Originally I didn't think I would be able to go to the Kickoff Event (GC5T8CD) because of work and whatnot. Then I found out work wasn't going to be an issue and I decided to volunteer to own a cache or two but did not make the cut off date so I will own some caches in the second released series. I talked to Bev to see if they wanted to go but they were busy so I asked Ben and mom if they wanted to go. They said it sounded fun. We planned to go.
I made a query of the area of the caches I still haven't gotten yet. I wanted to leave somewhat early so we could grab a few of them. Ben made it over here before noon and I had to motivate mom to go and get ready so we could go. We got some food together, drinks, packed up the car and made our way towards Ashford.
We decided to drive through Eatonville instead of taking the scenic Hwy 7 route. I wanted to stop and try to find Tom's Cache (GCMRB6) on the island you can walk to during certain times of the year and today we had some time to do it without being in a hurry. We parked in the lot and walked down to the really empty Alder Lake. This year was very dry and we are going to pay for it come summer when wildfires burn down everything.
I followed the GPS to the tree line and we started looking. The coords jumped around and the cache hadn't been found in quite some time so I struggled with the fact that it could be missing and we were wasting our time. We looked at the spoiler picture and could not find the tree. There were tons of sticker bushes and I was getting scraped up pretty bad. We didn't end up finding it because we had to move on so we will have to come back another day.
I've always wanted to visit the iron sculpture park along Hwy 706. Today we had time to stop plus I am a sucker for weird stuff to visit along side the road. I've been to some strange things over the years. The Recycled Spirits of Iron, is artwork created by Dan Klennert. He has been creating since he was 8 years old and has many pieces of his art sprinkled around the U.S. and Canada. Some of his artwork can also be seen on the film America's Heart and Soul (2004).
We parked and immediately started looking for The Iron Works Cache (GC4F72). The coords were a bit off and the hint confused us because the elephant is no longer there but the train is. Due to the process of elimination we finally found the spot and looked for a place to take a picture.
Mom wandered around while taking pictures. She ended up talking to the artist for about a half hour about his work and what made him interested in doing this as a living. He handed her a brochure and we made a $5 donation to keep his place going and looking nice.
We hopped back in the Escape and made our way to the event. They listed wrong coordinates on the cache page so we went to the wrong area and had to turn around. It was at the other ski shop. I found a parking spot and made our way to the tents. Ben went into the ski shop for a bit. We signed the log book and sat and talked to Peach and Pete for a while.
The Visit Rainier lady stood up and explained to us how the geotour was going to work. Sounded pretty straight forward to me. All the caches published around 4:00. Some people stayed and hung out and others dashed out to go get the first to find. We were hungry so we ordered food from the little cafe. Then we climbed the small wall next to the ski shop.
We decided to leave the Ashford caches behind for another day while we picked up two of the Rainier100 caches on the way home. We left Ashford and headed to the first one, Rainier100: Eatonville (GC5W8TC), that one was near a visotor's center with a rest area for travelers. It was tucked away inside a fake water meter box. When we got there, Frisbeer and his grandson were there along with another family. We all signed it, got my picture and put it back where it came from. We moved onto Dogwood Park.
I've been to Dogwood Park at least three different times for caches. Rainier100: Dogwood Park (GC5V5VQ) made it my 4th time here for a cache. The same family followed us here so we found the short multi together and mom took some pictures of Mount Rainier from the viewpoint. Soon after more cachers arrived. This time I knew them, FenChurch and NepoKarma jumped out of their car looking for the cache. I talked to them for a few minutes and then we headed home.
Ben and I were going to go to a party up in Renton to meet some of his friends but instead we ended up going to Buffalo Wild Wings with Michael and Eliane and then hitting up Jurassic World. We got home late.
Tentative Dates for the rest of the Rainier100 GeoTour:
October 2, 2015
April 1, 2016
September 16, 2016
Next Adventure: Trip to Chelan
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