Numbers Run to Grants Pass

Posted on February 28, 2010 by mdavidson

Quite the contrast to yesterday’s soggy excursion…..today my feet stayed toasty warm as Bad Duck, emeljay and I decided to make a numbers run to Grants Pass – a welcome change up!

Started off the day by picking off a new cache along Highway 42. Another new one just off I-5 south of Roseburg caught our attention as well since it was advertised as a TB hotel cache – Safe House. Three of us found the “safe” just fine but couldn’t find the key to open it. We gave up after about 30 minutes but did manage to pick up a little poison oak that would later show itself!

Stopped for a few more along I-5 as we made our way south until stopping for some breakfast at Heaven on Earth in Azalea. Turns out a regular part of this restaurant’s Sunday menu is a guest singer of hymns. Today’s performance was really irritating a man at the table next to us and was getting rather rude! Too bad some people are so easily upset! Darren picked up one of their famous “Giant Cinnamon Rolls” to bring back to Lisa – that thing was HUGE!

Bellies full, we head directly to Grants Pass to begin a day of caching fun.

Highlights from the day include:

* Bruises from emeljay’s elbows in the ‘race’ to each cache!

* Regular application of hand cleanser – especially after seeing the nasty latex gloves Bad Duck found tucked in a rock wall!

* The always interesting sites of the obligatory cemetery caches.

* The security alarms going off as Darren drove onto an apparently closed museum driveway. Lights! Sirens! Dogs! Oh My!

* Caught by a muggle lady who knew where the cache was but WOULD NOT help us one little bit!

* Personal single day records for both Bad Duck and emeljay.

* Guided by local cacher – Duck – for the final hour of caching

Duck joined the three of us for some dinner at Applebee’s then we headed back to the coast. Fun day and soooooo much better than slogging through sand dune puddles!

Gettin’ Soggy in the Dunes

Posted on February 27, 2010 by mdavidson

As much as I enjoy hiking around in Oregon’s coastal dunes, I was reminded today that doing so this time of year will likely result in wet feet. That’s exactly what happened to Rod of Family Explorer and I as we tackled a few dune caches between Florence and Reedsport.

The day began on a very positive note as we nailed FTF on the newly reconstituted The wedding cache, The old ball and chain II. Just as we were leaving the parking area, we spied a familiar vehicle belonging to a well known FTF addict…….Mr. Copper! Approaching the vehicle we noticed he had company…..Bad Duck. Their collective shoulders dropped in disappointment when they saw us – FTF stolen right out from under them!

With that high note accomplished we headed to Siltcoos Campground to start our dune trek for a group of six caches:

The “wet” theme of the day raised it’s ugly head right off the bat as we made our way to Vehicle Closure – had to broad jump a submerged sand road twice to sign the log – feet wet to just above the ankles! ….It would get worse!

Next cache was Sand Dunes #2. No wading involved at this one, thankfully.

The next two caches (The Firefly Cache and Sand Dunes #3)allowed the boots to dry some more as we made our way along a sand road and into the open dunes where we spotted an ATV class underway.

Minor water obstacles getting to The Firefly Ladies cache………….then the fun began!

One final cache to get – On the Road to the Sea. Had we known how much standing water was in the sand road giving access to this cache we might have just bagged it and came back during drier times. However, once we were within 500 feet there was NO going back! And that’s exactly where we encountered a two foot deep ‘river’ running down the access road to the beach. We managed to keep fairly dry by skirting the edge of the road but the final 60 feet left absolutely no other choice but to wade right in…..so we did. To make things worse, we weren’t finding the cache right away and we’re sloshing around in the water looking here, looking there – finally spotted it but not before feeling the cold February water soak completely through our boots.

Our return to the vehicle would be best accomplished by heading west to the beach another 500 feet then south one mile. The problem was another 100 feet of deeper water to slog through before getting to the beach! It didn’t really matter at this point so we just plowed right through it and made our way back…..our cadence set to the regular ‘squish’ ‘squish’ ‘squish……

Despite the water filled boots, we had a good day and chatted about future plans to complete some of our common geocaching challenge caches. At least it didn’t RAIN!

Winter Camping at Silver Falls SP

Posted on February 18, 2010 by mdavidson

Patricia and I had an opportunity to have our grandson for a couple of days and we jumped at it! We decided rather than waste much of our time together driving to and from Portland twice, we would just rent a cabin at Silver Falls SP and do things with him in that picturesque setting. Lots of trails to hike and waterfalls to view – the famed Trail of Ten Falls.

So we picked him up in Portland yesterday and headed out to the cabin. Checked in, unpacked and fixed some dinner. Got the park maps out and planned our day. It was very strange to head to bed at 8pm! I guess not having our normal access to TV and internet will do that!

Thursday was our only full day in the park and it began with a morning trip over to the historic South Falls Lodge built in the 1930′s to see if we could get a cup of coffee. No luck – winter hours were in effect! So we just walked down to the nearby South Falls viewpoint for some pictures and two geocaches. We didn’t continue down the 6 mile loop since we had walked that loop back in May of last year with my daughter and her husband. Instead, we headed over to the North Falls loop. This trail loop was about three miles total and showcased four nice waterfalls and two geocaches. It was a very nice, sunny winter day making the hike extremely enjoyable. In the summer, these trails are just wall to wall people….really like doing these hikes in winter especially on days like this!

South Falls

Checking out a geocache.....

After finishing our hike, we headed on into the nearby town of Silverton for some dinner and a couple of groceries. Someone recommended a little mexican place called Los Girasoles. The burritos were HUGE and very tasty! Back at the cabin we stayed up later than last night……uh… 9pm! Wow, night owls!

This park has some really nice trails I would like to come back and explore – not a lot of geocaches but the ones here are nicely done and get you out on these trails.

Left the park early morning to get Elliot back to Portland to meet up with his Dad. Before leaving however, Elliot and I snuck out on a frost covered trail for a nearby cache called Green Giant!.

Getting Back to Dune Hiking

Posted on February 15, 2010 by mdavidson

Continuing with my intention to find all geocaches in the coastal dunes on foot, my objective today was three caches in the general vicinity of Saunders Lake and Clear Lake.

I used the public parking access to Butterfield Lake within Riley Ranch county campground as my staging area. It would be nearly 1.75 miles before arriving at the first of the three – Bling with an Attitude. Took a few minutes to find because I didn’t read the hint and description CAREFULLY!

Approaching the "mushroom tree"

Number two cache – The Windfall Cache – was another full mile northward. It was a pretty easy container to spot and had my signature in the log book quickly. Rescued a TB whose goal was to visit ICE skating rinks around the world – seemed like the right thing to do since it was currently stuck in the middle of miles of sand dunes!

The third and final cache for the day – Trash or Treasure – took me another half-mile to the SE (thankfully, that’s back towards my vehicle!). This was the most intriguing hunt of the day. It involved discovering a uniquely shaped tree and trying to decipher cryptic description and hints. Upon arriving at GZ I had to wait out a family of ATVr’s stopping for a bite to eat and photo op with the aforementioned tree. Once they were gone I emerged from hiding and finally spotted the clues and eventually found the cache container….as advertised. Back to the truck now…..

Lunch break at the "octopus tree"

Total mileage for today’s adventure was 6.4 miles. It was an invigorating and satisfying hike. I know better than to say “Whew!, now I don’t need to go back out there again….good to have those caches done” Oooops! Said it, didn’t I? I’m sure it won’t be long before a new one gets placed right in the middle of this area now that I’ve cleared it out! (Update: Yup, new cache published in this same area 6 days later! – Told ya!)