What?! Done?? OH! DONE! He found it!

We scramble to where we saw him last, while he's laughing manically at us. Bernsports spots it next, then I do, then Bern's son makes the grab. A long worthwhile search with friends nets us a four way FTF. We chatted all the way back to the trucks, and planned pay-back caches for hiding in the bushes and the flashlight stunt (I've laid claim to that one). Then it was time for us to depart.

I truly enjoy it when our lone hunts turn into group outings. Nothing better than caching with like minded lunatics.

2/22/2009
NevadaWolf found Beer Run

I was late on this one as I was in Tahoe at the time it published. But b0neZ, kindergeek, and I did make the find before the night was through. Came in third, but still had a lot of fun going out to grab this quicky.

Famous List

2009-02-15T23:34:00.001-08:00

Whoo hoo!! The list created by Puzzleman and I made the Podcacher Podcast show #204!!

Check it out here: http://www.podcacher.com/?p=589

Valentines Day was spent hanging out with b0neZ and kindergeek, as well as beta-testing a new multi cache created by Puzzleman and helped out a bit by me. The real fun came while we were all crashed out watching Maverik and my phone buzzes for the latest publish by RoadRunner.

We bolt out the door, hoping the Puzzleman is busy with Valentine's family stuff, and knowing the cache belonged to Bernsports, so leaving only a few FTF'ers to chase. We get to the cache site, I stumble around in the dark looking for it, and score! One beautiful blank log sheet to be had!

Sunday, I ran out early with Puzzleman to place the final of his multi, the hide still needed some work yesterday. Then I just killed some time getting two of the newer caches in town before Trekrr and I went to see Coraline.

Enjoyable, though cold and rainy, weekend all told.

2/14/2009
NevadaWolf found William Tell Road (Traditional Cache)

2/15/2009
NevadaWolf found Cowboys and Indians, A bogey for sure

Introductory Caches

2009-02-06T22:30:00.001-08:00

((This is the Bookmark List we've created to show new cachers in Carson a selection of Beginner Friendly styles. You can view the list here: Introductory Caches. The order is simply alphabetical, it means nothing.))

After several years, we have noticed that many new players encounter frustration during their first attempts at geocaching. It is our hope that this list of caches will provide a good introduction to the sport and help new players develop the skills to be more successful cachers. Included are a variety of cache types, sizes, hiding methods, and techniques that many geocachers may encounter.

" Information Please! "
A fairly easy, but clever, micro hide. Also the trailhead for the waterfall hike and three other caches.

"Rememberance"
This is a Riverview Park cache, with a magnetic micro container.

A Tricky Game
A different type of container.

Agua Pura
A medium-sized cache that helps build navigational skills.

Blanks + Postage
This is a Riverview Park cache, with a large container.

Carson City’s Once Greatest Building
Introduces a micro hide that has easy access and plenty of parking.

Check Out the Tome Collector
Introduces off set coordinates, as well as seeking a cache inside a building.

Crafty One
A different container, but easy.

Desert Stars
A nice hide along an educational walking path.

Dog-gone Friendly
A nice easy multi, that introduces getting information from plaques.

Doggy Doo Doo
Introduces a different hide perspective.

End of the trail
Introduces road navigation and ends with a small hike.

Game, Set, & Match!
A different type of container.

How many taverns can you see from here?
A moderate hike with a great view of south Carson.

ICN2U
An interesting hide and location, especially for a large container.

Industrial Park
Introduces evaluating approaching from different directions.

Night Cap
A common, yet clever, micro hide.

Rest Blissfully
A quick micro where stealth is required.

Runnin' With The Big Dogs
This is a Riverview Park cache, with a large container.

SHM #193 - Historic Flume and Lumberyard
A common hide.

Stand Alone
Introduces a simple but common hide that can be deceptively elusive.

These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things - #1
Easy find, a traditional large container.

This one might stump you
This is a Riverview Park cache, with a micro container.

Top Shelf Cache
Makes you think "outside the box".

What Does He Fix?
A good beginner "on-site" puzzle.

Another hike, and trying for a streak

2009-02-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

Whoa, got busy this week!!

Okay, Sunday, the 1st, I followed Big Truck Crew and Puzzleman up Voltaire Canyon, stopping at each of the four caches up there since P-Man needed them. I was still sore from the V&T Hill hike, but the guys were nice enough to not get too far ahead and glance over their shoulders to make sure I was alright making my way up the hill. Full details available over on my One Thousand Footsteps blog.

After we got down, the backlog of Groundspeak emails finally came through and so I got the notice of a new cache posting just as we emerged from the canyon. However, it was the notice from the night before, meaning we three tore after a cache that had already been found. So, instead we went after another one that might have still had the FTF on it. Took awhile to find, even got the two decoys, before I spotted it. Beaten by 30 minutes - oddly the same amount of time spent going after the false-FTF...

