Seventeen caches in one day . . . Wheeeeuuuu!
We started out in El Cajon at a cache I had sort of looked for once before. Actually, because there were some people across the street, I really hadn't given "View of 67" a real thorough look, but since the coordinates were off by quite a bit, even if I had, I wouldn't have found it that first night.
So, since Princess Toadstool had found it before, she gave me a bit of guidance on this one, and while I signed the log, she found GZ with my GPSr and that's when we saw that it was off by more than 36 feet. This is one of those cases where I just wonder if someone got mixed up and put the ammo can beneath a different tree after grabbing the loot and signing the log in their car.
From there we drove up the 67 to a FATTBOY cache called the "END OF THE LINE." (All his caches are written up in all CAPS like he is shouting at us to "GET OUT THERE AND FIND MY CACHES!" This one was very cool. A unique container in a location where it only stands out to Geocachers.
On up the road a ways was the Woody Woodpecker series by Splashman and Splashette. We sure did these the wrong way, but I think it was because we came up from the south. The first one in our GPSrs was actually the number three cache. If you came from the other direction, "Parking for Woody Woodpecker" would have come up as "closest." So, we had an initial false start up a road where all the property is private, but I got these interesting pictures along the way:
Do you think there are enough locks on this gate?
This huge horse was the guardian of the garden. I wonder what passing motorists, who happen to see it out of the corner of their eye, think about this giant.
We returned to the car after our little Private Property misadventure and found "Parking for Woody Woodpecker" in our GPSrs. So, after risking our lives crossing the busy four-lane highway first in one direction and then back the other way, we put that cache in the "Found It" column. Then, we finally found a sign that led us to a trail which led us to cache number three. Hmmmm. Cache number two was behind us and rather than backtrack in the morning heat, we decided to get it on the way out.
So, up the road we started. When our GPSrs started going up again, we realized we were on the wrong road. So much for the "breadcrumbs" Splashman and Splashette were leaving for us in the form of caches along the correct trail. Insert "clown smilie" here. We did see this beautiful poppy flower along the trail.
And I got this picture of the little pond from the vantage point of the road above.
We finally bushwacked and followed rabbit trails to Woody Woodpecker where Princess Toadstool took a little break in a piece of shade.
On our way back out to the highway, we came across this sign.
After definitely taking the long way around, we walked back in by the fire station and behind it to finally get what should have been cache number two, after "Parking for Woody Woodpecker."
Wheeewwwuuuu! We needed a break. So, we got the car and drove across the way to Old Hwy 67 where we saw what we though were muggles. But no, it just turned out to be TheRamonaGirls replacing the cache we were just going to look for. We introduced ourselves and then off they went. We finished our snacks, retrieved the cache, signed the log and replaced it and took off for downtown Ramona and the several caches offered there. In quick succession we found the new post office, the old post office, the old town hall, and Collier Park. Plus we paid a visit to the Thrift Store where we bought tupperware containers for caches.
We were finally ready to hit the road again and we took off for the cache out by the airport. This one could have been a real easy one except the last people to close the container tightened it so tight we couldn't get it open. Yikes! What to do, what to do? We scratched our initials in the bottom of the plastic container and replaced the cache, but when we got back to the car, we remembered the jumper cables and took them back across the road to use the clamps like pliers to get the cache opened. They worked great, just as they did several months ago for "In Denial," so we were able to sign the log legitimately.
From here we took the back road to 78 to find a brand new cache called "Clevenger Canyon Cache." It was a very neat trail down into a spectacular canyon that was not affected by the fires of a couple of years ago.
There is an archway of rock near the top of the trail.
After finding out we were Second-to-Find and trading some swag, we walked back to the top of the canyon trail and drove back to Ramona and east to Neptune's Deposit. We couldn't find the parking for this one because the restaurant has changed hands and the sign no longer says what the cache description tells us to look for. So, we went on up the road to another cache, which shall remain nameless. It had one of the worst placements for a cache I have seen. It was on a busy stretch of highway and had no redeeming feature I could see. I think it may have been placed as a joke on someone. Maybe the joke was on us since we did park and walk to it to sign the log.
At the end of a long day, we found a cache Princess Toadstool had tried to find two other times. It is not in the best of locations, but it is a clever hide and this time she found it right away. I was the recipient of her good fortune this time because I'm not sure I would have caught on to that location for the cache.
