The Caravan to 4000

Last weekend we led a geocaching caravan to pick up a bunch of caches that were recently placed during and after an annual navigation rally. Saturday’s caravan consisted of three Jeeps (is that a caravan or is it just…three Jeeps?). Two of the three were the usual players, Mike and Cynthia (Geo-Jeeper) and Linda and Larry (L3-Geo). The third Jeep was a brand new Rubicon owned by Jim and Marga (GeoSpyder) and this was going to be it’s maiden off-road voyage! We met everyone in Carson City at 7:30 and headed up Goni Road into the Virginia Range.

Overlooking Carson City and Reno is McClelland Peak and it bristles with communication towers. Goni Road is there to access and service these towers. There is also a cinder mine halfway up the road with all of its requisite truck traffic. A myriad of dirt roads and Jeep trails wander off of Goni Road in all directions and that’s where the majority of the caches were hidden. Now I’m not going to bore you with a description of each of the 29 caches we found that day, but I will tell you of our adventure finding them.

After the first cache we needed to get back to Goni Road but I didn’t want to backtrack down the way we came (I hate to backtrack!) so we took another road that took us in the right direction but promptly ended about 10-15 feet ABOVE Goni Road. As others before had done we just went over the edge and slid down the steep slope to the road below and to a nearby cache. We then continued up Goni picking up a few caches here and there until we reached a dirt road that marked the beginning of the previously mentioned rally. We never saw Goni again…

The dirt road (and a cache, of course) led us to a hill top overlooking Washoe Valley and Reno. The views on this gorgeous summer day were spectacular! But…below us, far below us, two caches were calling to us. The road, no, the trail down to the caches was steep and slow with boulders to navigate around and rocks to crawl over but we all made it to the bottom without incident. The map indicated that we were located at the junction between a siphon and an aqueduct.

Back around a hundred or so years ago, Virginia City needed a plentiful supply of clean water and none could be found. So someone came up with a plan to transport water fifty miles from Marlette Lake, near Lake Tahoe, down and across Washoe Valley and then up to Virginia City. And all done without pumps. Imagine a “U” shaped tube with one end higher than the other. Now pour water in the high side and watch it go downhill and then uphill and pour out the other end of the tube. We were standing at the spot where the pipe from Marlette Lake emptied the water into the old aqueduct that carried the water to Virginia City. Very clever AND it’s still in use today (minus the aqueduct part).

The other cache down here was on a road that roughly paralleled the old aqueduct. This road was so flat that I thought at first it was the aqueduct. That thought disappeared when we found ourselves at the brink of another very steep slide down to a ravine below…and the cache. So, of course, we had to do it and down we went. Once down at the bottom we could see that the road continued up the other side and it was so steep and slippery that there was no way we could have made it up and still be married to our lovely wives. So we headed back the way we came. Still…I bet Jim’s Rubicon could have done it. Someday.

Once back up at the top (which top? There were so many), we headed roughly NNE to the summit on McClellan Peak (see, another top). We started the descent down the other side and quickly encountered a beautiful aspen grove, and a cache. It was too early for lunch so we reluctantly continued out into the bright sunlight. It didn’t take long to reach the place where the old aqueduct dumped into a large open square pit where the water was stored for Virginia City. Nearby is today’s version of a water tank. At the tanks we turned and headed down the aqueduct road in the opposite direction and picked up two more caches. Now we had driven along all of the aqueduct road (twice), found all the caches along the road and managed to avoid the aforementioned suicidal portion.

Back at the tanks we continued in our NNE direction picking up two more caches along the way. After slowly negotiating a very rough, rocky and barely discernable road we found ourselves at the junction of Jumbo Grade and Ophir Grade. Almost a hundred years ago there was a railroad running along here connecting Virginia City with Washoe Valley. Just west is the site of Jumbo, a Virginia City wannabe that never lived up to its name.

Again, we continued NNE up even higher out of the high desert into a more alpine setting. We stopped and had lunch under some real trees, not like those scraggly pinion pines below. After lunch we climbed some more along a narrow rocky trial that was washed out in places but still navigatable.

