HUNTER CREEK HORROR

This was supposed to be an easy and boring day of geocaching. NOT!! Our intent was to grab a few caches around town, one of which would take us up Hunter Creek Canyon. My computer was acting up and we could no longer track the roads, but we decided to go for "Father and Sons 1st" (GC11GQG) anyway. Finding the right road turned out to be tricky. In fact, the right road was the right road but we chose the left. And so our adventure began!!

We traveled into the canyon about a mile, bumping over rocks, avoiding ruts, picking more wrong roads, and adding many more pin stripes to the jeep. We knew we were in trouble when there was a washout in the road and below it was a rusted out hulk of a car. This is when I bailed because I didn't want to be in the jeep as it rolled down the hill. Mike, as usual, said "No Problem". I grabbed the camera, crossed the washout, and prepared to document Mike's demise. As he started across the washout, his front tires started to slip down the hill, but he kept going. Then his rear tires started to slip and he gunned it. At this point, he had nothing to lose and I was screaming quite loudly. WHEW, HE MADE IT.

I jumped back in the jeep and off we went for about a quarter mile until we encountered a deep creek we had to cross. Again I bailed - after all, by now I was the official photograher and I figured at least one of us should survive to walk out and tell the tale. Once again Mike said "No Problem". This time he was right. GeoJeep took this challenge in stride.

We finally reached what looked like a more promising road only to run into the same creek. Over we went again. We continued along the road, watching it get narrower and narrower until it terminated at a log fall. I was sure we were turning around. But Mike, not to be deterred, was weaving his way through the trees to go around the log fall and continue on the "road", which promptly ended. SHUCKS (my word, not his).

Our only option was to turn around, weave through the trees again, cross the creek again and this time follow the "better looking road" down the canyon. Rats!! The better road just deteriorated to ruts and gullies. BIG RUTS AND GULLIES.

Again, I jumped out of the jeep, of course, to take pictures (wink, wink). GeoJeep drove down the gully with the sidewall of the tires on the sides of the gully. Several times I thought the jeep was going to fall in, but, once again, “No Problem”.

We knew we were saved when we saw two runners coming towards us. We stopped one and asked for the directions out. He pointed out the road and we headed for safety. Oh no, another creek crossing (the same creek for the third time). We thought we were home free until we saw the road on the other side of the creek. It was a steep rutted 40 degree incline. As we went up the incline, all we could see was the sky. Then our left rear wheel dropped into a rut and we were headed over the side of the mountain. I, of course, was screaming (Mike says that’s what I do best in those circumstances). Mike, however, was madly steering away from the abyss. Since you’re reading this story, you know we made it and we didn’t even break the jeep.

The trip back to civilization from here was uneventful – thank goodness. As we came back to where we started, Mike pointed to a road and said that was probably the one we should have taken. Did I want to try it. NO!!! We will be back, and this time we’ll take the “right” road.

High School Math Revisited

It was a cold and windy day in Reno and the last thing we expected was to be climbing a mountain at 5pm to find a cache. We met up with laughinggravy (Bea) and NevadaWolf (Teri) for lunch at Qdoba to give Teri a copy of the great photo album and story Linda (L3-Geo) had made of our trip to the Dixie Valley (see below). We visited over lunch and asked them why they had never found our cache "Free Fall". They decided to find it and we tagged along to watch them. After we arrived at the location, Teri said "if its a Geo-Jeeper cache it must be here." She was right, but it took a few minutes for them to spot it. After they signed the log, Bea mentioned that she had solved the new puzzle cache "High School Math" and did we want to tag along again for the possible "First to Find" (FTF). We were all set to go when she discovered that she had made a mistake - so off they went to search for caches in the Lockwood area and we headed home for a quiet afternoon.

It didn't take me long before I had printed the "High School Math" (GC128H4) cache page and we were dredging up 40 year old high school math to solve the puzzle. Between the two of us and the internet we thought we had solved it. Geochecker. com told us INCORRECT. We started over again and found a mistake. INCORRECT! In desperation, we called Teri to compare notes with Bea. She made a few suggestions. INCORRECT! Since we don't accept defeat, we emailed the owner and asked for help. There was one answer that all of us were unsure of and sure enough that was our problem. We were referred to a web site, we changed the coords, went to Geochecker.com and..... SUCCESS!!!

