drofrockology

hi bill, et al: it seems i can't write a short email message. so, let me pontificate: the rally is coming along swimmingly! rick and i have been out refining the course; we're taking our last plotting run for the next rally. the nevada rally v. 0.1 will take place october 3, 2009 in fallon, nevada; the site of the world's first geocache navigational rally. i have refined the rules from the rally that i previously produced to make them easier to understand and bring more geocaching elements into the event; there will be no competition between 2-, 3-, or 4-person teams: each category will have its own champions. the caches will be concealed more than the previous rallies, too. since i'm starting from scratch with no support from gbes, or any other club, we do not yet have a 'real' website. we do, however, have a blog with many details on how the event is coming together, how to enter and what to expect for october and the coming years. nevada rally blog. beginning may, 2010, we will be producing two rallies every year: one in the spring and one in the fall. all of the fall rallies are limited to just 15 teams and beginning in 2010 the fall rallies will be open only to those who have participated in a previous nevada rally; an invitational event. the spring rallies will be limited to 40 entries. entry fees for the nevada rally v. 0.1: two person team: $130 three person team: $195 four person team: $260 there will be approximately 50 gc.com approved caches hidden along the route, plus the event cache, which is open to anyone who comes to sign the log. instead of two days the new rally will be just one; we'll start noonish to 1ish and go into the night until 10ish with a hot meal waiting for you and your team at one of the checkpoints. you can always email me if you have questions: montywolf@gmail.com

hi teams: according to my brother, my mailbox has been full for the past couple of mail delivery days. the reason i don’t personally know that is because i was called away on an emergency to the coast. when i left nevada last wednesday, i thought i would be back by sunday. now it looks like i won’t be back until this saturday. i want everyone to rest at ease about your entries! my brother, “ivan, devil in my ear”, is hand numbering each entry as they arrive so i can determine which entries came in first. sorry to have to put a one week delay on this, but life intervened. as soon as i return to fallon i will make sure each of you knows about your respective entries. i apologize for any stress this may have caused you. you’ll be hearing from me in the coming days. monty

hi teams: the provisional nevada rally rules for 2009 are now available for download. the only anticipated changes to the rules they way the read right now is the method officials will score the event. those, and any, changes will be noted when they are finished. i'm releasing the rules as they stand right now so you can get a chance to see what has changed from previous rallies that i have produced and what is similar. download the rules in doc. http://montywolf.fileave.com/rules.doc download the rules in pdf. http://montywolf.fileave.com/rules.pdf any questions? send me an email: montywolf@gmail.com

hi teams: entry forms for the nevada rally – v. 0.1, october 3, 2009, are now available to download. read the following carefully: doc and pdf files are available for both team entries and individual entries: team doc team pdf individual doc individual pdf do not mail your entry forms prior to april 30, 2009. entry forms postmarked prior to april 30, 2009 will be returned. only 15 team entries will be accepted, first come: first served. team entry forms must be submitted with payment: $130 for two-person teams; $195 for three-person teams; $260 for four-person teams. payment must be by check, money order or certified check made payable to: the nevada rally. send your entry to: monty wolf c/o gillette 5499 casey rd. fallon, nv 89406 individual entry forms do not need to be submitted with team entries until august 31, 2009. if you are not certain how many individuals will make up your team, you may submit the team entry form and fee for a two-person team at this time and amend your entry and pay the additional fee prior to august 31, 2009. entry fees are fully refundable prior to august 31, 2009. provisional rulebooks will be available for download in the coming days. the only changes that will take place to the rules as they stand right now is the wording on how the rally will be scored by the officials. the intention of each rule will not change. if you have any questions or concerns, just send me an email: montywolf@gmail.com.

now that i have moved back to the silver state, i have been requested to get back into the rally business. so, there will be an off-road navigational rally in nevada this year after all based around geocaching on saturday, october 3, 2009 in fallon. the date is now locked-in. i’m still working on host hotel (rally hq) and a place for our awards breakfast. awards breakfast, you ask? that’s right! the nevada rally will take place in one day with the first car off of the starting line early afternoon (1pm or 2pm) with the first car scheduled to cross the finish line at around 10pm. there will be a meal break, included in the entry fee, at about the halfway point. the awards breakfast will begin late sunday morning on october 4th at a time to make it easy to get out of bed after a day and night full of desert explorations and still get home in time for dinner. entry fee will be in the neighborhood of $125-$130 for a two-person team, plus $65ish for each additional team member. the nevada rally will have 3 competition categories and one non-competition category: 2-person teams 3-person teams 4-person teams cruisers (non-competition) up to 4 members championship awards will go to the top three finishers in each category. there will also be inter-club competition for the highest point average for each club. there is one limitation to this first rally: we are only accepting 15 teams for this inaugural event. beginning in may, 2010 we will be conducting 2 rallies per year: one in the spring for up to 40-teams and one in the fall for only 15-teams. i will be making entry forms available in the next couple of weeks. the 15 available slots will not last long. entries are first come: first served. if you are interested in participating or being a volunteer contact me directly montywolf@gmail.com and i will get you on the mailing list. you can also keep up to date on developments by hitting the nevada rally blog. once i set the host hotel (rally hq) and breakfast locats i will establish an event page with geocaching. you can sign the event log for the nevada rally by attending the breakfast, participating, spectating, volunteering or just dropping by hq to say hi. there will be approximately 50 approved geocaches hidden along the route. registration will be open to suv’s and trucks equipped with 4-wheel drive and low-range, dune buggies and atv’s/utv’s that legally seat 2 people. any questions? montywolf@gmail.com

