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:rolleyes: HI TO ALL. <_<

Palm Springs Next sat feb 7th is ok with me and rod looks like we can make it!!

But where do we go and what do we do???

Give me a e-mail PadreGirl... THANKS!

As for the Campout March 20th is better for me and old rod too....

See yall soon. But Daryl not going to be good to see you!!! ;)

 

<_< THANKS FATTBOY :unsure:

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I was up Calcite Mine Road today to plant a new cache in anticipation of the upcoming cacheout - an interesting experience to be sure.

 

Before I left, The Wife said, 'Promise you won't do anything stupid.' I said, 'I promise I won't do anything stupid.'

 

Took the Calcite Mine Road turnoff and got within .6 miles of Calcite Cubby, which I was intending to snag along the way, at which point the road became, um, interesting. So I sez to myself, 'I promised The Wife I wouldn't do anything stupid,' and like a good boy I parked the van and hiked the rest of the way. Found Calcite Cubby and a good location for my new cache (which, by the way, has a Diamond Rio MP3 player in it for the First Finder - that oughta spark some interest). Then I was gonna grab Calcite Cave Cache, which is on the other side of Locomotive Rock, across Palm Wash. Hiked down to the wash, where I was met with at least a 50 foot dropoff to the canyon floor. I sez to myself, 'I promised The Wife I wouldn't do anything stupid,' so like a good boy I turned around and hiked back to the van, figuring I could get from Calcite Mine Road to Palm Wash without too much difficulty.

 

Sure enough, I hadn't gone very far back down the road before I encounter a little brown sign on my left that sez 'Palm Wash'. The road didn't look too bad, and it was only about .1 mile or so down into the wash, so I turned left. Within about 150 feet the road sort of disintegrated in front of me. Even my ol' mountain goat Chevy van was not equipped for what lay before me. I sez to myself, 'I promised The Wife I wouldn't do anything stupid.' Howsomeever, there was no way to turn the ol'van around, and the slope was such that it was impossible to back up, so the only way out of where I was was either airlift or down.

 

To make a long story a bit shorter, I had to stop three times in the next couple hundred feet to literally build a road for the ol' van - tossing rocks into gulches that would have swallowed an Escort whole - and wolfed down a Camry for dessert. Even had to move one boulder about the size of a doghouse a few feet to try to make sure the ol' van still had some paint on her sides when and if I got through there.

 

I did make it - and without so much as a scratch on the ol' van! Trouble is, now I was down at the bottom of Palm Wash and there was no way on God's green earth I was getting back out the way I came in. That worry would have to wait. Onward to seek out Calcite Cave cache.

 

The GPS lost satellites when I was indicating about .18 miles from the cache, and I probably went another .05 or so when I encountered a huge boulder blocking the slot canyon, which was only about 3 feet wide at this point. It was about 8 feet from the floor of the wash where I was to the top of the boulder, with sheers sides and precious little in the way of hand or foot holds. So I sez to myself, 'I promised The Wife I wouldn't do anything stupid,' and with a great sigh of resignation, called off the hunt for the day.

 

Back to the van, with numerous supplications lifted heavenward along the way that I would be able to find another way out of Palm Wash. Much to my relief, the wash got broader and showed more evidence of vehicle traffic as I went, but for the life of me I couldn't find a way out of it back up to S22. To make an even longer story - and long cache hunt - just a bit shorter, I wound up driving the wash all the way out to Salton City in order to get out of it.

 

Approaching Borrego Springs, I called The Wife on the cell phone and told her, 'Guess what? I almost kept my promise to you that I wouldn't do anything stupid today!'

 

She didn't want to hear about it.

 

This is an outstanding area with incredible views, and I'm looking forward to the cacheout - and maybe T.R Violin can clue me in on how the heck to get to Calcite Cave cache!

 

Peace,

 

Radical Geezer

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Hello All,

 

As promised, I decided on a date for the 2004 Spring Anza-Borrego Desert Cache Til You Drop: February 21st! The runner up was March 20th. This does not mean that someone can't do a "Part 2" on March 20th...hint, hint. The official camping/meeting area will be the Calcite Mine camping area.

 

Thanks to Parsa, I am shamelessly copying and pasting snippets from the first cache tour. As someone once said, I stand on the shoulders of giants....or something like that... <_<

 

Duscwe! :rolleyes:

 

PS - All things subject to change without warning, warranty void in all 50 states, no refunds, etc... <_<

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Hello All,

 

As promised, I decided on a date for the 2004 Spring Anza-Borrego Desert Cache Til You Drop: February 21st! The runner up was March 20th. This does not mean that someone can't do a "Part 2" on March 20th...hint, hint. The official camping/meeting area will be the Calcite Mine camping area.

