CACHE ACROSS IDAHO - DAY 3

6:00 am found me slowly and cautiously climbing the steep gravel road out of the little valley where Clint lives. Because I knew it was going to be a long day, when I hit the highway I took my mapping software’s advice and started out in the opposite direction of my destination in order to get on the Interstate at Bliss. Once on the Interstate I headed east at an 80 mph clip.

At 7:15 I found my first cache in the town of Paul in Minidoka County. In a shabby section of town sat a big ammo box under a tree in someone’s fenced front yard. It was not concealed at all and even had bird droppings on it. Well, at least it was easy to find. I did not care for Paul which was a small but sprawling agricultural community that had the all too familiar stench of dairy operations that in my opinion has ruined the lower Snake River plain. I skipped the other two caches I had scheduled there and traveled a short ways east to Rupert which wasn’t any better than Paul. I did find a cache there which was a micro (labeled as a small) along a walking path in a sort of park. I will have to say Minidoka was my least favorite county and I was glad to be on my way.

I then turned south into Cassia County, which was only a cut above Minidoka, and located a cache near the small community of Declo. I had to travel about a half mile on a gravel road along an irrigation ditch to a little dam where the cache was hidden. I then traveled northeast back up to the Interstate and found a couple just off opposite sides of the Interstate off ramps. One was just a little ways off the road under a fence and the other required a climb up a fairly steep bank and was a decon container attached to a barbwire fence.

It was now 9:30 and I headed south to Power County. I quickly got into more open and scenic country as I approached the isolated little town of Rockland. Again I had to put my motorcycle down a gravel road about a mile before dismounting and climbing a steep bank for the next cache. I found two more caches at the Rockland Cemetery. One was an ammo box under a bush and the other was a really cool birdhouse.

It was 11:00, getting warm, my gas tank empty and I was a long ways from the next town. I found one self serve gas station at the edge of town but I couldn’t get it to work. I went back into town and confirmed that was the only gas there. A lady told me to try the other side of the pump and if that didn’t work come back and she would call the owner. I followed her advice but still couldn’t get it to work. Luckily, while I was there a young fellow pulled in to get gas and got the pump to work for me.

Now off to Oneida County on highways 37 and 38. I had traveled these roads a few years back on a motorcycle trip to Denver. They are a motorcyclist’s dream – narrow, winding, no traffic and scenery that is absolute eye candy. The road twists and turns through mountains and valleys and you are all by yourself. The next two caches in Malad City were just alike and only a quarter mile apart. On each side of the rural road for about a mile every fence post had a boot on top of it. Each of these caches was in a boot. The last Malad cache was on a frontage road that gave a great view of the whole valley. It was in a buried 5 gallon bucket. It was now 1:00 so I found a tree down the road from the cache and enjoyed my usual lunch of smoked salmon, milk and crackers.

As I continued east now in Franklin County the country just got even more beautiful if possible. At 2:00 I found a cache called “Standing Rock” which had been placed by a Scout Troop. As you can see from the picture it was a beautiful area. Next I stopped in the little town of Weston for a cemetery cache. My next town was Preston but I didn’t have time to find Napoleon Dynamite’s house. I did find a cache there just off a road that took you up a big hill heading out of town. I got one more cache under a big cottonwood tree at the intersection of highways 34 and 36 just north of Preston.

Now I’m taking highway 36 heading east toward Montpelier in Bear Lake County. This is another very scenic twisty, hilly motorcycle loving road.

I checked into the Super 8 in Montpelier some time after 4:00. After unloading my gear I left the motel and found the three caches in Montpelier. This was probably my favorite town on the trip. It was just big enough to have most everything except traffic problems and it was clean and neat with nice people and beautiful mountains in the distance. After a swim in the motel pool and a short dip in the hot tub I went to a Taco Bell for supper. After supper I used the motel computer in the lobby to get my caches posted. It had been another great day.