In the previous issue of Today's Cacher, Drofrockology and NevadaWolf were caching their way across southern Nevada in an attempt to find a cache on every page of the DeLorme Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer in order to complete the Nevada DeLorme Challenge cache.

We rejoin them at 1:00 A.M. in a wildfire-charred canyon about 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas as they approach a cache that will, if they indeed find it, allow Doc to log a find on the only page of the Nevada atlas they thought they would not be able to log.

The canyon where the Showroom cache is placed is like a natural amphitheatre where the cache is hidden on the stage, the dirt road passes through the floor seats and the other side of the canyon is the stadium seating. We parked in the center of the floor seat section, about 150 feet from the cache. However, several of the logs are telling us that the coordinates are off by 50 feet. They do not tell us in what direction they are off. At least it is rated at 2/2.

This is not quite a typical amphitheatre with a level stage. This stage is multi-leveled. So, it was not long before we were scaling the rocks - Teri on one level while I climbed a little higher since I had the sandals. Well, at least they're hiking sandals.

Upon finding ground zero, we spread out looking for the telltale signs of a hidden cache. Within a minute or two, Teri announced from a tier below me to the west, "I got it!"

I walked across my tier and stood just above her on the rock shelf as Teri pulled the cache from its hiding place. It did not show a sign of being even warm, let alone hot from the fire. Since the plastic food container was tucked into the rocks and the fire was probably moving fast enough, the cache was spared from the heat of the fire. This was the second cache that I have found safe and sound after a wild fire.

As I was now able to concentrate more on the canyon and not whether I was going to find this important cache so I could log a cache on Page 69, I was really able to enjoy the moment. My storytelling hero, monologist Spalding Gray, would have called it a "Perfect Moment." The air was still, the narrow canyon was aglow in the moonlight, the Joshuas were standing eerily in fire-induced blackness, while we signed the log in deafening silence.

"Did you hear that?" we both asked at the same time. It was a few footsteps, four, maybe five. They were not human footsteps. At least I was hoping they weren't. It was something large with a hard foot - wild horse or burro, maybe a pronghorn - but it sounded too hard.

We stood silently for a time until I began to write in the log. Clack, clack. We heard two more steps.

It was difficult to tell exactly where the sound was coming from since it was bouncing off of the rock walls, but it seemed to be coming from the north, across the canyon and above us in the upper stadium seats. But, even in the light of the full moon, we could not distinguish any shapes outside of rocks and Joshua Trees and charred scrub brushes.

I handed the log to Teri and she re-hid the cache while I slowly climbed down the rocks to reach her position. After finding a suitable way down the rocks (I was wearing sandals, remember?) we made our way back to the car, listening for more footsteps as we walked. My perfect moment didn't begin to ebb until after we reached the car. Fortunately, it was a very slow ebbing that lasted most of the way back to Vegas.

Once again, we did not find our respective pillows until after 3 o'clock. But as I drifted off to sleep, my mind was full of the memories of Wilson Pass and the Showroom cache.

The next day began with a late start and our time in Las Vegas quickly eroded as we looked for a suitable non-casino breakfast (found) and several mysterious Nevada Historical Markers (unfound) before heading east to the Valley of Fire State Park to grab Page 71 and check out some ancient petroglyphs before heading home.

Or trip from Carson City to Las Vegas was, for the most part, on U.S. 95. Our trip back home took us up the Extraterrestrial Highway and past non-existent Area 51. Not only did this break up the trip a little by giving us at least a partial loop, it also took us into other quadrangles.

There were several highlights on our return trip: walking amongst the red rocks in the Valley of Fire in 105° heat; sunset on the E.T. Highway where we took pictures of five or nine White Jeep Travel Bugs on the yellow line on the highway itself that were later issued to northern Nevada Geocachers; grabbing Moose Mob's E.T. Phone Home cache in the fabled town of Rachel at dusk; nabbing the Miller Mountain Quadrangle cache at 11:00 p.m. I think we were home and in bed before 2:00 a.m.

Aftermath: Reconciling the Trip and the Quadrangles

I only logged 14 caches on the whirlwind trip, but I was able to check off 12 quadrangles from the Delorme map book. We must have come within 500 feet of 150 caches without stopping to even look. But we had other priorities on this trip. Now, I know some may look at passing up so many accessible caches as folly. But don't judge this type of caching too quickly.

In two or three years, when I eventually log finds on every page of the Delorme map and qualify to find the Nevada Challenge cache, I will look back on the cache and those caches that allowed me to find this cache as one of my greatest geocaching accomplishments. It may only count as one cache find, but a logging like this is worth far more to me than the number it represents.

Caching for quads also led me to some very interesting caches. I was able to knock off Page 51 by finally logging my brother's (devilinmyear) Lahontan Cutthroat Trout/Walker Lake cache where we saw a pretty good size gopher snake. Safe encounters with nature are always worth the price of admission.

The No More Gas II cache was a fun adventure, as was another one of Dr. Webe's caches, Yo!, which was hidden in the wreckage of an airplane (I love aircraft!) that sits in front of one of Nevada's infamous brothels.

Even with the heat under the bright, intense sun while we walked across the Valley of Fire to find the 2 Arches 2 View cache, this was fun, if not an altogether pleasant experience. And, of course, the memories of the Showroom cache and the experiences associated with finding it will stay with me forever.

Moral:

Actually, there is more than one moral to this story.

Just because you may not be logging as many finds as you would on a regular caching trip doesn't mean you aren't having as much fun. I may have logged only 14 caches, but one of them has turned into my favorite caching experience.

Just because a fire has passed through an area where a cache is hidden, do not assume that it has become just a puddle of plastic. The Showroom cache was in perfect condition despite sitting in the middle of a raging inferno. When authorities clear the area for human travel and access, get out there and make sure the cache is healthy and ready to be found.

Cache you later!