The next day I saw that I had a mini-streak going. My maximum days in a row is a whooping 14! Then Puzzleman came along, found out about that stat, and promptly made it his goal to beat my two weeks. He did, he's now sitting at 16. So, I'm going to try to get back at him. And that night, a new puzzle it posted while I'm in my Remote Sensing class. I look through it, see it has way to much math involved, and see that I'm stuck in class for another two hours. I gave up. So, Trekrr and I found a different cache.

Trekrr decides to try it anyway, we get a very very rough guess, and after finding the easy one, we set out to see if that Jeep is in the area we figured and we'd just spy on Puzzleman. He wasn't there. The consensus is he's already found it, let's go home. On the way, I get an email from P-Man asking if I wanted to go on a road trip to get the puzzle. I learn that it's taken him 2 hours to solve the puzzle and he's just now heading out. Hop out of one rig, and jump into another, and back out.

40 minutes into searching, Trekrr (now home) also solves the puzzle. So between the two of us out there and using the two different coordinates, and a full bone-chilling hour of searching, we eventually find the cache and score the FTF, at 11:57pm - 3 minutes too early to claim the cache for the next day of the streak.

Wednesday, I'm supposed to meet up with Puzzleman to help him with his new multi, but the battery cables in my truck are so corroded that they literally fall off the battery. Dead truck. Panic and a quick run to Toyota gets my little boy ready for the shop. Then over to Starbucks until they close, then over to McDonald's until they close, then head out to pick up another cache. Gotta keep the streak going!

Thursday was bleh, did laundry and then got on the phone to build a list of 25 Beginner Suitable Geocaches. That took 4 hours!! Guess what I didn't get. Ah well, had a 5 day streak going.

Today, Friday, was a Twitter-ific day. A lot happened on Twitter, up to and including having @DelormeGPS make the comment of surviving the "@NevadaWolf Twitter Layoffs" and @daisybones2600 respond by saying that "an additional $30 million was made available for those affected by the @NevadaWolf Twitter Layoffs" Yeah... this is what I put up with over the day on Twitter.

Went to work on my slides finally over at Starbucks and ended up hanging out with Puzzleman there.

But now the weather is drizzling and snowing, hopefully this weekend I'm able to do something productive!!

2/1/2009
NevadaWolf found Don’t Get Banked, No Mulligans in Caching #3

2/1/2009
NevadaWolf posted a note for Rockabye Egg, Sand Dunes over Carson, Stonehenge over Carson

2/1/2009NevadaWolf archived Th-Egg-rical

2/2/2009
NevadaWolf found Scuba Diving in Carson City

2/3/2009
NevadaWolf found Cows and Leather, Carson City Earthquake X 3! Where's The Centroid?

2/4/2009
NevadaWolf found The $200.00 + Store

An FTF and exploring a Rally Route

2009-01-31T21:06:00.000-08:00

Before my hike with Big Truck Crew this morning, I decided to try for the only remaining FTF from the mini frenzy last night. Now I occasionally have life interfer with getting involved in the race and so I received Puzzleman's taunting voicemail about the new caches while I had a cart load of groceries. Yeah, I'll run right out...

Instead, I get home, and jump online to watch the logs come in. Puzzleman, then Bernsports, then Minden Rat, and finally CastleDwellers all log, leaving just one of the four unfound by the morning. I woke up too early to met with BTC, didn't feel like doing my exercises, and choose to go run out and race up Prison Hill before heading out on the hike.

I plow up there as fast as I can, ending up at the saddle 20 minutes after leaving the truck. Then I scramble up onto a large rock outcrop and try to think where BTC would have hidden it. Well duh, he's as nuts as the rest of us, on top of course! Sheer dumb luck allowed me to find it almost instantly, and a quick call to Podcacher later, I was holding a beautifully blank log sheet!

But no time to admire the town in the glow of victory, I had a hike to get to! I flew down the hill and raced over, screeching into the trailhead right at the 9am meetup time.

Afterwards, I met up with Trekrr who'd found a cool road on Google Earth that he wants to use for a local version of a puzzle we learned about a few years back. So it was off to explore and find a good hiding spot. Boy, that road is full of awesome views and wicked hides. We'll definately be placing more than one cache out there.

On the way back down, Trekrr asks which way home, well we decide one way and are distracted enough by the cop pulling over a big yellow truck - in the middle of nowhere! - that we ended up heading over Sunrise Pass. This road proved to be the wettest, muddiest, slickest, soupy road we'd been on in a long time. Very careful mix of driving and sliding got us over to the other side of the Pinenut Range and we had smooth sailing all the way down the valley.

So of course we had to pick up some of the old Rally caches that are still out there. Three quick Altoid tins in bushes and rocks added to our total. But the day was getting dark, the sun was down, and my energy level was beginning to burn out. Grabbed a quick dinner and headed home.

