Reno to Las Vegas Via Ely

No, we’re not crazy. Of course, it would be faster to go to Las Vegas down 95. But we’re on a mission. Aren’t we always on a mission? Well, this one happens to be completing the Nevada Counties Challenge (GCWRTZ). We have found all the counties in Nevada except three - White Pine, Lincoln, and Clark. White Pine and Lincoln are on the eastern side of Nevada and Clark County is Las Vegas. The final cache is in Las Vegas so while we are there to attend an event and get lots of caches we decided to finish the challenge as well.

We were up at 5am to prepare for a 7am departure. We packed up all the luggage for Linda and Larry (L3-Geo) and us and believe it or not we actually were out the door at 7:05. We were packed like sardines in our Geo-Sequoia. You’d think we could pack lightly for our trip. But no - we are supposed to get the storm of the year, so we had to pack extra coats, gloves, hats and more. We filled every empty spot in the car. We made our traditional first stop at Starbucks and were on our way. We were trying to keep ahead of the big storm as much as possible. We certainly didn’t want eight feet of snow stopping our progress. As we headed towards Fallon, the sun was trying to out race the clouds so it could burn our retinas as we headed east. The sun finally won out in Fernley, but for only a short time. The rest of day was cloudy, windy and cold. We made two quick stops in Fernley for Linda & Larry to pick up caches we had already found and then headed on down the road to Fallon. LIttle did we know that a few days later a levee in Fernley would collapse and over 120 houses would be flooded with eight feet of water.

We found eleven caches in the Fallon area. Most were bison tubes hanging in trees or lampskirts. A few were challenging. We enjoyed lunch at Middlegate Station. We had heard that it had burned down and were very sad so we were delighted to see its familiar building as we drove up. This was our fourth visit here. Three lunches and one dinner. Our first visit was when we completed the Nevada DeLorme Challenge. The food and friendly owners gave us an excuse to stop every other time we passed by. As we left, we asked how long the trip to Ely would take. Three and a half hours we were told. We left at 12:30pm and arrived in Ely about 5pm. Cachers can always add hours to driving trips!! Soon after heading on up the road, we stopped for a cache near where 722 and 50 split. We ran into a snow grader waiting for the impending storm. Actually we saw all kinds of snow removal equipment and sanding equipment as we traveled and we were glad to still be ahead of the storm.

Several state historical markers later we stopped at the cemetery in Austin (“Where all the Dead People Live”). The snow was over two feet deep. The guys tried to get to the cache site, but when they started to look and uncovered a tombstone, they decided that they didn’t want to destroy a grave site, so this one would have to wait.

As we drove out of Austin up to the 7440 foot summit, we were treated to some beautiful views of the valleys below and surrounding mountains. We were also treated to some very icy patches on the road. When we reached the top, the wind was howling and we were glad we didn’t have to get out of the car to find a cache.

Finally, we were entering White Pine County. We stopped at Little Antelope Summit and Mike and Larry walked 200+ feet in the 2.5 feet of snow. While getting to the cache site, Larry fell flat on his face and thrashed around for a bit before he could find his feet. Leave it to Larry to provide the entertainment. When Mike and Larry arrived at the cache location, they actually found three caches. We’re still trying to figure out what that was about. As they returned, Mike sprinted through the snow to get back to the warm car. We made one more stop at a historical marker.

As the sun set, the last rays abandoned the highest mountain tops and the sky caught fire. Just after this awesome firey display, we rolled into Ely.

As we unloaded the car, we “enjoyed” a wind chill factor of 25 degrees. We could hardly wait to get our wet clothes off and jump in a hot shower. Once dry, we spent the evening logging caches, drinking wine, and eating snacks. All in all it was a great beginning to a great weekend.

Fernley and South

After being sick for most of December, caching was desperately calling our names. GeoJeep was lonely and we were starting to get the shakes from withdrawal. So today we planned a trip to Fernley, south to Fort Churchill and home on Mikes favorite road, Six Mile Canyon, through Virginia City. The day started out cold but sunny and soon warmed up so we could cache without our coats.

We headed straight to Fernley with no stops in between with a list of 18 caches. We made our first find quickly and then were stumped by the next cache at the busy intersection of Highway 50 and Highway 95. These type of caches are our worst nightmare. We can’t find anything when we are standing in the middle of traffic and are feeling very conspicuous. This was no exception. We searched for about 15 minutes and then decided to phone a friend for help. That got us nothing but voicemail. About that time our stubborn streak kicked in and we weren’t about to give up. We headed back to GZ and this time the cache practically slapped us in the face. It couldn’t have been more out in the open if it tried. We signed the log with a big sigh and headed on to the next.

Eight caches later we were ready to head down 95 to the Fort Churchill area. We weren’t sure what the roads might be like in the mountains around Fort Churchill because it had snowed a few days ago, but what the heck, we decided to give it a try. As we headed south, the snow in the mountains diminished and our hopes were high. Sure enough we were able to get to the top of the mountain where the cache was located and we found the “Rat with a View”. After signing the log, we enjoyed the view while we ate our lunch. We found one more in the state park and then headed south again.

