Yea, Though I Walk Through the Valley of…

I’ve long anticipated a trip through Death Valley. It’s one of the few areas of California to which I have never been! Finally, in the quest for completing the Southern California Delorme Challenge, f0t0m0m and I did a loop up through the Antelope Valley to the western entrance of Death Valley and back down to Primm, NV.

The first part of our journey was to collect the last few caches for me on the pages that I had not gotten to yet. The first stop was in Monument, CA, a few miles west of Mojave.
Sand Canyon Cache Creek

This red farmhouse up the road made a striking contrast to the surrounding brown hills.

One of the target caches took us up a narrow canyon with unique geology.
Maintenance Desired!

The layers of rock were almost wafer thin….

… and the strata have been pushed up completely vertically.

The view on the way out was spectacular.

An earthcache brought us to a dramatic overlook of the Panamint Valley, one over from Death Valley. f0t0m0m helped out some other tourists as I answered the cache questions.
Death Valley Earthcache

Panamint Valley

Furnace Creek is in the middle of Death Valley.

It’s thata way! More next week!

Denouement: Tonopah and the Trip Home

Three weeks later, I’m still exhausting just thinking about our alien adventure. I did finally get all 1500+ logged in, and now have the #27,000 accounted for:
1219-E.T.

On the trip back, I found a handful of caches with OLdweeb, and started to feel like a “normal” geocacher again. Our first stop was at the Tonopah Historic Mining Park, an outdoor museum on a hill in town that afforded this view:

We didn’t take the time for the hour-long tour, but we did grab the cache in the gift shop.
Tonopah Historic Mining Park

Goldfield yielded some cache finds and a chance to check out some remarkable old buildings, especially this old school house that the town is hoping to restore.
Goldfield Ghost Town (High School)

We also stopped off in Heaven – Geocacher’s Heaven, that is!
Geocacher's Heaven

Yes, I bought one. One day, I will hide it for the enjoyment of my fellow cachers. Now… back to our regularly scheduled caching!

CA Road Trip

One of my all-time favorite things is to drive up and down California. This time, I cruised up the 99 and on up I-5 to visit various friends and family members, then cut over through Oregon to the coast at Crescent City. On my way south, after some more visiting, I hugged the coastline, eschewing the 101 for Highway 1 and the Coastline Highway. Spectacular and other such adjectives don’t do this state justice.

I cherry-picked caches along the way, and my first discovery was this antique Caterpillar, displayed in the parking lot of a McDonald’s in Tulare!
Thirty Something

Further up, near Red Bluff, I stopped and enjoyed this classic Golden State view.
-A Bit Snakey-

The next big leg of my journey was through the redwoods in the northwest corner of the state.

Have A Nice Day Music Cache

The highway follows the very windy (as in curvy, not gusting) Eel River.

These aren’t cows, which I also saw along the roads. Check out the rack on that elk buck!

The quintessential coast view:

8 Years of Geoacaching

I celebrated this milestone and my mom’s birthday by taking one of my favorite road trips all the way up the state of California to Yreka.

I found a few new caches in town with my Dad. Here he is in Discovery Park…

… where I played on this swingset as a kid…

… and where we enjoyed learning new bits of history at the cache there:
"A Mighty Town"

We also enjoyed a stroll around Greenhorn Reservoir, where the weather was perfect for taking in the views:

The mountain out there is Goosenest.

The wild flowers are in full force.

The rest stop just north of Weed has an earthcache about the ancient rock formations made by Mt. Shasta, and bit of more recent history on display nearby:
Ancient Mt. Shasta Debris Avalanche

This was also Memorial Day weekend, and I’m truly grateful for the folks that defend my country and our exceptional freedoms. Without them, I would not be doing what I do.

Calendar Challenge

After last week’s manic cache run of 825, I had a full schedule of singing, travel, and other miscellaneous things, and only had time to find 2 this week! The one day I did need to find a cache was the 22nd, as it’s the 2nd to last date I need to complete the 365 Day Challenge.
Geocaching 365 Day Challenge

I found two that day, the first in Phoenix on a business trip, and the second on the way back. Both afforded lovely and unique views of the surrounding area.

Enjoy the Koi

Camp Young Airstrip

Ahhh…. even just a couple of caches can be so refreshing!