QUAD RACING

Today’s plan was to race from Reno, NV up to the northeastern corner of California (for the California Delorme Challenge) and find caches in quads 30,31,39,40,41,50, and 51. For those of you who haven’t been infected by the geo-bug, we’re just off again on another quest. But before we could get serious about the quest we had to stop for a quick Starbucks fix. Once awake and aware we were on the road by 7:15 AM.

An hour and a half later (and no caches yet) we passed Standish around 8:45ish. As we turned the corner around the historic old building we waved at Jenny’s house but there was no one there to wave back. Thirty-five miles later we were at the first cache located in an old buckboard attended by a family of mice. It seems nowadays all manner of creatures are getting into geocaching.

Then up the road a bit and off the road onto a very nice gravel road to Horse Lake and the next cache. About 13 miles later we stopped and found it. Oh, did I forget to mention that along the road to Horse Lake, in the middle of nowhere, we encountered a shirtless bicyclian peddling to…nowhere. And of course we ran into a herd of cows hanging out along the road to Horse Lake…but, curiously, we never saw any horses. So, we turned around and traveled 13 miles back to the highway and on the way we ran into the shirtless bicyclian again, but this time, he wouldn’t let us pass him. We politely followed at a respectful distance until an oncoming truck forced him to the side and we made our move. Once we were on pavement again we headed north toward Alturas and to the next quad.

After about 38 miles we came to a town with the very unlikely name of Likely. There we turned east and drove through some of the most gorgeous country imaginable. Water was everywhere, either flowing along the ground or bubbling up through it. Take the grass and trees and springs and streams and paint in majestic lava flows and the scene was breathtaking. Before we knew it, it was time to stop and find another cache. On the walk back to the car, we watched a flock of swallows performing an aerial ballet for us. Actually, they were really too busy building their nests under a bridge and catching insects to even notice us.

We turned around and drove back to Likely and then continued north to Alturas for gas and a picnic lunch near a cemetery and, yep, the next cache. While we were enjoying our lunch a robin joined us. We didn’t mind that he was uninvited because he brought his own worm for lunch.

Now that we were in Alturas we had to decide whether to go east, north, northwest or southwest. Actually, we needed to go in all those directions but which one first? I know, let the ladies decide!! North it is and off we go up 395 to the Oregon border. On the way, we traveled up the east side of Goose Lake, a huge (200 square miles!) shallow alkaline lake. Nearby is the terminus of the Lassen-Applegate Emigrant Trail. Back in the 1840’s, thousands of travelers from the east on their way to the California gold fields trekked across the Black Rock desert and through High Rock Canyon to discover this beautiful water drenched valley. It’s not surprising that many of the survivors of the death march through the desert lost their gold fever and stopped here and built their homes along the shores of Goose Lake. Near the end of the Lassen-Applegate Trail we found the necessary cache and…had to jump over the border for just one more cache in Oregon. But, alas, it wasn’t to be and we walked away empty handed.

It didn’t seem to take very long to drive back to Alturas but once their we realized it was after 3 PM and we had two more quads to get before heading back to Reno. To make matters more interesting thunderstorms were developing all around us. After a quick pit stop we headed west on 299 for a short way before turning north toward Big Sage Reservoir. As the thunder boomed in the distance and the rain started, we found both caches and the quad was ours. Now let’s get out of here and down to the highway before the storm hits.

Once we were back on 299 and heading west, the biggest rain drops in history came down and the distant lightning was impressive. But we had one more quad to get and we were not going to be deterred from the mission. We drove through frequent downpours and arrived in Adin just as the rain stopped. We took that as a good sign, but didn’t dawdle finding the last cache of the day.

Now how do we go home? We could take 139 south from Adin to Susanville but we know that road is narrow, curvey and slow. We could go back to Alturas and then down to Reno, but that would be the long way. Or we could take this neat little road from Adin to Madeline on 395 and cut miles of our trip by taking the hypotenuse instead of the two legs of the triangle. Not! After only a couple of miles, the pavement ended and gravel began. Not to be thwarted, we continued and 40 minutes later we were in Madeline and well on our way back to Reno.

Our 12 hour/600 mile race ended back in Reno just as the sun was setting and the wine was calling our names.