A few caches later, we were on our way to “A Comfortable Saddle”. The road in was a well maintained dirt road and we were able to get to within .3 miles of the cache. Unfortunately, the cache was located at the top of a very steep hill. First we went around to the south looking for a way up. No way! Back we went and headed north. Still no easy way so we began the climb. We had to negotiate a rock fall that almost caused GeoJeepette to fall, but luckily she recovered before rolling down the hill. On we went, climbing higher and higher, huffing and puffing harder and harder. At last we were at the top and we found the cache. It was cold, windy, and miserable by now but we were actually sweating. We enjoyed the view for a few minutes and then headed down. As we were making our way down, the smallest train we’ve ever seen roared past (just the engine) and honked it’s horn and waved. They probably thought we were crazy and who’s to say we aren’t! Back at the jeep we were just glad our hearts were strong and we had survived to tell the tale.

Since it was getting late in the day, it was time to head north to Silver Springs and try for two more caches in the hills. As we made our way up the dirt road, the snow began to get thicker and thicker and where there wasn’t snow, there was mud. GeoJeep’s tires were just hunks of mud by the time we reached the first cache. We again had to hike a little ways and by the time we found the cache our shoes were also hunks of mud. Back at the Jeep, we tried to knock the mud off, but I’m afraid the inside of GeoJeep needs a little attention. The sun was beginning to set, so it was time to leave the mountains before the roads froze. We made one more stop along Highway 50 for an easy historical marker cache and then we headed home up Six MIle Canyon, through Virginia City and down to Reno. We ended up with 13 caches. One we looked for was missing and we ran out of time for the rest. Oh well, they’ll be there next spring too.

5000 and #1

Today we headed out to find our 5000th cache. Three and a half years from the time we found our first cache. How amazing is that!!

We selected Don’s Revenge (GC14BXC), a cache in Roseville, planted by a friend. It was a 5 stage multi and everything we had heard about it made us think it would be fun yet challenging. It certainly was! Linda and Larry (L3-Geo) tagged along with us to point and laugh and yes to give us a hint if we needed one. At the first stage we found two dummies before pulling out our extraction tool and finally finding the coords to the next stage. At the second stage we searched and searched and finally had to ask for a clue. L&L gave us the clue Don had given them. We searched some more and came up with the prize. Now we were getting the hang of Don’s hides so we went right to the third stage and found it quickly. The fourth stage again needed an extraction tool and even with that it took us 6 tries to recover the info. Now on to the final stage. This stage we found quickly after first identifying another dummy cache. We signed the log and officially had our 5000th find. Now on to the next 5000!!

As if that wasn’t reward enough, we are also #1 in the state of Nevada.

Thanksgiving Caching

It was a beautiful crisp day and the turkey was cooking. Now, what to do? Yep, we went caching. Who could ask for a better day?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Longest Day!!

We were up early today with high hopes for a great day. Our first find of the day took us to Washoe Lake State Park. We made a short hike to the cache and found it easily. Next we headed into Carson City and again found a cache quickly. Little did we know that would be our last easy find!

Next we stopped at a cache we assumed was a light skirt. We tried to lift it and it wasn’t budging. We looked all around the area with no luck and finally gave up and headed on to the next. That one was also a DNF and so was the next due to muggles in the area. By now we were getting discouraged so we decided to go for a group of caches that were on a mountain south of Carson City. We were pretty confident we could find those caches since no muggles would be anywhere near them. As we drove up to the entrance to the area, we noticed John of jahoadi and john arriving just before us. He had had an equally discouraging morning with several DNFs (including the light skirt) so was looking forward to this group as well. Guess what, it was not to be. The gates to this area and the area across the street were locked. It seems the gates are locked on November 1st through May 1st. Arrghhh! We were four days too late. We wandered the nearby streets hoping to find another entrance, but came up empty.

After reviewing our remaining caches, we came up with a plan for another area. Off we went to “Prison Hill”. The roads to the first cache were rocky and steep and along the way we saw a herd of eight deer. We had to work our way around one particularly steep area before we arrived at the cache. Mike and John climbed the rock and FINALLY we found another cache. Pumped up again we headed on to the next. We came to a crossroads and Mike took the high road and John took the low road. While on the high road we saw a very hungry looking coyote. Luckily he was headed away from the deer. We met up with John at the cache and found it easily. OK, now we’re cooking!

John had several caches on his list that were just “over there”. We teamed up again and it seemed no matter which way we went we hit a dead end. We finally had to admit defeat again and retrace our route to the main road and approach from another angle. Again, no luck - on we went - again no luck. So here it was almost 1pm and we had 4 caches and were feeling totally frustrated. We headed back to town and this time managed to pick up two of the caches we hadn’t found in the morning. Now where do we go?

Off to Dayton we went. We were able to find several, but we also had to skip several. After finding the last cache with John before heading our separate ways home, we all agreed that this was the most disorganized and frustrating day of geocaching we could ever remember. Any by now it seemed like the longest day we had ever spent!

Mike and I were finally headed home and just couldn’t resist stopping to try the light skirt cache one last time. We drove up to the cache, Mike jumped out with his sledge hammer (one of his favorite extraction tools) ready to do battle, but first he tried to lift it and up came the skirt with no resistance. We’re just sure someone glued it shut this morning and then unglued it before we came back. Go figure! At least we know that John had the same problem so it’s just not that we’re old and weak.

Boy we were glad to arrive home and grab our glass of wine. At least we could find that!!