Tomorrow, another hike and possibly a beginning to Carson's first Wherigo cache!

1/31/2009

NevadaWolf found Voodoo on a Hoodoo, Day Route Cache 9, GBES Rally 2006, Day Route Cache 12, GBES Rally 2006, Harder Than Rock

The Hill hike for tomorrow

2009-01-30T10:46:00.001-08:00

This is where Big Truck Crew and I will be hiking in the morning.

A Party, a Puzzle, and a Problem

2009-01-25T00:11:00.000-08:00

Kindergeek's birthday was earlier this month, but we had to throw him an event!

Small turnout, but that made it really cool cause everyone was able to sit back, relax after a long day, and just chat. KG got some cool gifts, including a twist by Lil' Miss Muffit and Big Truck Crew, they gave him coords and he had to go find his gift!

1/21/2009
NevadaWolf attended KinderGeek and the Double Digits

Puzzleman's been telling me about his first puzzle, the one he's been holding onto and waiting for the right place to present itself. He thought he had the perfect hiding method, until some wolf dashed his hopes by semi-complaining about another cache hide that was to be similar. I'm not a Reviewer! But I do know the gist of the guidelines. Sorry man!

So, we're emailing and it's getting late. RoadRunner hasn't posted anything, and I'm off to bed. I check one last time... and there it is. Laying in bed, google searching the answer. Solved and I stare at it debating if I want to bother tonight... oh what the hell. Crawl out of bed and hit the pavement running. Now I've got Puzzleman on email and Bernsports on the phone. Lovely!

We reach the site, and Bern and I with his son begin searching. A few mintues pass and the cache is found! I hadn't answered my email, so Puzzleman calls to see if we're ok. Yep and we all get a chance to chat while standing out in the drizzling cold late late late night.

I love our logs on this one, we had way to much fun!

1/24/2009
NevadaWolf found State of Order

My Diabolical cache is set up in such a way that I'm notified when Stage 3 is found and solved. So, I get the notice - then I get a voicemail telling me there's problems. Trekrr and I have nothing to do on a snowy Sunday morning, so we head out to buy parts and then bounce up into the hills and check every stage and replace everything that's needed. Turns out the sun faded one of the stages, and the extreme cold snapped another. Got all fixed and now it's back up and running.

1/24/2009
NevadaWolf temporarily disabled Now *This* is Diabolical
1/25/2009
NevadaWolf enabled Now *This* is Diabolical

Lunatic!!!

2009-01-12T00:08:00.000-08:00

So here I am, hanging out at b0neZ's parents for kindergeek's birthday. And I get a phone call.

"I'm running out of daylight, and don't have time to fool around. Where's your cache, the coords are off."

Um, hi Puzzleman.

Read his log for the story...

1/12/2009
NevadaWolf updated the coordinates for King's Canyon Adventure

Lazy hike and another race

2009-01-11T00:03:00.000-08:00

Circle of 12 is a multi that I've been staring at for a long time.

I'm onto #4 - but when I attempted it, millions of multi-legged flying bugs were swarming right on GZ. I left and haven't been back.

So, when I see CastleDwellers are working on it, it's finally the push I need to get this one. It's winter, the bugs should be gone.

I drove up, then hiked to the summit of a hill that overlooks east Carson. Easy walk up and a great view - and a quickly found cache. Yeah, I'm GLAD I didn't try for that last time, I would have been eaten alive!

the rest of the day was quiet, then evening struck. Yeah, same story. Course this time I was really late, and showed up an hour after everyone else. Oh well, got a DNF and a STF.

1/11/2009
NevadaWolf posted a note for Circle of 12

1/11/2009
NevadaWolf couldn't find A bogey for sure

1/11/2009
NevadaWolf found I told you Dogleg Left

It's that time again

2009-01-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

MAINTENANCE RUN!

I'm getting bored. With nothing left in Carson that doesn't require a hike, I'm out of caches. So, I'll go around and maintain mine and anyone else's who's caches are basically abandonded (thinking of one cacher in particular.)

Spent the entire morning replacing logs, containers, pen/cils. Foujnd a few in between, but it was mostly just deal with that blasted Needs Maintenance attribute. Course, not being the owner means I can't do a thing about it and the Owner isn't active enough to bother.

Towards evening, I headed over to Starbucks for the first of what hopefully is a monthly event. We've so many new cachers that I want to meet them! But I'm too lazy to bother with a real event. So instead I sent out an email to those I knew and said, Meet me here!

20 people showed up!!! WOW! I was truly impressed and I think everyone was excited to finally meet the folks who've been signing logs and placing caches this last month or so.

But the topper was Bernsports, who sat through the whole meeting, knowing that he had a cache waiting in the queue that would stump us. And he kept a straight face throughout!!! The rat.

I had a fantastic time and look forward to the next!