the problem i see with a cache like this is: it will inspire more geocachers, who have also not taken the time to read the guidelines for placing a cache, to do something similar. recently, i had the opportunity to go caching with a cache approver, when the subject of buried caches came up. apparently , the rule has nothing to do with the difficulty of the hide but rights of the property owner. and even if said property is blm land, i can tell you that after dealing with the bureaucracy for the past four-years that their greatest concern regarding geocaches on public lands is that they are being buried. a hole was, indeed, required to place this cache! therefore, it is not a proper cache! the wooden box the cache was enclosed in was built very well. however, that does not change anything regarding the rules. you have chosen an area to hide "sage one" that is frequented by motorcycle and atv riders and juvenile party-types. i'd suggest that, if you really want to place a cache in this particular area, you get creative with camouflage and rehide the cache under a new name. or, find another hiding location; there are a myriad choices within just a short distance from this soon-to-be neighborhood.

try going here the page will not say anything about gbes but i tried my tracking # and got my code even though i've already activated it. are you sure the code wasn't in envelope? monty wolf

oops! i was looking at a broadcast calender; they begin on monday instead of sunday. no excuse for forgeting monday is columbus day. except maybe that i wasn't in the grape stomp contest this year for the italian festival in reno yesterday. no, i'm going to have a drink and forget how the taladega race ended. monty

gbes geocachers, nevada's oldest geocaching group, is pleased to announce that the 2006 gbes rally coins are now in stock and ready for shipment! orders for which payment has already been received will be mailed monday, oct. 8. there are a very limited number of coins left! the coins are trackable on gc.com and have the gbes logo as the coin's icon. if you'd like to see what the coin's icon (which is the gbes "the petro-dude" against the "silver state") looks like in actual application go here. too get another look at the coin go here. the image on the coin's obverse is the petro dude and silver state in 3-dimension and the reverse is a map image of the 2006 gbes geocaching and navigational rally courses in 2-dimension. both sides are rope-edged and covered with protective epoxy. the coins are $10 each, $1.00 shipping for the first coin and .50 for each additional coin, domestic shipping, with a limit of 10 coins. for canadian or overseas orders contact dale_harding@sbcglobal.netfor shipping fees. make paypal payments to our account: gbesevents@gmail.com paypal users add $.60 for the first coin and .30 for each additional coin. mail orders to: gbes geocachers po box 307 sparks, nv 89432-0307 payments made with money orders or cashiers checks will be sent upon reciept of payment. payments made with personal checks will be shipped when the check clears the bank. thank you for supporting gbes! monty wolf (dr. of rockology) gbes geocachers, president

the 2006 gbes rally coins are now in stock and ready for shipment! orders for which payment has already been received will be mailed monday, oct. 8. there are a very limited number of coins left! the coins are trackable on gc.com and have the gbes logo as the coin's icon. if you'd like to see what the coin's icon, "the petro-dude," looks like in actual application go here too get another look at the coin go here: the coins are $10 each, $1.00 shipping for the first coin and .50 for each additional coin, domestic shipping, with a limit of 10 coins. for canadian or overseas orders contact dale_harding@sbcglobal.netfor shipping fees. make paypal payments to our account: gbesevents@gmail.com paypal users add $.60 for the first coin and .30 for each additional coin. mail orders to: gbes geocachers po box 307 sparks, nv 89432-0307 payments made with money orders or cashiers checks will be sent upon reciept of payment. payments made with personal checks will be shipped when the check clears the bank. thank you for supporting gbes! monty wolf (dr. of rockology) gbes geocachers, president

a full 2/3 of the gbes geocaching and navigational rally have now been sold. don't wait, they'll all be gone soon! http://gbesgeo.org/rally_coin.htm

it's sure a good thing you ordered yours already, lynn. as of this afternoon, half of the coins are already sold! they're hot! monty

order them quickly! as of this afternoon, half of the coins are now sold! get 'em while they're hot and still available!