 

Thanks to Parsa, I am shamelessly copying and pasting snippets from the first cache tour. As someone once said, I stand on the shoulders of giants....or something like that... <_<

 

Duscwe! :rolleyes:

 

PS - All things subject to change without warning, warranty void in all 50 states, no refunds, etc... <_<

I had already planned on being in the desert on the 21st, so maybe we can join the gang for some camping fun. We are going to attempt to make it out for one more trip to the trestle before they open the railroad back up. Read the logs here.

 

788321_800.jpg

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Sure enough, I hadn't gone very far back down the road before I encounter a little brown sign on my left that sez 'Palm Wash'. The road didn't look too bad, and it was only about .1 mile or so down into the wash, so I turned left. Within about 150 feet the road sort of disintegrated in front of me. Even my ol' mountain goat Chevy van was not equipped for what lay before me. I sez to myself, 'I promised The Wife I wouldn't do anything stupid.' Howsomeever, there was no way to turn the ol'van around, and the slope was such that it was impossible to back up, so the only way out of where I was was either airlift or down.

Great story Radical, but I have to get some clarification. I am familiar with the Calcite Mine area, having been there many times myself. Looking at the map below, did you take the green route or the pink route? Going west to east, the pink route starts out with a "radical” drop-off that requires a high clearance 4WD. Did you go that way?

 

91250111-0f73-4fcc-97ab-cc909ea0c5ed.jpg

 

For the camping on February 21st, I would recommend the Arroyo Salado primitive camp area circled in blue on the map above. RM

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For the camping on February 21st, I would recommend the Arroyo Salado primitive camp area circled in blue on the map above. RM

RM - that's the area I was thinking of, couldn't remember the name. Would you have the exact coordinates for that camp? I have rough coords off the topo map, but would like to have better.

 

Duscwe!

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For the camping on February 21st, I would recommend the Arroyo Salado primitive camp area circled in blue on the map above.  RM

RM - that's the area I was thinking of, couldn't remember the name. Would you have the exact coordinates for that camp? I have rough coords off the topo map, but would like to have better.

 

Duscwe!

I don't have the exact coordinates, but my Mapsource maps put the turnoff from S22 @ N33 16.944 W116 09.002 and the camping area would be just a short distance down the dirt road from there. The camping area goes on for a ways, but I would estimate it to be around N33 16.647 W116 08.472. RM

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Rocket Man -

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say None of the Above. Been looking over several different maps to try to find one that best indicates my experience of the area. Here's the best I can do. I've added the pink route to show where your pink route is, and you're right - a high ground clearance 4WD would be absolutely necessary for this route. The green route is I think the normal route. But I believe the trail I took was where I've placed a blue route on this map. It does have a trail marker that says 'Palm Wash' on the Calcite Road (west) end, but it is a short, steep and very nasty descent, which is not reflected in either the pink or green routes. Just north of where the pink route intersects Palm Wash is about a 20 foot dryfall than can be climbed around on its east side to continue the hike up Palm Wash, making the rest of that part of the wash impassable to vehicles. And just north of where the blue route intersects Palm Wash is about a two foot high ledge across the width of the wash. Although there are tires tracks there, I think you'd have to be out of your mind - or have one heckuva set of wheels - to negotiate that ledge. The place where the pink route intersects Calcite Mine Road is 4WD negotiable, but if you drive the pink route down into Palm Wash from Calcite Mine Road, you're going to encounter that ledge I mentioned and could wind up being very sorry you tried it.

 

In short, Calcite Mine Road is negotiable by 2WD with decent ground clearance up to the place where I've marked 2WD Parking, and is negotiable by a high clearance 4WD all the way. Palm Wash is negotiable by 2WD with good clearance up to where the blue route intersects. The blue route is probably high clearance 4WD negotiable, and the pink route is really iffy because of that ledge I mentioned. Anything north of the intersection of the pink route and Palm Wash is strictly hiking.

129252_1800.JPG

 

Peace,

Radical Geezer

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Rocket man,

 

I've always wanted to go to Goat Canyon trestle. I know it's not near the calcite area, but I'm up for a visit. Were you going on the Saturday? What time were you going?

