Saddest Geocaching Day Ever!

Well what was to be a great day caching after my birthday turned out to be a sad sad day.  Creyke Point - GCMY34 was to be the first of many finds today, but it did not happen that way. 

We arrived in ESP at the parking lot and began our walk out.  As we approached GZ we originally arrived up too high, so we came back a different way and were too low. 
Trying one more way got to within 4 meters and I got the beep telling me my GPS need new batteries. Taking a second to change them I fumbled the GPS, then dropped it and watched in horror as the events unfold. 

The GPS fell glass screen side down right onto the rocks and shattered the screen. And to add insult to injury, because the battery door was open and batteries out the memory card door and memory card went flying out.... No where to be found.

We searched for the memory card, but in the end only ended up finding the cache. So signed that and looked a bit longer... Still could not find it.

Eventually admitting defeat we moved on back to the parking lot, and began a long quiet drive home.

Goodbye my friend!

Brentwood Bay Lighthouse & New Cachers Ahoy!

I got off work at my usual time just before midnight on Sunday May 26th and met with my friend for coffee at the Saanich Plaza Tim Horton's.  While we chatted and talked over some stuff he got a text from his wife asking when I could take them out geocaching so they could see what it is all about. 

Well what great timing for them, as I had planned to go do Brentwood Bay Lighthouse - GC1G195 in the afternoon of May 27th (technically that day in 12hrs).  I told him how I had checked out the tide charts, and that we should be able to walk out to this one, and what it would be like to get to it.  Excited he called his wife and told her, and when he hung up he told me they were in.

I woke up the next day and ensured that they made a geocaching.com account (for those that don't know, it's free) and went out to pick them up.  We didn't have the greatest of weather, but we sucked it up and headed out. 

Arriving in Brentwood Bay, we parked at the parking coordinates for an old cache that was located nearby and used the the low tide to walk out to the cache.  A little info for anyone reading this,  if the tide is out the exposed beach that is below the high tide line is considered public property.  So you can access tough to reach areas without trespassing.  But be smart and get back before the tide comes back, or you are stuck.

It was a lot of fun getting to this one.  We saw a ton of starfish clinging to the rocks waiting for the tide to come back, large live mussels strewn across the exposed beach, and actually got sprayed at by several that were buried below the sand.

Eventually we made it to the cache, and our friends now known as team_pasha were given the honours of retrieving the cache and signing first. 

I have to say that doing a 1/5 for their first cache is pretty cool.  And even cooler was being there to experience it with them. 

Welcome to the world of Geocaching team_pasha, may you be blessed with good reception and tons of finds!

Caching East Sooke Park with magicman65

On May 18th, 2013 I got together with my friend and fellow geocaching blogger magicman65 to do some serious caching in East Sooke Park.  Just Leafy really wanted to be a part of this adventure, but sadly she had to work that night.  This meant that she had to sleep all day to be ready for that long 12hr shift.

I woke up with great enthusiasm, walking to the blinds to our patio door and opened them to a sight I was hoping not to see.... rain!  But I still had hope as the rain was light and the clouds looked high in the sky.
You have to understand that I am a fair weather cacher.  I just can not stand getting wet in the rain.  Just Leafy likes to tease me and say things like "Oh you don't like getting wet, so why do you swim" or things like "You don't like getting wet, but you shower".  But as I said just above, I don't like getting wet in the RAIN!

Pulling out my phone I opened up Facebook and sent magicman65 a message to tell him what it was like out here by my home, and to my surprise his response was that it wasn't raining out there at his.
Now I know that Victoria/Saanich and the Westshore Communities tend to have slightly different weather from each other; however  now the question was, what was it going to be like in East Sooke.
Well it was was time to find out, and that meant getting in the car and heading out.

Well I tell you, the difference from in town to the Westshore was staggering.  About when I got to my exit into Colwood there was nothing but sun and blue sky.  I was floored!
I got to magicman65 and Angel Cheeks' place and parked the car pretty much right on time for our meet up of 10:00am, loaded up into his truck and away we went.

