About the same time that I started this blog, I also decided to write a book about my geocaching experiences. I finally got it done, edited, and published on Kindle today!
This is always a time of reflection for me, and to that end, I took a look at my previous Thanksgiving geocaching blogs. I love seeing how much fun I’ve had and how many wonderful friends I’ve made over the last 9 1/2 years. Take a moment to click on the links for the full stories. I’ve included a photo from each to inspire you to walk back through time with me.
2008 14 Miles, now that’s a big number!
2009 Happy Thanksgiving!
2010 Giving Thanks
2011 Thankful for our Veterans
2012
A preview of blogs to come, as I continue with my summer road trip:
The Jasmer Challenge (Northern California Edition)
This is one of the most difficult challenges to complete because of the rarity of the earlier caches, therefore, I was relieved to see that I could pick up my three remaining qualifying finds on my road trip this summer. The penultimate cache was Mingo, the oldest existing geocache, and the final one was placed later that summer in one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been.
I drove from Colorado Springs to Durango, and took a long detour to the Spanish Peaks. Several miles up a graded dirt road, I got to the trailhead and parked my Prius at 11,200 feet.
The cache is only about a half mile from parking, and the trail is mostly flat, so I knew I could accomplish the hike, even with no acclimation to the elevation.
I signed in at the trail head and struck out through the tall trees.
It was not just the scenery taking my breath away.
My goal was not to ascend the peak, but it was always in view.
The colors of some of the flowers were vibrant blue…
… and purple…
I’m glad it was a cloudy day, as the temperature was perfectly cool.
The cache was surrounded by ducs, but I’m not sure if they all were put there by geocachers.
THIS is the view from the cache.
A photo is clearly not sufficient.
I spent about a half hour up there, enjoying some salami and cheese and the surrounding spectacularness.
Believe it or not, I’m STILL not done posting all of the stories and photos from my summer road trip, but I wanted to take a break and just let my subscribers relax with some the beauty of Corral Canyon. Not much to say about these, but I hope they serve to soothe what may be a stressful week for many of us for a variety of reasons.
I’m taking a 2 1/2 week road trip, and it’s the first long vacation I’ve taken since I found Marzipan! For the first leg of my journey, I even have my sister along, which is a treat. I have a selection of geocaches for each day, many of them strategically planned to finish off a few challenges, such as the Jasmer.
The cache here was missing, but the view was incredible. Pirate Gate
Here’s the Colorado River, in front of some really dramatic mountains.
A quick detour through Ash Fork showed us a snapshot of history, both in the monuments and in the abandoned buildings along the former Route 66 through town. I love the design of this Historical Marker. Ash Fork
Geocaching with EMC of Northridge, CA 