TheLoneGrangers

I really enjoy reading peoples trip reports (or the great logs of those epic caches) I thought it would be a good idea for people to share thier really good log entries of geocaches they had to hike to or backpack to get. It doesn't even have to be geocache specific, I'm sure many of you have great stories to share of your adventures. I will share mine, out of 400 finds, "Turtle Head Peak" Cache was my first real adventurous cache its located in Red Rock Canyon Nevada near Las Vegas...here is my log entry: "Out of 400+ Geocaches grabbing a smiley for this one, has to be my first real challenging adventure. I had orginally had leave planned for March, but work issues came up and I had to reschedule leave starting on Memorial Day weekend. Luckily for me it was duty related and the air lines reimbursied our tickets. Also very lucky it was well below normal temperatures, in the 80's and windy. For me this 5 mile hike with 2300ft elevation gain, was going to be epic and challenging. Not because I am old or out of shape (I'm 35 and 215) it's because I've never hiked in the desert before, I've never climbed up a mountain before, and I have never gone hiking solo before. I've hiked alot of places in South Carolina in the forests and parks, and nothing has compared to this. I was well prepared, and took all necessary precautions, I packed the "10 essentials" (minus shelter lol) in my camel pak. My wife knew which trail head I was starting at and each geocache I was going for, and a estimated time to the car. (cell phone does work in places on this trail) Well I thought I was well prepared, my 2 liters of water in the camel pak, ran out half way back down...it's really dry out here lol. The first 1.5 miles is realtively flat and in a riverbed except for the detours to grab the other caches on the trail.(they all are must do's IMO) The scenery and views are just amazing. Once you get to the cache "Turtle Stop" is when the elevation starts to pick up and there really isn't a primary trail at this point, Alot of people have blazed thier own way up. There was some minor bouldering involved and some minor scrambling in places. (My bouldering was on the way back down, I picked the wrong way, and didn't want to go around.) So its not necessary. I climbed down with 3 Navy guys that beat me to the top by 10 feet...not cool. Very Steep after you get to the saddle, I had to rest every 100 ft or so just to catch my breath! (give me a break I live at 250ft elevation) I went straight for the summit, at this point it was more of a reward then the cache. Amazing 360 degree views. Spent about 45 minutes at the top, rested, signed the summit registery, ate some cliff bars and jerky...and told the leader of the 3 Navy guys, that I came up here because of geocaching (had to explain it to him briefly) and he went with me to find it. (I offered them a ride to thier car as they were parked on the other side of the park) I told him I wasn't coming up here and NOT get it, so they could wait for me here, wait for me at the bottom or come find it with me. The guy that went with me didn't seem very interested in it, even though he found it before I could! lol I offered to him to sign the log and he declined. I was stationed at Nellis from 96-99 so before geocaching, but I had only came up to Red Rock one time, and I drove around the loop and that was it. The Navy guy said at the top "Most people just drive around the road and take pictures, we are at the top" that sums up my experiance...I used to just drive around and take pictures. I started off about 1030 got to the top around 4, got back to the car a little after 5...got 9 caches in total...didnt find "Turtle Stop", I didn't go for "Avengers Realm Cache #7" (I felt it was too risky alone), and discovered that a new cache "The Burning Bush" was placed the day before my hike, and my files were from the day before that. To think I could of had a FTF! Thank you for placing a cache up here, this was a very rewarding hike and I am very proud of accomplishing it. Next year I would like to get to the top of Le Madre, but I don't want to do that one solo. I will add some photos later when I get home from work"

THIS!

