Caching with a Nexus 7

See that little green book I'm holding? That's my new Nexus 7. Well, not new really, it was given to em by my mom's boyfriend who was trying to get rid of it or maybe just trying to make a good impression. He didn't have to give me a tablet to do that though, but I am liking have this handy little device. What do I use it for? Well, email and internet sure... but where I really see it's potential is for geocaching. My primary geocaching device up until now has been my trusty Garmin GPSmap 60CSx. This device has served me well, with topo maps that I download for free, and a nice sized screen to navigate with on those maps. It is limited to only 1000 waypoints, and though there are ways I could import more using POIs, I never have bothered to figure that out. What I bemoan about this device is the lack of geocaching beta. All those waypoints I have in it are "dumb", they contain the name of the cache but little other data. No cache size, D/T ratings, recent logs... Sometimes, geocaching like this gives me a sense of elitism. "Ha, I don't need to know anything about the cache, just the coords, the way caching used to be. The way it is best." More often than not though, I end up phoning home to ask my wife to go online to give me the beta, and hints. What would be ideal would be to have a cellular connected device running geocaching aps, where I could always instantly pull info on caches. The Nexus 7 I have is not that. But it does have a GPS antenna, can run geocaching aps, can store loads of pocket queries complete with all the usual cache information. It can do a lot of what the "paperless caching" GPSr devices do. Just no cellular connection. A step up?

After a little bit of trial with C:geo, I end up going with Locus Pro for a map and geocaching app. I get a chance to try it out a little in Las Cruces, using it to search for a few caches with Levin. While the map and cache selection work great, the compass feature steers me way off. I fiddle with the settings for a bit, switching the "hardware compass" on and off. But it never seems to work well for getting me right to GZ. The arrow almost never points in the correct direction and I end up just walking in whatever direction seems to decrease my distance metric the fastest. Not optimal at all. BUt I'm still learning, maybe there's a trick to it?

The Nexus becomes my primary caching device for our trip from Las Cruces to Knoxville since I didn't bother to download maps or PQs into my Garmin. For traveling along the road it works fine, but I still have a hard time navigating to GZ. But it definitely shines when it comes to browsing a bunch of cache sin an unknown area and deciding if any of them are worth going after. It still lacks some features that I would like to have, number of favorite points for instance. maybe I'll break down and learn GSAK one of these days and get its companion app, but until then I think this will do.

One feature I like but have not fully gotten used to is the offline field notes. I am still terrible at typing out a sentence let alone a paragraph on the Nexus, but once I can manage that, I will be able to write logs in the field and have them synced online when I have connectivity. For now taking brief notes about the cache and fleshing out the logs at home is still my preference, but I can see using this feature more and more, especially for any power caching type trips. And the voice dictation feature provided by the Android OS is very tempting to sue as well, but so far my attempts to use it have been rather hilarious.

Durability and battery life though will never come close to the Garmin. So for most of my hikes, the Garmin will be my main device. Still,. it will be great to have the Nexus along in the pack, for some extra beta when needed.

My Knoxville geocaching inauguration

For my inaugural Knoxville geocaches, I went for a run in IC King park, which was pretty close to where we were staying. We hadn't hit up any geocaches for our first several days in town, we were too busy with finding housing. But once we had a lease agreement signed, I was eager to see what the caching is like here. It was a weekday morning and I had the trails to myself. Well, the dog and I had the trails to ourselves. I was particularly worried about getting posion ivy, but not enough where I wouldn't go after the caches. I started with GCJAJ7 and ended up stopping at 10 caches for my ~5 mile run. Almost all of the caches were pretty far off the trail, and through, what looked to me, patches of poison ivy. But maybe I just don't know my plants yet. The ones I found were good, large and old geocaches. Most dating back to 2004. Cool to see an area where 10 year old caches are not that rare. There is definitely a long standing geocaching community here. I ended my run at GCJD4X, where I failed to turn up the cache, but did find a dead snake. At first I thought it was a fake dead plastic snake and the cacher's were being clever. Nope, real dead snake! No shame calling a DNF on that one!

