Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Kumeyaay Solstice Cache

Waiting for the sun to rise
Last Saturday, I returned to another one of my favorite caches, the Kumeyaay Solstice Cache (link). It is one of San Diego's classic caches, placed in 2002 by Team Gecko. As is often the case with geocaches, it was placed to draw attention to a fantastic event that happens here every year on the winter solstice. On that day (plus or minus a day or two), the sun rises over some hills in the distance and appears to be briefly split in half.  A very cool phenomenon that the Kumeyaay indians used as part of a solar calendar. In fact, a set of circular stones was found near here years ago and the site was designated as the Cowles Mountain Observatory.

Winter solstice sunrise
Anyhow, the event happens at about 6:54 am every winter solstice, so in order to see it, you must be at that spot.  This means a pre-dawn hike half way up Cowles Mountain. I've done this a couple of years now, dragging various family members along, and have yet to get a good view of the split sun. Winter in San Diego is often associated with low clouds at dawn, or rain, and it can be quite challenging to get good weather. Saturday's weather was pretty good, so we drove out to the Staging Area at Cowles Mountain at about 5:30 am. We hit the trail at 6, and it took a good 20-30 minutes to get to the right spot. Surprisingly, there were also dozens of other people climbing the trail. I would estimate that 100-200 people were there, from infants to elderly. It was a festive atmosphere as we waited for the sun to peak over the peaks, with laughter and chatter breaking out frequently. As we reached the final minutes, though, it got quiet. Clouds hugged the distant peaks and the sun made it look like the hills were on fire. There was a narrow gap between the distant hills and the increasing cloud cover, and when the sun peaked over the hills, we had a spectacular view. The picture above shows a slight split as the light from the sun illuminates the knob-like feature that creates this effect. This shot is probably 5 seconds after the first appearance of the sun, so the most impressive split would have already happened. (Yes, the sun split phenomenon lasts all of about 4 seconds!) Unfortunately, the cloud cover near the peak obscured the best part of this show. Still, it was awesome and the crowd responded with some sporadic clapping.

Heading back to the trail head under a gorgeous sunrise.
We stayed a few minutes, talked to some geocachers who were also up there, and then began the trek back to the trailhead. If it weren't for the Solstice Cache, I might not know about this special event and I plan on keeping up this emerging holiday tradition. The cache page has a number of viewing tips (remember to NEVER look directly at the sun!) and some great pictures of how the split sun can look under ideal conditions. New pictures are posted each year, and it turned out that Sunday and Monday morning were perfect this year. Even without the perfect split, watching the sun rise on the solstice, at an ancient observatory no less, is incredibly exciting. It may not be Stonehenge, but San Diego's version is still pretty awe-inspiring!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Christmas Card Lane Flash Mob

One of my personal favorites...
Last night I attended the 3rd annual Christmas Card Lane flash mob event (link) hosted by Silver Horde.  The cache 'Christmas Card Lane Cache' is also on the premises (link) and is one of the few caches that is only available to log during December. I've attended this event every year and this year was as good as ever.  Christmas Card Lane only exists one month out of the year, when a typical suburban neighborhood is transformed into a colorful spectacle of lights.  Each house in the approximately two block area has a theme, and creates a Christmas Card-like display.  I think it is so cool that the neighbor participation rate is so high, probably more than 90%.  It makes the area really a magical place and people come from all over San Diego to see it.  The place is just packed with people and cars! The flash mob event started three years ago and it was one of my first events as a geocacher.  I didn't know many people back then, but it was a fun (and quick) event, plus the walk around the neighborhood was very cool.  So, we have made this a yearly tradition.  Last year, we brought our new puppy with us and he broke free from his collar and raced across Black Mountain road.  Cars were zipping by at 50+ mph as he chased away from our frantic efforts to catch him on the side of the road.  A terrifying moment that still gives me the shivers, but we finally caught him unharmed. A Christmas miracle! He made his return this year and has a trackable collar now, so both of our dogs could be discovered.
Disney themes were common

Anyhow, it was fun chatting with some old friends and meeting some new ones. ClanCambellChandler, SDGEOMOM74 and I talked about Munzee (in hushed tones, of course). FlagMan and Deniel3 were also there, so we caught up a bit.  Said hello to LLOT, Trixxster, and of course, the gracious host, Silver Horde. Lulu499 was the winner of the FTF raffle (yea Lulu!). The event meal was larger this year, including both candy canes AND chocolate kisses. Mmmm. As the event was winding down, we did a group picture (below) and then were serenaded by a group of young carolers.  If this doesn't get you in the mood for the holidays, you should probably have your pulse checked!  I grabbed a couple of trackables from the table and I was off to see the neighborhood.

Harry Potter
My family arrived right after the event, so I arranged to meet them at the site of a new cache 'Day 18 - Christmas light car tour in PJs' (link).  This is part of the geo-advent calendar series that FlagMan is putting out this year.  One cache gets published per day.  Like the 12 Redneck Days of Christmas series (a hysterical series put together by Habu! two years ago), it will probably take me years to finish them all, but no matter, it's all good. I found the cache quickly, but I waited out several waves of muggles who wanted to pet the geopets before I was able to sign and replace the log.  By that point, my family had arrived and it was time to put the GPSr away and enjoy the lights.  Let me know about your favorite Christmas-themed caches in the comments below!



