Road Trip Anyone?

[+Gloom]

Doing some searching through the cache lists and came across these three old caches that have never been found. I think I'll wait until warmer weather before I try them:

 

Oldest (placed 10/16/01):3 Corners (SE Oregon Hatrick)

 

Placed 8/21/02:

Wallowa View

 

Placed 9/20/02:

MT. DEFIANCE CACHE

 

the last two each have 1 not-found. The first one is a virgin. I can see why, it's pretty remote.

[Chief Paulina]

All of them look most interesting. I'll have to remember them for later in the year. You may have lost your FTF advantage on this but is appreciated by me.

[+kiwimonster]

Doing some searching through the cache lists and came across these three old caches that have never been found. I think I'll wait until warmer weather before I try them:

 

Oldest (placed 10/16/01):3 Corners (SE Oregon Hatrick)

 

Placed 8/21/02:

Wallowa View

 

Placed 9/20/02:

MT. DEFIANCE CACHE

 

the last two each have 1 not-found. The first one is a virgin. I can see why, it's pretty remote.

If it were not for the posse I put together a few weeks ago, the Port-a-Potty Bonus might have been on your list. Put enough geocachers together, you can find anything.

 

The MT DEFIANCE CACHE is a TRICKY DICK CACHE. It probably wasn't found because the coordinates are likely several HUNDRED feet off. A GOOD CACHER will need a LOT OF TIME to FIND this cache.

[+Gloom]

The MT DEFIANCE CACHE is a TRICKY DICK CACHE.  It probably wasn't found because the coordinates are likely several HUNDRED feet off.  A GOOD CACHER will need a LOT OF TIME to FIND this cache. 

 

Yeah I thought about putting a note about that. I noticed that the one log that Mt. Defiance did have said they spent well over an hour looking. I think a team of seasoned cachers spending a while up there may be able to find it. From my experience with Tricky Dick caches, the coords are usually off, but the hint is generally in the right spot. You just have to find the right spot to make the hint make sense.

Edited March 17, 2004 by Gloom

[+Bull Moose]

Why is it that 3 Corners has never been visited? Is it that hard to get there or is there just no one there.

 

And does Tricky Dick offset his coords on purpose or does he just not know how to use a GPS?

[+kiwimonster]

I agree. Three corners sounds very interesting to me. I just wish it wasn't as far away from me as is possible for something in Oregon.

 

As for tricky dick, well, I think it is Hanlon's Razor, to some degree.

 

I've considered trying for Mt. Defiance, in the course of exploring that area. I don't know that I would go there for that purpose alone. I generally wait until someone else posts better coordinates.

[+Gloom]

Why is it that 3 Corners has never been visited? Is it that hard to get there or is there just no one there.

 

And does Tricky Dick offset his coords on purpose or does he just not know how to use a GPS?

The Three Corners cache is in a VERY REMOTE part of Oregon (acutally the corner of Oregon / Idaho / Nevada). Very pretty area but very desolate also. There isn't much around that area except Steen's Mountain that you'd go there for. According to the 2000 census there are a little under 32000 people living in Malheur county which has a little under 10,000 square miles, which gives an average of 3.2 people per square mile. The census department lists no major population center in that county but even so, I'd imagine that most of the population is centered around towns, leaving the back country about as empty as you can find.

Edited March 17, 2004 by Gloom

[+Logscaler and Red]

There isn't much around that area except Steen's Mountain that you'd go there for.

 

Well Gloom I am sorry you feel that way.

 

This area has a lot to offer, just different then what most people are looking for or expect.

 

Remember the son of Sacajawea, John Baptist Charbonneau, who was packed through most of the Lewis and Clark trip? He is buried down that way.

 

Ruby ranch, the oldest structure in Harney county is down that way. A rock wall that the Basque sheep herders used to play hand ball on. Pete French's round barn. Lava flows, craters, Malhuer Bird refuge, Hot Springs, rock hounding, star gazing, camping spots, petroglyphs and pictographs, lava caves, vista's beyound belief, Wild horse herds, Hart Mountain, etc.

