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!

California 89!!

No, not the Highway, but the number of caches we found this weekend in California. I know some cachers get that many in a day, but we were happy to score that many over three days. Since we haven’t cached too much for the last several weeks, we packed up the geocaching “stuff” and headed out to California for a weekend of fun caching with L3-Geo (minus Larry who’s in Utah).

Friday we cached our way to and around the Roseville area. We stopped long enough to meet Linda for lunch and then were off again for more caches while she was off again for more shopping. We finally met up again at the end of the day to have a glass of wine and exchange stories. I think she had more fun than we did!! Is it possible that she found a substitute for caching! Say it isn’t so!!!

Saturday we hooked up with Ann (imawahl) and Don (dstoye), and of course Linda to canvas the Oroville area. We headed out early and when we found our first cache with no problems, we knew we were going to have a great day. Ten pairs of eyes and a lot of combined years of experience made us almost unstopable. We did have two we didn’t find, but we think they were missing. By the time we reached home we had found 44 and had a heck of a good time doing it. The highlight of the day was lunch in a park along the Thermalito South Forebay. The local search and rescue team was practicing their water saving techniques, complete with a helicopter. As we watched, the helicopter would take off with one man standing outside on each side of the chopper. It would fly out over the water to a “victim” that was dropped off from a small boat. One of the men on the side of the helicopter would jump into the water for the rescue and the other lowered a harness that went around the victim. The chopper then pulled the two men to shore. Not content to be quiet bystanders, we questioned several of the rescuers and they were more than willing to answer all our questions.

Early today (Sunday), we were off to Lodi, a cache rich area south of Sacramento. We’ve been here many times, but the supply of caches never seems to diminish. We traveled far and wide through fields of grapevines, and through shopping centers. We also did a lot of walking. So while we didn’t find as many today, we felt we had worked a lot harder.

Tomorrow, Linda and I are going shopping while Mike rests. In the afternoon, we’ll head home to Reno. Another great weekend of fun.

Also check out L3-Geo's Blog.

Lakes Basin Caching

For those of you who noticed and wondered, this entry is almost a month late due mostly to Mike’s computer crashing in the middle of writing this story.

Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s not. Today the caching god made us really work for our booty. When planning a day of caching I look for a clump of caches in an interesting location, that way we can visit a new or favorite area and be efficient as well. I don’t care what you’ve heard, it is about the numbers, or more precisely, the number of adventures you have along the caching trail. But today we had to hike or rock crawl to the adventures. It was about as opposite as you can get from urban caching...and we had a ball.

The Lakes Basin area, between Graeagle to the north and Hwy 49 to the south, is a favorite playground for everyone. I know that because everyone was there today. And for good reason. The weather was perfect (a little too hot for Cynthia) and the scenery was spectacular. We started caching around the intersection of Hwy 49 and Gold Lake Hwy, continued along Hwy 49 to Sierra City and then turned around and went up and visited Sardine, Gold and Lily lakes and hiked to two waterfalls. It took us all day to find 7 caches, each one with it’s own story worthy of telling but only two stories will be told today.

Chipps Mine (GC140W2) is at the end of a mile long jeep trail that starts off with a series of climbs up a road that lost all of it’s dirt to erosion years ago. Once we were on more level terrain the surface of the trail greatly improved but the vegetation had overgrown the trail so much we were constantly scraping and brushing the sides and top of the Jeep. But it really wasn’t that bad (actually a great ride) until we encountered a small tree that had leaned over the road.

We were only 200 feet from the cache but I couldn’t let a scrawny tree stop GeoJeep from delivering us to the cache. There was more clearance on the left side so I edged the jeep as far to the left as the jungle would allow and squeezed under the tree. Aside from a quiet scraping noise the jeep passed underneath the tree without incident until...RATS!! The high-lift jack was just an inch or two higher than the top of the jeep and it, and therefore, the rest of the jeep wasn’t going any further. The next addition to the geobag is going to be a chainsaw!