 

Parsa

We haven't firmed up the times yet, but the last time we did it, we left home at around 7:00 am and were on the trail around 9:30 am. You take Mortero Wash from the lower end of S2 and it is a short off-road jaunt to the parking area. We rode from the parking area on Mountain Bikes. It is an easy approx 5 mile, nearly flat dirt trail to the Goat Canyon Trestle. You cross over a bunch of smaller trestles and go through several tunnels on the way. I have a piece of junk bike and I made it no problem. You can also hike it, but it is way easier on bike. On the way back, it is slightly down hill. I highly recommend the trip to anyone who has not done it. You are welcome to join us. RM

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Just a quick caveat - I could be completely wrong about the map I posted. There is a possibility that the route I took is the green route, but I really don't think so. But since it's a possibility, you really would not want to mess with trying to get a 2WD from Calcite Mine Road to Palm Wash (or vice-versa) by any other route than going back out onto S22. In any event, you don't want to take a 2WD any further up Calcite Mine Road than where I've indicated parking, and if you take a 2WD up Palm Wash, well, you'll see the ledge I talked about and that will be the end of your vehicular excursion.

 

Peace,

 

Radical Geezer

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Well,

 

My wife just informed me that our daughter's birthday party has been moved to the weekend of the 21st/22. Her birthday is closer to that weekend, but she was originally talking about another weekend. So it looks like that weekend is out for me. Have fun folks. I think I'll be able to do the Palm Springs event if it's going to happen. February is hard for me as my wife's birthday, my daughter's birthday, and my anniversary are all within a few days of each other. I'll just have to get those desert caches on some other weekend.

 

Parsa

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I went and replaced my Mallard Trail cache in Daley Ranch yesterday. Today Lua, my wife, and I hiked up again to the cache, to enjoy the views and to look at the burned areas. Life is returning.

 

You are cordially invited to carefully place some more caches in Daley Ranch. You can follow my lead and name them after the trails, or just use your imagination, but please put them close to the trails so that new paths are not created. That was the reason many caches were removed in the early days. A good camo job and careful placement will let you make a cache that can be immediately next to the trail tread and invisible to all but geocachers.

 

I'd really like to visit somebody else's cache here, but I'd advise placing caches in the western, non-burned areas.

 

Parsa

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Duscwe was asking:

Duscwe wrote:

 

QUOTE 

Did you happen to notice the Anza Borrego Tour Coin in the cache called The Box? I was hoping to get it back to the desert sometime soon

 

Bad news, the tour coin was NOT in "The Box". :mad: There is a note in the log that says Ackmah and Crew took this TB January 10th. There is no log on GC to indicate their visit at all. I'm having rouble finding there user id on GC. Anyone know them?

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Palm Springs Cache-A-Thon...

 

Padregirl,

 

Just a quick note to say we've hidden four additional caches in the Palm Springs area in anticipation of the Cache-A-Thon. Should be approved/disapproved by no later than Tuesday, Feb. 3.

 

I'll post the info as soon as it is available for your geocache battlemaps... :mad:

 

FATTBOY, the weather is here, wish you were beautiful... :mad:

 

Daryl & Jamey

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Yay! The 2004 Anza-Borrego Desert Cache-a-thon has been approved! Please leave a note if you plan to attend! Personally, I plan to get out there Friday, before dark, and set up camp...maybe hit a couple of caches! Keep in mind the coordinates for the event are a bit rough and will change slightly once I get better numbers for the camping spot. Look forward to meeting most of you (as I have only met a few...)

 

Link to:GCHKM2

 

Duscwe! :mad:

Edited by Duscwe!
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5f86a2e0-7e48-40f9-ba23-37c8f6207043.jpg

 

Just in time to distract your Monday at work! My newest cache 'Lassie, get help!' cache is hot off the approval desk. Its a multi in Escondido's Kit Carson park. I somehow managed to keep it far enough away from the other 3 great caches already in the park.

 

This is my first multi and I like having several hiding concepts together in one cache. Its not nearly as tough as the new 'Eggs Never' cache but you're sure to have fun.

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Regarding the Palm Springs Cache-A-Thon...

 

As everyone knows, some geocaches are located just for the sake of a cache, with no redeeming value otherwise. Some are the type that bring you into a cool area 'that you would have never seen without geocaching'.

 

We would like to make a suggestion that if possible, you plan to go to the San Andreas Crevasse Cache. This is really a unique area, and we're sure you'll enjoy it.

