Sometimes You Feel Like a Spot--Sometimes You Don't!!!

"The Spot" is a geocache. It was hidden September 1, 2003 along the meandering creek that parallels Twin Oaks Avenue in Citrus Heights. Larry spent his high school years on the family 10 acre ranch at the other end of Twin Oaks. You can consider this area as his old stomping grounds.

We became Geocachers on December 27, 2003 and this cache has been on our list of caches near our home ever since. We tried to find this cache early on but we approached from Twin Oaks and found ourselves on the wrong side of the creek. We tried a couple more times but we could never quite find the right way in to the cache. It is in a preserve area with road and creek on one side and houses on the other. We just could not find a way in short of knocking on someone's door to ask if we could jump their backyard fence to get into the preserve. We just weren't willing to do that.

We have the ability to put a geocache on an ignore list. That means we can pretend it doesn't exist and it will not show up on our official nearby list. That is exactly where this cache went after the third try! Normally that would mean we could forget it and move on. Unfortunately, we were unable to do that!

Larry wouldn't let go of this cache. It is, afterall, his old stomping grounds (minus all the houses). We had the printouts in a special folder and we kept talking about it. I think we moved it from the ignore list and then moved it back several times. We considered it our geocaching nemesis! It was always there, challenging, threatening, smiling, mocking, daring, etc. We talked about it incessantly!!!

At some point we went so far as to look up the location on GoogleEarth (a program that shows us aerial shots of an area). There it was --right where we knew it should be. But, more importantly, there was the way in to the cache!!! We could actually see a vacant lot with public access to the preserve. How did we miss that before!

We talked about it again this past weekend. Something had to be done! This was becoming an obsession and it was very annoying! So, in preparation, we took it off the ignore list one more time, printed out the maps we needed, and placed them right next to our GPS receivers. We managed to geocache a couple of times but we avoided any mention of The Spot!

Yesterday, Larry made the big decision! We are going to find this geocache if it takes us all day. After breakfast with some friends, we drove over and found the access point. Then we found a trail that would take us behind the houses and along the correct side of the creek. We followed the coordinates on our GPS receivers and we arrived at "The Spot"! Larry had the cache in his hands within minutes! It was a plastic gallon jar filled with trinkets hidden in the berry bushes!

At last! At last! We never have to worry about this cache again. It only took us 3 years, 3 months, and 30 days, but we found it!!! We won't mention, too loudly, that it only took us a few minutes to find it once we actually got to The Spot! Sometimes you feel like a spot, sometimes you don't!

We Go To All Levels!!!

Today was one of those days. We went from “potato” piles, to bike trails, to hill sides, to tree tops. That’s right, tree tops!

We were in a park in Rocklin. It is a favorite spot for frisbee golf. Fortunately, it was a quiet time and we only had to dodge two frisbees heading in our direction. Our goal was not to play frisbee golf, but to find a cache hidden somewhere in the park.

We had no trouble getting to the cache. The coordinates for the cache took us to a downed oak tree that crossed the creek. It had been there a while so the typical deterioration was in progress. There were lots of hollows in the branches and we just knew the cache was in one of them.

We climbed onto the tree trunk and headed out over the creek. We both spent a great deal of time suspended, twisted, and hanging on for dear life! Since we were over the water, we had carefully placed all the important stuff on the ground on the bank of the creek, but I forgot I had my Palm (PDA) in my back pocket. Unfortunately, it slipped out and landed in a foot of dark murky water. I managed to retrieve it but we don't know yet whether it or my hand/arm really survived the muck!

There was only one place left to look! No, he (the owner) wouldn’t do that to us! Would he? Sure enough, Larry was able to get to one of the upper branches where he found the exact hollow and retrieved the cache from its hiding spot!

We were very glad to reach solid ground and return to the Golden Retriever!

UPDATE! UPDATE! My Palm PDA continues to work another day! Must be related to the Timex!

We Hate Potatoes!

More specifically, we hate Folsom and Rocklin potatoes!