So, we backed up, parked and walked up the road. Where the road turned sharply to the right the needle was screaming to go straight into a thick, dense, dark and scary place. So, of course, being the experienced cacher, I listened to the arrow instead of the little voice in my head. I waved goodbye to GeoJeepette and disappeared into the scary place. Just ten feet inside the dense forest GeoJeepette’s voice was barely discernible and the arrow was now laughing at me as it spun around in lazy circles. I put the useless annoying arrow away, climbed up onto a small hummock and looked around and began listening to the other voice. Above me on another larger and steeper hummock was an old rusted pipe, so chances are the mine must be farther up the hill and that also means that...YES! these hummocks are tailings! The forest had so completely reclaimed the hillside that it was hard to imagine that this was once a barren pile of discarded rock. The youngest of the trees was at least 3-4 inches in diameter and the litter on the tailings was at least that deep. So how old is this mine anyway?

The only way up to the pipe was to walk up a fallen log using the branches of the surrounding trees as support. Once at the top of this level there was a tiny stream of water running down hill. Hummm...sometimes water collects in old mines and trickles out, so if I follow the water... Eureka! After all that, finding the cache was a welcomed cinch. After returning the cache to its hiding place, I decided that I wasn’t going back the way I came. It was an easy decision. I looked around and it occurred to me that there had to have been a way to get people and supplies from the road to the mine and that road/path had to be relatively level. To my left was a break in the trees where the slope of the hillside leveled out so I went in that direction hoping I would find the road. Then it would be an easy walk down to where GeoJeepette was waiting. After 20 or 30 feet, the path grew into what was undoubtedly a road at one time and then, around a turn I was treated to the sight of the road through the trees. Once on the road I didn’t have to go far before I ran into GeoJeepette.

Love Falls (GC1349R) is the second story and you’ll be glad to know it’s much shorter. This cache is located on the Pacific Crest Trail just off of Hwy 49 a few miles northeast of Sierra City. It’s an easy short walk down the trail to the falls. Apparently it’s a popular resting/fishing/swimming spot for hikers because there were several enjoying the scenery and water. We walked across the bridge to the other side and quickly found the cache. I guess the hikers expected us to continue on down the trail and didn’t consider we would be coming back so soon because one of them had striped naked and was just standing on the rocks. She didn’t seem concerned that she wasn’t alone and was the object of much interest. RATS! I was hoping to get some great shots of the falls and now I can’t because no one would believe an old guy in a scary hat would be more interested in the waterfall. What would the other people think if I started snapping pictures? Would they think I was a serious landscape photographer or would they think I was a perv. More importantly, would GeoJeepette believe I was a serious landscape photographer?

Nope.

Another Easy Day ????

Today was supposed to be an easy day of caching before arriving at Northstar for an event. We met Linda and Larry (L3-Geo) at the Donner Memorial Park at 7am and headed out for a “First to Find” at the west end of Donner Lake. Our GPSrs were all over the place in the tree cover, so we finally just started searching in logical places and Larry finally came up with the cache. Sure enough we were first. Great beginning to a great day. Oh, by the way, while we were searching, we noticed we were being watched. We never quite know what to do in those situations so we just grinned and waved. Turned out it was a friend of the owner of the cache.

From there we headed out for a cache that we had tried to find when we were newbies and failed. Little did we know this was only the beginning of a day full of hikes. This hike was a quarter of mile up hill. We huffed and puffed our way there and this time we found it after a short search. On to the next - which in this case was a mile and a half walk one way down the Legacy Trail in Truckee. It was a fairly easy trail but we were in the hot sun the whole way. We managed to find two caches during this hike.

By now it was time to head to the event so we picked up a quick cache near the gliderport and headed into Northstar. It was harder to find the event than any of the caches so far. But we prevailed finally and had a great few hours visiting and sharing stories with our fellow geocachers.

Finally it was time to pack up and leave and find just a few more caches before we went our separate ways. That afternoon, four out of the five caches we found involved uphill hikes. For the young guys they might be easy hikes, but for us old codgers, they wear us out quickly.

