ET Returns

Well after the sudden demise it looks like the ET Highway is on round two.

With the listing of a new event, and a google doc explaining a few things, the ET powertrail looks to be returning.   There were a number of issues with the first one, and possilby some misunderstandings, that led to the archiving of the ET Powertrail. 

Now that those issues appear to be worked through the trail looks to be returning in the next few months.

How it came about

It came about after a trip to Geocoinfest here in Utah about two years ago.  On the trip they decided to do the Shakespear/McGuiver powertrail.  (Now expanded a few hundred caches to the Seinfield series as well that makes up about 400+ Caches).

They had so much fun they decided to do their own powertrail. So for their eight hour trip home they planned and worked out the bugs for their own powertrail.  So after a number of months they finally got things finished and the cache placed.

International Visitors

Like our local series there was an explosion of travelers.  Even more than we saw here.  The appeal of 1000 caches drew people in, from all over the world.  It is interesting to follow one cache in the trail and then look at where all the people are coming from.

In fact the Nevada powertrail had so many visitors that the hotel that normally lays people off and has few  visitors during the winter months was still busy.  That was the ideal time for people to go and avoid the head of the summer.

Problems and Archival

As with everything a few people can ruin it for everyone else.  We know those, people that destroy and area to find the cache, or tear things up for fun.  The same was here.

NDOT was having many problems.

• Cachers not pulling completely off the road
• Cachers not paying attention and pulling out in front of traffic
• Cachers stopping IN construction zones while work was be done
• Caches in blind spots or not optimal viewing for approaching cars
• Caches in/on/near guard rails and mile markers. 
  

There was a stretch of highway that went through a pass that didn’t have a long clear view of the road ahead.  When we placed the caches in this area, we were careful to make sure cachers could safely pull off the road and not to put caches on blind corners.  This was fine in the summer, however; in the winter, this is a much different story.  Due to the elevation, highway 375 gets snow.  The snow along with guardrails, windy roads, made a small stretch reason for concern.  There was an incident where a cacher’s vehicle and a snow plow had a close call in this area.  I received a call from the supervisor of NDOT telling me of the incident.  We archived the caches in that area within hours of the notification.  However, the supervisor also notified Groundspeak that day or the next...The day after I got the phone call, caches were being archived.

New update

They have had a number of complaints from geocaching, and the local businesses about the archival.  Leading NDOT to issue a statement that they had no issue with the trail they just wanted to solve some of the problems.

So late august be ready for the arrival of 1500 caches.  They have worked with NDOT, County commissioners and the community to place these, safely.

So those that want to go... enjoy and have fun.

and be safe.

Update 6/7/11

If you are interested to place a trail.. some hints are in this story.

Update on 2011-05-30 20:51 by firennice

Red Hills Hike

I went down to my parents this last weekend for Easter.  It was a great trip, but the nicest part was a hike that my wife and I took.

There was a lot of rain this last weekend, but on Saturday everything cleared up for a little while. 

My family had a big get together, and an Easter egg hunt.

Of course after everything and after the cold weather I decided to head after a cache.  There was a cache up the canyon near my home that had not been found often.  In fact I had looked for it another time and the coords had placed me up a steep rocky slope and scrambling to keep from falling to my death.

Well this time he had updated his coords and we decided to head up and check things out.

So my wife and I took some free time and broke away from the family that were mostly just relaxing and eating candy.  We headed up to the mouth of the canyon.

Like many of the canyons the mouth of this one is full of a lot of trash.  A lot of trash, targets, and many other items that people have dumped.

I grew up near here and had hiked the canyon many times, but for my wife this was a first time up this canyon.  It is really impressive and I love the rock formations.  There are a few old lime kilns from 80 years ago, one at the mouth of the canyon, and another that is ways up the canyon. 

We hiked up the canyon and we looked for a while for the cache. The cache had been placed right under a small gully.  It had a small crack in the lid so the entire thing was full of slimy nasty stuff.  I could not even get the log out, and when I got water on my hands they stank for some time.  It was vile.

In the end I moved it about six feet out of the gully and into a sagebrush.  I put a rock on top of it and hopefully that will help keep the water out when things finally dry out.

After that we started to walk up the canyon.  We headed up another quarter of a mile before we reached a small box canyon where I found a place to hide a new one.

These canyons do not get visited much, and the caches do not get visited much either.  They are kind of off the beaten path.

There is not much growth and many parts of the canyon are scoured clean of rocks and dirt.  The rains tend to clean all the waist out of the canyon and dump them on the roads below.

In all we spent a few hours up here.  I hope to go back and visit more, someday. 

There are more to find, and more caches to place.

Update on 2011-04-26 04:45 by firennice

Geocaching Reflections

I decided to take a moment thinking about my caching experiences.  I was thinking of the times I have spent, the places that I had seen.

