Written by The Lizard Toads
The Lizard Toads (Potter&Suzer, DHobby1, Cachunuts and Desert  Hermit) completed this contest on 31 July 2004, with 92 days to spare!
The following is an account of their adventure.
Fri 6/25/04 5:39 pm Email arrives – Subject: Operation Desert Command;  Message; DH: Check this game out. It sounds Awesome. Let’s put a team together!  CH: Sounds pretty cool. You wanna drive? When do you want to come by and pick me  up?

Fri 6/25/04 9:30 Email sent to The Team – Subject: Adventure Contest in  Moab; Message; Just a note to let you know that we are headed out to begin our  adventure this weekend! Tried to post a note on the forums tonight but the admin must have been doing some updates….more to come when we return! And the Adventure begins…….With so little time to prepare or do any research we figured we’d just go down, scout out the location and try to at  least find the first tag! The professor had been planning on putting out a new cache along the south side of the Colorado River at a spot called “Chicken Corners” while Georgia attended a family reunion in Moab. Turns out that the first tag of this Operation Desert Command is just on the other side of the river and down a ways from the Chicken Corners location. The problem is that the only way to get there is to drive back 25 miles to Moab and then cross the river and drive back 30 miles along the other side of the river to get to the tag.

By the time the Professor got back to Moab from Chicken Corners, Georgia was  ready to go with him to search for that first tag. The Professor had done did  some last minute calculations before we left so that if we found the first tag  we’d have a chance to get to the general area for the second tag….I tell ya  what, having a guy like the “professor” on the team makes it seem like we’re  cheating! This guy is amazing! We found the yellow GPS tag glued to rock after  just one small false bush-wack…..this became position A. From this position,  we were to follow a True compass course of 334deg. 18mins. 34.5360secs.  Somewhere between 18.876493 and 20.365559 miles along this bearing, we would  find our next Tag…..glued to a four foot high wooden post. So we’re  off…..

After a rather long-slow go at driving into the area we decided to walk the  last .67 mile – prepared if necessary to spread out and search every square inch  of ground till we found that wooden post!! Craig actually had two different  routes set up, one starting at the north end and the other at the south end. We  choose the south route and start out walking down the wash along our route  watching the our GPS’r and searching the horizon for a wooden post. After about  20 minutes of walking, off in the distance about 500 feet I see what looks like  it could be a post! We start walking faster and faster, adrenilan pumping, the  closer we get the more excited we are, it sure looks like a post, but what’s  that sticking out the bottom? Maybe it’s a branch, as we get closer we can see  it’s a small piece of wood that is wedged in next to the post to help keep it  upright! Talk about excitement, we were ecstatic! High 5’s, big hugs, yee haw’s,  what a GREAT feeling! If all the positions are this easy, it’ll be a cake  walk……Wrong!! So now we’ve got Position *A – B = #3, guess we better read “The Teams” note  again:

Your first item to recover is 3 Ziploc bags (two inside one). These are buried and contain a steel bar for locating purposes. To find this location, go to 601832  East and 4285234 North. Unfortunately this Northing number is incorrect. To get  the correct Northing number, you’ll have to add the number you determine from  subtracting B from A (above (*) to the false Northing we’ve given you (i.e.  4285234)…This will then correct the Northing of the location of the 3 buried  Ziploc bags. Ignore the information in the Ziploc bags (not relevant), but take  a photo of the bags, and post this photo on vigps.com as proof you have visited  this location – then rebury the bags as found….Like I said……it’s a good  thing we have the professor on our team! These instructions have me totally  confused!

After subtracting B from A we head off went on a very long dusty road in  search of the 3 zip lock bags. The roads around here are impossible to follow,  one minute you’re on a dirt road, next thing you know the road disapears and  you’re left searching the for signs of tire marks on the slick rock. The GPS is  reading .38 away so we decide to walk it. Since this position will require the  help of a metal detector we get out the trusty metal detector, our camel-backs  etc and start our short hike over to where the GPS zeroed out. Turn on the metal  detector and NOTHING! The batteries were to weak for it to initialize so back to  the truck for the fresh battery pack! We actually found a pretty good road on  our walk over so Craig says he’ll go bring the truck back. Soon as he’s back we  load up the fresh battery pack, initialize the detector, swipe over the area a  couple of times and BINGO, two digs with the garden shovel and within a minute  we’ve got the bags! Sweet, it’s our first hidden note…..The note ended up having the same information that was listed on the website  at www.vigps.com so even though we gained no ‘new’ information, we still needed  to take photo’s of the baggie’s as proof of our being there!

From where you find the buried Ziploc bags,  proceed 9.291155 miles at 48deg. 27min. 09.8287 sec. True. You are to locate a  buried canister with NO steel bar, buried beside a 4×4 wooden post. There we  will receive further instructions – Because we had left Salt Lake in such a  hurry, and this was to be just a scouting mission we didn’t have our laptop  computer with us. We also didn’t know the exact method used by the team to  calculate the waypoints so we just scrolled out on our Magellan Meridian Gold  GPS to get a rough idea of the location for the next position. It was getting  late in the day and we had a four hour drive to get home but we really wanted to  make a clean sweep of these first four items so we decided to give it a shot.

This part of the story written by the Professor. After wandering around a  bit on dirt roads coming in from the west we got to within about a third of a  mile from the site and decided to hike it! The temperatures were climbing, it  had to be near 100º, but we throw on the camel backs, grab a snack and head out.  We soon ran into a series of deep parallel cracks in the rock surface that ran  perpendicular to our course for as far as the eye could see. We had to scurry  back and forth along the cracks to find places filled with enough rock debris so  we could scramble across and get up the other side. Then another couple hundred yards away would be another deep crack. This is a bad case of stretch marks in the Earth’s surface that become the rock fins in Arches National Park further  south that have eroded into the arches and other unique rock formations. At this  point, Georgia found a small tree and decided to hang back in the little scrap  of shade while I went on ahead. With a lot of zigging and zagging I arrived at  the point I had picked on my gps receiver. I was expecting another new 4 foot 4  x 4 post. I found myself surrounded by old mining equipment and about 8 old 6 x  4 posts cemented in the ground that were broken off just above ground level. I  didn’t think those fit the description so I wandered all around looking for a  new post. I could only afford a few minutes of searching with the wife alone  back in the land of gigantic cracks and the 4 hour drive looming ahead so I high  tailed it back. It was a bit of a defeat but we told ourselves not to let this  last defeat overshadow the triumph of the three objectives that we found.

The next morning I looked at the aerial photo of the area and could see that  there was better access into the area from the east. I still wasn’t sure of the  correct method for figuring the exact coordinates using a distance and a  direction so I figured it three different ways and came up with three different  points. I didn’t think the point using the great circle calculator could be  correct because it came out right on the track where I had walked. I felt most  confident with the point I came up with using expert gps and clicking points  until I got one that showed up the proper distance and direction from the ziploc  bags. This point was up above the mining equipment and down in a crack. I  thought the team had placed a new post down in one of those long cracks to try  to fake us out. So the next Friday after work we drove back down and followed my  route along Salt Valley and up a rough but passable old road and parked right by  the old hoppers. After a fruitless hour on the rocks overlooking the old mining  equipment, we came down and I decided to walk my gps out to the correct distance  from the ziplock bags and then walk an arc hoping to find a hidden wooden post.  The wife used our other gps and set it to the point derived from the circle  calculator and it settled down on one of those broken off 4 x 6 posts. After a  couple of scoops with the small garden shovel she pulled out a white pill  bottle. We were absolutley ecstatic to have finally found it. We now knew that  the circle calculator was the method to use.

