An Afternoon of Caching in Steilacoom

The night before I searched the geocaching map to find a chunk of caches I didn't have yet.  I've never really cached in Steilacoom before so I chose that area.  I wrote down the ones we could get on a list and then told Ben we were going to Steilacoom to get some caches since it would be a very nice day especially in this part of April.

We got up, ate breakfast (Ben made breakfast sandwiches) and got ready to spent part of our day in Steilacoom going on mini adventures.  We hopped in the Escape and off we went.  I got onto I-5 and just after Dupont we took Dupont Steilacoom Road, basically drove around JBLM and made our first stop at the Girl Scouts building just outside of Dupont.  I feel like I've stopped here before and couldn't find it.  I don't remember who I was with.  Ben and I spent probably 10 minutes trying to find JBLM GS Troop 43234 (GC765D5) and I honestly have no idea where it is.  According to the pictures and previous logs it's an easy find near the sign but no trace of it unless it is not where it's suppose to be.

We looped around Dupont Steilacoom Road and parked in a neighborhood with a small trail system through the woods.  Of course we took the hard way in and the easy way out.  We did find the cache, Fuzzy Fuzz (GCV2QT) pretty quickly.  It was tucked in the brush underneath a Douglas Fir tree.  We signed our names, got a photo and put it back.  I could see this cache being found by the neighborhood kids by accident and possibly getting vandalized or something.  We walked back to the Escape and drove into town.

The first one in town brought us to On This Site in 1859 (GC70FXG) which was in front of someone's house so at first I wasn't sure what I was looking for until I saw the marker hidden in the brush.  Ben, it's right here!  We checked behind the marker and it was a cache hidden is a loose brick.  We signed our names, took a picture and put it back.  

The house we were parked next to screamed spring.

We got in the Escape and found a place to park since most of  the caches in this area were within walking distance and we could use a good walk around town.  The closest one to us was Waiting on Christine Anderson (GC4FMF4).  It took us to a small picnic area with a marker that told us that the road near here was a Washington State Historical Road #1 Byrd Mill Road.  

"Established by Thurston County Oregon Territory Legislature in 1852 and reestablished by Washington State Legislature in 1941.  This military road afforded the only route of escape from the Puyallup Valley to Fort Steilacoom during the Indian War of 1855 and to the Pioneers was a highway of great importance.  Along this route in 1864 there was built the Russian-American Telegraph Line which proposed to extend Europe by way of the Bering Strait and Asia.  1889 Washington State Centennial 1889  Dedicated November 12, 1988."

We had to be careful because there was a muggle nearby at the picnic table sorta kinda minding their own business.  We checked the obvious places and struck out.  We kept rereading the hint over and over...what did it mean?  Then I had an idea, let's expand our search and check out this tree.  It's gotta be a nano cache stuck in one of the perfect holes.  We checked and there it was.  We took it to the picnic table and signed the log.  The cars had started lining up to get on the ferry so I had to make it look like I was on the phone when I put it back.

We walked down the main street towards Addiction Cache #6:  Charles R. Buchannan Park (GCQFAH) and on the way there we walked past a house where they were enjoying their yard and their pug dog came out and barked at us and then wanted to be pet.  So Ben pet the dog and the owners apologized for their dog coming out and barking at us.  We told them it was okay.  We continued up the hill and to this very small park with some stairs.  It was a great vantage point in town to look out at the Puget Sound.  We found the cache quickly and a cat named Felix came out to be pet.  Ben petting him while I signed our name on the cache.  I quickly put it back because some people were coming down the stairs.  We enjoyed the view for a few minutes.

Pioneer Orchard Park was just up the road.  There were a lot of people walking around because it was a really nice day.  People were also trying to be diligent about staying 6 feet away from other people while enjoying the outdoors.  The Grey Havens (GC4TYQT) was in the northwest part of the park near the performance stage.  Because of God Damn Covid the stage was roped off.  I checked the logs, well...people keep on finding it so it probably isn't on top of the stage.  We keep looking and the hint is not helpful.  I tried feeling for something that didn't belong.  I touched places with sticky spider webs on it and attempted to push on thigs to see if it moved.  This cache was driving us crazy and it was one that probably blended in really well with its surroundings.  Just as we were going to give up an accept defeat a piece of the structure moved.  Ben!  Ben!  I found it!  It was a part of the floor boards of the stage that someone had turned into a very clever geocache.  Ben really enjoyed that one.

