Geocaching - 8/19/10

Yesterday we planned on making our first cache trip to Lake Mead, but plans changed.  I looked up the weather before leaving, and found out Lake Mead was a good 105+ degrees, which quickly turned us off.  Within 10 minutes I created a new route for Mount Charleston at Mary Jane Falls, loaded the coordinates onto the GPSr and we were off!
On the drive we passed by Fletcher Canyon Trail, and soon hit Mary Jane Falls trailhead.  We got packed up, checked the coordinates and walked in the opposite direction of the trail, but to pick up a cache of course!  We walk down the gravel road to a spot of freshly cut trees.  The GPSr was pointing in the direction of the cut trees so we continued.  After a bit of hiking my Dad spotted the cache, as I walked right by it looking down at the GPSr.  The cache was a micro so I just signed the log and continued on.         

You can hardly see the cache, but it's there in my hand

After actually making it to the real beginning of the trail, we started the hike! There were many muggles (people who are not geocachers) on the trail, because it is one of the highly hiked trails in Mount Charleston.  Once about 30 min passed, we found the first cache which was a regular size, signed the log, took a quick video and continued on our way.                                                                                                                                       

Didn't know a place with this many trees existed near Vegas

The entire trail seemed to increase in elevation ever so slightly with each step.  This made a “moderate” hike a bit more difficult.  Not much time passed until we were on the GZ of the next cache.  Apparently my GPSr was confused with the high trees again, because I wasted 15 minutes digging under a tree stump, when the actual cache was just behind a few rocks under an adjacent tree.  This area was covered with other families who were taking a break cause of the shade, so we had to wait everyone out.  Once we were the only ones left, we grabbed the cache, signed it, and quickly put it back before anyone else arrived.                                                 

             We continued on the trail and were already less than 525 feet of the next cache.  The description stated to “watch your footing” so I knew I’d have some climbing.  The clue also stated it was at eye level, so we figured it was hanging.  After some upward climbing in broken branches and leaves, I was directly on the coordinates but couldn’t see the cache.  My parents stayed where the coordinates said to, because it was too difficult for them to go any higher.  A good 10 feet upward, I walked into the cache, literally.  Cache was well hid and a successful find to add to my log!  Signed the log, and with some swift steps made it back on ground level.                                        

View from the hill I was on, with my Dad at the bottom

From this point we had already snatched 4 out of 5 caches, without even making it to the Mary Jane Falls!  My book which has worked amazingly so far, said that once we make it to the switchbacks, to take the switchbacks and continue on.  However my GPSr was telling us to continue on away from the switchbacks for the last cache.  We decided we would do the switchbacks first and make it to the Falls and then on the descent pick up the last cache.  We started the switchbacks not knowing what we got ourselves into.  A switchback is a series of levels used to get up a steep hill or mountain.  You walk in one direction, then at some point it turns upward and you walk in that direction, and then switch and so on.  We saw many families and hikers on this trail taking breaks because the incline was so steep.  You could literally miss one step and be sliding down the mountain and it wouldn’t be fun.                                                                                                                            

Met this little guy along the hike

                                                                                        










         After an extremely intense hike constantly going up on the switchbacks, we finally caught a glimpse of the Falls.  Due to the season and weather, the Falls were not gushing water, but it was a better sight to see than another switchback!  The switchbacks alone took a good hour to hour and a half but it was worth it.  Once we made it to the base of the falls we enjoyed the view, ate some lunch, and relaxed.  Some families even went in the water, not quite sure how because the mist alone hitting us was freezing!                                                                                                      

Mary Jane Falls

From where we were sitting, I could see two people making their way to this big cave.  Of course I had to make my way over there and see what it was.  After lunch I put my backpack on and turned the walkie talkie on because my parents weren’t coming.  The cave seemed far away, but within a matter of minutes I was already there.  It was quite a view inside and out the cave.  After spending some time in the cave, I made it back to parents, and then the descent began.  





The descent was somewhat worse than the ascent because once you got going; it was difficult to stop so you had to walk very slowly down the switchbacks.  We passed many, many families that had no idea how high the Falls actually were and didn’t seem too happy to say the least.  After a tiresome descent, we were finally back on the floor level of the trail.  We continued passed the switchbacks onto the fifth and final cache.  By this time of the day, we all were tired but couldn’t leave knowing the last cache was less than .2 miles away.  The last stretch towards the final cache had an incline that was too great for my parents so I went on and found the cache myself and took it to my parents who “hid” themselves off the trail on a downed tree.  My Dad and I scrounged through the cache, signed the log, placed it back, and were officially done!  



