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
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