Last cache(s) for 2009

I couldn't stand it anymore as I have really been enjoying this game again for some reason (mostly because I don't have to worry about snakes!), so before I got together with some friends in the afternoon, I decided to take Hope out to the area we were at a few days ago, Rossmoor Park in Rancho Cordova. We hiked about 4 miles.

Here are a few pictures from today (the pics aren't that good as they were taken with my camera phone as unfortunately I had left my camera in the car:

Hope at one of the caches:

And, another one that was really cool, it was an ammo can, but it had a really old Brownie camera in it. The cache owner requested that finders take a picture with the camera, so of course I took a picture of Hope!

A little closer up, the camera is to the right of Hope, next to my GPS.

Total cache count for the day, seven...my total is now 1,007.

The big milestone - 1,000 finds!

A little over 3 years ago I started geocaching. Over the past few years, my interest in it has ebbed and flowed. It seemed kinda silly when I first read about it, but once I started, I really liked it, even though most of my friends probably think I'm a little "whacked".

I love that it has taken me to a lot of places that I would have never found had it not been for this "silly" game and I have even learned some history (from virtual caches) and geology (from earthcaches). I have hiked, climbed huge hills, climbed hills, hiked 10 miles, and kayaked to find caches. It provides me time to get away, get some exercise, but still use my brain. That's what is so fun about it...

What don't I like? I prefer doing caches in non-urban areas where I can hike, but I hate going during snake season as there are way too many rattlesnakes hanging out in this area. I love taking the dogs, but hate dragging them through the stickers and having to deal with ticks that they sometimes get as most geocaches are off the beaten path. So that limits me a good part of the year.

But, here I am at the edge of getting my 1,000th find. I was a little worried that it might rain today. But the morning was just damp and foggy, a perfect day for caching and getting my 1,000th find! I had been plotting with my friend Wetpaws as to what cache I should try for and she sent me the link for one called "California Gold Rush" that was in Rancho Cordova near the river in Rossmor Park, an area I had never been to before.

When we first got there, there were several local sheriffs, a Code Enforcement Officer, and an Animal Control officer. Something was going on, and we found out that there was a loose Ram that was getting into the neighborhood that they were trying to wrangle. The Animal Control Officer even asked us if either of our dogs could herd. We just laughed and said they were retrievers, not herding dogs so would probably not be much help. Haha.

The cache was a multi-cache with several stages. I won't give anything away, but each stage was unique and I saw some new hiding techniques that I've never seen used before. There was a lot of work and effort that was put into making this cache. It was fun doing it with someone else too as I'm so used to caching alone. Two sets of eyes and "geo-sense" is much better than one, we worked together well, even though a couple of times we had to back-track a bit.

It really felt good to hit the milestone since I haven't cached much lately. I think I've caught the bug again! :-)

Here's a picture of Hope and Maggie near one of the stages...(blurred out on purpose so as not to give anything away, never know who might see this!)

1,000 and beyond....

Closing in on 1,000

I am closing in on that 1000th cache!

A few weekends ago, I went out to Bannister Park with Hope to grab a few more to get me closer to that 1,000th find. This is a picture of Hope at a cache that I went out to a few years ago with some friends which we could not find after several minutes of looking. Today, I found it in 2 minutes, its funny how that happens...sometimes you just wonder how you can miss something so big!

I also found a Letterbox Hybrid out there. There's so much stuff to keep track of when logging a letterbox, stamp my stamp in the cache's logbook, stamp the stamp from the cache in my logbook (because I like to keep track of each Letterbox I find on a waterproof tablet). Hope just got tired of waiting and laid down, haha.

These are all the stamps/logbooks from the cache...

Hope says, "Are you done yet? Can I just go for a swim now?"

A few days ago, I knew I was going to try to get together with Wetpaws for my milestone cache, so I went out to an area by Folsom City Park / Rodeo / Zoo and found 6 more caches to put me at 999 finds. It had just rained last night and was actually still drizzling when I left with Hope to find these caches.