                                                                                                                  We successfully found 5/5 caches that were planned.  These 5 caches make my grand total 34!                                                 

Geocaching - 8/17/10

This trip was semi-successful to say the least.  It was our first time going to Mount Charleston to hike and look for caches, so we were all very excited.  The hike itself didn’t let us down one bit, it was the fact I had to log my first ever DNF, but to make matters worse, I had to log two DNF’s!  I’ll get to them later, but first I’ll begin with the hike itself.  We pulled up to Fletcher Canyon trail, and stepped out of the car to feel the dramatic change in weather.  For once it was actually “cool” outside compared to the constant 110 degree weather of Vegas.  We began the trail surrounded by pine trees and oak trees, which was all new scenery for us compared to the desert.  With the smell of the fresh air in our nostrils, we began the trek to hopefully find 5 caches. 

Getting ready for the hike

The first cache was found within approximately 45 minutes, but not without any difficulties.  This was my first time using my GPSr in a setting that had many tall trees so I wasn’t expecting such an issue.  After a short but useless hike through some thick trees, branches, and rocks, we finally found the first cache.  If I would have known, we could have stayed on the trail and simply walked right to the cache, but if it was that easy, it wouldn’t have been as much fun.
 

Found my first cache at Mount Charleston

The second cache on our trip of hopefully five was an important one to say the least.  The cache was a bit off the trail, but on our way to it, I spotted our first wildlife and snake for Mount Charleston!  There is a pipe that is extremely rusty and use to run from the top of the mountain to the bottom, and I’m guessing its use was for water transportation.  These days it is broken up and rusted out, which makes a perfect place for a good 3 foot long snake!  Before I could grab it or take a good photo of it, he squirmed his way back into the pipe.  If I or my parents hadn’t noticed him, we would have walked right on top of him, which would have been a bad situation to say the least.  After the snake incident, we found the cache merely 10 feet away from his spot, so I quickly signed the log, not wanting to meet any of his snake friends!

Found this big tree along the hike

What was supposed to be the third cache in the line of five was quite some trouble.  We arrived directly on the coordinates and began searching.  The cache name had “log” in it, so we searched the nearest log.  After about 15 minutes of searching one log that seemed to be perfect, we searched the area.  My Mom and Dad needed a break, so they set up “camp” which was a blanket on the ground giving me more time to look.  Once 45 minutes passed and still no cache, I was getting impatient and really wanted the cache.  Pine needles covered the ground so I figured it might have been buried by Mother Nature, so using a stick I brushed away hundreds upon hundreds of needles hoping to see some tupper-ware looking back at me beneath the mount of needles.  

 














           With no log signed, we continued on to the fourth cache, and planned on looking again on the way out with a new perspective of the land and a fresh start.  We headed up the trail and walked for a good hour until the scenery began to change.  With help from a family taking a break near a small running stream, we were guided towards the canyon, still not knowing what to expect.  After some climbs over small hills, we were met with enormous walls of rock and were astounded.  We had never seen anything like that and couldn’t wait to get inside it.  Within minutes we were surrounded by 30-40 foot walls of rock.  Luckily for us, there was no rain that day because this would not have been a good place to get trapped in with running rain.  The climb through the canyon was treacherous, due to the rocks being very slippery from the constant pressure of water running over them in the winter and spring.  After some amazing views and pictures of being inside the canyon, we made it to where the waterfall would be if there was snow melting.
  

Canyon walls were very high

It was very cool being inside of it, but the GPSr lost service extremely quickly.  This left us in quite a pickle, I remembered from the one cache’s page, it being behind a log.  Sure enough, my Dad points out to a log, and told me to check in it, and so I did.  Reached my hand in behind some oddly placed rocks, and there it was, cache number 3!  We had to quickly sign the log and place it back because a family full of young kids who were not Geocachers was on our tails.  Not thinking they could climb up the steep ledge to get where we were, we continued on into the canyon to where it ended.  Knowing from memory, there was another cache in this vicinity based on coordinates, I began scrounging around.  I saved the clues onto my phone, and the clue stated you would need to find a way to climb up the canyon wall, and so I did.  Not knowing I climbed into the completely wrong area. 

