Diamonds, Events, and Caches

Caching run

There has been a bit of news this week, and a bit of fun.

I was busy most of the week.  Scouts, church activities, and family took up most of my free evenings that I had.  Things were going pretty well, even though they were very hectic.

Then Thursday night my family was off playing when I got off work.

Jacob and I decided to head out.  With no particular place in mind, and with no specific goal.  We headed up spanish fork canyon.  Jacob wanted to look for a benchmark that someone had supposedly found and yet no one else could. 

We were digging through the grass looking for a benchmark that was on the front steps of an old building that was torn down.  (Yes we pretty much guessed it was not there and the person logged it anyway, but we wanted to check.)

We dug through the bushes when we heard a voice call out.  Dorkteam6 was on his way back from central Utah and just happened to see Jacobs jeep on the side of the road. 

Well we decided to head up Diamond Fork Canyon. Jacob had a cache that he wanted to place.  We did get to that location and decided to follow the road up.    So up we went.  Higher and higher up the hill.  I was impressed with how high it actually went.  I have not been on  many roads that gain that much altitude that fast.

Well all the way up we knew we were going to hide a cache or two.  So much of the discussion was where, and what to name them.

Dorkteam6 at his finest. He does look better with a mask.We decided to place thee. I wanted to have a clue in each one that leads to a final, but they wanted to part of it.  That was just as well we did not have many containers of size.  And hiding a micro in the woods seems counterproductive.

We ended up with a name.  Damn Barking Spiders.  It was tricky and there was a lot of discussion on route.  But that was the only thing that we could agree on.  And only because we were hearing them in our travels.  So it seemed to fit .

Events

Fridat was the events.  I got off a little early and headed over the the hot dog event.  There were a few that were still there hanging around and talking.  I talked for a while before heading off home to gather things for the campout.  I had decided not to campout but I had decided to cook while I was there.

The group on the hike.. at least the start.

I grabbed everything too make a few cobblers (Peach and a Raspberry).  Everyone asks for peach, but after I make the raspberry no one finishes the peach (it happened again here).  We had a pretty good crowd that wandered in and out of the event most of the evening.  From the new cacher and his mom (he was 9 if i remember right) to the older of us that still make it out.

The Route up.I stayed for quite a while.  A number of people had scheduled campsites and were staying over.  Slowly they filtered off as we discussed cacheing and the different people, caches, and things that everyone had seen or done.

They made fun of me. I am getting used to it.  More than I used to. Slowly developing a thicker skin about it all.  I had another reviewer state that he though some gave up because they could not develop a thick skin and toss aside all the garbage that is tossed at them, or not able to filter out the attacks from the honest critique. Hopefully I am gbetting better.

The next morning was the hike to Maple Mountain.  I knew that I was not going to make it all the way.  It was a given already.  I knew time wise that I was not going to get that far before I had to be home.

In order to claim the hike you had to go 1/4 mile up the trail and get to the trailhead.  Well we had a group of about 12 that made it to the trailhead.  We talked for a bit and six of us started the hike up the mountain. LV2WV, the new cacher (9 years old) and his mother, and DrJay and I. 

We worked our way up the mountain, going slow helping everyone find caches that needed them, and I placed one in a stretch that seemed very empty.  Eventually Mr lv2wv stopped.  They had been told it was a easy hike, (it was not).  Though it was not very long it is rocky, uneven and really steep in a number of spots.An our new cacher and his mom stopped as well.

So then there were three.

Dr Jay in all his glory.We continued up the trail working our way through the heavy undergrowth.  It gets to about four feet high and fills the trail. so we had to wade, and snake our way through.

We grabbed a few caches and a challenge cache and Mrs. LV2WV headed back down to get her husband, and head down the mountain.

DrJay and I continued on. Braving the heavy growth, flies, steep hills, rocks, stinging nettle, and any other number of hardships until we found his cache half way to the peak.

