December 12, 2004*  Myself and a few of my adventure flight team members have been active in a sport called Geocaching for the past few years. Geocaching is a high tech treasure hunt of sorts that requires participants to use a GPS (Global Positioning System) unit to seek out hidden 'caches' placed all over the world. Some of these caches are hidden in wilderness settings and others are close to home in nearby fields. Others yet are hidden high atop mountain peaks and require lengthy hikes to get to the area of the cache. These are my favorite types of caches to search for, as I enjoy lengthy wilderness hikes, mountain/peak climbing and just to be able to take in the beautiful Arizona scenery. On February 15th of this year, a new cache was placed on a rock pinnacle in the Oak Flats area (just east of Superior, AZ). Oak Flats is a relatively flat area surrounded by rugged mountains at an elevation of 4,200' (at the campground). Boulders are strewn everywhere in the Oak Flats area, making this a great location for rock climbing. In fact, one of the largest rock climbing events is held in this area- the Phoenix BoulderBlast. Vegetation in the area is mostly Manzanita bushes and numerous oak trees. Small streams and creeks can be found in the area as well. To the west, the cliffs of the Apache Leap and to the east is Devils Canyon.

The Oak Flats area is very challenging for hot air ballooning due to not only the remoteness of the area, but also due to very limited roads and the ruggedness of the terrain. We had two goals for this day: to retrieve the new cache placed on a rock pinnacle in the area as well as to make a flight over the Apache Leap. This has been a flight I have wanted to do for many years. The flight would launch from the Oak Flats campground area and head west over the Apache Leap. Then decending 1,500' below to the small mining town of Superior, AZ. However, due to fuel concerns and time constraints... we withdrew the flight attempt (only to be saved for another attempt!). However, our primary goal was not to be denied! To not only get the 'first find' on this new and challenging cache, but also for my first geocache 'find' by balloon!

The geocache is identified as waypoint # GCHPF8. It is rated a 5 for terrain due to the fact that special equiptment is required to get to the caches' hidden location..... that being rock climbing gear. Well, none of us are Rock Climbers. But, we really wanted to be the first to get this cache! So, I had the crazy idea of trying to get it with a hot air balloon!

A recent hiking trip to this area with another geocaching team (and newbie adventure flight team member) allowed myself and JR to scope out the rock to determine if we could even get a hot air balloon back to the cache location. I have done alot of hiking and exploring in this area, but was not familiar with the exact location of the cache or the surrounding area.The rock pinnacle is on a sloping mountainside (very lightly sloping in the immediate vacinity) and on the side of a hill surrounded by two small washes. There are numerous pinnacles in the area as well as numerous large boulders strewn about the area. There is a narrow paved road leading up to the nearby copper mining operation and property. Then a dirt pullout where rock climbers park and gather. From here, a hiking trail leads thru boulders, small trees and even a mountain pond, eventually leading into a narrow wash. The wash is mostly slickrock and some sand.The final approach before the rock pinnacle is thick manzanita bushes and small boulders. We would have to walk the balloon along this path and wash to get to the rock. However, I felt it could be accomplished rather easily with a large number of ground crew and very calm surface winds. On this recent tip to the area, we also enjoyed hiking up to the top of Apache Leap and taking in the views of Superior. This also allowed me a good look at the terrain we would be flying over if we were to make the flight over the Leap.

On the morning of December 12, 2004 six members of the Adventure Flight Team (myself, Brent, Glen, Chris, JR and Pat) gathered at my Mesa home to caravan out to the Oak Flats area. We arrived in the area approximately 30 minutes before sunrise. We found surface winds to be very calm. This was something that concerned me the most since tethering a balloon up against a rock would be difficult with any surface wind at all. Also, walking an inflated balloon is extremely difficult against any surface winds.