After looking for what seemed like hours in this small ravine barely big enough for my body, covered in dirt and dust I finally called it quits once I turned on a small light, and saw mounds of bat guano, also known simply as poop.  The sight of all those droppings turned me off on the cache and I jumped down as quickly as possible.  Once a bit of climbing and sliding down a ledge, I was back on the ground with my parents where we regrouped and were met with the family of small children.  We still don’t know how they got up there, but we politely said hi and carried on our way out of the canyon.  Leaving the falls area, we found a “waterslide” that was made probably by the pressure of the water, so I attempted to “slide” down it when it was dry, which didn’t work out.  Either way we left the canyon disappointed yet again, hoping to go back to the spot of the other hidden cache and locate it to make up for the last cache. 



After some back-tracking, we made it to the original spot of the cache which was supposed to be some “log.”  Again, my parents relaxed as I frantically hunted for the cache.  Hikers were constantly walking by us, but since we were somewhat quiet and out of sight, they never even knew we were there.  I dug up many, many logs, piles of needles, rocks, etc.  Luck was not on my side that day, I had to give up and log two DNF’s.

Besides the two caches that slipped by, the hike was great and we found a snake and 3 making the grand total 29!  Hopefully in the near future we can get back to this trail, because I have some payback to give for those 2 caches that I missed! 

If you would like to check out some of the other videos from this adventure in Mount Charleston that didn’t make the blog, you can click on the tab ‘My Videos’ in the sidebar or this link http://www.youtube.com/user/hesslv.

Getting Ready For Mount Charleston

Tomorrow we will be attempting our first caching adventure in Mount Charleston!  The heat in the valley of Vegas has been unbearable lately, so we thought this would be a good time to go to Mount Charleston, seeing as the elevation causes a great drop in temperature. 

My parents and brother finally picked up new hiking boots tonight so they’re ready to test them out!  Not only did they get new boots, we also got a new digital camera, so no more pictures and videos from my phone! Expect to see higher quality images and videos. 

We hope on finding the “Big Falls” which is apparently some amazing scenery where the falls pours out of the mountain, but we also want a good amount of caches to find and also drop off my 2 geocoins I found on the last trip.  Hopefully the temperature will stay cool and allow us to not only see the Big Falls which is an approximate 2-3 hour hike, but also go on this trail which seems to have caches lined up all the way on it! If everything goes accordingly, I should be adding 5-6 caches to my name as well as seeing some form of a waterfall.  My new hiking book came in the mail yesterday and actually has the trail to Big Falls mapped out, so this will be a good time to test out the book! 

Here is a video I found of the falls we hope to reach tomorrow…

Geocaching - 8/11/10

The other night, we (my mom, dad and I) decided we would try to go cache hunting at night.  With flashlights in hand, we packed into the car and left.  By the time we made it to Red Rock, the sun had already begun to go down.  We found our first cache off the trail, in the opposite direction, but it didn't take too long.  Inside the first cache was my first geocoin! A geocoin is a coin that travels from cache to cache. After the first cache we walked back to the street and onto the trail.  After some confusion as to where we should begin, we finally started hiking into the sunset.  Before we even made it to the first of hopefully seven caches, it had already become dark.  We continued on into the dark with our flashlights, not looking back.  The first cache seemed to be down a hill that my parents couldn't get down, so I headed out alone down the hill well they followed my steps with the help of their flashlight.  After a good 10 minute hike down the hill, I made it to the bottom and it was another 10 minutes before I was near the cache.  By this time, I could hardly see anything even with the help of my light.  Once I was within 5 feet of the cache I began looking quickly because it was very creepy being so far into the mountains alone.  After finding the cache I opened it up and found another geocoin!  I quickly placed the coin in my pocket, signed the log, and headed back for mom and dad.  Once I regrouped with them, we continued our hike in the darkness.

Found my first Geocoin!

The next cache led us to a hill going straight down into some woods, yet again.  This time we all went but mom and dad left their backpack so we had to make sure to come back to this exact spot to retrieve their backpack.  Once down the hill, we were met with a wall of trees, twigs, and pokey objects.  Dad got the worst of this, with both of his legs being covered in scratches and bruises from the punishment mother nature gave us.  After a long, confusing hike in the dark, we located another cache!  Again, I quickly signed the log and left some swag, so we could leave and get back to the other backpack as soon as possible.  Thanks to my handy-dandy GPSr, we were able to locate the backpack because I marked the coordinates of its location.  After we all made it up the hill to the backpack through the bunches of trees and burrs, we took a break for five minutes, and then continued on.