Caching our way to Knoxville

Moving to Tennessee was a lot of work. First there was all the work getting our house ready to go on the market, then packing up stuff, arranging moving our stuff, figuring out what route to take. Geocaching played only a minor role in this process. A welcome relief from the stress while packing up. But more practically, a helpful guide for where we might stop along our route. The route was planned around having decent places to camp in parts of the country we've never seen before. I used a series of PQs to look for interesting caches, and therefore interesting places along this route. But the goal was to move to Knoxville, not find a gazillion caches or even interesting caches. In fact, for the whole 4 day trip, we only stopped at 9 caches, half of which were virtual or earthcaches. But the stops were all memorable, and indeed, the caching provided good entertainment.

Day 1

We left Las Cruces, NM and headed North-East, through Alamogordo and Carizozo and up to Santa Rosa, where we made our first stop at the Blue Hole. Not only is this a fantastic spot to take a dip, but the surrounding parks were ideal for a picnic and playing around. 

 After being refreshed by the bright blue waters of Santa Rosa, we zoomed East to Amarillo where we made a stop at the famed Cadillac Ranch. This is actually one of the stops that I found as a result of my PQs, since this Virtual Cache has racked up a ton of favorite points, and just looks like an awesome spot to stop by for a visit while traveling I-40. We didn't stay long though because we needed to make it to our camping destination at Palo Duro Canyon state park.

 Day 2

Despite Palo Duro Canyon ahving hundreds of caches, I did not have any loaded into my GPSr or Nexus before the trip started, so I didn't log any finds there. What, enjoying a beeautiful camp site and park without finding a geocache?! Funny how I link logging a cache to enjoying a location now, but I do find myself thinking that sometimes. It really is an awesome park, and it was a shame we didn't have time for a hike.

 Driving east along I-40 through the Texas panhandle and Oklahoma was windy. And not a nice tail-wind I was hoping for, but a cross wind that buffeted the cars all day long. I bet folks are used to that in these parts.

 We needed a lunch stop in Oklahoma and looking for a nearby geocache once again paid off, but not in the way I imagined. We pull off the highway in the little town of El Reno, and head to a cache a little off the highway near a State Historic site. We stop for this first cache, GC36G4Q, but it is way too windy to have the picnic we were planning. However, we are right at the entrance to the State Historic site, so we head over there to see if we can find some shelter. I run into the visitor center and ask the woman there if there is a sheltered spot for us to have a picnic, and she invites us to use the basement of the Fort's Chapel. And wouldn't you know, there happens to be a geocache in that same building! GCGFD5 is actually in the chapel, and is one of the older geocaches I've found, dating back to 2003. We had the place pretty much to ourselves, and had a splendid picnic out of the wind

We make campe in eastern Oklahoma at Lake Eufalah state park, but only because the winds had died down by the evening. Despite there being caches enar our camping spot, we don't go looking for them. Our camp by the lake is all the entertainment we need.

Day 3

We quickly cross into Arkansas and begin our traverse of that state. But not an hour into the state the kids are whining up a storm, so we pull off at an exit. I whip out the Nexus and take a look and sure enough, there is a convenient geocache in a travel stop just a mile ahead, so we drive over to discover one of the most relaxing travel stops I've ever visited. The geocache I had in my device, Hillbilly Hotel, was at the far western corner of the rest area, which we had all to ourselves. A big grassy field, picnic tables under mature pines, a view of the Ozark mountains to the north, and my personal favorite, cool clean ozark water from lovely brass spigots. Most delicious water I've tasted in a while. Levin and I run over to find the cache right away, and unfortunately it is almost empty, not even having any travel bugs. But it did have one toy, a plastic boomerang. We traded something for that, and then commenced playing with it in the field. Predictably, the boomerang was soon stuck 25ft up in one of the pines. We spent the next 30 minutes working on getting it down. Every time I was about to call it quits, Levin would make the saddest faces and I would try just "one more thing"

Failed attempt to throw a rope up to grapple the branch.

Failed attempt to climb tree

What are we doing here? Somehow we all lost our shirts, something about the hot humidity.... Or maybe we're jsut trying to be hillbillies.

Success! Using this large branch taken from near the cache site.