I had been out to this area before a while back, but there were a bunch of new caches I had not yet found. One of them was a cache by the River near where we kayak, where Hope and I had to do some scrambling on the rocks to get to Ground Zero. Well, it was probably not the smartest thing to do as the rocks were not only slippery from last night's rain, but the moss on the rocks was really slick too. Even though my hiking boots have pretty good traction, I had to be very careful so I wouldn't fall and break my neck! It took a while to find the cache as there were so many hiding places and I also realized I had tried for this cache when it had first gotten published a few years ago, but I spotted a snake close by so I gave up looking. Some things are just not worth it!

Onward and upward to 1,000.... :-)

Hiking and caching at Salmon Falls

Hope and I did a 5-mile hike along the Salmon Falls Trail yesterday morning. My original intent was to get another Snookered clue (that's the cache where I have to find the A, B, C caches then find the D cache which gives you one digit for the final cache), but after driving to Pilot Hill, it turns out the campground was closed for the season. Drats! I think a lot of these parks are closed because of the California budget cuts. I figured I would stop at Salmon Falls to hike instead and both of the Folsom SRA parking lots were closed too. Guess my State Parks pass is not as valuable now that I can hardly use it.

We did find a dirt parking lot off the trail (where I could use my pass). It was a nice leisurely hike, except full of mountain bikers so I was constantly moving over to let them pass as the trail was really narrow. I don't think I'll hike this trail anymore because of that. Oh well, it was good to go on another trail and I picked up four caches along the way.

I tried to find some spots for Hope to swim, but the river was nowhere to be found in many of the areas or not very easy to get to without wading through lots of grass/stickers. Not that either of would have minded, but I was more worried about her picking up ticks more than anything.

Here's a few pictures of Hope that I took. Since there is very little water now, the Magic Bridge is really visible in the background. We probably hiked another 1/2 mile from where this picture was taken and then turned around. (You might have to click on the picture to see the Bridge in the background).

Here is a spot near where we got one cache, as you can see, no river for Hope to swim in here. She was disappointed!

This is a picture I took from one of the caches I found, the last 100 feet or so was trudging up a steep hill towards a huge boulder where an ammo can was hidden. It had a Terrain 3 level of difficulty, well deserved. As you can see in the picture, there was hardly a trail leading up to the cache, halfway up the hill, I just told Hope to wait for me. I'm glad I got this now as after it rains, it will be dangerous as it was so steep and slippery, plus the cache was in a bunch of rocks, not good when it's snake season!

5 miles, 4 caches, my finds are up to 990 now. The huge 1000 find milestone is just around the corner! I can smell it!

Geocaching in Taterland

Well, I should have been out shopping or pulling out the Christmas tree and decorations from the garage, but it was too nice of a day not to take Hope out for a hike out by the river. I also had an ulterior motive, I am approaching my 1,000th cache find and was thinking it would be fun to pick up a few caches I need for the Snookered series (GCYXVV), as maybe I can get the final cache for my milestone. So this morning Hope and I headed out in search of a couple of "D" caches I had the coordinates for, but haven't found yet as they are both located in snake territory. Now that (hopefully!) the snakes are snoozing, it is safe to go out - but I still take my hiking stick to poke around just in case.

This series has been a blast as its taken me to some places I would have never known about. This series requires you to find 44 caches in total to get the coordinates for the final cache. For each number in the GPS coordinates, you have to find an "A", "B", and "C" cache which gives you clues to find the "D" cache, which then gives you one of the numbers for the final coordinates to the final cache.

Today, we found one of the caches at Sailor Bar and I found a couple of new swimming holes for Hope that were nice. Here's a few pictures of her during one of our swimming stops...

Hope says, "Throw the stick, will 'ya?"...

We then headed over to another area called "Taterland" which is saturated with geocaches, but is full of "Folsom Potatoes", huge piles of cobble left over the the dredging for gold that took place in the area during the Gold Rush. Here is what the potatoes look like and what Hope and I climbed through today. I think Hope was pretty tired at this point as we had hikes a few miles at the other location, she swam a bunch, and we had just climbed through some of those rock piles in the background...