Our goal were caches around Ophir Hill, a 7782 foot mountain, not “hill”, overlooking Virginia City. One of those caches was on top of a smaller 7445 foot mountain known as Middle Hill. To get to Middle Hill we had to drive through a sheep camp with the trailer and accompanying dogs on one side and a herd of sheep on the other. Both the dogs and us were watching to make sure the sheep didn’t decide to panic. Beyond the sheep camp was hardly a trail leading straight up to the top of the “hill”. It looked like three, maybe four Jeeps could fit on top so we all made a run for it only to discover the top was already occupied by some bikers. Fortunately, we all fit with room to turn around and we were able to snag the cache without anyone being the wiser.

After crawling down Middle Hill and through the sheep camp we headed to the top of Ophir Hill and, unfortunately, down the other side on the steepest, rockiest and scariest road we have been on. We knew the cache wasn’t that far down and, indeed, we all made it down okay but the ladies did emit several short high-pitched squeaks. After finding the cache we could have continued sliding down this road into Virginia City OR we could retrace our route all the way back to the tanks. We chose life and headed back the way we came.

At the tanks we turned east and wound our way down to American Flats picking up a few more caches along the way. Once down on the Flat the road turned south. Off to the east you can see the concrete skeleton of an old stamp mill that is now the recipient of urban art and home to late night “parties”. On the south side of the Flat we stopped at a cache called “In View of American Flats”. I specifically mention that one because it was our 4000th find. After a short celebration we continued south heading through a canyon and hillsides recently burned by a wildfire. Once out of the canyon civilization came into view and after picking up a cache it was just a short ride to Hwy 50.

We were all tired, dirty and sore from bumping and lurching for the last 8 hours but, BUT, there was one last cache to get before we called it quits. At the point where we came out onto Hwy 50 it was just a quick jiggy jog across and onto Highlands Drive. At the end of the pavement we found ourselves on part of the old Virginia and Truckee railroad (minus the rails and ties). Originally, the railroad was built to run from Virginia City to Mound House and then points east. Later they extended the railroad west to Carson City and then to Reno. After an easy run out about a mile we stopped for the cache and headed back to Hwy 50 and then on to Carson City for some dinner before going home to Reno.

WE BROKE IT!!!!

This story, like all good stories, was supposed to have a happy ending, but not this time. The plan was to do some caching in GeoJeep this morning and be back home in time to meet Jenny’s family for dinner before they drop off Jessica at the airport and leave Kyle with us for a long weekend.

Initially, the plan worked nicely as we picked up some caches along Hwy 395 north of Reno. GeoJeep performed magnificently, as usual, up onto the mountain separating the Stead area from Cold Springs. After finding the cache up there, we came down the other side into Cold Springs and then south to Bordertown. There we took the Long Valley Road into Dog Valley. Our destination was a cache on the top of Crystal Peak, a mountain famous for it’s quartz crystals.

I’ve never seen such a huge outcropping of quartz! The entire mountain top is white! After a short hike and quick find we left the mountain and headed toward Verdi. About halfway there I started hearing a not so funny noise coming from GeoJeep. At first Cynthia didn’t hear it but soon it was obvious something ominous was happening to GeoJeep. As we limped back toward Reno the noise got much louder and a nasty vibration was starting to happen in the right front. We decided to go directly to a mechanic in downtown Reno and crossed our fingers that we would make it. By the time we got to the mechanic it was essentially undriveable.

The preliminary diagnosis isn’t good, probably front differential and/or axle. Crap! The good news is that the mechanic’s secretary brought us home in time to get ready for our visitors.

A GORGEOUS DAY AT TAHOE

Everybody has been to Lake Tahoe. If you don’t believe me just visit sometime and you’ll meet everybody on the roads, in the shops and in line for the “facilities”. And don’t forget to look both ways when you cross a bike path. If you don’t there’s a good chance you’ll be wearing tubular antlers the rest of your life. With that vision in mind, we were off at an ungodly hour bristling with enthusiasm. No, wait, we didn’t actually start bristling until after visiting Starbucks…and then we were off.

