They're going to build what here? was our first find of the day. It was referencing the new golf course that was going in. It opened June 1, 2007. An excerpt from their website:
"As you play The Home Course you can't miss seeing some very unique features spread out across this historic piece of property. First there are the 150 year old apple trees that line the first fairway. Next is the fenced in area just left of the first green and across from it an area protected by a split rail fence. And on almost every hole you’ll see a concrete block, building foundation, or tracks from a narrow gauge railroad left there from a by-gone era.
Mother Nature has also blessed this piece of property. Views of Mount Rainier, Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountain Range, Old Fort Lake, Sequalitchew Creek, and glimpses of Anderson and McNeil Islands are all part of The Home Course golfing experience.
Located on a bluff about 200 feet above Puget Sound and just outside the city of DuPont, Washington, The Home Course occupies a piece of property that is rich in Pacific Northwest history. That fenced in area next to the first green is the original site of Fort Nisqually . It is here that in 1833 Archibald MacDonald of the Hudson Bay Company made his way up from Fort Vancouver (WA) and built the first European settlement in the Puget Sound area.
Of course, for several thousand years before that this land had been occupied by members on the Nisqually Indian Tribe. So when Mr. MacDonald arrived with his men Chief La-ha-let of the Nisqually’s was already here ready to meet and assist him. From 1833 to 1843 Fort Nisqually sat right there next to the first green carrying on a vibrant trading business in furs, blankets, and all manner of other items. Fort Nisqually was a place where people came together. It was a place where Europeans, Scottish gentleman, Americans, Native Americans, Canadians, Kanakas (Hawaiians), French Canadians, West Indians, and Englishmen came to share stories, trade, party, gamble, intermarry, have children., and ultimately die.
What’s behind that split rail fence across from the Fort site? That is where the Fort burial ground is located. If you find your ball in there please show your respect by retrieving it and then taking a free drop outside this hallowed ground. In 1843 the Fort was moved to a location closer to Sequalitchew Creek and just east of what is now Center Drive, where it remained until 1869 when it was finally abandoned.
Between 1869 and 1906 this land was mostly part of the Edward Huggins farm and was home to sheep, cattle, and a vast array of other farm animals. The ground itself was not much good for growing being quite rocky, but served quite well for grazing animals.
This brings us to all of those concrete foundations and concrete blocks you see around the golf course. In 1906 Huggins sold the property to the DuPont Chemical Company and by 1909 they started to manufacture black powder, dynamite, and nitroglycerine here. Due to the dangers involved in making these items the various steps in the process were carried out in different locations around the property. So that is why adjacent to the number one tee you can see what’s left of a bridge foundation from the narrow gauge railroad that served the plant and behind the fourth tee the remnants of a storage bunker or as it was known a magazine. DuPont continue making explosives until 1976 at which time they closed the plant, leveled most of the buildings, and sold the property to The Weyerhaeuser Company.
After several years of study, evaluation, environmental sampling, archeological investigation, negotiations with the Nisqually Tribe, and the Washington State Department of Ecology an agreement was reached that allowed for the development of the property. Due to some industrial contamination of the site during the DuPont era part of that plan included burying the contaminated material under 24” of gravel and soil and putting a golf course on top of it.
Finally in 2003 work began on remediating the site and the construction of The Home Course. Upon completion of the golf course and a final sign-off by the Department of Ecology the Weyerhaeuser Company sought out buyers for the golf course property. The successful purchaser was the Pacific Northwest Golf Association and its partner organization The Washington State Golf Association.
The PNGA and WSGA had been looking for some time for a permanent place to house their staff, constuct a hall of fame, and bring various other associated golf organizations together under one roof. Their hope is now a reality as they plan to move forward over the next several years and construct a headquarters building at The Home Course. In addition plans call for a complimentary Clubhouse, Event Pavillion, and Pro Shop to be constructed on-site as well."
We picked up a few cans in the area before heading over to the cache. There was this nice little gazebo area with numerous possibilities to hide a cache. My gps pointed to the tree but we could not seem to find it. After about 20 minutes of searching, I finally went back to the tree and started grabbing handfuls of debris, there it was.
On our way back from the cache, we grabbed some dog poo bags and put the cans in them. We drove the car back up the hill to another little park, snuggled between two sets of evergreens. Revisiting the Red Hot Little Park, was find number two. This park had some bird houses. I made the find a few moments after we arrived. This was my mom's 100th cache with a geocaching name.
We headed up the road after deciding not to go for the multi cache because we would need the internet and we didn't have access. There were two on this really nice trail. The first one was Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and the second one was "Ohjoy!'s found how many?!" We didn't realize the Ohjoy one was down the trail so after we found the first one we walked back to the car and then walked back up the trail again. Haha.
It was now finally time for the Nisqually Pirate Cache! We found the trail head and started our way down. Last time we got to the beach area from the Sequalitchew Creek trail, this time we were south of the trail. The trail was pretty nice for the most part. You could see the barge from the trail.
Then we got to the part where we had to go down the cliff. Luckily someone had installed some ropes to make the trek down and up easier.
We got to the spit and was so excited it was a great day to do this cache!
We got there and there were three kayaker's taking a break on the spit. We went right over to the barge and started taking pictures of it. It was pretty cool.
It was about that time so we put the cache back, took a few more pictures and headed back up towards shore. My mom found a shell she wanted but it was in 2 feet of water. I was wearing my Ozark Trail sandals and grabbed the shell for her. Now we gotta go back up the cliffs.
We walked back down the trail and to the car. We were up to 5 caches and I thought it would be a good idea to get a perfect 10 today. We headed over towards the old part of Dupont to the east. We tried looking for the Nanoween Cache but couldn't find it. I got scraped in the eye with a branch.
Apparently there is a Paul Bunyon series we weren't aware of. We found two of them and will have to go back for the rest on another day. We got to the cache zone and Derek told us we were looking for a nano but we didn't know the name of the cache. After a while of looking, he read us the description, Paul Bunyon's Notorious Nano. I put 2 and 2 together and got 4. We weren't looking for a nano, but a large nano. Mom found it seconds later.
The area is known for its dynamite and its dynamite trains. The next on our list was an Ohjoy's Addiction Cache #27, at the Dupont Museum. I took some pamphlets from the kiosk.
We went for the second Paul Bunyon cache down the road from the Dynamite Train. This one was called Paul Bunyon's Flapjack Flipper. We walked to the cache zone, a place that could have been an area for a cemetery, I saw something laying on the ground that looked like a sign. I grabbed it and then it made sense, it was a giant pancake spatula with a cache tied to it. Haha.
We drove to Barksdale Station, an area off the freeway with a few dentists, restaurants and of course a Starbucks, to retrieve Coffee and a Nano. You could see it from the car, how disappointing. I grabbed it and we took it over to the benches and enjoyed the sun while we logged our names.
We needed one more for our perfect 10 for the day. We drove to the Intel building's parking lot because there was one near there. It was called TU CASA TIENE LUCES TRASERAS (your house has tail lights) and it had to do with white trash when we looked at the cache page. We walked down the trail and found the stump it was stashed in.
We walked back to the car and headed back towards Lacey. Derek popped in the lasagna while we logged our finds. It was a fun and beautiful day of caching and I hope more nice days are on their way.
Mom is at 109 and I am at 544.
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