Have you ever filled out a questionnaires where you had to rate how you felt about something? Well, if we were filling out a questionnaire, we would have to say that we strongly dislike Folsom and Rocklin potatoes!

Many years ago, miners used dredgers to clean our the rivers to search for gold. As a result, they left many "river rocks" along the banks of the American River in the Folsom, CA area. Geogachers love to hide caches in these piles of rocks and, as these rocks are the size of potatoes, they refer to these rocks as Folsom Potatoes. Some of the hidden caches are regular size ammo cans while others are micro caches. Searching for a micro cache in a "potato" pile is like searching for a needle in a haystack! We hate these types of caches but we still search for them!

Yesterday, WWW.Geocaching.com released a cache hidden by H_M Treasurecache. This cache is a micro (a tiny tube shaped object) in a pile of rocks in the Rocklin area. He called it "The Rocklin Potato Pile" (GC12CWN). Did we tell you we hate Folsom & Rocklin potatoes?

We tried to find it, but we were unsuccessful. Here is our log that we posted on the cache site:

April 24 by L3-Geo (3854 found)
Let us be the first to post a DNF! We searched and searched and searched for this cache. We peeled every potato in sight and found nothing. We even expanded our search to include possible nearby locations but we came home with nothing. Actually, that is not completely true. We had forgotten to put sunscreen on today so we did bring home quite a sunburn! Did we tell you we strongly dislike Folsom potatoes and now we strongly dislike Rocklin potatoes. Guess we will have to stick with russets! Given our obsessive nature, we will probably try again. Let's hope we are more successful!

When we posted our log, the owner sent us a message with a very specific hint. So, this morning we awoke to the alarm, got dressed, and headed out at daybreak. We spent another hour searching the potato pile and we still did not find it. This time we did not post our failure, but sent an email to the owner challenging him to find the cache. Apparently, he took us up on it, searched high and low, finally found the cache buried in a crevice, and then replaced it in a more accessible spot. Another geocacher with him at the time, signed the log and posted his find on the web.

As soon as we knew it had been found, we headed back out to the site. We walked right up to it and had the cache in hand within minutes. This is our "successful" posting of the cache:

April 25 by L3-Geo (3854 found)
We told you we strongly dislike potato piles! We still dislike them and we will continue to dislike them, but that won't stop us from coming back over and over again. We were there this AM (with hint) and in one hour systematically rebuilt the potato pile to attempt to reconstruct the scene of the cache. Still no success. We sent a challenge to the owner to see if he could find it again! When we returned this afternoon we walked right to it and there it was! You have all benefited from our failure. We hope you appreciate our efforts! We are proud to have found this cache! We had a day full of Graniteman and H_M Treasurecache caches. We were glad to be able to go home and rest!

What a way to end the day! At least we finally found it! Now we can sleep at night instead of dreaming about this cache!

Robbie and Family--GCXPAM

At last! We were in the right place at the right time and we headed for this cache! This cache was originally placed to honor Robbie and his family. Robbie (the family dog) passed away and his family moved to Hawaii. All three were important to the geocaching world in the Sacramento area.

Not counting our mentor, DStoye, Al, Pat & Robbie were the first geocachers that we met out in the wild on October 14, 2004! We were searching for "Son of Nutcase" (GCJ0WC) when they showed up. We had spent a long time looking without success and we were glad to see them. We all searched and searched but, unfortunately, we did not find the cache. I think we were more interested in talking and sharing wonderful information than in looking seriously. Robbie also looked hard but he didn't come up with the cache either! That was also when they told us about the RCGDS and invited us to a meeting!

We eventually found the cache, joined the RCGDS, and met many more wonderful cachers! They are great ambassadors for the sport of geocaching! We had better luck on our first try for this cache than we did on "Son of Nutcase". We reflected a bit at the cache and remembered many of their classic caches we were fortunate to find. They are representative of what geocaching is all about! And thanks, TRAKD (the cache owner), for this cache full of memories! TNLNSL!

