06/02/2015 By Pixel Magic
When I completed the cache just west of and below this one, I looked up and asked myself, "Am I going up there?" From any angle the nearby peak looked daunting. It was a challenge to work my way up to the top. I reminded myself of my son's admonition when climbing, "Keep three points of contact." and so I did. A time or two I started one way and decided after a few moves that another way was safer. I just continued my climb one boulder problem at a time.
This peak was steep but also tall enough to re-establish communication with my son and through him with Renee. The battery on my walkie talkie died more than an hour earlier. Luckily my son was able to see the tracks I was leaving through my InReach satellite communicator and was able to contact Renee to reassure her that all is well. I got a phone signal and was able to clarify my plans and route to return to the trailhead from whence I came. Another lesson learned about communication modes. I really do appreciate the satellite science involved in letting someone know where I am.
At the top I admired the views of the valleys below and the hills nearby. The view is impressive. While searching for the cache I happened upon a small rock pile with one end open. Inside it I found a hand carved wooden lion about 12" long. Not sure who left it there but it sure was a treat to see it nearby the cache. The large container has fun stuff inside. The container was dry and in perfect condition. Thanks again, Triggur, for this awesome challenge.
06/03/2014 By Denali41
As a scientist, this Mad For Science: series immediately captured my attention–especially when combined with its backcountry placements (the specific type of geocache locations that I favor as a cache hider and a cache seeker). Triggur has conceptualized and executed a wonderful series. I’ve loved the individual cache write-ups, the photography/illustrations that support the written material, the fantastic selection of cache hiding locations, and the intrinsically challenging issues of getting to and finding certain of the caches. I knew when my puppy Orizaba and I set out this morning hoping to find all eight Mad For Science caches that we had a long day ahead, some of it in very challenging terrain. And the day turned out as anticipated–long and challenging, indeed.
Because of very high flows in Elkhorn Creek, I decided to approach the caches from the north, to get to the farthest one first and begin with “Fusion”, and then to move clockwise from placement to placement. This might have been a mistake, because in retrospect it appears that the caches were hidden on two days, and they were most likely approached from different directions during the hiding activities. We got in to very challenging route-finding between Star Scale and the three caches to the north (DNA, Large Hadron Collider, and Light Echo). This is steep, treacherous terrain with very tough rock formations and many fallen trees to circumvent--at least it was on the general route that I chose. There might be a better way from the south, but finding that “better way” toward the north, if one exists, might take some real time and testing. It was while I was mired in this terrain trap that I began thinking the unthinkable–that we might run out of time and not reach all eight caches! We did run out of time. When we eventually finished the climb up to the “saddle” just west of the Large Hadron Collider, south of Light Echo, and East of DNA, it was clear that I had insufficient time for all three of them plus Exoplanets on the way down. Of course “Collider” was my focal point for the entire day, so in the end I opted for it and Light Echo, unfortunately needing to omit DNA from my plans. But I still felt really good about reaching and finding seven of the eight Mad For Science caches. Doing this in a single day is a good workout, for sure! It certainly represented the toughest outing yet for my young puppy Orizaba. She did amazingly well, and is beginning to better appreciate just how far she can extend herself on ascending and descending decisions involving very steep terrain or boulders. It was a joy to have her with me today.
Continued in the Note that follows
06/03/2014 By Denali41
Large Hadron Collider was a special geocaching treat for me. It truly lived up Triggur’s cautions about terrain challenges, and it required deliberate route-finding and hard work to reach the cache location from the saddle. My puppy Orizaba experimented a lot as she found options that allowed her to stay with me, and was finally stopped by the summit cliff when she was only 29 horizontal feet (according to the GPS) from the cache. She lay down there, tied by a cord to my backpack that I left with her, while I tested some ways to get up this final obstacle. Once up I had the cache quickly in hand and took the requisite photo and noted the inner lid design in order to earn my Starbucks bonus. The cache container was filled with interesting devices, some reminding me of components of Heath Kit shipments I opened decades ago in order to build stereo equipment, weather stations, etc. It was fun sorting through the cache stash! More than 3 years ago I had GC2MMV1 published. The cache, There IS a Safe Way, has been found only once. The final sentence of that cache’s write-up states: “There IS a Safeway, but there ain’t no Starbucks!”. For Large Hadron Collider, I conclude with the statement “There IS a Starbucks, but there ain’t no Safe Way!”.
I’ve been a backcountry cacher from the time I started geocaching. I believe this is the finest set of backcountry caches in a themed series that I’ve found. My congratulations and thanks to Triggur for their creation. I'm pleased to have the {FTF} on this great cache.
06/01/2014 By HighCountryAdmin
Published
Mad For Science: Large Hadron Collider
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