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View Full Version : "Heart of the Desert" Series - Central San Rafael



Udink
08-31-2008, 02:12 PM
Recently the Blunder Bums placed a series of 20 caches in the central San Rafael Swell called the Heart of the Desert (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?lat=38.856667&lng=-110.633333). I'd been looking for something fun to do this weekend, and this fit the bill nicely. I left my home in Price a little before 7:00 in the morning, and arrived at my intended parking spot at 9:00. By then it was already warm enough to have used the A/C in the truck on the drive there, but I came prepared to haul enough water to last me the entire hike. The first few caches were easy to get to by hiking across mostly flat ground. After that, the next few required some steep scrambling through small canyons and over hills. I reached the fifth cache in the series after an hour and 15 minutes, which would pretty much set the pace for the remaining 15. By the time I reached the halfway point, it was pretty damn hot and I had to stop and rest. I was on Indian Flat by then, and most of the remaining caches were reached by simply hiking across relatively flat ground.

At the fifteenth cache in the series, something strange happened. An pronghorn antelope began approaching me, and even though he obviously knew I was there, he just kept on coming. He was nonchalant about it, casually and slowly walking toward me while occasionally stopping to browse on some grass. I took some video of him which you can see here on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV8NNDxp6eM). His behavior eventually started to spook me, so I shooed him off by walking toward him and tossing a few rocks his way. I then continued on my way to find the remaining few caches. Near the second to last one, I made a stupid mistake. There was a steep hill between me and the next cache, but I hadn't done enough planning ahead and didn't realize that the cache was on the other side of the hill--I expected it to be on top. I climbed the hill only to go back down the other side, when I could have walked around it much more easily. By the time I had finished finding all the geocaches and returned to the truck, I was pretty exhausted. It took me just under six hours and the hike was over six miles.


View from the first cache toward where I parked
http://lh3.ggpht.com/Dennis.Udink/SLn4fmPv4rI/AAAAAAAABZc/ilevQybT1Pw/s800/IMG_3963.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/EpicGeocachingTrip/photo#5240492863148516018)


Fence line near the second cache
http://lh6.ggpht.com/Dennis.Udink/SLn4wFkYv9I/AAAAAAAABZk/RRoFU1lo2PM/s800/IMG_3968.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/EpicGeocachingTrip/photo#5240493146434486226)


Charley Flat
http://lh3.ggpht.com/Dennis.Udink/SLn47DplyjI/AAAAAAAABaM/Vi7xPIWipnk/s800/IMG_3989.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/EpicGeocachingTrip/photo#5240493334898002482)


Me after finding the 10th cache--halfway done!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/Dennis.Udink/SLn47DIXhGI/AAAAAAAABaU/Su0MR88GhuY/s800/IMG_4008.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/EpicGeocachingTrip/photo#5240493334758655074)


View from Indian Flat north toward the Wickiup
http://lh5.ggpht.com/Dennis.Udink/SLn47Xg-3CI/AAAAAAAABas/KK1vh0mbyww/s800/IMG_4011.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/EpicGeocachingTrip/photo#5240493340230605858)


This antelope came in extremely close to me
http://lh4.ggpht.com/Dennis.Udink/SLn5Iwzz99I/AAAAAAAABbE/VRxztBq0Xf8/s800/IMG_4028.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/EpicGeocachingTrip/photo#5240493570358769618)


Topo map
http://lh6.ggpht.com/Dennis.Udink/SLn4e4Kl-nI/AAAAAAAABZE/wIrmX65S3fU/s800/HOTD_Topo_Map.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/EpicGeocachingTrip/photo#5240492850778864242)


Google Earth view
http://lh5.ggpht.com/Dennis.Udink/SLn4etfJd7I/AAAAAAAABY8/MCrYZkjSt1E/s800/HOTD_Google_Earth.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.Udink/EpicGeocachingTrip/photo#5240492847912286130)