By Mike Malvick (ladybugkids)

 My brother and I owe our sense of adventure to our now 91-year-old father.  We grew up taking road trips in a 1971 Chevy Suburban to beaches in Mexico and California, the Grand Canyon, the Colorado Rockies, grandparents’ homes in Missouri and Illinois, and many other places.  The past several years have been payback time when we take him places he wanted to go but didn’t have the time or the rig to go and sometimes we even take him places he did not know about.

In October 2026, we took him to Toroweap Overlook on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which involves sixty miles each way of muddy, rocky, gravel roads with no services from either Colorado City, Arizona, or Fredonia, Arizona.  We spend the night in St. George, Utah, and covered both routes, finishing in Kanab, Utah, at the end of the day.  BLM and online resources recommend high clearance vehicles with four-wheel drive, but we left our Jeep Rubicon and Ford Bronco (we took two vehicles for the three of us for safety reasons) in two-wheel drive for all but the last one-hundred yards of the trip to the rim.  Access beyond the Tuweep Ranger Station requires a $2 permit obtained from the recreation.gov website of which only four are issued for any given day, so advance planning is required.  Overnight backcountry camping permits are also available.

The remains of Hurricane Rachel dumped a lot of rain in the region during the past three days and there was more rain in the forecast, which prompted BLM to say it was “not advisable” to try the drive due to slippery road conditions and flash flood potential.  However, the day dawned extreme blue, so we hit the road early with the hope of being in and out of the backcountry before more rain came.  The first twenty miles of the road from Colorado City were especially muddy and slippery and the Bronco with its shorter wheelbase tended to crab through the mud while the Rubicon tracked straight through it.  There were also numerous deep-water puddles to ford which provided some opportunity to wash off some of the caked-on mud while in transit.  All the wash crossings were dry, though they showed evidence of recently running.  As we continued south, the brilliant Arizona sun dried the mud (but not the puddles) and the roadbed became progressively rocky, so the driving became more pleasant.

We passed through fenced BLM ranch land and were surprised to see cattle grazing in the Parashant National Monument, which we later learned is jointly managed by the National Park Service and BLM.  The terrain began to feature sandstone buttes and become more rugged as we approached Tuweep and entered Grand Canyon National Park.  At Tuweep, the entrance of which is marked by a sign welcoming visitors to the “Greater Tuweep Metropolitan Area,” and a 10 mph sign, we found the population to be exactly zero as we searched for a ranger to show our permits to.  We continued on to Toroweap Overlook and met “Skip,” a National Park Service volunteer, who, being in the middle of a 60-day hitch, was very happy to talk to visitors, especially since we were the first people he had seen in four days after the last group of campers cleared out ahead of the hurricane remnants.  There is parking for low clearance vehicles three miles from the Overlook, but our rigs handled the steeper hills and slickrock terrain to the end of the road without any problems. 

Once at the rim, one of the local denizen tarantulas greeted us and my brother and I instantly reverted to our younger selves and picked it up to show my father who remained unimpressed.  We walked several hundred yards of the rim of the Grand Canyon, enjoying views of the Colorado River three-thousand feet below and even watched a group of a half-dozen rafts get spit out of Lava Falls rapids, while also snapping the requisite selfie to log “One Giant Step,” GC7D60, a 2002 virtual cache.  We ate a picnic lunch at one of the tables near the overlook while successfully fending off the Stellar jays and chipmunks.  After eating, we checked out the ADA compliant outhouse with “the best view in the National Park system,” according to Skip, if only windows had been installed.

With heavy clouds darkening on the horizon, we decided not to chance staying longer and reluctantly headed out toward Fredonia.  Our timing was perfect, because a Toyota arrived just as we were leaving, which left the area uninhabited for the newcomers.  Skip stopped us at Tuweep to get our impressions and tell us about the National Park Service’s volunteer program where people can sign up for assignments like he was enjoying.  After saying our “good-byes,” we left Skip and Tuweep, now population “1,” and raced the rain north. We experienced intermittent showers during the final twenty miles of gravel road, but nothing that slowed us down.  That said, it might have been nice to drive through a deluge once we reached pavement because my brother and I spent an hour and $42 at the carwash power washing the mud off the rigs before hit had a chance to set like concrete.