We imediately started unloading the equiptment off the truck and had the balloon inflated within minutes. After loading the basket up with tether ropes and some other gear... I heated the envelope up and my 5 ground crew members grabbed handles and began walking the balloon the 0.30 miles to the rock. The hike was very easy (easy for me to say, since I was piloting the balloon!!!) since there was no wind and the only time we had to manuever the balloon over a stand of trees that the hiking trail went thru. This was quickly accomplished by using my tie off line and having the crew pull me while airborne. I then gently decended back down and we continued walking the balloon up the wash. Once within about 300' of the rock, it was a bit more difficult as the ground crew had to negotiate the boulders and thick manzanita bushes while pulling the balloon!

Once at the site of the geocache and rock... there is a small clearing on a flat rock area that provided a great place to rest the balloon while the ground crew quickly laid out two 150' tether lines (Ropes). One had to be run across a small rock ridge and tied off to the base of a large pine tree stump. The other line would serve as an altitude control line while the ground crew held it. These two lines were then run up to the balloon and tied off to a harness above the basket of the balloon. Adjustment of the one line was by the pilot in the basket and control of the other line by the ground crew.

The 4 members of the team that were geocachers... myself, JR, Pat and Chris... would all get an opportunity to go up in the balloon to the top of the rock to sign the logbook in the geocache container. First to ascend was myself and JR... since we were the first ones to scope out the area a couple of weeks ago. This first ride up was a bit pioneering, since I had to set the lengths of the rope thru the harness above the basket. The ground crew below positioned the altitude line to manuever the balloon up against the rock. At about 70' above the ground.... we reached the top of the rock. Against the side of the rock is a short chain that is bolted into the rock for climbers. JR grabbed a hold of this chain to hold the basket steady while I operated the burner to maintain level flight. With the help of a hiking stick, JR was able to move some small rocks to expose the hidden geocache! However, we couldnt get the container out of the small crevice. I then attempted to reach the container. But, came up a few inches too short! A bit more manuevering of the basket and leaning out of the basket a bit more... I was finally able to get two fingers on the small container and bring it back into the basket! While everyone continued to hold the basket stable against the side of the rock, we quickly signed our Geocaching Team names in the logbook and replaced the container. Team Ropingthewind was the first to sign the cache logbook! Team AJ.JR was second! We then manuevered the balloon away from the rock and decended back down for one more flight up. On the second flight Pat (Team Flatiron) and Chris (Team Rugerdog) made the ride up with me so they could also sign the logbook and claim a 'find' on this geocache.



         





Here are two more photos of the balloon at the top of the rocks. On the left, the balloon is positioned gently against the rock as (right) JR reaches out with a walking stick to move aside some small rocks that are conceiling the hidden geocache container. There was a small chain bolted to the rock that allowed us to hold the basket stable.Then, I reached out to grab the container!












Now nearing about 8:30am and with the temperatures starting to heat up a bit more... I could feel a few very slight breezes. It was time to hustle and get the balloon back out to the road. If the wind picked up, we would have to deflate the balloon and pack out the nearly 600 pounds worth of equiptment! This was a concern of mine on the prior trip out here. We quickly packed the ropes and gear back into the basket and began the walk back out. Fortunately, the surface winds stayed very calm on the hike back down the wash and along the trail to the road.

Once to the road, we quickly deflated and packed up the balloon system and equiptment back into the truck. The entire operation went very smoothly and efficiently and we were all very impressed with how it all worked out! We also claimed the first find on this uniquely placed geocache. The entire operation took about 1.5 hours to complete.

Our goal to fly the balloon over Apache Leap was not completed. We had brought along an extra tank of fuel (in addition to the 3 tanks on board) so I could lift off with 3 full tanks. However, we burned 2 tanks during this operation. Even though the flight is only a couple of miles across, a flight over such rugged terrain should not be attempted without a decent fuel reserve. Also, we needed to be lifting off closer to sunrise when the air is still very cool and stable. It heated up rather quickly on this day.


Afterwards, we all went into Superior for breakfast at Los Hermanos to reflect on the morning's adventure! Even though this was not a 'free flight'... this was truly worthy of an adventure for this website!