New GPS

When I first go my gps I sat down and looked at my GPS and tried to figure out what to do.  I loaded a few things in and began my quest across the street. I remember wandering around the baseball diamonds lost.  I could not figure it out. I did not have any idea what I was doing.  I wandered over to another and found it on a guardrail near the river, Generic Cache

I was not hooked yet.  Though I wanted to find another. I went out to find  a Country Road caches placed by peanuts parents.   I was hooked at that point. It was amazing and fun.  I looked at the map and wanted to find another one.  There was this thing called a letterbox and a few weeks later I went to grab it. Stargate cache.  It was on someones porch and I drove past it a few days before I saw that no one was there and I went up to look.  It was my first ammo can.

Of my first twenty only six or seven are still active. And they were all good and enjoyable. 

Placing caches

I had only found those three at that point. It went outside my work and hid my first cache.   It was DrJays note that cheered me up, and made me want to place more.

FTF this morning at 8:20. Fell sleep early last night so I didn't see the listing until I got up this morning. I thought for sure someone would have found it by the time I got there, but I was happy to find an empty log. When I pulled up I thought, "Great, there are dozens of places a micro could be here." But if you use the hint and name literally you can narrow it down. Finally came up with it after several minutes of searching. Neat little container. TFTFTF

I had expected some time before it was found.  The concept of within a day was not in my mind.  The other I placed the same day had these reponses

By Baldin Eagle

Ouch. Stopped by while dropping my daughter off at school. Searched, got poked, but couldn't find anything. I guess I'll bring some gloves next time.

Then DrJay

FTF this afternoon at 2:50. If you pay attention to the hint, this is a pretty straightforward hide. It's a good hide, but fortunately, I've found a few like this one before. Coords are pretty good too. TFTFTF

Then followed by Baldin Eagle Again.  I did not

Aaarrgghh. I had my hand on it this morning, but didn't think anyone would have a hide like that. Now I know differently. I just took the hint wrong. Good hide. TFTC

It made me chuckle I have rosebushes in front of my house by the road and had hidden it in a fake sprinkler.  The hit was to stay away from the thorns.

The first few months

The first few months were a rush of scrambling for caches.  I dragged my friend out with me a few times. He was helping me in our scout troop.  I did not realize that Cold1 would go overboard as well.  As much as I thought that about him, he showed his dad, Superhooper55.  So now I stand at over 2300, cold one is at 3300, and superhooper is over 6000.   I have hidden 200 though, and cold1 is still a looser that has not hidden any. 

I visited Maple Canyon for the first time, and many other smaller parks and canyons that I had never seen.  I found quiet places in the middle of a city, that lets me find little corners to relax. I spent many lunch times going out in to the fields, on dirt roads, and driving around the city.  I relish those places.

Events

I headed to Whiting campground that fall for my first event. I wandered in and still remember some of the people that were there.  I met Jac0b and Dorkteam6 for the first time, I remember Fire Elemental as well, but not anyone else from my time there.

I ran across the idea of a flash mob, and decided to read up on it.  Though I did not listen at that point, but I found Podcachers site and decided to host a World Wide flash mob.  They picked the date, and I picked the park.  I hoped for 15-20 people to show up.  Little did I realize it was a BYU game that day and many people would show up.  About fifty.

But it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun. 

I havce enjoyed events since then, even though I have not taken a lot of time to put them on. I have many ideas for contests, dutch oven events, or other events, I never get around to them.  There are so many that I just do not get there. 

That was what made up most of my first year. It was all fun.  As winter rolled around I did less and less. There was not much desire for me to crawl through the snow.

Thanks

I remember all the people that I met and the things I had seen from that first year.  As spring came that first year, I was enjoying what was going on.  I was starting to search for caches again.  I think I had about 1000 after that first year.  I never went with others, that was a side note, and I did not go to many events because I did not know many people.  However I was having fun.  My Lord of the Ring series had been put out and I had received many great logs and great notes from them.

Logs

I love logs.  I love logs that show the adventure that others take.  Here are a few that I have loved from that first year.

Baldin Eagle

They have been very fun and exciting to search for. I have explored more of Utah Valley because of you. This cache was an adventure. I called Art when I saw Lord Stirling posting caches and gave him a heads up. He called me shortly after this one was posted and we quickly figured out the coordinates. He came over and we loaded up in my truck (for once) and headed up the canyon. We parked pretty close (within .15 miles) and looked around. All we could see was uphill, so up we went. Within the first 50 yards my shirt was covered in stickers. I don't know if I'll ever get them all off. Now they are stuck on my seat covers. Well, up and up and through scrub oak, then down some, then up some and finally there was the cache. I quickly opened the box, well, maybe not quickly and it was hard to open, but got it open and was happy to see that we were the first ones there. But then I realized that in the rush to find the cache first, I had forgotten to bring the log paper. So back down to the truck, taking the easy way this time and then back up to the cache, signed the log, left a travel bug and then Art and I had to fight for the geocoin. I have a bloody nose, fat lip and black eye now. Not really. Art flipped the coin and I guessed tails. And it was tails, so he graciously let me keep the coin. I told him that he could have the FTF coin. Great adventures and fun. I think my wife will be happy that I am not staying up all night waiting for caches to be posted now.

from the Magpies

At 3 in the morning my wife noticed this cache had been published (don't ask why she was up). There was no way I was going to go out in the middle of the night for it -- hats off to Art and Baldin' Eagle for their committment!
Still, we wanted to try to find it next - so I took a long lunch (a REALLY long lunch - hope my boss doesn't find out ) and off we went.
We tried to learn from the previous logs, but we didn't do a very good job because we went up and then down. LOL. Then we found the easier path too. I can't imagine doing this in the dark!
Carrying 2 kids up to the cache made it feel like a terrain of 5! We were pretty well out of breath when we found it - but it was worth it to be the second ones to find the cache!