As the sun was setting I got out the laptop and figured out that we needed  to find a tag on the Moab Rim trail overlooking the town on Moab and we also  needed to go back on the Blue Hills road to walk another line looking for a  steel post. We decided to go for the Moab Rim trail first thing in the morning  before the sun got too hot. We would have to hike this one because there was no  way our little stock Tacoma would be able to even start going up that trail!We got up before sunrise to get a headstart on the day ahead of us. Our plan  was to hike the Moab Rim trail, grab the tag, then head out on the Blue Hills  road in search of the steel post. The sun was just coming up when we arrived at  the Rim trail. The temperature was perfect for a nice hike! As we headed up this  trail we were in total amazement that a vehicle could make it over some of these  rock stairs! And the views! What a way to start a day. The hike was a bitch, but  once on top the views in all directions were awesome, words can’t describe how  we really felt that spectacular morning. We found the tag without problems, took  a lot of pictures and then headed back down, total hiking time around 2 hours.  We immediately headed out for the Blue Hills road to search for a steel post. We  figured this would take maybe another 2 hours tops…….WRONG!

We found ourselves back in the same general area where we had searched for and  found the wooden post last weekend. This time we came better prepared with a  powerful set of binoculars provided by one of the other team members. We found a  road of sorts that followed alongside the line we needed to search. We could see  a series of sign posts but didn’t think they fit the description of the remains  of an old steel post.

We went back towards the north end of the search line and could see a rusty  looking post off in the distance. We walked out to it and got real excited when  we saw evidence of digging around the post. Could it really be this easy?  Certainly not! We didn’t know if it was here or not. How big of a bar are we looking for? How deep is it buried? Is it actually under the post so do we need  to lift the post out of the ground? We decided to leave this post for now and  check another one further north. This one has evidence of digging also and it  hasn’t been filled back in. Has Bob Rich been here ahead of us? If so, did he  put the bar back the way he found it? So many questions and so many  uncertainties and man was it turning out to be a hot day! We expected to be out of the truck for ten minutes but it turned out to be an hour and a half and we were soaked in sweat and hadn’t brought our camel backs with us. We drove back a  ways and stopped under the only tree tall enough to provide any shade and ate  our lunch. We debated going in to Moab and hanging out during the heat of the  day and coming back out in the evening to camp and continue the search. We  decided to drive back to the south end for one more look before heading in to  town. The only posts we could see were those sign posts we had ignored earlier. They were actually on the other side of a small wash and you would need an atv to drive over there. I decided to put on my complete hermit outfit of long hiking pants and long sleeved hiking shirt complete with my hat with flaps that cover my ears and neck. Donned the camel back and misting unit and headed out  down and across the small wash and up the other side. I could see fresh atv  tracks going up to the post and thought “Bob Rich has been here!”. Poked down  into the sand with the garden shovel and nothing. Poked again on the other side  and “Clang!”. Scooped under and pulled out a yellow steel bar with 2 yellow tags  on it. Pulled out the radio and said “Honey, You might want to walk over here!”  This was a very joyous moment because now we can go on and figure out our next  destination. As we were driving out we stopped and had a nice chat with a ranger  for the BLM. It’s nice to know that they come out here occasionally to check on  us in case we get stranded in this God forsaken place.

We went back to that lone shade tree and calculated  that our next destination is up the Lockhart Basin trail. What a coincidence,  last week when I placed our “Chicken Corner’s” cache I wanted to try to be the  first finder of the “Lonely Lock Heart Bison” cache which was nearby but I  didn’t have enough time. (I didn’t know it at the time but I didn’t have enough  truck to get there either.)

We stopped in Moab at Denny’s for dinner and double checked our calculations  while we ate. The dinner took longer that we had wanted and it started getting  dark on us as we drove out and arrived at the start of the Lockhart Basin trail.  It was quite difficult to follow the trail even with the route I had made in the  gps. We found a nice spot at the base of a guardian monkey and a bunch of other  spooky goblin rock shapes. We got up before the sun the next morning and found  our way up the road. Man we wish we had those lockers on this little truck. This  road got ugly real quick. Every time we were proud of ourselves for getting up  some bad spots, we would find some spots even worse. It didn’t take long to  decide it was time to park and hike the rest of the way. We remembered reading  in the Death Valley adventure story about leaving a note in the windshield in  case someone finds the truck way out here so we wrote our note indicating the  coordinates we were hiking to and that we left at 7:15 on July 4th and expected  to be back by 3:00. That should be way more than enough time. (Yea, right.)

It’s only 1.8 miles as the crow flies….(We found out that it translates to  4.3 miles each way as the human walks.) It was very pleasant and cool walking  down in the bottom of the wash and we quickly walked along the switchbacks and  climbed up to the ledge that we would follow to the hidden cannister. We came  around a corner and walked out onto a point where the view opened up wide and we  could just see forever. What a fabulous view to the East, North and West with  towering sculpted cliffs to the South. Looking to the western horizon I could  see a little notch way off in the distance and I told Georgia, “I hate to say this but I think that notch way over there is our destination.” With the sun now getting up to full strength and no shade in sight along our path it was a  daunting task that lay ahead of us. After what seemed to be an eternity, we  arrived at our destination. Thankfully the site was on the west side of a high  cliff so we were able to sit in a sliver of shade to search for the cannister.  We checked the site carefully for footprints or any sign that Bob Rich had been  there. We couldn’t tell for sure. While Georgia copied the note and took  pictures, I walked the extra 0.3 miles to the Lonely Lock Heart Bison cache and  got confirmation that Bob Rich had been there the day before at about the same  time of day! After a long and gruelling return trek we were overjoyed to finally  arrive back at our trusty life support unit, the little red Tacoma. Surprisingly  it was 5 minutes to 3:00. What a great estimate on the time…..what a LONG day!After 2 nights of camping we figured we could treat ourselves to a night in a  motel to scrub off the dirt and sleep in a real bed. We spent a lot of time  going back and forth in the cool swimming pool and the hot tub. We figured out  the location of our next destination to be up Pritchet Canyon. We read in the  local books that it used to be that the highest rating for the jeep trails  around here was 4 plus.

But the road up Pritchet  Canyon has become so bad that it is beyond a 4 plus and they have extended the  rating system up to classify it as a 5 and only 10 percent of vehicles can make  it up the canyon on their own power. Well, looks like another early morning  hike.

This time it is just a short drive away from Moab along the south side of  the Colorado river. We parked and paid our 2 dollars to hike across the private  property at the bottom of Pritchet canyon. Man, it gets real ugly real quick on  this road. There is a series of stair steps going down with steps that are close  to 3 feet high! You really need a huge amount of clearance up here and you  wouldn’t have a chance of getting back out without front and rear lockers. No  problem though for a couple of hikers. This is a much shorter hike today and we  arrive at the cache site before the heat sets in. Now for the hard part. The gps  is pointing across the wash and up the rocky cliffs on the other side of the  canyon. Well, the team said no rock climbing gear is needed so there must be an  easy way up there. Georgia waited in some shade while I found a crack to  scramble up to get to the indicated location.

Looks  like a strange place to glue a tag because there are no large rocks here. There  is a small bush and a lot of smaller rocks that look like they would slide  downhill in a good rainstorm. The other tags have all been on good solid rock  surfaces that are going to be around for a good long time. The sun is really  getting hot now so I hurry and widen my search area to no avail. After a couple  of hours we decide that we will need to end another trip on defeat and head  home. Again we tell ourselves not to let this last defeat overshadow the three  great victories that we have achieved.

First thing we do when we get home is to email The Team with our  dilemma…..something’s not adding up. Up to this point all of the positions  have been “very” close to the coordinates. We email them a photo of the area  Craig searched and the coordinates asking if by any chance there has been a  mistake! We try to be patient while we wait but the rest of the team is  anxiously waiting to make their first trip down. The Team emails us that yes,  there is a mistake, they have given us the coordinates in the Nad27 map datum  instead of WGS84 and because it’s their fault they give us the tag #…..phew,  now we can send the rest of the team down to the next destination rather than  having to hike Pritchet again!

Sue takes over the story for awhile here…….

