Funding for this program has been provided in part by the union Pacific foundation.

♪.

>> Hey, welcome to wild Nevada 2014.

I'm Dave Santina.

>> And I'm Chris Orr on this special episode we'll take to you a paradise for bird enthusiasts and go on a geocaching adventure.

>> But first we're heading east, to eastern Nevada about 40miles south of Wells to the Spruce Mountain recreation area.

>> We were hoping to see wild horses while we were there.

>> We met with Blaine Potts, outdoor specialist at the entrance kiosk.

>> Hey, Blaine.

>> Hi, how are you.

>> Good, how are you.

>> Doing well.

>> Thanks for meeting us.

>> No problem.

Welcome to spruce mountain.

>> We're at the entrance, to spruce mountain.

What can we do out here?

Basically, there's a myriad of recreation opportunities out here.

The most popular being hunting, and then off-road riding, anything you can take off road is a popular activity.

And then also in the wintertime snowshoeing, snowmobiling, things of that nature are really popular out here.

But really you're not very limited to what you can do out here because you can go hiking, camping, biking, you name it.

>> before we come out should we let you know we're coming out to use the land or to go camping or anything like in a?

>> Not at all.

This is actually public land.

It's owned by the people of the United States, and so you guys are more than welcome to come out here whenever you want.

We ask that you respect the resource and treat it better than maybe you would something else.

These are precious heritage and we want to on pass it to our future generations.

>> We're going to meet one of your colleagues up the hill to look at wild horses today.

Have you done that before?

>> Yeah, I mean there's a ton of wild horses all over this area.

It's really popular spot for them.

There's a bunch of springs and a lot of feed up here, so we ask that you do respect them.

You know, don't chase them around.

Give them their distance.

And maybe bring a telephoto lens that will let you reach out a little more.

Wild horses, deer, elk, a whole bunch of different wildlife call this home and so it's a great place to come up and watch wildlife.

And whether you like to hunt, go hunting or like to photograph them, it's really popular spot.

So I recommend everybody come up here and check it out.

>> The reason we're standing at the kiosk is because you wanted to point out this is important information and not something just to drive by.

>> Exactly.

Yeah, we have plenty of maps and other information that we post on this, as the situation arises.

Living in Nevada, we're pretty arid state, the most arid in the union, actually, and so if it we have any fire restrictions or any other type of warnings or anything like, that we usually post them right at these kiosks here, and also you know, we have our little map here that kind of shows you the best routes to get around, areas to check out.

Very informative to stop and take a minute to look it over.

>> I saw there's a couple notices about motor vehicles.

So basically stay on routes.

>> Exactly.

We ask people that they stay on the existing routes, just to protect the resource, you know.

We can only do so much if people are driving everywhere.

You know, we want to pass these deer populations and elk populations on to future generations and so please, please, please, stay on the trails as much as you can.

>> You get the maps from -- >> We have our little map holder here, we try to keep it as stocked as we can.

And so please feel free to take one, and use it.

Please use as responsibly as you can, and be considerate of others who will be coming after.

>> We promise to be clean.

>> All right.

>> We'll leave no trace.

Thanks for the time.

>> Appreciate it.

>> Thank you.

>> we head up the road feeling excited for the chance to see the wild horses.

We're riding with our wild horse expert Bruce Thompson and enjoy the scenery when all of a sudden we have to stop.

>> So we're driving along the road on our way to the spot we think we're going to seat horses, and lo and behold they are out in front of us surprisingly so.

We got a little bit of a shot of them as we trotted over the hill, but we weren't expecting that.

>> No.

>> We've learned a little about now what to do next, based on what you saw.

>> We had the horses on the Hillside, they were a little startled when we saw them, and what we saw is they did a fast walk across the drainage here and we're waiting for the horses because they walked over this ridge, so we don't want to rush to see the horses because we don't want to spook them.

>> Okay.

>> By waiting here for a few minutes we're going to go here and hike up on this ridge and look over, and the way the horses are walking they should be grazing on this ridge on another side.

>> and so you can tell that because of the fact they were walking, they weren't in distress, trying to get away from us?

>> They weren't in any distress.

These are wild Animals.

You don't want to chase them.

They are wild animals and their demeanor and how they were going, they were at a nice walk, and so the wind is in our favor, so I'm hoping that when we get over there, that they'll that be the basin grazing.

>>S what is the closest you can expect to get to them.

>>The horses out here around that area, they're very wild and skittish.

And even if you were to sneeze, they would run.

You don't want to stress them out.

And this year we saw some foals, I think three or four young foals, probably maybe a month-old, if that.

So you really don't want to stress them out.

And it's good-- best to view them from a distance so you're not stressing them out.

>> Bring your binoculars.

>> A spotting scope would be good.

>> Enjoy them from afar.

Don't chase them.

>> Don't chase them.

>> They won't let you get close, they'll take off if you get too close.

>> Yes.

>> We were a few hundred yards away and they said oh, let's just go over here and get away from those guys and you could see they weren't bolting, they weren't running hard but they were moving at a quick enough pace that they were clearly getting away from us.

