The ride was pretty uneventful until I got onto Hwy 12 and I
really hate following semi trucks. It just
made the trip so much slower. My first
stop along the way was at the Bevin Lake Rest Area and my first cache of the
day. I remember stopping here years ago
to find one almost in the exact same spot.
Since then that one was archived and Rainier100 2: Bevin Lake Pit Stop (GC63X0W) was put in its place. I pulled in and decided to grab the cache
before I used the restroom. I hustled
over to a beat up stump and grabbed the small lock ‘n lock. I signed the log book and wrote down the code
word off the lid.
As I walked towards
the building, an older gentleman pulled up in a pickup truck with a kayak in
the back. I thought nothing of it until
he yelled, “Go Cougs!” at me. I had
forgotten I was coug’d out in my sweatshirt and shorts. I yelled it back at him and then went and did
my business. I came back out and he
struck up a conversation with me. He
asked me who I was, where I was from and when I went to WSU. He said he has heard of Rainier because he
taught at Central and one of his students was from there. I asked him who and he said it was years ago
and could not remember the name. He was
on his way to Astoria to drink beer and kayak for a few days at Fort Stevens
State Park. We talked about the upcoming
football season and I found out he played football at WSU over 40 years
ago! I told him I lived with a football
player while I was in school and he asked who it was. I told him Matt Mullinex and he said that he
knew him! It really is a small world. I told him it was nice to meet him and I told
him I might run into him sometime down the road. I got back in the Escape and drove further
east.
My next stop, I’ve tried to stop many times to go and grab Chain Up and Cache Up (GC2R024)
but the weather wasn’t all that great or I was short on time so I bypassed it
for another time. This was that “another
time.” I got as close as I could to it
and read that I had to walk up a small hillside next to a waterfall. I had no idea there was a waterfall back here
and this is where they chain up to drive over the mountains. But then, I’ve never had to stop here to put
on chains. I read the hint and a few of
the logs just so I am not looking for a long time. It seemed pretty straight forward unless
someone didn’t put it back right. I
walked up the hill next to the small babbling waterfall. I found the cache in the second place I looked. I signed my name and took a few pictures with
the waterfall in the background. I put
it back and went back down to the Escape.
Just a few miles up the road, I stopped for MMT HWY 12 WHITE PASS (GC1FVZ2)
that I’ve never had time to stop for. It
was in a small stump on a not-so-steep hillside with the view of Hwy 12 and the
bridge over Cortright Creek nearby. The container definitely had
some weathering to it. I dumped out a
small bit of water and surprisingly the log book wasn’t soaked! I got back in the Escape and got back onto
the highway.
I stopped again quickly to grab an earthcache I’ve had my
eye on for the past few weeks. Last year
I stopped here to get the traditional before Rainier100 3: Columnar Dacite Cliff (GC65KFG) was even here. I saw that it was a normal earthcache at
first then it became one of the Rainier100 caches for the third series. I answered the questions and took my selfie
with the cliffs. I would receive the
code word on July 1st when the series is published.
I put some miles behind me and when I got to the top of the
pass I stopped to get Rainier100 2: White Pass Ski Area at the top of the pass. I parked at the given coords and walked down
a dirt road for about a quarter of a mile.
It was a really pretty walk with the mountains with Leech Lake down
below. I talked to Ben as I walked out
to the cache site. The mosquitoes were
really bad! I had to keep moving to keep
them from landing on me while I signed the log book. Another geotour cache down and several others
to go! I walked back to the Escape and
told Ben I would call him when I got closer to Naches.
I stopped one more time along the way at the Clear Creek
Falls Viewpoint to get the multi cache.
I thought I did the final coords correctly and even double checked
them. It was my math that was my
downfall. I tried looking for the cache
based off of the pictures but failed. I
was there for probably an hour or so trying to figure out what I did
wrong. I was so frustrated! I got a text message from Willmarth asking me
where I was. I barely got service
here. I got in the Escape and got back
on the highway. I had to stop for
construction twice so that delayed me at least 45 minutes getting down the
pass. While I sat in construction I
found my math error and just couldn’t believe I would make that error! Lame!!
I got to Willmarth’s house around 6:45 and they were eating
dinner. That was probably why they
wondered where I was. They were eating a
Schwann’s sample platter of fries, mini corn dogs and chicken fries. Shannon threw some in the oven for me. I was hungry so I ate all of mine and it was
pretty good. We visited and shared what
has been happening lately. I told them
about my job and the house that we are in the running for. They told me about their adventures, their
new couch they were getting tomorrow and his job with Aflac. A few hours later we went and got ice cream
cones from the ghetto ice cream shop on the corner. We all got twisty cones and they were delicious.
We
went back to the house and spent some time just hanging out and watching
TV. The weather wasn’t as nice as I
thought it would be and he had the AC on the entire time and I got cold. We took the dogs over to one of the
elementary schools with a fenced playground to throw the ball for Fletcher and
Zoey for an hour or so. We got back home
and I got cleaned up, hung out for another half hour and then went to bed. I was exhausted.
Next Adventure: The Itty Bitty Series on Rollerblades, The Dump and MOD Pizza
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