The last two caches were in Squaw Valley. The first cache required us to tour the “Squaw Valley Village” looking for clues and information. The problem was there was a “Wine Tasting and Music” event going on and we looked a little out of place in our long pants, heavy boots, and dorky hats. We ignored the strange and quizzical stares. Speaking of quizzical stares, the local resident at the final stage of the cache was really curious.

The second cache was one we tried a while back. This time we knew the coords were off so this time we used our head instead of our arrow and found the cache quickly.

By the end of the day, we were exhausted and popping Advil so we could continue to move. I think we’ll all be recovering for several days.

Friday In Fallon

We’ve been watching the increase in caches in the Fallon area and decided that today was the day for a visit. Before leaving, Cynthia discovered that a day old cache in Sparks hadn’t been found yet so, of course, we made a quick detour on our way out of town. The plan was to go to grab a couple of quick caches in Fernley and then travel south to Silver Springs and pick up a handful of caches around Lahontan Lake before heading into the Fallon area.

That was the plan. After finding the first cache we deliberated about whether we should go for the next one and finally decided, “What the hay”, it wasn’t that far. Right! Why is it that after all the places we’ve been to and all the caches we’ve found we still forget we’re not crows. To be fair the cache was quick and easy to find; but not so quick and easy to get to. The Fernley/Fallon area has two geologic conditions, ancient lake bottom which is now a huge sand pit and steep, rocky hills. If it wasn’t for the very sparse desert vegetation you would think you were on the moon. So, anyway, we knew the cache was in hills, we just had to find a way in. On the second try we found a likely road and slogged through the sand uphill to the rocks. Near the top the road took a steep hairpin to the left forcing me to loose momentum in the deep sand. It didn’t take long before we found ourselves throwing lots of sand around but going nowhere. No biggie, we could just backup downhill, turn around and try to find another road...but then Cynthia politely commented that I wasn’t in low range. Frankly, I didn’t think it would help much now that we were buried but, again, “What the hay”. Damned if that Jeep didn’t jump out of the ruts and shortly we traded the smooth tire sucking sand for kidney bruising rocks.

The rest of the ride to the cache was the longest mile on record but thankfully, uneventful. But there was no way we were going back the way we came! On the way up I spotted a sand slide that went straight down the hill to a ravine and then connected with a pole line road which eventually led to pavement. And that’s what we did. After bumping back down from the cache for a short distance I turned the Jeep off the side of the hill and DOWN. It was surprisingly easy and we were in complete control aside from the occasional sashay of the rear-end. Now that we had spent a couple of hours on two “quick” caches we headed down Alternate 95 to Silver Springs and Lahontan Lake.

Lahontan Lake is not to be confused with Lake Lahontan that existed 12,700 years ago and covered over 8500 square miles of Nevada, Oregon and California. In fact it’s not even a real lake, just a medium size reservoir built around 1907 as part of the Newlands Project. If someone today suggested that the government should spend a boat load of money to divert one river and dam another so that the bleakest, driest, sandiest desert could be irrigated they would be run out of Washington. But a hundred years ago it seemed to make sense. Today the area is a contrast of sand and alkali flats next to verdant fields and diary farms. The complex web of irrigation ditches provides an abundance of hiding places. Fortunately, all the finds were easy and quick.

Toward the end of the day we turned our attention to the caches west and north of Fallon including the area around Soda Lake. Before the Newlands Project imported water to this region, Soda Lake was just a volcanic crater with a dry bed of soda rich sediment. Over the years the water from the nearby canals seeped into the crater and by 1984 the water was over 200 feet deep, long burying an old soda factory underwater. We picked up a cache near the rim of Soda Lake and then headed west on sand roads (no dirt here!) to the last two caches of the day. The first was out in the middle of nowhere at the corner where two power lines met. The next one was 2 miles further down a little sand road leading farther out into nowhere. It was well past cocktail hour so it really wasn’t hard to put this on our “Next time we’re in Fallon” list. We turned GeoJeep south along a power line “road” and let him loose. It didn’t matter how deep the sand was or how many dunes we had to traverse, GeoJeep smelled home and nothing stopped him.

Back in Reno we grabbed a bite at Baja Fresh and then headed home for a shower and a glass or two (more?) of wine. GeoJeep will be back!