>> They wanted to put as much distance between them and us.

So we were as startled to see them as they were to see us.

>> Total surprise.

>> Here we'll go down, drive, there's a path over here.

We'll drive to that pass, park below the pass and walk up and take a look over the pass.

And if they're there, then we'll come up and get some pictures of them.

>> A little while ago we saw the horses this and they came over this ridge, there is a big basin over here, we don't want to startle they want.

We'll walk on the backside of the ridge and get up to the ridge and look over into the basin.

The way the horses were going, they should be on the other side.

Gets us our exercise for the day.

>> it's a steep climb and hard work to get to the top.

Once we get there, the payoff is the natural beauty on display.

>> so we got about 40 horses here, so we're going to come up on this ridge and that way, it will put us down the basin and we can look down and see all these horses.

>> I can see a few.

>> They're actually scattered through the Hillside.

>> That's great, okay.

So we'll go up and around here.

>> On this backside of the rock here.

>> And the wind is still with our favor.

>> Yes.

>> So far the horses haven't noticed us and we want to keep it that way.

So Bruce leads us up to a safe viewing spot.

>> That area where they're gathered is green, so probably good pasture.

>> Could have been one of the snow pockets that recently melted off.

>> Probably still some moisture.

>> Moisture, the grass that had more palatability.

>> So they're eating grass.

What else do they eat?

>> They also eat-- they eat Forbs and also the white sage.

Right now they're probably eating the green grass that's coming up.

>> Do they have predators?

>> They have no natural predators but it would not be out of the ordinary for a foal or old horse-- for a lionto take one.

But here you have a lot of deer, and elk.

So for mountain lions, that is their main prey base.

Wild horses were here at the end of the ice age and then the wild horse that was here, went extinct for one reason or another.

>> They originally were we're and then went extinct.

>> In fact the wild horse originated here in the Americas.

>> is and was taken to Europe?

>> No; the Bering land bridge.

>> Oh, they walked.

>> They walked across.

>> Took a road trip.

>> Yes.

>> Okay.

>> then they were brought back over -- >> When the Spanish came over.

But for the great basin, probably around 1800.

>> okay.

>> they are magnificent animals.

Metropolitan areas like Reno, Carson City, the horses that are around there, which they're used to the people.

Some of the mules-- or burros out of Vegas, they're so used to people, they won't run away.

You can come out here and you can drive all over and not see a horse or see one horse.

>> and really in a lot of-- I mean, considering that they've been aware of us even from this far, unless you know where you're going and what you're looking for, they're going to see you long before you realize they're there.

>> Correct.

And we could drive up this road and not see a horse.

When we do our inventory flights, a lot of times where we see the horses, there's no roads for miles.

The horses are up on the mountains or in the trees.

>> Through the binoculars and grass, but they look like they're in great shape.

You know, good health.

>> these horses are actually in great shape.

>> Within the bigger group, you'll notice smaller clusters.

So are those smaller bands that stay together?

>> They would be their own individual band but like if we were to startle them, which we don't want to do, you might see them go off as one fluid motion.

So they might move.

They'll move across the Hillside but maintain their little bands.

It's a stud and his mare, or mares, plural.

>> This is a question of a lay person who doesn't know anything about anything.

Where do they sleep?

>> They might sleep right there.

>> Wherever they are?

They go ahead and sleep.

Do they sleep standing, laying down?

>> Both.

>> okay.

>> There are so many of them.

>> Incredible.

>> You look up the Hillside and you can pick out other groups.

>> I notice at the top right off the ridge there's a couple up there.

>> And there's one laying down, a foal laying down.

>> So mother and a foal maybe in.

>> Yeah.

>> There's like two, maybe two mares with a foal laying down.

>> yeah.

>> Summertime, when it heats up, the horses will come up to high elevation is, tree up, shade up during the day and then during the evening and you'll see them come out of the trees into the valleys.

And then when sun rises that's another good time to see them, early in the morning, coming out of the valleys as they head back up into the trees.

They'll stay up in the trees during the day, hottest part of the day.

>> I've seen some of the aerial photos you've taken, and the horses seem to be like these are, very relaxed and comfortable.

They don't seem to be trying to get away from helicopters.

Is that because of the distance you keep?

>> We generally try to keep our distance.

We do fly underneath 500feet so we all wear special flight gear, take special training for it.

And the horses do run, however the pictures I take, I use a very long lens, and I try to get the picture of the horses, get up to a ridge and they'll stop.

But these horses, especially in this area, they're very wild, and it's not unusual if you were to even open your car door they would run off.

>> Okay.

>> we've done previous inventories that the horses have run north, south, east and west.

>> scattered to all four corners?

>> Now it's our turn to scatter.

So it's back to the truck for the short journey to black forest.

>> At black forest we meet Tim Murphy, am archaeologist who introduces us what's left of the town.

>> at least 9 communities on spruce mountain, and they came in to times there was a rush and then they would die down and then maybe 20 years later they would start up again, and so this is just one of many.

These buildings are-- we're looking at now, are post-1900 buildings.

>> okay.