 The long break did the trick, and we breezed through the rest of Arkansas and into Tennessee.

Day 4

Our last day turned out to be our most relaxing one, with the least amount of miles needed to reach Knoxville. We camped at Natchez Trace State park, which had incredible facilities (but expensive fees for camping!). We had a leisurely morning walking some trails and doing some birding, and finding my first Tennessee geocache, Cub Lake Waterfront. The tulip poplars were in bloom and the woods were gorgeous. Living in NM for so long, I'm not used to such lush growth, and we were all drinking it in.

 We drive a few more hours and make a lunch stop at another state park a little further away from I-40 but well worth the trip, Burgess Falls. Once again, I didn't have any geoaches for this park in my devices, but I was able to qualify for an earthcache by being observant, taking a bunch of pictures and doing a little online reading.

And that's my travel-caching experience. On the one hand, it didn't feel like a lot of caching, but geocaching did play an important role in where we stopped, and how we broke up the difficult drive east. With two young kids, a dog and 5 birds with us in the cars, having good places to stop, and making frequent stops is key. More time would have been better though, to really enjoy some of the state's we passed through... and find a few more caches ;).

A Ruben send-off

Marcey (Updraft58) and Dennis (Mr. Waldo) came over with Ruben sandwiches to wish us farewell. My dad and I were furiously cleaning and packing, trying to get us moved out and the house ready for a showing this afternoon. My dad had just sprayed copious amounts of oven cleaner, and it was almost impossible even to walk through the house (our oven hadn't been cleaned since we moved in 7 years ago!). So we set up a makeshift table of cinderblocks and an old door, and enjoyed our sandwiches in full view of the Organs. It was wonderful to sit down with these two fine geocachers one last time. They have made geocaching in Las Cruces really fun for me, and their friendship will be forever treasured. There are many more Las Cruces geocacher's I've met or interacted with and come to love. Part of me wishes I had made an official geocaching event and gatehred everyone over for a big party. But with all the chaos of moving and getting our house ready to sell, it just wasn't feasible. To all those Las Cruces geocachers, you will be missed! If you ever passing through eastern Tennessee, come on by. I'm sure I'll have some new tough puzzle caches and mountain climbing caches out by then!

Both Dennis and Marcey took one of my new travel bugs with them as part of my TB Race to Knoxville. If you stumble across one of these bugs, help them get to Knoxville.

Last day in the Organ Mountains... and a special birthday FTF present.

I love the Organ Mountains. For climbing, hiking and geocaching. I combined all these activities into my geocaching series, Organ Saint. Some people, like myself are just drawn to these rugged mountains. So it is sad to say goodbye now that we are leaving New Mexico for the greener pastures of Tennessee. The only proper way to say goodbye would be one last hike and climb. I teamed up with Combatnurse2003, aka Mike, to see how many Rabbit Ears we could bag in a day. You would think a rabbit only has two ears, but not this one, there's the North Rabbit Ear, Middle Rabbit Ear, South Rabbit ear... then there's the Rabbit Ear Massif, and other lesser spires and ridges. No shortage of objectives here. And the hike up Rabbit Ears canyon is one of the best in the range.

We met at 5am at the jeep rd that starts up to the rock hut. I parked my city car, and piled my gear into Mike's sweet 4x4 jeep. We bumped and jostled our way up to the Rock hut, shaving a mile off our hike. It was still dark as we donned our packs, and we wore headlamps until we were well into the canyon. I enjoyed being the chattering guide, pointing out all the rock features and walls, places to camp and general climber's trivia. This was Mike's first trip up the canyon.  Perhaps my chattering frightened the wildlife off, because we saw none, but I was happy to be in my element. At the granite bathtub Mike dropped a gallon of partially frozen water out of his pack to stash for later. I can't believe he carried so much water up here! It probably has something to do with our last big adventure in the Organs on Baylor Peak when he got pretty dehydrated. I don't blame him for carrying so much water after that experience. I should have done the same, but turns out I did almost the opposite. I had meant to take a 24 oz gatorade with me but it had jostled out of my pack on the bumpy jeep ride. So I was short liquids for the day. Bummer, but I wasn't about to let it ruin my fun.