We headed up Mt. Rose highway to Tahoe and worked our way around the lake in a clockwise direction, starting in Incline Village and traveled south to South Shore and then north around the west side of the lake. Along the way we stopped (and cached) at Cave Rock, Zephyr Cove and an old cemetery in South Shore. Another cache took us to Truckee Marsh, a beautiful meadow created by the confluence of the Upper Truckee River and Trout Creek. To distract the attention of the nearby homeowners Larry took pictures of the ladies while Mike grabbed the cache.

As we continued around the Lake we stopped for a cache and a coke at Camp Richardson, a resort built in the 1920’s. Up the road a short way we stopped at the Tallac Historic Site. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, three wealthy families built their homes here. The Baldwin, Pope and Heller Estates are interconnected by walking paths which wander through one of the largest groves of old-growth trees in Lake Tahoe. The Baldwin Estate, built in 1921, is now a museum with exhibits and educational programs. The Pope Estate, built in 1894, is the interpretative center for the site. The Heller Estate, otherwise know as Valhalla, is now a theater. There are a number of caches in and around the area and it would be easy to spend an entire day here. While we were there we ran into the “hawaiilovers”, a very nice family from Fresno. We walked from the parking lot to the area of the cache and while the adults were still talking one of the younger boys found the cache. It makes you wonder where you can rent small children for your next geocaching outing.

Twice we stopped near Emerald Bay and hiked short distances to caches and incredibly gorgeous views of the bay and Lake Tahoe. We stopped for lunch at Emerald Bay…well actually in a parking lot that charged $6/car. The place was packed with people from all over the world if the languages they spoke were any indication. And it’s no wonder so many people were here. The views of Emerald bay, Fannette Island and Eagle Falls were incredible. Down below the parking lot on the shore of Emerald Bay is Vikingsholm, another example of what people with way too much money will build. In 1928, Lora Josephine Knight bought Emerald Bay and Fannette Island and built a castle that is considered to be one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture existing in the United States.

After lunch we headed north around the lake to Kings Beach, then turned onto 267 and headed to Truckee. Along the way we, of course, picked up some more caches. In Truckee we said our goodbyes to Linda and Larry. They went their way and we headed back to Reno but not before we found just one more.

DAY OF REST--NOT!

One would think that after the four of us spent the previous day quad racing in Northeastern California there would at least be a day of rest for our weary bones. But OH NO!! Apparently Cynthia had been saving up Carson City caches for just this sort of day.

The men (Mike and Larry) were assured by the women (Cynthia and Linda) that they could “sleep in” and have a leisurely breakfast before heading out to Carson City. But, unknown to the men, a new cache had been silently, malignantly corrupting the minds of the women all night. After a night of fitful sleep the women awoke and upon first seeing each other instinctively knew what they must do. At 6 AM they were racing across town fully aware that they wouldn’t be the first to find it. But what if…maybe…it’s possible…

NOT! But they did run into two other very nice cachers who also suffered the same fitful night. Running into other cachers in the field is always a treat but at 6:15 in the morning? I don’t think so!, but I was just dragging myself out of bed when the ladies walked in the door so I guess I don’t have any right to complain.

By 9 AM we were all on our way to Carson City via Starbucks because…surprise…the ladies needed a jolt of caffeine. After the caffeine melted everyone’s cobwebs we had a fun day cleaning up some of the easier caches around Carson City. At the end of the day we were back in Reno but not ready to call it quits so we grabbed an easy cache at Rancho San Rafael and spent way too much time trying to find another one nearby. We knew it was time to give up when the neighbors finally came out of their houses and asked us what was going on.

Today didn’t turn out to be the day of rest the men were hoping for but there’s always tomorrow.

NOT!!

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.

SCENIC SUNDAY - TO QUAD OR NOT TO QUAD

I’d like to say we slept late today, but no luck. We were up again by 4:30am but actually didn’t leave until after 7:00am because we were so tired the night before we didn’t get any planning done for today’s trip. After some last minute changes and discussions, we were on our way.

From Weed, we were headed south, but first, we needed to go north. That’s geocaching for you! The first cache was along the way to Yreka and proved to be easy. Then, when we arrived in Yreka, our luck turned to muck. On the third try we finally found one and could put this quad in the found column.