1/10/2009
NevadaWolf performed maintenance for First look at Carson City, East, Egg-in-One, Egg-ucational, Egg-cellent View, FST: Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers, Th-Egg-rical, Limited Time Only, Egg-calibur, FST: In The Next World, You're On Your Own, First look at Carson City, South, FST: Fighting Clowns, Rest Blissfully, FST: Dear Friends, A Round History

1/10/2009
NevadaWolf updated the coordinates for Egg-le Station

1/10/2009
NevadaWolf posted a note for Polecat creek, the name is the clue, Let's Exercise, " Is Dat SO ! ", On Target, "Let's Share"

1/10/2009
NevadaWolf requested Going 50! on the 50! west to be archived

1/10/2009
NevadaWolf found There's No Muligans in Caching, A Tricky Game, Clear Creek-Kings Canyon Fire Memorial, Carson City Freeway, No Longer A Pipe Dream.

The race intensifies

2009-01-09T23:47:00.000-08:00

Whee!!

The last couple nights have been insane! RoadRunner posts between 10 and 11, we tear out of the house and try to beat each other until we either meet up, or pass each other and then help on the way back home. It's GREAT!

Plus I've found that being the mobile turtle not only gives me notice of the last one to be published, but also lets us finish the night together. That part is a blast cause we're all tired and slap happy by that point and it becomes more of a social laugh-fest than a cache hunt, though the cache usually does fall to our search... eventually.

1/5/2009
NevadaWolf found Uncle Buck

1/5/2009
NevadaWolf posted a note for A Tricky Game

1/6/2009
NevadaWolf found SHM #123 - CRADLEBAUGH BRIDGE

1/8/2009
NevadaWolf found Emergency Cache

1/8/2009
NevadaWolf will attend KinderGeek and the Double Digits

1/9/2009
NevadaWolf found Dirt or No Dirt, We Got Kicked Off a Bowling League!, There's No Muligans in Caching #2

Dayton and insanity x7

2009-01-04T23:32:00.000-08:00

So, Puzzleman asked if I wanted to go caching. Would love to!

We headed out to Dayton where I had the ones he needed and he had the ones I needed. Guarenteed way to not have a single DNF. Spent most of the day out there, covering a good amount of territory and effectively cleaning out the entire area (well, I have one left). Really got to know him and am completely glad to have a new friend in Carson. Nothing introduces folks better than a day of caching around an area that neither of you know very well.

Headed back into town and went our separate ways.

Then, as the evening was drawing to a close, RoadRunner decides to work on the queue. And up pops 6 new caches! I dump them into Tracky, fire up the BT GPS, and jump into the truck, burning rubber to get out and into the race before Puzzleman or Bernsports beat me too everything.

As I'm driving by, I see on my screen I'm passing one! Pull over quickly and look - no, there wasn't 6 - THERE WAS 7!!!

I park and begin frantically searching, but struck out and gave up in hopes of bagging the others. I peel out and head to the SHM - and see that I'm behind in the race by 5 minutes for STF, and 10 minutes for FTF! So, the strategy is to head out to the furthest one and hope beyond hope the others are tied up with the other 4.

I call Puzzleman and I can hear the grin in his voice as he brags he got all 3 FTFs. Um... dude, there was 7 posted. WHAT?! Neither he nor Bernsports are as mobile as I am, so when they leave the house, they cut themselves off from the latest updates.

I meet up with him at the furthest cache and we spend the rest of the time talking and waiting for Bern. He pulls up and turns out he didn't know about the last one either, the one I spent my time looking for.

We turn the race into a caravan and head out, grabbing all but two as one was in a neighborhood and three rigs showing up at midnight is not good and the other was behind a locked fence. Finally all the caches are gotten and we turn our collective attention to the final one. A good 20 minutes go by, we're freezing, Bern spots it first, then Puzzleman and I spot it simultaneously. Great hide and a great night!!!

1/4/2009
NevadaWolf found Where's The Water, Desert Bugs, "Eye Was Framed", "Want Some Bush", Above the Rubble, Dino Egg Quick Grab 1, A diller of a Ziller, NevCachers The Two Towers, Gateway to Big "D", The "D" at the Cross Roads, Whistling Pinion Pine, Second Choice, Quad 1, SHM #193 - Historic Flume and Lumberyard, These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things - #2,Lifes Little Goodies, Lets Play Ball, Sticky Rice

1/4/2009
NevadaWolf posted a note for A Tricky Game

1/4/2009
NevadaWolf posted a note for Rattlesnake MT.

1/4/2009
NevadaWolf retrieved Amber

Getting out

2009-01-03T23:25:00.000-08:00

Oy, new caches in town!

So, I head out to go pick up the ones that have sprouted lately. Today was fun as the caches I'd found were ones that not only were new in town, but the outer ones that I'd been watching for awhile. Plus I'd managed to solve Puzzleman's Not New Jersey cache yesterday, so I had that one also.