The Early Bird Doesn't Necessarily Get All the Worms!!

Over the past few weeks we have been tied to home while our house was torn apart for a water leak. We had workmen here from early in the morning until 3:30pm in the afternoon. All the new caches that popped up tormented us throughout the day until we could finally run out after the workmen left. Then we had company this weekend which also kept us tied to home although our daughter does like to sleep late so we would sneak out (does that sound like an addiction?) very early and return a few hours later just as she was waking up.

This morning the painter was finally done about 10:30am and we began to plan our day of caching. Just about that time five new caches popped up on our geo-notify. In the time it took us to get organized and eat lunch, another new one sounded on our email. We finally were ready to go and at the first cache we discovered we were too late. Another cacher had beaten us to the “First to Find” as he did on every one of the caches except one. This was the one that posted about ten minutes later than the others. We commented on the fact that the “early bird” had rushed out for the “worms” before the last one showed up - hence the title of this blog.

Out of the seven we did today, we were second to find on six and first to find on one. BUT now the construction work is done so watch out!! Well, Mike doesn’t like to get up early usually so we will probably continue to be second or third or who knows, but at least we have a lot of fun!!

Look Out Dixie!!

Sometime last week, while I was vicariously flying in the Google Earth plane, I spotted a strange white splotch on a mountain north and slightly west of Frenchman’s Lake. Upon closer inspection I discovered a road traveled all the way to the top of this mountain. On the topographical map the mountain was identified as Dixie Mountain and there was a fire lookout on top of the 8300 foot mountain. That explains the road and the white splotch was probably the roof of the building. What a cool place for another mountain top cache!

Sunday we packed a lunch and the ammo can cache into the Jeep and took off for Frenchman’s Lake and Dixie Mountain. The plan was to pick up the four caches around the lake and then go up to Dixie Mountain, find a good spot for the cache and see if the lookout was operational. If there was a ranger/rangerette at the lookout we would explain about geocaching and get permission to hide the ammo can somewhere near the top. After that we would then cache our way over to the Gold, Silver, Salmon and Sardine Lakes area.

It was a good plan…if we had had more time. All four caches at the lake required a short walk or hike and the gorgeous scenery demanded our time and the usual photos were taken. Once we were done at the Lake we drove north for a short distance and turned west onto the road to Dixie Mountain. The sign told us it was 8 miles to the lookout and our GPSr’s said 4 miles. We knew then it was going to be a very curvy ride.

Actually, we were surprised at how good the road really was. There were a few rough spots and the usual rock or two that needed to be avoided, but any SUV could make the trip easily. The last hairpin turn led to a small parking area and, from there, a narrow trail took us to the lookout. There were no vehicles but we were pretty sure the lookout was still in use because there was a propane tank near the parking area. Once the lookout came into view from the trail it was obvious it had seen better days. The black lab on the catwalk answered the question about anybody being home. I took the lead and handed the ammo can to Cynthia. I wasn’t sure how black labs react to scary old men carrying ammo cans. Come to think of it, what would the ranger think? Oh well, too late now, we’re either about to be a Scooby Snack or not.

Simultaneously, as the dog charged down the stairs barking, a little old lady about our age appeared above us on the catwalk. She didn’t have a weapon in her hands and the dog was just happy to see us so I knew we would survive. She invited us up and once there I asked if it was OK for us to visit and she said, “Yes”. I asked if she gets many visitors and she answered, “No”. Something in the tone of her voice prompted me to ask, “Do you like to have visitors?” Without hesitation she replied, “Not really”. Apparently the dog was the only one happy to see us.

She did warm up to us a bit after we explained we were geocachers (was that an eye roll?) and that we wanted to hide a cache on the mountain for other geocachers to find. She blurted, “You mean more people will be coming!” The dog got excited but I could tell she wasn’t. So GeoJeepette quickly stepped in and reassured her that only…maybe 6 or 8 people a year would visit. That seemed to settle the rangerette down a bit but she did make it clear that she only entertains guests (not her words) between 9:30 AM and 6 PM, otherwise, she’s in her jammys. I quickly changed the subject to the Antelope Fire that could be easily seen to the north.

