Thanks NF5 & Big Daddy GRC, AKA Swiss Cheese Traditional Cache
Thanks NF5 & Big Daddy GRC, AKA Swiss Cheese
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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 section of the foothills, of the Southeastern Calico Mountains, in the great Mojave Desert.
It was a nice day for hiking in the Calico Mountains, not too hot, not too cold. In fact it was easier placing this cache than it is to log it with this new cache logging format. Anyway this cache is up a wash or two with a couple of forks in the wash to keep you on your toes, or back-tracking depending on the choices you make along the way. As in most sections of the Calico Mountains, rock formations and scenic vistas will make for an enjoyable hike. We actually placed two caches on this hike up seperate washes, so a little bit of back-tracking should be expected. That's a hint, that basically lets you know that once you get to one of the caches, making a beeline to the other one wouldn't be the easiest way to go. As in all desert caches be wary of critters that live in the area. You may not see any critters at all, but they're around. I'm sure you'll see some lizards and crows, maybe an owl or hawk if you're lucky. You'll see fox and coyote droppings, but probably not the animals themselves. There are also bobcat in the Calico's, but we've never seen one. The residents just north of I-15 in this area have seen them and lost some of their chickens to them. The cache container is a ammo box hidden in a nice shady spot, so the contents won't get too baked in the desert heat of the summer months. A snake may also find it a nice cool spot to relax. In any desert cache, poke around it with a stick or something to alert any critters of your intentions, rather than just reaching in to grab the cache. If there's a snake in there, he or she will let you know. A pack rat may make a fierce looking attack, just before it runs off. A scorpion will try to hide and a spider might just sting or bite you. Gloves are a good item to be wearing at that point in time. Bring plenty of water and food and in this particular area an extra spare tire will give you a little more peace of mind as you drive up the dirt road with all the nasty pointy rocks eye-balling your tire's sidewalls. Naturally a 4X4 vehicle will get you closer than a 2WD vehicle, but you'll have to park whatever you're driving, and enjoy the hike sooner or later if you want to nab this cache. (See the Fickle Finger of Fate cache page to get the coords of where we parked when placing this cache.)
NF5 and Big Daddy GRC recently placed a Thank You cache for Gophertrax and I, for placing all of our caches out in these great Calico Mountains and other scenic areas of the Mojave Desert, leading folks to great places they probably never would have seen, if not for coming out to find a cache. Gophertrax and I always try to find a scenic or otherwise interesting place to place our caches. Something off the beaten path as close to the middle of nowhere as you can get, or on mountains tops. We try to make it tough enough to give the finder a feeling of accomplishment after an enjoyable and scenic hike.
NF5 and Big Daddy GRC are two of the geocachers who take the time to visit our caches and we appreciate their efforts as we do all of the folks who visit our caches. Too many people are into the numbers in our opinion and are missing seeing some of the special places of the world. On old Route 66 between Newberry Springs and Needles there are over 800 caches, one about every tenth of a mile, right on the side of the road. I'm sure someone could drive and stop and drive and stop 200 or 300 times in a day and nab that many caches; or one could decide to the spend the day climbing Cave Mountain and just logging one cache on that day. Gophertrax and I would choose to climb the mountain everytime, and will probably never bother doing those 800 caches along old Route 66. Those simply seem like sanctioned roadside litter to us. Anyway, NF5 and Big Daddy GRC usually just sign the cache logs that they find and don't bother with the cache contents. We have placed a couple of special items in this cache however; one is obviously meant to taken by NF5 and the other by Big Daddy GRC. I'm sure they'll figure it out, and make a fair deposit to keep the cache full and interesting for future visitors. Of course, if they drag their feet getting out there, someone else might grab their stuff. Very slim chance of that happening in my opinion. They recently nabbed our Stairway to Heaven cache in the Calico's which hadn't had a visitor since 2008. Enjoy!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ubyr va gur ebpx. Lrf, V xabj, gurer'f n ybg bs ubyrf va gur ebpx; gung'f jul vg'f pnyyrq Fjvff Purrfr.
Treasures
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