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Geocaching
While Mark was in Heidelberg, Germany, in 2007, he heard about a new hobby called Geocaching. Basically it is a worldwide scavenger hunt using GPS units to locate hidden "treasures." Geocachers all over the world have hidden almost 950,000 caches, from the size of a car battery (or larger) to as small as the tip of a pinkie finger. The Geocaching website (at www.geocaching.com) has descriptions of the cache sites, clues, and logged entries from previous searchers who have found (or have not found) the caches. Most importantly they have the GPS coordinates of each site, with maps. We actually did our first cache search "B is for Barn" in the nearby Jordan Landing shopping center, before we got our GPS by using Google Earth to pinpoint the coordinates. That was on July 7, 2007. While Mark was here that September, we bought a GPS unit and he helped us learn how to use it. We went out a couple of times with him, finding 13 caches on 2 days. We did a few more here and there, then when we went to Texas to visit Jenner and his family, we took the GPS with us and found 3 to add to our list while there.
When we had a free Saturday with nothing else to do we'd grab a few nearby caches. On January 1st, 2008, we went to a "Mob Event" and "First Day Feast" and met some other cachers, and heard some of their stories. In February when Maureen went to Newfoundland, she contacted a cacher there who took her out one afternoon and they found 12 caches. It was a great day. Lots of snow around, but a nice day, only a few scattered flurries throughout the afternoon. So we have 12 logged caches approximately 2900 miles (as the crow files) from home. Layne also got 1 cache in Switzerland in October 2008 when he went to be trained on a new binder for the Church printing center.
In early 2008 the bug caught us. We made several weekend trips to cache in Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and Colorado, and expanded our searches in Utah to eventually cover all the Utah counties and county seats. We like the out-of-the-way places we get to see, places you would otherwise never pull off the road to see; historical markers, old cemeteries, magnificent viewpoints, etc. We've walked a lot of miles in the last couple of years! We even took a "walk" near our neighborhood one night – 3½ miles, just to get 2 caches, but the walk was great. We do prefer the rural, out-of-town caches, to the hectic, hard-to-find-parking city caches. We went to Arizona for a family Christmas party in early December 2008, finished the Utah counties and county seats, and also the DeLorme Atlas challenge; as well as getting about 97 caches in 7 days in Utah, Arizona, California, and Utah. We have found this to be a GREAT activity to do together, as we both enjoy the hunt, and have found the time spent together has been really good for our relationship.
On Saturday, March 14, 2009, we logged our 1000th cache. This was a particularly significant cache as it was the Utah DeLorme Atlas Challenge. In order to even get the correct coodinates for this cache, we had to find a cache on each of the 48 pages of the Utah DeLorme road atlas. This was a great drive all across Utah. We had actually found the last cache on December 10, but snow kept us from finding the actual challenge cache. Finally the weather was beautiful and we went to the "Center of Utah" (as determined by the US Geological Survey) in the hills just west of Ephraim. A short drive on a really bad road, a short hike up the mountain, and #1000 was ours.
In Aug/Sep 2009 we took a 17-day, 15-state, 5500-mile trip. The main object was to visit Jenner and his family in Arlington and to attend the BYU/OU game in the new Dallas Cowboys football stadium. We had wanted to drive back to Texas ever since Jenner had moved there, and finally we both had enough vacation time at our jobs that we could do that. We decided to extend our trip to see more of the U.S. (and do geocaching). We went to Mt. Rushmore, up through the Ota's (South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota), and then zigzagged down the state boundaries to Oklahoma and into Texas. We visited several pioneer and military sites; Martin's Cove, Ft. Laramie, Ft. Davis TX, Winter Quarters, and Liberty Jail. We were also able to visit all the places we've lived in the U.S. (Wichita Falls, Del Rio, Alamogordo, and Las Vegas), visit family, and do some caching! It was a GREAT trip. We got 223 caches on this trip, including #1600 and #1700.
So we share with you our latest hobby (or near obsession!) and a few of the places we've been while geocaching. (Including just a small sampling of the more than 1000 pictures we have taken.)
 States where we have cached, and number found in each state and caches for the Utah counties. The color codes are the same for the US and the Utah maps. A trip to Arizona in December 2008 finished all the Utah counties, county seats, and the DeLorme Atlas pages. Our Labor Day Trip in Aug/Sep 2009 added 10 new states.
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 Mark caching in Germany — this is all his fault ! !
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 In Utah on Maureen's first real day out caching, with Mark showing her some of the "tricks" of the game. The Best Little "Ore" House Saloon, is out in Copperton on the old Bingham Highway near the copper mine. 26 September 2007.
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 Maureen in Newfoundland with "Piglet1", Michelle H., 18 February 2008.
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 One cache site Michelle was sure would be a successful find, so we walked half a mile through the snow and icy paths, to get there, only to find no cache. It had been washed away. It was replaced the next week. Even so, it was a fun day. This little bridge was near the Quidi Vidi Lake.
