Jump to content

The San Diego Thread

Night Hunter

By Night Hunter
in West and Southwest

Followers 94

Recommended Posts

splashman

+splashman

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone!

Rain to maybe settle the dust as ordered and sunshine over the weekend, can we plan stuff or what?

Refer to Rocketman's post to get to the other caches in the area, there are lots of 'em. As West Coast Admin. stated look for 30-40 new caches to pop up on Wednesday, so those of you who have cached alot in the area will have lots and lots of new ones to find. They all should be fairly easy and accessable to all.

For those of you who might worry about a saturation of caches in the area: I have discussed it with the ranger and told her if she thought it was too many or they were placed in an unappropriate area, we would remove them. That wouldn't occur until after the weekend or next so you will be able to find them all.

As far as I know, she wants to meet with us again on Sat. morning to go over cache placements, creating new trails, etc. I assured her that we are all very aware of the park rules and would not create any damage. I hope you all will show up to show her that we are not a bunch of crazed and obsessed people intent on destroying the desert. (o.k., most of us are crazed and obsessed, but we are careful in our pursuit of the elusive tupperware in bushes!) We will still meet with her around 8:30 near our motorhomes so be sure to show up.

As an added bonus, West Coast Admin: (aka our friends Daryl & Jamey) will also be there to go caching with us and maybe answer any of your caching questions.

They actually came out and hid seven new caches thereselves!

I hope those chili pots are primed and ready to create those great chili recipies for all of us to try. Again, if you are pinto bean challenged, salad or garlic bread would be welcome too. The forecast calls for a "pinto bean wind" to be blowing from the west on Sat. night.

E-mail us with any questions and we will see you this weekend. We will be out there sometime on Friday morning, but if we're not in the motorhome, we're out caching, where else?

Splashette

Link to comment
bluedog23

+bluedog23

Posted
Posted
We were able to get service there last year, had to call home to see if we still had a home to go to!

Splashette

Sigh.......yeah, that was quite the October. For me, it's a long story.

But the cell service news is good, my daughter is thinking of driving out for the afternoon with her two little girls. She isn't all that familiar with that part of the county, so thanks for letting me know !!!

Link to comment
radical geezer

radical geezer

Posted
Posted

Alas - Alack - I've been hoping to the last that I might be able to at least show up for a while at the campout - at least to let all my friends know I'm still alive and well, but I don't think it's going to happen. Thanks to all those who've inquired about my whereabouts, but like the Slabys and some others, life is currently getting in the way of my geocaching adventures. Still working on the book which, for those of you who aren't aware, is a mystery novel centered on geocaching and largely set in the Anza-Borrego and San Diego county.

 

Besides actually having to earn a living lately, my spare time has been taken up training Finnegan, our geopuppy-to-be. Finnegan is only six months old now, but last Saturday he took second place in the Novice A division of the Hidden Valley Obedience Club AKC trials in San Marcos. He is quite a wonder. Some of the other entrants weren't too pleased to be bested by a six month old puppy, and he was the talk of the ring. We had him entered in the competition on Sunday too, but he didn't qualify in that one - actually, none of the dogs did, as it was pouring rain and it distracted all the dogs. Even so, we were very pleased with his performance, as it was the first time in his entire life he had even seen rain! While you folks are out galavanting around the A-B this coming weekend, we'll be up in Pasadena for Finnegan's next obedience trial. If he qualifies in that one, we'll be trying to earn his Companion Dog obedience title at the Yuma trials in late November (he has to qualify in three different trials under three different judges to earn his title). If I did it right, there will be a picture of Finnegan with his first qualifying ribbon and his second place ribbon below.

 

2d5397ea-4240-445d-b179-65ed83b9bd49.jpg

 

Have a great time, folks - wish I could be with you!

 

Peace,

 

Radical Geezer

Link to comment
devhead

+devhead

Posted
Posted

Below is a link to the group photo taken at the 2004 Summer Geocaching picnic held at Crown Point. My apologies for taking so long to get this posted. I thank those of you who have given me a nudge lately to get this done. I did not scale down the image although it is cropped. Final size is over 800K. For those of you on a dial-up, be patient.

