- Location
- The Village of Kay
Many years ago, I somehow found out about a Poker Run put on by the U4WDA in the Unita's. It was a blast navigating from point to point with my dad as navigator with an old Garmin GPS device. Ever since that event I have wanted to attend another one but never found one that was the same format. I then decided I wanted to put one on so others could experience the fun of a Geocache Poker Run. 2024 was the year I said I would do it. I have been to Hardware Ranch dozens of times over the years so I felt that would be a fun area to set up a run. Ryan Berg and I linked up to plan and execute the run.
We started looking at maps and laying out route options. On 7/18 I went up in my Tundra to set waypoints and take pictures of where we would hide the caches so we could write up the instructions for the teams. We opted to have 6 teams with each team having a unique 1st cache, then have 2 different stops for the 2nd and 3rd caches, then everyone would go to the 4th and 5th caches. The logic was to hopefully spread out the teams so not everyone was hitting each cache at the same time in the event we had 12 or more trucks on the run, there wouldn't be room at each spot for that many trucks at once. Each cache contained a poker card and there were 2 opportunities for bonus cards so a team could get a maximum of 8 cards to choose the best 5 to make their hand.
Some pics from the 18th...
Curtis Creek from near one of the first caches.
A tree that fell across the road after I went through once that I had to clear before proceeding.
I was rewarded with an awesome sunset while cruising dirt roads.
On 7/20 @Paul R and I set out to place the caches. Unfortunately, we only placed 3 of the 12 caches before I took a spill on my dirt bike and damaged my shoulder. We rode back to the truck, loaded up the bikes, and headed home so I could get to the Dr.
A couple of pics Paul took before I ran out of talent and ended our day too early.
On the 24th Berg and I set out in his cruiser to place the remaining caches. It was a fun day on the trail again, enjoying the cooler temps and amazing views. With all the caches placed, we were ready for the main event.
We met at my family property on Saturday 7/27 at 8 am for our drivers meeting. With 7 participants, Jerry and Jake joined up as a team, and Berg hooked up with the Castleton’s to run it with Jason and his kids. Everyone else was on their own. With their first clue in hand, they set out for their first cache! It had rained Friday night, and rained off and on through the day Saturday, making it MUDDY and slick. There are several roads in the area where the dirt is super fine silt. When wet, it is incredibly slick! It would be great if each participant could share their experience and report since everyone had a different experience.
Once everyone left, I packed up my camp and started making my way to the finish, expecting to find some teams and hopefully get an update on their ability to find their caches. I ran into Bub and Heidi first and helped them get turned around and find their way to their 2nd cache, then caught up to Lane. I continued on, following Lane, enjoying the scenery and being on the trail. After the 2nd cache, I explored a few areas hoping to find more open roads I hadn’t been on but only found private property. I gave up on new routes and decided to get close to the 4th cache as I knew it was one of the more interesting spots. I heard Lane and Pedro on the radio with Lane having quite the adventure on the road he chose to get to the cache. Those roads were challenging when dry, they were downright challenging when wet! It was fun living vicariously through them on the radio as I listened to them figure out how to get to the cache and Pedro giving up on the bonus cache due to the conditions.
We met up and headed toward the final cache and meeting spot to find the road was really muddy and almost impassable. I made the call to have the few that were headed to the final cache to just collect it and I would intercept anyone else and keep them from heading up to the last location due to conditions. Bub and Tribbler showed up while Pedro, Lane, Jerry, and Jake made their way down with the cache. We hung out and waited for Jason and Berg, little did we know the adventure they had…
Once everyone was accounted for, some headed to camp for the night while others headed for home. The rain on the way home was awesome to wash and loosen some of the heavy mud from the underside of my truck. There was a ton still on there, but a fair amount was left on the highway on the way home.
Since I forgot to pick up prizes, I didn't document who had the best hands. I know Berg and Jason had the best hand, but I forget who was after that. Next time I will be sure to have prizes for the best cards.