>> And they were-- some of the wood was salvaged from spruce Mont on other side of the mountain when they built these.

>> Steal from each other -- >> Right.

>> -- to go to the newest hottest spot.

>> Right.

>> And work until it dried up and move the essentials to the next place.

>> Right, yeah.

>> What do you think of this?

Is this a house?

>> Yeah, this is a house.

Two entrance doors and one big room.

It looks like there was a divider.

So this might have been equivalent of a two single-room apartments.

This is private property, but it's not posted.

It's-- I've never heard of any objections to people -- >> Treat it with respect.

>> And of course care.

It looks a little rickety.

>> You can see two rooms with two entrances, so whether there were one or more men living in each side, I don't really know.

But I would just assume there were at least a couple of people living in here, if not three or four.

>> a rental.

>> you just may want to stay out of a lot of these.

Come look in the door, and because you don't want to get hurt on one of these.

>> in front of us here, this is all collapsed.

>> yeah, this is the old boarding house.

And it's totally collapsed.

Probably again dates earliest 1920s or so.

>> so when you say boarding house, it makes it sound as though, I mean there were quite a few people-- I mean, there was quite a community up here.

>> Yeah, different times, I mean, part of the time black forest was virtually abandoned and other times there were families and there was one or maybe even two schools in black forest at one time.

>> It's too dangerous to go inside what's left of the boarding house.

But we're able to get close enough to see some relics.

>> It's a wood cook stove.

Indicating that the kitchen is probably not far from right there.

>> Yeah, it's tipped over.

>> oh, I see.

So you're touching what was the front.

>> Right, right, yeah, this is the front.

>> You can kind of see the back over here.

>> Heres with the OVEN, and then you cooked on top of, it of course.

So it's probably pretty chose to where it was.

So maybe this is where the kitchen was.

Hard to say.

Oh, yeah, and here you probably have the kitchen sink.

With the condition this place is in, it's hard to tell what's what.

>>You know, we've stayed in worse places than this.

(Laughter) >> This looks like an old entrance to a mine, yeah?

>> Yeah, this is a mine portal that was led into one of the main mines here, black forest.

And you can see inside that it's collapsed.

And you always-- you never want to go in one of these.

I mean, it's dangerous to even-- because if someone had been standing there when it collapsed, they would be -- >> They would be crushed.

>> Yep, they would have.

So I definitely would not go in to any of it.

It would be extremely dangerous.

I mean, first of all, the rock can deteriorate over time, and of course timbers and stuff rot, etcetera.

And just your motion in there might be enough to set it off, to get it to collapse.

Even if you had somebody out here, what are they going to do?

There's nothing-- they can call for help and then other people have to risk their lives to try and save you.

>> What is this big structure?

>> Okay.

We're standing here by the forge, apparently this was the blacksmith shop, workshop.

You've got heavy bench here and some shelves there and everything.

There's not a lot left in this.

But it clearly was a workshop and forge where they did repairs on machinery and -- >> You can see some of the original stone and the brick.

>> Some of the unoriginal beer cans.

>> People are still burning fires in here which sooner or later they'll burn the place down.

>> At least it's still here for us to see it.

>> Well, now we're coming up on the pump house.

>> Wow, this is cool.

>> as you can see, most of the machinery is still here.

It's-- my understanding is this-- these were huge pumps to pump water out of the mine so that you could work the lower levels of the mine.

And it also provided air to the miners down below.

>> so how would they have gotten equipment this big up here?

>> Just by-- I mean, if it was late enough, they would have hauled it in by truck, but more than likely it came in with-- on the wagons.

And amazing it's still here.

Often times stuff is no longer with us.

It's either stolen or been melded down for scrap.

>> Are there places that have had things taken away?

>> Oh, yeah.

>> they took this whole wall out.

>> Yeah, about 2011, if I remember right, we had a report of somebody had broken in to one of the buildings and stolen a bunch of the equipment.

The historic equipment.

And so we looked into it and found out they had indeed, they had sawn the entire metal and wood frame out of the end of the building here.

And taken the equipment.

Since this is private land, we notified the landowner and put it in their hands.

And it's sitting the way it was.

They must have planned this very well, because first of all, they must have brought a generator up to run a saw of this type.

>> Incredible to cut through the metal and the wood all in one cut.

>> Yeah, and even the 2 by 6 head board.

>> so that's a serious saw.

>> not only did they take the equipment, which had an historic value but damaged then the structure.

>> yeah, sooner or later the structure will fall down more easily now -- >> Sure.

>> -- because the end support is gone.

one of the pieces of equipment fell off the truck when they were taking it out and it was laying in the road when our law enforcement came, and they had actually built a frame, they had custom made a frame to put the equipment in.

>> wow.

>> So this was not a spur of the moment thing.

Somebody really had planned this out.

>> What were they mining up here?

>> Well, believe it or not it was not mostly gold.

In fact there was very, very little gold came out of the spruce area mines.

What was here was zinc, copper, LEAD, and silver.

>> Were they very successful, did they get a lot?

>> Yeah, it was a fairly successful mine.

It was very hit or miss over the years.

Black Forest here was primarily a copper mine.