At that point we turned and headed back down the mountain.  I would have gone up a little higher, but another steep spot chased me back.

On the way down we met goblincamper2004.  We had not realized that he was heading up as well, and he was working up to a few of the caches that were on the way up.  We pointed out that the next 1-2 were not very tricky to get to and he continued up while we headed down.

I have been up here a few times, and ruined a pair of boots, and a pair of sneakers.  Well add another pair of sneakers to this trail.  The holes finally got big enough, and a stitching blew that I had to go get another pair.

This has always been a fun hike, wether I had scouts, JedimasterAshlie, or DrJay and others this year. 

Thanks everyone for helping me enjoy myself.  I felt really good upon getting home.  I did go to bed early, and now my legs are stiff, but I still feel good and had a good time.

The Weekend

This last week I headed south to my families stomping grounds, Fishlake.  My grandparents had a cabin here long ago, and it was time for our annual family reunion. 

Not much happened of interest.  I wanted to take a hike around the lake but did not have the chance.  I did look for a few caches. I had pretty mixed luck that day about 50-50  but I did get the final info for a Earthcache I was working on.  I have a few more but I have to get permission from the Forest Service.  I just need to stop by the office in Spanish Fork and talk to them about it before I actually finalize it.  That has always been the biggest pain getting the permission part done.

There were a ton of caches listed this weekend.  I did a few from my phone.  I have to be a little selective.  If there appears to be problem then I have to wait and do it at home.  It takes far to long to write the notes on my phone. 

I did get to place about 6 caches in all. A few I made members only.  Mostly because I feel like they might vanish, so that might help them stay put just a little bit more.  I was shocked at the number of caches that are in that area that are gone.  It appears that a number of cachers have archived their caches that used to be in the area.  I used to have a number of caches in Richfield, and I had about 1/3 now I have about all of them, and i archived a few that have gone away.

I have tried to figure out why some areas are so successful with the number of cachers.  I think each area needs 2-3 people that actively place caches. or people find all in their neighborhood and they give up.  Vernal, St George, Weber County, Utah County, all seem to have so many caches being placed that it keeps people going.  Other places like Davis, and Salt Lake counties, seem to have enough cachers that they keep people going.  They get enough interest to travel to look for caches.

On another note, Geocaching Podcast mentioned the Kokapelli in southern Utah.  Billion put in a ton of work on those caches, and getting the it up.  What is really amazing is that he had to plan the caches before going and haul them all there.  Regardless of wether it was a hard place to get to or not.  Congrats Billion.

So many caches.. so little time.... talk to you later.

The Musical Highway

An amazingly long and enjoyable day.

The plan.

I had been thinking about this and tossed some ideas out to a few people.  Wondering who might be interested.  I was not sure if i would be able to go, but i really wanted to.  I knew it would be a long one.  200 caches 3 hours away from home.  so we were looking at 8 hours at most (i was guessing i would be really fast in a search. (wrong).
Then finally my plans sorted themselves out about Wednesday night that I would be able to go.  After a trip to the zoo Friday, Saturday was to be free.
I called Jacob, he still wanted to do stuff nearby, but was thinking about it.  He made a few inquiries to the Mortys and Princess Daisies. Thursday night they came over to get a few caches that were located near my home, and we started to talk.  That led to calling Jacob and the decision was made.  We were going to go.  The car was discussed, what to take, when to leave. All vital points that we needed to determine before we left.
Some disagreement on when we were going to meet was discussed and we settled on 7am. Though I did call Jacob later to determine if I had really heard correctly.

Morning

Well I got up and headed out.  Of course I was the last one.  7am is really early for me. After a few convulsions  and seizures at getting up so early I finally got rolling.
We met and were off on the road.  I struggled to stay awake, but all was well. Sadly I had to sit in the back by Jacob, but eh... oh well.

Caches on the way.