We arrived at the parking lot and got right to work.  We attempted one that I had got before "GC23V14 - get err of", but soon discovered it had a few DNFs (Did Not Finds) attached to it.  This caused us to call of that search, and we moved on.
This trail was familiar to me, and you readers will have read about it before.  Let's go back to Easter Weekend last year, you may remember that Just Leafy and I came out to ESP (East Sooke Park) with Paulboy.  If you haven't read it, you can find it by clicking HERE.  We did this very same trail loop back then!  Amandazon who owns the majority of the caches here archived the old ones and released a new set in the same locations.

This worked out very well for magicman65 and I, and we decided to make it a fresh new experience for me by doing the loop in the opposite direction to what we did a year ago.

What a day it was.  It was neat doing it the way we did, as I could not
predict the cache locations or the dips and climbs of the trail.  All the while we talked about everything geocaching (of course), and my up coming wedding.
We saw so many neat things along the trail on this trip, from cool insects like Centipedes and Black Beetles, to multiple trees growing out of the large horizontal limb of another tree, to smiling faces in the stumps.

All the caches we did were dry and in good condition.  And although they were all micros in the woods, they
were all trail side and easy to find.  This is great because it minimizes the impact on the surrounding environment.
Taking our time and having fun along the way we completed the circuit in about 5.5hrs and walked 12.9km, netting ourselves about 23 finds.  And returning to the truck we headed home.


Thanks magicman65 for such a fun day in ESP, and thank you Amandazon and all the other cachers who hid caches along this trail.  Without your contributions to the area this day could not have happened.

If you would like to read about magicman65's geocaching adventures, be sure to click on the banner below to link to his geocaching blog.  And don't forget to subscribe to receive notifications when he posts something new!

Mother's Day and FTFs

This Mother's Day weekend I decided to head up to Comox to visit with my parents.  It more or less was to be a surprise for my mom, so on Saturday night after the wedding we were attending we loaded up and headed out.

I first had to drop Just Leafy off in Nanaimo so that she could do the same thing I was doing, but I have to tell you the rain was insane.
One of the things I hate the most about this Island is the Malahat.  This particular highway is stunning to look at, but the people that drive it drive like they have a death wish.  And this is even more true during horrific weather conditions.  So the first leg of my journey was no fun, but I got her there safe and sound.  But now I had to get from Nanaimo to Comox on a particularly long and dark section of the highway.
But at this time of night there was not many people driving in that direction, so I was left to my own devices.

I pulled in sometime before 1am and after a small chat with dad headed to bed.

I awoke early the next day to find mom up already, so came around the corner and surprised her saying "Happy Mothers Day".  She was so glad to see me and as I handed her the gift I got her she said that thing moms always say "You didn't have to, you are my gift".
But eagerly she opened the gift, and she was very pleased.  You seed my mom is a big Harry Potter fan, and I have taken to getting her HP collectibles lately.  Last year I got her a House Gryffindor scarf....  But this year she got Hermione's Time Turner.  A beautiful replica of the prop used in "The Prisoner of Azkaban".
She set forth to setting it up in it's display case, and found it a nice home on her china cabinet.

After breakfast we loaded up into the vehicle and drove down to Bowser for a bit of geocaching.
The reason we headed out there was to look for a specific XTREME GPS TEAM cache that had been archived but could possibly be out there.  If we did find it we would be the first to in 8 long years.
The cache was "EMERGENCY ON PLANET EARTH CACHE - GCK718" (the TEAM loved their caps lock).  The reason I have made the cache name and GC number red and struck through is to emulate geocaching.com and serve as a reminder this is an archived cache.
Sadly we could not find it, but we were not 100% hopeful that we would.  The site has had a lot of construction waste dumped here, and could serve for a small CITO someday.

Our caching friend bigbluemarble was also here the day before trying the same thing, and when she heard we would be there texted me some coordinates for a cache she and Cougar Kid had placed that was not published yet.  She asked us to not claim the FTF, but to log it as a test run.  We were happy to comply and did as asked, leaving the FTF spot to the first to find after publication.
My poor dad Postie Bear was kind of hoping for a FTF, and I told him not to worry that he would get his first one someday.  We continued with a few more caches, and headed off with mom to have a coffee and a snack.