Blowstuffup

One Ring to Rule Them All. One Ring to Find Them. One Ring to Bring Them All and In The Darkness Bind Them."

Like Frodo and Sam, we climbed our own Mount Doom - except we did it with three little kids - only to see on the way out that we could have just gone around the mountain and found it a lot easier. But where's the fun in that!?! The view from the top of the mountain was beautiful and made the hike up the steep hill totally worth it. Even the kids enjoyed it too. After I got them to stop whinning.

A weekend of geocaching, my family, and LOTR - throw in an Oreo and I have found heaven. ..... Each one was placed so well and I loved reading the extra info that was put on the log page. Such a genius - or maybe just a big nerd like me! Thank you so much for a great series and for adding a bit more intrigue to geocaching. It has been so much fun for all of us!

(logs edited)

It is the logs like this that make it all worth it.  Many times a drive by may not have an interesting log, and I do not expect it.   I never expect a great log, but I love to get them, and I love to see these pop up.  These logs made me want to keep finding and keep placing.   I have to clean them up this spring, so that is my new project.  I am going throught hem now.  It has been a few years. 

Thanks again for all those who encouraged me in the first year.

Update on 2011-04-03 20:56 by firennice

A night off

Well I decided to take a night off tonight. I was on the way home from work and made the decision to go up into the mountains and take a break with my family.

I got home and grabbed my kids and headed for the hills.  It was nice up Hobble Creek Canyon tonight.  It was a little cool to be without any protection so the girls had coats while I had something a little lighter. 

Hiking with the girls is a slow endeavor.  They take tiny steps and have a habit of tripping over flowers that are growing (or grass). 

We slowly made our way up the mountain.  One tiny little ways at a Time.  The moutain is starting to come to life in the spring.  Tiny blades of grass are along the way. The moss is also a bright green, there has been plenty of moisture this year.

We went for a half mile (or less) and we found a place for a cache that I was dragging up the mountain with us.  I had left my gps, so all I had was my phone, so I made sure to take a picture of the location to help anyone that is actually looking for it.  We looked for something very distinct in case the view was a ways off. The Hills have Eyes

We will be heading up again soon.  Mom scolded us for leaving without her.  I was not sure she would want to come, but I better  remember to throw that option in next time.

I sit here now letting my computer run an anti virus program.  One of the logins is jammed with a Scamware bot.  So I am trying to find it and get it removed.

Wish me luck. Maybe I will work on finshing one of my 5 earthcaches I just have never taken the time to finish.

Update on 2011-04-01 04:14 by firennice

Sourthern Utah Day One

We left Richfield around 10am Friday morning. We started the route south and had decided to make this a Virtual and Earthcache trip.  Wandered through Clear Creek Canyon in southern Utah and left the main road.  I actually found a nice place for another Earthcache in the area. So I was happy to take the route.

Cove FortWe stopped for just a moment, but the just a moment never seems to work out right.  We ended up taking the tour, and seeing a lot of the fort.  It was really interesting, the last time I had visted it was a mess.  That would be back in the early 80's and much of the place had fallen apart. 

We headed south and grabbed our first Earthcache of the day on the other side of the freeway from Cove Fort.

We then headed south taking a lot of back roads and seeing a lot of interesting locations.

The country was really cool, as we entered the red rock areas of Southern Utah.  It was really impressive and cool.  For the most part there are a lot of Virtuals in the area.  Panguich, Cedar City, and more. 

As we past cedar I think I had grabbed 10-12 virtuals and a couple Earthcaches.  But when we took the turnoff at the North side of Zion's Park where things got really interesting.   There was a lot of snow at the high altitude.

It was really beautiful.  There were very few people that were actually there. I think we past three other vehicles.  During the summer I am sure it would be crowded.  There was enough snow that you could do much hiking, though one couple was heading off down a snow covered trail.  There were a few other Earthcaches in the area that we grabbed though we could not get some because the trails are snowy.

We then hopped off and headed on southward.  We seemed to stop about every 10 miles.  Our Two-three hour trip ended up taking about 6-7 hours, but it was very enjoyable.  We saw much of the countryside, found many benchmarks, and virtuals and Earthcaches before we arrived at St. George for teh night and decided to stay the night.  In the end we found 10 Virtuals, 5 Earthcaches, and an uncounted number of Benchmarks this day.  So there is yet to be Saturday, the bigger day of the journey, and much more interesting.

Update on 2011-03-10 04:29 by firennice