“Getting there isn’t half the fun--it’s all the fun”
--Robert Townsend

Friday, October 19

Awhile back when I heard that there was going to be a statewide geocaching event in Tonopah, I secretly wondered if we would have any fun. I mean we’re talking about Tonopah. The last time we visited Tonopah they were experiencing a severe shortage of toilet paper so, naturally, we haven’t been back. But to answer the question, no, we didn’t have fun...we had a BLAST!! And yes, they found more TP.

Linda and Larry (L3-Geo) arrived Thursday night so that we could be on the road at first light the next morning. All of our most memorable geocaching adventures start with the morning sun searing our retinas and today was no exception as we headed east. We could have spent the whole day in Fallon but we were on a mission to find just one special cache located out in the desert east of Fallon. But, of course, “just one” morphed into three for all the usual rationales geocachers use. This cache was special because we needed it for the “Well Rounded Cacher Challenge”. That’s right! The Nevada Delorme Challenge wasn’t enough. Now we’re on to another one.

The reason for bringing L3-Geo to this cache was because we knew it required a special extraction tool of some kind and Larry carries one of each in his magic fanny-pack. No matter what we need or how big it is, it’s in that fanny-pack. Once we located the cache and determined what we needed, Larry did his magic and we had the cache in hand. After that we headed west along farm roads (and passing several caches) until we found Hwy 95 and turned south. It was still early and we had all day to cache and explore our way down to Tonopah.

Before caching (BC), we drove this route several times never giving any thought about the history of the area. Today we learned about the old filling station built in the 1920’s to service traffic on the newly constructed highway and Hawthorne’s rich railroad, mining and military history. By the time we arrived in Tonopah we had just enough time to check-in and unload the Jeeps before the sun set. After a mediocre Mexican dinner we went back to our rooms and prepared for the next day.

Saturday, October 20

Early the next morning most of the event caches were published and it was clear that most of them were located in a roughly circular pattern northeast of Tonopah with the town being about in the seven o’clock position. In addition to this circle there were caches east and south of Tonopah. We decided that most cachers would start in town and cache in a clockwise direction so we went the other direction hoping to collect more FTF’s. So, after a quick bite to eat and grabbing a few caches in town, we headed east on Highway 6. The route took us east on Highway 6 and then north on Highway 376 for about 4 miles. There we headed west on a dirt road and this is when things got really fun. As we drove west up into the San Antonio Mountains we found ourselves completely alone and snagging all the FTF’s. But our reverie was short lived when, just before the summit, we looked back and saw an SUV stopped at one of the previous caches. The race was on! You never saw two old men move so fast! But, inevitably, we lost the race. We really didn’t have much of a chance. “Whtwolfden” was driving his wife’s SUV and didn’t seem to care how fast he went over the rocks and his son was about 12 years old and literally flew out of the car and nailed the caches before we managed to get our legs under us.

Shortly after meeting “Whtwolfden” we met a group of cachers at a windmill. We had first noticed them while we were at another cache and wondered why they were just standing around when we arrived. Well, it seems that the cache was placed at the top of the windmill and one of them had managed to climb up and retrieve it but the experience was too traumatic and no one wanted to climb back up to replace it. Not a problem. After I signed the log I climbed up to the top, replaced the cache and started to descend when Linda yelled at me to stay there while she found her camera. Despite the wind blowing me and the windmill around I waited while she searched for the camera. I suspect that she took longer than necessary to find the camera because everyone was having too much fun watching me ride a bucking windmill. It wasn’t until later that I found out that one of the windmill’s legs wasn’t anchored. No wonder they didn’t want to go back up!

Several caches later we found ourselves back on Highway 95 north of Tonopah. We decided to pick up a few more before stopping at McDonald’s for lunch. Unfortunately, McDonald’s was having a serious odor problem so we quickly exited and ended up at casino cafe. We ignored the typical casino smell and atmosphere and had another mediocre Tonopah meal. After lunch we spent a couple hours picking up the caches south of Tonopah.

Two of those caches were at Klondike, a ghost town roughly 13 crow miles south of Tonopah. In 1900, Jim Butler brought some ore samples he had collected at Tonopah Springs to the assayer in Klondike. The story goes that the assayer thought the samples were worthless and threw them away but Jim thought otherwise. On his way back to his ranch, he picked up some more samples and eventually had them assayed in Austin, NV. That assay found large amounts of gold and silver. Butler stacked his claims around what is now Tonopah and all the miners from Klondike moved to Tonopah. Now there is nothing but a few rusting pieces of metal where Klondike used to be and Tonopah is...what it is. Which begs the question, why does Tonopah still exist? It’s certainly not because of the food. The answer lies southeast of the town. The Tonopah Test Range is part of a huge military facility which includes Nellis Air Force base and the famous yet super-secret Area 51. This just might explain the strange alien food and smells we’ve been experiencing.

Sometime, while we were south of Tonopah we realized we had missed two caches on a mountain top in the general vicinity of the morning adventure. We still had plenty of time before the dinner event at the Elk’s Hall so we headed toward the mountain despite the increasing winds and decreasing temperatures. It took about 45 minutes of 4-wheeling to get there but we were surprised to discover that we were the only ones to find the caches. Maybe it was the howling bitterly cold wind that had discouraged the saner cachers from venturing up on top of the mountain. If that’s true, then that would make us.... Yep.

We made it back to Tonopah in time to shower and “dress” for dinner at the Elk’s Hall. The festivities were fun and the food was...ok because I like my steak well done. I understand the ones who chose the chicken all met later at McDonald’s.