The rangerette told us that the Antelope fire was started by lightning and that prompted me to ask what she does on top of a mountain when there’s lightning striking all around her. She told us that the structure is grounded but, for good measure, she stands on her stool. Yes, her stool, but it’s no ordinary stool. Her stool has old antique glass insulators on the feet, effectively protecting the stander from any stray electricity. Hopefully, electrical storms don’t last too long. After taking some pictures of the magnificent view, we quickly said our goodbyes and left. For a moment I sensed the dog wanted to come with us. You couldn’t really blame her; she didn’t have a special stool.

Anyway, we found a great place to hide the cache (we named it “Look Out Dixie"), ate lunch and then headed down the mountain. We picked up a cache in Portola before deciding that time was running out and the precious metal and fish lakes would have to wait for another day.

Sierra Trek

Recently, a cacher added a bunch of caches to his series “Sierra Trek” which is designed to show you a portion of the Sierras and teach you about its history. So, naturally, we were hooked. About half of the caches are along the Henness Pass Road and the others are at Meadow Lake.

Construction on the Henness Pass road began in 1852 and was originally a wagon toll road from Nevada to the goldfields of California. Later, when mining shifted from California to the Comstock the established towns and stagecoach stops made the Henness Pass Road a primary route for miners and supplies. Over time the road was extended and improved and eventually it became a major route between Virginia City and Marysville. At its peak the traffic along the road was so busy that in order to regulate traffic, freight wagons ran during the day and stages ran at night. Once the Central Pacific was completed in 1868 there was no need for the road and it was essentially abandoned. Today Henness Pass Road is one of the last trans-Sierra back roads that can still be driven but there are portions that haven’t been maintained in a hundred years and demand a high-clearance 4X4 vehicle.

Fortunately the Sierra Trek caches are on a section of the Henness Pass Road that is well traveled and maintained. Both of these descriptions are, of course, relative. The caches were easy to find except for the first one. It would have been easy but when we got there our two identical GPSr’s had the cache in totally different location. They were as much as 300 feet off. I went one way and Cynthia went other ways and where they took us made no sense. All the usual tricks and dances didn’t solve the problem so I took out the fresh batteries I had put in that morning and replaced them with more fresh batteries. Problem solved. Now both GPSr’s read the same and both led us right to it. What’s that all about?

While we were scratching our heads over this mystery two guys in a pickup slowly passed us and continued down the road obviously not in a hurry and thus, obviously, not geocachers. We didn’t give them a second thought until we passed them…and they passed us at the next cache…and then we passed them…and they passed us at the third cache. Here at the third cache, right where we needed to be, a man was just setting up his equipment for a long day of target practice. We weren’t coming back here again so we just walked up and told him what we were doing and asked if he would mind not shooting while we were in the line of fire. We were in and out in record time.

At the intersection of Henness Pass road and Hwy 89 was another cache and here we had to decide to continue on the Henness Pass Road or take the Jackson Meadows road, a modern paved roadway. The decision was made for us when we found ourselves on pavement while looking for the dirt. We chose the pavement. Nine or ten miles later we came to the road to Meadow Lake and were very glad we chose pavement. Unfortunately, the road to Meadow Lake isn’t paved but it wasn’t bad for the first half of the 8 miles to the lake. The last half was more typical of a sierra back road but hardly bad enough to prevent trailers and small RV’s from camping at the lake.

Meadow Lake is the site of Summit City, a once booming mining town in the 1860’s. In its heyday there were over 150 buildings and one summer over 3000 people were there. It’s all gone now. The caches took us on a tour of the old town site and cemetery and even up on a very primitive road to the mines. The view was spectacular but unfortunately the camera was back in Reno so there are no pictures. By the time we finished exploring and caching and eating lunch it was time to head back home. Meadow Lake is definitely a must see for any cacher, photographer, camper or 4X4 enthusiast.

After we got back to Reno we grabbed a shower and headed out to the Reno Flash Mob event at Idlewild Park. We signed the log and chatted with friends and the whole thing was over in seven minutes.