The Matrix

There are a few challenge caches in the area that, should I choose to attempt the challenge, might impact what caches I look for. The two big culprits are the New Mexico Fizzy Challenge and 100,000 Foot Challenge.

The Fizzy Challenge requires me to fill out the caching matrix: find one of every difficulty/terrain combination. As it turns out, there are 81 possible combinations (leading to a name I prefer: Tequila: 81 Proof [note: the owner's username is Tequila]). I still have quite a bit of work in the matrix to do. In the right is my current matrix (accurate at 668 caches - around August 8, 2009). Everything in red is what I still need to complete. The thing I'm really lacking in is the 4.5 and 5 terrain (of almost any difficulty). This does make me want to go on some longer, tougher hikes (especially to finish up the 12 Labors of Hercules cache series. The last one in the series for me would fulfill another requirement (3 difficulty, 5 terrain). Plus, it would allow me to find the final cache, a 5/5 rating. It's just a little added encouragement for me to try that cache again, although doing that cache alone is worthy enough.

The 100,000 Foot Challenge also encourages doing harder terrain caches, particularly ones where I'd gain a lot of elevation. The whole point of this challenge is to get 100,000 feet of net elevation gain while hiking on cache finds. Sadly, from what I've added so far, I'm not even quite at half. I still have quite a few caches I'm sure I could add in, but I probably have most of my "big hikes" listed. This really does encourage me to find hikes that I'd gain multiple thousands of feet in. Of course, most of these hikes already are very enjoyable and are usually in great spots to begin with. This is just a little nudge reminding me I haven't done as many as I'd like. I'll keep adding to it, though.

Caching without a car

...or truck, motorcycle, or any kind of auto-mobile.

I ended up selling my truck a few months ago. With that money, instead of trading it in for a new (or new-to-me) vehicle, I invested in a new bike. It's become my main source of transportation. I would not call it my "only" source, as I have feet and a unicycle. Having no car to cache with does make it things interesting sometimes, and frustrating at others.

While most of the time, city caches are easy to get to with a bike. I can ride anywhere within the city. Getting out on the dirt roads is also possible, but my bike is a hybrid (more of a mountain bike frame with tires similar to road tires- except a bit wider, but no traction). That hasn't stopped me completely, although it probably isn't the greatest on my tires (or me, since I'm bumping up and down, trying to control my bike while its attempting to skid around). Urban caches and some down dirt roads just outside the city. Easy. It'd work great if I was living in a bigger metro area, like Denver (unicycling worked great there).

In Las Cruces, at least since I've found many of the urban caches, it's not the greatest situation. If I want to go to one of the caches in the mountains, it'd require at least 20-25 miles of riding just to get to mountains and back. This doesn't include going on any trails, hiking. That'd be a tiring day, especially since there area few new caches on biking trails (biking to get to the head of the biking trial, plus biking down that, would be an exhausting day).

I don't want to complain about this- it's just a slight problem to overcome when geocaching. I think the best way to overcome it is to find more friends active in the outdoors who can do my level of activity. This includes mountain biking clubs (although I'd probably turn into a mountain cycling club- by being a unicyclist in a bicyclist-dominated area), search and rescue or hiking groups, etc. This way, when I want to go hiking or down a biking trail, I can plan a trip with others who want to do the same thing (and hopefully get a ride in the process).

In this sense, getting rid of my truck also gets rid of a lot of my solo adventures. Instead of going out and hiking, biking, unicycling, whatever, by myself, I'll be a little bit limited in what I can do alone and forced to interact with friends. At least that's what is planned for now.

First post of 2009

Whoops. Did I forget I had a caching blog? I suppose I did. This year started out a bit slow for caching, as I found myself with little free time. It's amazing what a full-time job will do for a caching career. With what little time I did have, I was also busy with various other groups, doing this or that. It seemed like every weekend, something came up. I do have more free time now, though. Last month, I took a trip to Denver. Since that trip, I've been doing quite a bit of caching. In fact, if I hadn't taken one day off of caching during that trip, I could have probably beat my record of most days cached in a row.

Also on that trip, I successfully started uni-caching: caching by unicycle. I knew my bike wouldn't be able to fit in the truck alongside everything else, but my unicycle managed to find a nice spot. It worked out to be a fun investment, and probably quicker than trying to walk around Denver between caching. Hopefully I'll try it out on some mountain cycling trails to see how it does off-road.

Besides that, I've also completed one more Labor of Hercules: The Organ Needle (Labor Eleven). That brings my total up to 11 of the 12 (plus the bonus cache). The only one I still need in the series is Labor Six: Florida Peak. I've tried that one before, but the group I was with decided against attempting the final ascent. I think I'd be nervous trying that one again, just because I know I turned around last time.