As we hiked higher up the canyon we debated some side objectives. The cache on the Citadel would make a great prize. I was the last find on it a few years ago. We decided that we would wait and see how felt on the way back down. It would be a significant amount of effort either way, what with a few pitches of climbing involved. Another temptation was ORP. Since we were planning on tagging the summit of the Massif anyways, we could almost justify taking the gully that one would take to go to ORP. It would only be a short side trip to that spire, then we could continue up the ridge to the massif. But we nixed this option too, thinkiong that our efforts were best spent on the main peaks. We were making good tme, reaching the saddle around 7:30am. We dropped our packs and made the quick and steep hike up to the Massif, and our first cache of the day, the venerable Labor of Hercules #10. While Mike worked that, I searched in vain for the summit register, only finding an old gatorade-powder lid. I was bummed not to find it, but there was a nice cache of water, 4 12-oz bottles. I grabbed one, knowing my own supply was less than optimal for the hot day we were going to have. Hopefully this doesn't piss someone off later, me steeling their water and all, but it was in a very obvious place where hikers go, so I figured it was fair game.

Our next move was down to our packs and then over to the South Rabbit Ear or SRE as I like to call it. There is a short section of nasty bush whacking here which I had mostly forgotten about. No Organ Mountain experience is complete without this, and I was pleased to get one last taste, although Mike was grumbling somewhat. We dropped packs again at the col between MRE and SRE, had a quick snack and then scrambled up the easy lichen covered north face of the peak. I consider SRE to be an easy peak, and sometimes forget that even it has some serious challenges. The rock gets steep, the plants disappear and you really have to pay attention to what you are doing. This is especially true on the descent. It helped to have Mike there with me, and see the mountain afresh through his eyes. The niceties of being a guide! We didn't dally long on the summit, just enough to grab the cache, and peruse the summit register. Looks like SRE has been getting regular visits. Very cool!

One nice thing about linking up SRE to MRE is that on the descent from SRE you can really scope out the regular route on MRE. I pointed out to Mike all the belay ledges, the crux moves etc.. and he had an absolutely clear idea of where to go. Then he handed me the rack... (just kidding, I was planning on leading the fun stuff anyways!). It's been a little while since I roped up for some real climbing. I was using my twin ropes and thin rack supplied by Mike. I knew the route, had climbed it multiple times but still got that nervous feeling in my gut... and sweaty palms. Well, that's why climbers use chalk right? Powdered courage! I stepped up to the rock and started to climb. Style, well, I've had better days. But man was it fun, and exhilarating. I think I've been missing this too much these past few years, chasing geocaches instead of technical climbs. Maybe I can remedy that in Tennessee? Who knows, but it felt real up there. Alive and one with the mountains in a way you can't get any where else. And as we climbed that sour thought kept popping into my head, "I am probably never going to see these mountains again".

We relaxed on top of MRE for a while. Mike was famished and tore into his lunch. My first priority was to look at the summit register. Marta had warned me that the jar had broken a while ago and she had replaced it, but it didn't occur to me that because it had been broken that pages would be damaged. A small animal had eaten away at the pages I left up here, making fractaled edges. And several pages were completely missing including the ones from my visits in 2011. I was a little bummed, seeing those entries is a cheap way to wax nostalgic about past achievements. The logs that caught my eye were from last weekend when Jon Tylka, Nate Fry and Glen Melin had attempted the full traverse of the Organ Needles. They ended bivying before the low horns, then fighting 70 mph winds.. all the way to NRE before finally calling it. Amazing! Another entry that caught my attention was one from March 28t where two climbers named Luke and Chance had written "Full Traverse". I wonder how many of the peaks they had actually nabbed, and if they had completed the full traverse? These thoughts distracted me for a bit, but eventually, the urge to check on the geocache I left up here grew too strong and I goaded Mike, who was comfortably relaxing, into making a search for it. He was doing what veteran cachers do, not relying on his GPSr and searching plausible locations. Except up on top of the MRE, every square foot is a plausible location. My impatience got the better of me and I pulled out my GPSr just to "check where GZ was". I was immensely pleased to see the numbers on the display drop down to zero ft as I stood directly over the cache. For only my second cache placement, I had marked coordinates very accurately!