It was the best of times…..It was the worst of times……..#9 -July 8, 2004 Sue, Lynn and Don
<br />We left Moab at 5:00 A.M.! We are driving down to The Needles District of  Canyonlands National Park. We have rented a Jeep Rubicon for this adventure  because we will be driving Elephant Hill. Lynn has always wanted to go on this  Jeep trail. A few years ago, we started out, but had to turn back because  another driver’s SUV had lost its clutch and was being towed out. (The ranger  told us it would cost $1,500 to be towed out.)<br />At 6:20, we saw a beautiful sunrise. I would like to stop to take some  pictures ( the sun hitting the cliffs and rocks is stunning), but we really need  to get to our destination. It’s already 80 degrees. By 6:50, we were at the  entrance to Elephant Hill (and the park wasn’t even open yet).

7:15A.M. the thermometer was registering 98 degrees, and we were only 8.61  miles away from the coordinates but what a 8.61 miles! We have used the lockers  3-4 times. We made a turn and went down SOB Hill. By 9:05, we have found the  cannister and done all of the necessary documentation. Now we had to go up SOB  Hill-it’s not named that for nothing! At 10:40, we decided to take a short break  the thermometer is now registering 107. We were done with Elephant Hill by noon.  We only got spanked a few times!We decided to take a short lunch break at a nice campground. There is a large  sandstone boulder, which gave us shade and relief from the horrible heat. A man  from New Jersey had parked his RV and walked over to talk to us. He told us that  he would really like to see the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, and  was thinking about driving his RV up Elephant Hill (after all, the map shows  that there are only a couple of switchbacks).

The  three of us told him that would be impossible, I doubt that he could drive the  RV to the trail head! He then decided his need was so great to see the  confluence that he decided to hike it. We again told him that it would be nearly  impossible. He was persistent, and stated a ranger at the Visitor’s Center told  him it could be done. His plan was to hike down from the overlook! He left with  two bottles of water and his fanny pack. He said he had done quite a bit of  hiking in New Jersey, and that he could easily do this in six hours! We thought  we would read about him in the newspaper later. By 12:45, we are finished and on  our way to our next adventure! We did have to stop in Moab for gas. We bought  14.9 gallons, and the tank holds 15!
#10-July 8, 2004 Sue, Lynn and Don

It was mid afternoon and we were on our way. This seemed way too easy! Don was driving and we were on a very nice dirt road. There were very few bumps and  ruts-something must be terribly wrong. We were on our way to “Hey Joe Mine” The  GPS showed we had three miles to go. WHOA! Now I understand-this was not going to be easy. I began to think that I  would get out and walk (I don’t have a death wish). Against my better judgment,  I decided not to create a scene. The road has narrowed considerably, and has become very rutted. Besides that, there are numerous switchbacks. We had begun  our descent into Spring Canyon, it was very steep! I had been advised to keep my  eyes closed.
<br />On the way down, Don spotted a Jeep-truck-or-car that went off the cliff. It  had gone off the road and plunged onto a ledge approximately 1,000 feet below.  We stopped to take a look. The wreckage looked as though it had been there for a  while. At about 4:20, Lynn spotted the Green River (and also some mining  relics). Now, we will be following the Green River for what seems like a long  distance. The thermometer is now registering 114 degrees. This has become ONE  HELL OF A ROAD! We actually pass another Jeeper on the trail. We thought he  might be some of our competition, so we stopped to talk to him and quiz him. We  noticed that he had a GPS with him. Interesting! Hmmm . . . Bob Rich perhaps?  Back to the road . . . it has become terrible. The tamarisk was overgrown  (someone should come down here and trim this stuff), making it increasingly  difficult to continue on, but we do. The road has become almost impassible, but  we were able to reach our objective. When we rented the Rubicon, it had  approximately 3,000 miles on it, and had just a few light scratches. We’ve  managed to turn the shiny finish into a real mess! Some might consider we’ve  TRASHED it……but hopefully not the guy we rented from!!

By 5:45 P.M., we have arrived at our objective, and by 6:10 we were gone! We  have traveled approximately 48 miles in about five hours! At this rate, it will  take forever to finish Operation Desert Command. At 7:00 P.M., it has cooled  down to a nice 104! We were back in Moab at 8:35, and I felt wonderful about  what we had accomplished, although it was a VERY long day.

Craig had tried to prefigure the most likely spots the day before, by the  direction only…..without actually having the number of miles. We were  expecting the team to call while we were in route to Moab from Salt Lake. Craig  figured it would save some time if he had made the correct assumptions. For some  reason he felt sure the tag number would be 1597. We arrived in Moab around  7:30, checked into the motel, found a nearby cache, and waited for our team to  get back from “Hey Joe mine”. The team pulls in around 8:30 pm looking totally  exhausted from a very long, HOT day! Starving and needing a margarita in a very  bad way! They take a quick shower and we head over to the mexican place for some  much needed nurishment. Craig has the laptop and we’re ready to plan out the  next day. Sue says the tag number at “Hey Joe” was 1610. Looks like our next  destination is at the bottom of 10 mile canyon, right where it empties into the  green river!#11 – July 9, 2004 Georgia, Craig, Sue, Lynn and Don – The whole team is  together today…..time to kick some major butt!!<br />When we left Moab (at 9:30 A.M.), it was a very cool 83 degrees. By 10:50, it  is 103! We have turned the Rubicon back in and are driving our own vehicles, an  Xterra and Toyota Tacoma. Around 11:00, someone noticed that water is leaking  out of the back of the Xterra. A five-gallon container of water had tipped over,  and we lost about half of it, humm……I wonder if this is an indication of how  this day is going to be! We drove as far down 10 mile wash as we could go in our  vehicles to where the BLM has marked a way to get out of the wash to the north.  The distance to the destination was 5.3 miles in a straight line but with all  the twists and turns down in the wash it was close to 10 miles. (Guess that is  why they call it 10 mile wash.) You would need an ATV to go any further down  this wash.<br />The map showed a road up on the point north of the wash that got within 2 miles of the destination. We figured we would be able to find a way to scramble  down the cliffs to get down to the river. After a bit of wandering to find the  right access to get out to the end of the point, we were a bit intimated to see the way the sheer cliffs dropped straight down to the river.

There were a few smaller washes that fed into the main wash and it looked  like one of them off in the distance had enough rock debris piled up that it  might be possible to descend. The professor donned his full hermit outfit and  headed out with the other team members directing from above using binoculars to  scout out the best route and relaying the information with the radios. It took a  while but eventually the professor made it down to river level. It was like  going down three seperate staircases with wide level spots between the different  cliff levels. At the river level is where the going got incredibly slow. The  tamerisk trees along the river banks were growing so thickly together that they  were virtually impenetrable. The only way to get through was to put the right  foot at the base of one of the trees and apply full weight to push the tree  slightly to the right. Then do the same process with the left foot and then  scramble a foot forward while getting scraped all over from the branches. Then  repeat the process a few thousand times. It took more than an hour to go less  than a quarter of a mile across the sandy river bottom to the actual river. Most  places along the river there is a trail going along the river but that is not  the case here, the trees have covered the entire sandy bank with no breaks.  Okay, let’s try wading up the river.

Whoa, he is sinking up to his knees in the goeyest slimiest mud you’ve ever  seen. It almost sucked both of his shoes right off before he could get back out  of there. It was still 1.1 miles to the destination as the crow flies which  would be more like 1.75 miles following the bends of the river and where the  river curved up ahead it has dug into the cliff making a sheer wall going  straight down to the water with no sandy ledge to walk on. So between the  impenetrable tamarisk trees and the deep river mud it was obvious that it would  not be possible to get to the destination by this route. So nothing to do but to  take a deep breath and dive back into those trees from hell. Another bad thing  about those trees was that they were covered with spider webs and some kind of  black soot like substance that was now covering him from head to toe. He was  very grateful for his hat with the flaps that kept the spider and soot from  getting in his ears and down his neck. The scramble up the 3 cliff sections was  a very welcome and easy hike compared to fighting those darn trees. So, now it  looks like the best option will be to drive about 80 miles to get to the other  side of the river. There is a spot that we can get within a half mile of the  destination. Then with a scramble down the cliff to the river and a little swim  we should be at our destination.

