I was only two for four today
but, then I found out I was actually two for two because the other two I spent about an hour looking for had gone missing.
I loaded those waypoints into my GPSr and my Palmie weeks and weeks ago and hadn't revisited those cache pages, or updated the .gpx files. That is the problem with having more than 500 caches loaded into the GPSr and Palm all the time. I might never know if I am having a hard time finding a cache that is actually there, or I'm spending too much time looking for a cache that isn't there anymore. What a dilemma!
"See the New Freeway" was one I tried to find way back in February. I was stopped by the *very* big "No Trespassing" signs with pictures of handcuffs on them. After perusing my maps here at home, I saw there was a road down below the canyon. Today, as I drove along High Street, I thought I was going to get skunked again, but then I finally saw a place where the fence was down. It was about a third of a mile hike up to the cache location (compared to a walk of a few hundred feet from the other "access" point) and it was warm and humid as I struggled up the sometimes non-existent route. The flowers were out and there were some very unusual plants in the lower part of the canyon.
When I got up to where the cache was, I couldn't see where it might be hidden. I was literally climbing on the overgrown vegetation to get a better look at a potential spot where my GPSr arrow was pointing. When I stepped down, I looked and saw that I had been standing directly above the cache.
I took a different route back down and found a rare barrel cactus. This area really doesn't have too many cactus because there is so little summer moisture, and cactus depend on some summer rain, like the monsoon rains the Arizona desert gets, in order to thrive.
This little cactus was near the western loop on my track map.
From that cache, I went to one in the Chollas View area. I found it with no trouble and traded a rock for a rock. :-) The flowers in the area were astounding.
After taking a bunch of pictures of all the flowers, I set off looking for another cache. I looked and looked and looked. Other cachers had found it, but the logs I had in my Palmie were from about a month ago. According to one log in my Palmie, the cache "coordinates were off by about 30 feet", but it was in an "obvious hiding spot." Well, after more than half an hour, I finally gave up.
This is what a track looks like when you spend that much time looking . . . unsuccessfully:
From there, I went to another cache location at Chollas Lake.
The cache owner wrote a good description and told cachers to be very careful of the vegetation and not stray from the path. Imagine my initial surprise when I descend the hill from the parking lot to view the "lake" and see virtually no vegetation anywhere around its shoreline, for a distance of 50 or more feet, except for the eucalyptus trees and some clusters of reeds, in isolated areas.
After not being able to find that one, I decided I wouldn't try for these "urban park" caches anymore. I really prefer the ones that involve a hike that gets my heart and lungs working, anyway.
When I got home and discovered those last two were actually missing, I felt a little better, so maybe I won't actually block "urban park" caches off my list permanently.
I loaded those waypoints into my GPSr and my Palmie weeks and weeks ago and hadn't revisited those cache pages, or updated the .gpx files. That is the problem with having more than 500 caches loaded into the GPSr and Palm all the time. I might never know if I am having a hard time finding a cache that is actually there, or I'm spending too much time looking for a cache that isn't there anymore. What a dilemma!
"See the New Freeway" was one I tried to find way back in February. I was stopped by the *very* big "No Trespassing" signs with pictures of handcuffs on them. After perusing my maps here at home, I saw there was a road down below the canyon. Today, as I drove along High Street, I thought I was going to get skunked again, but then I finally saw a place where the fence was down. It was about a third of a mile hike up to the cache location (compared to a walk of a few hundred feet from the other "access" point) and it was warm and humid as I struggled up the sometimes non-existent route. The flowers were out and there were some very unusual plants in the lower part of the canyon.
When I got up to where the cache was, I couldn't see where it might be hidden. I was literally climbing on the overgrown vegetation to get a better look at a potential spot where my GPSr arrow was pointing. When I stepped down, I looked and saw that I had been standing directly above the cache.
I took a different route back down and found a rare barrel cactus. This area really doesn't have too many cactus because there is so little summer moisture, and cactus depend on some summer rain, like the monsoon rains the Arizona desert gets, in order to thrive.
This little cactus was near the western loop on my track map.
From that cache, I went to one in the Chollas View area. I found it with no trouble and traded a rock for a rock. :-) The flowers in the area were astounding.
After taking a bunch of pictures of all the flowers, I set off looking for another cache. I looked and looked and looked. Other cachers had found it, but the logs I had in my Palmie were from about a month ago. According to one log in my Palmie, the cache "coordinates were off by about 30 feet", but it was in an "obvious hiding spot." Well, after more than half an hour, I finally gave up.
This is what a track looks like when you spend that much time looking . . . unsuccessfully:
From there, I went to another cache location at Chollas Lake.
The cache owner wrote a good description and told cachers to be very careful of the vegetation and not stray from the path. Imagine my initial surprise when I descend the hill from the parking lot to view the "lake" and see virtually no vegetation anywhere around its shoreline, for a distance of 50 or more feet, except for the eucalyptus trees and some clusters of reeds, in isolated areas.
After not being able to find that one, I decided I wouldn't try for these "urban park" caches anymore. I really prefer the ones that involve a hike that gets my heart and lungs working, anyway.
When I got home and discovered those last two were actually missing, I felt a little better, so maybe I won't actually block "urban park" caches off my list permanently.
posted by Miragee at
9:34:00 PM
10-Day Forecast
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