Palm Springs Caches
GC671 - La Quinta Ocotillo Cache - June 8, 2001
Having found myself in Palm Desert a day early for a golf outing, hiking around and finding a Geocache or two seemed like the right thing to do. The closest one to the condo was this one, so early on Friday morning, June 8, 2001, I packed up and headed out. It was in the 80's according to the readout in my car, a nice morning for a hike. The cache was pretty easy to find and the coordinates were right on. I would have liked to hike more in that area but the trails leading up into the hills are closed from January 1st to June 30 for Big Horn Sheep breeding season. Boy, they take a long time!
The above series shows: the stash site after I removed the layer of rocks which hid it, the contents of the cache, and yours truly posing very near the cache hiding place. I took a snake bite kit from the cache. I didn't have one. I left a ten gilder note from the Netherlands which I found in another cache (Viva Las Vegas #1), figuring I probably wont go there to spend it in the near future. How much is 10 gilders anyway?
The first two are views from the top of the hill where the cache is located and the third is a view of that hill. It's the one on the right.
CG9FD - Araby Hope Cache - June 8, 2001
This is a thumbnail of a 250 KB file showing my GPS track and a profile of the hike.
After leaving GC671, I drove toward Palm Springs on Rte. 111 and pulled over when I saw Bob Hopes house looming up a draw to the south. My car thermometer said it was around 95. I parked the car and found the Araby Trail and started marching. It was about 10:24 AM (I know, I looked at my watch), a little late to start up a steep trail in the desert without a camel to ride on. But I had plenty of water in my pack and hey, I'm a macho tough guy too. Well, needless to say it was a very hot, tough hike and no matter how much water I drank, it still wasn't enough. I probably would have been OK if the trail were flat, but it kept going up and up and up. When I finally made it to the top I was pretty tired and ready for some rest but first I had to find the dang cache. It took a while because my GPS put me 30 feet from the hiding place. Having nearly killed myself climbing up there, I wasn't going to walk back down until I found it. Finally I started looking in logical hiding places near the very top instead of about 30 feet down the side where my Garmin put me. That's when I found it.
On the left is a photo called "Still Life with Hiking Shoes, Stinky Socks, a Foot and Cache Contents". On the right is the hiker with the cache box. Just behind me is near where the cache was hidden. I took the deck of tropical fish playing cards and left and American flag sticker, a Chargers key chain and a Bic mechanical pencil.
On the left is a view of San Jacinto with Bob Hope's house down below. He must have been napping when I walked by because he didn't invite me in for iced tea or a cold beer or anything. The middle photo is looking north from the cache site. You can see the Palm Springs Airport in the distance. On the right is a signpost noting where Araby Trail and Berns Trail meet. If you make it this far, you've got about another half mile to go. Stop and drink water.