The next day dad did his logs, and because we had found a couple that belonged to someone he knew he made sure he mentioned that in his logs.  That cacher later emailed my dad and said that she had a cache that had been out 24hrs already and that no one had claimed FTF on it yet, and in the email included the GC number and the name "Little Tiny Teeth - GC4C0PH".  We quickly looked it up on my iPad and realized it was back where we had done some caching the day before, not to far from the Denman Island Ferry.
I looked at dad and said "There's your chance, let's go".  And we quickly headed out the door.

We arrived at GZ (ground zero/posted coordinates) and after a brief search we had the cache in hand.  Nervously dad opened the container and looked at the log, and with a grin said "We are first to find"!
He collected the toonie which was the FTF to prize and we signed the log.
Dad was pretty happy, he was all grins.  And on the way home we stopped for a nice cup of Joe (coffee) and discussed future caching plans.  As the day moved forward I loaded back up and headed for home.

It was a fun semi-caching weekend, and it was so nice to help dad get his first FTF!  Thanks for reading!!

The GO! Team's Wedding Photo Flash Mob - GC4B4K9

That is right, we are hosting a quick photo event the day of our wedding.  Our fantastic photographer Megan of Fetching Image Photography was absolutely ecstatic at the idea of a Flash Mob photo with the geocachers of Victoria and surrounding area.  So if you are a cacher on Vancouver Island or visiting the area on the day of the event and want to play a small part in our day, we invite you to log your intent to attend at the cache page.  Make sure to read the details of the event so that you know what is going on!

Also clicking on any of the blue text will take you to any of the relevant web pages!

WWFM X - May The Fourth Be With You

On Saturday May 4th, 2013 (May the 4th be with you) the tenth annual WWFM X (World Wide Flash Mob) Event took place.  The event here in Victoria (GC47HQK) happened at the beautiful and scenic Clover Point, while we were joined by others all over the globe at various other events.  The WWFM is described as such by the folks at geocaching.com:

"More than 15,000 geocachers attended one of more than 350 geocaching flash mob events spanning the globe. From a small beginning, the WWFM has grown astronomically, spreading around the globe to include more geocachers and more events every year. The WWFM events are 15 minutes of fun and excitement, packed with “typical” geocaching event activities like group photos, event meals (usually Hershey’s kisses), prize giveaways and trackable trading."

Originally it was just going to be me Shadowcaster of The GO! Team going to this event, as Just Leafy was at Goldstream Campgrounds camping with some of our friends.  But this morning (6:30am) as a I was getting my beauty sleep I got a call on my cellphone from her telling me that she was already up and would like me to come pick her up and bring her too. 
So up I got, quickly dressed with the fog of sleep still in my head I headed out to pick her up.

The weather today was just glorious, and when we arrived at Clover Point we were greeted with a crystal clear view of the Olympic Mountains in the distance. 
Already many cachers were gathered around (not at) GZ (ground zero), waiting for the appointed time to move into the center of the grounds to proceed with the actual Flash Mob. 

When the appointed time arrived, the waiting hoard of waiting geocachers turned and headed to the center.  The table in place and logbook set out, people poured in from all directions to sign.  Then we all lined up for the group photo taken by cameracowgirl, who has graciously given her permission for the photos to be used here on this blog.   Be sure to click on them to view the larger versions!
After that the draw for the WWFM X official geocoin was made, and Mr. Landsharkz was asked to reach in and pull out the winners name.  And the winner was AnnieMaroo, so a congratulations goes to her!  You enjoy that coin, we look forward to discovering it at a future event!

It was so nice to see all the usual friendly faces and to meet a few new people as well. The attendees of the event were from all over.  I believe we had some that were just off the plane this morning from the east coast, and as well there were visitors from Germany in attendance as well!
We always seem to talk to the same people all the time, yet we want to get around to more...  But it will have to be next time when we put our foot down and make sure we do.

An absolutely huge THANK YOU is in order for A-Team and G-Force for putting the time and energy into planning and hosting this event.  As well, another thank you goes to all who turned out to make the event a memorable one!

2013 Earthday CITO Weekend - Fort Rodd Hill

The weekend of April 20th~22nd 2013 was the Annual Earthday CITO (Cache In Trash Out) Weekend.

The folks here in the Greater Victoria Area had a couple of events planned for the 20th & 21st this particular weekend, but we The GO! Team could only attend one.  And that one was GC498W6 - Earth Day Garry Oak Ecosystem Restoration CITO hosted by Landsharkz and site sponsored Parks Canada.