It was 5pm by now and we already had a glass of wine in hand. Since we had only taken our first sip, we abandoned our wine and headed out for the FTF. Not today! We climbed the mountain, found the cache, and discovered that someone else had already claimed FTF. We read her log and found out that she was a math teacher. No fair! Oh well, we were still proud of ourselves for remembering most of what we learned 40 years ago.

41 Down, 17 To Go

Mike and I are working on "Discovering & Logging California's 58 Counties" (GCQ2VC), a challenge to find at least one cache in every California county. We currently have completed 41 counties and have 17 more to go. So far, we have traveled up and down the Eastern Sierras and zig zagged our way through the Central Valley. We've completed all the Southern California counties except two and are planning a trip with Linda and Larry (L3-Geo) along the coast from Santa Barbara to Eureka. We're hoping to complete the challenge by the end of this summer. Wish us luck and stay tuned for some great pictures!!

The Road Less Taken

“Life is not an easy road for most;
It twists and turns with many forks in the road,
Although always, and inevitably, we are given a choice ...

Do we turn to the right ... or the left?
Do we take the high road ... or the low road?
Do we take the easy path ... or the difficult one?”
(An excerpt from a poem by Kit McCallum)

Linda and Larry were here for a weekend of geocaching and 4-wheeling. Saturday we had joined up with another cacher and cached from Fallon, NV to Dixie Valley. The highlight of the day was our adventure at Box Falls, but, that’s another story. Today we knew we couldn’t expect another adventure of that magnitude so we settled for venturing up into the Virginia Range and hopefully getting “First to Find” on a new cache and possibly picking up a couple more if we had time before Linda and Larry headed back to Roseville.

There are a limited number of access points to the Virginia Range and after consulting topographical maps Mike decided the best way was from the south through a rural community called Virginia Highlands. Mike had explored that area before the advent of geocaching and Mike and Cynthia had once taken a trip up into the Range at the beginning of their caching history. It’s always been a rocky, rough, slow ride up to the top. Once there, the roads aren’t as affected by erosion and would be considered…better.

It only took one wrong turn before we found the road that would take us to the cache. “Road” is not really accurate, more like a boulder strewn track that once was a road, but eventually, it got us to within 300-400 feet of the cache. Imagine bumping and lurching all the way up here just to find a little piece of paper tucked into an ornament hanging in a Christmas tree. Oh, did I forget to mention the gorgeous scenery and a multitude of beautiful and curious wild horses? And, yes, we were the “First to Find” so happy dances were performed by the less reserved members of the group.


After the happy dances and walk back to the Jeeps, it was decided that we had time to find one more cache at Washington, an old mining town 1.4 crow miles to the north. Piece of cake…except we decided to take the short cut around the east side of a mountain instead of the longer “main” road around the west side. The map showed it as a 4x4 road so how hard could it be? Finding the road wasn’t that difficult but very soon it became obvious that this was the road less traveled. In fact, it’s entirely possible that we were the first in about 150 years.


It’s difficult to describe the road; I hope the pictures do it justice. At the point that I stopped and walked back to asked Linda and Larry if they really wanted to do this, the road was slightly more than an imagination. The pattern of the rocks and flora suggested that wheels had been by here sometime in the distant past, but that was about it. To my surprise, Linda and Larry were eager to try it, so we continued. Shortly, a berm of boulders appeared on both sides of the road and, as the slope of the hillside increased, the berm on the downhill side increased in height. You could almost imagine Chinese laborers moving boulders from the uphill side to the downhill side resulting in a fairly level track. If they used dirt/gravel to fill in the cracks around the boulders, it wasn’t apparent now. Now it was just lots of large rocks roughly outlining a very narrow way north.


We continued slowly and carefully. In many places the bushes and trees had seriously overgrown the trail and caused serious scratches to the paint and plastic windows, but we kept going. Several times we thought the road ended but upon close investigation we thought we could see the road, so we kept going. A small indistinct gully created by the mating of two hills marked the end…or was it the end. On the side of the next hill the pattern of rocks and plants again suggested there once was a road here. As scary as it might seem, it turned out that this was the best part of the road.