After grabbing a handful in Carson, finally went down to pick up Rocks & Lizards - OMG! Awesome Cache!!! This one is highly recommended for the adventure getting to it and the view at the end.

Also zipped up Hwy 50 towards Spooner to grab the few new ones that really mess with you as to which side of the road you need to be on. There's a three foot concrete barrier all the way up!

A fun day of just goofing off, but isn't that what weekends are meant for?

1/3/2009
NevadaWolf found Can't See the Forrest Through the Trees, Path to the River?, Not New Jersey, Goni Trail, Rocks & Lizards, Spooner TB & GC Hotel, Hanging in There

1/3/2009
NevadaWolf couldn't find Clear Creek-Kings Canyon Fire Memorial

1/3/2009
NevadaWolf temporarily disabled Carriage Park

1/3/2009
NevadaWolf discovered AG's Travelling British Columbia Coin

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T23:07:00.000-08:00

So what do two people with no work today do on a beautiful day?

Go caching of course!

I actually needed more UV lights for Diabolical, and the only place I've found them is Fernley. So, Trekrr and I head out there via Fallon, and grab a few caches along the way.

One of the goals was NVGreenGecko's letterbox as it's part of the Northern Nevada Oldest Caches challenge, put out by (surprise) SKWERL. So we head up there, hike through some great pogonip and bag us a cache along US 95.

Then up to I-80 and out to Fernley, where I discovered that there were NO UV lights left. ARGHH!!!! Had a big lunch, fixed up our cache, then decided to go exploring since we were out there.

The route took us up to an old siding outside Fernley, and then out towards the northern tip of the West Humboldt Range, before swinging down below the southern point of the Humboldt Range, passing through a narrow summit, and then coming down all the way through Dixie Valley back to Hwy 50. Simple, right?

HA!

Once we left pavement, the road turned snow covered, though oddly plowed. We crawled through pristine mountains, passed by powerline poles with no lines, old mine tailings, sites with no names and names with no sites, found new areas to explore come summer, and forks in the roads that led to distant places. We even came upon a geothermal drill parked in the middle of the road and the crew looking at us like we were bonkers. Not far from the truth.

It was a great trip and one I've very glad to have made. We got back to Moundhouse just in time for my phone to buzz that there was a new cache in town. Can we make it?!

We pull back into Carson and see someone rooting around in the bush. I roll down the window to yell at Puzzleman that he can't find it first, but of course he did. Then we headed over to the site of another cache that had really bad coordinates, and using a phone-a-friend to the only one to have found it (using a major hint from the owner), we located the cache and got the correct coords.

A wonderful day! 1/1/2009
NevadaWolf found Anchor's Away, Twilight Zone, IHO the Fallon FTF Queen, Guard Rail to Fallon, Tubey, Graboid Territory, Gecko's Grotto, Frog Pond Two, It Used 2 Be In My Fish Tank, Fun Area for Summer, Quieter in the Winter

1/1/2009
NevadaWolf couldn't find K7XC #2 - Dixie Valley Ranch House

1/1/2009
NevadaWolf performed maintenance for It Had To Have One

Puzzleman makes his appearance

2008-12-30T22:58:00.000-08:00

Carson is a sleepy little town, nothing much happens here. We occastionally get spurts as new cachers appear on the scene, then they slowly vanish for one reason or another.

Enter Puzzleman.

For locals, take Abe's energy, John's passion, Randy's cleverness, Cornelius Root's deviousness, and find waldo's love of puzzles, blend well, and once settled - twist... hard.

Each new cache he puts out, you can see is just practice. Building upon each other, testing the waters, seeing what will be accepted and what he can get away with.

After becoming friends and getting a front row seat to some of his ideas, I can only say I'm glad he's on our side.

12/30/2008
NevadaWolf found What Does He Fix?

A Diabolical hide

2008-12-21T22:46:00.000-08:00

After a clue given by Puzzleman at the party last night, Trekrr and I went after What a Waste and found it blatantly sitting in the bush. It was not there when we looked originally! It was meant to be on the ground!

So we found that one, and another nearby and again, Carson was cleaned out for me.

Now, a few nights back, Bern called us diabolical. I took offense to that. Really, I've only been a little evil, maybe dastardly. Nothing that warranted Diabolical...yet.

An idea had been floating around in my mind for years, ever since I met Team Alamo for the first time - and he had a UV light in the truck. Oh the possibilities. Four years later, the fruits had finally ripened and it was time to lay our a master-stroke of wickedness!

Between Trekrr and I we got the pieces in place, we'd found the area, and we set up the first UV cache in the Carson area and the first I'd ever seen throughout Nevada. Specifically designed to be done at night gave it an even bigger twist, added to that was an area few ventured into that had a lot of twisty roads, and one wicked stage that I hoped would throw everyone for a major mental hard-left.

