Days before, I talked to Bev to see when they wanted to go. It depended on Bob. Then I found out they had an appointment that day so we would be leaving around 11. They've been down to Longview a lot over the past year so there really weren't that many caches to get with them. So Bev wrote down a few that they still needed to get plus #50 Pure Insanity (GC2B1YB), one that has been on my list to do for a couple of years. Bev decided that it would be safer for someone to go with Bob up the ladder. We planned accordingly.
The day of, Ben and I got ready, made breakfast and headed over to their house. Bev wanted to see my new car so we drove it on over. We packed the car up, loaded ourselves in and hit the road. We got onto I-5 south towards Longview. It was weird to drive by the Toutle rest stop...I guess no one had to go potty.
When we got into Longview we immediately went towards Lake Sacajawea. There were three new ones in the area and we decided to start there. We drove up to the first one, Somewhere You Should Assume Nothing #1 (GC5BTTQ). We read a little bit about it. It wasn't going to be easy. We must have spent a good 30 minutes looking for it, trying to not assume anything. I'm sure we touched it a few times without realizing it. Oh well, we will have to try again another time.
We walked to the next one along the lake. It was a beautiful sunny early afternoon and I soaked up as much sun as I could. Bev mentioned that last time they were here was for a flash mob and a few of them found a puzzle cache nearby on a wooden structure. She told us where it was. Later I found out I actually solved it two years ago getting ready for the cache machine that I couldn't attend. This one was called Konichiwa (GC1MMK6) and it was a black nano on the hinge of the wooden structure. Ben and I signed the log.
We made our way further down the lake shore to one Bob and Bev could not find the last time they were here, Flying to the Rainbow Umbrella Event-Meet U There (GC56ETE). The coords took us underneath a bunch of Rhododendrons with a homeless sleeping bag campsite nearby. We were a little creeped out. I reread the cache information and found it right away. It was hanging in the Rhodie furthest from the homeless camp.
We walked across the bridge to the next cache, Somewhere Where You Won't Believe What Happened (GC5C1VQ) and apparently we didn't get the memo on how we were suppose to log it. I guess instead of what we were actually doing we were suppose to make up this huge elaborate story on how we found this cache. It was your basic, we were in town for an event thanks for the cache.
We all got back into the car and headed down Hwy 4 towards Pure Insanity. First we stopped at the Safeway to use the bathroom and to grab some snacks and drinks...I didn't bring enough I guess. We got a few lunchables, bananas and a few drinks and called it good. Bob and Bev couldn't help themselves and bought some doughnuts. We were now on our way towards the cache we came down for. But first, we stopped for another one Bob and Bev couldn't find the last time they were here, Skating Down Ocean Beach Highway (GC4M6DD). I found it after about ten minutes of searching. It was right in front of the car, lol.
And now to the main event, Pure Insanity!
"This cache has been on my to do list for a few years. The weather was great and we were going to Freda's event so why not do this one today? We did a little research and looked at people's logs and pictures just to see what we were in for. Bob, Ben and I aren't afraid of heights so that was settled quickly. We all are pretty hardcore and will climb a rickety old ladder if it meant we were going to find a cache out of the deal. We parked the car in the tiny space, grabbed what we needed and headed down the trail towards the waterfall. We took turns taking pictures of us with the falls and prepared to climb the ladder. Bob went up first, then me and then Ben. We took pictures along the way.
We got up to the cache and immediately started looking underneath rocks. We weren't even close but we kept at it. The GPS did not help us so we might as well not look at it anymore. We could hear Bev down below asking us if we had found it yet...about fifteen minutes into our search. We continued looking. I know we all overlapped places we've all looked and re-looked at places we already searched. This was getting frustrating. I didn't want to come up here empty handed. We continued looking.
Eventually I needed more of a hint on where on the hillside we were suppose to be looking. There were a bunch of rocks and places you could tell people have walked through and found nothing. I had somewhat of a cell signal so I opened the cache page and tried to find something that would help us out. We did find a pretty good hint that helped us tremendously. In about five minutes I finally found the elusive container we were looking for. "I FOUND IT!" Everyone came up the hill in relief and with giant smiles on their faces. We signed the log and took a few pictures and headed back down the ladder and out of the area to the car."
It was nice to go out on an adventure like this one. I've really missed doing stuff like this. It's sad that summer is on its way out and the cold rainy dark weather is on its way in. I wish summer lasted longer.
We stopped along Hwy 4 to grab Fishing Hole (GC1N52K), was down a steep cliff, surrounded by sticker bushes and poison oak...we let Bob grab that one since he was dressed for the occasion. He found it inside a stump buried with at least 4.5 inches of debris on the top of it, plus it was wet. We all managed to get back up the hill to the car and we took Bob's layers off of him to avoid the spread of the poison oak just in case any got on him.
We drove back towards town but decided to take a detour before going to Freda's house. We've been out here before but didn't find one and quite a few of them were archived and replaced so we had to go out to Willow Grove. It was a park that lies up against the Columbia River. Get Me to the River (GC3PBJ0) was one we DNF'd back in May 2013. I guess it was missing when we looked but we were looking in the wrong places. I decided to broaden my horizon by looking on the other side and I found it very quickly and everyone was like "wow Val, you're on a roll today!"
We got into the car and drove to the other one on the other side of the park. Drifting Along at the Beach, Hiding in Plain Sight (GC59Z10), was a bit tricky. We've come across others like it in the past...it was whether or not you found the correct one right away. We immediately started looking at every piece of wood on the ground. We had to have touched every single piece of wood except for the one I picked up because I saw glue on it....found it!
We had about a half hour to get to Freda's potluck event so we drove back into Longview and up the steep hill to their house. The last time I was here it was dark so Ben and I got out and enjoyed her huge ammo can in the daylight (GC4RPG8).
And now onto the festivities with Summer's Gone, Potluck Event in the Country (GC5A8Z6). We talked to many people we knew, met people we didn't know, shared stories, ate food, watched dogs fuss with each other and lost at a raffle. It was just nice to be able to go to an event since I've missed so many since April. It was getting late so we decided to use the restroom, grab out stuff and hit the road. We said by to Freda and to thank her for having us over. We piled into the car and found three more on the way out, Honey I Shrunk It (GC4Y1J9) which was a tiny ammo can, Take a Smile with you Wherever you Go (GC4D8H3) and Somewhere Screaming Find Me (GC5BW13), both were guard rail caches. We found the last one with a guy named thecatdaddy.
We got onto I-5 and headed north to exit 88. We got back to Bob and Bev's around 9. Ben needed some sleep so I sent him back to Rochester to go to bed. Another crazy adventure down and thousands more to go.
Next Adventure: Johnny's Island Throne Room and All Aboard Farewell Dinner Event
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