Entire thread +1 LOL

And, if they are like some of the Earthcaches out there, where I have to write a term paper in order to log them, they will go on my Ignore list. Or have to pay to visit like some EC's and virtuals are. I ignore them too. +100

There is this really special telephone pool down the street from my house, I CANT WAIT to make it a virtual, its a really special pole to me, I mean i wreaked my car on it and survived (ok not really but its funny) (to me) lol

wish link worked at work. sadly the air force doesnt allow to read blog related sites lol

Are you looking for a serious answer? Or just to have your cache police attitude reinforced? (Okay. That was harsh.) How do you know the cache needed NA? Was the tree cut down? Is the field now a WalMart? Or you just could not find it? Not enough information here. There are lots of NM for stupid reasons. I see lots for "I could not find it. It must be missing." A CO is not required to perform maintenance just because someone could not find it, and posted NM. "no CO response and hasn't been found in over a year and a half" is NOT a valid reason for NA. Many COs know their caches (not to say all). So explain in realistic terms why you thought the cache deserved NA. You have not given a good reason yet. Yes. There are cranky COs who never do maintenance. Does this CO have such a record? I agree

Ticks and ran into a gator sunning near the trail

by reading some of these comments I imagine some of you dont like virtuals lol

heres a little frustrating story. My wife and I went camping a couple weeks ago, first time for us, first time since we were both teenagers, we are in our 30s. Went on the hike to get the 7 caches on the trail, some were 4 star terrain. All were gone, cache owner of two has already confirmed they are gone and disabled them, so i know they all were taken. it sucked bad lol

My GeoJeep 2007 Wrangler Unlimited

knock on wood, but i have only had minor scrapes and scratches, and so far this spring 3 run ins with poison ivy, i know what it looks like i just get focused on the cache! lol

Yes...search LBC? no pictures I am afraid though

you didn't waste your time or 4 bucks in gas, you would go find it if it was a FTF or a 3 year old cache

we are issued permethrin in the military when we deployed and we are required to use it, you are suppose to soak your clothes in it, best in a trash bag tied up and placed outside.

GEOGERMS, I'd say thats eerie similar

An all purpose tool such as a leatherman or swiss army knife which contains screw drivers could be potentially useful. I've seen more than one cache that required a special tool to open the container. The fact that the cache is rated a 4 for difficulty would justify it taking several hours and a possible return visit to "find" the cache. Using a 4 star for terrain because the equipment/tool is less specialized than scuba, climbing equipment, or a watercraft seems to me to be a misuse of the rating. I also wouldn't consider the use of a 4WD vehicle as a justification for a 5 star rating. Although there may be an access road to the cache which requires 4WD, it must might mean a long walk for someone that doesn't have a vehicle with 4WD. Dont beat me up to much Im still rather new lol

Mom N Andy, thanks for the link, I just bought one.

If you don't like lamp post hides don't go find them, I can find a quality cache out of the 100s of lamp post caches pretty much anywhere I go.

to me if its a 4 for T, you shouldn't need any specialized equipment (ie. climbing gear, scuba, water craft, 4wd) Those should all be 5's. Now if its a 4 and you need equipment, then I would take tweezers and a flashlight, maybe a mirror.....If you need gear I mentioned above to get this cache and its a 4 then its incorrectly rated.

so give us an update? find any good hiking caches?

as of today I can no longer search by my home address, only by city or zip, BS

I agree A & J you have to pick your battles, and this isn't one of them.

A little over 15 years active duty Air Force. Currently stationed as Shaw AFB SC. I am a weapons armament technician ( i load bomb and maintain/repair the weapons system on the F-16 currently) I have been stationed in Germany, Korea, and Nevada. I have deployed to Saudi Arabia for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. I have been to Turkey shortly after 9-11 for Operation Northern Watch, which by the way was the reason I decided to reenlist and stay in...and I was in Iraq in 2008.. putting warheads on foreheads is what we say...or without weapons just another airline. Currently I work as a Group Deployment Manager for the last year and a half, and have deployed many people to Iraq and Afghanistan. 5 years to go and I am counting the days, too early? lol to clarify above, I currently am at a F-16 base, but I could be assigned to any aircraft in the Air Force that has a weapon systems, from UAVs to B-52s. And 9-11 was the reason I stayed in, not going to Turkey lol

lol....i didnt think about this...and I'm the guy sitting at the laptop while my wife is watching Survivor or amazing race and saying I bet there is caches there and looking them up lol