False Bottom

Sometimes we run across caches that leave us stymied. This was one of those caches. Back on March 11, 2007, we found our way to the location of this geocache (False Bottom GC11259). We spotted it almost immediately and had to give the retrieval process a lot of thought. You see, the cache is a fake champagne bottle suspended quite a ways up in a tree. In order to get credit for finding the cache we had to retrieve the bottle, remove the false bottom, sign the log hidden inside, and then return the bottle to its lofty position. We retreated to a distance that would allow us to survey the surroundings and plan our strategy.

Our first approach (jumping up and down on the ground hoping to cause an earthquake) failed. So, too, did our second approach (using our Reno extraction tool (mike) to climb the tree). Eventually, we all agreed “Oh Well, you win some, you lose some!” We headed home with our shoulders sagging, uttering unkind words about the geocacher who hid the cache.

We tried a little bribery to entice other geocachers to come forward and retrieve the cache for us. Unfortunately, no one was willing to risk life or limb for a cup of coffee--even if it was Starbucks! I guess it was going to be entirely up to us to come up with a solution.

Larry worked on our dilemma and finally "created" a necessary tool! He took a 20 ft. piece of PVC pipe and cut it into 5 sections, each 4' long. On the “top” piece, he attached some long screws that would allow him to hook the container, remove it from it’s perch, and slowly lower it to the ground. He was very proud of his accomplishment!

Since Mike and Cynthia had been with us the first time, we waited until they were back in town to finally go for the cache. Today, we joined up with them and headed to the cache site! Larry assembled his retrieval tool and he and Mike joined forces to grab the cache! We signed the log and now had to return it to its rightful place. That proved harder than we thought! The retrieval tool was on the flimsy side, but, eventually, with a helpful "go right", "too far", "go left", "a little higher" from Linda and Cynthia, they returned the cache to its rightful spot! Whew! Are we glad this one is done! And, just in case, we now have the tool to retrieve any cache anywhere! We also have lots of pictures of the whole thing and we will be laughing at ourselves for quite a while.

No Road to Somewhere!!!

Where do I start? This was a trip we will talk about for a very long time. The pictures probably say it all! So, please click on the picture. I have left all of the other wonderful pictures public so you all can see them. They are FANTASTIC!

Yesterday, we decided to drive to a cache in the Virginia Mountain Range “just behind” Cynthia & Mike’s (Geo-Jeeper’s) house. It shouldn’t take too long. We would be driving a few 4WD roads, but we can handle them. We have done it before.

We did make one wrong turn, but we corrected that quickly and continued on the bumpy roads, spotted wild horses, and eventually reached the cache: “IT”S ALL WE HAD”. Once we arrived, it really was a quick and easy find and we have the pictures to support that.

Now, for the rest of the story! We checked our GPS receivers and the next cache was only 1.4 miles away. We checked the Topo maps on our computers and we spotted a 4WD road that would take us there. 2.5 hours later we arrived at the next cache. What an incredible journey!

Cynthia & Mike were in the lead. We followed them as they headed down a jeep trail that was barely visible. We bounced over rocks, squeezed through trees, whistled at wild horses, and basically held our breaths! It was amazing!

We had to blaze our own trail a couple of times. The “road” just plain wasn’t passable! Mike did the scouting and we all moved rocks, marked possible access points, directed drivers, held our breaths, and just plain enjoyed the adventure. There were some points when we thought we might have to turn around, but no one really voiced that possibility out loud until we were back at C&M’s with a glass of wine in hand. We were sure Mike would find the best route and Larry would follow his direction. Cynthia and I were taking pictures and doing the breath holding!

We eventually arrived at a dirt road and immediately, C&M got out of Geo-Jeep and while Cynthia did a “We Made It” dance, Mike kissed the ground. We even have a movie to prove it! We were laughing hysterically while we took pictures of the event. It felt so good to actually be somewhere! The cache we were seeking was just a short distance down the dirt road.