Huge thanks to everyone that came out and for the good attitudes despite the conditions. I had a blast working with Berg and Paul to get it set up, and it was a blast hanging out with everyone. Please post your reports and experiences to this thread! I would love to see you document your adventures too! We may do another run like this for Expedition Utah after one of our Navigation classes as it is a good way to exercise your skills in finding and routing your way to awesome spots!
We started looking at maps and laying out route options. On 7/18 I went up in my Tundra to set waypoints and take pictures of where we would hide the caches so we could write up the instructions for the teams. We opted to have 6 teams with each team having a unique 1st cache, then have 2 different stops for the 2nd and 3rd caches, then everyone would go to the 4th and 5th caches. The logic was to hopefully spread out the teams so not everyone was hitting each cache at the same time in the event we had 12 or more trucks on the run, there wouldn't be room at each spot for that many trucks at once. Each cache contained a poker card and there were 2 opportunities for bonus cards so a team could get a maximum of 8 cards to choose the best 5 to make their hand.
Some pics from the 18th...
Curtis Creek from near one of the first caches.
A tree that fell across the road after I went through once that I had to clear before proceeding.
I was rewarded with an awesome sunset while cruising dirt roads.
On 7/20 @Paul R and I set out to place the caches. Unfortunately, we only placed 3 of the 12 caches before I took a spill on my dirt bike and damaged my shoulder. We rode back to the truck, loaded up the bikes, and headed home so I could get to the Dr.
A couple of pics Paul took before I ran out of talent and ended our day too early.
On the 24th Berg and I set out in his cruiser to place the remaining caches. It was a fun day on the trail again, enjoying the cooler temps and amazing views. With all the caches placed, we were ready for the main event.
We met at my family property on Saturday 7/27 at 8 am for our drivers meeting. With 7 participants, Jerry and Jake joined up as a team, and Berg hooked up with the Castleton’s to run it with Jason and his kids. Everyone else was on their own. With their first clue in hand, they set out for their first cache! It had rained Friday night, and rained off and on through the day Saturday, making it MUDDY and slick. There are several roads in the area where the dirt is super fine silt. When wet, it is incredibly slick! It would be great if each participant could share their experience and report since everyone had a different experience.
Once everyone left, I packed up my camp and started making my way to the finish, expecting to find some teams and hopefully get an update on their ability to find their caches. I ran into Bub and Heidi first and helped them get turned around and find their way to their 2nd cache, then caught up to Lane. I continued on, following Lane, enjoying the scenery and being on the trail. After the 2nd cache, I explored a few areas hoping to find more open roads I hadn’t been on but only found private property. I gave up on new routes and decided to get close to the 4th cache as I knew it was one of the more interesting spots. I heard Lane and Pedro on the radio with Lane having quite the adventure on the road he chose to get to the cache. Those roads were challenging when dry, they were downright challenging when wet! It was fun living vicariously through them on the radio as I listened to them figure out how to get to the cache and Pedro giving up on the bonus cache due to the conditions.
We met up and headed toward the final cache and meeting spot to find the road was really muddy and almost impassable. I made the call to have the few that were headed to the final cache to just collect it and I would intercept anyone else and keep them from heading up to the last location due to conditions. Bub and Tribbler showed up while Pedro, Lane, Jerry, and Jake made their way down with the cache. We hung out and waited for Jason and Berg, little did we know the adventure they had…
Once everyone was accounted for, some headed to camp for the night while others headed for home. The rain on the way home was awesome to wash and loosen some of the heavy mud from the underside of my truck. There was a ton still on there, but a fair amount was left on the highway on the way home.
Since I forgot to pick up prizes, I didn't document who had the best hands. I know Berg and Jason had the best hand, but I forget who was after that. Next time I will be sure to have prizes for the best cards.
Huge thanks to everyone that came out and for the good attitudes despite the conditions. I had a blast working with Berg and Paul to get it set up, and it was a blast hanging out with everyone. Please post your reports and experiences to this thread! I would love to see you document your adventures too! We may do another run like this for Expedition Utah after one of our Navigation classes as it is a good way to exercise your skills in finding and routing your way to awesome spots!
