Count Rugen and Prince Humperdinck

As you may be aware, we had a number of devastating wildfires burn through San Diego County in October of 2007. Information about the fires and their effects can be found at the CALFIRE website.

The Harris fire came closest to us, burning to within about a mile and a half of our home.The mandatory evacuation area boundary was about a block away, so we were packed and ready to go.

The fire burned through an area the local cachers call “Puzzle Valley”, due to the proliferation of puzzle caches. Included in those caches is a series of caches that I placed, which are based on the movie and book The Princess Bride, so I had to go out and see if they had survived, or needed to be replaced.

This is the trail leading to Count Rugen. I’m walking west, which was the direction the wind was blowing the fire. The south side of the trail burned, the north side didn’t. Had the wind shifted, I’m sure the fire would have jumped the trail, which would have brought it even closer to my house.

The cache is hidden amongst these boulders. This was the very north edge of the fire in this area.

Sure enough, the container was singed, but the contents were unscathed.

This is the location of the waypoint for the Prince Humperdinck cache. By that, I mean that this container contains the actual coordinates for the Humperdinck cache. The fire missed this one by 11 feet. I was glad to see that, because this cache container is not as fire resistant as Rugen’s.

I continued my maintenance inspection the next morning, which was a bit foggy. This picture was taken on my way up the hill to the Prince Humperdinck cache.

The area at the bottom of the hill, where Count Rugen is hidden, is burned, but there were still trees and bushes, singed and charred though they may be. Up here, where I had placed Humperdinck, everything burned to ash. The heat must have been incredible. I expected this container to contain little more than charred paper. I had placed the container near these boulders, under some bushes, so it should have been sitting out in the open.

Imagine my surprise to see that someone had nestled the cache in the shelter of the boulders! I don’t know if it was a previous cacher who forgot where they found it or a friendly firefighter.

Now imagine my even greater surprise to find that not only were the contents of the container not burned beyond recognition, but they looked the same as they did the day they were placed! Apparently, you can use a 4 dollar ammo can as a fire safe. I checked the log book to see if whoever moved the cache had made an entry, but no such luck.