Some twelve hours after I left my house I arrived back home with just enough energy left over to log all the caches before crashing for the night.
So, since Princess Toadstool had found it before, she gave me a bit of guidance on this one, and while I signed the log, she found GZ with my GPSr and that's when we saw that it was off by more than 36 feet. This is one of those cases where I just wonder if someone got mixed up and put the ammo can beneath a different tree after grabbing the loot and signing the log in their car.
From there we drove up the 67 to a FATTBOY cache called the "END OF THE LINE." (All his caches are written up in all CAPS like he is shouting at us to "GET OUT THERE AND FIND MY CACHES!" This one was very cool. A unique container in a location where it only stands out to Geocachers.
On up the road a ways was the Woody Woodpecker series by Splashman and Splashette. We sure did these the wrong way, but I think it was because we came up from the south. The first one in our GPSrs was actually the number three cache. If you came from the other direction, "Parking for Woody Woodpecker" would have come up as "closest." So, we had an initial false start up a road where all the property is private, but I got these interesting pictures along the way:
Do you think there are enough locks on this gate?
This huge horse was the guardian of the garden. I wonder what passing motorists, who happen to see it out of the corner of their eye, think about this giant.
We returned to the car after our little Private Property misadventure and found "Parking for Woody Woodpecker" in our GPSrs. So, after risking our lives crossing the busy four-lane highway first in one direction and then back the other way, we put that cache in the "Found It" column. Then, we finally found a sign that led us to a trail which led us to cache number three. Hmmmm. Cache number two was behind us and rather than backtrack in the morning heat, we decided to get it on the way out.
So, up the road we started. When our GPSrs started going up again, we realized we were on the wrong road. So much for the "breadcrumbs" Splashman and Splashette were leaving for us in the form of caches along the correct trail. Insert "clown smilie" here. We did see this beautiful poppy flower along the trail.
And I got this picture of the little pond from the vantage point of the road above.
We finally bushwacked and followed rabbit trails to Woody Woodpecker where Princess Toadstool took a little break in a piece of shade.
On our way back out to the highway, we came across this sign.
After definitely taking the long way around, we walked back in by the fire station and behind it to finally get what should have been cache number two, after "Parking for Woody Woodpecker."
Wheeewwwuuuu! We needed a break. So, we got the car and drove across the way to Old Hwy 67 where we saw what we though were muggles. But no, it just turned out to be TheRamonaGirls replacing the cache we were just going to look for. We introduced ourselves and then off they went. We finished our snacks, retrieved the cache, signed the log and replaced it and took off for downtown Ramona and the several caches offered there. In quick succession we found the new post office, the old post office, the old town hall, and Collier Park. Plus we paid a visit to the Thrift Store where we bought tupperware containers for caches.
We were finally ready to hit the road again and we took off for the cache out by the airport. This one could have been a real easy one except the last people to close the container tightened it so tight we couldn't get it open. Yikes! What to do, what to do? We scratched our initials in the bottom of the plastic container and replaced the cache, but when we got back to the car, we remembered the jumper cables and took them back across the road to use the clamps like pliers to get the cache opened. They worked great, just as they did several months ago for "In Denial," so we were able to sign the log legitimately.
From here we took the back road to 78 to find a brand new cache called "Clevenger Canyon Cache." It was a very neat trail down into a spectacular canyon that was not affected by the fires of a couple of years ago.
There is an archway of rock near the top of the trail.
After finding out we were Second-to-Find and trading some swag, we walked back to the top of the canyon trail and drove back to Ramona and east to Neptune's Deposit. We couldn't find the parking for this one because the restaurant has changed hands and the sign no longer says what the cache description tells us to look for. So, we went on up the road to another cache, which shall remain nameless. It had one of the worst placements for a cache I have seen. It was on a busy stretch of highway and had no redeeming feature I could see. I think it may have been placed as a joke on someone. Maybe the joke was on us since we did park and walk to it to sign the log.
At the end of a long day, we found a cache Princess Toadstool had tried to find two other times. It is not in the best of locations, but it is a clever hide and this time she found it right away. I was the recipient of her good fortune this time because I'm not sure I would have caught on to that location for the cache.
Some twelve hours after I left my house I arrived back home with just enough energy left over to log all the caches before crashing for the night.
posted by Miragee at
11:03:00 PM
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10-Day Forecast