Early the next morning we headed out for the long drive to the spot on the  other side of the river. Here is where the fly got into the ointment. There was  no spot along the cliff where it was possible to get down without climbing  equipment. Even if we rigged up some kind of makeshift rope to get down the  first set of cliffs, all the small side washes came together at the lower cliff  and combined into what must be a tremendous waterfall in a cloudburst and it  would be a totally impossible descent for our professor to make. We had a great  view of the target area and could see lots of ATV tracks down there so now we  knew for sure that ATVs could make it all the way down 10 mile wash to the  river. We consoled ourselves by finding a geocache on the long drive back to  Moab. Time to go with plan “C” which is go back into Moab to rent some ATVs and  go for a 10 mile ride down the wash on the other side of the river.

On the way back to Moab we consoled ourselves by stopping off  to find a fun cache called The Tube by the Tunnel that had been placed by Potter and Suzer.

Continued in Part 2

Part 2 of the Lizard Toads adventures in Operation Desert Command.

We need to attack from another angle….Sue said we have not failed, we are  just scouting out possible ways of getting to the right place! We called around  once we got back to Moab and found a place to rent a couple of ATVs….our costs  continue to mount, but there’s no turning back now! Around 3:30 we head back out  to that Blue Hills road for the umpteenth time. We drove to the spot where we  had come up out of 10 mile wash yesterday and unloaded the ATVs off the trailer.  The professor and the Desert Rat donned their helmets, loaded up the metal  detector and headed down across the slickrock to the bottom of the wash and then  down the wash bottom to meet up with the Green River and find that next  cannister. Meantime, Lynn, Sue and Georgia hung out up on top waiting patiently  for return of the adventurers. Luckily for the guys there have been enough ATVs  come down the wash recently to keep the trail somewhat passable through the  thick tamarisk trees. There were a few fallen trees and rockslides that added  excitement to the trip. The Desert Rat rearranged the front end of his ATV with  an unplanned meeting with a rock wall and the Professor came to a wet spot in  the trail that he thought he could speed through to come out on the other side  but the wet spot soon became thick mud and he was stuck fast before he realized  that he had indeed reached the Green River. We had all given the Desert Rat a hard time because he showed up today wearing a brand new pair of shoes. The ole Desert Rat waited a few minutes to see if the Professor could get himself unstuck and then he just shook his head and plunged into the mud with those new shoes. With the ATVs out of the mud, they walked over to the cache site and  spent a fruitless hour searching for the buried cannister. It would be dark soon  so they had to cut their search short. How they hated to leave to go back  without the information needed to continue with the contest. Meanwhile Lynn, Sue  and Georgia were getting rather concerned, we had moved the Xterra higher up the  slick rock trail before it got too dark to see the trail. How in the world would  they find their way up again in the dark? Around 10:30 pm we were very relieved  to hear the sounds of the ATV’s approaching.

On the way back the Professor started getting a bad feeling about his  calculations……why had he been figuring this cache using 40 miles. Thinking  back to the tags involved he should have been using 1610 – 1560 which is 50.  This is unbelievable! It was because of all the pre-figuring and trying to guess  the location along the line and then making a quick mental calculation without  double checking it. Man, how do I go about telling the rest of the team that we  have spent 2 days on a wild goose chase? Oh well….shit happens, now for the  ten mile ATV ride up a twisting winding wash with tree branches whipping us in  the face and roller coaster bumps in pitch darkness. At least we could find the  trail in the sandy wash bottom with the small headlights. Driving up out of the  wash bottom across the slick rock was another story altogether. Don called the  crew at the top of the cliff on the radio to turn on their headlights but it was still a very difficult maze to solve to find the way up the slickrock without  getting trapped by all the sheer dropoffs. In the darkness it was not possible  to see the expressions on everybody’s faces when the Professor made his  announcement that we had been searching in a spot 10 miles short of the real  destination. We should have at least had a small cache ready that we could have  placed down there. That would have been a 5/5 cache for sure! By 12:15, we have  returned to Moab. This has been a most interesting mis-adventure.

July 11th – Quote for today: There are many ways to do things wrong, BUT only  one way to do things right.

Since it was quite late when we arrive back at our rooms in Moab, we slept  in a bit the next morning this was Sunday. It’s funny that the correct location  was back on the other side of the Green River where we had driven the previous  morning and where we couldn’t find a way down the cliff. Except this time it was  10 miles further North so this made for a little less driving. Most of the drive  was on a very well maintained dirt road. The last 5 miles was off the main road  and had several places where the wind had piled dunes across the road. We  carefully crossed these dunes until we came to within 0.15 miles of the target  area. We decided not to cross a large dune at this point and to just walk over  to the area.

The Cach-U-Nuts had one metal detector and Potter and Suzer had another one.  We found a set of jumper cables and a fork near the cache site and nothing else.  We didn’t know if the buried bottle would be right at the coordinates or just  nearby so we spread out and spent over an hour in the blazing 106º heat looking  for any sign of previous digging. A little wind blowing here would easily erase  any evidence of previous digging or any footprints. With the heat and the  lateness of the day we decided to head out for Burgers and Beers at Ray’s in  Green River and then call it a weekend and head home to Salt Lake – we need more  money. Don said he had to get home to get his Social Security check. Bob Rich  must have showed up a few days later and seeing all the footprints he must have  assumed that we had found this container……WRONG!

So the next weekend (July 16th) rolls around and we think about taking a  break. But not knowing how far along Bob Rich has gotten bothers our minds to  the point that we just can’t stay away. We decided that the only sensible way to  find this cannister in the sand dunes is to camp out at the spot so we can do  our searching in the evening and early in the morning before the heat of the  day. We recruited another cacher on to our team who likes to camp out but who  prefers to remain nameless. It is alway a great relief to have more than one  vehicle out here especially if there is a chance of getting stuck in these sand  dunes. Due to severe traffic congestion upon leaving the Salt Lake valley it was  getting dark by the time we arrived back at the search location. We managed to  get over that last large sand dune and were able to camp on a hard packed area  in the middle of the dunes. During the past week we had learned a lot about our  White’s Spectrum XLT metal detector and we had fine tuned the setting so it  would pick right up on a variety of steel bars. We had also borrowed a metal  detector from our brother in law and also borrowed one from a metal detector  dealer back in Salt Lake. In between rain sprinkles we spent a little bit of  time that first night using a coleman lantern and flashlights but didn’t find  anything. Early next morning we stuck a pole in the ground at the spot we had  figured and we ran string out to the west and east for 100 feet in each  direction so we could do a thorough grid search. The professor started out to  the west on the south side of the string and combed the sand heading east. The  others were out doing random searches and were going to follow the professor  after he did his sweep. The professor then moved to the north side of the string  and ran a pattern heading back west. Back at the center pole he swept over the  shovels and got a loud beep just to make sure the detector was working. He told  the others not to get excited because he was just testing. Then about 10 feet  west of the pole he got another good solid beep. He had a thin probing rod that  he gently poked into the sand and he could tell that he had hit something. He  pulled out the probe and there was a small pill bottle on the end of his probe.  He had poked clean through the lid and out through the bottom. You can imagine  the elation we felt when we realized that this road block had finally been  crossed and we can now continue with our quest. The professor calculated the  location of the next objective while the others made a nice breakfast and broke  camp. A little duct tape fixed up the pill bottle and we buried it back where it  belonged. Man, we really put a lot of effort into finding this one! Thanks for  the mints Team!

July 17th – The next one turned out to be near a rock formation know as Park  Avenue inside Arches National Park. Luckily the cacher we brought down with us  is a senior citizen so we were able to get in the park at no cost using their  park pass. The topo map showed this one as being up on top of one of these sky  scrapers so the question is “How do we get up there?”

We parked at the Park Avenue trailhead and hiked along the normal trail. We  passed a side wash that was heading up to the point we needed. We were following  some footprints and we couldn’t help but wonder if these belonged to Bob Rich or  perhaps to “The Team”. It was getting to the point that when we’d see a guy  walking alone we would check to see if he had a GPS in his hand, and then  comment…..that might be Bob Rich! The wash turned out to be a box canyon with  sheer walls of sandstone at the end and only needed to go another 900 feet. The  professor scrambled up a rock face but couldn’t see a way to continue past that.  Well nothing to do now but go back to the car and try to figure something else  out. The heat is getting unbearable again and there is NO shade anywhere! The  professor wanted to try an idea so he went ahead while the toads stayed back  taking pictures of all the interesting rock formations.