 

2004 Geocaching Picnic - Group Photo

Link to comment
Parsa

Parsa

Posted
Posted

Well, the new caches are beginning to appear in Blair Valley. There are about 7 so far. Most are Team Nohoch caches and are low terrain rating. It looks like I'll have to have some batteries for my flashlight. Night hunting with cacti is particularly fun... right?

 

Duscwe placed a cache in the Dos Cabezas area, so I'll have to add that to my Friday caching list.

 

Parsa

Link to comment
Dan-oh

+Dan-oh

Posted
Posted
Well, the new caches are beginning to appear in Blair Valley. There are about 7 so far. Most are Team Nohoch caches and are low terrain rating. It looks like I'll have to have some batteries for my flashlight. Night hunting with cacti is particularly fun... right?

 

Duscwe placed a cache in the Dos Cabezas area, so I'll have to add that to my Friday caching list.

 

Parsa

I think I got 22 or 23 new caches in a PQ that I just ran, beyond what I had last week. I limited it to a 30 mile radius from the event so I don't know which to discard yet. I'll finish my list tonight and map 'em Thursday.

 

We have a 24" plotter here at work so I should be able to print a Topo! showing all the cachess on it. If I breat it into 2 separate maps, I can leave it at 7.5 min will all the good detail. Unfortunately, the plotter is only B&W but a test looked good.

Link to comment
NomadVW

+NomadVW

Posted
Posted

So... from a newbie cacher of 2 months - how many times have you all been left "holding the bag" while caching? Tonight was my first instance of this in full force, that couldn't be avoided by waiting out the muggle. View log entry here:

 

Got Muggled?

 

While hitting up The Dip tonight, I got stuck "holding the cache" and had to walk away with it and hoping to come back. How many times has this happened to ya'll and what's your normal response to the situation?

 

NomadVW

 

P.S. Saturday marks two months to the day of geocaching pleasure. I'm at 99 as of the 7 cache sprint tonight. Wish I could join ya'll at the campout, but prior engagements will deter me.

Link to comment
Nero

+Nero

Posted
Posted

hehe, no but when i was at mission trails and found fatboys first i had it on the trail open with me and my boys and a guy rode bye on a bike. he didnt seem to care or even pay attention to what we were doing.

 

i mean whats so strange about an open ammo can on the trail and three people standing around it?

Link to comment
Chuy!

+Chuy!

Posted
Posted

My 6yr old daughter came down with a cough yesterday, so it was my turn to stay home with her. Even though it was pouring in Lakeside, I charged up the laptop for new caches. I notice a few new ones in Anza Borrego. I download those, then refreshed the webpage and downloaded a few more. This went on for 5-6 sessions until I had downloaded some 30 new caches in the Blair Valley to Montero Wash areas.

 

"Izzy, get your coat and homework," I says. I wanted to take Ginger, our geodog, but she would have muddied up the car, and herself, pretty good.

 

Up through Julian we go. The downpour was quite heavy bringing rock and debris over the 79. I was acutally quite concern driving in a low clearance vehicle, 89 Toyota Corolla. But we made it though the mountians fine (but the 79 was closed on the return trip; we had to detour up Mt. Laguna on Sunrise Hwy.) When we dropped down into Banner, the rains became light. Our first cache was found at 1:15p and we stopped at 4P in the Blair Valley area.

 

Yep, I drove my Corolla into the desert dirt pathways. Two weeks ago when I came by in my 2-WD Nissan P'up, I was concern about the sand; this time I was concern about the mud. Made it through with no problems on both excursions. I had only a little problem getting over a muddy "mogul" in my Corolla in one spot.

We ended up with 18 finds, including 11 FTF's. I wanted to continue on to the Montero Wash area. I could have bagged at least 10 FTF's close to the roadway, but I had to return home and, truth be told, I actually felt a bit guiltly bagging so many FTF's.

 

Thanks Fattboy, Team Nohoch, Rotten Rod, JB&LF, Splashman, and Splashette for the new caches. All the ones we worked are child friendly. Father and daughter bonded and had a great time together in the desert - rain, mud and all. Izzy looked so cute in her leopard fury coat, walking around the desert with her bright yellow umbrella. (Oh my gosh, did I just say "cute"?)

 

I may come out again on Saturday to meet you all in person; I missed the Summer bash, and I hope not to miss this one. It may be just Ginger and me.

