AUGUST 2020 MOTOCACHING TRIP - FINAL DAY

The next morning we set out south on Highway 97. Before long it joined the Okanogen River in country Clint said reminded him of the Fairfield, ID, area in Camas County – somewhat open country with mountains not too distant but much lower elevation than Camas County. Our first stop for a cache and breakfast snack was at a historical site commemorating the Okanogen Trail also called the Caribou Trail North. The Okanagan Trail was an inland route to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush from the Lower Columbia region of the Washington and Oregon Territories in 1858–1859. The route was essentially the same as that used by the Hudson's Bay Company fur brigades, following the Columbia River to the confluence of the Okanogan River, and then up into Canada. This route also borders the Colville Indian Reservation on the west.

At Ft. Okanogen State Park we veered left on Highway 17. Along here we made a stop at the “Highway 17 Travel Bug Hotel” and unloaded the two travel bugs we had collected. It was located at a farm house out in the country. Hwy 17 goes east for a few miles before abruptly turning south. It was along this barren stretch of highway that we found a very amusing cache. It was called “Barrell of Rocks”, and that's what it was. Nothing so unusual about that, but someone had neatly placed what looked like a brand new bottle and can of beer on a flat rock in front of the cache. It had nothing to do with the cache. It gave us a good laugh.

Care for a not so cool one?

Highway 17 abuts Highway 2 at a high vista where we found the next cache. Quoting from the cache write up: “Looking out to the south the Dry Falls and Lower Grand Coulee open to a full view. Try to imagine the times during the ice ages when cataclysmic floods covered everything, cascading through from NW Montana and Canada at a rate of billions of gallons per minute. Some say they would have been the most voluminous falls the world has ever known. To the east and northeast one can see Dry Falls Dam, Banks Lake and Coulee City. Soak up the panorama that stretches out before your eyes.” And it was quite a panoramic view.

Just west of the little town of Stratford we stopped at the Stratford Cemetery. I believe it is the most unusual cemetery I’ve ever seen. It was a small plot between two farm fields, perfectly laid out with what looked like mostly newer graves. However, there wasn’t a blade of grass. It was just dirt with a little gravel in some places. Large sections were bordered with concrete and I saw what looked like sprinklers. I can only think (and hope) that they intend to plant grass in the dirt areas. Otherwise it’s bound to be one muddy mess when it rains.

The next cache which had 44 Favorite points and was located on the outskirts of Moses Lake was overshadowed by what happened there. If fact, I can’t remember much about the actual cache except that it was kind of a geometrical puzzle. I had the only mishap of the trip here. After finding the cache we decided we had better fuel up. As we were on the side of a busy four lane road we just rode across a sand strip on the side of the highway to a service station which had a curb around the asphalt. The curb didn't look too high so we thought we could just ride over it. What we didn't see was that the other side of the curb was fairly high. Consequently, when I went over it my skid plate didn't clear the curb on the way down and I was dumped in the lot. Clint had managed to pogo over and yelled a warning just as I was coming down on the curb. No serious damage but a bummer nonetheless.

We continued south on Hwy 17 which joined Highway 26 just east of Othello. We picked up a couple more uninspiring caches before arriving at Washtucna where we had lunch in a shady little park. The little park had an interesting skeleton display in it. From there we continued home on the familiar route to Highways 260 and 261 before hitting Highway 12 beyond Starbuck. We arrived in the Lewiston-Clarkston valley on a hot mid afternoon. This had been our shortest day of just 293 miles but with 8 caches logged. The total trip was just over 2,000 miles. It was a fun journey as always but I don’t think I’ll try another one in August unless I plan short days so the riding is just in the mornings because of the heat. M/W

Washtucna Picnic