We walked another block to the next cache and our last cache in the town of Steilacoom before walking back to the Escape.  This one was called Apple Blossoms (GC6408V) and it was an appropriate time to find this one with all the spring blossoms in bloom.  It took us a few minutes to find the correct hidey hole the cache was sitting in.  We found it though and then took some pictures with the trees because they made for a pretty back drop.

We walked back to the Escape and drove to our last stop of the day.  We took Old Military Road out to Farrell's Marsh Park.  There were a few caches in the park and as of today I've never been there.  It took us a while to find a place to park because most parking lots or parking areas to enjoy the parks around Washington were closed due to Covid.  We had to be creative.  We finally found a place and walked to the trailhead.  I looked on the map to see where we had to go.  

We walked to Caching in a Crisis VII - Hiding in the Woods (GC8NETE) and it literally took us to the swamp area.  We were walking over logs to avoid getting our shoes wet.  For some reason we couldn't pinpoint it and started looking everywhere in a 20 radius.  I walked back where we came from and I just happen to see it hanging there on a small branch.  It was a mini ammo can.  I haven't seen one of those in a while.  We signed it as quickly as we could because the mosquitos were really bad.

We got back onto the main trail and followed it to our next cache, Brought to You From New Zealand (GC83WT3), which was on the west side of the park.  We walked past a few people who were also enjoying the park and they said hi as they walked past us. 

As we approached the wooden footbridge, we noticed a bunch of places where beavers have chewed the trees up.  We admired it for a few minutes and then we walked to the bridge.  

I read the directions of where it was so we didn't have to search for a long time.  On the east side of the bridge, the beavers had dammed up an area and it smelled a little bit like poop.  I pulled the bison tube out of its hiding spot and it was a bright orange one with a kiwi bird on it that said New Zealand.  We signed our names, got a photo and put it back.  We walked back to the Escape.

We followed the road to I-5 and drove home.  I had ordered a mini hockey goal since we had a concrete driveway and lived off of an asphalt cul-de-sac and it came the other day.  I wanted to break it in.  We got our bikes ready, packed up our rollerblades and sticks and headed to Rainier Vista to play with the new goal.  We found a pickleball court that wasn't being used and played for a little bit.  The net made it a little difficult but we managed.  We left marks from our wheels on the surface.  I hope those went away. 

Afterwards, we rode our bikes around the loop and then headed back home.

I made spaghetti and we watched Ninja Turtles 2 and National Treasure while we ate.  I logged our finds and worked on my blog for the rest of the night.

Next Adventure:  Bonney Lake Adventures and Mother's Day Weekend

A Mini Geocaching Adventure to Lewis County

I really wanted to go clear out the Centralia and Chehalis area.  I asked Ben if he wanted to go out and get some fresh air since it was going to be a decent day.  He said sure.  I made homemade McMuffins and had hashbrowns with it while we watched a television show since all the sports have been postponed due to God Damn Covid.  I checked the geocaching map, wrote some down to go get and hung out for a bit.

We got dressed, got into the Escape and headed down.  I mentioned a few posts ago that I was going through some of my old geocaching notebooks and found out that I have solved a bunch of puzzles but never went and got them.  I've been slowly grabbing them as we go out.  Today, I had PuzzleMania "Some Conjunctions" (GCK2CH) on my list so that was the first one we stopped for on the way down.  I got off before 183rd since there isn't an exit ramp off of that road.  We drove down Case to the intersection of 183rd, parked in the large pullout and walked to the cache.  It was another guardrail.  We added our names to it and then walked back to the Escape.

We went the back way to Centralia through Grand Mound and Old Hwy 99 down to Harrison.  Based  off of what we knew about the closures to parks and other outdoor recreational venues we assumed Borst Park was closed so we decided to park in the Safeway parking lot and walk over.  When we approached the gate we found out the gate was open and people were allowed to go in with their vehicles.  We asked ourselves, why is this park open but all the others are closed?  Hmmm.  Anyway, we walked over to the Block House (GC8AY2X) and Ben made the grab since it was high up on the structure.  We got our names on it and Ben put it back and it was better hidden. 