This picture made me laugh, its kind of like a "Where's Waldo" picture...."Where's Hope?" and "Where's the Cache"?? :-)

I also found an Earthcache today in Taterland that was near one of the caches I found. I still have to email the cache owner before I can log that cache. Not exactly sure of the answers, so hopefully he'll let me log.

My count is 985 now (986 if I get permission to log the earthcache)....getting to 1,000, slowly but surely!

Hiking and caching with friends

It is now November, and Hope and I finally got some caching in with our geocaching friends, Wetpaws and Waterlassie. We hit the Rattlesnake Bar area in Loomis and found 7 caches, it was the first time I was ever here. Lots of nice trails, so we'll be back. Unfortunately, the dogs (Hope, Kane, and Guinness (who I was puppysitting)) all had ticks on them, so we had to do a thorough tick check when we got back.

The next day, we went hiking with a muggle friend, so we only found one cache after we were done hiking along the river. This is a picture of the four dogs, Hope, Kane, Toddy, and Linar. Toddy is Hope's mom, Linar is Kane's mom, Toddy is Kane's grandma, and Hope is Kane's aunt. Hope is also distantly related to Linar. Guess its a family tree on a tree! :-)

The day after, we went to Cronan Ranch with the dogs and I found 12 caches, it was a beautiful day and another day of walking through stickers. I love Cronan Ranch as the half-way point is the river, so we were able to take a nice break and let the dogs swim.

This is on the way to the river. From left to right: Kane, Hope, and Maggie

Hope poses on a rock down by the river...

We were still rather cautious about reaching into spaces where snakes hang out. Even though the weather is cooler now, it is still wise to be careful just in case. We had a great afternoon, and came home with our socks full of stickers.

Wetpaws hit her 1500th cache, I'm closing in on my 1000th...almost there.

Geocaching in Pomona

The one thing I like about geocaching is that it gives you something to do when you have some time to kill. Last weekend, I went to L.A. for a HOPE AACR callout. My friend Mary and her dog Mason, were competing in a Splashdogs dock jumping event at the L.A. County Fairgrounds. I didn't really feel like hanging out for 6+ hours, so I took Hope for a hike at Frank Bonelli Park near the fairgrounds.

I figured there would be geocaches in the park so we went hunting for them as we hiked in the park. It was very HOT and we climbed up a steep hill to get to a few of them. The views from up top were great, but Hope and I were tired and beat as we reached the top of the hill. It probably didn't help that I hadn't eaten all day either!

Here's a couple of pictures of Hope with a couple of our finds for the day...yay, I like ammo boxes...

Hope says, "I found it mom!"

We found 4 geocaches that day, we are up to #959 finds now! :-)

Just killing time...

The one nice thing about geocaching is it gives you something to do when you have time to kill. I had loaded up my GPS with some caches for Costa Mesa/Irvine where I was staying a few weeks ago when I took the dogs down there for a disaster drill and our HOPE meeting. 

There was one I just couldn't pass up, it was right by the hotel where I was staying. I guess my "geo-sense" is bad since I don't cache much anymore, it took me a long time to find it, but at least I did.

After the dogs had finished playing evacuee dogs in a disaster drill, I felt I owed them a walk and some chill time.  Plus, we had some time to kill before we were meeting up with friends.  I found a nearby bike trail that looked like a nice place to walk the dogs, turned on the GPS and the trail was littered with caches.  We had a nice walk along a nice bike trail and found 3 caches, not bad for a 30 minute walk.

954 caches found, getting close to the big milestone!

Las Vegas caching!

I guess you should never travel without a GPS! I sure wish I had mine this past weekend when I was in Las Vegas. There are hundreds of caches hidden in Vegas. There was a Virtual cache at the Stratosphere where we were staying, so luckily I was able to at least get one.

I wish I had looked at the geocaching site before we went to the Strip as there were a ton of virtuals I probably could have gotten if I had known about them even without a GPS.