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 Us on our 35th Wedding Anniversary, in Paris —
Idaho that is ! ! Snow had been melting in Salt Lake, but not much so in Idaho and Wyoming ! ! Still it was a fun weekend and lots of caches found. 1 March 2008.
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 View of frozen-over Bear Lake looking toward Paris from the east side, near an historical marker about Pegleg Smith where we placed a cache for others to find and read about Pegleg Smith – no relation!
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 We took David and Russell on a day trip to Wendover on 15 March 2008. David took a little dinosaur that we attached a "Travel Bug" dog tag to and dropped it in a cache near Wendover. In May 2008 it went to the Czech Republic ! !
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 Pilot peak, from a cache stop east of Wendover, 15 March 2008. This mountain can also be seen across the Great Salt Lake and Bonneville Salt Flats.
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 At Ricks Spring, up Logan Canyon, on 4 April 2008. It was a beautiful day, but the water in the cave was still frozen. It was very pretty. Would never have stopped to look at this were it not for geocaching!
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 In the back of the cave, were these little round-topped ice stalagmites. There were stalagtite icicles of all shapes and formations, just like being in a limestone cave.
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 Our second trip to Paris, to fix a cache we had left there. This was the gorgeous sunrise across Bear Lake, still under snow, we got to see. 5 April 2008.
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 The pioneer in Layne couldn't resist stopping at this cache site (even though we never found the cache.) This is the Ben Holliday Inn, a stagecoach way station. You can still see west of this site the old wagon trail. The rock climb was fun - no cache found - but a great view ! [Found this cache on 28 Aug 2009.]
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 Layne with the "Silicon Life Form" cache. This was one of our more adventurous caching adventures. Snow and mostly mud, the slurpy, "get your boots stuck in it" kind. The cliff on the right was at least 25-30 feet high, maybe a little more.
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 There was an incredible amount of snow on the side of this cliff. The muddy creek/river was running right underneath this huge bank of snow, April 2008.
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 On top of the "Backbone of Time." This was a nice little half mile hike, not too steep, some rocks at the top, found the cache, and the view was spectacular. No way it could have been appreciated from the highway! This was east of Vernal, Utah just west of the Colorado border.
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 View from "Backbone of Time" just east of the Utah Colorado border east of Vernal. This is Dinosaur Country, but the mountains themselves are truly awe inspiring. April 2008.
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 Obviously because of its size (that's Layne down by the car) you can see this from the highway, but unless you stop and read the information plaque, you can only guess what its purpose was. This is near Eureka, a hub of mining activities in Utah in the 1800s. On a weekend trip April 25, 2008.
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 Not everything has a plaque with a story to tell. These "steps to nowhere" were surrounded by other remains of a way station or small town, but no indication what they were. It looked like there had been an historical marker here at one time, but long gone. We left a cache here. We have learned this was the site of a CCC Camp at Jericho.
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 This old bridge in Marysvale is well off the beaten path, and surely missed if you just drive through Marysvale. There were several great caches here, all with some wonderful history behind them. There is a great little memorial park there. This was taken 25 April 2008.
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 In April 2008, we found there was only 1 cache in Elsinore. To honor Maureen's Sylvester and Johnson families there, we placed a cache to honor them, "Becky's Beau." The owner of this land was very helpful, and offered this tree, reported to be the oldest tree in Elsinore as a cache site. The canal north of the tree was used for baptisms in the 1800s.
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 It took geocaching to get even a dyed-in-the-wool genealogist like Maureen to the Elisnore cemetery to finally see the headstone for Joshua William Sylvester, and others of the Sylvester and Johnson families. April 25, 2008.
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 It's not all hiking and cemetery hopping. Sometimes we get to meet really fun people, like Yogi, in our travels. This was in Manti, April 26, 2008.
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 We also found the great Utah-shaped cemetery in Spring City, near Ephraim, that had many of the Allred cousins buried in it. Would also never have found this little cemetery if a cache hadn't brought us there. We also met some fellow cachers here and had a nice chat with them.
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 We took David and Mary on a caching day out, Saturday, May 3, 2008. Here is Mary south of Tooele and Stockton, placing her "Mary's Little Black Mare" travel bug to start it's journey, trotting across the country. We found our #300 cache on this day outing.
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 Mary, Sherrie, and Emily caching with Maureen on 24 May 2008. This was a fun cache - Bugsy's Bar and Grill, out near the Great Salt Lake.
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 The next day, 25 May, down at Camp Floyd, Brandon got his first try at a cache!
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 At Maureen's Uncle Darrell's, in Centerville, for Grandma Hatch's 102nd birthday party, some of us took the hike to this waterfall. Of course, with 2 caches nearby, couldn't resist the extra climb and hike to find them.
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 Maureen and Russell at one of the 2 caches near the waterfall. Lots of little caterpillars hanging from the trees! May 26, 2008
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 Although this looks something like a lunar landscape, it is actually the sand on the "beach" at the Great Salt Lake. This covers about a 1 foot space! Outing at Great Salt Lake 30 May 2008.