Sunday, October 21

The plan today was to head back to Reno while cleaning up a few caches that we had either skipped earlier or recently became aware of. But first we went back to the Elk’s Hall for breakfast. Again the festivities were fun and I wasn’t entirely surprised when I broke my cutlery on the pancakes. After breakfast there were a few announcements and celebrations and then we were out of there. We had places to go and caches to find and time was wasting.

The first three caches took us to (1) Slime Wash, (2) the site of a major junction for the Tonopah-Goldfield Railroad and (3) to Miller’s, a booming railroad town between 1904 and 1911. Now, I understand the significance of the last two places but why show us Slime Wash? Maybe for it’s unique name.

While we were at Miller’s we had to make a decision whether to get a couple more caches that were out in the desert northeast of Miller’s. The first was two miles away and the second was another 4 miles. As we were trying to figure out how to access the dirt road and discussing whether we even had the time and inclination to venture out into the unknown, we looked up to see “Whtwolfden” pointing the way. Actually, he had just returned from the first cache 2 miles away and said the roads were so bad he decided not to go on to the second one. Well, if he can do it in his wife’s SUV we can certainly make it, so we accepted the challenge and went for it.

Aside from some deep ruts, the road was much better than we were lead to believe and we found the first cache quickly. Because we had such an easy time of it so far, we decided to go on to the next one. Fifteen minutes later we reached the cache and realized it was going to take a half an hour to retrace our steps. The other revelation was that there was ANOTHER cache ONLY 4 miles from here. The more cache crazed members of the group were saying, “It’s only 4 miles from here!” and I’m thinking, “Yeah, but that’s now 10 miles of dirt road back to Highway 95. What the hay, the gas cans are full so...why not. We took off down the road and then it ended. Disappeared is a more accurate description. The sagebrush had gobbled up the road and it was gone. Well, maybe.

Behind and to the left of a particularly large bush the sagebrush wasn’t quite as dense. In fact, with a little imagination, it could be argued that there used to be a road there. We were on a playa so there weren’t any rocks to worry about and the surface was firm so we carefully rolled in that direction. There definitely was a pattern developing where the lack of vegetation indicated where the wheel tracks had been. Notice I said ”wheel“ and not ”tire“. If this was a road it hadn’t been used for a very long time, perhaps before rubber tires.

The question as to whether it was even a road was soon answered as the little moving yellow dot on GeoJeepette’s laptop tracked exactly with a jeep trail on the map. As we became more confident we slowly increased our speed and found ourselves making good time across the playa. Aside from the half dozen washed out areas and the occasional stray bush the ride was remarkably smooth. Then, even this so-called road ended as we entered a dry lake bed. Beyond the lake bed was a raised berm which I assumed was a flood control dyke. Just great! We came all this way to be stopped by a dyke. ”So what do you think that is?“, I asked GeoJeepette as I pointed at the dyke. She replied, ”That’s Highway 89“. What! No one told me there was a highway out here! Why are we blazing trails through the desert when we could have taken the highway? Oh, that’s right, it’s about having fun.

As we climbed up the berm onto the highway surface we really didn’t have to worry about traffic because, since Highway 376 was built east of Tonopah, Highway 89 is rarely used. It is essentially abandoned and in disrepair but we gratefully used it to go down to the access road that took us to Crescent Dunes and the next adventure. Yes, there was a cache to be found but it was really about the adventure.

The cache was located about 900 crow feet behind the southern most, and probably largest, dune. We should have walked but I hate walking in loose sand. I told L3-Geo to wait and I would go ahead. The plan was that if GeoJeep got stuck, L3-Geo could pull us out. So I put GeoJeep in dune buggy mode and headed around the south side of the dune. Now GeoJeep is no stranger to sand but what we saw as came around the side of the dune made GeoJeep shudder. Deep, thick drifts of sand blocked the way. It was the end of the line but if we stopped and tried to turn around we would surely sink up to our axles. That’s when I saw a cleft in a small dune and announced it was a road. I knew GeoJeepette thought I was having a reaction to my medication but she only uttered a short quiet noise as we went up into the cleft. And through it and down the other side onto a road. A real road. Just like I knew what I was doing. It wasn’t the medication after all. But this was no place to be stopping and there was definitely no room to turn around so we powered forward through the thick heavy sand until we reached a small area where we could stop, made a multi-point turn and headed back. By now I knew it was a big mistake coming this way and we were on the way back to tell L3-Geo not to come this way. Too late!! They had followed our tracks through the cleft and were headed in our direction and there was no place to stop. I was taught that while driving on sand dunes to never stop on the level or uphill so when we reached the top of a very small hill I stopped and yelled into the CB for L3-Geo to do the same.

Here we were, two Jeeps facing each other in a trench on a sand dune. Hummm, what to do? I decided we might as well think about our dilemma while we walked over to the cache. By the time we got back to the Jeeps we had a plan. While I watched and made sure L3-Geo stayed in his tracks he would slowly back up. I emphatically added that it was very important not to stop. The plan didn’t specify how far he was supposed to back up but that didn’t really matter because we were winging it anyway. Everything was going great but as we were approaching the cleft, I realized that backing up, around and over it would be tricky at best. L3-Geo solved that dilemma when he lost sight of me in his rear vision mirror and drove off the road and kept going and going and...Stop! At first I couldn’t believe what was happening and then I couldn’t believe our luck. L3-Geo had found the only semi-firm sand in 400 feet and his Jeep was sitting on top, not in, the sand. How did he know? From here it was easy to turn around and attack the cleft. We went first and, then, he followed. We made it.

