[Az-Geocaching] geocache in Peru

[Jake Olson]

There's a virtual at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, in the Havasupai Indian 
village. I went there twice when I was a teenager in the mid 80's, as a boy 
scout. I was able to answer the questions, and I asked for permission to log 
the cache, even though it had been 20 years since I had been there. The 
owner was impressed with my memory of the place, and allowed me to log it, 
but I never did. I just didn't feel right about it. Unless you're there as a 
cacher, I don't think it should count. 

I feel that this rule only applies to my and my caching record, and others 
can play the game they way that they please. 

Although now that I think about it, I was kinda of a cacher back then. For 
those of you not familiar with this place... there are only two ways to get 
there. 

First is a helicopter ride... Although, Team Roping the Wind my have an 
alternative.

The second is a 12 mile hike down a canyon. You start at a parking lot with 
no facilities. The first mile is switchbacks, and the only drinkable water 
besides what you bring is in the village 12 miles away.

Many hikers will take gallon jugs of water and hike them down the 
switchbacks and bury or "cache" them so they will have water to drink on the 
hike up the switchbacks back out. A GPS would be handy for marking the 
location of the water. On of my scout leaders said that there was probably 
plenty of water at the base of the switchbacks for all of us to drink. The 
problem was, knowing what water was unclaimed because the hiker couldn't 
find it.... and what was currently waiting for hikers to return.

The second time I did this trip, my father joined my brother and I. On the 
way out, some of our scout group wanted to camp at the base of the 
switchbacks and sleep for the night. My brother and dad wanted to sleep in 
the fold out bed in our old van. Well, they got up there in the dark and 
started to sleep. About two or three hours into their sleep, one of the 
scout leaders finally got up to the parking lot and informed my dad and 
brother that another adult had hurt his ankle. So my dad and brother got up, 
hiked back down the switchbacks and helped carry the injured guy out. My 
brother got the honor of carrying the guys pack. The gentleman had brought 
his 6 year old son along, and was carrying the supplies for two in his 
backpack. My brother said that the pack was almost twice as heavy as his. I 
guess I should also point out that my brother was 12 years old at the time 
and suffers form a breathing problem. I was really impressed with him and my 
dad when I got to the parking in the morning and they told me what had 
happend.
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