Flash mob group shot
(photo courtesy of Trixxster, with permission)

Monday, December 16, 2013

Caching on Catalina: Part 3

Heart of Catalina
The last day of our epic hike across the Trans Catalina Trail was also going to be the longest. After two days of 5-7 mile hikes up and down relatively steep hills, we were all feeling a little sore, so the prospect of an 11 mile hike through the heart of Catalina was a bit daunting.  We left the Black Jack campground under overcast skies and made our way towards the central part of the island.  This is clearly a place few people go and it was truly spectacular through here. The isolation also meant there were no caches to be found for much of the hike.  Since this is such a wonderful segment, I decided to hide a cache myself.  Between mile 12 and 11, as we paused for a drink after a steep downgrade, I found a good spot for a hide.  I named it 'TCT: Heart of Catalina' (cache link here), to reflect the setting.  Since pack space is at a premium, and I had already used space for the replacement cache for Black Jack, this is a small container (a hanging pill bottle), but it should be pretty easy to find once you get there.  Believe me, you won't have to deal with muggles!  In fact, I will be excited to see when it get its first find.  As of this blog post, it has already gone over 4 months without a find. I will be surprised if this cache gets more than one find a year, because you have really got to want to be out there.

First glimpse of Avalon!
Anyhow, we slogged on towards Avalon and as the sun came out in the afternoon, it turned into a grind. We were tired, dirty, hungry, and starting to look forward to the final stop (and warm showers!) at the Hermit Gulch camp. We saw a lot more bison on Day 3, which helped keep the family moving, and the terrain was quite variable, from rolling scrub, to prairie-like grasslands, and eventually, roads. Around Mile Marker 9, we passed a park near the road up to the airport, which gave us hope that civilization was getting close. Near Mile Marker 8, we got our first glimpse of Avalon! All of us were really dragging along the last 1.5 miles of ridgeline before the drop down to camp.  We passed a number of muggles through here, who had hiked up from below and looked perky and hydrated. We must have looked like death warmed over! We finally made it to the Hermit Gulch Trail, which took us off the TCT and down a very steep ravine towards the campsite. My wife and I knew this part of the hike, as we had hiked up from below a few months earlier on a vacation to the island.  We stopped briefly at a cache we had logged on that trip, and found that the trackable we had dropped there was safe and sound.  The cache itself is pretty cool.  It's called 'Hermit's Graveyard' by Dmahny88 (here's the link) and has had a half dozen visitors since it was placed back in May 2012.  The cache has really unusual camo. I won't spoil it with a picture, but believe me, you will get a kick out of it. There is another cache further down the trail (closer to camp) that gets a lot more traffic, due to its proximity to the camp.  It's called 'Hermit Gulch' by Reynoldator28 (link) and we had found this guy during our previous trip as well, so we didn't stop here.
Leaving the TCT and heading to camp


We finally arrived at the camp and were thrilled to be back in civilization.  Although the idea of hiking into town was not pleasant, the thought of steaks on the grill and cold beer was enough of an incentive to hike just a little bit further.  All told, we found six caches and placed one while hiking about 23 miles over three days.  I know there are some folks that are all about the numbers, but sometimes a couple of caches are far more satisfying than 50 LPCs.  This was one of those times. I think even the geocaching purists, who probably cringed at my pill bottle hide, would say that this is what geocaching is all about.  Finding parts of the world that you would have never seen otherwise. There are still a number of caches out here, some in places even more remote. Hopefully, I can come back someday for another trek along the TCT and grab a few more.





Sunday, December 8, 2013

12 Days of Munzee Christmas

So, our clan finished in 118th place in Clan Battle 8.  We earned one weapon and finished in the middle of the pack.  I hit my 1,000 point goal, but we had a couple of stragglers last month, so we didn't get the scoring we needed from everybody.  However, Clan Battle 9 is even worse.  A last minute cancellation left us with only 9 players, so we won't qualify for anything this month.  Very unfortunate, as Munzee has Christmas themed weapons this month, which would have been cool.

XmasCover
However, all is not lost! Munzee is running a very cool promotion for Christmas, which you can read about here. In a nutshell (or chestnut, since this is the holiday season, after all), icons will start appearing on the map December 13th. 20 points for the capture and 10 points to the owner of the host munzee. Every day thereafter, new icons will appear on the map.  Random places, random times, and if you manage to capture 6 of the 12, there will be a special badge in your Christmas stocking this year! I'm going to try and get all 12... even the goofy Christmas pickle that is supposed to appear on the 16th.  I am a bit disappointed that there wasn't a cool icon for the Solstice on the 21st, but I am hoping to have a geocaching related event for that special date!