If anyone had asked us a couple of years ago to do something like this, we would have told them they were crazy. Now I think we are the crazy ones! We actually did it! And we loved the entire incredible journey. We are so glad our geocaching hobby has led us on another fantastic voyage!

Geo-Jeeper will be posting a more detailed account at their blog: http://geojeepers.blogspot.com/

Desert! Duck Ponds! Ammo Cans in Bushes!

We are here in Reno experiencing the “wilds” of Nevada from the “comfort” of our bouncing jeep! We spent Friday driving here and finding a few geocaches along the way. Of course we had to climb a mountain for a couple of caches as soon as we arrived.

The big day was actually Saturday, Marcy 31. We left Cynthia & Mike’s house a little before 6:30 AM. Our goal: to find as many geocaches as we can in and around Fallon, Nevada!

We planned to meet up with another geocacher, Teri (Nevada Wolf), in Fallon and then hit the geocaching trail. But first, we had to stop and grab a cache on the corner of McCarron and Northttowne north of Reno. The cache is appropriately named “McNorthtowne”. It was under some rocks at the base of a sign right on one of the busiest corners in the area. Fortunately, at this time of the morning on Saturday, very few people were out and about. We knew where to look so we waited for a break in traffic, walked up the rock hill, grabbed the cache, returned to the sidewalk, signed the log, and then waited for the next break in traffic to return the cache. In the scheme of things, it was a quick grab and we were soon on our way to Fallon.

As we headed east into the sunrise, I was reminded of our other trips in Nevada. I had forgotten how blinding that sun can be as you head right towards it. Every once in a while, the road veered a little north or south and we got a reprieve from the blinding brightness. I knew it wouldn't last long; just long enough to remember some of our previous journeys through Nevada.

At home, Spring has hit full force. Blossoms on some trees have come and gone while others are just starting to show their spring faces. Here, in Nevada, it is the tail end of winter. The countryside is rather barren. If you look hard enough, you can see some green just starting to show on the trees. The weatherperson promised a nice day (in the high 60’s/low 70’s, and he/she turned out to be correct. There was a little ice in the shady spots, but as the temperature warmed up it surely melted.

At 7:15 AM we were turning south off I-80. Finally, I could see again! I had thought for a while that I would have to take an early nap just to get the sun out of my eyes! Shucks! Just a short distance and we were heading east again--right into the rising sun!

We arrived at Safeway in Fallon at 7:54 AM. Teri was sitting on the curb, coffee in hand, waiting for us. We grabbed coffee from the Starbucks inside Safeway, made a pit stop, and headed out. Cynthia and Mike were in the lead, Teri rode with them, and we brought up the rear--as usual. We were at their mercy and followed wherever they led. We had the information loaded into our Topo Map program so we sort of knew where they were headed--we were tracking our route--and the caches were loaded into our GPSrs. We were ready to do some caching!

We found our first Fallon cache at 8:30 AM. It was a tupperware like container at the base of a tree under some bark. It was in a little out of the way park. This park is not the type of park we are used to seeing. It was a gravel patch surrounded by a fence. I didn’t have time to look around so maybe it is actually a trail head to somewhere else. Visualize: four adults, holding funny looking devices in their hands, heading towards a corner of the fenced area. Actually, we were racing to the corner of the fence area! Good thing no one else was in sight! If anyone had seen us, they would think we were crazy--really crazy.

Eventually, we were out in the middle of nowhere/somewhere completely surrounded by sage brush. Way off in the distance we could see some beautiful brown rolling hills. Our next few caches were out in the sage brush--usually ammo cans in bushes. That seems to be the standard for Nevada caches! We also spent time driving across the playa of Nevada. Could we really be on the moon? It certainly resembles my impression of a moonscape. There is a little more brush here than on the moon. Occasionally, we ran across what Larry refered to as a “Volcano hair ball”--a lone rock in the middle of nowhere!