It was discovered in 1869.

But it really didn't take off until after 1900.

When the copper was mined.

>> and now, techniques have advanced in mining to the point where I wonder, could any of these mines be revived with new techniques?

Is there still OREto be pulled?

>> I don't know, And so far nobody has come in with plans for a mine.

So nobody has found anything yet.

>> It's fun to see what's left.

>> Absolutely.

Thanks, Tim.

>> if you go out there, remember that some of the areas are private property, be aware of surroundings and take care of what you find.

>> Thank you to Tim, Bruce and Blaine for showing us just a little bit of what spruce mountain has to offer.

>> Next we meet up with biologist and wildlife photographer Larry Neel at Carson lake south of fallon and introduces us to one of his favorite birding spots.

>> Larry, thank you for meeting us.

we're south of fallon, Carson lake wetlands.

What can you tell us about this area?

>> I wanted to bring you to the sign because it tells a very important story about the importance of the wetlands which is made up of Carson lake, stillwater national wildlife refuge, some tribal wetlands, and also some wetlands associated with the irrigation project.

All work together to provide this variety of habitats that might go-- migratory birds find very important in their journey from sometimes as far south as tierra del fuego, at the southern tip of South America, all the way to the North Slope of Alaska.

We have these birds showing up about the middle of March and they build and build and build until about the first week of May.

>> now, there are species of birds that are here year-round, aren't there?

>> Well, there are some that are here year-round.

Some breed here, or here in the summer, not necessarily in the winter.

And then there are these arctic breeders, such as the long bllled dowitcher that just come through twice a year.

Come through in the spring, then they come through in the month of August.

And so we call August our fall period when actually it's late summer.

>> So today it's hot, it's dry.

So what can we expect to see?

What do you think we might see?

>> We're going to see somemigrant shorebirds.

We're going to see large concentration of avocets which probably did not breed here, but bred in the great basin somewhere.

And now they're staging here and getting ready to move south.

>> before we head out, Larry introduces us to the tools of the trade.

>> Probably the most important and expensive item that you've just about got to have is a pair of binoculars.

And I think you want to have the best pair of binoculars you can afford.

You know, I wouldn't recommend you go out and buy a thousand dollars pair of binoculars until you decide whether or not it's something that you enjoy doing.

There are field guides that talk about the field marks of every bird in North America.

You have to learn a few things.

You have to do a little preparation, and you have to be able to at least get a bird to its family.

So you know, looking at the morphological characteristics, the way it's shaped.

How big is it, what color is it.

Just the basics.

Does it have long legs.

You have to kind of spend some time getting used to knowing where the different bird families are in the book.

And that's kind of part of what really attracts people to the hobby is this technical skill.

>> when a person goes out birding, is it to try to see as many different types as they can, or does it matter?

>> Some folks take more of a sporting approach to the hobby and those are the ones that some folks call tickers.

In England they call them tickers, because they tick the species off their list and that's really-- that's the sum total of their experience.

Generally, your objective is usually to see as many as you can.

In a day.

>> now, you've talked about taking notes.

What are the points of notes.

>> The really cool thing, I think, is that over time that becomes a very valuable personal record of your outdoor activities.

>> Larry's outdoor activities have been pretty exciting lately as he fulfilled a lifelong dream going to Africa on a photo safari.

He captured some incredible images.

>> It was everything that I wanted it to be, and thought it would be, and there was no disappointment.

>> so as a wildlife photographer on the dream vacation of your life, or dream adventure of your life, how many photos did you take?

>> I took right around 6400 frames.

>> but half of the enjoyment is being out there to take them?

>> Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

>> what are we looking at, Larry?

Who is out here?

>> We have quite a collection of egrets, some Canada geese.

This bird right here closest to us is a white-faced ibis and then there's a bunch of them out there through the fence.

Long billed curlews.

>> curlews?

>> They're brown.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> They're pretty.

>> these larger egrets that we see are the great egret.

They're tall and they have a yellow bill.

And then the smaller ones that are kind of out in the middle of the water are snowy egrets.

They're not even half the size.

And then they have a black bill instead of a yellow bill.

>> So is this a stopover for them, are they headed somewhere else?

>> They actually breed here in the Valley.

In the Tulles and also in the trees.

>> I get the impression having seen your photos that you would not take a lot of photos here because they're all bunched together and it's almost too easy.

Is that right?

>> It would just depend upon my objectives.

But generally personally, I like to focus on portraits, which is usually working on a single bird at a time.

And if I get a bird to sit for me, which is kind of the premium event, then if that bird sits for me, then I'm going to sit there and get my portraits.

>> those bigger birds are just so fun.

>> Oh, I know.

>> They're really fun to watch.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> Larry pointed out, looks like the remains of a outhouse.

Here's the roof, apparently it was here at some point.

This is the commode, still apparently operable if you don't mind splinters.

But you could enjoy the call of nature in nature.

If you don't mind company from time to time.

You probably could still use this.

I will pass, however.

>> There are three of these viewing towers here on this property.

And they're here because they represent the end of an improvement grant that was awarded by the Fleischman foundation back in the mid '80s.