just wanted everyone to know that the great basin & eastern sierra geocachers are now accepting orders for their new geocoin. you can see and order it here. the coin is trackable on gc.com and is a very limited edition coin. thank you. monty wolf

just wanted everyone to know that the great basin & eastern sierra geocachers are now accepting orders for their new geocoin. you can see and order it here. the coin is trackable on gc.com and is a very limited edition coin. thank you. monty wolf

beat this: http://gov.state.nv.us/PROCLAMATIONS/2005/...GEOCACHEDAY.htm monty wolf

here in the reno/carson city/lake tahoe area of northern nevada we have 2 or 3 serial caches. i own one of the series which is dedicated to my comedic heroes the firesign theatre. however, the caches in this series are disapearing as fast as i can replace them. so, they are all being archived as they go missing. eventually, the mystery cache will have its coord's listed on the cache page. i think it will remain safe as a 4-wheel drive vehicle is required to reach the cache site. i suspect the cache burgler is just a street person. up to now, you had to find the 16 hint caches in order find the final cache. monty wolf

yeah, i love it, dale! i like the idea of the big horn sheep. it is the state animal. unless you count nv wolf as an animal. monty

due to popular demand members of the gbes admin group will be traveling to the sacramento area to conduct a session of rally schools and to quiet any concerns over how difficult the rally will be. we've narroed the date down to march 12th. venue and time are still tba. hope you can make it. monty wolf

we were out working on the night course sunday. we have about 90% of the waypoints set. the checkpoints are placed and the course challenges established. all that's left of the night course is to decide where we're going to place the caches. i can't wait to run it at night! it should be quite interesting! we also dropped by a section of the day course to make a routing decision. while we were there our gbes admin botanist, willybee (who's caching signature item is a personalized packet of wildflower seeds native to the great basin), tossed out native wildflower seeds in select areas for your viewing pleasure. not that you won't have much to look at. when we begin the day rally we'll have you out in the desert in minutes and you're going to love the views we set up for you. we'll also pass through a section of the lahontan valley where there is a very good chance that you'll see some of the pacific flyway waterfowl that passes through on their way north. several variety of ducks frequent the canals and lakes of the area. you may also see pelicans. you'll probably see a few great blue heron, a couple species of egrets, ibis, killdeer and avocets. the last time we traveled this section we must have seen 50 flickers, which are related to woodpeckers. you'll have a lot of subjects picture taking. # # # # # due to popular demand, gbes admin is now considering conducting rally school in the sacramento area. if you competed last year and want to know what to expect this year, if you have a friend who is thinking about running or if you know someone who thinks the rules will keep them from having fun, this event will be a must. if you would attend such an event (it would be scheduled for a saturday, around midday), please, send an email to gbesevents@gmail.com we're really starting to get pumped on this year's rally. the courses are going to be awsome! monty wolf rally director

the gbes navigational geocache rally has been approved as an event cache and is currently available for your viewing and reading pleasure. stop by and check it out when you get a minute. http://tinyurl.com/44pcg cache you later. monty wolf

i just received a private email from one of the rally participants asking about what type of wildlife might be seen during the rally and thought i'd put some of the critters on the forum. besides the typical high desert critters (hawks, rabbits, ground squirels, kangaroo rats, range cattle) i have seen golden eagles, mule deer, prong horn (antelope) and wild horses in the areas where the rally courses has been set up. there is one section where bald eagles may be present. the areas surrounding fallon have a lot of migratory waterfowl. the species are too many to name and number. a section of the rally was created for the purpose of viewing some of these birds. there should be yellow-headed blackbirds (one of my favorites because of the bright yellow contrasting with their black bodies) near the irrigation canals and ditches. there are a couple of herds of big horn sheep where the day course passes. boogsar, who used to fly in helo's for the navy told me he's seen mountain lions in his night-vision while flying over areas of the rally courses. the big horns and mountain lions are fairly unlikely to reveal themselves, but if the others are around the chances are pretty good that you will see, at least a handful of those mentioned above. depending on the temperature there may also be reptiles out sunning themselves. if it's hot, there may be a few snakes out at night, but i think it's going to be too early in the season for them to be out at night. they usually do the nocturnal-thang when it's too hot for them to be out in the daylight. speaking of snakes, yes, there are rattlesnakes in the desert. in all the years i've spent in the deserts of the southwestern u.s. i have only seen 2 rattlesnakes. one of them i got out of my car to get a closer look at. since most people get bitten on the hand because of reaching into rocks and bushes you should be safe from that (the route caches are not hidden). of course, since this is in the desert, you will be wearing boots, won't you? my advise on rattlesnakes: be aware but don't let it ruin your day in the desert. watch where you put your feet. if it's hot during the day, don't walk right next to bushes or in the shade of rocks, don't reach into places you can't see and if you do see one, don't get close enough to stress-out the snake.

the new event cache is online. GCMP30 hope everyone can make it. thank, co admin. monty

hi jan: to get the picture on your forum posts: go to your cache page. near the top of the page where it says "my account details" click "edit profile" scroll down. you'll see it. cache you later. monty

you will not have much longer to wait. we have scheduled an event cache for february 26th at 1:30 at the little waldorf in reno, near unr. we submitted the event to gc.com about 10-12 days ago. still waiting for its approval on this day. we will be helping new geocachers work with their gps-receivers and cache-chunting techneques. we will also have a mini-rally course set-up participants, or potential particicpants, practice some of the methods you'll need to run the rally competitively. we will have a simulated checkpoint established. oh, yeah. we're going to give away a few goodies. cache you later. monty wolf