Sadly I Shadowcaster was unable to attend due to being on the mainland that weekend, but my better half Just Leafy did.  So lets all give her a warm round of applause as she writes her words about the event for your reading pleasure.  So take it away Just Leafy......

"Just Leafy of The GO! Team here...

Unfortunately Shadowcaster couldn't attend this event with me but going solo for a change wasn't too bad after all since there are always other cachers to visit with!

The weather was on our side that morning!

I learned some new things while planting in the Fort Rodd Hill gardens and grassy areas and loved that we were making a positive difference and a greener planet!

It will be nice to return later in the Spring or even this summer to see the growth of the things we've planted!

Thanks to Landsharkz and my fellow cachers for an enjoyable day of making a better greener earth!"

Thank you Just Leafy for your story!  And thank you to everyone who participated in CITO events world wide this weekend, you all helped make this planet we call home a bit more greener and alot more beautiful!

Another Year, Another HAG (HAG 9)! And Then Some Detective Work CSI Style!

Well it is several months into the new year and of course the 9th annual HAG (Hide and Go Cache) has been and gone.  For any of my new readers or casual muggle readers, the HAG is a two month caching ordeal.  The local cachers of Vancouver Island participate by using the month of January to hide a bunch of new caches specifically for the event, and wait in anticipation to launch day. 
Launch day is in February, and this is when all the submitted caches for the HAG get published by our fantastic local reviewers.  This is when all the cachers head out in frenzy to make the FTF (First To Find) on all the new caches.  And then spend the whole month of February getting out there and finding what they can.  When March rolls around, the HAG is officially over.  This is when all stats on the HAG caches are collected by the "HAGs" as they like to call themselves, which is Amandazon and Mrs. Cache Crop.

After all is said and done, now comes the last part..... PARTY!  That's right, we all meet up at the 6 Mile Pub for an evening of merriment and food.  As part of it all the people that hid a cache gets a token of gratitude from the HAGs, and then the winners of the trophies are announced. 
In previous years Just Leafy and I have won the Best Log award and the Best Puzzle award.  But sadly we did not have time to participate in the hide part of the HAG this year becasue of the trip to the ET Highway.  But it was nice to let someone else win for once!

Here is the list of winners this year:

Most Finds: Wrooster
Most FTFs: Wrooster
Most Hides: Vicmorda
Best Night Cache: Team World Tour for Crimes in the City GC44F4E
Best Multi: rock'n'roll for BLT Multi GC4525J
Best Log: Paconlacellars and LJL for their logs in It's Elemental, My Dear Cacher.
Best Trail Series: birdseecer for the SS series ending in Culmination GC44WYP
Best Puzzle: Mike&Lily for If The Shoe Fits GC44HMR
Best Camo: The Incredibles for Red-Breasted Nuthatch GC44AD8
Tricky Trophy (most convoluted, drive-you-nuts cache): slimshadysr for SSsr's Stereogram Stash
Intrepid Cacher Trophy: 17blonde for the terrain she covers putting caches in the Sooke Wilderness
Pyramid Trophy: ljg-47 for the MANY contributions she has made to caching in the Sooke Hills.

Congrats to all the winners of the 9th Annual HAG.

To all who attended, it was nice to see you all there!  To those that I did not get to speak to, lets work to make that happen at the next event.

After the event was completed I teamed up with sdkonkle and Giant Pickle to go do the night/multi cache "CSI Victoria - GC202AR".  While still at the 6 Mile Pub joined forces with Team World Tour, and drove out to stage one.  When we arrived and started following the clues we soon ran into LEMON-T, and our team became 7 rookie CSI Agents. 
We solved stage one and headed onto the others, quickly figuring out what to do.  Soon after driving to some really cool places that were used for the stages we found ourself at the infamous final.  I say infamous not becasue it is hard, but because someone keeps stealing the reflective tacks that are used to mark the way.  We had arranged to contact the cache owner at this point to get some valuable tips to get us going, and after that was done we moved along and quickly (almost too quickly) had the cache in hand.