One here for that time, they're state of the art.

>> I can see in the distance-- from a distance, I immediately think guard tower.

>> Right.

>> When I first saw it.

>> I'm curious to see what we can see from up top.

>> No kidding.

>> yeah, gives you a pretty nice view, overview of things.

>> I want to see the panoramic vista.

>> you can see the old beach lines.

You can tell my the presence of those beach lines that the water level existed there for a long time.

Because it had time to deposit the sediments.

>> you can imagine at the highest level we see, if that were the water line right now, we would all be 100feet or 200feet under water, maybe more.

>> Is it possible that some of the bird that use this as a migratory path have been doing so since Lake Lahontan was full?

>> Yeah, it was a very different system then.

Much fresher, and probably without as much of a literal zone, you know.

So shorebirds would have had to have found some other place to stop and refuel.

But fish-eating birds would have been the rule here, pelicans.

>> Would have been a buffet.

>> They call this the big water.

Call this the sprig pond.

And then over here where we're going later, at the end of the system, they call that the sump.

And that's where the water all eventually winds up.

And can't escape.

>> At what point do you find yourself recognizing these bird calls instinctively?

Years go by or something that comes in weeks or months?

>> In one sense I had to learn them as part of my job.

But shorebirds had always kind of intimidated me, and then all of a sudden here I was, I was the shorebird biologist.

So I had to come out here on my own and sort is them out.

You know, using the guide and just taking this one and differentiating it from that one.

And then that one from that one.

You know, really a step at a time.

>> I'm watching somebody fly by here.

>> That's a white-faced IBIS.

>> and the wings reflect -- >> Oh, all colors.

>> Yeah, beautiful.

>> They have every color of the rainbow in them.

Pink, green, blue.

>> He has quite a beak on him, too.

>> He does, yeah.

>> He does, yeah.

>> How is it different for you if you're going to take photographs than if you're just going to go birding.

>> You're birding with binoculars and you can identify birds at great distances.

>> right.

>> Approaching them for photography is all about getting close.

And so you expend a lot more energy in the stalk, or getting close enough to get the shot.

>> one thing you do is to cut down the distance through lens magnification.

But then there's only so much that can get you.

And so then you have to do the rest by stalking.

You'd be surprised the car actually works quite well as a blind.

And for the most part, birds and animals are not nearly so suspicious of a car as they are of a human on foot.

So quite frankly, a lot of my photographs are taken right out of the window of the car, which is not very glamorous, I know.

It's not romantic.

>> You're not hiding in a blind all day.

>> No, it's not going play real well on TV, but it is what it is.

And you know, I mean, the thing about having the car is like a mobile blind.

So you have mobility, you also have speed when you need it.

You know, to close the distance.

When they're not interacting with you or perceiving you being there.

I don't use a blind a lot, and I know a lot of my friends that shoot awesome pictures would basically look down on that.

You know, but I'm just lazy.

I'm lazy and I don't like fiddling with equipment.

I'm not a gear guy.

Hey check this out guys!

>>Get that flight!

>>PIvot, pivot, pivot!

>>Get that flight!

>>How cool, it's like a big ripple.

>>There might be a Peregrin Falcon doing that.

Keep an eye out.

Oh there he is!

Peregrin Falcon up high!

>>Look at them scattering.

I always knew, or thought, I was going to be a wildlife photographer, but my first foray into it, there were some deal breakers.

And one of them was I never went ahead and bought the big lens.

So I never was as close to the animals as I thought I should be.

And I thought that was my fault.

I didn't think it was an equipment issue.

So having the digital files, having the ability to enhance them on the computer and cut the crop I wanted, change the lighting, the tone, the color, all those things, having all that creative control, right on out to the print, well, that makes a big difference.

Because wildlife photos, with some exceptions, wildlife photos are about impact.

And the impact is really in being able to look that critter in the eye.

And have some sense of in your mind of what that critter is thinking.

And that's really what gets people in wildlife photography.

>> I'm looking out and seeing a lot of birds spaced apart, fairly distant.

But I'm not the photographer.

What do you see when you look out here?

>> I would see an opportunity to probably set up on these birds right here.

I would make a low stalk-- I don't crawl on my belly real well anymore.

Too old for that.

But I would stay low and I try to get down below the horizon line here.

And then just wait and see if it these birds would work towards me a little bit.

>> okay.

Should we give it a shot?

>> Do you want to try that in.

>> Sure.

>> I want to see Larry Neel in action.

>> It is what it is.

It's not-- we may not get much product.

But I can at least show you the process.

>> Let's give it a shot.

>> I have faith in you, Larry.

>> all right.

>> well, Larry did his best.

He crept up and he tried to stay hidden, but the birds got the best of him.

And they flew away before he could get anywhere close.

Still, a bad day out here beats most days anywhere else.

Larry has a pretty nice backyard to play in.

>> After experiencing firsthand how difficult it is to get close to birds, I have new respect for Larry Neel's work and you can see more at his website.

>> One of the most fun and easy activities you can do outside is geocaching and you probably have everything you need to get started in your pocket right now.

