FTF Earns Us a Geocoin. (On a Technicality?)

The boy and I did some caching between storms today. We didn't get out of the house until almost 11:00 but there were no FTF logs on Steven's Birthday Cache which had just popped up in my pocket query. This past week has been rainy but today was BEAUTIFUL! Totally sunny and 65 degrees. The cache was just off of a dirt road that connected a few hillside houses. I did see a sign that said "Private Road, Residents only" but the road was on Google maps and there was a geocache. I figured the cache owner knew what they were doing so we made the find and grabbed the unactivated geocoin left as a FTF prize. I did notice a wooden "found it" token in the cache but no one had signed the log before me so I assume I was first. When we got home, I went to log the find and saw a post from another cacher stating they had gotten close but were run off by a resident that pointed out the signs. There is still no post from someone saying they left a token and besides, I believe the rules are "Sign the Log". So I say the FTF counts.

Anyway, I got a new geocoin out of the deal. The owners of the cache are involved with NAMI. National Alliance on Mental Illness. They recently took one of my travel bugs on a NAMI Walk. The coin is a NAMI coin commemorating a walk at Diamond Valley Lake.

I'm going to hold onto this one and log the mileage as I continue caching. (9 miles today)


Next, we were off to Tonchonah's First Cache. To reach this, we had to climb a very steep very rocky hill with no defined trail. I was glad it is winter and the rattlers are down! We searched for this one for a while before finally making the find. Another cacher found it today and they too said they found the coordinates a bit off. Combine that with the 6 DNF's on the caches page and maybe something is a bit off. There was a great view from up there and it's always great to find a good old traditional ammo can cache!




There were three caches near the Diamond Valley Aquatic Center. There is a water park and a museum located near one of the launch ramps on the lake. The Boy and I made all three finds and went to check out the Western Center for Archeology and Paleontology museum. Here is the boy in front of the bones of a Ground Sloth. It looks like a giant Dino-Rat! They discovered tons of fossilized bones while excavating the lake. They nicknamed it Mastodon Valley due to the high number of Mastodon and Mammoth bones discovered. It is a nice museum, however I would say it is a bit small for the large price of admission. (10 for me and 8 for the boy!)







After picking the bones we headed over to the fine dining establishment known as Wal Mart Super Center for some gourmet McDonald's. We then headed over to the Hemet-Ryan CDF Air Attack Base to make the score on CDF 70. I climbed up into the landing gear of a "Gate Guard S2" to retrieve the cache and The Boy Vogued it for us. This is a small park Dedicated to the awesome firefighters of the California Department of Forestry that risk their lives to protect our homes and property.





We finished the day near the Hemet R/C airplane field. We made a couple of finds while a herd of sheep was "mowing" the field nearby. As I was driving away, I noticed the "Shepard" was on the other side of the field watching us. He was too far away to see exactly what we were doing and hopefully the cache is hidden well enough to keep his curiosity dissatisfied. The Boy was upset that we could not get an R/C plane today. Me too!






We made a total of 8 finds today with no DNF's. We scored a new geocoin, went to a cool museum, climbed some crazy hills, checked out an airplane and had some lunch. What a blast! I know that these trips will be just as memorable for The Boy as the caving/camping/fishing trips I took as a kid. Our timing was excellent because just as we got home, the clouds announcing the arrival of the next storm to dump on us began rolling in.


Edit Note: The owners of Steven's Birthday Cache have contacted me and I am the official FTF for the cache.