The X Files Multi-cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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I've been camping here in the desert since I was born and over the past fifty years I've seen many changes around Salton City, mainly the destruction of the shoreline, including most of the businesses and houses near the sea. In 1976 tropical storm Kathleen swept through the Imperial Valley, flooding farmland and increasing the level of the Salton Sea. Above average rainfall for the next seven years, along with increased agricultural runoff and increased flows from Mexico caused the flooding of the shoreline.
I remember green lawns, the Marina and Yacht Club, half day fishing boats, floating docks and the general store which were all destroyed by floods. We even walked across wooden planks to enter the store on its last day. There was a golf course with palm trees and green grass west of Hwy. 86 on S 22. It included a lake in the middle of the golf course with a bridge over it. The Sundowner was our usual motel prior to tent camping and the long motorcycle rides. I've even been skinny dipping in the "Oh My God Hot Springs" when it was a nice place to visit and meet people from all over. I've had many visits with Old Dave at his motorcycle shop near the general store in town. He would fix all the motorcycle parts we broke and was always happy to show off his home-built three wheeler. He could remotely drive it from a trailer being pulled while his dog sat in the driver's seat holding the handlebars. He always laughed at the people who would crash their car trying to figure out how a dog was driving. I remember seeing a large woman riding toward us on a Honda ATC. It was the first one I had ever seen and I couldn't imagine a place it wouldn't go. It was one of the first ones ever built.
We came camping here in the spring of 2002 while they were building the set for the last filming of The X Files - the episode where the black helicopters came down the canyon and blew up the Indian ruins on the side of the hill. I figured this was a little piece of trivia most people didn't know so I decided to place my cache there.
This cache is meant to take you across the desert and show you a small bit of what this area has to offer. It's about twenty-six miles round trip across some harsh desert so travel prepared with plenty of supplies and lots of water and please don't do this alone. The start gets you into the Ocotillo Wells off road recreation area off of S 22 near a lot of nice areas to camp and close to the restrooms and dumpsters. I would suggest you bring a detailed map of the area to help you navigate. There are free park maps in town and at the Ranger's Station. Or you can click on this link and print your own map. (Ocotillo Wells Trail Map) After finding your first clue, continue on to the next location which is at the Pumpkin Patch. A good way is to take Crossover Trail to Tule Wash and go west. This unique landscape is a result of wind and water continuously eroding the surface soil and revealing globular sandstone concretions that look much like pumpkins in size and shape. These concretions are believed to be formed by the natural cementing of sand particles to a small object such as a piece of shell, a grain of sand or even an insect. The desert is full of these rock formations and you can find some very interesting shapes. This is where you will find the clue needed for the next location, The Gas Domes. Take Tule Wash east to Pole Line Road and go south. At Approximately N33.11.325 W115.58.687 follow the trail east. These mysterious, volcano-like mud pots of bubbling liquid are located approximately one and a half miles into the public lands of the Bureau of Land Management. Cold to the touch, the grey water releases large bubbles of gas. There you will find the clue to the X Files cache site which is near your starting point. The cache is a green container about 5"x6"x7" and very well hidden.
At the cache, face south and see if you can recognize the wall. There was a small cave, and the last time I returned, some dirt had slid so it is slightly different and a lot different from the way they made it look during the filming.
If you enjoy a challenging multi cache, you should have a lot of fun. If not, there are several regular caches along the route you can get to fairly easy. You can look for #25 Little Beaut about a mile north of the Pumpkin Patch in the Arroyo Salado and just past the Gas Domes near the Artesian Wells there are two caches: 3 unwise men and Emp Cache. Continue in the wash after finding the cache and you will enjoy the view at Tectonic Gorge Kash. If you really love the riding around in this desert, an absolute must is the Truckhaven 4WD Mystery Cache. One more I must tell you about is Chocolate Shake. They make a great lunch, it's easy to ride to and since a large group from the X Files staff regularly ate lunch there, they have some very nice pictures and remnants of the movie set.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Whfg yvxr gur zbivr frg, abg rirelguvat lbh frr vf erny.