There are many other caches in the area on the BLM lands to the north for those with a sense of adventure.  However, the muggle majority make-up of the group and the uncertain weather window kept up focused on Toroweap Point, which we reached while thoroughly enjoying the journey and adventure in the Arizona Strip.

by GreatlandReviewer

I occasionally receive a “Reviewer Action Requested” log written to a cache page because a cacher feels that accessing the cache is “unsafe” and/or that accessing the cache may require trespassing.

Groundspeak’s Terms of Use state: “Presence of certain information within the Groundspeak services (e.g. the location of a geocache or Adventure) does not imply that accessing such location is safe or legal.” The Community Volunteer Reviewers do not review for safety and do their best to review for legal access based upon local knowledge of permits, no geocaching areas, etc. Known information about land permission is posted in the Wiki for Regional Geocaching Policies.

Stepping outside your front door can be dangerous (bears, moose, other humans, ice), and that is why Groundspeak makes clear to players that when they seek a cache, they are doing it at their own risk. The person looking for a cache is best able to assess their own capabilities and the risks of their own actions, e.g. the choice to go out and look for a cache despite their poor health, the way they choose to look for that cache (such as free climbing a cliff or tree), etc.

At the same time, the person placing a cache also bears responsibility for their cache and its placement, e.g., obtaining permission from the landowner, placing a cache in a location that could be dangerous (such as a mine shaft or avalanche chute), etc.  For cache owners, if a player gets injured seeking their cache because it was placed without permission or in an unsafe location, even though Groundspeak’s Terms of Use tells players that they geocache at their own risk, it is entirely possible that a cache seeker could try to hold the cache owner responsible.

So, be thorough and thoughtful in your cache placements. It is all right to have cache seekers push their personal comfort limits, but be mindful when doing so.

by Wes Skinner (NorthWes)

I’m looking forward to several upcoming events which you may have missed on your notifications.

One is an event being held in partnership with the Anchorage Parks Foundation, while the other is GeocacheAlaska’s annual Geofest party. The first event on our calendar is GCBZPM5 – 2026 Parks + Trails Recreation Fair occurring on Saturday November 14 from 10am to 2pm, at the Kincaid Chalet. This Fair is hosted by the Anchorage Parks Foundation as part of an effort to introduce Anchorage residents to a broad spectrum of nonprofits, clubs, and businesses which give event attendees support in learning about get-outside activities which occur in our city’s parklands. Admission is free, and the event itself is held inside the Chalet. GeocacheAlaska! Inc. will have a table at the event, where we’re going to talk with visitors about our geocaching game. In addition to hoping you’ll stop by our table and sign the event attendee logsheet, we’d love to have you volunteer your time to help speak to ‘muggle’ attendees about geocaching and how it’s one of the best ways to get outside and visit our city parks. Please visit the cache page to learn how you can volunteer to help!

The GCBZPKF 2026 GeocacheAlaska! Holiday Geofest! is being held on Saturday December 19 from 4:30 to 7:30pm. This free event features a full dinner, a Hot Cocoa
bar, a gift exchange, several incredibly fun games, and a fantastic fun fellowship evening with fellow geocachers. Take time now to visit the cache page to see all the
details, and enter your will-attend log so we’re prepared to take care of all who visit the Geofest!

In other news, work on achieving compliance with terms of the Alaska State Parks geocaching permit has continued, with the team performing cache compliance
audits continuing to put in many hours of work to review caches within state parks (especially Chugach State Park) and reaching out to cache owners regarding bringing
their caches into compliance with permit terms. While the list of caches within state parks is now under the 500 physical cache cap, we have at most 158 caches with
Owner Maintenance being logged on or after 1/1/26, of which only 60 have the current permit number shown on the cache listing. If you own a cache placed inside Alaska’s state parks, please strive to immediately perform the owner maintenance permit requirement by November 15th!

Additionally, please edit your cache listing to show the current permit number – LAS-35694, on your cache page Here is the requested cache owner maintenance logging language we’re requesting you to use (either as owner, or as a proxy performing the owner maintenance visit for the owner):

“Annual Owner Maintenance for Alaska State Parks permit number LAS-35694.  Cache container inspected and log signed, as required.”

or

“Annual Owner Maintenance for Alaska State Parks permit number LAS-35694 performed by pre-arranged proxy with (name of cache owner).  Cache container inspected and log signed by (your caching name) on behalf of the Cache Owner.”

We are very near the deadline where we’ll be recommending archival of caches which do not meet compliance requirements regarding owner maintenance.