Geocaching

Friday, November 14, 2008

Cottage Grove Walkabout

Overview of my Cottage Grove excursions................

First evening I just made a short jaunt (Cyan color) from the motel (Village Green) to pick up two close caches before dark.  About one mile total.

Second day (Yellow)I took two walks, one at lunch and one late afternoon.  Lunchtime walk took me around the perimeter of the nearby golf course hunting a multi and a couple of traditionals in the City of Cottage Groves North Regional Park.  Nice wide asphalt paths.  Couldn’t find one micro over by the fairgrounds/race track but emailed the owner - maybe tomorrow.  The late afternoon walk took me on portions of the Row River Trail, downtown CG and finally an old pioneer cemetery.  Had a DNF at the cemetery but got a hint from family explorer next morning.  Total walking distance for the day was approx. seven miles.

Third day (Red) I walked about six plus miles going back to the pioneer cemetery and the fairgrounds to pick up yesterdays DNF’s (got ‘em both!), then west of town to a newer cemetery and back to the motel.

Cottage Grove is a mixed bag as far as caching experiences go.  More than half of the caches aren’t being maintained well but there are a few cachers keeping their caches in good condition.  Two best caches of the trip was Olympic Trials Swag by Justlook’in and Duck Spirit by GoDux.

With the finds on this trip combined with other visits here I have nearly cleared out the caches in the city limits - just one active cache and one inactive cache left.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Wading Around With A Duck

Woohoo - a day off in the middle of the week, what to do?  Well, caching, of course!  I started out the morning by heading out to get a couple of new caches out Cape Arago.  Well, that didn’t take very long - I have time to run down to Coquille and hunt for another couple new caches that folks are having difficulty with.  As I’m driving over Libby Road towards south Coos Bay I think to myself, “I should call Bad Duck and see if he wants to go with me - two sets of eyes are better than one!” Without thinking about the fact that not everybody has this day off or that some people work graveyard shifts, I quickly dial him up.  Several rings later a sleepy sounding Duck answers and I just jump right into my plans.  He’s game for the adventure.  After hanging up I suddenly realized that I just woke him up!  Well, he didn’t mind too much, I think.  So I picked him up and off to Sturdivant Park we went.

We arrived and headed out to GZ which took us across the railroad tracks (away from the river mind you - where the clue says we should be) and then down into a low lying area filled with tall grass and a jungle of willow.  We both were getting wet feet as we approached the listed coords and quickly realized that to reach GZ we’d be wading into mid-thigh deep water!  Spent a few minutes pondering whether to even attempt it or wait until water recedes when I suddenly found my legs taking me right “into the fray” - it seems I had no choice in the matter!

Well, now that I was good and wet I determine to give it a thorough search - about 45 minutes of thoroughness!  Thankfully, the water wasn’t cold - or were my legs just numb?  Not sure.....

After wading around for about five minutes I notice that Darren hasn’t followed my lead........ in fact, as I glanced his way I notice he has popped open his umbrella, turned on his iPhone and is turned slightly away from me chuckling with someone!  I don’t blame him - no sense in both of us getting that wet!  Seriously, I’m not harboring feelings of abandonment or lack of support or ....... oh.... pardon me ......  I guess it’s payback for waking him up this morning!  back to the story.......

Okay, not much to the rest of the story other than the fact that we both work on solving this puzzling cache and conclude that the coords are waaaaaaay off and Darren waits until I leave town for a few days to run out and gain FTF status!  Seriously, I’m not harboring feelings of aband......... oh, sorry I already wrote that didn’t I? 

Check out the pics on the cache page gallery for a chuckle.

Darren!  Where’d You Go, Man?

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Sauvie Island / Forest Park in Portland

Went caching in Portland with future son-in-law Andrew while the girls made wedding plans and shopped.

Started on Sauvie Island with a hike in the Wapato Access Greenway.  There was a loop trail around Virginia Lake - picked up four caches.  One multi-stage cache eluded us due to the very confusing math involved.

After Sauvie Island we went to the far northwest end of Forest Park to hunt a cache recommended by another cacher - Poet-Tree 1 - good cache.  It was off the main trail about 200 feet and hoisted up 30 feet into a tree!  Had to make a lifeline call to find it however.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Rainy Day in the Dunes

Over seven miles on the dunes and beach today from Riley Ranch County Park.  Here’s my cache logs for the day............

Abandon ship!

First leg of a seven-plus mile trek in the dunes today.  Had trouble locating so called BD - sheesh, made it harder than I needed to… but got it.

Had a nice walk into this from Riley Ranch County Park.  Lucked out and found a narrow ATV trail through the lowland jungle of pine,willow, huckleberry and rhododendron.  Also saw a couple of deer feeding in a low grassy area.

Now on to “A Day at the Beach”............

Thanks,man


Animal Quackers

Since I was already wet and pitted-out from my seven-plus mile hike into the dunes for “A Day at the Beach” and “Abandon Ship!” caches I decided today was a good day to go get this one too.  Made pretty quick work of it but my goodness that was a steep pitch up from Highway 101!  Now I’m really bushed - headed home to take in some football.

Nice big container - in good condition.  Thanks.

Met some mushroomers as I was coming back to my vehicle.


A Day At The Beach

My turnaround point on a seven-plus mile hike into the dunes from Riley Ranch County Park.  Misting pretty good out here.

Traded geocoins. 

Just as I was approaching GZ, four military helicopters came thundering north up the coastline.

Thanks

Oh yeah, milestone cache.....2200
This is a worthy milestone cache

Wow, do you think I mentioned that it was a seven-plus mile hike enough times??  Sorry folks.