The Phoenix area is a geocachers mecca; there are hundreds of caches listed online and while perusing the ones in our immediate area it occurred to me that there may be some on Silly Mountain. Eureka! There are two! Denny was so excited (pause for sarcastic face and rolled eyes).
So yesterday once the sun finally warmed the air (it has been getting down into the 30s at night here) we made a quick trip to the fruit stand for more naval oranges while they are still in season and then headed east to Silly Mountain with my back pack of supplies. You see, a properly outfitted geocacher has to have the proper equipment; pen for signing the log at the cache which notifies the cache owner and other cachers that you found it, small items to trade for those left by others at the cache, camera, tripod, sweat towel for Denny, water, cheese crackers for energy, extra batteries for the camera and GPSr, ID stickers (labels with our geocaching name and basic info which are easy to stick on the log rather than signing it) wet wipe packets and Kleenex since I'm not over my cold. Whew! Climbing over rocks with all that on your back gives you a good aerobic workout!
This time we didn't make the summit as the two caches were off the beaten path. The closest one to the main path was the hardest to locate, but the second cache was around the side of Silly Mountain and was the more adventurous climb. We enjoyed seeing the area from a different perspective and Denny and I each discovered a cache without managing to see any rattlesnakes or other poisonous critters. I think they are all hibernating this time of year but I never take that for granted.
Working our way back down the hillside Denny commented that if we are going to be doing more caches like this we should consider hiking boots-YES! I think he may finally be getting into this geocaching! Whoo-hoo!
2 comments:
Hey!! I've been hearing about this geocaching thing lately. I looked it up and apparently there are some in Palo Duro Canyon, which is about 15 miles away from me. Come and git it!
Norman, I SWEAR we'll get back to Texas and we WILL visit (and geocache!) There's so much of the state that we have yet to explore and I have to get back to Big Bend National Park for the springtime wildflowers. And you know the only kind of grapefruit we'll eat are Ruby Reds and Rio Stars from Texas-no other variety from any state can compare.
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