>> We started our day geocaching just outside of Reno with one whose name is probably familiar to most star wars fans.

>> this is a geocache called R2 D2, we've been led here by a couple of dirtbags.

>> This is Tom Keefhaver and Tyler brower from the Battle Born Dirtbag geocaching society.

There are they're a lot nicer than the name indicates, and they've brought us here to start our day, with what's called R2D2, a star wars themed geocache.

>> What is geocache?

>> Easiest way to explain is going out in the woods, going out into the environment looking for Tupperware in the woods using multimillion dollars satellites.

The best way, I guess, to explain it.

>> And use using our device with the satellites to find it?

>> Exactly.

Once you get there part is enjoying the adventure or the journey to get there.

Not just whatever it might be once you get there.

However this case is a little bit different.

We're going to enjoy the workmanship, the craftsmanship of what the cache owner put into this geocache.

>> Can you explain what we're looking at here and why it's designed the way it is?

>> This is a traditional geocache.

Normally you would come up on a geocache, traditional, just a small container hidden under a Bush or in the rocks or hidden somewhere.

This one is obviously a little bit unique in that it's what we call a field puzzle or mechanical puzzle.

So in order to get the log, in order to sign, to log the geocache, you have to complete some sort of puzzle to get the geocache open.

>> Not every type of geocache looks like this.

There are multiple types.

>> Absolutely not.

This is pretty unique.

>> Chris, you and I have to try to open this because you have been here before.

>> I actually haven't.

>> Good, we'll try and if we fail you can back us up.

So we're looking to open it.

And it's a puzzle.

So there aren't that many elements to it.

So I'm guessing there's one little square over here that maybe we can try to do something with.

But then there's a bolt on top.

>> does it pull off?

>> Push them?

Or just-- I see.

There's-- they go together.

They go through.

One piece.

So-- I have no idea what I'm doing.

But maybe if-- I take the top off and then maybe if you push the side through, it comes out or something.

>> it took few minutes of trial and error, mostly error, but eventually... >> Straight up.

There.

>> Hey, success.

>> there is.

>> all right.

>> Wow.

>> so it looks like a bullet.

This cache is just a tiny little -- >> We call those bison tubes.

>> Don't ask me why.

>> I won't.

>> inside it is a small little bit of paper, which is our log sheet.

>> log sheet.

We'll write our names on here?

>> Yep.

To kind of prove you've been here.

>> Okay.

>> We figured out the puzzle.

>> Exactly.

>> and there's a nice little roll of visitors who have been here, and I guess we'll have to start writing on the backside.

>> so then in addition, you write on the log, you say that you found the cache.

>> Yes.

>> Within the geocache system.

>> And then log it on line.

Through your Smartphone or wait until you get home on your computer.

The geocaching website tracks your finds.

>> Chris can upload a picture of us as we find the cache, and then put it on the geocaching website.

How many websites are there, or is there just one main?

>> There's a couple of them out there.

There's geocaching.com.

And then there's also opencaching.com, Which is actually related with GARMIN, one of the big producers of GPS units.

>> And also opencaching.US, a private -- >> Here's the challenge.

Did you bring a pen?

[Laughter] >> Always bring the right gear.

>> all right.

>> There you go, sign your life away.

>> I'll sign at the bottom here.

>> this is actually what we call a series cache.

I believe there is 7 in the series.

>> all right.

>> Each cache will have a number.

And then use that number to give you the code to find the final location, which is secret.

You can't find it without having a code to the previous 6 caches.

>> That's pretty cool.

This can be intricate.

>> Absolutely.

>> not far away is another in the star wars series of caches.

CP30 short walk and we find something you'd never expect to be a geocache.

>> This is not your average geocache, right?

>> Definitely not.

>> yeah, this is built by-- one of the members of our group, Kevin Caldwell and he's pretty famous for building mechanical, some sort of mechanical puzzle cache.

Most involve some sort of mechanism you have to open the cache.

But this is pretty highly unusual for a geocache, so this is kind of a treasure that we like to show off to show people.

And this is one of the catches when people come to Reno, we'll tell them, put these on your must-do list, you have to find these.

>> We're east of town but we won't give you specifics.

You can find it on the geocache websites and go out and use your GPS, or get phone apps and do it that way which is what Chris and I are doing.

So we're going to take a shot at this and see if we can figure it out.

Let's do our best.

>> Pull that up.

>> is that as far as it goes?

>> I don't know if I'm weak or -- >> I know I'm weak.

Hold on, let's see about that one.

Does that one move at all?

>> No.

>> You sure?

>> Does this top turn?

>> No?

>> Faster.

>> faster, faster.

Faster.

>> like this faster in.

>> Faster.

>> you're getting it.

Almost there.

>> no, I'm not.

You guys are just being dirtbags.

>> Absolutely.

>> any chance we get.

>> this is not -- >> This is really tough.

Finally after a few frustrating moments.

>> AHA!

>> Hey.

Look.

>> That's pretty cool.

>> HA.

>> and it's gold.

>> yes.

Just like CP30 is gold.

>> that's pretty cool.

It says CP30.