And sometimes we even found a windmill. We spotted one that was not functioning the way it should. The blades were a little dented and some were actually broken. I guess they still need the water as there was a generator nearby working away and a huge tank providing the necessary fuel.

We spent some time around the Sand Dunes and the Sand Flats.--incredible spots. One of our favorite caches, however, was The Peek-a-Boo Cache. It was pretty neat. As we approached the location in our jeeps I spotted an eagle soaring overhead. There were several nests up on the cliffs above us. We kept watching but the eagle never came back while we were there. Or, he/she may have been watching from the cliffs above. The cache itself was in a rock with a natural “through the rock” cave. We had a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside from up there.

Our next destination was Dixie Valley. We went from high to low with views of the valley and views of the hills. We even passed through a “cow resting place”--lots of cow pies and some huge troughs of stagnant water. And we took the long and dusty road--following the power poles through dry washes and cross country. At one point, I was the official range gate opener. Actually, Mike had to help me open the gate and Larry had to help me close the gate. At one point I ended up on the wrong side and had to start over. Life is hard out here in the middle of nowhere!

Even out in the middle of nowhere, we were surprised that we had not seen any animals and we thought that was a little strange. Then, way off in the distance, we spotted some cattle--4 or 5. We had decided it was too dry for any animals out here, but looks like we were wrong. Wow--suddenly, we spotted a whole herd of cattle! Maybe we were definitely wrong (did I say that). We just hadn’t driven far enough away from society. These animals obviously prefer the wide open range to the more populated areas.

Talking about less populated areas, Box Falls was quite a cache and quite an experience! I think we were all crazy and the pictures will never do the real event justice. Cynthia climbed up and approached from the top and could only look down at the cache. Teri, Mike & I approached from below and did a little rock climbing. Larry got about halfway there and then he waited in case he needed to run for help if the rest of us got in trouble. I got almost to the end and then chickened out. Mike had the camera so he took a picture of me at that point. I tried to take a picture of Cynthia but I only had my cell phone and Cynthia was too far away. Larry got some shots of her from his angle. Mike and Teri actually made it to the top and held the cache up so I could see it. Now, we had to get down and that was just as much “fun” . To return, I same down the safe way but kept my bottom low for balance. Mike came down backwards--he doesn’t have much of a bottom so he didn’t have any problems. Cynthia walked gracefully down from the top.

Teri, now Teri, she was the crazy one; she slid down the dry waterfall. I tried to take a movie, but when I started it, she hesitated and it stopped recording before we really got much of the slide! She screamed a little and landed on her hands at the bottom but she survived. I probably should admire her but you won’t find me following in her shoes on that move!

And, believe it or not, there is a duck pond in the middle of the “desert” And a tank or two! And some upright and fallen trees! We even saw some cattle up close and personal on our way in and out of the duck pond and tank caches. I did take pictures of the duck pond, but I didn’t have time to stop and take pictures of the cows. Clouds were starting to roll in, the wind was picking up, and we were losing our daylight!

Our final cache before dinner was a typical Nevada cache--an ammo can in a bush! After replacing the cache, we headed for the Middlegate Station. It is a place that is beyond description. Once inside, you would swear you were back in the days of the old time western. You know you are not, however, when you start reading all the signs posted in the ladies room. I guess they have similar signs, although gender specific, in the men’s room. People were congregating in the powder rooms just to read the signs. Restrooms aside, they do make the most wonderful hamburgers! They cook them one at a time and you can’t be in a rush, but they are truly wonderful hamburgers. We had a great dinner!

We returned home after 9:00 PM. We did manage to pick up one cache on the way home that was hidden on a historical marker. It was pretty dark but we didn’t let that stop us. It is easy to find a cache in the dark when you have surrounded it with headlights!

We spent today in the Carson City/Minden/Gardnerville area. Yes, we were climbing mountains again. Yes, we found several caches. Yes we had fun. Yes our muscles are sore. Yes we are tired. Yes we are moving slowly. Yes we will need a day of rest tomorrow--maybe.