Thanks Giant Pickle and sdkonkle for inviting me to join you on this most excellent quest.  Team World Tour and LEMON-T it was nice to finally get out and cache with you, and I hope to do it again.  And to Mrs. Incredibles thanks for adopting this cache and keeping it alive, and a big thanks for that tip to allow us to actually complete this amazing night/multi!!!

And another thank you to A-Team for the use of your photo from this event!!  It's like you are becoming my personal photo journalist!!

CITO At Fort Rodd Hill

On February 24th Landsharkz hosted a CITO the which I have never seen before.  I have been to many CITO (Cache In Trash Out) Events over the past couple of years, but never one that took place at one of my favorite childhood locations.  This is of course the one and only Fort Rodd Hill!

Fort Rodd Hill is home to some of the oldest and rarest Gary Oak Ecosystems.  While Canada did at one time have many of these ecosystems, expansion and growth of the Human Race has systematically been wiping them out.  Here in Victoria you find them on the rocky hilltops near the shoreline.
To learn a bit more about Gary Oak Ecosystems check out this article from Parks Canada:
Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites of Canada and Garry Oak Ecosystems

These ecosystems are not only at risk from Humans, but also from other invasive plant species.  And one of those invasive plants is the Daphne Laureola.  To learn more on this plant please check out this link also:
INVASIVE PLANT PROFILE: Daphne laureola

This plant is very prolific, and handling it requires special care as it does have some toxic properties.  The sap of this plant can cause rashes and such, and Work Safe BC also has some words on how to handle this plant, since you can also find it growing in your yard: Work Safe BC Info On Handling Daphne Laureola

Landsharkz coordinated with Parks Canada to have us come in and assist them in removing this plant from their Gary Oak forest areas. 

With enthusiasm and an eagerness a number of local cachers converged on the grounds of Fort Rodd Hill and met with the Parks Canada staff for a briefing of what we were up against and what tools we would be using.   

They graciously gave all of us new pairs of work gloves, showed us the cutters we were to use and away we went.

We walked down to near the Lower Battery and were shown our work site.  And I have to say there was a lot of this plant down here.  We set right to work cutting at the root and pulling the saplings.  It was actually a lot of Daphne to clear, but time flew while we all had fun chatting and working.  Soon it was already noon, and Parks Canada supplied us with a nice pizza lunch. 

After lunch we worked away until 3pm, and by that time we had a huge pile of Daphne Laureola.  The staff at Parks Canada were most impressed, and were even more impressed at how we recognized natural indigenous plants and worked around them and left them to thrive and grow.

With that said a big thanks goes to the cachers that showed up to help clear this invasive plant out, a bigger thanks to Landsharkz for planning and hosting the event, and a SUPER HUGE thanks to Parks Canada for allowing us to come into their environment and help them take care of business!

Also a thank you to A-Team for graciously letting me use his pictures from the event in this blog.

 

ET Highway Day 5: The Last Day (For us that is)!!

Day 5 started just like all the rest.... Early!
We all rose and started to get ready and met at the Little A'Le'Inn Restaurant for breakfast.  Discussing what we had to do that day we hurried our eating and headed out.  First on the list was the UFO!  This was exactly like the Alien Head, and we had it all done in short order and headed out to grab some of the surrounding caches by foot.  This took us a few more hours and then we headed back for a warm cup of coffee and a snack.  We said our farewells to the wonderful staff of the Little A'Le'Inn, bought a few keepsakes and trackables and headed back out.

This leg of the trip had us cleaning up some more caches we ignored on the way by before and doing a few small powertrails again.  The going was a lot slower today, but it still had the outcome of some amazing numbers.  Here we saw more of the flora and fauna, and even more diverse lansacapes.  We moved along grabbing cache after cache.  These powertrails were made by a cacher by the name of nvtriker, all of them named after people that have come out here to cache the ET Highway series.  We saw caches named after sole seeker, cache crop, Tugman and Wifey and more.  And one day all of our names will be out there in the Nevada high desert!

We continued until we reached a point where all were in agreement that it was time to head back to Las Vegas.  On the way there we hit just a few more, one near a gas station, the other a letterbox hybrid just off the highway.  And to add a little more excitement to the mix, Paulboy got us pulled over by highway patrol for speeding past a 16 wheeler.  The Highway Patrolman was actually very nice and when he found out we were geocachers let Paulboy off the hook!   I have to say that I do not recommend trying to get away with speeding here, just cause we got off lucky does not mean you will.

