Caching with dogs

My dog Jack, is not one who's very good at long walks.  We've walked him down into village area of our town, which is about three quarters of a mile away and he's really tired about halfway back from there. For him, that's a long walk, but then again, he's a smaller dog and those little legs just keep churning along, but he's also the kind of dog who will just shut down, lie down and say, enough, I'm tired.  Needless to say, I don't take him with me too often when I cache, although, he does have his own Geocaching account and has logged 10 finds.

I have been hiking and caching with others who bring their dogs along for the trek.  All of these dogs have been much larger than Jack, probably outweighing him by fifty pounds or so.  I would think a larger dog has more stamina for hikes of several miles. The last thing I'd want to do is have to lug around a dog who just refuses to walk any more.  That would be tough, especially if you're miles from transportation or only midway through your caching day.

Most of the time, the dogs are just with us because they like to be outdoors with their companions and they love to run and/or go for along walk. All of our walks with dogs have usually been over a couple of miles.  Yeah, they get tired at the end, but they always seem to have extra energy, much more than I can say for me after some of our hikes.  It would be nice to have that kind of stamina.

When you're caching with dogs, you have a different mind set as well.  You're constantly on the lookout for them, making sure they're not getting into trouble.  Then again, sometimes, they just need to explore, like Sheila did last week when she decided to climb that tree.  The cache was there, just not up that high.  But she had the right idea for the most part.

Another thing to like about dogs is they don't eat very much while on the trail and if you have the right equipment, they'll even carry their own gear.  One dog I went on a hike with had his own saddlebags for carrying his own water and everything else he needed for the day trek we had planned.  All you really need is a good container to use for a water bowl and you're really good to go with a dog.

The other thing I've noticed about dogs is they're smart enough to rest in the shade.  I'm pretty sure what goes through a dog's mind is something like this.

"Oh boy, I'm going on a walk with food guy!!  Walk, walk, walk, pant, pant.  Run, run.  Oooooh.  There's lots of good smells on this trail.  SQUIRREL!!!!   C'mon Food Guy, let's go!!  You're going too slow for me.  Oh, wait, you're looking for that geohiddenthingamabob aren't you?  That's OK with me.  I get to rest and relax in the shade while you look.  I hope it's a difficulty Five.  That way I get to rest for a good long while, cause I know you're not that good at finding those geohiddenthingamabobs.  SQUIRREL!!!"

You know, you can stop me at any time, because I could probably go on for a long time like that.  I'll leave you with one more short story before I sign off today.  There was a cacher in the San Diego area who went by the handle Yrium.  He took his dog with him on many of his caching outings.  Several of Yrium's logs were written in the style I posted above, as if his dog had written them.  They were some of the best logs I'd read and always seemed to bring a smile to my face.

Unfortunately, Yrium passed away a couple of years ago after a battle with cancer.  Although I'd never met him face to face, we'd written emails back and forth, played fantasy baseball together, and so I felt like I knew a little about the man.  Every time I log a cache for Jack my dog, I try to write it in the style that Yrium used to write for his dog and then I dedicate the log to Yrium's memory.

This past month, my friend Craig and his other companion Sheila lost their third companion Gromit.  He's on the left in the second picture.  Gromit went way too early in either people or dog years.  He was a good companion and a good trail walker.  He will be surely missed.  This blog entry is respectfully dedicated in memory of Gromit.

Pictures were taken at the following geocaches:
Leaf Me Alone - by Whinger
Jumping to Conclusions - by Webfoot

Wordless Wednesday

Mt. Rushmore?

Picture was taken near the following geocache:

30 YEARS OF PACMAN : V 15 - by michealamoody

Another picture in the desert

Last Monday, I headed out to the desert to finish up another series of geocaches patterned after the PacMan figure.  We'd actually started the series in December, but weren't able to complete the entire series because it had been raining most of the day out there.  The last ten caches were located in very rocky areas and we didn't want to risk injury due to a slip on wet surfaces, so we waited until better weather to finish it off.

The holiday last weekend provided the best opportunity to finish up the series, so out we drove.  We had two different spots to fix, so we drove down to one of the other caches we'd already found, then shuttled over to the back of the head.  From there, it was just a nice hike to pick up the six we'd missed in that direction.

After lunch, we drove over to another starting spot, hiked up to the cache at the top of the head, then made our way over to the west to get the others.  Hiking in a counter clockwise direction, we found an easy path amongst the boulders down to the road.  We kept looking behind us and were having a hard time picking out our route we'd traveled down. This was the same dilemma we'd had on the 18th of December.  We couldn't see a sensible route up.  We really had made the correct decision to hike those last four in the opposite way than we thought about doing them.