The cache itself was pristine. I don't know why I would worry about it, but for some reason I had imagined that either climbers would mess with it. Or maybe I had thought that the effects of ice and snow from the mountain top winters would allow water to intrude. Completely unreasonable it turns out, the little water-proof matchstick holder was untouched, and dry as a bone. The paper was still crisp and neat. There wasn't even a chew mark on the outer portion. This give me good hope that the cache will survive for many years. And why wouldn't it? Only I probably will not know because another geocacher might not be up here for several years s well. Mike sat down at the cliff's edge and signed the log in the coveted FTF spot. Today is his 39th birthday, so this is my birthday present to him.  A worthy FTF prize if ever there was one.

Eventually we felt rested and ready for some more and started our way to the north side descent. This involves a very steep down-climb to a faded orange rappel sling I vaguely remember from 3 years ago. I checked all around it and decided it was good to use, but we probably should have added a piece for back-up. I hoped on the rope first, and was quickly down to the churchkey. A bit lower I found a pair of shiny bolts, anchors that Jon had told me he had placed. Having well placed solid rappel stations made the next two rappels much nicer. I could have linked them up into a single 60m length rappel but I was worried about rope getting stuck on the stunted trees covering the middle ledge, so we broke it into two rappels to have more control over the rope-pulls. The rappels off the churchkey are fantastic, with free hanging sections, and an immense neon green lichen roof system off to climber's-left. A great mountaineering experience. As we went I pointed out route features on the north face of MRE. Mike wasn't interested in tackling the North Face directly. The long day was starting to wear on him and he was only up for the easiest possible route which would be the Davis Route. We checked the time, 2pm, and did some thinking. If we were to tackle NRE as well, it would probably be 4hrs to get up and down, plus another 3 for the return trip. That put us back after dark. Definitely doable, and perhaps if we had been younger, or more gung-ho we wouldn't even have hesitated. But the thought of a 15hr day, getting home after the family had already gone to sleep, and missing any further birthday celebration (for Mike) made our decision for us. I know we could have completed the MRE this day, but we made the wise decision to call it a day.

The hike out was at a leisurely pace. Part of this was by necessity, the gully we had to descend was steep, loose and full of Organ Mtn vegetation. Mike took a couple of spills and bloodied himself from a close encounter with a cholla. No Organ mountain adventure is complete without someone getting intimate with the veg! At one section Mike lost his footing and came careening down on top of me, nearly bowling me over. He managed to shift his center of mass just enough to avoid a nasty collision, and halted himself without any injuries himself. This kind of stumbling is another typical feature of a long day in the Organs. Fatigue and dehydration add up and make the feet clumsier and clumsier as the day goes on. Another good reason to have called it a day instead of doing the MRE. But with plenty of afternoon daylight we could afford to take breaks, numerous relaxing breaks at several scenic spots in Rabbit Ears canyon. The ice water that Mike left by the bathtubs was divine. We chugged half of it, then decided to leave the rest as a water cache for future hikers and climbers. It is hidden away, but in a spot that is likely enough to be discovered by those who would need it. A bit further down we stopped at my favorite tree, a stunted broad-leafed tree with a canopy just my height, creating a perfect shady rest on one of the hottest parts of the approach around the Citadel. We chatted and laughed the whole way down, and I quietly said my goodbyes.

Goodbye ringtail cat, that looted our food when we camped here with a 7 month year old son.
Goodbye finger-singer, that slick 5.10 slabby test-piece that I so bravely led years ago.
Goodbye Lambda Wall, where I climbed with an Air Traffic Controller when we first moved to the area.
Goodbye Mexican buckeyes, with your startling rattles every time you are brushed.
Goodbye lonely spires, visited by the rare few who love to roam harsh terrain.
Goodbye rusted mining equipment, slowly decaying but still alluring.
Goodbye ocatillo blooms, flashing bright red buds against a see of browns.
Goodbye golden eagles, gently soaring from lofty perch to lofty perch.
Goodbye Organ mountains. My hear will forever ache for you.

 Goodbye Organ Mountains....