GC93D http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=2365

 

Best regards,

D&J

;)

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Does anyone know of a flat, publically-accessible outdoor map in the San Diego area? On the ground or on some kind of pedestal, doesn't really matter, but we'd like it as flat as possible. Map of a park, map of a city area -- we're willing to consider anything. Even a mural of not-quite-map-level detail might be useful. I know there's a slightly inclined map at some entrances of Mission Trails, but for various reasons it won't do for our (mysterious!) purpose. Can anyone think of anything else fitting our (vague!) description?

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Does anyone know of a flat, publically-accessible outdoor map in the San Diego area?  On the ground or on some kind of pedestal, doesn't really matter, but we'd like it as flat as possible.  Map of a park, map of a city area -- we're willing to consider anything.  Even a mural of not-quite-map-level detail might be useful.  I know there's a slightly inclined map at some entrances of Mission Trails, but for various reasons it won't do for our (mysterious!) purpose.  Can anyone think of anything else fitting our (vague!) description?

I may be wrong, but I believe there's a San Diego map of some kind at the city hall building (where the old civic center is downtown... you know, the one with the opera hall and old convention rooms). It's either in the city hall lobby or the courtyard, can't remember which. Don't hold me to it, because it's been a while since I was there... it might only have a city seal or something.

 

When I went to the cache at the Tijuana River Estuary headquarters, they had some kind of map on the ground, too. Not sure if that (physical) cache is still there.

 

The Old Town State Park doesn't have a map on the ground, but they have a model in the headquarters building of Old Town as it used to be... that's a stretch I know.

 

Too bad we aren't in Joliet, IL. There's a really huge, cool one there made from tiles.

 

I hope this turns into a clever cache!

 

Parsa

Edited by Parsa
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Do you want area maps, city maps, a county map, or will any fairly realistic map do?

 

Parsa

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Any fairly realistic map might work; our original plan involved hiding a cache in the area depicted by the map, but we've also had ideas about working with larger-scale maps. The only definite requirement is that it be outdoors and readily accessible to the public.

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I'd absolutely love to do it - if you know anyone who has a bike I can borrow.

 

RG,

 

I just bought a new bike. My old mtn bike is in good shape and presently not being used. I haven't decided if I will sell it or keep it. But you can certainly borrow it.

 

Dave

Edited by dhsundance
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Outstanding, Dave - and thanks! Rocket Man - I assume you're contemplating riding to the trestle during the cacheout? Have you come up with any firmer plan yet? And Dave - will you be able to haul the extra bike out to the cacheout?

 

I'm ready! :blink:

 

Peace,

 

Radical Geezer

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond Radical Geezer. I was waiting for our plans to firm up. I was going to make the bike trip with fkrexcal and a couple of other people, but I am afraid that there is bad news about biking to the trestle. It seems that all of the stories about them opening the railroad back up may be true.

 

This Log just showed up on the Dos Hombres cache (this cache is next to the trestle).

 

I did a little searching on the internet and I found a website for Carrizo Gorge Railway, Inc. Here is a recent picture of a train on the trestle:

 

DL_Main.jpg

 

Here is a recent aerial shot of the trestle:

 

CGTAirView.jpg

 

You can find out more at this website. Make sure you check out their slide show.

 

Rocket Man

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Okay, I'm confused on a couple of points now, Rocket Man:

 

Do you still want to organize a trip out to the trestle, or is it even possible now?

 

When you talked about a bike trip, I assumed motorbike and dhsundance assumed mountain bike. Which is it? If it's mountain bike, how strenuous would you consider the trip to be? Don't know if my ol' bones can handle peddling that kind of distance.

 

Peace,

 

Radical Geezer

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Okay, I'm confused on a couple of points now, Rocket Man:

 

Do you still want to organize a trip out to the trestle, or is it even possible now?

 

When you talked about a bike trip, I assumed motorbike and dhsundance assumed mountain bike.  Which is it?  If it's mountain bike, how strenuous would you consider the trip to be?  Don't know if my ol' bones can handle peddling that kind of distance.

 

Peace,

 

Radical Geezer

If the trail that follows the track is now closed to hikers and mountain bikers, the other approach would be to hike from Mortero Palms as described on this webpage. We were planning on riding mountain bikes. I don't think we will be doing the hike.