 

Good hunting all.

Link to comment
Chuy!

+Chuy!

Posted
Posted

Oh, by the way, I had no cell phone connection on my Nextel. I saw DUSCWE! had a few finds ahead of me; I tried calling him several times, but I had no connection. I swear I had a connection two-three weeks ago, when I was last here. Maybe the rains took down a tower.

Link to comment
Dr. Boggis

+Dr. Boggis

Posted
Posted
P.S. Saturday marks two months to the day of geocaching pleasure. I'm at 99 as of the 7 cache sprint tonight. Wish I could join ya'll at the campout, but prior engagements will deter me.

Nice one Nomad, you've done really well....but from your profile page it looks like you've been cheating! You found your 50th cache two days before your first! Maybe you could share your time travel machine so we can all get more FTFs? :D

Link to comment
Parsa

Parsa

Posted
Posted

It was just funny because as I was printing out pages, I kept seeing "Chuy" on all of them. It's OK, I never mind someone else getting the bugs out. In fact, I often get very frustrated when I try to be first to find. I'm sure some of the people out there can remember examples where I was trying to find new caches that were messed up, missing, or buggy.

 

Parsa

Link to comment
splashman

+splashman

Posted
Posted

We are ready to roll, chili is done, motorhome is packed and the Jeep is packed with wood.

We're meeting Team Reid & $kimmer for breakfast in Ramona at 7:30 tomorrow morning if anyone is interested. Main St. Cafe is the place.

Looks like everything is in place, even the weather should cooperate. It will be chilly at night tho, so dress accordingly.

I think that WAMPUMS are going to show up on Sat. night, you'll have to be there to find out what they are.

I'm taking our Pirate flag that we fly on our boat, so if you need to find us look for it, however as I said before, if we're not there we're out caching.

See everyone tomorrow,

Splashette

Link to comment
NomadVW

+NomadVW

Posted
Posted
Nice one Nomad, you've done really well....but from your profile page it looks like you've been cheating! You found your 50th cache two days before your first! Maybe you could share your time travel machine so we can all get more FTFs? B)

Thanks for the catch Dr Boggis!

 

Fixed and updated. #100 and 101 done today, now to start clearing out the rings 3,4,5... miles away. Good luck all at the campout this weekend!

 

VW

Link to comment
Chuy!

+Chuy!

Posted
Posted
We ended up with 18 finds, including 11 FTF's.

Hey Chuy! You got 11 FTF's? I got 11 FTF's today! We're brudders! B)

I did miss GCKNV4, so I didn't hog *all* the FTF's! Can't wait!

 

D!

I also missed GCKNV4 but only because I misread Socal's note. I thought this was being archived but it appears the issue had been resolved by the time I read the webpage.

Looks like you still have local record of 12 FTF's in a day.

Link to comment
HelBob Duo

+HelBob Duo

Posted
Posted

Woohoo! I did it! B) I had a knock-down, drag-out tussle with my sewing machine but I WON! :lol: What, you ask, is this all about? Well, I was able to make a caching flag. Bob will be driving out sometime on Fri looking for the pirate flag but he'll get ours set up too. Anybody that wants our pattern may have it. I don't think I'll be making another one. B)

 

Bob is making the corn bread at the moment.

 

Anyone bringing Beano? B)

Link to comment
Chuy!

+Chuy!

Posted
Posted
We have the s'mores covered....Chili go alongs also.....and well do a little "Chuy" roasting while we're at it.  We're leaving El Cajon at 6pm Friday if anyone wants to follow along.  We will be celebrating our 200th find Saturday night.  See you all there.

Blonds B)

B) What did I do? :lol:

Link to comment
Parsa

Parsa

Posted
Posted

I'd like to make some recommendations for future Anza events...

 

Firstly, I think a few of us may have done most of the caches in the desert, but the majority of us have not. There were caches around Blair Valley such as Golden Crown, Rainbow Rocks and others, that I haven't gone to in three Anza trips. Yes, some are harder than the recent caches placed, but we don't really have to use this event to pad our numbers (says the guy who found dozens of caches this weekend...hehe). I know I still have many caches to find in Anza. So, I'd recommend not placing too many caches at one time in the future.

