Minneola Ridge Vista Point Traditional Cache
Minneola Ridge Vista Point
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A traditional cache placed on a mountain top with a splendid view of Minneola Ridge and the surrounding areas of the Mojave Desert.
Gophertrax and I have been spending more time doing the holiday thing and not much geo-caching of late. With that realization in mind we took off on a day hike into one of the BLM designated "Wilderness Areas" of the Mojave Desert to place our first cache of 2006. It was a great day for hiking on the Mojave Desert; not too hot and not too cold. It did get a little chilly up on a couple of the ridges though. The area we selected was south of Route 40 off of Camp Rock road between Daggett and Newberry Springs in a designated "Wilderness Area". If you like to hike across some pretty un-spoiled desert terrain, this cache is for you. You'll see some trash and spent shotgun shells on your way to the parking spot, but once you start the hike it's all pristine and clean. The hike itself, if approached from where we started is two miles from the cache, from the west, at the boundary of the Wilderness Area. From our parking spot at N34 46.518 W116 48.731, you will begin the hike with about a 500' elevation drop down into a valley/wash area and continue east, eventually making an additional 1400' elevation gain to get to the cache. Near the cache location there are also some benchmarks which can be logged. The main benchmark is Lava 1954 and there are also a couple of reference marks to that main mark. We found a couple of other survey markers on the hike to the cach location, but both were the section marker type which can't be logged as a find. The inital 500' elevation drop doesn't seem as easy on the way back to the car by the way. Parking spot is 2WD accessible. If you approach from Route 40 you would take the Daggett Exit and stay on the frontage road on the south side of the freeway towards the east which turns into the dirt road named Camp Rock Road. That road will take you all the way to Lucerne Valley and almost to Big Bear if you follow it all the way and it's 2WD friendly all the way. To get to this cache however you will want to turn off of Camp Rock Road onto a smaller dirt road that goes east past Azucar Mine. Just follow your GPS and you'll find it OK; signals are great out on the Desert for the most part. You could nab the Azucar Mine Cache on your way to this one if you were so inclinded. Keep in mind this is the Mojave Desert and can be rather unforgiving to the unprepared traveler. Bring plenty of water and watch out for those desert critters. There are some range cattle in this wilderness area, and there were a couple of cougar sightings in the Newberry Springs area last year. I wouldn't recommend trying this cache in the Summer months, but it's a great Fall, Winter, or Spring hike. Enjoy!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur pnpur pbagnvare vf n 30 pny. fvmr nzzb obk cnvagrq oynpx naq vf ybpngrq 78' ba n ornevat bs 330 qrterrf sebz gur orapuznex YNIN 1954. Gung chgf vg ba gur rnfg snpr bs gur evqtr nobhg 20 srrg qbja gur fybcr. Vgf uvqqra va fbzr ebpxf whfg rnfg bs na byq obneq jvgu n xabg ubyr va vg. Gur fcbvyre cubgb vf n qrnq tvir njnl. Bs pbhefr, vs lbh qvqa'g oevat gur fcbvyre cubgb jvgu lbh, naq ner whfg abj qrpvsrevat gur pyhr, gung'f abg tbvat gb uryc zhpu. Gehfg gur TCF fvtany!!
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