Not too excited about collecting icons? That's okay, Munzee has upped the ante. During Dec 13-24, every capture and deploy makes you eligible for some cool prizes! Battery packs, GPS units, mysteries, motels, virtuals (maybe even the new mystery virtual!), and socials.  On the 24th, capping or deploying activity qualifies you for a chance to win a premium membership! As a premium member myself, that is a great prize! So, even though our Clan got screwed up this month, I'll be out there growing the map.  Let me know if you cap some of the icons or if you win any of these cool prizes!

Monday, December 2, 2013

Caching on Catalina: Part 2

Looking back towards Little Harbor
We broke camp early to begin Day 2 of our back country hike along the Trans Catalina Trail. Sheep Chute trail started out uphill and seemed to be uphill forever! Unlike Day 1 of our hike, there were very few people along this segment.  We passed one couple, and then a group of college aged guys who we had seen on the ferry. After that, we had several miles of trail all to ourselves. After about 1.5 miles (between mile marker 19 and 20), we stopped for the first cache. This one was was called 'What a View' by Madds (here's the cache page) and was published in May 2012. It took almost 7.5 months to get a FTF (in Dec 2012) and we were second to find in August 2013.  Two finds in 15 months. That's kinda lonely.


By the time we passed mile marker 18 and 17, we were all looking forward to the big treat that came at roughly the halfway point of the hike.  We had set out in the morning so that by lunchtime, we would be at the famed Airport in the Sky.  Not so that we could catch a flight back to LA and go home (at least I hope that wasn't what my family was thinking!), but because of the airport restaurant. After a day and half of backpacking, I was dreaming of a Buffalo Burger!  The views from the airport and the restaurant were awesome, and we took a much needed break here. Did I mention how good that Buffalo Burger tasted? OMG!! The food was a little pricey but man, did it ever hit the spot.  I highly recommend a stop at the airport if you hike the TCT.  You can also take the bus from Avalon up here, or fly in on a small plane.


Lunch at the airport
Airport in the Sky
Buffalo Burger!



















Soapstone quarry







My family rested in the shade while I went after the two caches that were in the area.  I DNF'd a cache called 'Team Hookey' placed by Bigbadtrucker (link), which was very disappointing since the cache was placed in 2001.  It looked like one of those 'cache in a cactus' hides, so I gave it a good look but didn't want to waste all my caching time poking around in a cactus (I hear the groans on that pun).  Despite a pair of recent DNFs, the cache has only been found 50 times in 12 years. I then moved on to a more recent hide, 'Soapstone in the Sky' by kfsbunny (link) which turned out to be a very cool cache!  I followed a side trail across from the airport down to a soapstone quarry.  It turns out the quarry was used by a native american tribe and is a very important part of Catalina history.  The cache was a fairly easy find but the area was so cool I made my family hike through this trail just to see the quarry.

I  wish all bisons were this easy to find!
The final push was a 2 mile stretch down a valley and back up to the Black Jack campground.  Unlike Day 1, the sun was out and the hike was a hard one.  We stopped several times in shady areas to rest and drink.  We saw nobody through this stretch.  Nobody at all.  However, as we approached the campground, we finally saw something we had been waiting for the entire trip.  A bison!  No, not a bison in a bush, but a real bison! Very cool sighting and it gave us the energy boost to make it to the Black Jack camp.


View near the Black Jack cache
Smells like Pine!
Black Jack was probably the best camp of the trip.  Extremely remote, only a few campsites, and nestled under the only pine trees we saw on this trip.  We had a hard time figuring out which campsite was ours, and the guys from the ferry were there without a reservation, so we chatted with them while we waited to see who (if anybody) would arrive.  One of my missions on this trip was to replace the cache called (appropriately enough) 'Black Jack' (link) by DesertExplorer. Placed in 2005, it had only been found 12 times before it went missing in 2009.  Several DNFs were reported and eventually, it was under threat of archival.  I contacted the CO when I knew we would be visiting and offered to adopt the cache, but he just wanted me to replace it for now, as neither of us live very close to Catalina.  GZ for the missing cache was on the outskirts of camp, at the end of a short ridge.  Once there, I saw the remnants of the old geopile. Pretty cool.  I hid the replacement and enjoyed the view for a few minutes before hiking back to camp and out to another nearby cache, 'Smells like Pine' (link) hidden in 2006 by skpanzer. The hide site was truly spectacular, particularly in the late afternoon sun. The trail to GZ was uphill along another ridge and brought me into a copse of pines. I was enjoying the view and the trees so much, I nearly tripped over the ammo can, which was in plain view. I was thrilled to see an original logbook with logs from the 14 previous finders as well as numerous muggles who had camped at Black Jack and stumbled across this cache. Based on the muggle logs, and some of the contents of the cache, it would appear that this is a popular place for campers to take their girlfriends. I'm not sure what merit badge they were working on, but it sure sounds like a fun one!

I made my way back to camp for dinner.  Two days down and one (long) day to go.  Day three would be the final 11 mile push to the Hermit Gulch campground near Avalon.  I was also hoping it would be the day I placed my first hide on Catalina!