Just like its counterpart in the movies.

And.

>> There's your log.

>> Little log book.

Here you go.

Let you -- >> It's referred to as a micro.

So there's different sizes of geocaches.

Either a micro, a small, a regular, or a large.

There's some locally here that are up to 55-gallon drum.

>> Wow.

>> So hidden-- in plain sight.

>> You might want to take somebody with you if you're going geocaching because I don't know if either of us could have done this by ourselves.

>> Right.

>> So that's pretty cool.

>> a lot of them that are in town that aren't too far away from your work or school.

And quick break just to get out of the office or get out of school and take a break.

>> You'll take like a lunch break and find a cache?

>> Yeah, there's quite a few in town.

You look it up and there are some that are probably within hundreds of feet of your house.

>> we're stopping because along the way these guys saw a cache they hadn't seen before.

So we're in real time here trying to find a new one.

>> looks like we're about 20feet away.

Close to it.

>> some kind of marker here, it looks like, if that's not it, then -- >> Well, no, probably part of a leaf spring.

>> a hole in a rock?

>> yeah.

>> It is called Megabore.

>> Megabore.

>> Let's see.

Oh, yeah.

There it is.

>> goes against my instincts to reach in a hole in the rock in the desert.

>> You have to get used to it, Dave.

A fear you have to overcome.

>> Part of geocaching is reaching into -- >> Unfamiliar places.

>> Nicely decorated and full of -- >> Full of goodies.

>> Good stuff.

>> this is obviously a different kind of cache, from what we saw earlier, this has items in it.

This has little toys, trinkets.

What are the rules when it comes to taking and leaving things?

>> Generally speaking if you can trade up, or trade even, is kind of the best practice to go with.

That way you're maintaining the cache for what it is.

There's always something in there for the next person to find.

If you're just constantly taking, obviously at some point it's going to run out.

>> Right.

Well, I have a little Nevada thermometer, magnet back that I think I'll donate to this one.

>> beautiful.

>> So put that in there.

>> and you're welcome to take something now.

>> I feel like there's a -- >> Shiny sheriff's badge in there.

>> Cool badge.

>> you know, my sister is a sheriff's deputy, maybe I could say I'm right with her now.

>> I'll do that.

>> I'll be sheriff Dave for the day.

>> Honorary deputy.

>> there we go.

Nice.

>> we're also going put in a couple of cards in into the cache just as goodwill.

One of them kind of explains geocaching for-- if somebody were to find this and not exactly know what it is.

Kind of tells about what it is, where to go.

And then one of our dirtbag geocaching society cards as well.

Just to kind of tell about our club and some of the things that we do to promote geocaching.

>> Then always want to put the cache back as best as you can to make sure that people that aren't necessarily looking for it don't happen upon it by mistake and if they do, there again the cards are inside.

So kind of explains what it's all about.

>> That's cool.

All right, I think it's great that we got to find one that you guys haven't already seen.

>> That's fun.

>> Cool.

>> Our next destination takes us off the paved road and on to rougher stuff.

We're headed for this chimney to a cache called chim chim cheree.

>> We'll give you the GPSunits.

>> It's up to us.

And chim chim cheree.

>> Absolutely.

>> all you got to do is follow that arrow.

All right.

>> Follow that arrow.

>> this one is not nearly as easy to find as the last one.

>> If the geocache is a beer can, I found it.

>> I don't think that's right.

Everyone ends up chipping in to look for it.

>> Cool, three wild horses taking a stroll.

>> I just took a picture of a lizard.

>>Either I'm missing something with the chimney or I've got to crawl up it.

>> Can you go up the chimney?

Maybe.

>> Stick your fingers into odd places.

>> put your hands -- >> I don't think I want to do that.

>> how about up there on that ledge up there?

>> I'm thinking maybe up here is something.

>> stand up in there?

>> Perhaps a bat family?

[Laughter] >> I don't see anything, but I can't see much because it's a chimney.

>> let's see.

>> I'm going to feel really stupid when we find this, aren't I?

>> Very good likelihood.

Look at Dave going up there.

>> Certain times you may not find the cache and have to come back a different day, different day, lighting, anything.

Enjoy the scenery.

>> Worst case, nice drive and a beautiful day.

I still want to find it, though.

I want to find it.

Is there information about what size cache it is?

>> Micro.

>> So like the ones about the bison.

>> That or smaller.

>> Great.

>> Super tiny and we can't find it.

>> I keep thinking about all these little cracks and crevices and all these little spots.

I'm not ready to give up.

>>Give that a shot maybe?

>> Ooh, a headlamp.

>> If you find the rattle snakes, leave them alone.

>> How dare you!

And spiders, big spiders.

Supposedly there's a large amount of tarantulas that come through.

>> You're not helping.

>> They nest throughout the Virginia city.

>> Don't they migrate this time of year?

>> They do.

They're moving right now.

Hopefully not up your leg or anything, Dave.

>> This is impossible.

>> Are you seeing anything?

>> Yeah, bricks.

>> bricks?

>> Lots of dust and dirt.

And little sticks and grass and no geocache.

