Dune Hiking at Honeyman
At one time I had cleared out all the dune caches between Florence and Reedsport. Of course, in the world of geocaching one thing is constant - change! Many new caches have popped up in the vicinity of Honeyman State Park and today was the day to make a dent in them. Some require a water craft and I’ll get to those one day - but today will not be that day!
My day started about 7:30 am leaving Coos Bay. Chilly and foggy this morning - but NOT raining! Looks to be a dry day.
Three separate hikes - 8.3 miles - 10 caches found:
Hike number one started at a small parking spot and dunes access along Highway 101 almost 5 miles south of the bridge at Florence where Clear Lake Road takes off. Headed west into the dunes towards the Quad Mafia Vacation plant cache. First thing I noticed was how quiet it was - no ATV’s anywhere! I guess it was too early for them. Second cache was Sandstorm. As I’m signing the cache log I hear the first quads of the morning pull up to within 100 feet of my location, shut down the engines, yak a minute or two about where they want to ride then rode off. I emerged from the trees and continued to the third and final cache of this trek - Get Your Motor Runnin’. Hike stats: 3.52 miles over an hour and 35 minutes.
Hike number two started from the day use parking lot in Honeyman State Park. This was the shortest and easiest hike of the three. Most of the two mile distance was walking through the campground. First cache was one I couldn’t find on a previous visit when Pat and I camped here back in mid September. Got it this time after getting some much needed help over the phone from Mackie - thanks Jeff! I walked south to the end of the campground and then beyond to pick up two other caches - A “H"oney of a Cache and Fun Finder Extreme.
The final hike also started from the day use area but the direction of travel was west past Cleawox Lake into the dunes. I only intended to complete a new multi-staged cache called Mushroom Walk About. However, upon finding stage four (of six) I hear it - the faint whisper of another cache (BrikShort) luring me out - out across the treacherous path of machines screaming over the sand. Find me! Find Me! Okay! Okay! I’ll go! This little side trip added 1.5 miles to the hike. Finished up the walk about and hobbled back to the pickup as my knees were talking to me as well. This third hike ended up being 3.8 miles and took two hours (would have been quicker had it not been for a 15 minute pause giving lifeline help to Rod of family explorer).
Made one last stop as I headed for home to look for a third time for Railroad in Woahink. Thankfully, I spotted it quickly this time.
Where’s the ibuprofen?