Sunday, November 14, 2010

A Geocaching Afternoon

The snow never came yesterday, but the day was dank.
Inside, the outside was gloomy.
On some outside trips, cold pierced clear to the bone.  On others, it seemed tolerable. 
Bill and I finished some morning projects.  
I started my afternoon with a visit to my sisters' home.
When I arrived home, Bill was getting set to go geocaching at Round Lake.
He can read me.  Without my saying a word, he said, "It's at least a mile walk both ways."
"Is there a lot of up and down?" I asked, knowing that on a wet day, I did not want to go slipping, sliding or stumbling, as I'm prone to do.

Plus, my right knee locks up and screams out on steep declines. 
"Nope," he said. 
That's all I had to hear.  Trapsing along with him on a geocaching outing sure beat sitting inside the house looking at the gloom outside.
I've adopted a new attitude about these relatively short trips.  If I get wet, I'll be home soon, and getting into dry clothes will feel SO good.
So, we left the dogs home and took off for Dufort Road.  We passed Round Lake State Park and Bob Gooby's subdivision, turning left.

The road took us to an opening with a locked gate.  Two other cars were there. 
"Turists!" Bill commented, as he always does wherever we go where he thinks we'll have the place to ourselves.
Not that WE are turists or anything like that.
The goal for yesterday's geocaching outing was to find four caches, all set out by a lady who'd moved up here from California and who has several thousand geocache finds to her credit.
Bill has up in the 500s in the "finds" category.  I didn't ask him how many caches he's set out himself.
We found the first cache within just a few feet of the car, and I found it---without a GPS.  That's always my challenge when I accompany Bill, and that might be why he doesn't ALWAYS ask me to go along.
Actually, yesterday I found two of the four without technology, but Bill found one because the lady doesn't know her trees.
One hint was "Cedar/Hemlock." We arrived at the approximate place and when I started looking for a Cedar/Hemlock" combination, Bill said, "Found it."
He was standing next to a big Ponderosa pine.  So much for knowing my trees and score one for the GPS.
We walked on nice grassy trails, mostly level as drizzle fell from above.  We also meandered around horse droppings.

Bill said riders can take the trails belonging to the State of Idaho Department of Lands  and Stimson but not those in the state park.
Our hike yesterday extended to more than three miles, and our pants and shoes got pretty wet by the end.
Still, it was a great experience being out there in that fresh-smelling forested area.
Dark had fallen upon us by the time we got back to the gate.  Bill signed the log in one more cache in the darkness---because we had already found it earlier. 
We took our wet feet and pants home, changed into warm, dry clothes and enjoyed a quiet night watching football.
Not a bad Saturday, and I must say geocaching tends to do that for you on any day in almost any kind of weather.

On a news note, we're proud and happy to spread the word that this past week Groundspeak, Inc., where Annie works in Seattle, was named one of the best companies in the  Pacific Northwest, specifically for fringe benefits.

And, as avid geocachers, we're so appreciative of the sport they have created for worldwide enjoyment.  Congratulations Groundspeak!

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Today it's okay if the weather's gloomy.  The ZAGS play at 1 p.m., and we'll be revved up and ready to cheer them on.
GO ZAGS!

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