We pulled into the Excalibur Hotel and Casino, unloaded, and checked in.  Here I said my farewells to the team, because I had decided not to leave with them to do the 6th day of caching down at Route 66.  Being sick all those days, the lack of sleep, and constantly being on the go had taken its toll on me.... I was just too tired to continue on.

So this marks the last day of our journey in Nevada.  Just Leafy, Postie Bear and myself enjoyed a relaxing day on the Las Vegas strip on the 6th day while the others did 800 plus caches on Route 66.  And I have to say that is what was really needed for me.

The 7th day we headed to the Airport and started for home.  Luckily we run into seekandsail before we boarded our flight, and we got to learn a bit about their fun day in California.

Well that completes my story about our adventure on the ET Highway.  We hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as we enjoyed the experience.

And as one last thing to share, you will find below this post a musical photo montage recapping the adventure.  Enjoy!

ET Highway Day 4: The Road to Rachel and One Big Alien Head

Day 4 began like all the rest in the trip, EARLY!
We all met up in the parking lot of the Clown Motel and headed back over to the Mizpah Hotel for breakfast.  We learned that the restaurant here opened at a good time, and this meant we didn't have to eat at Texaco again.

I don't know what was my problem this day, but it was my worst yet.  I was feeling better, but I mentally was not alright.  Seriously I was a total jerk this day, absolutely miserable.  Maybe I was just done... Tired of being sick, tired of being tired, tired of all the caching!  But like I said I was a jerk, and I felt bad about it after.

But on with the story about this day!  We began with a couple of traditional caches in Tonopah followed by a earthcache. With those out of the way we were back on the highway and completed a small powertrail that consisted of caches placed by those who had come and completed the ET Highway series.  At the end of the trail Paulboy placed one on behalf of our team "CIA Thanks You - GC45PJN", so if you are in that area be sure to find and log it.
The reason people from so far away can place a cache there is because the cachers maintain it.  In fact every cache in the whole series and in the surrounding areas a maintained mostly the cachers and not their owners. It is kind of a requirement, so make sure you bring film canisters with paper in them to use as a replacement.

After we completed that we kept heading back down the highway, picking off caches we skipped when focusing only on the ET caches.  We eventually got to another earthcache and went on a short walk to get a cache that claimed to be the original ET Highway cache (not tied into the series).  Continuing on we also found a fun little cache inside a skull.  JuRuu just wanted a picture with it, but when he held it up for the shot we noticed the cache inside.

We eventually got back to Rachel and stopped in for a quick bite to eat and a coffee, and headed back out.
This part of the trip would be more like regular caching, and did not require driving around at all.  We first did another small powertrail across from the Alien Head, and once that was done headed over to the Alien Head and completed that.
I have to say the Alien Head is a lot of fun, and it left me looking very forward to doing the UFO the next day.

After returning to the hotel the whole group headed out to do a Whereigo, a multi-stage, letterbox hybrid, regular, another earthcache, and a mystery-puzzle in the dark so that we could complete and sign a challenge that required you to find 6 different cache types in one day.  And before calling it quits for the day did one last small powertrail  A great time was had by all, but by this time everyone was super tired from all the walking.
Very much our smallest number day so far, but man it was worth it!  And as the day came to a close all turned in for the night once more, dreaming of one last day on the ET Highway.

ET Highway Day 3: Snow Day

I was the first to awake this day, my chest congestion triggered a coughing attack that caused me to run to the bathroom so as to not awake my father Postie Bear and Just Leafy.
After getting past that, I decided to look out the window to see if the weather reports were correct.  And of course they were.  Laying on the ground was a light dusting of snow, but nothing to be concerned about.
There really wasn't any place open to eat at this particular time of the day, so we hit the Texaco to try and stock up on snacks to tie us through to the evening.  The service station's attendant told us that he could make us breakfast, and he did.  We were a bit skeptical, but it actually turned out to be alright... Almost McDonalds in quality!

Just as we were about to pack up and head out the snow started again, and some of us decided to buy tuques and gloves as well.  The temperatures were very low this morning at about -10 Celsius, later in the day raising to about a flat zero.  So it was a blessing that the Texaco had what was needed.


