Musings about Geocaching: Back in Colorado for the first time in sixteen years

After leaving Canyon de Chelly, I drove to Four Corners and into Colorado, the state I was raised in and where I went to college. I moved away many years ago and had not been back since 1990 when I made a trip for medical reasons.

I was going to do the Four Corners Virtual cache, but the cache is on Navajo land and there is a $3.00 fee to get to the Monument now . . .

Although I was traveling on a very tight budget, and hadn't planned on spending $3.00, the fee wasn't the entire reason I didn't proceed. The nearby signs were very off-putting to me. Among other things, the signs said: "Not responsible for bodily injury."

So, I reluctantly turned around and continued on my way, marveling at the fantastic scenery that still looked like New Mexico, but was quickly beginning to look like "Colorful Colorado."

Just outside of Cortez, I found my first Colorado cache, Nature's Preserve. Since I used to own horses, I traded for a little plastic horse I found in the large ammo can that overlooked a little park and lake.

From Cortez, I continued on to Durango, a town I almost moved to in 1976. As I drove around and looked at all the wonderful old buildings, I thought about what my life might have been like if I had moved there. During my brief visit that year, I took a float trip down the river that flows through town.

I found one cache up on a hill near the cemetary. I circled around and around before finally seeing that container.

I tried to find another cache hidden near this very cool suspension bridge, but alas, I couldn't find the micro . . .

I did get some pictures of these kayakers enjoying the beautiful day.

Durango was so inviting on this visit, I had regret about not making the move there so many years ago . . .

After getting a new fuel canister for my little stove at a very cool store like a mini R.E.I., I hit the highway again, heading for a cache at a fantastic viewpoint on Wolf Creek Pass. Since I use the Smart Name feature in GSAK, I often don't read the cache description in my Palm before looking for the cache, so I walked the couple hundred feet to the location and searched and searched and searched for the container that had the "U" designation, for "Unknown" on the GPSr.

The view fromn the cache location was spectacular.

I considered the cache a "Found It" because of that, although I would have logged a DNF . . . that is until I read the cache description. The cache owner changed the cache to a "Virtual," although not officially, because by that time in the evolution of GC.com, new Virtuals were not being approved.

That little misadventure might have taught me to read the cache descriptions before starting the search . . .

I continued my drive, finding a roadside cache with a White Jeep in it! I couldn't believe my fortune. Other than the "precious," the container was nearly empty of swag. As I mention in another post, here in the San Diego area, the Jeep T.B.s are usually only put in very difficult puzzle caches, or at the end of very long hikes.

I also found a cool Virtual cache I wouldn't have stopped to enjoy if it wasn't for Geocaching.

Once again, I didn't know where I was going to spend the night, but I was able to make the drive to the campground at Great Sand Dunes National Monument, after dark, and after seeing some deer on the roadway, and after taking this picture of the fantastic sunset.

After arriving at the campsite, and seeing the bear box, and all the warnings about black bears, I decided not to set up my tent. I rearranged all the stuff in my car so I could sleep in it . . .