Another Adventure!!

Today started off so nice, but soon turned kinda sour!

It was a hot 98 degrees yesterday, but cooled to the mid 60s by this morning. Since it is to be very warm this afternoon, we decided to hike to a cache early this morning while it was still cool (supposed to be 94 by 5 pm). The cache is a puzzle and we had to figure out the coordinates by solving several questions and math problems (which we had done).

We drove about 15 miles west to Gold Canyon and found the 4 wheel drive (ATV) road that would get us closer to the cache (took a while because road was rough and we had to find our way through a maze of trails). The closest we could get was .25 mile (half mile round trip hike). We noticed that the cache was located across the crest of a small hill (approx 200 ft elevation) from where we parked the Jeep.

Since we were going to be crossing “snake” territory, we both were packing pistols (never know what you will encounter in the desert). Anyhow, the hike was over typical desert brush/cactus, but in places it was rocky and our legs and socks took a beating from the once green plants that are now all dried up and brown. Of course the cactus was in full growth, so we had to manipulate our way around and through them (ouch).

Once we got to the base of the hill, we had to climb up a rocky terrain through more brush and cactus. When we got to the top, we marveled at the view and enjoyed the nice breeze while having a drink of water. We then went to the other side, found the cache and signed the log sheet.

Going down the hill was not as easy as climbing it. The rocks were loose and in places there were some steep drops. Needless-to-say, we didn’t take the same route back as we did going up. We actually made a loop to and from the cache site. Surprisingly, we didn’t encounter any snakes or other critters while hiking.

As we got to the Jeep, I took off my waist pack (where my gun WAS at) and I noticed the gun was GONE!! I yelled to Ken that it was gone and had NO idea of where I could have LOST it. My gun is a Stainless, S&W, 638 with laser sights ($$$$) so I was devastated that it was gone. Thankfully, both GPSrs have a back track feature, so Ken took both of them and headed back up the trail where we had just came, while leaving me at the Jeep. I watched him for a while, but the terrain is kinda up and down, so lost track of him until I saw him heading back up the hill...evidently, he hadn’t found anything up to that point. He searched around up there for a while, and I then saw him coming back down. Since I knew how we had gone in, I decided to head back out that way and see if I could see anything. I didn’t have my GPS because Ken had it following my path (we don’t always travel in the same steps). Anyhow, I knew where we had traveled and went in slowly looking at every bush along the way. Ken met up with me pretty quick and NO he hadn’t found the gun. He then handed me my GPS and we both headed back to that hill, AND back up it!!

Did I say it was going to be warm today? Well it was!! By this time the temperature was rising and the sun was very hot beating down on us. We made it to the top AGAIN (Ken way ahead of me because I was still searching every bush) and still NO GUN!! Since it was getting warmer out (very warm by this time) we decided to give up the search and take off back down the same way we had hiked out the first time. Anyhow, I was really upset about losing the gun and wasn’t sure IF we would find it even if we decided to come back and search when it got cooler.

God was on our side because as we neared the Jeep (about 200 yards away), Ken yells “THERE IT IS!” I couldn’t believe it!! It was lying in the middle of the path, by a rock, plain as day. Seems when Ken first came back this way following my GPS track, he was on the opposite side of the bush from where my gun was lying and didn’t see it. Boy was I relieved!!!!

After getting to Jeep we were hot and tired, but happy we found the gun. Guess the GPSrs paid for themselves this day!!