The next two caches we found were  not in anywhere near the first two thankfully, so we had an easier time getting to them.  By this time it was completely dark, if our flashlights had died we would have been left in the middle of Red Rock not knowing where to go.  After we had found 5 of the 8 caches, dad called it quits and we headed back to the road..or so we thought we were.  Instead of going back to our original starting point, we walked in the wrong direction, two or three miles away from where we should have been.  After correcting our mistake we headed towards the road, and came out at the wrong spot, but we were happy walking down the street to our car rather than through the wilderness getting scared and injured every second.

Could hardly see this cache, without a light, it was impossible.

We made it back to the car after 4 1/2 hours of hiking.  We only found 5 of the 8 wanted caches, but that was enough.  We learned from this, that it is best to hike and go caching during the day, because the darkness adds a whole new level of difficulty we were not ready for.

Geocaching - 8/8/10

Last night my entire family and I went out for a little late evening caching! Seeing as how it is extremely hot during the afternoon, our only choice is to wake up at 5am and begin caching or wait until the sun goes down.  We left with a goal of locating 5 caches and succeeded in finding all 5 caches!

We parked at First Creek Trail, and began by finding 2 caches located inside the trail but not too far inside.  After picking up these 2 caches, we enjoyed some music from a group who seems to be on this trail every Sunday, playing drums and dancing.  We watched from afar, not wanting to get involved.  After 2 quick grabs we walked across the street and had to crawl through a barbwire fence which was quite a sight to see!

Once we all crawled through the fence without getting cut, we proceeded uphill towards the cache!  Once on top of a hill, which was a relatively easy climb, I spotted the cache under some broke Joshua Tree branches.  After removing and opening the cache, I was shocked to find many, many altoid cans!  The clue said it was hidden in only one cache, which confused me until I opened it! I spread the caches out and told everyone to start opening! Of course, Dad being who he is, found the log in the first cache he opened.  Out of 15+ cans, Dad picked the right one the first time.  Coincidence? I think not!  Either way we got the log book and I signed it and moved onto the next caches, which were a bit down the road so we had to drive down.

The next cache was called "Hamster Cache" and was home to, two little fury hamster dancing machines!  After playing with the little guys we put the cache back and headed to our last one for the day, which was not too far away! We were not sure if we should cross back through the barbwire so we decided not to and walk along it and see where the GPS takes us. And it took us to a point where it pointed....on the other side of the fence, so with a little muscle we picked the barbwire up enough off of the ground and crawled through safely! After getting through the fence, we found the last cache that was literally 3 feet from the road but nobody would know it.  That last cache ended our hunt for the day, and we from having 16 caches to 21!

Geocaching - 8/7/10

One night, my parents and I were bored sitting at home when I decided we should go geocaching.  We all agreed on it, and I planned an easy route seeing as how it was getting darker out.  After loading some coordinates onto my GPSr, we stormed out!  The clouds looked a bit "angry" but we figured the chance of rain wasn't too high.  Within minutes of arriving at the site at which we were to park, it began raining!  We headed out anyways towards the first cache.  After finding the cache, and signing the log, as quickly as possible, we all headed straight for the car as we were bombarded with rain drops!

After making it to the car, we waited the rain out before getting back out.  Once the rain stopped, we went out looking for 2-3 more caches.  Each of the caches was a relatively easy find, but was well worth it.  Being outdoors finding caches is a lot more fun than sitting at home watching repeats of Judge Judy, I must say.  As we headed back towards the car, with 3 new caches to add to my name, it began raining again, but lightly, more like a sun shower.  Once to the car, we packed our gear up and we were off to Burger King for a celebratory icee for our successful Geocaching adventure.

Can you see the cache?

Geocaching - 8/5/10

The other day my mother, father, and I went out caching in Red Rock Canyon, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  We have become very familiar with the trails in Red Rock, and one of our favorite trails is First Creek Trail.  After a bit of research, I found many caches placed along this trail, so I loaded the coordinates, got packed up, and we were off!

Upon arriving we found some "easy" caches scattered near the roadside.  As a matter of fact, mom found the first one hidden under a Snail statue!  Once we made it to First Creek, we parked and began our trek! During this set of caches we came across two new aspects of geocaching.  The first being the fact that caches are not always on the ground! After a small hike we found ourselves in a patch of trees, which seem very odd in Red Rock.  The GPSr began to use satellite strength but gave us a general direction and lead us right to the cache! All we had to do was look up, and there it was!