We hit our first caches as we traveled ac cross the center of the state in Fillmore.  Cache across the US, one of PeanutsParents, and a Tico Jeffry cache. There was not much time to waste as we hit the bathrooms grabbed some small snacks, and were on our way once again.

As we headed south, we pulled off so Jacob to do some cache maintenance and to hit a few more caches on the way. Grabbing a multi, and a few other caches and back on the freeway heading south.  

We hit town at about 11 and grabbed some gas (so we would not be out in the desert without it). Princess Daisies and I grabbed a cache at the gas station, and we started looking for caches in the area to go find. We hit a few and finally decided to go grab some food.  jacob wanted to meet some girl while we were there, so we ate and talked.  

Then we jumped ship for a few and headed out into the parking lot to grab a cache while Jacob visited.  We hit the store and grabbed some Oreos, and a little junk food. We got there and broke up the lovebirds and off we went to the event.

We were late at this point, but there were caches on the way.  Crap.. how did that happen.  So we started to grab a few on the way. Then finally determined that we would be too late if we did not get rolling.

I worked the magic on the way and 190 caches suddenly magically appeared. >>poof<<.  Then I realized a horrible mistake that I had made.  I was watching them all.  So every cache find was going to send me an email until I finally got home and could turn them off.   Drat i had started with 200 emails in my inbox.

Jacob then pulled out his laptop and created and loaded a  pocket query for the area, so that he would be ready. I had cheated a little, and had made the query before I published it.  I sent a copy to the host, but I did not give it to him before we left.  I made him work for it.

Arrival

We pulled off and into the driveway.  We were not sure we were in the correct place, but I remembered getting an email from one of the event hosts so I pulled out my phone ans sure enough it matched the sign  >woohoo< we were there.

I stopped and talked at the entrance with one of the hosts and eventually went upstairs where everyone was eating and finishing loading the caches to head out on the adventure. Crap.  Mistake #2.  

If I had thought about it I would have waited, so that I could have visited with a few people for a while.  In the end that was probably a good thing.  We chatted with a few people, and people were heading out the door so off we went.

The Musical Highway

We headed off on the journey. I tried to stop and say hi for a minute but the rest of my team was off and in the car by that time, so I figured I better go.  I got out and off we went.  We were the back car in the driveway, so we were first or second to get out on the road.

A breakdown of the caches...
There were a few large ones.
A handful of smaller ones.
Pill bottles
Marker tubes
DNA tubes.

Some were pretty easy to find, others were evil  If you head out the difficulty rating does not always follow how difficult we found it.  The marker tubes drove me nuts.  many were painted, some were in holes in the fence a  number of them were original in how the containers were hid.  All in all it was great.

The day wore on and the train of cars diminished.  Some had to leave at 4pm others 6pm.. The temperature was near 100 and I was surprised that no one had any car trouble.  We would shut the car off at some hides, turn of the AC when we were out of the car.

The day did drag on, after an hour or two I remember thinking.. crap we are only about 1/4 of the way. I thought something like that many times during the day.  We gathered at around the halfway point to talk as a group - we were bunched up looking for one of the unfindable ones, and the cache owner showed up.

The number of cars slowly diminished so that by the end there were 4 cars.. 10 people finished the trail.  At this point I was glad I did not schedule to sit and talk earlier in the day.  The sun was going down on our evening. We snapped a parting shot as a group, and headed off.  We were taking an old train road north, and everyone else was heading back to get the night cache. that we hit earlier in the day.

Return

The return was uneventful.  Jacob placed two at two old rail town/stops that were nothing but dots in the sand. I found a place that I placed my disco inferno cache.  It seemed fitting there was a fire in the distance in some of the hills, and finishing the trail.  We headed up through minersville past all the pig farms. On to beaver and home.  But we did make it on one piece.

We finally crawled home at about 12:30 or a little later. Thanks Wildrills and Ironbuttwings for the fantastic day, and all the cachers for putting up with the four strangers from the north invading your desert country.  I dont want to forget my trip, caching companions, Mortys, Princess Daisies, and Jacob, for making the day and the trip fun and possible.

