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!