He got back to the car and then walked  along the main highway and found a wash on the opposite side of the rock wall  that might be passable. He found a crack in the sheer rock wall that had enough  rock debris in it that it created a natural “Stairway to Heaven.” The professor  said he felt like a lizard as he scrambled his way up to the top of the  skyscraper. He found the pill bottle under a large rock but it wouldn’t come  out. Finally with a lot of tugging and twisting it came out. The bottle had  actually been glued down to the rock. The note mentioned that it had been glued  to prevent it from blowing away in the wind. The professor now realized that he  had left his camera down in his truck which had been left outside the park. A  call on the radio to the Toads and it was decided that they would hike over to  the bottom of the crack and the professor would bring the bottle and note down  to meet them so we could get a picture of the note. We climbed up the rocks to  meet the professor, the three of us sat on that rock ledge for a good 20 minutes  just soaking up the beautiful picture in front of us, what an awesome day! Then  back up the crack he went to replace the bottle and to block it in good with  stones to protect it from the wind now that it was no longer glued down to the  rock. This was one of the easiest objectives yet. More rock scrambling yes but  no long jeep rides or a huge hike involved. Now we are after a “special” tag  down along the Kane Creek by the Hole ‘n’ the Rock.

We had enough afternoon left to stop in at Denny’s…..why we kept choosing  Denny’s I’ll never figure out! As we ate lunch, we double checked our  calculations for the next adventure! It still showed along Kane Creek about 4  miles west of the Hole ‘n’ the Rock. So we gassed and iced up and drove south  out of Moab. Turned onto the Kane Creek road and worked our way down some very  rugged spots. Some afternoon rain clouds were gathering so we hurried and found  a great place to camp. After a few round of Hearts, it seemed that the rain  clouds were passing us by and we decided we might try to get this one this  evening rather that tomorrow morning. We didn’t know how far we would be able to  drive as the guide books show that there are some real bad spots between us and  the destination and we didn’t want to be hiking again in the heat of the day. We  all three crowded into the Tacoma and headed down the road. There sure are a lot  of stream crossings and sometimes we ended up driving right down the stream.  After descending a few bad spots we came to the show stopper. There is no way we  would get back up this next spot without 6 more inches of clearance and without  those lockers front and rear. OK, time to park. Distance to destination is about  2.5 miles. Time is 7:30. If we walk at 2.5 miles per hour we should be there at  8:30 and we should be able to get back to the truck at 9:30 when the last of the  light is fading away. Let’s go for it. Now for the reality. With all the ups and  downs and twists and turns it was about 9:30 and getting dark when we arrived a  the cache site. We’re looking for a “special” yellow tag, glued to a tree! We  crossed the stream and climbed up the hill on the other side and checked every  tree in sight. Our gps’s were pointing another 60 feet up the hill were there  were no trees so the professor scrambled up and couldn’t come up with anything.  This reminded us of our experience up Pritchet Canyon where the coordinates were  given in the NAD27 map datum instead of the WGS84. For some reason the backlight  on the Professor’s gps has quit working so he borrowed a gps from one of the  toads and set it to the NAD27 map datum and entered the coordinates. This  location is about 700 feet further along the road. After a very tricky descend  down the hill and across the creek in the darkness using our small flashlights,  we continued on down the road to a nice tall tree. As we walked to the back side  of the tree and shined our light up the trunk we were rewarded with the sight of  a nice yellow tag with the number 1700 on it. “Now wait a doggone minute here”,  we were thinking. Aren’t we supposed to subtract 1700 from the number on the  tag? That means that the number of miles mentioned in that last note is the  number of miles we need to go to the next destination. We didn’t even need to  get this tag. And then what about it being a “special” tag. What is so special  about the number 1700? Must be special to The Team, cause it sure isn’t special  to us right now!! Now for the long hike back to the truck in the pitch darkness. By now the professors head lamp was getting quite dim. No extra triple A  batteries for that but we have plenty of extra double A batteries for the small  flashlights. We had noticed a small ATV trail on the opposite side of the canyon  when we were walking in so we decided to save some time and effort by staying on  that lower trail instead of climbing way up on the side of the hill on the main  road. There were several places where that trail crossed the stream and we could  not find where it continued. Somewhere along the way the Cach-U-Nuts realized  that it was past midnight so that made it July 18th which is their 17th  anniverary. Maybe that tag 1700 is special after all! After what seemed to be an  eternity of hiking and stumbling around in the dark we made it back to the  faithful Tacoma which had been waiting faithfully for us.

Driving back up to our camp spot we got  to one of the bad spots in the road that we just couldn’t quite get up. The  toads got out and piled rocks up against the tall step but the wheel kept  spinning them out. Finally on the umpteenth try, the Professor cut the wheels  sharply to the right and somehow the wheels found something to grip and the  truck made it up to the top. Lockers or some kind of posi-traction would sure be  nice in situations like this! After getting back to camp at around 2:00 am we  decide we needed to sleep in instead of rushing off for another early morning  adventure. Looks like the next destination is back down at the bottom of Spring  Canyon along the Bow Knot Bend in the Green River and we have had more than  enough adventure for one weekend so we headed for home.

July 21, 2004 Sue and LynnHere we were – back in Moab again. It is 7:45 a.m. 80 degrees, and it has  been trying very hard to rain. All we could see were a few drops on the  windshield. By 9:00 A.M., it was 90 degrees. I can’t believe that we were being  sent back to that damned Spring Canyon. For some reason the road doesn’t seem to  me to be quite as scarey as it was the first time. This time, when we got to the  bottom, we had to go in the opposite direction, but we still had to battle those  damn tamarisk trees like before! It didn’t do the paint job on the Xterra any good, but Don said he would buff out the scratches for us. Lynn said, “Yeah, right” He didn’t think they would buff out-they are way too deep! What Lynn and I had was a hot, steep climb. We had a nice view of the Green River and some  boaters. We found the canister by matter of luck. We were to locate a pink tag  glued to a rock as a reference point. The cannister would be buried in the sand  near this rock! It was buried deeply in the sand, and was standing upright, so  the metal detector would barely beep when you’d pass over it, then we’d try  another sweep of the same area, the beep would disappear……this got to be  very frustrating, so finally I decided to dig anyway. By 11:30, it is 100  degrees but we’ve got the note!<br />Same day…..different adventure……we just keep going and  going……

By three o’clock, it was 105 degrees and we have called the professor to get  our new destination coordinates. We’re headed out to find number fifteen. All  these roads are beginning to look the same to me! We finally made a turn on what  was a very poor excuse for a road. It was very slow going! Late afternoon, we  got stuck in a large four foot drift of sand, which was covering the road. We  had passed some campers nine miles back, and we were out of cell phone range.  Due to Lynn’s 4-wheeling skills, we were barely able to get out, but not before tearing off one of the mud flaps, bending the trailer hitch, and pulling out  part of the bumper. This was scarey! At this point, after Lynn calmed down, we  decided it would be a dandy idea to hike in, after all the GPS showed the  location was 1.69 miles away as the crow flies. We all know about that pesky  crow! We must be crazy! We finally reached the location-another high cliff  overlooking the Green River, it was beautiful! There was another 1,000 foot  drop-off – straight down! This place is called “The Very End.” Oh if only that  were true!! Lynn spotted a bald eagle soaring overhead. The Team’s clue said to  look for a “t” scratched on a rock. We searched and searched, but could not find  a stinking rock with a “t” I decided to just try to find the cannister. That  didn’t work either! We can’t believe we will have to come back – it would be  dark soon and we still had the hike back to the car…..it was horrible – and to  make matters even worse we ran out of water. We made it back to the car by 8:00  P.M.. It was 99º. We finaly make it back to the motel…..we’ll sleep in and  wait for the other team members to arrive in the morning then head back out to  conqure this bad boy!