After the road went around the corner of the hill it deteriorated into little more than a gully with rock berms on both sides. Both machine and driver were coping with the slow rugged terrain until all that was left of the road were two rock berms and a very deep trench in the middle. Mike walked the “road” and discovered that the washout didn’t extend very far and if the Jeeps backed up a bit and drove over the downhill berm and across country they could bypass the washout and re-entered the road several hundred yards ahead. The plan worked!!


Once back on track, we slowly made our way around the mountain, weaving around the overgrown trees and bushes. Twice we had to get out and move 18-20 inch size boulders out of the way. Then, once more, the road disappeared and it was impossible to go any further. Mike walked the road again and discovered that the washout was much longer than the previous one. He placed Linda at the location where the Jeeps would re-enter the road and put Cynthia at a strategic spot along the work-around route. Slowly, carefully, Mike and Larry drove the Jeeps across county over rock and around trees and bushes until both Jeeps were, once again, back on the road.


During all this, with all the planning and maneuvering, while Linda and Cynthia were standing at their stations waiting to direct traffic, a remarkable thing happened. Everyone was having fun, even the women, who, until geocaching, wouldn’t have been caught dead off pavement. They were actually having fun out in the middle of nowhere on the top of a mountain range directing Jeeps around rocks and trees. Unbelievable!! One wonders how fast the good humor would fly out the window if we had to back up all the way to the beginning.

As luck would have it, once we were back on the road, the conditions dramatically improved and within a short while we could see the “main” road.
Despite all the fun people had, everyone was relieved to be back on a real dirt road, in fact if truth be told, Mike and Cynthia got out of GeoJeep and he kissed the ground while she did the happy dance. A short distance down this road was Washington and the second cache of the day. The way out to civilization was easy and boring compared to what we just experienced.

We are all a little better now for taking the road less traveled.

Sagebrush and Ammo Cans

We heard that NevadaWolf (Teri Ligon) and a group of cachers had ventured out to Dixie Valley and had picked up twenty some caches along the way. I’ve always wanted to go to Dixie Valley so we invited L3-Geo (Linda and Larry) to come along and asked NevadaWolf if she would be our guide. Little did she know…that she would have the time of her life.

If you knew where Dixie Valley, NV was you would wonder why anyone would want to go there. On some old maps there is actually a town called “Dixie Valley” located in the middle of a long, wide valley with the Stillwater Range on the west and the Clan Alpine Mountains on the east. If you were a crow, you would have to fly 100 miles east from Reno to find it, but geocachers aren’t crows and besides, there were other caches along the way that deserved our attention. It was a very long day.

Our adventure began at 6:30 AM. BUT FIRST!! Because we were up so early we had to grab a cache in Reno that had been bothering us for a while. It’s located on a very busy intersection and involves mucking around in the landscaping so this seemed to be the perfect time of day because traffic would be light. We knew no one would notice four people milling about dressed in strange clothes, funny hats, and lanyards dangling a multitude of junk from their necks. Thanks to a hint we were able to find it and not get arrested.


It took about an hour to drive to Fallon where we met NevadaWolf at the local Safeway and, more importantly, the Starbucks kiosk inside. Now fortified, and NevadaWolf in GeoJeep’s nav chair, the serious caching began. On the way to Dixie Valley we found a lot of ammo cans in sagebrush, but, more importantly, we were treated to the best that the Nevada desert offers. Spectacular views of Sand Mountain, vast salt flats, magnificent geologic panoramas AND we even drove on Mars. How cool is that!!

Peek-a-Boo Rock was a must for us because it was a possible FTF. That’s “First To Find” in geocaching jargon. Being the first to find a new cache is a real biggy for cachers so we had to go for it. Finding the rock was no problem but finding a way up to the rock that didn’t involve a steep hike wasn’t so easy (we’re old, we try to avoid nasty strokes or heart attacks). After some searching we found a way to drive up to the same elevation and then it was just a matter of hiking over to the rock. I suppose no one was particularly surprised that we were the FTF considering one had to travel to the middle of nowhere and then climb a mountain to find it. But we were excited…because we’re geocachers!
And then, on the way back to the Jeeps, we were reminded what geocaching is really about. Up on a ledge of a vertical rock face were two huge eagle’s nests. Somehow that eagle had managed to place a hundred pounds of intricately woven sticks on the face of the cliff. Not once, but twice.

