Tag Archives: Arizona

My biggest failure led to the most fun

Posted on by
Reply

Day 67:
Today I met Fudgey, hands-down the coolest dog of my trip.
Wow 15,000 miles in one road trip. I never could’ve dreamed. That’s a blatant lie, I dreamt it all the time, what I mean is I never could’ve imagined a reality in which….
This morning I arrived early at an ATV off-road rental company near table Mesa. I slept 20 minutes away at the sunset rest area. I had a very nice evening with some new friends and strangers, and I got caught up on some stuff. I watched the sky all night for storms. It was overcast most of the night. I was at the UTV rental shop pre-7am. We spoke on the phone yesterday, so they were prepared for me. I rented a single person UTV. Amazing. I can’t put into words the unbelievable things it was capable of. I ran through ruts and washes at 20mph, that I would barely idle over in my van. Somehow my big failure of yesterday, turns into the funnest day of my life!
At exactly 8AM I left the pavement and on table Mesa Road on the UTV. I parked the UTV at 9 AM, and started walking straight up a hill, through cactuses. It was 1 hour to walk to the old geocache. The coordinates for this cache are some of the coolest I have seen:
N 34° 00.000 W 112° 00.000
I went straight to the old one and worried about the others on the way back. I was not sure how long it was going to take, or if I would even make it. In hindsite, that is ridiculous. That UTV machine is the most impressive thing I have ever handled. I want one. I had it up to 40mph on the gravel roads. You know what else, I noticed something as I was about to leave, and drive back to the rental place. I never even put it into 4WD on the way out! I made it through the most unbelievable terrains in 2WD. I shifted into 4WD for the ride back. I did not have any problems getting there, but I DID notice a difference on the way back.
After I parked and realized where I had to walk, and how, I just followed the needle up the hill. There were times in my life that caused trouble, now it only means adventure and fun. I seem to have found a much easier way down the mountain. I would call it simple compared to the path I took up. I found the other few geocaches on the way back down. I knew I had plenty of time. The hike from where I parked was 2 hours, and 2.5 miles, and very uphill, and very bouldering, and very cactus-y. I got caught off guard by many a cactus needle. I have many still embedded in me a couple days later. Every once in a while I rub a finger at just the perfect angle….YIKES! At home I am used to being able to hike, scramble, climb and use all 4 of my limbs. I did that today but kept forgetting I can’t just grab a cactus the way I grab trees at home. On my way back to home base by 11 AM. I took my time, found a few side trails that I did not need to be one, climbed a bunch of hills for no reason, did donuts, permanently scarred a smile on my face, and constantly laughed out loud at how great this was, and how lucky I am.
With a UTV it definitely went from what would have been the most nerve-racking, butt clenching, terrifying, possibly ruin my house experience in my van Pervvie…to the most exciting, fun, experience I probably have ever had.
This road trip is so unimaginable that even my worst failure of the entire trip, I mean something that I struggled with, and was really let down that I felt like such a chicken. Even that situation led to me having the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. I just can’t lose 🙂
I cannot get over the UTV experience. I am still smiling from ear to ear. My wife and I have always said everything you do it’s all about the gear. With the proper gear anything is easy. There’s never a reason to be cold outside. There’s never a reason to carry too much weight. There’s not always a reason to drive my adventurevan to places that might hurt her. Gear, it’s all about the gear. Today’s gear was a Polaris (I assume).
Oh my. After gathering all my thoughts, and typing this all up, I just reread some stuff. I was putting together my pics for this GC log, post, blog, social, etc… when I realized something. I never even attempted to get to the Table Mesa old geocache the proper way, from Seven Springs. I only tried from I-17. I made it 4 of the 10 miles yesterday in my van and turned around. Thankfully today I had a UTV, and I made it no problem at all. I can’t believe this. I did it all wrong, I just realized it as I am typing this nonsensical drivel, and somehow it still works out amazing for me. Imaging that. Did I mention how much fun driving a UTV is? I might name my next dog UTV. There was this 1 hill that felt like I was driving straight up a wall. It was well over 45 degrees. Must be what spidermen feel like. Not that it counts for me, but that trail is a “Jeep Badge of Honor Trail”. I hear that is cool.
A nice couple I met on the off-road trail told me I should visit Payson Arizona. I’ve never heard of it, but they said it’s a fun mountain town. I guess I’ll make that my direction for now and then Albuquerque after that. On the way there I stopped to visit all things Montezuma, like any good tourist boy.
Very glad I decided to drive to the mountain town of Payson Arizona. Quite a beautiful winding uphill through the mountains desert mountain drive. Exactly the kind of stuff I’m searching for every day on this road trip. Payson is where I spent the night, after having a nice Mexican dinner. Today will be forever burned into my memory, I will think of it often. Thank you Table Mesa, thank you geocaching, thank you New River ATV Rentals, thank you earth for being so magical.