July 22, 2004 Lynn, Sue, Georgia, Don &amp; a toad……

By noon, two more toads and a lizard have arrived. We’re heading out to #15  again, determined to conqure and find that stinkin “t”. When we reached the  location, we parked a short distance from the location. Man was it ever hot, how many times will we do these searches in the middle of the day? We spread out and  start the search, it’s got to be here somewhere! What does the note say again?  We find several marks that could possibly pass for a cross or a “t” but no cannister! We decide to take a break, the wind is really starting to blow and  sand was blowing everywhere. We head over to the truck to make some lunch….the  wind is really getting strong, we can barely get our sandwiches made. We head  for cover on the east side of a huge rock formation and plant ourselves under a  ledge as far out of the wind as we can get. We hunker down there for awhile, the  bread on our sandwiches are now toasted after being sand-blasted…..but the  beer sure hits the spot! We’re surrounded by scary lookin spider webs…..thank  goodness I don’t see any spiders!! Soon the wind dies down, we give ourselves a  bit of an attitude adjustment and head back to assault every rock on that ledge!  Don’s the first one back and within 5 minutes he’s holding something up…..OMG,  he’s found the cannister! Yahoo! I swear I must have searched that area at least  5 times……just didn’t pick up the right rock! Then someone asked, so where’s  the stinkin “t”? we all look carefully, and yes we did find a rather faint “t”  scratched into the rock. Hey Xtreme Team, you call that whimpy scratch a “t”,  you guys are EVIL!! Boy were we ever glad to put this one in the books!

By four o’clock, we were headed back to Moab. It was 98 degrees and extremely  windy! Don called over on the radio that there were a couple of caches on our  way back to the highway. Poor Don, he’s had a rough time not being able to stop  at all the caches along the way….Georgia keeps telling him “there’s no time  for regular caching….Bob Rich might be getting ahead of us”. We all decide  since he found #15 it’s only fair that we should bag a few! The first one was  Secret Spire. Lynn and Sue had found this cache in April, while on the Jeep  Safari. As we were getting very close to the cache, Don noticed we had a flat  tire. So here we are caching and changing a flat tire all at the same time! Are  we having fun yet……you betcha! It practically took an engineer to figure out  how to lower the spare tire from under the Xterra. The lug nuts were  over-tightened to the max. It was a good thing that Don could jump up and down  on the wrench without breaking it off. Damn, this is fun! We were going to do  one more cache (by Tombstone Rock), but there was a large group of scouts  camping nearby the cache so we decided we’d better not try and get that  one…….little did we know that we would pass this way again! Time to head  back to Moab, call the professor and figure out where we’ll be heading in the  morning! We keep thinking The Team will send us up on “Poison Spider Mesa” maybe  tomorrow will be the day!

#16 July 23, 2004 Lynn, Sue, Georgia, Don &amp; a toad……and our  adventure continues!

9:30 A.M. it is a cool 80 degrees and we’re headed out of Moab. Today, we are  headed off in a different direction for a change-going east along the Colorado  River, up past the Dewey Bridge to “Top of the World”. We’ve wondered when The  Team would send us in this direction! We had a couple of mishaps along the way –  a potato chip bag exploded, chips flying everywhere and Don’s bladder leaked all  of its water……his camel’s bladder that is! Man is this road rough, Us  “girls” jiggled all the way….this would have been the day for the sports bra!  Elbows were flying, our heads were smacking into the windows, the toad in the  middle was getting smashed from both sides! We must have been having a good time  though, cause I remember thinking…..I’m gonna pee my pants if I don’t quit  laughing so hard! There were several places where we all bailed out to try and  give Lynn directions up the more difficult spots, but he’d usually decide to go  ahead and do his own thing which we were all generally amused by. As we got to  the top, we could see large spots of oil on the so-called road sure glad there  not from us, this would be one hell of a place to put a hole in the oil pan! By  noon, we had reached the top. There are no words to describe the views that  surround you here…..everywhere you look it was totally awesome, the most  spectacular views we’ve seen so far! It’s a shame that Craig had to miss out on  this location! It really did make you feel on “Top of the World” and it was much  cooler up there. We think “The Team” is being nice today! Ha! Ha!

In order to reach the area where the cache was located, we had to walk-leap  over a large three foot crack in the rock. Someone said they thought the crack  was at least 100 feet deep! Pretty scary stuff…..some day that ledge will give  way…..hopefully not today. Georgia, Don and the other toad (she prefers to  remain nameless) were the first on location and within minutes had found the  cannister. Now this is the way to start the day’s adventure! We read the  clue…..hummm, this doesn’t sound good! It states that we will be cursing the  team on #17. Well, we have news for “The Team”…….we curse you several times  a day on a regular basis! :o) We took the picture of the note, copied the  information and then Georgia sat down and called the professor so he could begin  working the calculations for #17, there up on “Top of the World” we had perfect  cell coverage. Since it was so nice and cool up here we thought that this would  be a great place for lunch. Just before sitting down to eat our lunch we saw a  very ominous looking brown spider, it was huge. None of us knew what kind it  was, it left us as quickly as it came! Don knew of a cache called appropriately,  Top of the World so after we ate Don walked over and retrieved the cache. The  container was in sad shape, so Georgia replaced it with a tuperware container  she had the grapes in. Don cut the caching logo from the top of the old  container, and placed it in the new one. Someone else had an ‘Office Max’ bag so  we put the cache in the bag and re hid it. The first thing we find ourselves  doing whenever we find a cache around here is to first check the log book to see  if Bob Rich has been here! And usually he’s already signed the log book, but  he’s usually signed it back in March or April, looks like he’s getting a double  look at a lot of these locations!

Now we’ve been to the end (#15-called “The Very End”)……and we’ve been to  the top (#16-“Top Of The World”) – Now we’re being sent to the bottom  (#17-“Mineral Bottoms”)……will this ever end? We seem to be going around in  circles…..we’re sure The Team is very pleased with themselves!! :o) It was now  1:15 P.M. 89 degrees, and time to leave this absolutely beautiful location.

The quote for the day was: “We aren’t couch potatoes……We’re now-mashed  potatoes”

#17 July 23, 2004 Same day….next location….Lynn, Sue, Georgia, Don  &amp; a toad….the adventure continues!

Georgia had invited some friends of hers to join in the hunt they had their  own Jeep and were hoping to be there for our final find cheering us on! We  stopped in Moab before heading out to #17 to see if they had arrived yet and we  needed to gas up again! Tried Sharon’s cell phone but no answer. Georgia tried  calling Craig to see if he had heard from them…he had and he gave them the  coordinates of the first turn off to #17 we were to met them there, somewhere  north of Moab. It’s nice knowing that there is usually someone that knows about  where we are at all times!! After we met up with the Glanville’s we drove out to  where we would make our desent into Mineral Bottoms Canyon. This road is looking  pretty scary……lot’s of very steep switch backs! I decided to jump into the  Glanville’s jeep so I could visit with them and bring them up to date on our  adventure! Talking seemed to keep my mind off of the sheer drop off just outside  my window! Every once in awhile, I’ll have to admit….I closed my eyes and  prayed! Once down to the bottom we were able to drive pretty close. After a  short hike we arrived at the location. Lynn was first on location and moved a  rock out of the way, but neglected to look at what was behind the rock……he  has a slipped disc, you know. The others arrived and the cannister was easily  found! Hummm…..thinking back to the note, hadn’t it said “we would curse The  Team, but like this one? All I can think of was it had to due with the scary  road, cause this one was a piece of cake!! On the way up out of the canyon, we  saw two more cars that had gone off of the cliff. It looked as though both had  failed to negotiate a switchback-this road would be a nightmare in a rain storm.  Going back up the switchbacks seemed less scary than the going down!! Sure glad  we got out of there before dark.
Back on top heading back on the dirt road  towards Moab, a little red Tacoma passes by…..Hey wait a minute, that’s Craig!  He left Salt Lake after work and was now rejoining the team for hopefully our  final weekend! Now there were eight of us. Should be easy; bet it won’t be. That  Xtreme GPS Team has twisted minds! As we were driving back to the highway, we  notice two horses standing in the middle of the road. We wondered if they were  wild horses, we inched closer, and they just stood there looking very mean, Lynn  wondered if horses ever charge. We honked, and we waited. We rolled down the  window and Don yelled, and waited some more. These were some very stubborn  horses, no way were they going to move. We ended up taking a slight detour to  get around the horses, as did the two other vehicles in our party. One last look  out over the valley and we were rewarded with a another very beautiful  sunset…..life is good!

