Indiana Jones and the Flame of Chantico 2/18/12

In the Queen Bee Mine

Melanie in the mne - not likley the creepy crawlies

One of the most creative geocache minds in Arizona, who is almost a legend in the geocaching community, is called The Raven. He is famous for his really creative and very difficult geocaches. We had previously done one last year Called Little Miss Muffet that was very funny, but we had not made it back up to the Prescott area, so we decided to make a day trip just to try and get the famous Indiana Jones geocache. What was even better was that my daughter Vicky came with us and really seemed to enjoy herself.   Maybe a new geocacher is born?   The Crusade started in the Prescott Valley Public Library, which in itself is really quite interesting from an architecural perspective.

Phil and Vicky mocing a big rock out of the way

There we had to search for clues to open a cryptex. We found most of them and then we guessed the last two remaining numbers for the cryptex with no luck. Thankfully, we managed to contact the Raven who actually lives close by and who actually popped over to help. He sneakily used a black light to uncover some clues, which was the last piece of the puzzle. We were ale to open the cryptex which actually then pointed us somewhere else - a hollow book with a diary and a map that we had to decode
 We had to solve a riddle to get the final cordinates which required us to use the blacklight again to find the hidden coordinates. The 1st stage was finally complete.

Melanie up a tree

After a quick lunch we headed off to the second stage - a mne shaft in the middle of absolutely nowhere. We were so glad we had a jeep, but at one point we had to move rocks out of the path. We drove about 2 miles on a true 4x4 trail. At the mine shaft we had to use the black light to again find more clues to help us open a second cryptex. Once we found the cache which was, of course, guarded by  a fake snake. It was a fantastic time.

Vicky finding her first cachhe

On the way home we grabbed a couple of others. Vicky managed to find her first geocache and Melanie even climbed a tree .
What a great day!

Freezing in Beijing and the Forbidden City 2/7/12



Beijing Rickshaw statue



So cold there was ice in the fountains

Great Lion statue



Entrance into the Forbidden City

I had to go on a business trip to Beijing and was determined to try and grab a geocache or two in China. When I arrived it was absolutely freezing, the high was 27F. I got a break in the middle of the week so I headed off to the Forbidden City, all bundled up like the Michelin man. It was really cool to see, both literally and figuratively. Once we got back and I defrosted, I decided to go for some other geocaches. I was surprised, but there are not a lot in the city. I found one in a shopping district, a virtual geocache where you take a photo of yourself at a particular spot. I went for another one, but there where police cars nearby so, since I could no longer feel my toes, I called it a day.


One of the Temples in the Forbidden city.



Melanie get a F2F with Leopard Bridge



Melanie looking very cute and happy with her F2F.

Late one afternon the geo signal went off and we quickly checked the location of the source. It was literally up the street, only 1 mile away. We jumped into the jeep and off we went, a race to get there first. I dropped Melanie off close by and I went to park the car. When I arrived, Melanie had already found it and was looking really cute sitting there on the bridge.

McDowell Mountain 2/4/12

Melanie all ready to go!

Martin signing a log

We spent a lovely Saturday afternoon at McDowell Mountain along the Scenic Trail, an approximately 4 mile loop that was quite an easy hike. A group of geocachers have created several power trails which, instead of park and grabs, are hike and grabs. More about power trails another in another post. What was really nice about this geocaching trail was the variety of hides for the geocaches. Normally on a power trail they are all hidden the same way, but these were quiet varied from being under a pile of rocks, hidden in tree trunks or under logs to being actually hidden in the skeleton of an old Saguaro. We managed to get 38 geocaches in the park. We had a lovely picnic and a great hike. Overall, a great day. We look forward to getting back there and trying one of the 3 power trails that are in the park.

Getting Back in the Groove 1/13/12

After taking a couple of weeks off, due to aching knees and colds, and all other events otherwise known as life, and finally relaxing on a Friday afternoon after a tough week at work, the batphone goes off with a F2F ring. (That is First to Find for you muggles) Springing into action, we check the secret message and decode that this is actually only just over 1 mile from our house. We jumped into the GeoJeep, off we go and manage to get to the target zone in less than 10 minutes. We scampered up the hill, or rather Phil scampered up the hill.  I scamper, walk and finally crawl to the top.  We managed to sign the log a mere 17 minutes after the anouncement. What a way to get back into the groove.   Number 8 FTF!!

Happy New Year 2012 - F2F Multi-Cache 1/1/12

I think it is over here!

It seemed a lot of people hid new geocaches yesterday so they would be up and running on New Years Day. We ignored most of them as it was just too damn early. Once we had gotten up though, all bets were off especially as it was just 2 miles from the house. Off we zoomed for one of the most fun geocaches we have found - "Hello ... Watson".

This was a multi-stage cache - which means at the first marker we find coordinates for the second and in this case the final stage where the actual geocache is.

We arrived at a bus stop with a clue directing us to the advertisements. After searching what seemed like forever, assuming someone else would be along searching for this F2F (First Too Find) we re-read the description which said bring a cell phone. I had spotted a phone number so we decided to dail it and low and behold we got an answering machine with the coordinates. At the second stage the hint was "Read my lips no more taxes". As we were driving there we thought it must be outside a tax office or something, but when we arrived there was nothing like that there. But I got to thinking who said that saying, and I remembered it was George "Bush", so a quick look in the bush by Melanie and we found it. A great way to start the New Year.

Happy geocaching everybody!

Hiking Geronimo Trail at South Mountain 12/29/11

Melanie at the top of Pigsam Overlook.

Hiking around the Heard Boy Scout Pueblo on the Geronimo trail allowed us some incredible views of Phoenix and catch most of the geocaches in that area. It was a great hike. We climbed almost 800ft, so the way down was a bit tough on the ol' knees coming down, but it was great fun.

Melanie finding a geocache up in the rocks Eye of the Valley.

Martin eating a Freezze Dired Ice Cream treat he got for Christmas.!