At this point we had another decision to make. Do we head down I-5 to early wine and miss a quad or do we…Wait!! Wine…A Quad…Wine…A Quad. Hummm? Yep! It was a tough one but wine lost and off we went down another backcountry road to another adventure. The roadside was full of yellow wildflowers everywhere and we passed through several little towns each with their own unique quaintness. Mike particularly loved the town of Etna. It was located in Scott Valley and surrounded by lush green meadows and tree covered hills. There were old broken down barns along side brand new houses. It was quiet, peaceful and incredibly beautiful.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any more remote, we turned onto another road that wound it’s way up yet another gorgeous canyon. Our GPSr’s told us the cache was only 7 miles away but we weren’t fooled (we’ve been down that road before). Nearly 12 miles later we finally reached the location of the cache. We parked near the cache and Mike and Larry hiked up a short but VERY steep hill to…a parking lot. That happens a lot in geocaching, actually, more than is acceptable. Armed with hand signals from Mike, Cynthia drove up to within 20 feet of the cache and provided a much safer way off the hill for Mike and Larry.

On our way back to Interstate 5 we passed through the town of Gazelle. We just had to stop and take a picture to send to Teri (NevadaWolf) since Mike had called her a Gazelle in his story of the cache at Box Falls. Here’s to you Teri!

By the time we made it back to Mt. Shasta it was noon and we decided to have lunch at the Black Bear Diner because we couldn’t bear another MacBurger. Little did we know that we would spend the remainder of our retirement waiting for the healthier option to fast food. There’s a lesson there somewhere… While waiting for the inevitable, we decided to try for another quad in Fall River Mills, a mere two hour detour for one lousy cache.

After driving for about half an hour, we turned onto a road and instantly became members of the cattle drive coming at us. We inched forward and they all scattered around us. Great fun!! And great pictures!! While we waited for the cows to pass, a mother cow looked behind and frantically started mooing. All of a sudden a little black calf came running by and the mother cow whipped her head around and ran after him. “Kids” are a worry no matter what animal you are! By the way, none of the “cowboys” were on horseback. Nowadays it’s a quad. Sometimes geocaching is full or irony.

As we reached I-5 at Redding we could hear the wine calling our name but somewhere in the background a quad was whispering so….off we went on another backcountry road to quad 55. And what a road it was!! As Mike was yelling YEE HAH!! the passengers were searching for the barf bags. Once there, the cache was easily found and then we had to retrace our steps back to I-5. YEE HAH!!!

We finally arrived back to our starting point in Roseville at 7:07. These 12-hour days of driving have taken a toll on all of us. We creaked out of the car and collapsed onto the couch and chairs. We were all looking forward to a good night’s sleep on a comfortable bed!! What we do for a little, actually a lot of, fun is amazing. No one could possibly accuse us of whiling away our retirement years sitting in rocking chairs. I guess this is the new retirement.

The map at the top shows the entire 3 day trip. It represents 22 quads and 7 counties covering over 2000 miles.

INTERSTATE MADNESS!!

We walked out our door this morning at 6:00am to find RAIN. But not to be deterred, we again took off early for our second day of touring the Northern California coast and then heading inland. Yesterday I complained that I never got to see the ocean, so soon after we left Fortuna, Mike said “The Ocean’s on the left, can you see it?” Well, NO, the fog was heavy and there was no blue ocean in sight. Maybe later!

Our first stop of the day was in Eureka where we picked up a quick cache and then immediately headed out again. We had a lot of miles to cover today and our driver (Mike) let us know in no uncertain terms that we couldn’t spend time at any other caches or we wouldn’t finish our designated route.

Finally ocean. It was gray not blue because of the cloud cover, but the waves still made it an impressive sight. We saw cars driving right on the beach – where’s GeoJeep when you want it. (FYI, we left the jeeps at home and carpooled in GeoSequoia to share the cost of gas.)

Have you ever heard the phrase “I can see it, but I can’t get there”? Well, that was us trying to get to the scenic highway for our next cache. We went in circles north and south on Highway 101 till we managed to finally get the right exit. We jumped out of the car and were hit in the face with the cold. We shivered our way out to the cache where we had a beautiful view of the ocean, the beach, the surfers, and the beautiful rocks in the shallows. I guess it was worth the cold. Farther down the beach, we saw a big group of people that appeared to be standing around. Linda wondered if they were watching for a tidal wave. But no, on our way out we saw that that was clam beach so we guess they were claming. Linda’s explanation was more exciting!!

