We got into the Escape and I was the tour guide. Trish called it "traveling with Val". My adventures are going to be called from now on, traveling with Val. I decided the best route to do to avoid lots of back tracking was to start with 25 Mile Creek, Chelan, Daroga and Lincoln Rock and if we had time, Wenatchee Confluence and Peshastin Pinnacles. If not, we will get them in about a month when we go back over to Josh's wedding.
We started with 25 Mile Creek State Park (GC4BC2X). I do not remember ever coming to this park with my family...if we did it was very brief many years ago. It took a while to get there. When we got close, there was no cell phone service and the cache was located in the undeveloped part of the park. It was a good thing I read the cache page because the parking coordinates were next to a gate with a very large no trespassing sign. Trish and Ben questioned my parking. I told them it was okay. We followed the road and then it took a short geo-trail to the left. I immediately stopped when I saw the giant 3 foot snake in our pathway. It instantly got mad and I right away I thought it was a rattle snake. Ben got out the GoPro and our 5 foot long selfie stick and videoed it. The snake ended up biting the GoPro twice. Ben then used the stick to fling the snake out of our way. We continued with caution...no one needed to be bitten by a snake out in the middle of nowhere. We made it to the trees that the cache was hidden under. I singed the log and stamped my passports while everyone enjoyed the view of the lake.
We trudged back to the Escape very carefully especially near "snake zero." I tip toed as fast as I could through the spot and safely made it back to the small SUV. Everyone else behind me made it out as soon as they could as well. Our adrenaline was still pumping. Ben handed us the GoPro to watch the footage in the car and his hands were still shaking. Later on, as we drove to the next state park, Ben found out that the snake we encountered was a gopher snake. It poses and makes similar noises as a rattle snake to ward off predators. It is also nonvenomous which was good to know.
As we drove back towards Chelan, we talked about various things, laughed, told jokes, stories and enjoyed the views. When we arrived at Chelan State Park (GC4BC2T), I noticed the cache was on the other side of the road. There must be a tunnel under the road that leads to the cache. We parked near the bathrooms and saw The Little Bear Trail. This must be the spot! We followed the trail and we saw a really cool natural arch in the trees, a fun tunnel and some really cool old nurse logs on our way to the cache. When we got closer, the coords jumped all over the place. I had to consult my hint. I told everyone what we were looking for and everyone started looking. I found the correct log but waited until they got there so they could find it. Trish found it and Amy uncovered it. We signed our names and got the passport stamped. We walked back to the Escape.
We drove back into Chelan and onto the other side to the Hwy 97 Alt Route to North Wenatchee. I haven't been on this stretch of road since 2011 when I went to the Methow Cache Machine in the early fall. It was dark when I traveled so I really didn't get to see what was all out here. The Columbia River sparkled in the sunlight, the orchards swayed in the light wind, long stretches of open highway; it was just great to be over in eastern Washington to soak up some warmth. We reached Daroga State Park (GC4B4PC) and I vaguely remember coming here with my family in the late 1990's. We parked in the nearby lot and we all got out and enjoyed the area before walking to the cache. The beach was riddled in small seashells and rocks, we saw a dead fish and lots of birds.
We walked along the shore until we had to climb up the small bank onto the lawn. We crossed a small bridge that allowed us access to the medium sized island and we looked for the cache. It was hidden in a eroded stump. I took a few pictures of the area and we all headed back towards the Escape. There really weren't a lot of people around but a single worker cleaning the park and getting ready for Memorial Day Weekend.
We hopped back into the Escape and drove the short mileage south to Lincoln Rock State Park (GC4AW4H). I have been to this state park within the last 5 years, in fact, we stopped here to grab the only cache that used to be here in 2011 on the way to the cache machine. We also checked out why it was called Lincoln Rock State Park. Upon returning again, there were a lot of people wandering around, walking their dogs and playing on the playgrounds. We parked and walked over to the last cache of the day was. I knew it was going to be hidden in the rocks lining the river and because the hint said rocks. When we got there all four of us started looking. It shouldn't have taken that long to find but I managed to come up with it. Then I heard Ben say "Beaver! There's a beaver!" That's not a beaver it's a marmot! He immediately got excited and we got a gazillion pictures of the marmot.
It was getting late and we needed to get back to Chelan soon. We all decided to eat dinner in Wenatchee so I put one of the brewery addresses into Nuvi and she took us where we needed to go. There were so many one-way streets we had to do a couple of circles to get into the correct parking lot. We changed our minds and went into Rail Station and Ale House right on the tracks. This area was somewhat familiar because of the Wenatchee Cache Machine back in March 2011. We sat outside, ordered drinks and waited for our food to come. I ordered a Tricerahops brewed by Ninkasi in Eugene, Oregon. For food I tried the fish and chips. It was delicious!
We got our fill and headed back to Chelan to pack up our stuff and start our long trek home. We got a late start and ended up getting home after midnight. I dropped Ben off at the station and I got home and passed out. I was exhausted.
Next Adventure: Travels with Val: Thurston County
No comments:
Post a Comment