Carson, you're in Check. 12/21/2008
NevadaWolf found What a Waste., A little birdy told me . . .

12/21/2008
NevadaWolf placed Now *This* is Diabolical
Note - the logs are great! Read through them and then come do this cache!

Massive party

2008-12-20T18:50:00.000-08:00

The GBES White Elephant and Farewell jahoadiandjohn Party!

Of course I had to go to the party. The last chance to see John, who has become such a prominent figure in our community, who through his sheer force of personality and passion for everything has inspired and energized an entire state? There was no way I was going to miss it!!

Nor, it seemed, was anyone else. For a party that typically averaged 30 people, this one overflowed into the main restuarant, easily exceeding 80 people and some where guessing 100. The place was PACKED!!!

Absolutely incredible and a ton of fun! The gifts went around, but there were so many that there was no way anyone was exchanging anything, it took too long simply to get them out. Then John's speech thanking everyone and giving his own farewell. Jodi was there as well and she ended up with tons of stories as she thanked all of us for keeping an eye on her wayward husband.

I saw a ton of friends and met many many more - the biggest surprise for me was when Char, CeeBeeNV, pulled me over to introduce me to someone I didn't know. He laughed and said he had the advantage cause I'm silly and post things like my picture on my profile page. So tonight's when I finally met Puzzleman, after chasing him around Carson for the recent FTF's.

Tonight was certainly memorable and I'm EXTREMELY glad that I was able to go.

12/20/2008
NevadaWolf atteded GBES-I'm Dreaming of a White (Elephant) Christmas!

King's Canyon Adventure

2008-12-13T22:20:00.000-08:00

Well, Trekrr had gone back out and DNF'd "What a Waste" again, so he was able to follow Big Truck Crew and Lil' Miss Muffit up to a new cache on the King's Canyon Road going up to Spooner Summit.

Later, he asks if I want to go up. Well, duh!!! So, we pile into the 4Runner and head up the hill. Note there's snow on the ground and we're climbing a steep, narrow dirt road into the high Sierra. Yeah, this is intelligent.

We find the cache easily enough, and then decide to continue on, testing if the road was fully passible to a rig like mine.

It was a great climb, a couple of really narrow spots, one that got my heart racing, and overall a fun excursion onto a little used road.

It was so fun, that when we got to the place geolinux and I had found a couple years back, I dug out the ammo can in the back and we hid our own cache, called King's Canyon Adventure.

12/13/2008
NevadaWolf found Pirates Bootty

12/13/2008
NevadaWolf placed King's Canyon Adventure
Note - this has since been found, the FTF is not only brave, but incredibly insane. Read and Learn.

Another hike and some in-towns

2008-12-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

I've gotten to the point where there are so few in Carson that keeping a streak is almost impossible. Rather, it is impossible.

However, the ones I do have prove to be enjoyable hikes when I finally get my lazy tukas up there. Today was no different. There's a cacher named The Huntsman, or Duke.Johnson, or a variety of other names that he changes his placements to. Nearly all of his are hikes. They eventually lead to great views, but then the cache itself is typically a micro/small.

One has been staring at me for awhile. Up Voltaire Canyon is Stonehenge over Carson. I know how to hike it, but I also am lazy and enjoy finding out how close I can drive it. So up Voltaire I go and not only discover someone has paved the road further back, but that there's a rinky Jeep trail that climbs the ridge. So, I drive until the off-canter decomposing granite proved to much for the quad tracks I was following. No way am I taking my 4Runner up there!

Time to hoof it.

Once I got to the top, I was treated to a beautiful panorama of Eagle and north Carson Valleys. And great rocky outcroppings at the top! Okay, it was worth it even if the cache was a mini metal locker.

Later, b0neZ, kindergeek, and I go out and clean out the remaining handful of caches in Carson. Now I'm down to new caches, and three tougher hikes within 5 miles of the house. I'll get it cleaned out!

12/7/2008
NevadaWolf found Stonehenge over Carson, Pirate Skool, These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things - #1, Diamonds Next To Jesus

A hike and diabolical FTF

2008-12-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

Decided today was far to nice to just stay indoors, so headed up to one of the few hiking caches left to me in the area. I've been up to the waterfall area of King's Canyon often enough that the hike wasn't a surprise for me, though it was still a workout since I haven't done much walking thanks to the weather. However, I made it with minimal rests and was able to sit and log the cache, then just sit ans watch the residents of King's Canyon go about their lives. It was fun watching one guy walk on his roof - that looked ground level to me far above him - and put up the Christmas lights.

Later, as Trekrr and I were heading back from Reno, I get a notice about a new cache in town. Quickly pulling it up on Google Maps, I see it's in the old K-Mart parking lot, which has been empty since the Big K declared bankruptcy. We head for it and hope to score an FTF. Spent far to much time there and succeed in finding only scratches and bruises from being poked by the branches. Called it quits and then saw two more pop up! Go RoadRunner!