Lunch was on top of a hill (near another cache, of course) with an immense 180-degree view of where we had been. While we were eating, off in the distance, two golf carts came into view. Considering that the nearest green is thirty miles away that must have been one hell of a slice. Gently, with a twinkle in her eye, NevadaWolf informed us those golf carts are the latest in ATV’s. Oh…

The road to Dixie Valley cuts north from Highway 50 and goes…forever. To the northeast of this intersection is Chalk Mountain. It’s an ovoid shaped mountain jutting 1000 feet out of the valley floor and possesses a unique geologic character unlike anything around it. Its surface is pockmarked with gold, silver, lead and molybdenum mines and prospects. NevadaWolf showed us the way to and from Chalk Mountain and all the caches along the way. At one point, as we were headed back toward pavement, the map showed that we were driving on what was once an aqueduct which ran from a well near Highway 50 along the west side of Chalk Mountain roughly paralleling the Dixie Valley road. It ended…somewhere, in the middle of nothing. Sometime in the past it was very important for someone to bring water to this place but time had washed away all trace of what was important.

We headed north on pavement into Dixie Valley. Once the home of a few hardy ranchers, Dixie Valley is now the playground of pilots from the Fallon Naval Air Station. Scattered throughout the valley are tanks (not water, military) and it’s the job of the pilots to identify them as they fly over. Our ultimate goal today was to find a cache in a place called Little Box Canyon which is located on the west side of the valley in the Stillwater Range. It’s a slot canyon etched into the rock by water over the eons. The timeless action of the water has created a series of steps or terraces each one ranging from 10 to 15 feet high. The cache was on the third step. It was our job to find the way.

Larry, being the only member of the group with any sense, stayed behind ready to call 911. A moot point considering there was no cell coverage this far from civilization, but it was a comfort, nonetheless. Linda, Teri and Mike were able to climb up the first step while Cynthia climbed the hillside to see if there was another way into the cache - no luck. Linda took one look at the second step and shrewdly decided to go no further. The second level presented a challenge for Teri and Mike. After discussing the possibilities, they decided the only way was to climb up to a small ledge and follow it up to where they could slide down onto the second level. The problem was that the water had “sanded” the rock smooth and even the best climbing boots slipped on the rock surface. Teri went first without too much problem but Mike got the soles of his boots wet and had to scuff them in some dry sand before he could get traction. Eventually, carefully, after Teri helped the old man slide down the rock face, Mike met up with Teri on the second step.

The only thing separating them from the cache was a smooth, slick 10-foot wall of rock. Beyond that it was an easy walk to the cache. So close, but…


There was an old wet piece of lumber leaning up against the rock but it was much too short to be of any good. But still, it was there, indicating that others thought it was important. Hummm….if, somehow, you could put your right foot on the top edge of the 2X4 you might be able to grab a chunk of rock with your right hand and pull yourself up high enough to put your left foot onto a very small “ledge”. From there the right foot could go into a depression near the top and then it was just a matter of levitating to the top. Works for me! Teri made it with an indiscrete boost from Mike but Mike didn’t have a booster. Bummer! Teri found the cache and was going to throw it down for the signatures when she spotted a longer, dryer 2x4 on the third level. She threw the wood (not the cache) down to Mike and with the additional length of reach and Teri’s arm, Mike was barely able to climb up and sign the log (see picture at top).

The way down is seldom the way up. I can’t really explain that pearl of wisdom but it’s almost always true, except for step three. There was absolutely no other way but the way we went up but the hand and footholds were out of sight. So Teri went first and Mike lowered her down to the first foothold, after that, it was an easy controlled slide down to level two. Teri then guided Mike’s feet to the footholds and finally to the lumber.

On the second level it was impossible to reach the ledge they slid down from on the way up. Teri took the most direct route down the face of the waterfall and, just before she fell into the small but deep pool at the bottom (and broke an ankle), she launched herself off the rock wall like a gazelle and gently landed safely and dry. Because of age and infirmities, Mike doesn't do gazelle so he had to come up with a different plan. Slot canyons are inherently narrow, so he was able to put his feet on one wall and his butt on the other wall and slowly skooched down to the bottom safety. The descent down the first step was anti-climatic for Mike but Teri needed an additional surge of adrenalin so she slid 15 feet down the waterfall. She only admitted to one broken fingernail and a cut on her hand, but we all knew there was more she wouldn’t admit to.


