Hot Chocolate Event Cache

Another Geocaching event was held Febuary 25th at the Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park.

Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park is New Mexico's 34th state park, encompassing 300 acres of bosque (riverside forest) along the Rio Grande and 600 acres of adjacent Chihuahuan Desert. The park is a refuge for wildlife and a haven for people seeing the quiet enjoyment of nature. Here is their web site.

It is said that over 200 people were there, and I don’t doubt it. There were a bunch.

Jake,Cindy,Wanda and I teamed up and attended the event.We had a great time and got completely worn out. Met a bunch of new people and talked to several that we already met.

There were 3 levels of a 3 stage multi cache. Easy, Very easy and Hard. We picked hard. At each stage the were an ingredient for Hot Chocolate. Chocolate, Cookies, and Marshmallows. When finished with the 3 stages you go back to the meeting room and make your cup of hot chocolate. Quite fun. There were also a couple of other caches in the park. There were prizes for everyone, including new geocoins, cache containers, and toys for the kids. Two GPS’s were also given out.

A link to the event.

And some pictures.

		Hot Chocolate VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Deming Centennial Meet and Greet.

 

 

This is the kick off event for the next 10 events throughout the rest of the state. See the event dates and locations here.

Here is a link to the Deming Headlight Article

Luna County geocachers to host meet and greet

Matt Robinson

Posted:   02/08/2012 05:11:40 PM MST

Click photo to enlarge

Jake Varnhagen checks his position on Earth using a handheld global positioning satellite device.

Global positioning satellites have forever changed the course of human history and how man communicates with one another, but a popular pastime is giving the technology a more fun use in Luna County.

It's called geocaching and it involves players using GPS devices to find markers or objects left anywhere across the globe. The players use their GPS devices to find coordinates posted by any number of members of the community that is comprised of millions of members around the world. Local geocachers are hosting members from around the state at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Rancher's Grill, located on Cedar St. for a meet and greet, a meal and the latest stories from the geocaching trail.

"They call it a high-tech treasure hunt," Gary Loudon, a local geocacher, said. "Somebody hides it with GPS and you go find it."

"It" can be any number of items, from toys to cash, but each container used to store items also comes with a logbook to see who has visited that location before. In the geocaching world, members are known more for their usernames and accomplishments than their actual names.

Gary and his wife, June Loudon, with five years experience, pair up to become "GaryJune." Jake Varnhagen and his wife, Cindy, have been geocaching for about three years. They also work as a pair with the call sign, "CeeJay535." And their buddy Chuck Ramsey, also known as, "Ramblin' Ramsey," has also been at it for several years.

That group makes up only a small portion of the over 200 geocaches in the Deming area.

"You can go on the Internet and lookup geocaching.com and it will tell you the whole thing," June Loudon said. "There's no charge to join it."

You can get started with a handheld unit as cheap as $50, Jake Varnhagen said, or you can spend as much as you would like to get the latest bells and whistles.

"Cameras, flashlights, SD card (SanDisk), you can record music on them and put them on to play as you're walking," he explained.

The group hopes that any interested locals will join them on Saturday for the first leg of a statewide series of gatherings.

"There will be many experienced geocachers there and if anybody is interested, they'll be happy to explain it," Gary Loudon said.

Matt Robinson can be reached at mrobinson@demingheadlight.com

IF YOU GO

Who: New Mexico geocachers

What: Meet and greet

When: 11 a.m. on Saturday

Where: Rancher's Grill, 316 E. Cedar St

 

After the fact, This event turned out to be nothing but amazing. There were in the neighborhood of 75 attendees from as far North as Farmington. A couple from Ohio, as well as all over the rest of New Mexico. Speaking on behalf of Jake,Cindy,June,Gary, Wanda, and myself we had a great time putting this on. Especially nice were all the compliments for our efforts.

Check out the logs on the Cache page.Deming Centennial Meet and Greet Cache page.

 

And some pictures:

Deming Centennial Meet and Greet VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

First ATV Ride of the Season

 

Well, we finally got in a ATV ride. Been wanting to do these 2 geocaches since they were published several months back.

We started out with Dillon, Jean, Wanda and myself. At 10:00 we headed out. after going through several gates we took a break. Then began again. Around 11:30 Jean was feeling bad, so Dillon and her headed back home. Wanda and I continued on to the Petroglyphs where the first cache was. After a very short walk we found the cache and then drove down the road a few hundred yards to try and get out of the wind for lunch. Had lunch and on to the next cache about 2.5 miles further as the crow flies. Shortly after leaving the lunch spot the road turned up hill and across all kinds of rocks. It was slow going up then down the other side. We reached and found the second cache, the went on forward to Ft Cummings.

Here is the track from the GPS (36 Miles)

Cache 1.

In 1846 at the request of the United States government, 500 men, 33 women, and 51 children from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army as part of the Mexican-American War. The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously based unit in United States military history. They marched on foot from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to Los Angeles, California.

This cache is found near where the Mormon Battalion camped on November 17, 1846. Many of the features they described are still here. Daniel Tyler, a member of the Battalion, wrote, “After leaving Cooke’s Spring, we passed through the gap in the mountains, and came to a place where mining, for precious metals, had evidently been carried on at sometime in the distant past. There were at least thirty holes cut in the solid rock, from ten to fourteen inches deep, and from six to ten inches in diameter, evidently for the purpose of catching and retaining water when showers occurred. Here we also found, for the first time, California partridges or quail. These bird do not differ much in size from those of the Eastern and Middle States, but are of a bluish color, and oblong bodies, and beautiful top-knots. They are swift runners. A new variety of oak was also found here, which has since received the name of Emory Oak (Quercus emoryi); also a new and very beautiful variety of oose, or Spanish bayonet, some of the leaves which are a yard long, with edges resembling saw-teeth and stalks running up the center for fifteen to eighteen feet high. One of our guides here killed two goats which must have strayed from some passing herd or been stolen and then lost by some Indians, as both were ear marked.”

 

Cache 2.

In 1846 at the request of the United States government, 500 men, 33 women, and 51 children from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army as part of the Mexican-American War. The Mormon Battalion was the only religiously based unit in United States military history. They marched on foot from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to Los Angeles, California.

The Mormon Battalion camped here November 16, 1846 prior to Fort Cummings and the Butterfield Stage Station being built here. Daniel Tyler, a member of the Battalion, wrote, “Passing around the base of a mountain on the 16th to a narrow canyon, we found a marshy water hole, which was given the name of “Cooke’s Spring.” Here we found much broken earthen ware scattered all over the ground.

Wanda and I made it back home around 3:45 PM.

That’s all.