Another Desert Adventure

Hubby and I joined seven other members of the CV Geocaching Club on Wednesday to geocache about 40 miles south of us...in the middle of nowhere. There was safety in numbers, because everyone brought a different skill level and expertise, and there were 4 vehicles, just in case someone's vehicle had problems, or someone had problems. It was a very good plan and a very good day.

a chilly morning

conferring for the next geocache

a hawk on a saguaro

a red-tailed hawk

Vern & Karen with the ammo can find at #1

A Blinky and a Ms. PacMan geoart

a working corral for the cattle

fruit of a fish hook barrel cactus

they look like pineapples, don't they

snow on Mt. Lemmon

some of the cattle we had seen

the nine of us completed the Blinky today

Ms. Pac Man will require more time

Sunday in Yuma

Sunday was the main reason for our trip to Yuma. This was the fourth time we have attended an event sponsored by S*W*A*G (South West Association of Geocachers). This year was their 13th event. I do not know if all thirteen events have been Mega (500+ people pre-register their attendance), but the last four have had the Mega status.

The 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM event had games for geocachers and vendors where we could purchase supplies or trinkets to enhance our game. We visited with other cachers and swapped stories and hints, renewed acquaintances and made new friends. We saw faces that seemed familiar and then tried to figure out where we have met. Usually it is another event of similar size, but in another location. (Hubby and I attended 4 in 2015: Yuma, Seattle, Omaha, & Minneapolis.)

After taking care of business at the Mega event, we did some geocaching. This time we were in the Yuma farmland, close to the city.

we passed fields of lettuce

the spring mix kind of lettuces in these fields

broccoli ready for harvesting

many rows of broccoli

this field was just planted

the sea gulls got first choice

cauliflower ready for harvest

rows and rows & fields & fields

interesting to note, the air smelled of  broccoli &

cauliflower, it was stinky!

we also cached near a river, in a wooded area

I thought the tangle of trunks was interesting

it is a ferny tree

the cache was conquered!

After attending an event in Mexico on Monday morning and collecting a couple of caches across the border, we headed back to the valley. 

Saturday in the Desert

We went back to the desert on Saturday to complete some of the trails we had started earlier this week. On the advice of some fellow cachers, we took some of the side trails as that is where there are some of the more interesting military items. We finally got to see what I was hoping to see.

we passed some dry campers

this was a serious dry camper as there are 3 solar panels on the roof

other campers/RVs were out there, but no solar panels 

maybe generators? I know it is NOT something I wish to do

some of the ocotillos are leafed, but not blooming

others are blooming, but the stems are still brown and bare

this seemed interesting and worry of a photo

we heard about a geocache near a plane wreckage

it was a small plane, with mostly unrecognizable parts

the cache was found and signed

we were also told about a geocache near some tanks

this one was a fiber glass mock-up

a view from the back; looks almost real

a wooden mock-up of a troop carrier that has seen better days

we found the geocache

another tank farther along

this one was real

another cache took us to a small saguaro forest

a hawk has nested in the arms

rare to see some fruit remaining on the saguaros 

this time of year as most of it has been picked

by the birds or other hungry animals

neat to see the remains of the flowers on some of the fruit

this is where we have spent the majority of our time

this past week

in case you are wondering...

the yellow lines are the trails we have cached this trip

the green lines are caches yet to be found and signed (by me)

there are more caches to get

and more interesting things to see

we will be back

By the way, we stopped at the Organic Date Farm on the way back to Yuma. It was open, so we bought more dates, and had date shakes. YUM! A tasty ending to  another  entertaining and successful day in the desert. Life is good.

Friday in the Desert

Five of us went caching on Friday for a couple of VERY specific geocaches. I walked about 6 miles and was very beat by the end of the afternoon. We quit about 3:00 and the other three continued to cache for another hour. I found myself dozing off and on last night and went to bed at an earlier than usual time.

Hubby and I had met Janice at the geocaching event we attended in October. She is from TX. She flew to AZ on Thursday and is staying with her parents who are wintering in Yuma. Janice had asked if she could do a special geocache series with us when she came this weekend. We agreed, but told her she would have to ride in the back seat of the jeep. (Supposedly the jeep seats 4...if the other two are younger than 10!) Janice agreed knowing she would be climbing in and out of that two door jeep. (She is younger than the two of us.)

Another geocaching couple also wanted to do the special geocaching series with us. Jim & Cheri are from our winter resort.

The five of us coordinated plans and on Friday at 8:00 AM, we left town for the desert. (For the two of us, it was our 4th day in the jeep, in the desert, geocaching.) We drove about 30 miles to our starting point. (Many of you wonder what we get when we geocache. As Hubby says, "We get gas receipts.")

Our goal was to find and sign all 51 caches in the AZ State Star geo-art. Several of the others in our little group had trackers to count their steps or distance. I covered more than 5 miles, some of them did 7. (Geocaches must be 524'or more from the next nearest geocache. From the bottom right point of the star, through the center cache, to the diagonal cache just before the line of smileys, was 1.07 miles as the crow flies. One does not walk "as the crow flies" in the desert.)

There we are at the center of the star, signing the final log. We were wearing long sleeves because the containers were usually dropped in scratchy bushes. We wore long pants because of those same scratchy bushes. We were all very hot when we finished walking the desert sand.

The ammo can is the final container; most of the containers will pill bottles containing a piece of paper. So no, we really don't get anything physical when we geocache. It is like a basketball game. A basket scores points. The points are not something physical the team takes with them. There might be 'stuff' in the ammo can or in any cache, but it is usually worthless stuff. 

After the selfie, it was time for a lunch break.

We carry bag chairs in the jeep. Janice and Hubby took advantage of them. Jim and Cheri sat in her Liberty. I had the front of the jeep. It has a very nice bench bumper/fender, big enough for two bums. We were proud of our accomplishment, but we had more to do...

While completing the Star geo-art, we crossed paths with four other geocachers we knew. Annette is on the left. She and Howard were our caching partners in Nebraska in October when we completed the Nebraska State Star and other geo-arts. Kelly is in the center. The husbands were in another area. Cheri is on the right.

The Barry M. Goldwater Range is a training site for the Marines and Air Force. Someone mentioned this weekend that there is not much ground training at this range anymore. We did see Air Force planes throughout the week doing maneuvers.

The rocket launcher was just a mock-up. If it is no longer being used, it is looking to be in good condition for the harsh temperatures of the desert.


OK. Onto the next item on Friday's agenda...

The Heart had only 14 caches to find and sign...by walking to each one. Although it wasn't another 51 geocaches, the temp was now in the 80s, the breeze had left, and we all were hot and tired. As you can see, we did accomplish that goal. At this point, Hubby and I headed back to Yuma to rest and shower before heading to the evening event, Zany Exotic Flash Mob.

Our instruction were to wear an article of clothing or accessory that could be removed as in a strip tease, but to remember to keep it family friendly since we were doing the strip tease in the center of town.

This is what geocachers do when they get together in groups larger than 100!

Sadly, the dancers of a 'senior' age far out numbered the younger geocachers. Many geocachers are NOT seniors.

They, the younger ones, just knew better than to stand in the middle of the street and twirl their sweatshirt or hat, or wear a boa!

The Keystone cops made an appearance and an arrest.

The bonus to the Friday evening event was seeing the people we have met the last four years. While standing on the street we met Shirley and Will from Yankton. We got hugs and handshakes from the AZ cachers we know, but have not seen since our arrival. We went to dinner with friends, Don & Nancy, from CA. Sitting in the booth next to us was Janice from TX and her parents. 

More to come...