What this all really means is I've had a decent start to the new year as far as caching goes.  I'm averaging right now, slightly over a cache per day.  Last year I averaged over 2 per day. My average will go up as we get into warmer weather, but I'm really not concerned about how many I average, but whether I have fun.  And, I have another picture in the desert.  I already had a Smiley, which is located just to the east of the PacMan.  Then last year in April, we completed the Groundspeak Series.  Next up on our list, whether it happens this year, or possibly next year is a giant Kokopeli located in the southwest corner of Utah.  That one looks to be about a three day adventure, so we'll have to plan this one as an overnighter, possibly camping trip.  It should be fun.

Wordless Wednesday

It's a gusher!

Picture was taken near the following geocache:

Eti Wanda the Hedge Hog - by maddmaxxawr

Calibration

Last week, on my hike in the North Etiwanda Preserve (NEP), I tried calibrating my GPSr.  Not that I really could calibrate it accurately, but I tried to see how accurate it was compared to the adjacent signage.  Usually, when I'm out geocaching, I don't need to take any kind of altitude readings with my GPSr.  In my opinion, I believe that most of that handheld models are accurate to a certain degree, but not accurate enough for anything outside of fun and games.

When Chaosmanor and I hiked to the top of Simi Peak back in November, I put my GPSr on top of the bucket on the peak that held a laminated piece of paper stating the height of the peak, 2403 feet in elevation.  I just wanted to see if my GPSr would register the same.  It did, after a fashion.  We actually watched the number start out at a lower elevation and then watched as the number climbed up to 2403 feet, which was when I snapped the picture.  I suppose that if we were willing to wait several minutes of battery life, the unit would have settled down and produced a constant elevation.  I might have to try that sometime, but it's not high on my list of priorities.

The NEP has mile markers every quarter of a mile.  Those mile markers also indicate the elevation at the point as well.  The last time I'd been hiking in the preserve, over a year ago, I did the same thing and got the exact result. This time, the result was four feet different than what the sign post said.  After taking the picture, I picked my GPSr up and it immediately registered the "correct" elevation.  Then again, does the elevation listed on the marker indicate the elevation at the top of the pole, or at ground level?  My assumption would be that it should be a ground level.

Picking up my GPSr, actually brought it up to the top of the pole, which would have been the four feet difference, but once again, it's readily apparent that these gizmos shouldn't really be used for super accurate measurement of elevation or of latitude and longitude.  And yes, I'm writing this all with tongue firmly planted in cheek this morning. After all, it's just a game we're playing out here.

Picture was taken near the following geocache:
NEP on the Rocks - by maddmaxxawr

Wordless Wednesday

Picture was taken near the following geocache:

NEP_pd8 - by Ranger Rick

Finding caches I couldn't find

Last October, I hiked in the North Etiwanda Preserve (NEP) for the first time.  It was another instance of geocaching getting me to explore something in my own back yard.  On that day I found 12 caches and DNFed five of them, a very high DNF rate in my opinion.

For whatever reason, I kept having difficulty finding some of the caches I was looking for that day.  It wasn't because of tree cover, since there was little tree cover around.  I just couldn't find them.  Yesterday, I went back out again to hike that trail for several reasons, one of which was to rectify those DNFs.  There were several new caches along the trail as well, the weather was beautiful and I had cabin fever.

It has rained for most of this vacation and I really haven't been able to get out and do any kind of hiking this past couple of weeks.  The weather was finally cooperating and I was going to take full advantage of the situation.  The NEP provides a 3.25 mile loop trail, but with spur trails you can walk a lot longer.  I ended up walking just over 5.6 miles for my morning hike, with an elevation gain of over 2000 feet.

Fortunately, the gain was very gradual, so it didn't seem like I was gaining much in elevation, yet every mile marker post I came upon, it told me I was climbing.  Had I gone the other way on the loop, the gain would have been steeper and more intense, but I knew that from the last time I'd hiked the loop.

With the mountains as a backdrop, I was able to get some really good pictures, more than I can probably post here in three different post, so I'll have to post them gradually over the coming weeks.  There was a lot of snow on the peaks, which top out at around 8800 feet.  I was hiking at 2300 to 2500 feet above sea level so you can see there's quite a bit of snow on the mountains.  Last night, the overnight low got down to 29˚, which is quite cold for our area, which also means that the snow will stay there for awhile.

