Mom and I wanted to go on one last all day adventure before the weather turned into cloudy dreary rain. I asked her if she wanted to go with me down to Lewis County and do some caching since Ben was doing his all day fire academy in Tenino. She said sure and asked where I planned on going. I told her we were going to start in Onalaska and end up just before Morton on Hwy 12. That night I made a list of the ones I wanted to get.
I got up around 9:45, got dressed and ready to go. I made a quick lunch to bring with me of PBJ, Doritos and some peaches, dumped it into the cooler and threw in a Pepsi. I packed up the recycle and then headed into Rainier. Dropped off the recycle and then headed to Mom and Dad's house and picked up Mom. She was actually ready to go. She wanted to go to the recycle to drop off her recycle too and I told her that I just came from there. She said too bad. We dropped her recycle off and then picked up the mail when we drove back through town to get onto Hwy 507 to drive towards Tenino.
We waved to Ben as we drove through Tenino and headed towards the freeway through Grand Mound. As we headed south, the overcast just seemed to disappear. We got onto I-5 south and got off at Hwy 508 east to Onalaska. I haven't been out here in literally a decade or so. We used to come here quite often in high school when we played sports since Onalaska was in our league. The sun was out and it was going to be a really nice day. We followed the highway until our left turn onto Carlisle. Our first stop was the Heavenly Fabric store because Mom wanted to visit since we were in town.
We parked in front of the fabric store, Mom went in while I walked down the street to find the first cache of the day, The Carlisle Chronicle (GC4W4YT). I found it in front of someone's house underneath the newspaper box. It was a fake rock. Easy peasy. I signed my name, put it back and walked back to the fabric store.
We spend the next half hour browsing the store. Mom did end up finding some fabric to add to the baby quilt she was making. We made sure to use the customer's only bathroom before we left because you know, most places are closed because of Covid. When there is a bathroom available you take it.
We drove about 500 feet up the street to this small forest between the fabric store and the high school. I've always wondered what people did out here. Apparently, this is an over grown park and the trails were kinda non existent. It almost seemed like a place to take your dog to crap. I made sure to watch my step while I looked for Want to Go For a Walk? (GC7X42E). It was hard to pinpoint because the coords bounced around all over the place. I was probably out there for at least 10 minutes trying to find the right tree. I probably checked 17 trees before I finally found the right one and there was the container! There had to be thirty pairs of Barbie shoes stuffed in a bag inside. I totally understand the title now.
We stayed on the road and drove out of town up the hill. We grabbed Lewis County #5 (GC84YV9) that was near a culvert and a pond. The weather was so nice today. I am going to miss it now that we are approaching fall. On the way back to the Escape I found a dime on the ground. Doug called us and told us that he, Jenn and their dog Charlie were on their way down to visit Mount St. Helens for the day. We told them to have a good time.
We went a little further up the road on top of the hill that overlooked town. The cache, Camo on the Railing (GC5YGT0) was indeed a container hidden in a guardrail. I could see why a cacher put a cache here.
We turned the Escape around and drove back into town so we could go to Carlisle Lake and Smoke Stack Park. I have never been here even though we've driven to Onalaska for years and never knew this was here. It's a hidden gem for those who are not from around here. Mom and Dad recently came by here a few months ago on one of their random drives. It looked like they were improving on the entrance and parking area near this park since there were cones and piles of dirt every where. The parking area was huge and there were quite a few cars in the lot when we arrived. It was a nice day so I expected a lot of people fishing, boating and walking around the trail.
We got out of the Escape and was greeted by a large smoke stack that encompassed the area. Of course there can't be any historical relics without graffiti splayed on it, which is too bad...it kinda ruined the experience of being at the park. The smoke stack was left over from once a thriving lumber mill which was hit hard from the Great Depression and people went on strike in 1942 and then the Carlisle family closed it up and it was abandoned. It sat in ruins for a long time until the private owner was contacted through Onalaska Alliance and the Onalaska school district to make the land usable again.
We walked along the trail next to the shore and watched many people attempt to fish with their families. I am not sure if anyone caught anything or not. We spent about 40-45 minutes walking down to the other end of the park and then decided to walk back to the Escape, taking pictures along the way. We got back to the parking lot and decided that I would probably come back here again and bring some other people next time.
I put in the next set of coords into the Nuvi. We drove south on Leonard Road and then made a left turn onto Burchett and Shanklin Road, made a right onto Stowell and then a left on Schoen Road and found the primitive Snodgrass dirt road. I felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, we drove up the hill and followed the road to Devon's Tater Salad in a Stump (GC2HTR6). It took me a while to figure out how to get over the ditch without getting wet, ruining my shoes and not getting to badly scraped up by the sticker bushes since I was wearing shorts. I eventually found a way up, signed the log, put it back and safely got back down without any incidents.
I got back into the Escape and we drove a little further up the road for a park and grab called Snodgrass Cache (GC222WP). We turned around and drove back to the main road.
We drove south to the very small town of Salkum and then across Hwy 12 to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery and followed the road to the river. There were a lot of people fishing and picnicking. I asked Mom if she was hungry yet and she said no. We drove back to the main building where I got out quickly and found the plastic ammo box, Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery (GC5M79B). It was an easy find.
We drove back out to Hwy 12 and headed east towards Mossyrock. There were a cluster of caches I wanted to get. We got off of Hwy 12 and picked up Spirit Quest - Klickitat/Mayfield IOOF Cemetery (GC8FHRB), it was a quick park and grab.