The decision to go back on dirt roads to Miller’s or take the old highway back to Tonopah was an easy one. Once back in Tonopah, we stopped at Burger King for lunch and gas (for the Jeep). Only a geocacher can head north out of town and end up back in town 3 hours later for lunch. While the four of us were sitting around the table at Burger King planning our trip home, I thought about the sand and how close both of us came to getting stuck. I then realized this was the best meal I’ve had in Tonopah. It sure beats roasting lizards on GeoJeep’s exhaust pipe while we waited for help. Oh wait! That’s right! We were ten miles from the nearest civilized road, nobody knew where we were and there was no cell coverage.

Wow, this is a great burger...

After topping off our tanks, we left Tonopah (again) and headed north. The plan was to pick up a couple of caches along the way and arrive in Fallon before nightfall. The next cache was about 60 miles away so we turned off the GPSr’s and settled back for the long drive. After about 45 minutes of travel, just as we were passing Candelaria Hill, the phone rang. It was L3-Geo. A cache just showed up on their laptop and they were wondering whether we wanted to go for it. When I heard ”It’s just off the road“ and ”It won’t take that long“, I knew it was time to power up the GPSr’s. I knew about this cache and had eliminated it from the list because of the 3 terrain and 3 difficulty rating. The comment about being snake country didn’t thrill me either. But the group consensus overrode my concerns.

When we arrived in the area of the cache we discovered that we could drive to within 200 to 300 feet of the cache. We also discovered that the cache was on top of a large rock outcropping on the side of a steep hill, but, it looked doable. Because of my stunt on the windmill, I was elected to scale the rock. On my way up the hill to the outcropping, my previous concerns were justified when a ”cute“ little baby rattlesnake slithered across my path and into a bush. I called out to L3-Geo and, as the little guy made a run for it, L3-Geo confirmed the sighting. As I ascended the outcropping, I just knew mama snake was lurking nearby quietly deciding who would be her next victim. After I certified the outcropping as snake free, I went about the business of retrieving the cache. The ammo can was in a crevasse about 3 feet below the top and the only way to snag it was to lie down on my stomach, stretch out over the edge and...wait for mama snake to bite me in the ass. Well, that’s what was playing over and over in my mind as I grabbed the cache. I was treated to the same mental image as I replaced it. I think, in the future, all caches should also have a rating for anxiety.

We made a hasty retreat and continued north to the next cache.

Near the junction of Highways 95 and 360, south of Mina, is the site of an old terminal for the Carson-Colorado Railroad. From here, badly need supplies were hauled by wagon to the new, booming town of Tonopah. Later, the railroad was extended to Tonopah and the terminal slowly disappeared. Today all that’s left are lots of old nails, spikes, a few decaying railroad ties and a cache. If you prefer to drive to your caches, approach the cache from the rock house.

Now it was really getting late and even though we had more fun than anyone would have anticipated, we needed to concentrate on getting back home. No more unscheduled diversions into the scary unknown. But, as we approached Fallon and the sun was about to disappear, I was reminded that we needed to pick up just one more cache. The reason: To make the number of finds in three days an even 100!

We watched the sun finally set while we were in Starbucks fortifying ourselves for the final leg of the trip back to Reno. Who would have ever thought you could have had so much fun in Tonopah, Nevada? Not me.

The FYMC Loop

GeoJeepette needed some caches, and she needed them badly. Reno/Sparks has been mined out, Marysville was too far and we were just in Fallon. What to do? Oh what to do!? Maybe it’s time to run the FYMC loop again. FYMC is short for “Fernley Yerington Minden Carson” (I just made that up). It’s a circular route starting in Reno and going to Fernley, down 95A to Yerington and then over to 395 and up to Carson City and then back to Reno. As it turned out there were a sufficient number of caches to appease GeoJeepette’s appetite, so off we went. And then not. It seems that there was a charity run/walk in the neighborhood and we found ourselves stuck in the middle of the road while people swarmed around us. I’m sure it was all for a good cause but we were on a mission and after about 15 minutes we weren’t feeling very charitable.


In the past we’ve done a pretty good job of clearing out most of the caches in the Fernley area leaving only the ones on top of mountains or the one we can never find at a casino. There was one cache, however, that intrigued me because it wasn’t clear how to get to the cache (a challenge) and there were references to seeing something called “The Old Man” and “Military Hill” and avoiding man made obstacles. Sounds like an adventure to me! The map on the cache page showed “Speedway Road” intersecting with 95A and going almost all the way to the cache but when we turned off the highway onto Speedway Road it took us to a salvage yard. After a short search it was obvious that private property was in our way and we would have to find a different access point. That was confirmed when a nice gentlemen stopped us and asked us if we were lost. We said no. He then pointed at GeoJeep and suggested that we should try “Gas Line Road”. I think he could tell GeoJeep wanted to get his tires dirty. We casually thanked him and made a beeline to Gas Line Road. After going through the gate (close it after you) we beared left because our arrow told us so and promptly found ourselves confronted with unwelcoming signs--more private property!. So we returned to Gas Line Road. and drove roughly east for awhile as we watched the arrow slowly turn in the wrong direction.

