That would be capitol.: 10/17/2004

Stella in Repose

Ed's Gone South

I found this blog some time ago. It's an account of a motorcycle trip from New Mexico through Central and South America and back again. Who wouldn't want to do that?

Stella in Sepia

Stella in Sepia.

Yonah Moutain Caching (again, repost from old blog)

I figured since everybody has a blog these days, I might as well try this. At least for writing up geocaching trip reports and things of that type.

This weekend (ed: Aug 22, 2004) some friends and I went up to Yonah Mountain in search of a few caches (GC4156 and GCH8P0, for those in the know). It was by far our best caching experience yet. I put up a lot of photos in the gallery. All taken with my new Canon Powershot A80, an awesome camera.

I got up at 4am Saturday morning to be at Joe's by 5. Kishan was waiting when I got there but Michael and Wanda hadn't arrived yet. We went up to Joe's apartment to watch some more Cowboy Bebop until Michael arrived. Then we all got in the van and started for Yonah Mountain.

It was a 3 hour drive or so. We were at the trail head by 8:30. The first cache was extremely easy. It was a mini located right near the entrance gate on Yonah Mountain Rd. We deciphered the coordinates, wrote down the clue, and started up the trail.

The trail was actually a private road that leads up to the top of Yonah Mountain. Along the way we could see some of the new developments constructed along scenic mountain views. All of these houses were for sale. One of the residents of the mountain came along and warned us that there were yellow jackets on the side of the road ahead, that we should watch out.

As we climbed, the fog grew thicker. By the time we reached the top, you couldn't see 5ft off the edge of the rock face. We made our way to each of the cache sites and found the micros after a bit of searching. The rocks were very slippery so we had to be careful in our search. Eventually the clues led us to the very top of the mountain, a clear field where helicopters can land. Here we found the last microcache and the clue to our final destination.

In a pile of rocks, before a steep rock face, we found the final cache. I somehow spotted it, barely exposed, under a rock. This cache was the best equipped of all that we had found. There was a mag-lite inside but it had no batteries. So rather than take it and leave nothing (we had nothing to leave), we put batteries in it and placed it back in the cache.

Just as we finished up, the sunlight started shining down through the trees. It would not be long until the fog cleared and the mountain views would be open to us. We went back to a large overlook where before we could not see even a few feet in front of us. Now we could see a large valley and all the mountains surrounding it. 3000ft isn't that high as far as mountains go but the view was spectacular nonetheless. Everyone was either tired or hungry (or both), so we sat awhile and enjoyed the view. Some very large birds flew overhead. I'm not sure if they were hawks or not.

After taking the views (and taking a lot of pictures), we started back down the mountain. On the way up we had been near another cache so we decided we'd try for it on the way down. It was hidden at the base of a tree quite some distance from where our gps's were leading us. The treecover overhead was affecting our signal. The clue had to be taken out and used against this cache.

While Kishan, Michael, and I were searching, we could hear Joe talking to some people on the trail. They were a triplet of rock climbers we had met at the face. Joe told them about the geocaching concept and apparently they were very taken with it. Perhaps they will be up on the mountain looking for caches some other time. With the final cache out of the way, we proceeded down the gravel road, back around the military fence, past the newly built cabins and on to the van. We were all more hungry than dirty so we went to Helen, mud and all, to get some food. Michael and Wanda had eaten a small cafe there a few years ago and recommended we try it. I found Helen to be a monumental tourist trap. I don't recall going there before but I'm sure I must have at some point. It wouldn't be hard to forget. All the buildings are constructed in an old Bavarian style but on a smaller scale. The place is overridden by screaming children, loud motorcycles and rebel flag t-shirts. You couldn't throw a stone without hitting a mullet or an innertube. We found the Farmer's Market Cafe on a side street. This was the place Michael and Wanda had been too before. I thought the meatloaf here was incredibly good. Our waitress was very nice and quiet atmosphere was a nice escape from the redneck bustling outside. Everybody seemed to enjoy it. We even talked about more -zillas.

The meal complete, we hopped in the van and headed back to Augusta. I had the gps tracking all day, on the trip up and back, so I was able to view our trip, with increasing elevation, on top of a topo map using TopoFusion.