 

Next, I'd suggest that since the desert is so big, we try to keep the caches a lot more spread out than 0.1 miles. It should probably be at least 1 mile or more. I'm not suggesting anything official, just sort of an unwritten rule.

 

I would suggest that we don't make any future campout an event cache. I know... I like to log them, too. However, it shows up on the cache lists and maps for all the world to see. We can just use this forum, the SoCal Geocachers forum, and emails to advertise next year.

 

Lastly, if we do post an event, lets make it a CITO event instead of a campout event. They can hardly object to a bunch of people going out to clean the park up for them. We don't have to say anything about camping, just that we'll all go out on Saturday to pick up stuff along the roads.

 

Parsa

Link to comment
Nat

+Nat

Posted
Posted

I agree with Parsa. The desert is my favorite place to cache, but quality caches in unique places can be more worthwhile than adding a slew of them to your total. Sometimes the easy ones are fun, but I enjoy the challenging ones too. And even though the ranger that patrols Blair Valley picks up a lot of trash, he would respect geocachers if he knew that we picked up trash while we were caching.

Link to comment
TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted

I also agree with Parsa. The 0.1 mile rule doesn't make much sense in the desert unless the terrain is a 3 or higher. Also ammo boxes stuck in bushes make boring caches. Our group cares less about the numbers, we are all in it for the exitement and the challenge. Frankly speaking, we got bored with following highways of footprints to some of these caches stuck in bushes. Don't get me wrong, there were many cool caches out there too! The bottom line is that geocachers are a good lot. I would hope that most rangers recognize that, but you have buttholes in every profession.

Link to comment
splashman

+splashman

Posted
Posted

Keep in mind that not all of us are capable of doing anything more than a 1.

Some are physically unable to get to a cache that requires hiking or even walking a short distance. Some don't have high clearance vehicles to get to the caches off the dirt roads and washes. The easy caches were placed with these folks in mind so they could find caches like everyone else did, and we also had alot of new cachers there too, and the 1 rated caches are great ones to learn on.

Those were concentrated around the Blair Valley area to make it easy on them.

We noticed that not very many of you ventured out south on S-2, those caches required a little more effort, there were about 15 new ones out that way.

The next rain or windstorm will wash away the footprints.

I, for one, appreciate any effort by anyone to hide a new cache, ammo box or otherwise. They took the time and expense to do it, it should be appreciated not just for a cache, but for the effort behind it.

It had been discussed with a ranger previously about the placement of new caches, and we made it clear, that they would be removed if they thought it needed to be done.

We enjoyed each and every cache that we found, ammo boxes under bushes included .(where else are you gonna put 'em besides under a rock or cactus?)

Team Nohoch's caches were definitely outside the box and lots of fun, but they were still 1's, so we all got to learn something new.

So, again people, to each his own. I personally thank each and every person that took the time to put a new cache out for us to find, footprints included!

Splashette

Link to comment
HelBob Duo

+HelBob Duo

Posted
Posted

On Sun. morn. we decided to start off with Cool Cyn Rainbow Rocks cache. We followed footprints about a third of the way, until we reached a (dry) waterfall. Why didn't the people continue? Were they after the numbers or did the hike get too hard for the hikers?

This is an instance that kind of proves that, just because there are caches out there, it doesn't mean people will be out there looking for it. In the meantime, it isn't as if they are hurting anybody or anything. I have yet to come across a toxic cache and, as long as people keep food, mints, gum, perfume, etc out of the caches, the animals won't be interested in the caches, either. Except maybe a boot or two. :lol:

Link to comment
FlagMan

+FlagMan

Posted
Posted

For me, it hasn't ever been much about the numbers, but THIS weekend was ALL about the numbers since I was on the Quest For The Kilo. So I appreciated each and every easy find out there. But we also did the Marshall South caches and that impossible Sasha's Asparagus 4+ terrain (just kidding, its really a 3 terrain at best) cache. The whole weekend was an epic adventure for me. Today is my 2-year anniversary of caching and the 1-year anniversary of the Cedar Fire. I marked the occasion by hiking out to Bunthorne's new "Colette's Last View" cache. Two years ago today I was hiking along the Scripps Ranch trails with FlagSon Andrew's soccer team in tow searching for our first find, Bunthorne's Mustang Sally cache. So it seemed particularly fitting to take some time out and seek FTF honors on his new cache. Plenty of milestones for me in all this. I hit the Kilo mark on Sunday with a cache within a few tenths of the cache that started it all off for me (a then-muggle friend of mine stumbled on the Mud Caves Cookie Tin cache and he then introduced me to geocaching). And I finished the second year with a FTF on a Bunthorne cache.