Eventually we found a road that made the arrow happier but only for a little while. We wandered from road to road trying to head in the general direction of the cache. Sometimes we won, sometimes we didn’t. Then we found ourselves on a road/wash in a narrow canyon that took us within a half a mile of the cache. After another wrong turn we were able to drive to within 0.17 miles but the cache was obviously on top of a hill and we were on the bottom. There weren’t any roads to the top and...well, no, I didn’t really want to hike all that way to the top. But we came so far. Turning around and leaving wasn’t an option either. That’s when I spotted the road. Well...I’m sure at one time something drove up the hill because I saw tracks. I’m sure I did, honest! That’s when GeoJeep saw the tracks too and before I could stop him he bolted up the hill. Before we knew it, we were on the top of the hill and only about 180 feet from the cache. Now that’s more like it!!

After finding the cache, looking at the view and taking some pictures we headed back to GeoJeep. That’s when it occurred to me that because GeoJeep had treaded so lightly up the hill we may not be able to see his tracks, making the descent much more difficult. What we needed was an old fashioned Indian scout to walk ahead of GeoJeep and follow our path downhill. Hummm, I wonder if GeoJeepette is up for a little walk? After a very quick lesson in tracking she took point and I followed in GeoJeep. GeoJeepette was a natural! She only lost the trail once and only for a minute and in no time we were at the bottom. What a team!!

Curiously, we never saw anything that could have been “the old man” or “military hill”. All we saw were a bunch of discarded reels of cable left long ago by a utility company or more likely a thief. On the return trip, we came to the top of a hill and could see the highway on the other side of private property. We had skirted this property coming in and, in doing so, had added about 30 minutes to our adventure. We didn’t want to take the time to skirt the property again, after all, there were caches calling for us. So we headed straight for the highway hoping that nobody would notice the huge cloud of dust rising up from behind GeoJeep as we raced by. It must have worked. No red lights and sirens...this time.

Fort Churchill is a civil war era Calvary fort in a state of arrested decay located along the Carson River near Hwy 95A. It’s a popular spot for campers and history buffs and, of course, cachers. There are several caches in the area but only 4 were new for us. We found the others on a very cold and foggy January day a couple of years ago, but that’s another story. Two of the four caches were in a campground within the boundary of the Fort and there is a day use fee. But because we were only going to be there a few minutes we were reluctant to pay for the whole day so we sort of...well, OK! OK!...we found a back road and snuck in. The first cache was at the entrance to the campground and the other was along the bank of the Carson River except that after a dry winter and hot summer the river was actually a couple of shallow ponds. The campground was virtually empty and the ranger was elsewhere so we decided it would be a dandy place for lunch. Our guilt drove us to eat quickly and we were out of there in record time. Next stop, Wabuska!

Not surprising, the latest cache in Wabuska is on the roadside historical marker. Wabuska is like so many other Nevada towns in that they all got their start because of a railroad and/or nearby mining and now it’s barely hanging onto economic life. What always strikes me about Wabuska, however, are the hot springs about a mile north of the town and clearly seen on both sides of Hwy 95A. Why hasn’t the geothermal energy of this area been harnessed? Will it in the future and how will this affect the economy of Wabuska?

From Wabuska we drove south through Mason Valley, grabbed a couple of caches and quickly found ourselves in Yerington. Yerington is a small sleepy town located on Hwy 95A where the highway suddenly turns east and eventually intersects with Hwy 95 at Schurz. Whether local legend or historical fact it’s interesting how Yerington got it’s name. It seems back in the late 1800’s the town of Pizon Switch or Greenfield (depended on who you talked to) wanted the railroad to come through town so they thought that if they flattered some important state mucky-muck who made those decisions the town would surely get the railroad. So the name was changed to Yerington in honor of Henry M. Yerington, Superintendent of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad from 1868 to 1910. You can be sure that Henry was honored but, unfortunately for the townsfolk, not enough to get the railroad. Is that where the term “political railroading” was coined?

After picking up a few caches in the area we headed south on Hwy 338 to where it intersects Hwy 208. We turned west on 208 and followed the Walker River as it cut through the Singatse Range creating the spectacular Wilson Canyon. Our caching took us through the small quiet agricultural communities of Smith and Wellington and then onto Hwy 395. One of the most interesting caches in the area highlighted the shortest highway in the world. The beginning and the end of the highway are separated by the width of a sign post and the cache is between the signs. What’s that about anyway?

Once on Hwy 395, we took a short detour south to get a cache called “Hwy 395 South”. A nice simple innocuous name for a cache that is anything but simple or nice. This is what GeoJeepette said in her log, “Had a feeling what we might be looking for and we were right.” She’s so nice. Note the reference to “we”. The truth is I followed the arrow and walked right up to the FAKE cache and then followed everyone else’s footprints down the steep slope digging in all the bushes and turning over all the rocks. FINALLY GeoJeepette gets out and walks over and points and say’s, “I think it’s here”. There’s no disputing who has the brains and who just kicks over rocks.

As we headed home, we did pick up a few along the way but my heart wasn’t into caching anymore. I know sulking isn’t very mature but what do you expect from a rock kicker.