North of Klamath, we passed statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe, his blue ox. Linda and I wanted to stop for a picture since as children we heard many stories of how our father was a good friend of Paul Bunyan and in fact helped him and Babe build Puget Sound. You know little girls believe anything their father says! Anyway, by the time we screamed stop, we were too far past to turn around. Besides we were on a mission.

Finally we were traveling right along the ocean. Unfortunately the fog was so thick we couldn’t see a thing including the highway. What happened to the sunshine we were supposed to have for the weekend?

Our final caches along the coast were in Crescent City where we visited a memorial dedicated to the shipwreck of The Brother Jonathan and the Saint George Reef Lighthouse that was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1993. From there we headed inland through the Smith River Canyon on our way to Grant’s Pass Oregon before heading back into California. We had to travel through Oregon because there were no roads that went east from Crescent City. There were a lot of pesky mountains in the way.

As we were traveling the small mountain road, to our surprise we came upon a red light. What’s this doing here in the middle of nowhere? Well, it was their answer for road construction. Put up a light and save money on a flagger. Actually, it worked really well as our wait was minimal. Soon after the sun finally broke through the clouds. Yea!!

We stopped for lunch in Grants Pass, Oregon and then walked across the parking lot for a quick lamp skirt cache. Then began the longest stretch of our trip today. We had to catch 62 off of I-5 near Medford, Oregon and head to Klamath Falls where we turned south to head back into California to snag a cache in Modoc County. This cache was located near the Tule Lake Japanese internment camp a place I didn’t know existed. But I learned there were 10 such internment camps during WW II.

Now we had a decision to make. It was 3:30pm. Should we head south seven more miles to get Quad 29 or turn around and head back to 161 and to Weed a three hour drive. Well, you guessed it. We had come this far and were so close we just couldn’t resist. What do we care if we’re doing the final caches in the dark!! So south we went. The cache took us up our first dirt road of the day. The sequoia did a great job. The final walk to the cache was about 50 feet with climbing on rocks involved so we just knew it was a good thing we went the extra miles. Mike loves to rock climb.

After finding this cache, we then headed back north to catch 161 that travels along the Oregon, California border. We had two more quads to get before the day could end. The first quad was an easy ammo can find. Good thing, we were getting tired.

As we headed south down 97, Mt. Shasta came into view. It’s still covered by snow and is a beautiful site. It was even more beautiful because we knew our very long day was almost over. We planned to stay in Weed, California for the night, not far from the base of Mt. Shasta.

The last cache (and quad) of the day was in a Memorial Sculpture Garden. We walked the paths seeing various sculptures depicting different wars. In amongst the walkways, we easily found the cache. After a long day in the car, it certainly was great to do a little walking.

Our day ended at 6:01pm when four very tired cachers walked into the Comfort Inn in Weed. Mike was right – we had to move right along all day – but I’m happy to report we completed our route and found 12 caches that included 3 counties and 8 quads. We enjoyed our cocktails, logged our caches, and planned our trip for tomorrow.

CRUISING THE COAST

We were up at 4am this morning to begin our trip along the Northern California Coast with Linda and Larry (L3-Geo). We were on a mission to pick up counties for the “Discovering and Logging California’s 58 Counties” cache and quads the “California DeLorme Challenge”.

The morning commute traffic slowed us down for a few minutes but finally we were on our way. We traveled through the wine country and were amazed by the acres and acres of grape vines. After two hours of travel we found our first cache at a new winery in the Calistoga area. Now we were cooking.

Next stop – Clear Lake, via a long curvy mountain road reminiscent of a roller coaster ride. Unfortunately, Mike (the driver) was the only one having a good time. Everyone else was too busy hanging on to their high tech gear and themselves to appreciate the experience. Clear Lake according to Larry was formed from the tears of Konocti, an Indian Chief, after he lost his daughter.

Our next stop was Lakeport, where we walked out on a pier over the water to find the cache. While there we visited with the nearby fishermen and gave them our advice on how to catch a fish. I guess we were good luck, because as we were leaving, one of the fishermen caught one. We also were lucky enough to spot a catfish meandering through the shallow waters near the pier.

