In our last issue, the Dr. of Rockology took us along on his trip from Carson City to Las Vegas, Nevada, on a quest to complete the infamous Nevada Challenge cache.

When Teri (Nevada Wolf) and I awoke in our truly luxurious room at the Green Valley Ranch Casino Resort in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson with about four hours of sleep, we were able to meet the Nevada cache approver, RoadRunner, for a really late breakfast. Besides a little sustenance we were able to get caught up on caching adventures and pose for an important picture while I was wearing my artificially gem-studded tiara. This was awarded to me by Nevada Geocaching for being their July Geocacher of the Month for writing a proclamation which I submitted to Governor Kenny Guinn declaring May 21, 2005, Nevada Geocaching Day. Governor Guinn was gracious enough to sign the proclamation in honor of the 2nd Annual GBES Navigational Geocache Rally that Teri and I, along with other members of the Great Basin & Eastern Sierra Geocachers, conducted in the deserts and mountains around Fallon, Nevada.

After pancakes and the photo op, Teri and I were headed back to the hotel so we could get ready for the event I was in Vegas to attend. So, there was no caching during the day, not that you really want to go geocaching in Las Vegas in the third week of August when the temperature is always over 100°. Nighttime is the right time for summer caching in Vegas.

That night, after my obligatory award presentation and dinner, Teri and I hit Interstate 15 to grab a quad so I would be able to knock out all of southern Nevada, except for the quadrangle that Pahrump sits in. We planned to pick up the remaining southern quads, save that darned Pahrump quadrangle, the next day, on our way back to northern Nevada.

This late-night ride meant driving south on I-15 for 30 miles to a cache just barely (two miles) placed on Page 72. But, since Teri also collects pictures of Nevada Historical Markers, and there were a couple of them in that area, it was going to be a productive ride for both agendas.

As we were leaving Page 72 to find two markers for Teri’s collection she announced: “We are just ten linear miles from a cache that is only six seconds into Page 69.” The infamous Pahrump quadrangle! Since we needed to run up to Goodsprings anyway so Teri could log a marker, that put us just six linear miles from the cache.

So, here we are! It’s 1:00 a.m., full moon, clear skies, about 85° in the desert-mountain Wilson Pass as the GPSr leads us closer to the cache, which would turn out to be not just the cache of the trip, but the cache I may always remember as my favorite caching experience ever.

Since leaving I-15, we had not seen another moving vehicle. Not even in the town of Goodsprings, where the local tavern seemed to be the only excitement this side of the Las Vegas Strip. Now only ¼-mile linear from the cache, dropping into the dark narrow canyon, we were in total isolation.

One of the harsh realities of living in the western United States is wildfire. For those of you who live in the east or south, or those who have never traveled into the desert with open eyes, it is difficult to believe that fire would be a problem in an arid, seemingly desolate, region. But believe me, the threat is ever present from mid-June to late-September. Save for the occasional Joshua tree (not really a tree, but a large type of yucca) or cottonwood growing near a desert stream or spring, most of the vegetation in our deserts is built closer to the ground. So, while it is not as obvious to the unfamiliar eye, there is plenty to burn in the desert.

And there was plenty to burn in early summer 2005 in the Goodsprings area southwest of Las Vegas when lightning-sparked wildfires raced across the deserts, hills and mountains leaving a char to everything living and not. One good thing about desert range fires is that they tend to burn fast. Fast enough, in the case of the Goodsprings fire, to only char the Joshua trees while taking most of the other flora. But was it fast enough to leave a geocache in a plastic food storage container intact?

As we drove past the cache and found a wide place on the dirt road to turn around, we were able to view the scene in the light of the full moon. Most of the smaller shrubs were nothing but charcoal and ash. Some of the larger bushes and the Joshua trees seemed to have survived the fire, but being there at 0100 hours, I’m uncertain if they survived the rest of summer. I’m sure some did while others did not. But there was something very special in the way the moonlight illuminated the canyon, especially the Joshuas. It was quite surreal. We couldn’t park fast enough, in my opinion.

Needless to say, I was wearing sandals and shorts. And I had my El Diablo hiking staff…

The Dr. of Rockology concludes his story of quadrangle caching with his caching companion Nevada Wolf in our next issue of Today’s Cacher.