Blog Template Musings about Geocaching: 2005-06-12

Musings about Geocaching

Saturday, June 18, 2005

An update on the blog status

As much as I have enjoyed writing about my cache adventures and posting the pictures, the weather has improved and I'm finding it harder to set aside the time for this.

I will still try to post my caching adventures when I can.

Thanks to all of you who have been logging in and reading.

Friday, June 17, 2005

An update on a recent caching trip

A week ago REI had their great used-gear sale. I met a friend there and afterwards we went to get a nearby cache owned by a friend of mine. HMMMmmmmm! What I thought would be an easy grab resulted in a DNF after a lengthy search.

Without really planning our next caches, we just went to the nearest one according to the GPSr. It was an easy find. The next nearest cache was located in a canyon. I'm finally learning about these and how difficult it is to gain access. Most of the canyons in the San Diego area are surrounded by residential neighborhoods with cheek by jowl private property lines. I've driven around and around these areas with the GPSr saying the cache is only 258 feet away without finding any way to access the cache location.

So, after some of this driving around, we finally found a recreation area that offered a trail into one section of Tecolote canyon. We found "Druid Hollow" cache. In fact, I didn't even have to look for it. It was sitting in its spot completely exposed. After signing the log, I replaced it and hid it with some bark and leaves.

The next cache in the canyon was the "TecoloteMagnetExchange." This fabulous tree is located just downhill from the cache location.





It was somewhat ironic that I didn't have a magnet to exchange because when I started out Geocaching that is what most of my trades were. I got a whole bunch of refrigerator magnets at a Thrift Store and those were my early swag items.

We attempted to walk to another cache, but it turned out to be too difficult from the canyon, so we walked back to the car, getting a bit "lost" and losing the trail back to the parking area at one place.

I've found that sometimes I look at the Navigation arrow so much on the initial cache hunt that I forget to make note of the trail and general surroundings as I would without the GPSr in my hand.

Maybe setting a waypoint for the car, even in such an urban setting, is a good idea . . .

Two cache-busy days this week and one not-so-busy day

Tuesday and Wednesday were marathon days again with 14 caches on Tuesday, when we went out to Lakeside and then up Wildcat Canyon to the Oakoasis Preserve, and 15 on Wednesday, when we went up to the Poway area. Wednesday was a very good day with not a single DNF.

Wish I could say that about today. I needed to go in to San Diego to pick up a friend who was having work done on his vehicle. We DNFd three caches and only found four. It takes a lot of time to DNF a cache compared to looking at the arrow on the GPSr, glancing around for a likely hiding spot, then grabbing the cache, signing the log, and returning the cache to its place.

Two of the three caches we DNFd today are ones I'm not likely to return to unless I get a very generous hint from someone. In fact, even with a hint, I might not return to the one that is near a phone in front of a grocery store.

I like caches that show me something new I couldn't have found on my own. Pay phones and grocery stores I already know about . . .


 

Web Counters
Office Max Coupon