Gecko Gulch - A Pack Rat's High Rise Traditional Cache
Team Gecko: Will remove cache ASAP to comply with new ABDSP policy. Sorry for the inconvenience.
-Gecko Dad
Gecko Gulch - A Pack Rat's High Rise
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The name of this relatively obscure wash and canyon caught our attention while we camped nearby. It begged to have a Team Gecko presence. The cache is a short walk on level ground from the highway followed by a short, steep climb to the cache site. Families of desert natives have festooned the area with prickly cholla balls, hence the subtitle in the cache name. Please watch your footing.
We placed this cache before the Gecko tribe sat down to Thanksgiving dinner in our campsite at nearby Tamarisk Grove. Before deciding on the final hiding spot, we drove up this wash to its end point for vehicular travel - about 1.4 miles from the highway at N 33 07.018, W 116.23.260. When you turn around for the return, you discover you have come up a remarkable 500 feet of elevation gain. A standard vehicle can easily make it through the lower sections but 4-wheel drive would be a safer bet in a few sandy spots as you twist and turn your way up through the creosote, agave, yucca, and cholla. Eventually, the road ends after the canyon narrows and then forks into two smaller, intimate gorges that can be navigated on foot. Here you will find several stately junipers growing in the lower elevations of their desert range. You are very likely to have this entire area to yourself.
The cache was hidden among boulders that seem to serve as sentries for the entrance to the wash. We wanted to make it accessible to those with conventional transportation or those who would enjoy a shorter hike than some of the other desert caches require. There is parking immediately off the highway at N 33 07.936, W 116 23.684 as well as very near the cache. If you follow the jeep road, please be advised it is neither advisable nor legal to drive off the main track.
The cache container is a standard NATO-style ammo box. It is tucked away and covered with rocks to avoid accidental discovery so close to the highway. If you come at it from a particular direction, you will not have to contend with those tricky cholla balls.
Original contents include:
- San Diego Aerial Photo Maps CD
- Zip, a Teanie Beanie Babies black kitten
- Grinch Pack Hanger
- Lizard bouncy ball
- Rainbow bead Gecko hand-made in camp
- Lizard suitcase with lizards and a snake
- A passel of small lizards
- Arrow Poison Frog notecard and envelope
- Bag of marbles
- Paperback book – Sports Guy
- Logbook and two ballpoint pens
Good luck and have fun!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va n penpx nobhg 6 srrg ba ornevat bs 180 qrterrf zntargvp sebz n cnpx eng’f erq onyypnc. Pbirerq jvgu fznyy ebpxf. Cyrnfr pbire vg onpx hc nsgre lbh ercynpr gur pnpur pbagnvare.
Treasures
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