The main reason for driving this far west before heading south was caching the ET Highway in Nevada. Last February at the Mega Geocaching Event in Yuma, we met two gentlemen, Clay and Gus who told us about a trail of over 1500 geocaches THEY created north of Las Vegas. (The trail is now over 2000 caches.) We were impressed, especially after knowing how much work and responsibility goes into placing a cache. As we have become more enamored of hunting for the elusive treasure, it has become a quest to cache the E.T. Highway in Nevada.
We arrived at the head of the trail, Highway 375, near Alamo NV on Friday afternoon.
The mural was rather neat. It combined the legends that made the road famous and some history of the area.
Neither Curt nor I had ever heard of Area 51 before stopping at the shop advertising Area 51 Jerky and Dried Fruit. We had a hard time leaving the store as the owner was thrilled to share info. We just wanted to geocache.
Our plan was to do some caching to get the idea of the hides, the road, and just getting organized for finding 200 caches in one day. That was a personal goal of ours. We had visited with other geocachers who have cached the ET Highway to get advice. Some have completed the 2000 caches!
Yep. We were on the right road. Not sure exactly how many of these signs are placed along Highway 375, but every one I did see was very similar. The Extraterrestrial Highway is 98 miles long, from Ash Springs on the east to Warm Springs on the west end.
You get the idea of the theme, right?
We chose to not check out this shop, just in case they wouldn't let us leave.
These are the only two businesses near the head of the trail. There is a gas station in Ash Springs and the next one is in Tonopah, 148 miles west.
The first cache on the ET Highway is a large container called an ammo can. It is also a Letterbox Hybrid cache.
The first afternoon we found 80 caches. We knew what we were doing.
Day two...
The sun was rising in the east as we headed down the highway to find cache #0081 E.T. Highway. Yes, I got up that early only because I had a large cup of coffee in the cup holder.
This was our goal for Saturday. We had reservations for the night. More about Rachel in another post.
Most of the ET Highway looks like this or
like this. There is very little traffic which is good when one is needing to get into the ditch every 504 feet. In some areas there was a very decent gravel path in the right hand ditch. Very little traffic is also good when Mother Nature calls.
Oh, a big ranch. A very big ranch. No, it is actually a military/government post in Area 51.
"Less than 100 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada is the most famous secret military installation on the planet. Rumors swirl around this base, much like the mysterious aircraft that twist and turn in the skies overhead. Although it's known by many names, most people call it by the Atomic Energy Commission's(AEC) designation: Area 51." - How Area 51 Works by Jonathan Strickland: http://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/area-51.htm
Signs explain this is open range country. The animals have the right of way. We didn't see too many, but those we did see moved freely from one side of the road to the other. They left us alone and we did not bother them.
An unidentified artist has 'decorated' some of the signs along the highway.
One sign had cow droppings coming from under the raised tail. Another displayed a large male animal. A creative artist! I am surprised the Nevada DOT has allowed the artwork to stay. It did add some interest to the trip!
These two did not make it. Somebody did not realize the cows had the right of way.
Almost all the cache hides looked similar to this. A pile, or grouping of rocks hiding
We did see ONE pile of rocks near Rachel that had a reflector for night caching. We cached in daylight hours.
This cache was called the Black Mailbox. It was not an ET Highway cache placed by Clay & Gus, but a cache along the ET Highway placed by someone else.
To sign the log, you signed the no longer used or no longer active WHITE mailbox. For this caching adventure we called ourselves Team CRE and had a stamp made, as recommended for the power trail.
We cached about 5 miles west of Rachel on Saturday, collecting 328 geocaches in about 8 hours. We did not wear ourselves out. We took turns driving and hunting. It was a successful team effort.
More about Rachel Nevada in another post.
The one long desolate road looks like the one we travel on through Nevada towards Las Vegas! It is LONG...........Nothing to see! Made our insurance 'plans' today, we leave for Arizona December 1. See you soon!!!
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