Oh well, next time I guess...I'm up to 950 finds now :-)

Night Caching

A week or so ago, I went on my first night cache, what a blast! My geocaching/therapy dog/hiking friend Wetpaws called me up one weekend to see if I wanted to go with a group that was going out that night to a new cache called "Nocturnal Immersion" (GC14NZQ).

This cache will go down as one of my all-time favorites, and not just because it was a night cache, but because of the creativity that went into the cache. They made an actual YouTube video that you watched and there was an MP3 file that you downloaded and listened to while out on the hunt which provided directions to make it to the stages of the cache which then led to the final cache. I'm not going to go into details as that would spoil the fun, but it was totally creative the way they put things together to find each of the stages.

The fun part of a night cache is that you bring flashlights and there are reflectors on the trees that follow from tree to tree by shining a flashlight at eye level. It was so cool, that was the easy part, the reflectors were surprisingly easy to see, but you definitely had to have a strong flashlight. This particular cache was hidden in Folsom by Lake Natoma on a path I have travelled on a lot. It was weird being out there in the pitch black, but a blast with the group. I was a little worried about snakes, but luckily we didn't run into any!

The other cool part about this cache was that I got to meet a few of the local cachers whose caches I have found. I was probably the rookie in the group as these cachers have thousands of finds and have hidden a ton of caches in the area. There was a cacher named: a_friend_of_dorothy who was the first cacher I ever met...she works at REI and was the instructor of the geocaching class I took which got me started in this crazy activity more than a few years ago. It was great seeing her again and I think she was happy I liked it enough to keep doing it.

Here's a picture of the group out there that night:

Next time I am out on that trail, I'm going to see if I can figure out where exactly each of the stages were located. I'm sure things look a lot different during the day than they do at night with no reflectors visible to lead the way.

Travel Bug movement - finally!

I picked up a Travelbug while visiting my caching friend, waterlassie, back in December.  It had a goal of going to Costa Rica.  At the time I had been thinking of a trip to Costa Rica with a friend so I grabbed the TB from her thinking I could help it reach its goal.  Fast forward a few months, because the bad economy (ie, possibility of layoffs) and because I never got my butt in gear to plan the trip, it never happened.

Since the TB was a kayak, I decided I would place it in a cache I had found previously by kayak. Last week when I was out paddling, I had it with me with plans to drop it off, but the water was so high, there was no place to land my boat and nothing to tie it off even if I landed the boat. I don't do stupid things when I'm paddling by myself...why risk the possibility of having my boat drift off just to drop off a TB?

Well, today was the day.  I had actually taken Hope for a hike near the cache site in the morning and because the water was so low, there was plenty of beach to park the boat without any risk of it drifting off.  So I dropped off the TB - finally!  This is a picture of the TB on the way to the cache site.

Here is the bug on the beach near the cache site (its sitting on the branch, which also doubled as Hope's swimming stick!)...


On another note, Molly's TB has now traveled to a cache in St. Louis! Several weeks ago I had checked on the geocaching website to see if anybody had visited the cache she was sitting in. To my dismay, the cache had been archived. I immediately wrote to the cache owner to see if he had removed the container and if he could send the TB back to me. It turns out that the cache owner's son had taken her TB and had dropped it in a cache in St. Louis, but did not log it properly. So hopefully whoever picks her up will log it properly when they pick it up. I'm glad she's at least still moving....

Hiking in Auburn

Hope and I were invited on a hike in Auburn with some other geocachers. It was so funny how I met geocacher WetPaws through a series of connections: Lend a Heart, CCI Crab Feed, and now geocaching.  I have found several of her caches, even part of the Snookered series. She recognized my geocaching name too. Her dog, Maggie, is a Lend A Heart dog.

The hike was short and it was a good thing as it started to rain when we reached our lunchspot near a waterfall.  Oh well, it certainly didn't ruin the day.  It was kind of fun to meet some other geocachers too. And, we even found one cache along the trail.

Here's a picture of Hope with her new friend Maggie, who life revolves around hiking, geocaching, and pet therapy -- just like Hope!  They will become buddies I'm sure...