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Sunday, February 16, 2020

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GO GEOCACHING


"Swallows' Nest" from the Idaho side of the Snake River

I’m perfectly content with my household activities, but for Mike, an active outdoorsman, the winter is hard – and now all the harder since his left arm is in a cast. So, he decided that Saturday (Feb. 15), would be a perfect time to pick up some geocaches at Hells Gate State Park.

It took two hands to replace this cache
After lunch I gathered the camera, a $5.00 bill (the day-use “on your honor” entry fee), Bess’ leash with attached pick-up bags, and the car fob. Mike had his GPS and handed me a map. We were off for the adventure of finding the treasure that a fellow geocacher had hidden inside the park.

A cache in the crook of a tree
It was a good day to geocache. The temperature was moderate, it wasn’t wet and muddy, and there weren’t many other people or dogs. With Bess on a leash, we began just north of the beach and worked our way back toward the information center. In the wide-open spaces, we soon let Bess off the leash, and she had a blast, exploring here, there, and everywhere.

Our route took us to the other side of the park road where we walked trails in a southerly direction and then back into the park proper to walk through the campgrounds along the Snake River. Bess was on leash again until we reached the far campground, Loop C, which is closed to camping for the winter.

Looks like rain
It was a two-hour hike, and I think we walked at least two miles and found all eleven caches. I admit that by the time we were halfway through the list, I would happily have left the rest for another time, but Mike was determined to get our money’s worth, our concept of $5.00 being stuck in the last century, as a fellow blogger puts it.

Critchfield Road -- so near and yet so far
I function to keep untoward things from happening, and all went well except that it fell outside my control to prevent Bess from rolling in something repulsive that she thought was lovely. Immediately as we arrived back at the house, Mike managed to bathe her, and I toweled her off with a vigorous rubdown, which she loves. After a hearty supper of kibble and buttermilk, she curled up on her pillow and drifted into doggie slumberland.

A light rain commenced as we were leaving the park, and it rained more in the evening, so we congratulated ourselves that we had had our adventure at the right time. KW

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like it was a good day!I laughed at your comment about the $5 entrance fee and reference to my post. Old conceptions die hard!

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  2. I say that "twenties" are the new "ones." I don't use a lot of cash, but I notice that I hardly ever have any bills less than twenty.

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