The following is a story about the long strange journey I took in making a 5/5-star cache. Be warned that potential spoilers may be included in the story. If you live in the Northern to Central California coast area and have plans on doing this cache then be a good sport and hit the back button. If you don’t plan on doing this cache or you don’t like surprises, then read on.
March 7, 2004
No matter what anyone else says or thinks, putting a five-star cache together is a lot of work. Putting together TMA-1 last February required numerous scouting trips, enduring stinging nettles, poison oak, treacherous stream crossings, ankle-deep mud, scraped knees and bruised knuckles (and that was only a 3/5 cache!). But it was all worth it. Here I was with Lil Devil, Marky & Joani, Kablooey, and Woof! – superstars of the California caching scene. Lil Devil was making his way up when Woof!, fresh from a little climbing gym experience, asked why I didn’t consider putting some climbing holds up the side of TMA-1. I had wrestled with the pros and cons of doing something like that, but in the end, the solution I used turned out to be the most expedient. Little did Woof! realize but the seed had been planted. I looked longingly across the river to the second abutment and ruminated on a sequel.
April 30, 2004
After upgrading the anchor on the final stage of TMA-1, I walked over to the second abutment to satisfy my curiosity. I had looked briefly at this site as a possibility back when I was putting TMA-1 together, but the amount of brush and stickers was a serious impediment. Besides, the block that eventually became TMA-1 was much more aesthetically pleasing. I struggled through the brush to look at the backside of the second abutment to see what there was to see. Several scenarios went through my mind, but the one I settled on would require a pretty stout tree, not too far away and not too low. Scouting around behind the block proved to be more difficult than I imagined. Poison oak was everywhere and stinging nettles were seven to eight feet high. No tree was within a reasonable distance that was large enough for what I had in mind. Besides, it was less than the required 0.1 over to the final of TMA-1. I might be able finagle some leniency on that account, based on the difficulty and the river between the two, but I didn’t want to make it another “toss and climb” type of problem. More simmering was needed.
October 11, 2004
Finally finished up a local puzzle cache based on Dan Brown’s book, Digital Fortress. I found the book lightly entertainng so I went on kind of a Dan Brown marathon and read through all his books. I found the book Angels and Demons kind of fun, but what really fascinated me was the ambigrams (words that look the same right side up or upside down). I found the original graphics on the internet and determined that a series of caches loosely based on a secret Illuminati society would be interesting. I decided on a Letterbox Hybrid type of cache and sent the images off to Coyote Red and Sissy to make stamps from them.
March 4, 2005
Finished up the first of the Illuminati series (a night cache), and began plotting out the next four caches (Earth, Fire, Air, and Water), which would eventually lead to The Church of the Illumination. The second abutment near TMA-1 immediately came to mind as a possible placement for .June 20, 2005
With Earth and Fire completed and one aborted attempt at Water, I decided a revisit to the second abutment was in order. Scrambling around to the backside of the abutment, I found that the trees had grown considerably, perhaps due to an unusually wet winter/spring. One tree in particular must have gained three to four inches in its diameter since I was last there, but it turned out to be too close to the abutment. In fact, so close that I could probably scramble up and step across to the top of the abutment. Hmmmm, I thought. That’s not a bad idea. I scrambled up the tree, and it seemed pretty solid but the lack of branches higher up stopped my progress. I decided to stick with my original plan and look for a tree further off from the base. Back down on the ground I saw that the problem with poison oak and nettles had only gotten worse. I grabbed a stout stick and started thrashing away at the undergrowth. Unfortunately, as I got further and further away from the abutment the trees only got smaller. I decided to look out as far as 150 feet just to make sure. As I was stumbling under some overgrowth I saw a clearing just ahead. I figured since I’m halfway to the road at this point, I may as well crash through the remainder. Feeling a bit like Indiana Jones, I hacked away at a particularly nasty patch of poison oak that blocked my way to another short clearing. I got to a pretty good tree, but it was too far from the abutment, but I saw some shape looming in the clearing just beyond the tree. To my surprise, sitting there in the clearing like a Lost Temple was a third abutment. Not as tall as TMA-1 or the second abutment, but sufficiently tall that scrambling up was not an option. However, it did solve my dilemma with the 0.1-mile rule, and there were three or four fine-looking trees to choose from. Slowly a plan started to form. I could make one stage at the creek crossing, the second on the abutment near TMA-1, the third stage in one of the nearby trees, and the final on the third abutment. The only violation of the 0.1 rule was the second stage, which wasn’t really anything more than directions to the next stage. It was time to assemble the ingredients.
July 8, 2005
Assembling all the equipment the night before, I had a formidable pile of gear to carry out to the two abutments. I wanted the final cache container to be satisfyingly large, so a week or two before the trip, I snagged the largest ammo can I had ever seen. Nobody would be complaining about not having enough room in the cache. I made an early morning run to the cache location and dumped the gear for later. I had an early morning appointment to deal with and wouldn’t be able to return until noon. It actually turned out to be about 2:00 p.m. before I got back to the parking area. I quickly made my way to the river and made the crossing. The water was much higher and the current was swift enough that I had to retreat to find a stick to steady myself on the crossing. Once across, it was a pretty easy walk to the base of the second abutment. Once around, I made the decision to make for the final cache placement first. I figured that was going to be the hardest to set up. Sure enough, five hours later, sweaty, bruised and bleeding, I stumbled back to the ground and decided a trip across the rigging is in order. I climbed up the tree that became the third stage and looked across the expanse of space between the Lost Temple and myself. I clipped in my gear and with a certain hesitation, I pushed off for the ride of my life. With the adrenalin pumping and eyes half closed, I came to a gentle stop against a large branch that barred my route to the Temple. I did a quick switch of gear and made the last few feet to the temple. What a rush! I checked the gear and all seemed in order. I hauled up the cache container and chained it to the rigging and made my way down to terra firma.
The second stage went a little less eventfully, but it still had its moments of uncertainty. Once all those pieces were in place I hauled all my gear back up to the road and made the long walk to the car. With a brief stop at the path to the river to hide the first stage, I was finally done with this strange and exciting journey. I picked up my gear on the drive back up the road, and made my way home for a well-earned soak in the hot tub with a glass of Kona Brewing Company Hawaiian ale in one hand. I initially rated this cache a 5/5 purely based on the objective dangers, equipment needs, and some of the problem solving that is needed to assemble the pieces to reach the final. Some people I’m sure will find it easier; some will find it impossible. Something in the middle is what I was searching for. Hopefully, the experience will be both challenging and rewarding for those that successfully complete the third step into the secret society of the Illuminati.
Note - I met up with GeoWorms a day or two before putting this one together and tried to talk him into taking the day off to accompany me on this bizarre adventure. After it's all been said and done, I think he made the more sober decision in deciding to pass on this one. ;)