>> So this has to happen from time to time, right, you look for caches all over the place and sometimes you can't find it, it's not there.

What do you do?

>> We log the cache-- log as DNF.

Did not find.

Leave a small note, did a thorough search, looked every, where it should be, didn't find anything.

Sometimes you have a bad day and there's been days where spent an hour looking-- an hour looking and left and came back the next day and walked right up to it.

Pulled it out of its hiding spot.

Because the shadow's a little different.

>> Or you just weren't-- doesn't have geo sense that day.

Doesn't work.

>> That's part of the fun.

>> Sometimes you get it, sometimes you won't.

>> Exactly.

>> One last destination in front of us.

And to get this we have to take some roads that can be, well, maybe a little bit bumpy.

well, maybe a little bit bumpy.

>> All right.

>> we found a spot that has-- does not have a cache already placed in it, so we're going to place one.

What is the process of placing a new?

>> We'll place a contain center a location we selected.

Not going to show you.

But you'll get the hint of what the container is.

We'll place this in our hiding spot and you take GPSreadings >> And so this is the geocache.

>> See you later.

and once we get home, you can get on the computer and log it in, put in the coordinates, come up with a name and we'll do a short description of the cache, the cache area and.

>> Can we call this wild Nevada?

>> Yes.

>> Awesome.

>> This will be published on geocaching.com.

There's also opencacheing.com and .US, alternative sites as well but this will be going on geocaching.com.

>> Are there dos and don'ts as far as things you can and should not put in a cache?

>> Absolutely.

>> Anything like paraphernalia.

Anything that could get people in trouble.

Scented.

Containing food.

Would be a bad idea because we're out in the wilderness, you're bound to have some sort of animals that are going to find what you're hiding.

And potentially try to chew it up.

In the interest of the environment, we want to make sure we're doing the best we can with minimal impact.

>> Something you don't want a person to reach in blindly and -- >> Right.

>> Get hurt by something sharp.

>> Absolutely.

>> good rule of thumb, nothing you'd want a 5 year old to get ahold of.

The rule is to trade even or up.

Items in this cache container, so if you leave something, leave equal value or equal interest.

Or better.

>> okay.

>> then if a person wants to get more involved in geocaching, your organization is one of the great ways to do it.

Getting involved with the dirtbags.

>> Absolutely.

Find us at dirtbag geocachingsociety.com is our main website.

Take you to the main chapter.

We have chapters all over the world, actually now.

But that kind of puts out our goals of what we like to do.

Geocaching and will connect you with all our chapters across the country, you can see one close to you.

>> I know one of the things or a couple of things in this cache in particular and in a lot of caches are what you call trackables.

>> correct.

>> Can you explain what that means?

Because I think this is a really cool part of geocaching.

>> so basically what there is, there's a unique code, assigned to each individual.

Could be a coin, a little dog tag, like what the military has.

And that number is specific to that item.

You plug that into the geocache, electronically, and then you follow its travels throughout the U.S., throughout the world, anywhere that it goes.

And people are meant to pass this along, to get it from place to place, not necessarily intended to be kept.

So it's kinds of neat to watch their voyage throughout wherever they're going.

Just to see where it's going, and the mileage that's incurred, and some of the stories that are told with them.

>> the dirtbag geocachers know about good geocaching stories.

Listen to this one from Tom.

>> Our group decided we're looking for a new way to project a geocache out there.

We wanted to find a unique spot, and then on top of it, we wanted to do it a little bit differently.

We got together with the University of Nevada-reno, KNPB, and actually launched a geocache into space, by the way of weather balloon.

Kind of a unique method of doing it.

Once it got up to 97,000feet, give or take, the balloon exploded.

Okay?

Then it had to go somewhere.

Right?

>> Down, I would assume.

>> It went down.

>> so it actually incidentally landed not too far from here.

We put a cache in that location where it landed.

And the rest is history.

>> That's cool.

>> What's the name of that?

>> Project explorer, landing zone.

>> Project explore cache on the websites that do geocaching and maybe you can come out and do a trade, trade up or trade even.

I've learned the lingo.

>> and possibly if you need, clean while you're there.

>> Cache in, trash out.

Do what you can to help out.

>> We're going to hide this one and we can't show you where, so don't look.

See you.

>> we had our geocaching have had adventure.

Now your turn.

You can find our geocache or try geocaching around your home or work.

I bet you find something.

>> That's really the point of all the wild Nevada programs.

Is to share some of what Nevada has to offer and encourage you to get out there.

>> Thank you for joining us on our adventures, and maybe we'll see you next time.

>> Until then...

I was getting ants in the back of my leg too.

-Ants in your pants?

-Yeah.

-Look at this machinery these are huge.

-Wow, theres a lot in here What is this?

I just kicked the door.

Let's do that again.

Chris would approach from like 20 feet out -I would walk into the fram with my hand out.

-Like there was a magnet in her hand, and it was pulling her toward this person.

We always give her crap about that.

-I use my hands alot.

-She's friendly.

You need to write on something?

My true skill on display.

Funding for this program has been provided in part by the Union Pacific Foundation.