Out And About On Saturday

It is raining right now, but it was a pretty nice day when I was clomping about the Upper Otay Lake area this morning.  Mostly hazy/overcast, some sun, one giant burst of wind that made me step back from the tree I was examining, just in case it decided to shed itself of some branches.

I decided it was just about the same distance to drive via Jamul as to go down the 125, so I did that, catching Proctor Valley Road there.  I four caches along the way, three of which I had DNFed (Did Not Find) in 2014.  As it turned out I did not notice the first catch on the list so I went back to get it on the return home.  Driving along the PVR (I just made that up) is a lot of fun, especially if you drive fast enough to slide around as the washboard surface tosses you up into the air a bit...

Here is a picture of one of the caches.  I spent a LOT of time looking for it, and even looked here twice before I spotted it. Can YOU see it?  A pen for size comparison.

On to Upper Otay Lake!  I parked and walked in outside as the Lake is closed to vehicles today. I circled the lake clockwise.  There are lots of signs warning people to stay away from the dam and spillway area.

Here one view of the dam, from the west side.  There are so many plants you can't see the water level!

I found these glasses in one cache, but I didn't bring anything to trade for them, so back they go.

 Yet again I had nothing to trade for something that was nifty in a cache!

I think this panorama picture turned out really nice.  I took it on a sort of peninsula.  I walked out to the south end, then had to walk all the way back as there was no real way to get to the trail that heads south.

Walked on a bit farther down "Wueste Road", which is actually a narrow trail, at least along here.  A nice view of the Upper dam and lake, and beyond you can see the Lower Otay lake.

Here is the dam from the east side.  It makes a nice surface for budding artists to practice on.

After finishing up at the lake I drove around to the other end where there was a walking trail along the rim of the valley, right below all the new "gated" houses (Mansions, really, what with the individual gates) being built.  Very nice views of the lake below.

I found one cache on the walking trail, and didn't find two.  Then I drove back along the PVR to get that cached I missed at the beginning of the day, found it, and headed home.

I found nineteen caches today, and DNFed  two.  I walked pretty darn close to five miles.  I reached my goal for last year of having found 4,000 caches in my "career".  I'm figuring that I might even hit 5,000 finds early in 2017, and I might reward myself with one of them fancy commemorative medallions they sell at the geocaching stores.

Thanks for reading!