We had lunch nearby and were on our way again. Trees lined the road and covered the mountains on both sides of us. Because we are from the driest state in the country (Nevada), we were in awe of the green countryside. Further down the road we made a quick stop and U-turn to look at bison lounging in a nearby field. There were flies all over their eyes, so they wouldn’t hold still for a picture so we did our best. Mike made a joke about picking up a bison tube for a future cache (only geocachers would understand his humor).

Our next cache took us to the Mendocino County offices to search an old tractor. Unfortunately, the sprinklers were on. So Mike, Linda and I stood with our feet on the sprinklers to block the water while Larry searched. He managed to stay dry, but I was soaked. The wind blew all the water right back at me. Next Linda took over the search, but after searching for about 15 minutes, we all decided enough was enough and we headed out to find another cache in this quad.

Before we knew it, we passed through “The Gateway to the Redwoods” at Willits, California. It took us forever to get through this little town. Everyone seemed to be in Willits today.

As we drove to the next quad, we realized that somehow we did not have the information for the next cache – one of the downsides to paperless geocaching. So Linda got on her phone, connected to the web, and looked up all the info. Luckily we found this one so we didn’t have to attempt a nearby cache where previous geocachers had reported bear activity (no not that kind of bare).

Eventually we reached the Richardson Grove State Park where we wandered through a grove of huge redwoods searching for some answers to a virtual cache. We weren’t sure if we found the right answers, but we got some great pictures of the giant redwoods.

Our final cache for the day took us to an old locomotive and a steam engine in Scotia. We learned about the 19th century lumber industry in this part of Northern California. There was a fantastic old inn where we considered staying for the night, but it was too early and too expensive so off we went again heading north.

We finally called it a day in Fortuna, California. It’s about 30 minutes south of Eureka, our first overnight stop on our trek up the coast tomorrow.

TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS!

Monday morning arrived with a surprise. We all survived a night in Bruno’s Motel! Cynthia and Linda had to admit that it wasn’t as bad as they thought it might be, but it’s only fair to note that Cynthia didn’t see the large colonies of mold lurking in the shower.

After enjoying breakfast at Bruno’s, we were on the road again (this is when Cynthia and Linda would break into song). The plan today was to take a very circuitous and scenic route back to Reno. After traveling west out of Gerlach for a few miles we turned onto a gravel road and headed roughly south along the west side of the Smoke Creek Desert. Even though it has it’s own name, the Smoke Creek Desert is geographically connected to the more famous Black Rock Desert that is north and east of the Smoke Creek Desert.

Twenty miles down the dusty road was our first cache of the day. Once we found the right road, it was an easy and fun Jeep ride up a hill bristling with tufa. We weren’t surprised that the cache was on top of one of the tallest chunks of tufa and it was Mike’s job to get up there and find it.

For the next 30 miles we followed the old stagecoach route that linked the few widely scattered ranches located wherever there was water. Surprisingly, a few of these ranches still exist today but, sadly, most are gone or are being slowly consumed by the desert. Along the way Linda and Larry picked up a cache located on a bridge spanning Smoke Creek. It’s hard to imagine that all the water flowing under the bridge will soon disappear when it reaches the thirsty playa less than a mile from here.

Toward the southern end of the Smoke Creek Desert the road passes through Bonham Ranch, an old stage station. To the left of the road is Round Hole Springs, a large deep spring about 30 feet wide and to the right (behind the old ranch house) is an artesian well. As the water flows out of the ground and onto the playa it transforms the otherwise barren desert into an oasis of life and color.

Terraced Hills and Sand Pass separate the Smoke Creek Desert to the north from Pyramid Lake to the south. Ten thousand or so years ago they were part of one huge inland sea known as Lahontan. Today, Pyramid Lake is all that remains of this inland sea, a victim of global warming that occurred long before white men came to this continent.

