Not So Spooky Canyon Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A traditional cache placed in a side canyon of Afton Canyon. Accessable from either Afton Canyon Rd or Basin Rd exits off Route 15. Fairly easy hike with little elevation gain.
Gophertrax and I were out nabbin' a few caches in the Afton Canyon area and decided to place one of our own. If you have a 4WD vehicle you can get within .3 to .4 miles of this cache, before you have to start hiking. 2WD can get closer coming in off Basin Rd than off Afton Canyon Rd. If you like to hike you can park near Afton Canyon Campground and hike over to the cache along the Mojave River like we did. That's a scenic 2 1/2 to 3 mile one way hike. The cache container is a large size 50 Cal. ammo box and is hidden under a typical geocaching pile of rocks. There are many side canyons to explore in the Afton Canyon area. Some of them are fairly easy and others are more difficult with dry falls and tight spots to negotiate. We placed this cache at a point into the canyon that can be easily reached. The GPS signal will come and go as you hike up the canyon, so check it frequently to have a general idea which way to continue during the times when you lose the signal. There's quite a few forks in the canyon as you go along. We placed the cache in a spot where we had a signal. We actually hiked about .2 to .3 miles farther up the canyon, but had no signal at all during that stretch of the hike. It was fun with lots of tight spots, dry falls, and landslide areas to climb over; but we decided to back-track until we had a signal to select a cache location. If you like more of an adventure, continue up the canyon past the cache location and do a little exploring. Keep in mind this is the Mojave Desert and can be pretty unforgiving during the heat of the summer months. Bring plenty of water and watch out for those desert critters. There's quite a few of them in this area as the Mojave River runs above ground through Afton Canyon year round. You wouldn't want to be out in these side canyon areas during thunderstorms either. The archived Spooky Canyon cache seems to have gotten washed out last year during the thunderstorms. It was on the north side of Afton Canyon and required flashlights and rope climbing to get to the cache. Our Not So Spooky Canyon cache is on the south side of Afton canyon and doesn't require anything special to get there. I would recommend bringing a camera though as Afton Canyon provides numerous photo ops. Enjoy !!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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