I have put more photos of my roadtrip HERE.

I chickened out in Arizona

Posted on by
Reply

Day 65:
14,800 miles and counting.
Today I met Chaz, hands-down the coolest dog of my trip.
This morning I woke up in the desert forest area near phoenix. I found a place close to where I had dinner to call home for the night. I got a great night’s sleep, and was up before the sunrise and moving to where I wanted to be first thing this morning. I parked and did a wonderful sunrise hike through the desert to find Arizona’s oldest geocache. I made about a 6-mile loop over the course of 2 1/2 hours. The sky, scenery, cactus, and mountain ranges are absolutely gorgeous today. They seem to always be gorgeous around here. I looked for and found every geocache I walked by except one. It was fun seeing some friends I know from home had their names on the logs a few months ago. After that fantastic start to my day, I made my way down the road to another really old geocache. That one was very quick, almost a park and grab. I then took that opportunity to take a shower and get cleaned up for the day. I don’t think I’ll be doing a whole lot more sweating in bulk for the day. I have some real life things to catch on catch up on, laundry, work, and some other communications. And I need to stick around locally as I’m getting rear tires put on my van tomorrow. So, I ran a bunch of errands, food market, outdoor store to stock up on some stuff, and then I found a few of the highly favorited geocaches that are nearby. I picked up my fluff and fold, and made my way to a nearby park. I parked there, and worked for a few hours. I got mostly caught up on real life, not at all caught up on my fairytale life. I then found a nice place to sleep for the night, only about 10 minutes from the tire shop…Surprise Arizona!
Tomorrow I will head north for the Table Mesa 2000, and I am renting an off road UTV afterwards! I want to off road in the desert mountains, without fear of breaking my house.

Day 66:
14,900 miles and counting.
Today I met Donny, hands-down the coolest dog of my trip.
This morning I woke up in the middle of the desert, to watch the moon set and sun rise over the city of Phoenix. It was beautiful. I have an appointment first thing this morning in Surprise! Arizona to get new rear tires.
After my van got new rear shoes, we were on our way north toward Table Mesa. I had at least two full days here. Today I plan to drive out and hike to the old geocache there. Stay the night nearby, and then tomorrow morning I’m renting a UTV to go off-roading. I’ve done so much off roading in the past two months that I really can’t wait to do it, as fast as I want, without fear of breaking my house.
Well…….that did not go as planned for my first attempt. It is 10 miles of driving from where the pavement ends to where people park for the 2000 geocache in Table Mesa. 10 miles that I read will take at least 2 hours. I’m fine with that. I got about 4 miles in. I have gone through much worse and over much worse with my van so far this trip. But I didn’t want to anymore. This poor girl has taken a beating. I backed out and abandoned trying to go for Table Mesa that way. After that I went to visit a couple of outdoor rental stores, and hopefully have secured a UTV rental for tomorrow morning to get me there. It’s gonna be a ton of fun, off-roading without concern for breaking my house.
As for today I didn’t do a whole lot. I sort of meandered around rock Springs area, the sunset rest area, and the Black Canyon area. I took some pictures I saw some sites. I saw a lightening storm that was amazing, from my point of view. This is the first adventure of this trip that I have chickened out of. I believe today is the first day of this road trip that my plans have really just blown up, and left me feeling rather helpless. Usually when I plan, I follow through. I still hope to follow through, just a day later, and in a different fashion.
I settled down early for the night, and just enjoyed some music, and snacks. The rain came and went, and I constantly checking outside for what amazing thing the sky is doing.

I have processed a lot of my pictures and made an album HERE.

Not sure why I get to do this, Geocaching by Jetski, Lake Powell Arizona

Posted on by
Reply

Today was unquestionably the funnest day of “geocaching” I have had!