#18 July 24, 2004 Lizard Toads + Dean, Sharon &amp; Andrew

>Happy 24th of July (for you Canadians, this is a HUGE holiday in Utah)!  Finally the whole team was together, and three guests. It was 7:15, 69 degrees,  and a beautiful morning. By 8:40, we were hiking in (at least two miles to avoid  canyons and other obstacles), and Craig spotted the remnant of something. It was  yellow plastic and had USA printed on it. Perhaps it was a weather balloon that  crashed in the desert? Some of us arrived at the site and began searching. The  view down into Mineral Canyon was awesome and it was fun to look down and see  where we had gone yesterday to find that cannister. Last night as we were  driving out of the canyon we got within less than half a mile of this cache but  most of us suspected it was on top of the cliff and that turned out to be true.  So close, but yet so far away. Craig turned on his metal detector and found this  cache within minutes. We took some photos of the note and wrote down what it  said and then re-buried it before most of the others arrived at the site. Craig  then handed his metal detector to young Andrew to see if he could find the  cannister. With a little prodding to keep him going in the right area he was  able to find it also. By 10:25 we were back to the car.

At 11:15, it was 93 degrees and we  were leaving to go on to #19 which is another cliff top cache further north  across from the bow knot bend. The Team’s note said this next one is a cannister  “hidden in a rock ledge” so we shouldn’t need the metal detector…..

#19 – July 24, 2004 The Lizard Toads &amp; The Glanvilles

A little after noon, we were back on the road again, rough, as usual. By 1:00  P.M., it was 95, and we were parking. This time we were on top of the cliff overlooking the eastern loop of the Bow Knot Bend. Lynn and I had been down  driving along the side of the river below just a couple of days ago looking for  a buried cannister. Seems like ages ago! We ran out of passable road a quarter  of a mile away from the search site so we walked in hoping for a quick find in a  rock ledge. The heat was oppresive out here to say the least. Our gps’s led us  right to a spot that looked like the perfect place to hide an object in a rock  ledge. We were still hopeful for a quick find since there were eight sets of  eyes looking. The anticipation was building as we were certain someone would  yell out “I’ve got it!” at any moment. A half hour turned into an hour and still  the cannister eludes us. What is going on? Did the professor figure the  calculation wrong again? Some of us are getting very hungry and we are all  wondering who is going to be the one to say it’s time to give up. Andrew had  spotted a cave of sorts up above that seemed downright cool inside compared to  the oven out here so some of us climbed up to cool off while others braved the  walk back to the truck to bring some lunch. As we ate, the professor decided to  go back to the truck a “third” time to “triple” check his calculations. When he  came back he brought his metal detector with him and said “Well, for lack of a  better idea I thought I would check to see if the team screwed up with their  instructions and buried it instead of hiding it in a rock ledge”. Georgia said  “Before you do that, why don’t you re-enter the coordinates in the NAD 27 map  datum to see if they got that mixed up again.” So he did that and headed off to  the opposite side of the rock hill from where we had been searching. He called  on the radio and said, “I would need to walk another 400 feet off this cliff so  unless it is actually down at the bottom of this next canyon, I don’t think this  is the answer to our dilemma.” So he picks up the metal detector and walks over  to ground zero and with in 10 seconds he is getting a good solid beep. Dean is  laying right near there looking under a rock ledge and he sits up and digs his  hands down into the sand. Nothing. The professor checks again and it looks like  a couple of inches to the left. Dean scoops his hands in again and pulls out a  little white pill bottle. Hallelujah!! There was much rejoicing in the land!  Never have we been so happy to see a little white plastic bottle! We took photos  and copied the note and then hiked back to the trucks. The professor quickly  figured out that our next destination was to be the overlook for the confluence  of the Green and Colorado. As we were driving away I noticed on the map that  this location is called Dead Man’s Point. What an appropriate name!

The quote of the day:

Happiness is a four wheel drive and a full tank of gas!

Yes we will certainly need a good four wheel drive and that full tank of gas  for our next destination. The professor missed out on that last trip down  elephant hill so he was elated when the rest of the team wanted him to drive the  rented Rubicon. We were hoping that since this was objective 20 that it would be  the last one. We know we will experience sadness and empyness when this  competition is finished but it will also be a relief to know that we don’t need  to spend another weekend driving way down here. Our team is up and ready to  drive out of Moab at 5:20 am. What a beautiful way to watch the sun come up as  we head south down the highway and enter Canyonlands. We arrive early enough  that there is no one at the park entrance so we head right on in. We wouldn’t  have had to pay anyway because we have enough senior citizens with their passes  to get in. We passed through the campgrounds to the turnoff to Elephant Hill.  Wow! It gets ugly real quick on this road but the Rubicon was up to the  challenge! Dean with his experience went first in his customized Jeep and guided  the professor up the least rugged parts. Cudos to the park crews for filling in  the worst of those spots with asphalt and concrete to keep it somewhat drivable.  The Desert Rat sitting next to the professor was in charge of the front and rear  lockers and also took care of shifting the automatic transmission down into low  one when needed. We followed around the one way loop and arrived at the turnoff  to the confluence overlook. Having been burned at the last objective we decided  to carry the metal detector along the half mile hike even though the last note  said this cannister is hidden in a rock ledge. Since we were inside a National  Park we wrapped a blanket around the metal detector to keep it out of sight of  the park rangers. At the overlook we followed the gps pointer to the next  vantage point to the south and then the professor scrambled up to the top of the  rock ledge and immediately announced on the radio that he had found it.  Excellent, now what does the note say? Is this the last one? It is a bit of a  let down when he says no, it gives us another direction and distance to another  cannister. Back up north again. This game is getting to feel like a game of ping  pong. The note also gives a direction to the destination after the next  destination but not a mileage. It says we need to keep the direction because the  next cannister gives a mileage but not a direction. We hiked back to the trucks  and ate lunch while our trusty professor again figured out where our next  destination is. Looks like it is back up near the Captain Kidd’s Tombstone  cache. We completed the Elephant Hill loop and made the long drive back to Moab.

Along the way the decision was made that Lynn and Don would wash and return  the Jeep while the Professor and Georgia headed out to the next destination to  start searching for the next cannister. It was getting late in the day and Dean  and Sharon had decided that they needed to head back to Salt Lake with Andrew so  we said our goodbyes. Craig and Georgia hustled back north out of Moab and  followed the dirt road towards the big Tombstone butte. They made a brief  attempt to drive straight to the cache site but they had seen a road on the topo  maps that went from the west side of the tombstone and followed along the north  side of the butte so off they went. When they got within a quarter of a mile of  the site the road turned away to the north so they parked and head out cross  country. The gps was pointing straight at the butte and they got worried that  maybe the cache would be up on top. But the team had said no climbing equipment  was needed. Up the sandy debris slope they went right up next to the sheer cliff  wall. Craig went up one side, Georgia the other. Georgia kept asking Craig if he  saw any “fresh” footprints on his side…..none over here, guess Bob hasn’t made  it this far…..yet anyway. There were some very definate footprints on  Georgia’s side and as she followed them to the top she felt certain she was  following in the footsteps of “The Team” as these footprints had to be several  months old, and who else in their right mind would hike this steep slope?? The  gps zeroed out on a narrow flat place between the sheer wall and the steep  slope. Craig turned on the metal detector and swept the area and found nothing.  Georgia said “Here, let me try that.” She swept the same area and as she went  behind a large rock she got a good solid beep. Then she zeroed in on the signal  and Craig dug down a couple of scoops and pulled out a white pill bottle.  Georgia pulled out the note and was reading it as Craig skimmed ahead and saw  that it said our next destination was to “find a sign”. Hey! Hey! Hey! That  means that our mission has been accomplished! A short drive to take a picture of  a sign and then we are done! Craig was taking pictures of Georgia holding the  note and then he stops suddenly and says “How many miles did you say?”. She  replied “663”. Is this sign up on Vancouver Island? Holy cow, we have a long  drive ahead of us! They walked back to their truck and they arrived just as Don  drives up with Lynn and Sue. Craig didn’t want to tell them what the note said  and wanted to make them go back up and find the cannister for themselves but  they wouldn’t have any of that. When we told them YES……this was the final  note but……..the sign is 663 miles NORTH……well you can imagine what their  reaction was…… Now we all just wanted to hightail it out of there and to  meet up at Ray’s in Green River for burgers beer. Don had to swing back to Moab  to get Lynn and Sue back to their Xterra while Craig and Georgia went on ahead  to Green River. While we were waiting Craig used his gps to estimate the  location of the sign and it turned out to be somewhere in Oregon rather than in  Canada. He couldn’t pinpoint it exactly because he didn’t have detailed maps  downloaded in the laptop for Oregon.