 

Have you ever raced with Pronghorn? Seen herds of Mulies where the critters number in the hundreds? Watched Golden Eagles soaring as they hunt Rabbits? Bald Eagles as they pair off and hunt ducks? Have you ever seen one of if not the largest inland rookery of White Pelicans? Watched herds of Bighorn or Mountain Goats scampering along shear rock walls? How about stand on a rock with your toes hanging over the edge of a 500 + foot cliff and watch buzzards soaring in the air below you? Been able to drive on back country roads where you will have to four wheel downhill? Go stand in the Sage and be the tallest thing around for miles and miles?

 

Just a couple point about the area.

 

Would you be interested in more caches down that way? How many would it take to be of more interest to you?

 

Do like we do time to time. Take off from home Friday night, drive as far as you can safely, sleep in the car, get up somewhere in the night or at first light and head on out. 5 hours from Portland will put you in the Burns area for the night. Two - three more hours more puts you close to the area being discussed. Work a few caches Saturday as you head back North, hit I-80 sometime around noon Sunday somewhere along the line and at most it would be 5/6 hours back to Portland.

 

Heck, that sounds good to me. See you all on the High Desert this weekend.

 

logscaler.

[+Seth!]

I might be up for doing the second one. The first one is a virtual, so the fact that it's a really 'old' cache is kind of mute (to me, anyway). The third one sounds like it would kill me, plus that NF makes me wonder. The other one sounds pretty groovy. It was placed on my one-year geocaching anniversary.

 

Seth!

[+DenaliNW]

The third one sounds like it would kill me, plus that NF makes me wonder.

 

Mt. Defiance will only kill you if you come up the trail described from the gorge. It's about 5000 vertical feet in 5 miles, and is actually a good trail to condition for climbs on Mt. Hood. But you can drive up the back side on forest roads, and get to within a mile or so of the cache on relatively easy trails.

 

I would guess it is there - Trickey Dick is notorious around here for having bad coordinates on many of his caches. Some seem to be spot on, while many are way off. He usually hides them well though - places not likely to be stumbled upon.

[+Peanuthead]

I agree with Logscaler, Malheur/Fields/Alvord Desert/Steens/Whorehouse Meadow/Frenchglen are all FANTASTIC places to visit.

 

But if you do so you need to take the remoteness of the area seriously.

 

Make sure you have a survival kit with you, extra water, food, blankets, a couple

 

spare tires, all that jazz.

 

Even extra fuel if you can swing it, as even gas stations can be hard to come by,

 

and the few that are there have a bad habit of running out themselves.

[+evergreenhiker!]

The third one sounds like it would kill me, plus that NF makes me wonder.

 

Mt. Defiance will only kill you if you come up the trail described from the gorge. It's about 5000 vertical feet in 5 miles, and is actually a good trail to condition for climbs on Mt. Hood. But you can drive up the back side on forest roads, and get to within a mile or so of the cache on relatively easy trails.

 

I would guess it is there - Trickey Dick is notorious around here for having bad coordinates on many of his caches. Some seem to be spot on, while many are way off. He usually hides them well though - places not likely to be stumbled upon.

that might be true, but I'm gonna go at it from the river up! That's my style.

[+Gloom]

Well Gloom I am sorry you feel that way.

 

Actually, I don't feel that way! I would LOVE to spend some time down there. I was just trying to point out that there's not much down that way if you're looking for civilization. For the outdoor enthusiat it's a wonderland, but it's not as glorified or well known as say, crater lake. I guess what I'm trying to say is it's not a 'destination' as most people would think of it.

[+Logscaler and Red]

Point taken Gloom.

 

This area attracts a lot of people.

One time.

From the highway as they are heading somewhere else.

Or they are with a tour group who get to see just the pretty side of things.

 

Not the old homesteads that are falling down and draped in Rose bushes.

Not the old horses corrals from back when. Broken rails and gates hanging.

Not the stars hanging in the sky as your soaking in a hot spring pool.

Nor hear the songdogs calling for each other.

I'll stop now.

 

logscaler.

Edited March 19, 2004 by logscaler