Just next door was the DeGoede Bulb Farm and Mom wanted to go inside so we drove the short distance to the parking lot. I have been past here thousands of times over the years but never went inside. I even heard that some of my Mossyrock friends spent some time working here while they were in high school. We spent a little less than an hour browsing. Mom found a couple things for her secret sister in her quilting guild.
We followed Mossyrock Road West into town. The next cache is the reason why we came down here in the first place. I originally heard of this cache when Josh and Heather came down here last summer camping with their family. They drove into Mossyrock to find a few caches while they were here. They mentioned this one to us. The coordes took us to a hair salon that was closed for the day. It was called Gena's Retirement Fund (GC7Y95Y) and I can see why it had almost 40 favorite points. It was essentially a bird house but instead of holes it had slots. You took a card (could be a library card, driver's license or a credit card) you stuck it in the slot, which triggered a latch to let go and you were able to access the cache container. I signed the log and left a pathtag.
I drove into "downtown" Mossyrock to get the next one. It was at a newer park. Mom decided to stay in the Escape and eat her lunch while I walked out to grab Klickitat Prairie Park (GC7C2NF). I walked past a bunch of little kids playing on the playground while their mom's watched. I got closer to the cache and realized that it was going to be a cache hanging in a tree. Ugh. This was not going to be a quick search since they tend not to be unless you get lucky.
I was not lucky and it took me at least 10 minutes to find the darn fir cone. It blended in so well and with the jumpy coords you just didn't know where to start searching once you go to the tree. I signed my name and walked back to the Escape.
I grabbed my sandwich and chips and ate as we drove out of town and to the next cache.
We got back out onto Hwy 12 at the stop light (this stop light was put in while I was in high school because so many people got into accidents here) and turned east towards Morton. We stopped at a driveway and wasn't sure where to go. There were no marked roads or signs. We found the open spot off the highway and the gate to the cemetery. Spirit Quest - Dunn Cemetery (GC8FHQN) was hidden just before the sign entrance to the well manicured cemetery. I found it tucked in between two trees. It was quick. We left and made sure the gate was closed behind us.
Once again, we got back onto Hwy 12 and continued east. We decided to stop at the Mossyrock Dam Viewpoint because there was a cache here and a porta potty. We got out and there were a lot of bikers in the lot. They were whooping and hollering and trying to take a group picture. We waited to look for the cache so we walked down to the dam and took some pictures. They left so I went and found Honey Bucket (GC10T53) which is right where the phone took me.
We got back on the road and made our way to We're Just Visitors (GC19H5V). That cache took me a while to get to because the coords bounced all over the place. I read some logs, some of the hints and I finally found an easy path to the cache, which was up away from the pull out. I wasn't sure what to do when I found it so I pulled the entire thing out because the stump it was screwed to was rotten. You were suppose to pull the mouse out and the cache was attached to that. I tried putting it back the best I could after I signed the log.
We drove to our next one, Old Blue Times Two (GC5WG4B) was also a quick, park, get out, walk to the cache, find and sign. It was a sugar skull duct taped pill bottle hidden behind a rock. A very quick out and back.
We drove a couple miles to our next one, Riffe Lake Overlook (GC10X3A). We pulled over in the overlook area and I walked down the small hill past the gate. The cache was easy to find and I was glad to see a regular sized cache here as well. I signed our names and walked back to enjoy the view of Riffe Lake with Mom.
We got back in the Escape and drove to the next one, Nice Pullout, No View (GC5WG5V) which was another park, get out, walk a short distance, find and sign. I was out and in the car in less than five minutes. This one was tucked up against a forest of little trees which will someday be cut down, planted and the process will start all over again.
This was the last one on my list before we reached Morton. Gimme A Sign (GC1DCE8) was near another logging road and we just pulled over enough to be out of the highway and not in the way if someone were to come down the dirt road. Mom sat in the Escape while I went out to look for the container. I wasn't sure what I was looking for at first so I checked a few places. I really thought I was looking for a well blended in with its surroundings micro cache. Which technically I was once I found the container. It was a large bucket with at least 100 film cannisters inside. This reminds me of some that I have done in the past. You gotta open up each one before you could find the log. I took the bucket over to the Escape and both Mom and I went through them. We got down to the last few and we didn't find it. Crap! I hope it's here. I chekced the bottom of the cache, just in case there was a pouch hidden on the bottom of the cache with the logbook tucked inside, there wasn't. Well, as we put them back in the bucket I guess we will check again. We did eventually find it inside of a film cannister and wrote our names in it. I put it back where I found it and asked Mom if we wanted to go home through Morton or west on Hwy 12 back towards I-5. She wanted to go back to I-5.
We got onto I-5 north and then got off at Centralia. We stopped at the Goodwill, I found two books and then Mom wanted Papa Pete's for dinner. We had to call in, wait in the car line drive thru, pay and got our pizza, took way longer than it should have but Covid has kept it closed. We drove back to Rainier and I dropped off Mom. I went in, ate some pizza and watched the first half of the Sounders game. I had to go home and get a few things done so I drove back into Lacey. I learned that the Sounders beat Vancouver 3-1 once I got home. I got cleaned up, asked Ben about his day during academy, watched some ESPN 30 for 30, ate popcorn and made some cupcakes for Dad's birthday party tomorrow and then I got ready for bed. It was a long day.
Next Adventure: Dad's Birthday Party
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