The next cache was located near the falls and a small pond that attracts many viewers.  We have accidentally found this water hole many times so we were not "surprised" by it, but were more eager to find the cache! After an hour of searching and reading the clues over and over again, we finally had to take a break.  This begin the second new aspect of geocaching, which is caching allows you to do things that otherwise you would've never done!  In one of the bushes was an old crawfish pot or so it seemed, which dad fixed and got back into working order.  Using some twine from a tree and the string from dad's shorts, we were able to make a working fishing pot with line and all! Last but not least we added some bread to the bottom of the pot and let it sit at the bottom of the pond.  Within minutes dozens of goldfish attacked the pot but were not heavy enough to activate the top of the cage, so no goldfish were caught.  However there were 3 crawfish stuck on the top!  I slowly pulled the pot in, being careful so that the string attached didn't break.  And after a bit of pulling we had successfully caught 3 crawfish!  They were very eager to get out, in fact one climbed right out before I could pick the cage up.  The other two were stuck in there and we got a closer look! Just think, if we were stranded there, we could probably eat for days of the fish in that pond and the cage we found!

After having fun looking at the crawfish we gently placed them back onto the ground, and they crawled back to the water.  Two crawfish even "fought" over a piece of bread floating, you couldn't see something like that on the Discovery Channel!  After our little fishing experience, we read the description of the cache and the clue again.  Then within five minutes, we found it! After signing the log book and placing the cache back, we moved on!  By the end of the trip, an approximate 5 hour round trip hike, we left with 5 log books signed and moved from 7 total caches found to 12!

Geocaching - 8/4/10

After returning from vacation where I began geocaching, I was anxious to get the family going so we headed out at 6am!  This series of caches was more so a tutorial for everyone, because they had no idea what exactly we were going to be doing.  The first cache we found was located behind a large boulder and was an ammunition can.  After signing the log and trading a few items, we moved on! First cache found in Las Vegas was done!

The next cache was a micro, very small, and was cleverly hidden.  The coordinates led us to merely nothing but small stones and a sign post.  Mom and I watched some videos about people who hide micros on posts so we looked in but saw nothing.  Apparently we didn't look good enough, because Josh took a peek in and saw a piece of fishing line hanging.  After some quick thinking, we pulled the cache out of the sign!  It was the smallest one I have found.  The size of your pinky! The only thing that could fit inside the cache was the log, a rolled up piece of paper, which was not easy putting back.

After these 2 easy caches, we began our hike on Oak Creek Trail.  It wasn't long before we found all other caches were looking for! All successful finds!  After this day, we were hooked!

Geocaching - 8/1/10

While I was on vacation in New Mexico, my cousin Cindy mentioned we would be trying geocaching.  At the time we had no idea what it was, but gave it a shot.  Printed some coordinates out, packed some gear together, and headed out.

The first cache was a micro, which is the smallest size a cache can be, so it was quite a big jump to make for it being our first cache.  The cache's coordinates lead us to two large pillars, and the hint was, with the correct angle you could see the cache.  So we put our packs down and began scrounging around the pillar for over an hour and a half.  After much time lapsed, we finally decided to climb straight up the pillar before giving up.  Once I made it to the top which was fairly difficult, I looked around and to my amazement, when I looked down I saw the small orange waterproof container jammed between two rocks on top of the adjacent pillar.  After a bit of climbing I made it to the cache, and opened it to find the log signed with the other cachers who have found it.  Since this was our first cache, I wasn't prepared and didn't have a pen on me, so Cindy attempted to throw one up to me, which failed.  After a couple throws I finally grabbed it barely and signed the log and had to fight the piece of paper to get it to fit back into the cache.  Climbing down the pillar was worse than up, seeing as how I don't enjoy jumping when it would have been easier than just climbing down.

Was not easy coming down. Not at all.

With our first cache under our belt we headed back to the car and onto the second one.  For the second cache we choose a cache that was rated easy and well, it was.  After a bit of walking we found it in the middle of some Joshua trees.  Near the location of the second cache was a deteriorating graveyard, which we got a closer look at.  Being so close to the Mexican border as we were, some of the gravestones were craved with a stick or a sharp rock and were written in Spanish.  Some dates were as old as 1910.  Few gravestones had new headstones which were placed recently from the deceased's family.  It was overall a very cool place to see, because you can't find many old graveyards that like anymore.  After my first two caches, we picked up some lunch, and headed home! Ever since then, I have been addicted to finding caches!