Eight Days In The Desert – Part II

As part of a series of articles, Incepit has detailed how his and Markirene’s journey to the ET Highway in Nevada along with the powertrail located on Route 66. They took this journey back in May of 2012 and we finally get to hear a little bit more about it. You can read all of part one here.

In this second part, Incepit talks about days four, five, and six of his journey.

Day 4 – An Easy Day

After a good nights sleep and full stomachs from the complementary breakfast at the hotel, we made a quick search for a tire repair shop, but unfortunately none were found to be open in this town, so we found a few caches in the town and then started our trek south, finding easy caches along our route.  We came upon a town called Goldfield with several caches. Goldfield is another almost “Ghost town”, well past it’s prime with many of the businesses shut down and boarded up.  Here we found the worst throw down cache ever.  Both the original and “replacement” were found at the same time (MarkIrene finding one and me finding the other) within seconds of stopping the Jeep.  After checking the hint and the logs, we determined the original and took the other with us.

While going through the town, we spotted what could only be described as a shack, advertising gold and gold panning lessons.  We stopped in, and met what must have been the oldest, most gristled  man in Nevada.  He told us some of the history of the area, a few stories of miners still high in the mountains looking for gold even now, and of the re-opening of a large mine nearby.  He also proceeded to try to sell us his most expensive products (gold nugget ear rings and such), but we settled on some gifts for family that were not going to require a trip to the bank.   Stopping at another cache in the town, we were met by the property owner who invited us in to see the saloon he was building.  After the visit with the proud owner, we continued into California, and entered Death Valley National Park.

At the entrance was a self serve kiosk for permits, but neither of us could figure out the system and decided to continue into the park anyway.  We continued descent, eventually to below sea level, and climbing up the other side.

Leaving the Park, we headed southbound, finding the occasional cache, we eventually came into the area of the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Range.  For those who aren’t junkies such as myself, this was the base where the Sidewinder Air to Air missile was developed and tested. Also in the area are large Satellite tracking systems dotting some mountains.  We eventually entered the town of Ridgecrest, the small city that services the Base.  While there, we did several smaller power trails.  After darkness fell, on the outskirts of town on a dirt road, we could hear owls and coyotes, and saw one large scorpion.

My nerves were a little on edge, especially as the coyotes seemed nearer with each cache.  I’m sure I could see their eyes at times in my flashlight on the road behind us.  Completing the power trail, we headed back into town around midnight for some park and grabs.  At one location, a truck turned around and pulled up behind us.

The obligatory police check for our trip was at hand.  The deputy was very polite, and just checking to make sure we were okay.  After explaining that we were Geocaching (he knew of the hobby), he wished us luck and headed off.  A few caches later and on the edge of town, we found a good spot to pull the Jeep off and sleep for the rest of the night.  Cache count for the day, 175.

Day 5 – Day of the Dragonfly and Eclipse

Waking up, we headed south, picking up some more caches on the way.  We did stop in an old ghost town now a tourist (trap) area, Johannesburg, for a few caches. Continuing south, we passed one of the worlds largest field of solar panels. Stopping at a major crossroads, we hit a large refueling area and gassed up and stocked up on food and drink for the rest of the day.  We continued south, passing nearby Edwards Air Force base, a large testing base for new aircraft and the space program.  We soon hit what I call the Dragonfly power trail, a large, and ever-growing  power trail in the desert that I think looks like a large dragonfly, but I think the official name is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, as the caches are themed after these.

During our trek through the desert here, we were still quite conscious that we had not spare tire, so we took it easy.  We saw one large snake that moved so fast that I no longer have any illusions that I could outrun a snake.  We  also saw evidence of other cachers in the area, but never spotted them.  Also out here, in the middle of nowhere was an Aircraft and Spacecraft Designers plant.  I honestly can’t remember the name of the company, but it’s well know.  The fence was quite a distance from the facility, but several large builds and satellite dish installations could be seen.  We finished the day in Barstow, finding a motel to rest and a nearby walmart that was kind enough to finally repair our tire.  That evening the area also had an eclipse (the moon completely blocking out the sun). Cache count for the day, 425.

Day 6 – Yermo, Alphabets, and Route 66

We started off the day on good footing to start Route 66 today, the main reason for being this far south.  We started the morning on the Yermo series.  A power trail with names starting with “Yer Mo”ther…. We also completed a series of all the phonetic alphabet letters on some backroads.  Many people had complained in logs about the road on this series, but it was quite easy going, not even requiring the full capabilities of the Jeep.  We had to backtrack slightly to hit route 66, along the way spotting a food joint along the side of the road.

We stopped in, grabbed some food, and learned from the counter person that this had been the original Del Taco.  After eating our burgers and fries, and refilling drinks, we headed out for route 66.  This road starts out with a few establishments, and becomes a testament to run down and closed establishments caused when main highways were moved and traffic here became almost non-existent.  At one of the first caches along the route, we came across two older female cachers who were headed west.  They had been on the road several days, only doing earthcaches and virtuals.  We chatted a while, and then moved along.

We started to see many long trains that I had been reading about in past logs for this series.  I have to admit, I saw more trains that day and the next than I have ever seen in my entire life.  Many stretched miles long and ran 24 hours a day.  At one point, the temperature gauge in the jeep climbed to 51 degrees Celsius!  Thankfully most caches were close to the air conditioning of the Jeep.

As night fell, we came along beside Twentynine Palms Marine Base.  The marines were running night excercises and were putting on quite a show.  There were flares floating in the air, helicopters and rifle muzzle flashes in the distance.  We even had a flight of helicopters fly over us and the us out in the dark, only a hundred feet or so above us.  We eventually found a nice spot to pull off for the night and get some sleep. Cache count for the day, 760.