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 After a couple of 2-mile walks including Maureen rolling up her pants and walking out into the lake for about 500 feet, we returned to the car to leave, only to be blessed with this gorgeous sunset behind us.
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 On a trip to Cedar City to attend 2 plays, couldn't resist getting in a few caches. King Lear seemed somewhat cooperative with this one entitled "Turn your Head and Cough!" 28 Jun 2008
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 Our trip on July 11, 2008, with Russell and Mark. Here we are at an old rail bridge, Layne with an old rail spike (not golden). This was near the junction of I-80 and I-84.
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 This was a great cache! The Cache Cash Cache in Ogden Canyon. Russell is probably 12 feet up, climbed this tree from the back.
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 Mark on that same trip near Henefer, across the street from a cache, making friends with the lambs.
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 "HATCH" carved in the rock at this cache site in Eastern Utah near Bonanza, south of Vernal. This was a really SWEET find! David liked it as well - "just like Grandma Hatch!." This was on a 500-mile, 12-hour trip to get some eastern Utah caches!
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 Us on Red Rock Natural Bridge south of Vernal on 16 Aug 2008. This was our #500 find. Only a short dirt road, short hike. It was a great place for our #500. Hard to see, but this is really a rock bridge, bush and lighter rocks in the background are behind the bridge.
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 Caching at Craven Park, Arlington, Texas with Jenner's boys; Josh, Charlie, and Jake. They had a ball finding "treasures." 6 Sep 2008
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 Jake helping Nana with the GPS unit. "Just follow the purple line, Jake." |
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 Great mural on the front of an old service station in Cisco, Utah. Well off the beaten path - a modern ghost town. This must have been gorgeous in its heyday!
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 The burned Dewey Bridge over the Colorado River northeast of Moab. This was right at dusk, the reflection was beautiful. 3 Oct 2008.
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 Colorado River and canyon east of Moab, Utah. Took this drive to pick up a few caches - this was a gorgeous drive! 4 Oct 2008.
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 Petroglyphs at Capitol Reef National Monument. Might not have stopped to see these if not for a nearby cache.
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 Ruins of Sheldon Church, west of Charleston, South Carolina. Destroyed in the Revolutionary War, rebuilt, then burned during the Civil War. Wonderful old ruins. 17 Oct 2008.
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 Orange "toadstool" on Jekyll Island, Georgia. We also saw white, yellow, red, and purple fungi of varying shapes and sizes. There was also an old gun battery site with a cache nearby. 20 Oct 2008
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 This monument to Governor Bamberger was built by inmates at the State Prison. It looks like it used to be right on the highway, but now is about 50 yards from the road, with no sign or other marker to indicate it is there. It is a great monument, complete with cache and benchmark! 21 Nov 2008
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 "Dinosaur skull" rock at the Vermillion Cliffs in northern Arizona near the "House in the Rock" and Navajo bridge. Great rock formations here! 11 Dec 2008.
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 A spectacular Arizona sunset - this lasted over half an hour, with changing colors and scenery, south of Wickenberg on the Vulture Mine road. This made an absolutely wonderful end of a fun day of caching in Arizona. 12 Dec 2008.
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 Only in Arizona can you find a cache in a saguaro cactus. This was on a morning "power run" on a stretch of road with a cache about every 1/4 mile. Had a great morning with a niece and brother-in-law on their first time out. 13 Dec 2008
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 A December day in "The Gorge," the Virgin River canyon in Arizona between Las Vegas and St. George. Found 3 caches here on our way home after our trip to Arizona. 16 Dec 2008.
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 Cache #900 at 900 South and 900 East; 19 January 2009.
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 Us at the "Center of Utah" just west of Ephraim, 14 March 2009. |
 Layne signing the log for our #1000 cache, the Utah DeLorme Atlas Challenge cache, just up the hill from the "Center of Utah" monument/plaque.
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 "Sorting Hat" arch near Salmon, Idaho. We chose not to go after the cache here, it was a climb, and right at dusk so was getting dark, 22 May 2009.
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 Rock formations dubbed "George and Martha" in western Colorado, 7 Aug 2009.
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 One of several wall murals in Delta, Colorado, 7 Aug 2009. Several of them had caches nearby.
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 Eagle monument near Ridgeway, Colorado, dedicated to Dennis Weaver, who lived here for many years.
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 Our 1700th cache in Prescott Valley. With so many of these roadside tributes around in Arizona, we missed this the first time around, but with some help from Keith, we claimed this find. The name, barely legible on this one, is G. O. Kash ! !
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Us at the site of the first cache ever placed in Utah, Potter's Pond, in the mountains east of Fairview, placed 27 Aug 2000, found on 24 Oct 2009. About a 1/3 mile hike to the cache.
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Two ammo cans (a combined cache) at Potter's Pond, first cache ever placed in Utah.
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