It had been awhile since we had cached the Tahoe area and we decided that we better do it now before the snow falls. The added draw to the area were all the new caches placed during the Tahoe event a few months ago and GeoJeepette was chomping at the bit for some numbers. We really didn’t know what the weather might throw at us so we packed GeoJeep with everything from sandals to Arctic parkas only to find out that it couldn’t have been a more perfect day to visit and hike around the lake.

We started our quest in South Lake Tahoe because there was a large grouping of new caches there and we’re all for efficiency. Unfortunately, we didn’t read any of the logs first and discovered that several of the caches had multiple DNF’s and the owners were apparently apathetic. Once we eliminated any caches with DNF’s our efficiency rating went up and we started having fun. Of the sixteen caches we found a few deserve mention.

Along Pioneer Trail is a cache at a bridge that crosses over Trout Creek, but it’s not the bridge you drive over. It’s the stone bridge built in 1906 that lies next to and 8-10 feet below the current bridge. This stone bridge is slowly being buried by the silt and debris from Trout Creek. In another mere hundred years it will be gone, the current bridge will be half buried and..... Will there be a need for a bridge here in another hundred years? Someday in the far future archeologists will get all giddy when they accidently discover the original 1906 bridge while studying today’s bridge. It was kind of neat standing near and even touching the object of a future moment of archeological giddiness. Oh, as an aside, Pioneer Trail is a great way to bypass all the chaos on Lake Tahoe Blvd.

“Meadow Walk” is a cache located between Pioneer Trail and Hwy 50 in, not surprisingly, a meadow. From my research I knew the cache was only about 300 yards from the end of a runway at Lake Tahoe Airport but we had no idea how busy the skies would be above the cache. There must have been an event at the airport because airplanes were constantly buzzing our heads and were so low you could almost reach up and tickle their tummies.

Mattole Road intersects with Hwy 89 south of Cascade Lake. The description of “This Old House” indicates that Mattole Road is a fire road but, fortunately, it’s never seen that duty. . My guess is that Mattole Road was one of the first “residential sections” of Tahoe but this “road” hasn’t felt rubber since the Model T. It’s now just two parallel tracks through the forest. We followed it for a ways and then turned left when the arrow told us. After a few hundred feet a one room dilapidated cabin came into view. It has definitely seen better days and in a couple of years it will be scattered in the gully below.

Everybody who visits Lake Tahoe has to come to Emerald Bay and everybody stops at the large parking lot just north and east of Eagle Falls. It costs six dollars to park here but you can probably skip paying the fee if you’re quick. We weren’t. If I had paid any attention to Google Earth I would have had a better idea where the cache was located. But no, just like rookies, we followed the arrow which took us over a steep hunk of granite and down the other side. Do yourself a favor and go around the huge rock and take the obvious and easier route. No matter how you do it, you must visit this place and bring a good camera. Awesome views!!

If You Don't Like the Weather - Wait 5 Minutes!

Yesterday we decided to cache in the Reno area and pick up some miscellaneous caches that would take us North, South, East, and West. We were a little concerned because this weekend was Street Vibration weekend in Reno and the place was crawling with thousands of motorcycles.

We put our concerns behind us and headed out early since rain was forecast for later in the day. By the time we got to the road to Virginia City (two minutes from home), the thunder was booming and we were listening to hail pound on our jeep. Motorcyclists were scattering right and left in search of shelter. We learned long ago to bring our shelter with us so we wouldn’t have to worry about such things. Anyway, up the road we went and the hail pounded. As we approached our first cache, much to our chagrin the area around the cache was jammed with motorcycles and soaked leather clad people waiting for the packed ice over the summit to melt. As we pulled into the view point, we noticed many strange stares that seemed to say “why are you stopping, you have 4-wheel drive”? As we jumped out of our jeep to look for the cache, six Reno PD motorcycle officers drove in and parked behind us. Now what? Well, being the obsessed cachers we are, we chatted with the people around us, admired the view, discussed the weather, and tied our shoes twice as we grabbed and then replaced the cache. No one was the wiser or at least no one said anything.

Our next challenge was to get out from among all the motorcycles. They were kind enough to jockey around until there was a spot big enough for GeoJeep to pass. We headed up the summit through the packed ice only to emerge at the top into sunshine.

Shortly, we stopped at our next cache which proved to be a short hike up a hillside that would normally have been dry dirt. Now, it was very wet dirt which quickly compacted on our shoes until we were carrying around five pounds on each shoe as we headed up the hill. If you think our shoes were bad, you should have seen GeoJeep’s “shoes”. Tires, what tires, just round mud things. We made the find and headed back to paved road. As we drove the rest of the way to Virginia City, mud flew in every direction. I’m sure many of the cars passing us wondered if it was raining mud. We just tried to look nonchalant. Good thing the motorcycles were still waiting on the other side of summit.

We found two caches in Virginia City. The first one was down Six Mile Canyon Road and the second one was at the far end of town, but luckily we know the area pretty well and were were able to bypass the motorcycle zoo along main street. When we finished, rather than go back, we headed down the hill to Carson City where we found a cache while running between raindrops.

Now back to Reno via Washoe Valley where we were able to shed our coats and cache in the sun. Not so lucky when we reached Reno. The clouds were black and the wind was blowing. We stopped for lunch and were so covered with mud we were almost embarrassed to walk into Qdoba. But we were hungry so we did it anyway. By the time we headed out again it was pouring. Not to be deterred, we walked through water logged parks and froze on top of hillsides - but we found the caches.