 

Dave (Rocket Man)

Edited by Rocket Man
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That Parsa is one tough cookie. He managed to get a FTF on Lassie, get help! and he did it during the week! I have a hard time getting my difficulty ratings right but it doesn't help that he finds them and the others are initially stumped.

 

I'm just starting to work on the concept of a 'Masters Cache' for the local cache gods. I'll try and make a true 4+ multi to stump 'em, then add hints after a few weeks for the mere mortals. (Is that like spitting into the wind?)

 

Hopefully there will be a few more finds this weekend.

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I have a question. Do you guys use trail/topo maps when you go out? If so, where do you get them? I find that I'm relying on the logs to tell me the closest place to park for a certain trail. And while that may sound lame to some of you, we have a 2 1/2 year-old in tow so anything we can do to make the hike shorter, we do it!

TIA!

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I have a question. Do you guys use trail/topo maps when you go out? If so, where do you get them? I find that I'm relying on the logs to tell me the closest place to park for a certain trail. And while that may sound lame to some of you, we have a 2 1/2 year-old in tow so anything we can do to make the hike shorter, we do it!

TIA!

It all depends on where it is. In the general city areas, I'll print the Mappoint map on the back of the log sheet. If it isn't clear where I should enter from the description, I'll go to the closest road on the map. If the cache is in the middle of a big empty space on the map, I may look at the aerial photo on http://www.lostoutdoors.com

(Just cut and paste the coordinates.) That will show roads or trails.

 

Out in the desert and forests where the roads change little, I'll look at the topo maps at Topozone. If I'm visiting a lot of caches, I can look at maps on the road using my laptop (connected to the GPSr), which is running GPSy (for Mac), National Geographic Topo!, or DeLorme Street Atlas.

 

Parsa

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I have a question. Do you guys use trail/topo maps when you go out? If so, where do you get them? I find that I'm relying on the logs to tell me the closest place to park for a certain trail. And while that may sound lame to some of you, we have a 2 1/2 year-old in tow so anything we can do to make the hike shorter, we do it!

TIA!

Expert GPS has aerial photos and topo maps that are quite useful and integrate seamlessly with the Geocaching.com site. I have used the free version (Easy GPS) but just recently paid for the Expert GPS version and I am hooked! -FlagMan.

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I have a question. Do you guys use trail/topo maps when you go out? If so, where do you get them? I find that I'm relying on the logs to tell me the closest place to park for a certain trail. And while that may sound lame to some of you, we have a 2 1/2 year-old in tow so anything we can do to make the hike shorter, we do it!

TIA!

My process is similar to Parsa's. I have a Thomas Bros map book in the truck so that works fine for city caches. Previously I used MapQuest when I could toggle between street and aerial view. No mas. Microsquish's TerraServer works fairly well in its place.

 

I use Topo! mapping software for longer hikes, especially when I'm doing multiple caches in the same hike. Realistically, its best for adventures and big hikes. TopoZone is a good on-line topo map. One of the things I learned early (OK, I was taught it) was don't rely on manmade objects for navigation. That mountain top an the valley rarely move (never say never) but a building or a road can change frequently.

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A Thomas Brothers map is still good to have though. When I did 27 last weekend, I had printed sheets. However, I also sat down the night before and marked all the locations of the caches in the Thomas Bros book so I could see how they all related in proximity. dhsundance was with me for all but 5 of those (2 of the 5 were his, and others he had gotten already). We just headed for one cache after the other down the map, and he can tell you that is was all pretty casual and unhurried. We even got to chat with p.wood at a cache.

 

Parsa

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If the trail that follows the track is now closed to hikers and mountain bikers, the other approach would be to hike from Mortero Palms as described on this webpage.

 

Dave (Rocket Man)

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's how Jerry Schad in Afoot and Afield has you going in to visit the tressle...

 

Parsa

That is the route described in the Afoot & Afield book. Along the tracks, it is a relatively easy 5 mile in, 5 mile back mountain bike ride, but the over the mountain route is a strenuous 3 mile in and 3 mile back hike. I prefer the bike ride. RM

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:grin:

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!

In palm Springs for a day of caching.

Thanks to Padregirl for the Great Idea.

You all missed a good time.

We did 21 out of 34 caches.

Parsa can you beat that?????

 

Good Food,Good People,Good Time's!!!!! I think it was more fun that a campfire... B)

 

:D THANKS FATTBOY B)

 

P.S. Did anyone get more then 21 caches????????

 

BTW: Nice to see you again Jamey!! :D OK YOU TO DARYL!!!!!!

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