We race over to the second, guided by Google Maps, and sure enough Trekrr scores. And it's an FTF for us!!

The third was placed by my friend, Bernsports, and included a long tale of how he and his son lost their tennis ball, so placed a cache instead. We get to the site, scour around for awhile, find a tennis ball - then find the cache. Trekrr decided it's be hysterical to 'log" the ball and put it in Bern's mailbox. Which we do....

I love tormenting this poor guy, especially at a quarter to midnight. He however refused to leave his house to check his box, doing that instead the next morning at 7am. He later tells us his wife had fallen asleep on the couch, near the door, and his desire to not wake her up saved him from our "Diabolical" plan.

Those words would later haunt him...

12/6/2008
NevadaWolf found Echidna, L+L=Love, Game, Set, & Match!

12/6/2008
NevadaWolf couldn't find What a Waste.

Thanksgiving Weekend - Day 3

2008-11-30T22:04:00.000-08:00

Sunday, today was the day!

First, though, as the organizer of the cache explosion upon Tonopah, I needed to do some maintenance. Understand, prior to October 20th, 2007, Tonopah had two active caches, three total that I knew about. After that date, Tonopah had 67 caches throughout the town and surrounding area. That's what happens when you bring 56 cachers to a town that has nothing. There's even been a few added since which will make my next trip down there a fun one.

Anyway, so we ran around checking on the caches I knew had a problem, cleaning up the ones that had been archived due to lack of maintenance (I'll get down there eventually!) and generally checking up on things. SKWERL, who missed the event, was able to add a very quick 20+ to his count in those few hours before we finished with what I knew had to be worked on, and we headed out of town.

First stop was Orizaba. Neither Dad nor SKWERL had been there and I was able to enjoy the site under the morning sun. Still a spectacular location. We then debated if it was easier to turn around and head back by Montezuma's Revenge, or continue north and bag a couple up by Gabbs.

If you aren't a Nevadan, or haven't been here, grab a map. Find Tonopah (about the center of the page) look northwest until you find Hawthorne, then go a bit east till you see Luning, then look north to Gabbs. Yeah, that's what we were considering heading out to. Measure it. This is a big empty state (to anyone but Texans and Alaskans).

So, the vote was to head back to Miller's rest stop along the power line road. We bounced our way along, grabbing the caches out that way, and when we got to Montezuma's Revenge, we discovered the road turned to a mucky muddy soup. So, once the cache was found and we were lined up on the powerline road again we headed out. Imagine if you will one Jeep Rubicon, and one Toyota Tacoma, and add in one long stretch of muddy road.

Yep, the boys had fun and this gal got pictures!

Once at Miller's, SKWERL couldn't resist pulling his nasty muddy filthy Jeep right up next to a beautiful showroom shiney Rubicon. Clean Jeep, Dirty Jeep - I know who the Dirt Gods favored that day!

Then we were off to another earthcache, this time up in an area of eroded lava flows. Breathtaking scenery and wonderful formations! Plus some scrub cactus growing throughout the area. But the day was growing late and the goal of the whole trip was still ahead of us. We hit the pavement, grabbing one more cache along the way, then made it to our thank you to Skwerl for all he's done, and for his Delorme Challenge that got us out exploring the state.

Two years, almost to the day, this little cache has sat out in the desert awaiting this moment. I'll post here SKWERL's log as this was all for him:

November 30 by SKWERL (2970 found)
WOW! There is no other way to describe this location, the cache or the people who placed it for this old SKWERL. I guess I could blame my misty eyes on the dust in the air, but I really enjoyed looking through the container that had patiently waited out in the desert for me to come down to visit. Acorn the Squirrel was unusually quiet as well, a sure sign that he, jaded as he is, got choked up too.

The entire journey was filled with great caches, and memorable trips, in the mountains, through gullies, across the flats, in the daylight and in darkness.

My sense of anticipation continued to build as I travelled into The Sump to document my journey and claim the FTF prize. The prize was great and I will use it to find a memorable keepsake, but in truth I already received the most wonderful gift....

Thanks for the cache and for the adventure guys!

The SKWERL
(and yes I did originally submit this with a three word log for anyone who had this on a watchlist )

Yeah, he submitted a mere TFTC originally and that's what popped up on my Owner email. The rat.

We hiked through the Sump in a speed race of only an hour. Managed to get to the opposite end before we had to turn back, but I know that all of us will continue to visit over the years.

There was one last cache to get and that was up above the Sump. I hadn't been there before and now am recommending both to simply get a feel for the sheer scale of the place. Down below, everything towers above you and you don't get to see much beyond the area right around you, above everything is laid out before you but looks so amazingly small that one could be fooled into thinking that the Sump is a minor footnote. I highly encourage you to visit if you can.