Our day wasn’t over yet, though. We headed home to clean up a little and then we went to a local Pizza Parlor for a GBES Poker Run event. I’d like to say we had a great hand and won something, but that would be a lie. Actually we had a lousy hand but regardless had a great time visiting with all our friends. After the event, a group of us went on the hunt for a night cache with our three million watt flashlights. By this time the wind had died down, the rain had stopped, and we had a pleasant walk through the dark night. Wonder what the neighbors thought of the boisterous crowd with the huge lights?

Long story short, we experienced thunder, hail, rain, sunshine, beautiful rainbows, wind, cold and more rain, but we had a great day!!

Kavanaugh Ridge

Way back in January at a geo-event at the Silver Club in Sparks, we were sitting at a table with Okra and Desert Lady and they mentioned a cache located at an elevation of 11,000 feet on Kavanaugh Ridge. A cache you can DRIVE to at 11,000 feet!! When we got home I did the research and discovered that there are several caches in the area and started planning the trip. More than eight months later we made the trip.

But, as it happens frequently in geocaching, there were a couple of caches we needed to get before Kavanaugh Ridge. You see, after being the first Nevadans to complete the Nevada Delorme Challenge, we started working on the California Delorme and 58 counties caches. On the way down to Conway Summit on Hwy 395 we took a detour up and over Sonora Pass to grab a cache in Tuolumne County and Quad 100. The cache was near a small but spectacular unnamed waterfall. After taking some time to find the cache and photograph the falls, we turned around and headed back to Hwy 395. BUT WAIT!! Of course! There was another cache at Sonora Summit we just had to get. After that one we really did head back to 395 and continued south to Conway Summit. The summit is at about 8100 feet and offers a great view of Mono Lake. That’s what most folks think of Conway Summit, just a place along Hwy 395 with a great view. Most people don’t even notice the sign pointing to Virginia Lakes. Next time you’re making the trip up or down 395, take the time to visit. We did.

My plan was to tackle Kavanaugh Ridge first and then grab the other caches later if we had time. That was my plan but GeoJeepette gets agitated if we pass a cache without stopping so we compromised and grabbed a few of the closest, easiest ones on the way up the road to Virginia Lakes. Less than a mile before Virginia Lakes we turned north onto Dunderberg Meadows Road. When I first saw the sign I felt a sense of foreboding but then I realized it said Dunderberg, not Dunderhead. Here is where things got interesting. The USGS topo map didn’t have any roads to Kavanaugh Ridge but Google Earth hinted that there may be something from Dunderberg Road to a small lake and then something even less than a hint from the lake to the ridge. I went with Google Earth but didn’t know exactly where we would find this hint of a road. We only took one wrong, short detour before we found the right road. We knew it was the right road because of the sign pointing to Kavanaugh Ridge. This isn’t the first time I’ve been reminded that despite all the fancy high tech GPSr’s, satellite imagery and laptop computers, sometimes you just have to read the signs.

But I have to give Google Earth credit. How in the world (pun) did it see this little spit of a “road” from up there? But not to worry. I slipped GeoJeep into quad mode and repeated over and over again, “You are a quad, you are a quad...”. It worked. It didn’t take too long to get to the lake (10400 feet!) but we stopped anyway to take a break from the bruising road and find a cache. I’m sure that in the winter this lake and the few trees around it would be a pretty scene, but in the middle of August all we saw was a puny pond with a few stunted wind tortured trees. Surrounding this was a ridge of barren crushed rock.

Normally, when a road seems to disappear there are usually some telltale signs to point the way, like a lack of vegetation or a variation in color or texture. I’ve never seen a road just vanish before. If I hadn’t seen the Google Earth images I wouldn’t have believed the road continued north from the lake and up onto a ridge. We drove roadless north through and around some trees and saw a “road” going up the side of the ridge, so, with a shrug we went up the hill with rocks flying out from underneath spinning tires. The really exciting part ended when we got onto the top of the ridge. From there it was a more sedate, albeit rocky, climb up to Kavanaugh Ridge.

Kavanaugh Ridge is a huge rock and gravel pile that spans two peaks, Dunderberg Peak to the south and an unnamed hunk of rock to the north. At just over 11,000 feet, it’s well above the timberline and even in August after a very dry winter there were snow banks on the north facing slopes. The west side of the summit is a 2000 foot precipice overlooking an alpine valley decorated with at least five lakes. Beyond this valley is the Hoover Wilderness Area. Back toward the east you can see from Bridgeport to Mono Lake. Unbelievably amazing views.

Here, at just over 11,000 feet there are two caches and they are located very near the edge of the precipice. The first cache was about 8 feet from the edge and the wind made it difficult to stand let alone sign the log. The other cache was about a tenth of a mile north in a pile of boulders. While up in the boulders I could see GeoJeep down below and it looked tiny and insignificant against it’s surroundings. We thought we were alone and expected to remain that way but off in the distance a pickup appeared followed by three more cars. Well there goes the neighborhood! We climbed back down to GeoJeep just as everybody showed up so we waved and headed back down the ridge.

By the time we got back to Dunderberg Road we only had about an hour to pick up as many caches as we could find before we had to leave. In the end we found 17 caches and had another amazing geocaching experience. Thanks Okra and Desert Lady!