Pilot Butte, Caching in Bend, Prineville Spires and Traveling Home

We got up fairly early because we wanted to see Pilot Butte before it was time to check out of our hotel.  We packed up most of our stuff just so it was easier to bring it down and put it in the vehicles when we got back.  We ate the rest of the bananas, doughnuts and Ben had his oatmeal he bought from the store the other day.  Dad decided to stay behind.  We stopped and got some gas from the same Arco Station we’ve been getting gas at since we got here.  It was cheap and down the road from Pilot Butte. 

When we got there we noticed the gate was closed.  It didn’t open until 10 and we had an hour to kill.  Like any normal geocacher would do, we checked to see if there were any close by and there were within a two mile radius of us.  I had Ben be the navigator while I drove.  He took us to the closest one which was at a small park in the residential area.  There really wasn’t a good place to park so we parked at a nearby street and walked the 200 feet.  I noticed a bunch of pennies someone had thrown out so I picked up every single one and put it in my cup holder in the Escape.  When we got to the park we weren’t sure what we were looking for exactly so we checked the obvious places.  Then I saw what it could be and so did Ben.  We must be looking for a fake rock.  We picked up a few and found the one, Laural Rocks (GC1WAY3) which we were looking for.  We signed our names, put it back and walked back to mom and the Escape. 

The next one, Have a Little Faith (GC4PV4X) was at the church just down the street.  It was Sunday so we had to be quick before church started.  We parked literally three feet away from it.  It was a bison sized tube crammed inside a tree system off from the parking lot.  There were a few cars pulling in getting ready for church that morning.  We left as soon as possible because we didn’t want to get involved with the crazy church traffic.

We saw there were a few over by Juniper Park.  That could keep us busy for another half hour.  We parked in the lot and walked over to the first one, Caching in Circles: Grizzly (GC2X2GR).  They were having a horse shoe tournament and mom was intrigued.  I saw the bear and they said the cache was nearby.  We looked and looked.  We knew it had to be hidden near one of those landscaping bricks.  We read the hint and found the brick that looked like a bear tooth had scraped across it.  We signed our names and put it back as we found it.  There were two more caches inside the park and we had time for them.

Juniper Park was impressive.  I wished I lived in a town that had nice parks like these.  This one had a pool, various walking trails, caches and courts for tennis and basketball.  I asked dad about this park and he didn’t know much about it.  It may have come after he lived here.  Juniper Park 1 (GC6G2AC) was a bugger to find.  It was up in the trees but you had to find the right one.  Once we found the right one you had to look at just the right angle to see it.  It was one of those poptop containers.  The other one, Juniper Park 2 (GC6G2AJ), was on the other side of the park and it too, was a poptop container.  That one was easier to find.

By the time we walked back to the Escape it was time to head to Pilot Butte.  We got to the gate and followed the road up the hill.  I was amazed on how many people where walking or running up it.  Sadly, we didn’t have time for that.  When we got up there I was amazed at the 360 views you got of the town, the volcanoes and the other surrounding areas.  I pulled up the earthcache, Volcano in Bend (GC4P8QX) and we started answering the questions collectively.  Luckily we knew most of the geology in the area so it made it easy. 

We stayed for about 45 minutes and when we were going back to the Escape to leave we saw some guy trying to find water because his car overheated, he was from Idaho.  I had a jug of water in the back so we gave it to him to use and told him he could keep the container.  He smiled and thanked us.

We drove the 15-20 minutes back to the hotel in Redmond and met up with dad.  We started taking all of our stuff down to the cars while we decided what the next plan was.  We were to meet up with Ron in Prineville.  Ben and I followed mom and dad since dad knew his way around.  We waited a bit at a grocery store parking lot and then the plans changed so Ben and I got a quick cache to satisfy that county.  We grabbed Peter, Peter ------- ------ (GC4FM14) and by the time we got back it was time to head to the Ochoco Reservoir. 

We got out and it was already getting hot.  I saw there was a geocache near a fishing spot by the lake so we walked up there to go get Picnic with a View (GC111FW).  The reservoir was nice.  The water was clear and at first sight it looked like it was weed free.

We used the restroom and about a half hour later Ron showed up.  We met his daughter and her husband.  They took their boat out to play.  Ron mentioned that he knew some spots out east that we would enjoy seeing.  He said they were some really cool rock formations.  We followed Ron down a really long dirt road and came up to the Brennan Palisades. 

They were really cool.  I can’t believe something this cool was back here.  I saw there was a cache nearby but didn’t realize it was beyond our current capabilities or I would have grabbed it.  I got within 200 feet but it involved some climbing and better equipped shoes.  Instead, we took pictures and enjoyed the area for about a half hour.

He mentioned another one, Stein’s Pillar, and that was down another dirt road but nearby.  We all followed Ron to the next view.  This one actually had a pull out and a sign that explained what you were seeing.  

We noticed that someone had left their backpack behind.  We took it apart to see if there was any ID inside and we couldn’t find one.  Ron decided to take it and drop it off at a place where they could go and claim it if they wanted to.  We saw a coyote in the valley below trying to find some food and water.  The area was really dry and the coyote looked like he wasn’t doing too well.  We chatted with Ron for a little while longer and thanked him for bringing us out here.  I even shook his hand and told him it was nice to meet him.

We headed back towards the main road and took a short cut into Madras where we met up with US97 and the junction of US26.

We were going to take US26 home through Mount Hood.  I have never taken this road before so it should be interesting.  While in Madras, mom and dad stopped for gas.  I didn’t need any gas so they said we should continue on and we might meet up for dinner or something.  The drive was pretty uneventful up until we got to Government Camp.  The traffic got a little weird because no one wanted to follow semi truck and people going slow.  

I thought about stopping to get one of the virtuals but decided to keep going.  I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic in Portland.  When we got to Sandy the traffic got really bad.  I called mom and told her about the upcoming traffic since they were behind us.  I pulled off the road because I wanted to grab one more cache to make it an even thirty.  The more caches I could get the closer I can get to my 11,000^th milestone coming up at the Ape Event in August.  I was still less than a hundred away.  Ben found one with a lot of favorite points but we didn’t realize they were having their Mountain Festival.  We had to be creative to find a parking spot and walk because we were not able to park where the suggested coords were.  We walked through the festival and saw some really cool things but we weren’t there for that.  We made our way towards the cache, Look Both Ways Before Turning (GC1Z9AF).  It was more than three stars so I let Ben look for a bit because I knew what it was going to be.  Just because we were running out of time, I found the bolt, unscrewed it and pulled out the log to sign.  He said, “how did you find it so fast?”  I told him, “there was one similar to this one in McKenna many years ago, it’s archived now.”  

We put it back and walked back to the Escape.  The traffic cleared up a bit with our cache side trip.  Mom and dad passed us and were already in Washington.  We continued on Hwy 26 until it met with I-205.  The traffic wasn't that bad going through Vancouver and we merged onto I-5 with ease.  I didn't need to get gas and neither of us where really that hungry so we didn't stop until we got home.

Mom and dad stopped at Spiffy’s so when we drove past exit 68 we waved to them even though they really couldn't see us.  Haha!

We got home around 8:00 that evening and we unloaded the Escape because it was my turn to drive for carpool during the week.  I got cleaned up, Ben ate some food and I got ready for my work week and put some of my stuff away.  I was exhausted and bed sounded good.

Next Adventure:  Harvey, The Dude