The daytime temperatures were warm enough that I was able to hike in shirt sleeves yesterday.  That also means that once again, people back east will watch the Rose Parade out here tomorrow and see people enjoying the wonderful weather and wonder to themselves why they live in the snow.  I think the single best advertisement for Southern California year after year is the Rose Parade and to a lesser extent, the Rose Bowl.  Only once since I was born has it rained on the Rose Parade.  That's a pretty good track record.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the weather yesterday.  The setting was perfect for a good hike and for some caching.  I was able to find those caches that I couldn't find over a year ago, plus all of the others that I had planned to find.  I saw several deer, one that crossed right in front of me on the trail and two others who watched me warily from a good distance away.  It was a good day, one that was a fitting end to the old year of 2010.

Tomorrow begins a new year, one that I'm sure everyone hopes will be the best year ever.  Resolutions will be made and some will be kept.  I resolve to continue to have fun while geocaching.  I found more geocaches this year than in any past year.  It's quite an achievement, especially since I was out of commission for several months due to personal reasons.  I was just lucky the rest of the time I went caching I guess.

I will not resolve to find a certain number of caches.  In my opinion, resolutions should be self improving.  Finding more caches next year, does nothing to improve myself I believe, although it will probably get me on the trail more so I guess I can resolve to continue to be more physically fit than in the past.

I also resolve to post more often here.  As I look back to when this blog was started, I can see my post counts fall every year.  116 in 2008, 100 in 2009 and only 80 this year.  I plan to reverse that course this year.  And so to all of my readers out there, please enjoy tonight, make it safe and may 2011 truly be the best year ever.

Pictures were taken at or near the following geocaches:
NEP_pd4 - by Ranger Rick
Washed Out Plumbing - by bustindustin

More than I can chew

Earlier this month, I mentioned that I was going to attempt the 365 project.  I figured that I'd start the project on the first of next month and just end up taking a picture every day for the next year.  Already, I now know, I've bitten off more than I can chew.

I uploaded two pictures earlier this month, just to see if this project would be difficult.  In one sense, I can see where I could do this, but in another sense, I know myself well enough to know that I won't be able to do this every day over the next year.  I love taking pictures, but at the same token, I'm also a perfectionist.  I will not publish a picture of my toenail just to satisfy a daily challenge.  It would get onerous very quickly.

Several years ago I challenged myself to try and find a cache for 33 consecutive days.  At that time, I was the main person picking up the Tadpole from his elementary school.  Because of when his Spring Break was and my Spring Break, I figured there was going to be a 33 day window where it would be relatively easy to find a cache every day during that period.  And so I attempted it.

Once the 33 days went by, I continued finding caches each and every day.  Some days were relatively easy, while others were more difficult to accomplish but I persevered up until day 57.  That day, I ran into a string of caches that I couldn't find and it became frustrating enough after five DNFs that I just said to myself, enough.  I wasn't having fun anymore, so I ended the streak.  There is no way I'd ever want to attempt any kind of consecutive streak again.  I think the longest streak I've had since that time has been 11 consecutive days.

And so I thought I'd be able to take a picture every day for 365 days.  Uh huh.  Right.  The nice thing about the 365 Project is you can upload pictures to specific days.  It doesn't hold you accountable for an every day post.  So this project will take several years to achieve fullness, but I can live with that.  The quality of the pictures will be much better than if I ended up taking a picture every day and I will also continue to enjoy the project as it develops.  I know myself well enough that if I were to attempt this, I would end up hating it in the end.  I don't want to do that.

In the meantime, from time to time, I will post updates of my progress on that project.  I've noticed many other bloggers contributing to their own blog by having a Wordless Wednesday every week, which just includes a title and a picture.  I may end up doing something like that as well, although the way I like to write, actually having to have a wordless day might be painful to me.  But I can always try it and if that doesn't work out, so be it.

The two pictures posted here are the two I've posted thus far this month.  One is of an inch and a half long millipede we spotted out in the desert the week before Christmas Day.  We actually saw two different ones, but this one was a little bit more cooperative than the other.  The second picture is of our California Desert Tortoise (yes, I have a permit for it) that lives in our back yard.  It came out of its burrow on Christmas Day and was sunning itself under one of our orange trees.  Today is the first day since Christmas where I haven't seen it wandering around in the back yard.  I suspect the rain today had something to do with that.

Please enjoy these offerings and others in the future.