by Got_4by4 Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:24 pm
That was quite some ride. I'm he's glad just to be alive. For others it might be the bridge support cache described in the thread: "Hazz in Pa.". So, since we are on this topic, for you here in SoCal: What is YOUR most memorable FTF? Awemm has a lot of them to choose from and I bet
Red Ryder could tell us
a few stories of his own.
Well, here is my story: Jurassic Aquatic Vertigo GCPAPY 4.5/4.5(archived w/33 finds)
My log:
"Having been here before on a fruitless quest for benchmarks, I knew this falls and HAD to be the FTF#20!(1st of 3 today) From where I parked, my GPSr told me I was 58 feet and West to the cache. But, for the steepness of this canyon it could have been East just as well. So climb I must! For all you other climbers: be careful of the decomposing granite, one loose rock, or miss-step could lead to a 75-100 foot fall. FishPoet(in the SoCal Geocachers forums) Said:"HaZzMaTt hid a working GPSr in this new cache. I would have taken it if it had been a Garmin." It must have been a Garmin! It isn't there, so he owes me! But I did leave MY little GPS unit in the log pouch(so it won't get wet) for the second to find because I wouldn't want him/her to be disappointed. I also left an Alabama State Quarter and an un-activated set of TB tags. I took the BarbiQ-62 sig item, a pouch full of polished rocks, as I love geology too! Twas such a cool cache. Thanks for the fun HaZzMaTt! FishPoet, I'll talk to you later!"
It was June 18, 2005. I had only about 150 caches under my belt. There was a lot if competition for FTF's from all the "Kilo Club" members who were still around at that time. The afore mentioned Red Ryder being one of them. My first FTF was 23+ miles away in Sierra Madre. This cache was 59.7 miles as the crow flies. But what was it that made me think that I could be the FTF? Well, I just happened to be in the Redlands/Mentone area visiting a friend. AND I knew that falls! I hunt for Morel mushrooms near there nearly every May! So off I went.
It was a lot steeper than I remembered it. And there seemed to be no easy way up. All by myself, without any safety or climbing gear, I studied the chosen slope for 30 minutes before I mustered the courage to give it a try. [In the back of my mind was a time when I was once trapped by high tide and climbed a cliff to try and get around a point. That time I was too high up when I thought to come down and I just froze. I had to climb into someones back yard and then get out without being caught as a burglar.] This time I 'read' the wall even before I started. I memorized each step and ledge so I could re-trace my route exactly. Even so, when I was about 40' up that's when the "Vertigo" part of this cache kicked in. I continued to the upper slope of slippery granite and started looking for the cache. My Cobra GPSr only boasted a 10-20' accuracy but the geosenses were starting to mature and I found it easily enough. Now the climb back down. I'll have to say I did get a little scared once when I followed a ledge too far but I was able to keep my cool and was soon back down at the car. That was only the second time I ever attempted a free climb and I'm glad I'm still here to talk about it! So, THAT is MY most memorable(#20)FTF!
Steve, Got_4by4