IntrepidXJ
08-26-2009, 11:28 AM
After being home for only 4 days (all of which I had to work) from my 9 day Colorado Adventure (http://www.myxj.net/blog/1425), I headed to northern Utah to spend the weekend at the NAXJA Intermountain Chapter's Geostash Challenge. I've wanted to attend this event the last two years it was held, and finally decided I would drive up for it this year, even if I could not stay longer than a standard weekend (I didn't want to take any more time off because of my previous week off). For those that are not familiar with this event, it's basically like a poker run. In order to get your cards you need to find hidden geocaches that you are given the coordinates for. You need to find at least five of the hidden geocaches to get one poker hand. When you get back to camp for the dinner, the hands are analyzed and the best hands win some prizes. Since it's put on by a Jeep club, the caches are hidden along 4x4 roads with some short hiking required to reach some.
I left right from work Friday and drove the 7 hours to the basecamp near Evanston, WY. I ended up driving through some very strong winds on I-70 between the Cisco and Moab exits, and then ran through a couple more storms after passing over Soldier Summit. Luckily, when I reached camp around midnight, it was not raining, so I quickly got my tent setup and got to sleep.
Once morning arrived, it was raining pretty good. Everyone slowly got up and ready in hopes that the rain would stop, but there was no such luck....it was still raining when we finally decided to head out to find our caches for the day.
After getting our permits and airing down, our large group headed up the bumpy Gold Hill Road to an overlook where the first cache was hidden. On our way, the rain turned into sleet and then into snow. By the time we reached the overlook, the snow was coming down fast and heavy and there was probably an inch accumulated on the ground. The flakes were huge! It certainly didn't feel like it was the middle of August. It felt like we should be looking for a Christmas tree to cut down ;) After we found the cache near the overlook, I snapped a few photos of the new snowfall, since it might be another few months before I see snow like this again. Unfortunately, because of the storm, there was not much to see from the overlook this day. I had arrived in the dark of the night, and the day so far had been very cloudy and snowy. I had just finished my first trail in the Uintas and still had not been able to see the mountains around me!
Airing Down and getting our permits
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160122-2/IMG_6691.JPG
Our group as it started to snow pretty heavily
http://myxj.net/g2/d/156404-2/IMG_6947.JPG
Some more photos of the snow...
http://myxj.net/g2/d/156419-2/IMG_6952.JPG
http://myxj.net/g2/d/156431-2/IMG_6956.JPG
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160131-2/IMG_6694.JPG
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160149-2/IMG_6700.JPG
The view from the overlook
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160158-2/IMG_6703.JPG
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160161-2/IMG_6705.JPG
I left right from work Friday and drove the 7 hours to the basecamp near Evanston, WY. I ended up driving through some very strong winds on I-70 between the Cisco and Moab exits, and then ran through a couple more storms after passing over Soldier Summit. Luckily, when I reached camp around midnight, it was not raining, so I quickly got my tent setup and got to sleep.
Once morning arrived, it was raining pretty good. Everyone slowly got up and ready in hopes that the rain would stop, but there was no such luck....it was still raining when we finally decided to head out to find our caches for the day.
After getting our permits and airing down, our large group headed up the bumpy Gold Hill Road to an overlook where the first cache was hidden. On our way, the rain turned into sleet and then into snow. By the time we reached the overlook, the snow was coming down fast and heavy and there was probably an inch accumulated on the ground. The flakes were huge! It certainly didn't feel like it was the middle of August. It felt like we should be looking for a Christmas tree to cut down ;) After we found the cache near the overlook, I snapped a few photos of the new snowfall, since it might be another few months before I see snow like this again. Unfortunately, because of the storm, there was not much to see from the overlook this day. I had arrived in the dark of the night, and the day so far had been very cloudy and snowy. I had just finished my first trail in the Uintas and still had not been able to see the mountains around me!
Airing Down and getting our permits
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160122-2/IMG_6691.JPG
Our group as it started to snow pretty heavily
http://myxj.net/g2/d/156404-2/IMG_6947.JPG
Some more photos of the snow...
http://myxj.net/g2/d/156419-2/IMG_6952.JPG
http://myxj.net/g2/d/156431-2/IMG_6956.JPG
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160131-2/IMG_6694.JPG
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160149-2/IMG_6700.JPG
The view from the overlook
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160158-2/IMG_6703.JPG
http://myxj.net/g2/d/160161-2/IMG_6705.JPG