After that adventure, we did grab a couple more caches before leaving Dixie valley and heading to Middlegate Station for dinner, but nothing that day was more memorable than “Box Falls”. Thanks for the cache and thanks, Teri, for one of those days you will always remember.

3000 Caches Later!!

In March of 2004, Linda and Larry took us out to show us what geocaching was all about. We made our first find at this cemetery. By May of 2004, we were official geocachers and the fun began. 2999 caches later it seemed only appropriate to return to the "scene of the crime" so today we returned to find our 3000th cache. Yes, it was a different cache!

Over the last two and a half years we have toured the state of Nevada, climbed just about every mountain in the Reno area (many times), visited places we didn't even know existed, and made so many friends. It has indeed been a journey we have enjoyed all the way. Now on to more new and exciting places and more people to meet.

The Road to Elko and Home in 35 Hours

Linda and Larry were on their way to Utah to visit Larry's mother and we decided to tag along as far as Elko. We were on a caching quest to get a cache in every Nevada county.

We started out at 6:30am Friday morning and managed to turn a 5 hour trip to Elko into an 11 hour + trip. We arrived in Elko at a little before 6pm after picking up caches in 6 different counties. Counting the counties we already had we have completed 11 and have 6 to go. Those six are in southern Nevada so it will be fall before we even attempt them. The heat in southern Nevada at this time of year is awful.

Our trek began with Mike climbing a tree. He's done a lot of that since we started caching!! We also visited the infamous windmill that Mike and Larry have been taking pictures of for years. We decided that we needed some people in a windmill picture so we each posed under it.

After arriving in Elko, we had dinner at a Basque restraurant and had a delicious meal. Then it was home to bed for 4 very tired cachers.

The next morning we cached around the Elko area, had lunch, and then each headed our separate ways. Linda and Larry to Utah and Mike and I home. We arrived here about 5:30pm - 35 hours after we started.

Alpine Caching

Last week Mike and I spent two days geocaching and exploring in the Monitor Pass and Lake Tahoe areas. The first day we climbed up a dirt road off of Highway 395S that took us straight up the side of a mountain into alpine meadows and aspen groves. We had a beautiful view of Topaz Lake and the valleys to the east. We traveled down the other side to the Monitor Pass area and continued on to Markleeville and Grover Hot Springs. The second day we went up Spooner Summit to Genoa Peak Road that took us on a forest service road along a ridge above Lake Tahoe. When we reached Kingsbury Road we went on around Tahoe which we discovered is a 72 mile trip.

2006 GBES Rally

The 2006 GBES Rally is over and we survived! Team R & R Jeepsters (Mike, Cynthia, Linda, Larry) started the weekend Friday night as we followed a route and found caches in the dark. Mike was the driver and did a great job. Linda and Larry found caches and I coordinated all the GPS units. Saturday morning we were back for the grueling day rally. Again we followed a specified route and found caches hidden in the desert. This time I got to get out of the jeep and run for caches too. Some parts were fun, but some were VERY challenging. After 8 hours of climbing mountains, navigating rock filled roads, traveling down creekbeds and fording streams, ALL of us were very glad to hit pavement. This was our second year as a team. Last year we placed 5th. This year we decided to be in the non-competitive class so we could just enjoy the scenery and ride. One thing we discovered is that no matter what we are competitive. For next year the big question is “will we be back”. Time will tell. The picture shows our routes. The yellow line is the night course, the red line is the day course.

Early Morning Adventure!

Mike and I were up before the sun this morning so we could place some caches in area parks. As we were working on the first cache, we could watch the sunrising from the east and the moon setting in the west. From there we moved on to another park to plant my Galena Kids Cache. I've been eating lots of kids meals while on the geocaching hunts so I could fill an ammo can with "treasures" for the younger set. Our grandkids love to exchange treasures and they are arriving next week so I wanted to have a cache they could find. Next we moved on to a very big tree, where we placed the cache up very high. Mike's plan A didn't work, so up the tree he climbed. Plan B became please don't fall out of the tree. We were successful at all three locations and headed home for breakfast and a shower.