Day 21:
I woke up in Page Arizona, not actually realizing where I was. I mean I knew where I was, I got a hotel, paid for it, lay down and went to sleep. But I mean I only came here because of the old geocache nearby, and didn’t realize what a mecca of beauty, uniqueness, and photographic opportunities I was in. I wasn’t even supposed to be here, so didn’t really do any research.
I kicked it around town early in the morning for a bit, finding a few nontraditional’s. Then I was set to meet a guy (turned out to be a gal) at the lake at 9 AM, He (she) was going to give me a JetSki to use for the day.
Last night before I retired for the night I went to the local store for some food. They had what I could only describe as the most local radio station in the world playing. I heard a lady read an announcement, about a lost dog. The poor thing was deaf, almost blind, and not wearing any collar. She then proceeded to give out the owner’s name, address, and phone number in case you saw this dog. While I love this, it is not something I have witnessed since I was a little kid. After that, I heard mention that tomorrow was the first day of school, meaning today. I thought this can’t be right it’s still the beginning of August. At that point, I disregarded the dog situation as crazy shock-jockery. Thought maybe it was a fake radio station. But there’s no question about it, this morning this town is a flurry of activity of people going to school to get smart. I hope that dog got home.
The jet skiing on Lake Powell was insanely unreal!
I may have to retire and not look for any more geocaches after this Labyrinth Canyon. Nothing is ever going to provide such an all-around experience.
After doing my research I decided a JetSki would be the funnest way. I spoke to the wonderful people at Surf Powell Lake and they agreed to let me borrow one of their JetSki‘s for a nominal fee. She showed up when she said she would, launched me, and I was on my way at 9:30 AM. I made it to the “parking” coordinates in about two 2 1/2 hours. I haven’t been on a JetSki in quite a few years. The waters in the slot canyons are very choppy. Constant waves with nowhere for that energy to go. But I also found miles of stretch that was like ice and got it up to 50 miles an hour. I kept laughing and giggling and forgetting that I was on a mission.
I put it in the mud. I sure hope it’s there when I get back. Spoiler, it was.
I made a costume change for my feet, and away I went. 10 minutes and I realized I went the wrong way. I had to backtrack and get on the other side of where the water was dried up in the slot canyon. Then I picked a direction and walk whatever was the path of least resistance. Not terrible, other than a couple of suspect inclines here and there.
Once I was at GZ, I looked for quite a few minutes, getting discouraged. There were two places I wanted it to be. So, I went to the first one because it was easier. From there I spotted the prize I was looking for off in the distance, at about the same height.
The walk back was very eventful. I stopped for pictures lots of times. All total I walked about 3 miles in two hours. I also put on about 65 miles on a JetSki. And I still can’t get the smile off my face.
I went and stole a shower from the campground for seven dollars. Then I went back into town to have Mexican lunch. That was delicious and the protein that I needed for what was next.
I headed to Horseshoe Bend. Quite a mob scene, but breathtaking. A place I’ve wanted to be at and photograph for years. From there I decided to make the walk to the left, to find the other geocache. With about half a mile left to get to the cache I ran out of seeing the selfie takers. That’s fine, all these breathtaking views just for me tonight as the sun is going down.
From here I intended to finish the evening asleep in Zion. A crazy storm ended up coming through just at sunset. I didn’t get much further away from horseshoe Bend, I pulled over and rode the storm out and took pictures of lightning strikes. It was amazing. Not what I wanted to do, but probably better.

I did start an album of this trip that I hope I will remember to update. HERE.

I did also make this short video of a very small amount of my Lake Powell nonsense.

Several very adventurous and off road days in a row

Posted on by
Reply

Day 18:

I slept near a pet Cemetery last night. I got moving plenty early in the morning, but it’s hard to get much done when the sun rise is like they are in Utah. One direction is the most beautiful pinks and oranges lighting up the mountains. 180° the other way the sun pokes it’s head up over another set of mountains. I’m trying to get things done, Mother Nature, and I keep having to stop and take pictures. Very inconsiderate.

I did a short trail of letter boxes. I got through them quick, no opposing traffic, perfect weather, and a van with a side door that I could just leave open, getting in and out like a mailman. I found all that I looked for, a couple of them were originals, a couple replacements, and I found a couple completely cracked and destroyed and left behind new film canisters. From here I have the half day trek to get to the Beaver hide.

During that drive I saw people living life the way I grew up. I passed a guy going the other way on a four-wheeler. He had his small daughter in front of him, holding her, letting her steer, and a beer in the other hand. Perfect.

I wish I could have a do-over on today, or at least the 2nd half. I wasted at least five hours trying to get to Beaver. Or I wish I had done some more research ahead of time. I did a lot of due diligence planning for this trip, but I guess I slacked or failed on this one.

First, I ran up one road and hit an absolute dead end with a gate with a lock on it. After that I rerouted and ended up in places that I should not have been. I made it through, probably breaking everything about Pervvie, poor girl. And then I had to spend an hour just getting back to some sort of civilization to reroute. I read some old geocaching logs about route 6 and French Creek. I found that area on Gaia, and off I went. Another 4 hours, man, I really put on a lot of rough, off-road miles today. About 3 times more than required. But Beaver did turn out to be a park and grab. I did finally get to the top, the view was amazing. Truly unbelievable. I was so proud of my Pervvie. I gave her the honors of a photo with the ammunition can.