This turned out to be the hardest day for me health wise, the cold and the thin air at our elevation of over 6000 Feet above sea level really made it hard for me to breathe.  I was coughing and coughing, so I did not assist in the running but tried my best at navigating.  Thank god Cougar Kid had Fisherman's Friends (I could not find one place that sold them) with him, as the Hall's I was forced to buy were no longer doing the trick.  The Fisherman's Friends were just the thing needed, and allowed for deep inhalations and allowed me to speak and call out distances without coughing up a lung.

There were a few caches that were not a part of the series strewn in the mix, and these were a welcomed diversion.  They allowed all of us to get out and do a bit of traditional caching, but they were not hard to to find.




This was an interesting leg of the series, because none of the caches were on a straight and logical path.  Instead they had us heading in one direction for a few hundred, then they would force us to drive 15-20 min in another direction to get another few hundred, and this would continue all day long.  It would continue to snow off and on too, covering the landscape intermittently with a light dusting of snow.  It was beautiful, and filled Just Leafy and I with a sense of awe! 

We did not have to go so hard this day because there was only about 590 left for us to do.  And by the time light started to fade yet again we made our trips goal come true.... We finally got 2000-E.T.

With giant grins on our faces, we setup the tripod and camera once more and grabbed a group shot holding the ammo-can in jubilee.  As we loaded back up into the van, we decided to grab just a few more on the way back to Tonopah.



When we arrived we were greeted with a nice dumping of snow everywhere.  It is interesting how a difference of 500 Feet can have such a drastically different effect on the weather.

After a quick stop in at the motel for a brief clean up it was time for a nice celebratory meal at the Mizpah Hotel, where we were treated to a nice congratulatory dessert (I am sure Just Leafy had something to do with that).

We returned to the Clown Motel and turned in for the night, as tomorrow brought new challenges that had to be over come.

ET Highway Day 2: Roadrunners, Jack Rabbits, Coyotes and Head Injuries OH MY!!!

We awoke the next day not feeling refreshed at all.  Travelling takes a lot out of you sometimes, and with all my previous lack of sleep I was already a wreak.  We quickly dressed and met the team in the parking lot and headed over to the Sinclair Station for a quick breakfast and lunch supply run.  We were back on the road by 6:45am blasting down the highway to where we ended the day at 0625-ET.  Sunrise in the desert is a beautiful sight, and I am glad I got to see it.
It didn't take us long to blast past Rachel and arrive where we needed to start today.  The goal in mind was to at least reach 800 cache finds, and this meant go now, go hard, and don't stop.

We pushed on just giving it all we had, runners ran faster, navigators were trying to be more accurate at distance count down.  And because of this we had our first... OK second injury (on day one Just Leafy smashed her knee at the very first cache we did), where when Paulboy jumped out of the vehicle he smashed his head on the holy crap handle on the ceiling and knocked himself unconscious.  Just Leafy being our team medic got Paulboy back up and moving very quickly, but he refused to quit running... And so continue running he did!

We sadly at one point had to waste 40min to drive all the way to Tonopah to fuel up.  This doubled up meant that when we got back we would have to no matter what put an extra hour in after sundown to meet our goal.  And once we had the van fueled up, we rushed back to the spot we stopped at and really got back to work.

We cached on and on, seeing new and wondrous vistas.  And we saw so many neat wildlife like Roadrunners, Jack Rabbits, Coyotes and more.  There was even at one point a leg trap set for the coyotes almost right beside a cache.  We used a stick to spring that one, as it would be too dangerous for a unwary cacher who had their eyes on the prize. And we passed the half way mark by doing 1000-E.T.

Soon the light started to fade away, and once again the temperature started to drop.  This night turned out to be the the coldest yet, but we could not stop.  The van's heaters on full we pushed and pushed until we hit 800, but why stop there right!?  We did an extra 41 more (total daily count 848) before we were all just too tired and too cold, and with that slid the van door shut for the night and drove on to Tonopah where we stayed at the Clown Motel (do not go here if you have Coulrophobia, a fear of clowns).
Here we learned that it was supposed to snow that night, which did cause some hearts to sink.
After a quick dinner and clean up we turned in to sleep once more, wondering what tomorrow would bring.