Dreaming of a Summer Place

Working on my story about geocaching sent my mind off on a few journeys yesterday.  Part of the story involves descriptions of where people can find geocaches.  

Some of those places we tend to visit almost every summer.  One of them:  Boulder Meadows.

It's a beautiful, serene place, loaded with memories.  I don't know when we'll make it up there this year, but I know we will.

Last year it was Aug. 9 before we took the drive up Twenty Mile Road near Naples.  You pay to get to Boulder Meadows cuz that drive seems SO long with the bumpy road. 

The investment is well worth the rough ride, though.

It's a "can't wait" situation---to climb out of the car, grab the backpack and take off into the meadows.  Any direction is okay cuz it's all lush, green and alluring with the tall grass and seemingly manicured evergreens. 

A creek runs through the place, and Bill likes to catch the little fish.  Trails lead up to the mountains surrounding meadows----toward Montana, Grouse Creek, etc. 

People love to ride their horses there.  People hike, geocache, fish and camp.  It's set up for horses to stay overnight, so it's always a popular draw for trail riders.

While piecing together my story yesterday, I enjoyed some of Janice Schoonover's reflections of her time spent there, some of it geocaching. 

So, this morning I'll share a tidbit or two of the information she shared with me that will go into this piece, written for a horse magazine.

From Janice:  My favorite cache that we have placed is the "Sheppard Rock Cache" on Boulder Creek.  Another of the great benefits of the sport of geocaching is that caches are placed in areas that might otherwise be historically lost forever.

This is one of those cases.

Many locals at some point have seen Sheppard's Rock, but because of the way an area changes and trees grow, it is hard to find it today.

Also, with the letters fading so badly,  you really have to know what you're looking for.  This is one of the reasons we placed this cache.

There is something about Boulder Meadows that is just special.  I have great memories there of past family and 4-H trail rides. 

The only log on this cache so far is by Hutski ( a geocaching handle) and one thing he wrote speaks to the specialness of the area:  Boulder Meadows is an incredible area, and I get a nice feeling being there.

Here is my description of the cache (written for www.geocaching.com website). 

'This cache is located at a little-known landmark called "Inscription Rock," located in Boulder Meadows.  I am not sure when I first visited this rock, as Boulder Meadows was a destination for many overnight horseback trips.  

One of the highlights of these trips was to ride to the rock and read the words that are written upon it:  Jesus, In whom we have redemption through His blood, the foregiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.  --Ephesians 1:7 KJV

Janice goes on to tell about the theory that a Basque sheepherder probably etched the words while watching his flock in the meadows during the 1920s.  

A few decades later, the setting served as a summer destination for cattle herds, owned by locals like LaVerne Coon. 

I would bet that anyone who's ever spent any time in Boulder Meadows has the same reverence for the place that Janice and I share.  

It's just something special, and I can't wait for our summer return to the area this year.

Maybe I'll make it back there on a horse again, just like the first time I ever laid eyes on it on one of those 4-H trail rides Janice spoke of---nearly 40 years ago.

Whatever the mode, I'll have to go check out that rock and its fading inscription.