Finally, we headed back, took the pavement up through Hawthorne (a visit better forgotten) and then turned to head to Yerington. Here SKWERL had to leave as he was heading home and to continue following us would have put him home really really late. Dad and I continued on to grab his other letterbox in Wilson Canyon and I ended up climbing the slope of the canyon wall in utter darkness with only moments of the Mega-Spotlight illuminating the hill. Found the cache using the light of the GPS and once back at the truck, spent another endless time staring straight up at the stars framed by the black canyon walls.

It was a great ending to a fantastic weekend. I'm glad we were finally able to sync our schedules and I'm glad that SKWERL has taken it upon himself to get us lazy desert rats out of the cities and into the wilds of the Great Basin.

11/30/2008
NevadaWolf discovered "Nomans River (FL)" Red Jeep Travel Bug

11/30/2008
NevadaWolf found Tuff Stuff, Volcanic and Sedimentary Rocks of the Monte Cristo, Brothel Junction, De Sump "mini Grand Canyon", (Letter) Box Canyon

11/30/2008
NevadaWolf posted a note for Orizaba Express, Gateway to The Sump - SKWERL's DeLorme Challenge

Thanksgiving Weekend - Day 2

2008-11-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

Woke up early and did my exercises before heading downstairs to meet up with SKWERL for breakfast. We were out the door first thing in the morning and our goal was to desert all traces of modern life and head into the distant past!

First stop, Golden Arrow, historic ghost town that has been reduced to ruins. But still in an interesting area and one can certainly seen the mark left by man. Even saw some antelope, but that'll get better later on.

Then we headed to 37th Fighter Wing, a great cache that took us through a narrow valley, through a sage forest, and bouncing up a rocky hill, only to hike the easier section of the road. That cache, while uninteresting on its own, was placed it a truly wicked location. A sweeping overlook of the entire valley, perched above the northern part of Nellis Air Force Base. Sadly, didn't see anything in that regard.

Down the hill again and we followed a new road out to head back to Golden Arrow. It was along this stretch that we saw tons of wild horses (truly wild as these bolted at the sound of our engines, unlike those near VC that could care less about vehicles) and another herd of antelope that ran straight across the road. SKWERL got some cool pictures of that one! We were making out way towards Bellehelen, where we scored our first FTF that weekend (not counting the beta-testing for Letter's to Diana.

Back on Highway 6, we headed out towards Project Faultless, another underground atomic detonation site, with far more visible results. We puttered around there for awhile, taking a ton of pictures and generally ensuring that if radiation was still in the area, we would all glow nicely. We checked out the virtual there, the nearby traditional, the close Earthcache and the other traditional. Not bad for one site. But seeing the devestation that the explosion wrought on the valleys natural fault lines really drove home how powerful those bombs are.

Continuing out Highway 6, we made a stop at Lunar Crater and gave SKWERL a chance to see that marvel, then headed over to Easy Chair Cinder Cone. The earth cache was easy, though I don't approve of the traditional as I think it's in a poor place without any prior warning on the cache page. But that's my opinion, it was still an awesome location.

Across highway 6 we came to the Black Rock Lava Flow. Imagine taking a paper cup filled with chocolate syrup, cut a slit in the side of the cup, and watch the syrup flow out into a big ugly mess. Now imagine that on mountain scale and you'll have a picture of this flow. The earthcache was a quick one, and we headed back to the traditional that was hidden up inside the flow. Per a prior log, it's actually hidden, not in the cooled lava, but in a piece of the actual volcano itself. COOL!

As the sun started going down, SKWERL announced he also wanted to get the earthcache at Meteorite Crater, so we headed that way, racing the waning sunlight. As we approached ground zero, there was almost utter darkness around us. I pointed off to the right, SKWERL swung around and our headlights simply vanished into a gaping hole in the desert floor. I won't give the dimentions as they are the answer to the cache, but needless to say, the thing is HUGE! It took two rigs with beams on high, plus Dad's ultra-powerful million watt spotlight to light up the opposite rim and all we could see of SKWERL was his tiny headlamp way on the other side.

Spent considerable time there before turning back and heading back into Tonopah. A long drive there, and I think I crashed out about halfway back. Whoo Hooo, day 2 was a complete success and the finale hasn't even happened yet!

11/29/2008
NevadaWolf found 37th Fighter Wing, Bellehelen, Project FAULTLESS, Don't Worry Be Happy, Volcanic Rocks near Project Faultless, Nuke 'Em, Easy Chair Crater Cinder Cone, Nye County, Nevada, Easy Now, Black Rock Lava Flow, LavaFlow, A Meteorite Crater, or Not, Blackbox, Warm Springs Cache

11/29/2008
NevadaWolf placed The Unknown Soldier geocoin standing watch

11/29/2008
NevadaWolf retrieved Blake's Bike Bug