 

As for the rules, it seems to me that we should just leave all that part up to Jeremy and the Rangers. Anything and everything within their guidelines should be fair game.

 

Thanks to ALL of you out there for 2-years of blissful obsession!!! :lol:

Link to comment
TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted (edited)

Sometimes I'm too honest for my own good, Spashette. But I think Team Nohoch has taught all of us how to make easy caches much more fun to find. But I guess if they were all like that then the thrill would wear off. So you are right: "to each his own." :lol:

 

Congrats on 1K Flagman!

Edited by TrailGators
Link to comment
Parsa

Parsa

Posted
Posted

I didn't have any problems that I recall with any of the caches in Anza. Oh, and as much as I like creative containers, nothing beats an ammo box for surviving 120 degree temperatures during the summer months.

 

The state parks belong to us, not to the custodians of those parks. I think they tend to forget that. We share the land with everyone, and it is our duty to take care of it. The rangers are there to ensure that we know the rules.

 

However, I think we need to be careful not to be the nail that sticks up higher than the others, because we'll be the one that gets whacked. I wouldn't want geocaching to be banned in the Park because of our zeal. It seems that the campout event raises the level of attention to the geocaches in the park, and makes the rangers worry about possible damage. If the caches were in a more urban area, there might really be permanent trails created, but the chances are that after this last weekend, there will only be a handful of people in a year that visit them. Most of the new caches were very close to roads or trails anyway. The only caches that I remember hiking across country any distance to were Blair Valley View up on that hill, and Over the Edge (an older cache). It was the large number of new caches that appeared that worried them I think.

 

There is a caching philosophy that "any cache is good," but I think that if we abuse our use of public lands, we will be banned from more and more areas. Think smart, be creative, and remember that some areas are not appropriate for a cache. We didn't do anything wrong. The caches were all placed in fairly environmentally safe locations. However, one stupid cache placement in the future could screw things up for everyone.

 

Parsa

Link to comment
Parsa

Parsa

Posted
Posted (edited)

There is one larva present in my Viridian Queen cache. It is assigned to anywhere in Guajome County Park up in the Vista-Oceanside area. It's a pretty big park, and all the caches that were once there are pretty much gone.

 

I also included a list of the offspring of the Viridian Queen on the cache page. I think the count is up to five, although there is one stray larva out there that has not been placed as yet.

 

For those of you who don't know, the Viridian Queen is the final offspring of Yrium's Breeder cache, which had five offspring in total.

 

Parsa

Edited by Parsa
Link to comment
Kite and Hawkeye

+Kite and Hawkeye

Posted
Posted
hehe, no but when i was at mission trails and found fatboys first i had it on the trail open with me and my boys and a guy rode bye on a bike. he didnt seem to care or even pay attention to what we were doing.

 

i mean whats so strange about an open ammo can on the trail and three people standing around it?

Heh. A couple of years ago, we were on our way to Fattboy's First, and saw a family of geocachers already there. There were so many of them we just decided to head on to Frogs on a Mission and catch FF on the way back. By the time we got back, perhaps 45 minutes later, the cache had been muggled! The cachers were nice people (we said hi on the trail) but I'm afraid they were a bit too conspicuous. FF was later replaced and we eventually came back to log a find.

Link to comment
NomadVW

+NomadVW

Posted
Posted

If ya'll haven't done the trio of caches on the climber's loop in MTRP recently placed by Chuy, you're missing some great caches. They're not the hardest to find, but the locations are perfect. Of the caches in the MTRP loop trails, these three are perfect placements on the trail.

 

Limbo Area

Middle Earth

"Monitoring" MTRP

 

I'm not just saying this cause I want my new TB to move, really!

 

Seriously.. well.. not seriously, but go do them. They're awesome caches.

 

NomadVW

(now finally cleared MTRP)

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
Followers 94
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...