When the others arrived at Ray’s we told them the sign was in Oregon,  couldn’t be sure exactly where though. We ordered our burgers and discussed what  we needed to do. We figured once we got home and could download some detailed  maps of the Oregon area we could make a decision on how to get to the sign. The  drive home that night was exhausting, it was close to midnight when we pulled  in…thank goodness we don’t have to drive back to Moab again! The next day we  researched the situation and realized the sign was indeed 663 miles away at a  place called Bull Prairie Lake. With our detective skills honed in after 6 weeks  of doing this challenge we came up with a plan……and came up with the  answer…..1962.

Quote for today:

Equipment Rentals….Jeeps, ATV’s, …..several $100
Hotels,  Gas, Food….$(we don’t even want to think about it)
<strong>Completing Operation  Desert Command……..Priceless!</strong>

Lynn, Sue, Craig,  Georgia and Don

Contratulations to “The Lizard Toads” (Potter&Suzer, DHobby1, Cachunuts and Desert Hermit) who completed this contest on 31 July 2004, with 92 days to spare!

(Exclusive to vigps.com sponsored by The X-Treme GPS Team)

The Team has set up the most difficult contest yet.  It will take weeks to complete. Conditions may be extremely hot, and you could encounter rattlesnakes, scorpions, black widow spiders, and possibly bears. You will be visiting some fantastic locations, and have the adventure of a lifetime!

This contest is in extremely rough terrain. This is a contest for players who are in excellent physical condition.  It is vital to have a satellite phone, or have ‘backup’ by other responsible individuals. You will not need rock climbing gear.

You will be responsible for your own safety. Remember; this is not a contest for children, or the unfit.

There are approximately 20 major tasks to perform/complete.  Most positions are buried canisters containing steel bars, or just hidden canisters. One canister gives you information to get to the next one, so you will have to determine distances and bearings. We strongly advise carrying a pin detector to locate the buried positions – we used extreme accuracy, so our numbers are very close.

Many positions do not have cellular phone coverage.  To make matters worse, there will be great periods of time when “the team” will be unavailable, so you won’t be able to get instant answers to questions.

You will be required to post x-citing updates and digital photos of each position on vigps.com, so geocachers can follow your progress.

The first player, or team to get to the final destination (a sign) will win  $5,000.00 (Canadian) cash. We will require a photo of this sign. There will be only one individual/team winner – i.e. winner takes all. No other prizes.

Anyone, or any team can attempt this. If you are a U.S. citizen, that’s fine.

You can use operatives, or anyone you want to complete the various tasks.

Virtually all of this contest is in UTAH, USA, where summer temperatures will soar above 100 deg. F.  Plan for backup when hiking.

If you think you can do this in a family vehicle, forget it; you won’t have a chance.  At a minimum, you’ll need a sturdy 4wd with lots of clearance, and preferably with ‘lockers’.

This contest will terminate, and must be completed on, or before October 31st, 2004 at 5:00 PM, PST.

We will not give hints – it’s a race to the finish! Please post your intentions to take part in this contest on vigps.com 48 hrs. before your departure.

HERE IT IS!!!

This entire contest is in the WGS 84 datum.  All bearings are ‘True’.

Start at 12S  605362/4257645

There you will find a GPS tag glued to rock.

What is the tag number at this location?   ___________

Call this position A

From this position, follow a True compass course of 334deg. 18mins. 34.5360secs.  Somewhere between 18.876493 and 20.365559 miles along this bearing, you will come to a four foot high wooden post.  There’s a GPS tag on this post.

What is the tag #?    ___________
Call this position B

Now subtract B from A
What is this number?  ____________(*)

Your first item to recover is 3 Ziploc bags (two inside one). These are buried and contain a steel bar for locating purposes. To find this location, go to 601832 East and 4285234 North. Unfortunately this Northing number is incorrect. To get the correct Northing number, you’ll have to add the number you determine from subtracting B from A (above (*) to the false Northing we’ve given you (i.e. 4285234)…

This will then correct the Northing of the location of the 3 buried Ziploc bags. Ignore the information in the Ziploc bags (not relevant), but take a photo of the bags, and post this photo on vigps.com as proof you have visited this location – then rebury the bags as found.

NOW THE FUN BEGINS!!

From where you find the buried Ziploc bags, proceed 9.291155 miles at 48deg. 27min. 09.8287 sec. True.

You are to locate a buried canister with NO steel bar, buried beside a 4×4 wooden post.  There you will receive further instructions – now you’re on your way to even more excitement!

Make sure to rebury/rehide all canisters/steel bars exactly as found.

Carry paper/pen to copy the information found in the canisters.

Please contact the team at TheTeam@shaw.ca to let us know your departure plans. We will require 48 hrs. notice of your intention to participate in this contest.

The area in which we set up this contest features breathtaking views, incredible and varied terrain, which is world famous!

BE PREPARED AND YOU WILL HAVE THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME!

Good luck.

Team Phoenix completed this contest on 17 July 2004!

See the forum post for details.

‘TEAM CHALLENGE’ CONTEST – The winning individual or team will receive $500.00 Cdn…..

This ‘TEAM CHALLENGE’ CONTEST terminates on October 31, 2004 at 6:00 PM.

You’ll most likely need operatives for this one!

A)  Determine the GPS tag # glued to rock at 11S  634964 East and 4362835 North.

Multiply this tag # by 17. Call this # meters. Now proceed from this position on a compass bearing of 337deg. 05min. 54.8101sec. for 706337.03 meters, PLUS the number you determined (in meters) above.

This will put you into an interesting, remote area. Look for the name ‘EBIN’. There is a 4 digit # associated with this name. WHAT IS THE #? Multiply this # by 37. Call this number meters.

Now proceed on a compass course of 325deg. 59min. 51.3113sec. for 375897.21 meters, PLUS the number you just determined above. You will be standing by an old sign with a number on it. The number is 1923. Email us a photo of the sign, and also place this photo on vigps.com

HAVE FUN!

Congratulations to the WestCoastCachers who completed this contest on August 26, 2004.

An account of their adventures can be found in the <a href=”http://www.vigps.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=127″>forums</a>.

The Team have buried 9 steel bars and 1 moonbomb…

We’ve buried 8 steel bars and 1 moonbomb along a line starting at 10U 409834 East/5462300 North and ending at 10U 408322 East/5464443 North.

We’ve placed a single steel bar at 10U 414305 East/5456602 North. (You may get wet 24hrs. a day!)

This contest starts immediately, and pays $1,000.00 (Cdn.) to the individual or team that locates the most steel bars on, or before August 31, 2004 at 6:00PM.

You must report all steel bar Tag #’s on vigps.com when you find them. Remove and keep the steel bars/moonbomb as soon as you find them.

In case of a tie, the funds will be split 50/50.

Please notify TheTeam@shaw.ca if you’ll be participating!

GOOD LUCK TO ALL…..