Just south of Sand Pass we turned west onto Fish Springs Road, another dry dusty gravel road. Thirty miles later we grabbed a cache near The Widow Maker, a steep hill climb into the Fort Sage Mountains. The plan now was to take a dirt road north to Herlong and then west on pavement to Hwy 395. That was the plan but sometimes plans have a way of turning to dust and blowing away just like the road we took to Herlong. At the end of the road with pavement in sight we came to a locked gate and there was no way around it. Crap! And just to rub salt in our wound, the gate had an old rusty handmade sign indicating that beyond the sign was a gated community. Har Har, very funny.

Our only option was to turn around and head south several miles to Laver Crossing Road and Hwy 395. Then north on 395 to where we should have intersected 395. Only a 16-mile detour and we were already behind schedule and to make matters worse we ran into road construction and lost even more time. After much teeth gnashing we turned off the highway, picked up some food and, of course, a cache.

Five miles up Hwy 395 we left the road just as the traffic was stopping for another construction zone and took the Milford Grade road into a completely different world than the one we had been in all day. As the road ascended up into the Diamond Mountains the visions of vast dry lifeless playas were replaced with forests literally bursting with water and wildlife. Within a few short miles of each other two completely different worlds exist side-by-side. And water is what makes them different.

There were three caches up here. The first was an easy drive-up cache by a gorgeous lazy stream running through a verdant valley. Then came “Otis Overlook”, a cache at the end of a long Jeep trail overlooking Honey Lake and the world we just came from. I’ll let the pictures describe what we saw along the trail and at the overlook.











After our experiences with Otis we were anxious for another Jeep Trail Adventure to the next cache…until we saw what laughingly was labeled as a “Jeep Trail” on the map. After about 50 feet the “road” vanished into the grass. After some discussion we decided to go up the road and check it out, after all, the worst that could happen is that we would have to back down a few feet. So the intrepid cachers cinched up their seat belts and…discovered that there was something of a road, no..a path beyond the grass. As we followed the path up the hill we wound around trees and boulders and over large dirt berms. Eventually, to the astonishment of us all, we drove within 700 feet of the cache. From the “parking lot” it was an easy hike to the cache. On the way back down the road we took the time to take pictures of the Jeeps as they negotiated over the dirt berms.

By now we were out of time and had to get back to Reno so we bailed on the “plan” and descended down the Doyle Grade Road to…you guessed it…Doyle. From there we headed to Reno picking up a few caches along the way. Once in Reno, we stopped at Chili’s, swapped pictures and ate some food. After lunch we all headed west on I-80 to pick up one last cache before Linda and Larry took off for Roseville and we came home and collapsed with a grin on our faces.

THE ROAD TO GERLACH

Today we headed to the "NV DeLorme Finders Get Lost in Gerlach Event" in beautiful downtown Gerlach, Nevada. We started early and headed into the rising sun (an every day occurrence when we were pursuing the Nevada DeLorme Challenge cache). The first cache of the day was on top of one of the many mountains in Reno. We explored several possible entrances to the area and on the second try we found the right road. We were able to drive pretty close to the cache and were glad to start our day with such success.

On down the road in Fernley, we picked up several new caches and then finally headed out the long road to Gerlach. We passed beautiful Pyramid Lake and had lunch along the shores of Winnemucca Lake, an area once totally covered by the waters of ancient Lake Lahontan, but now just a vast dry lake bed.










After lunch, we headed into the Selenite Range through the Limbo pass in seach of the "LIMBO CACHE" (GC10RPZ). The road was a pleasant change from the usual rocky roads we encountered in our travels through the rest of Nevada. The last 0.35 miles was up a steep rocky incline (the more usual Nevada road). Along the way, we saw thousands of baby mormon crickets and smooshed our fair share. But luckily, they were nowhere to be seen at the cache site. We found the cache after a short search and enjoyed the fabulous views.











Our next stop was Gerlach where we met up with our fellow geocachers and exchanged stories (some true and some exaggerated) of our common obsession. After enjoying a great dinner of Bruno's famous handmade meat raviolis, we all strolled across the street for a picture of the group and, of course, to claim another cache. The whole time we were being eaten alive by a horde of little flying biting nasty gnats.

It was hard to call it a night, but everyone needed to make the long trek home, except us. We stayed at Bruno's Motel expecting a wild night in Gerlach - NOT!! Actually we had another exciting day of caching planned for the trip home to Reno and needed an early head start.