We paralleled I-5 and then got onto Airport Road.  When they developed the rest of this road they added a walking trail and someone put caches on it.  The last time I attempted to look for them they were missing so I didn't bother stopping to check.  Today, we were going to make an attempt to get these ones.  The first one was Mad Cow Palace (GC5VJXD) (this was a former site of a confirmed case of Mad Cow Disease in Washington State) and we pulled off the road into a pull out and attempted to look for it.  We probably spent way too much time here but I wanted to make sure it was missing.  I checked previous logs, looked at photos and we were in the right place...the cache was definitely missing.  Crap, now we have to come back.

We got back into the Escape, found a good time to get back onto Airport Road (this road is busier than it used to be) and made our way to Trans Alta #2 (GC5W86A).  There wasn't a pull off her so we just parked on the trail and hurried just in case someone came because we would be in the way.  We found the container and it had a bunch of water in the inside due to the crack on top of the lid.  Everything was moldy.  I signed the log the best I could, dumped out the water and put it back where we found it.  It was a quick park and grab. 

We drove into Chehalis to get a replacement cache of a series I've already done and found the final to, it was basically to just pick up caches at this point, at Millet Field - Chehalis Parks Series (GC8AFV2).  When we got there, there were too many kids playing on the basketball court to go look for it so we decided to skip it for a different day.  Bummer.

We drove up through Centralia and turned onto Little Hanaford Road and the onto Halliday Road to grab The Green House (GC8KYNT).  We parked off the road in this little pull off, basically only room for one vehicle, got out and went around the backside of the green building.  The cache wasn't even hidden well, it sat right out in the open.  I grabbed it and opened it up.  There were a lot of toys inside and a TB.  We took the TB and the alligator toy and I left a random piece of swag I found in the Escape behind.  We signed the log and put it back for the next cacher.  We moved on to the next one.

We headed up the hill on Halliday to Will B Back (GC5EFNJ).  There really wasn't a good place to pull of on the side of the road to park so we just winged it.  We got out and started looking along the fence line with all the trees and bushes.  The hint wasn't all that helpful and either were the logs.  I even asked Bev for a hint but she said she couldn't remember because it's been a long time since she was at that particular cache.  We spent way too long there and eventually gave up.  It was probably missing.  We will have to come back eventually after it has been confirmed that it's there.

We got back onto Hwy 507 and turned onto Zenkner Valley Road where the yellow and green convenience store is.  I have never been on this road and Ben said that one of his coworkers from the fire station lives along this road somewhere.  We turned left onto McElfresh and saw the corner where the guardrail was.  We parked and got out.  Ben remembered coming out here once on a call for a family that had a midget and he told me the story.  I could see how this road could be flooded during certain parts of the year since there is water on both sides of the road.  We looked in all of the obvious places and could not come with a find.  A cacher who searched before me couldn't find it and suggested that when it flooded the cache was taken with it.  We will have to wait until this is confirmed that it's there before coming back to look again.

We've struck out a lot today and it sucks.  I hope we can end the day on a find.

Our last cache of the day was out in Tono, a place I haven't been since 2012, we followed Big Hanaford Road out to Hanaford and then crossed over the valley and followed it to the turnaround.  We followed it literally to the end of the line where the bridge went over Hanaford Creek.  We parked and got out.  The cache has to be on the west side of the bridge.  We walk down the small hill and found the cache, Over the Wall (GC8A3Y1), underneath some rocks up against the bridge structure.  We added our names to it, enjoyed the creek for a few minutes and headed back towards home.  

We drove through Bucoda, went into Tenino and got onto Old Hwy 99, Rich to Fir Tree and eventually on Rainier Road to Yelm Highway.  We made homemade chicken teriyaki and rice for dinner, got cleaned up and I watched crime documentaries, logged my finds and worked on my blog until bedtime.  Ben played his game for a few hours.

Next Adventure:  An Afternoon of Caching in Steilacoom