This is a memory I will never forget. Probably because my butt cheeks will never unclench from this experience.

After I made it back to civilization, I drove to Potters. What a beautiful drive it was. I got there and got settled, planning to spend the night here. I decided to go do a headlamp hike as the sun was setting, take some pictures of the lake, and do the loop for the old hide.

I found everything I looked for except a trail. I’ve done a lot of dumb things on this trip but bushwhacking around in the pitch black for a couple of miles maybe now at the top of that list.

 

Day 19:

I slept at the old hide, Potter’s last night. I got on the road early, I would’ve liked earlier, but I was extra comfy in my mobile bed this morning. I had about a 2-hour drive where I was going next, a Little Creek Stash.

I came off the mountain, fueled up, got a sandwich, and headed where I was going. As always, I was distracted by other geocaches right in my path.

The first old one this morning was the least dramatic so far. No problem at all, parked close and made a short trek to the find. I didn’t break myself, my van, or anything on this one.

Next was to get the Cache Across America Utah version. I saw where it was and it would be easy, looks like it’s in the middle of a power trail. No time for that, but I did make time to find a bunch of the nontraditional‘s, letterboxes and multis. Geocaching power trails are very popular. They are endless amounts of geocaches along the roadside. People increase their find count by many thousands, even tens of thousands using these power trails. I do not think hell exists, but if it did, I would be forced to do power trails. The secret about hell is that you don’t even know you are there, that is how bad it is. Such an unappealing way to spend the time.

I visited the state house in Fillmore. It was perfect, I needed to re-up on water, and they had a spigot out front. It is as if I needed something, and the universe provided for me. Either that or I just stole water from a municipality.  I found out later I could’ve waited and just stole some water from the graveyard I would have to visit.

Boy, do I love Beaver! Had an amazing run-in with an adorable family at the multi. I was struggling terribly, they noticed a geocacher in distress, and came to save the day! I was hoping they were going to invite me along with them camping, but we ended up parting ways.

Time for Wah Wah next. My notes said no problem. My notes were wrong. I started all wrong by entering from the east side. I spent about 4 hours getting nowhere, dead ends, and unpassable (by us) roads. I finally flagged down an ATV’er, and they set me straight. I ran the main road all the way through the forest, then doubled back to where I was already within 3 miles of, but not good enough. Once here, I had probably 30 minutes wrapped up in the find. The coordinates do take you to a brand-new fence. At least mine did. I had no service, so no access to images. I scoured the obvious area 3 times before spotting it. I was going to be so bummed, but it is there, in the obvious place. And all the names before mine are on the log sheet, no matter where it was located.

I then chose here to spend the night. I wanted a shower, dinner, and to take pictures of the night sky, with the awesome foreground of those broke down shacks across the road from the ammunition can. Those photographs turned out amazing! Glad I stayed here. Did not see another human for over 12 hours at least.

Day 20:

I left where I slept, right at the Wawa Stash, not so early in the morning. My intent was to get somewhere near the Utah/Arizona border. I would spend the day and night there, as I have a bunch of personal and work things I need a hotel to catch up on.

I wasn’t originally going to go try for the old one at Lake Powell.  My plan of what I was going to do has changed 20 times over the last two days. But as of right now the plan is to try to go to Lake Powell. A lot of the morning was focused on just safely getting myself out of the forest. Some of those forest roads are deathly terrifying.

Nontraditionals catch my eye more than anything on this trip. I saw a multi not too far off my road route. So glad I decided to take the time for that one. Quite a lonely cache, had not been found in over 6 years. Awesome little side adventure. My favorite thing about road tripping is finding the weirdest things, like a single site graveyard in the middle of nowhere. I can’t wait to sit down and figure out what that’s all about.

I passed through the town of prehistoric Parowan Utah. I spent time finding a few fun geocaches here. I wish I was passing through during this county fair, I bet it’s awesome. The signs everywhere said it was coming up soon, but not soon enough for me.

I took the scenic route. I passed through and over the town of Brians Head in Utah. I’ve never heard of it before, but it was beautiful.

Today was mostly about driving through southern Utah, the mesas and the views and the amazing colors and formations. I didn’t get much done today recreationally as I was doing my best to get into a hotel quickly, for a conference call, and then catch up on real life work and responsibilities.

I got checked into my hotel in Page, had a pizza, and partially caught up on the real world. Back to nonsense tomorrow. Jet ski nonsense!

I did start an album of this trip that I hope I will remember to update. HERE.