 

More on the way.

After a weekend of many many caches (over 200 Saturday) I am logging. 

I hate (actually despise) cut and paste, so I am trying to go through and leave notes.  I also forgot to take the 200 caches off my watch list.  I started doing that this afternoon.  Then I had to delete about 800-1000 emails from the cache list without loosing the important ones.

I will find a way to screw it all up.

So I am running slow, and getting around to fixing all these really slow.  But i am up to 1714 logging with lots lots more to go.  So more will be on the way about the trip, but not right now.

Thursday night.... the mountaintop.

This last week was very fun and very enjoyable. 

Thurday night was one of those geocaching adventures that you remember for some time. 

Jacob had called about heading up the canyon.  I did not have anything else planned and my wife was taking the kids off to seven peaks and I was going to be home alone, so off we went.

The goal was to get some information for an earthcache or two up the canyon.  On the way we decided that we would place a few as well.  There was a side road that we followed up and we each placed a cache that overlooks Diamond Fork. 

I love to just find odd names for my caches.  It tends to make them a bit more memorable, and stand out.  My caches named country roads will not stand out to anyone, but Geezerfable or Flippy Widget the Gas Hog may make someone chuckle for a moment.

Well this time the new caches was to be names Blimey my Knickers are Showing.  Jacobs new one a little ways a way was Fork of Diamonds.

There were a few more that we put and and a few more that we found on the way. I wanted to get some information on doing an Earthcache.  So we slowly worked our way up the canyon to find a few of the caches and grab some as we went. 

My favorite on the trip was the cache The Sun Also Rises.  There were a few families there rapelling down some cliffs that were nearby.  A few were climbing, but most were rapelling and just wathing them.  We worked our way up the canyon and up a side road, and found a sun carved in the side of the sandstone cliff. It was actually pretty cool.

I snapped the picture here of a natual arch that is forming.  I wonder how long it will be until it colapses or it forms into a nicer arch.  It looks like a number of people have been climbing on it.

The we ended up at the place that I wanted to make the Earthcache at a spring in the side of the mountain. A sulpher saturated spring.  It was really quite impressive, for a little spring.  It did stink. Pretty bad actually, and a bit of a bog around.

Then the sun started to go down.  There was a bit of debate on which side would be easier to descend.  Diamond Fork or Hobble Creek.  We were heading uphill so off she went. We grabbed one or two caches on the way up.  Then we decided that we were near the highpoint of the trail we might as well descend the Hobble Creek side. 

As we aproached the hilltop we stumbed upon a surpise.  The trail that went to Mollies Nipple was open.  We sat there for a few minutes looking at the trail before we decided to drive up the road.  There were a number of logs dragged accross the road.  I assume it was the farmer trying to keep kids from joyriding up near his cows.  I was the slave labor to drag them off the road.

The bouncing went on and on.. and it got darker and darker.  We finally pulled into a group of trees.  It was very dark at this point.  We scrambled for batteries, lights, and a few thinks as we scrabled up the hill.  I was wondering if we had made some horrible mistake climbing the hill at night.  The oak brush and the wild roses surrounded us for the 15 feet that we could see.  So up we went.

A few minutes later I heard Jacobs voice.. "here it is" I was pretty sure that we would not find it, and had debated wether a hike to a small peak in the middle of the night for a cache that had not been found for three years was a smart idea.  I figured that it would take another trip in the sunlight to do any good.

So there we stood on some mountain.. in the dark signing a log.  It was kind of surreal. Sadly my phone had died and I had no pictures on my phone.  I had made jacob grab his.  So we did grab a few pics.

We wandered down the mountain and had a good time.  It was a great evening.  It had been on our lists for a number of months but we could not force ourselves to do it.  It was just a chance that it was open tonight.. and the choice was made.