Hiking the Mima Falls Trail

Mom wanted to do something over the weekend and I asked her if she was buy on Saturday.  She said she wasn't.  I asked her what she wanted to do or where she wanted to go and she said she didn't know.  She usually leaves that up to me to decide.  I looked at a few places and came up with a hike down by Mount St. Helens.  I chose the Hummock Trail because it was shaded, not too long and it gave us great views of the mountain on certain parts of the trail.  I told her and Dad to be ready by 10 and I will come out to Rainier and pick them up and head down there.

I got up around 9ish and got ready.  I put everything into the Escape plus the recycle since it was Saturday and I had some time to drop it off before I picked them up.  I drove into Rainier, dropped off the recycle and got gas really quick.  I drove out towards their house and I drove past Dad and then I got confused on why he was heading into Rainier rather than waiting for me at the house.  I called Mom and asked why I just drove past Dad.  She said she had no idea and thought he was still at home.  Then I called Dad and asked what he was doing.  He thought we were leaving at 11 so he thought he had time to go feed birds and the dog at Grammie and Grandpa's house.  He said just go ahead without him.  I got to the house and there is where we changed the plans for the day.  

We decided to stay local because we saw a giant cell heading towards the Mt. St. Helens area and we know that mountains like to create their own weather.  It was a humid cloudy day so the views of the mountain most likely wouldn't be there.  Our back up plan was to walk the Mima Falls Trail out of the Capitol Forest.  I made sure I had my Discover Pass in the Escape or we would have to take Mom's Expedition instead.  Mom got a quick lunch together, her back pack and her shoes and socks and we headed out towards Tenino.

We took the back way from Tenino to Maytown and out through Littlerock past the Farm Boy.  We followed the road to Bordeaux and turned onto the road that took us past the Evergreen Gun Club to the trailhead and parking lot for Mima Falls.  The parking lot was bigger than I thought it was so finding a place to park was very easy.  I got out my Discovery Pass and put it up and the next ten minutes or so was us getting our stuff ready, our shoes on, our pack packs on and made sure to lock up before walking over to where the trail started.  We looked at the map so we could see where we were going and the approximates.  We started our walk around 11:15.

We stopped a few time to admire the surroundings and obviously for some of the caches that had been placed along this trail system back in 2020.  I saw them publish last year and there was a puzzle cache included in the dozen or so caches.  The first cache we stopped for was one I've had solved since sometime last year.  Share the Trail (GC8YX97) was one I actually had to do some research on because I didn't know who has the right of way on a trail that shares with hikers, bikers and horses.  I mean some of it was a no brainer but some of it was tricky.  Retrieving the cache was also tricky.  I had to maneuver around a bunch of downed logs to get to the container.  I signed our names, got our photo and took the TB so it can move along on its journey.

We continued along the winding, up and down very well manicured trail.  We walked past a few other hikers, people walking dogs and bikes.  There was one girl, we walked past, that had a really cool Flintstones bandana on her dog.  We did notice that there were a lot more females out enjoying this trail than there were males. 

About a little less than a mile in we stopped for Bears in the Forest (GC8Z8M9).  I had a heck of a time zeroing in on it.  It seemed like I checked every stump.  Meanwhile, Mom used nature to take care of business and I expanded my stump search.  I did eventually find it after about five minutes once I walked into the brush further.  I did see a snake sunbathing which startled me.  It was a standard ammo can and it had a bear figurine inside!  I saw it also had a toy skull as well.  I posed it as such for my photo.  I got our names on the logbook and put it back where I found it.  We moved on up the trail. 

The next cache we stopped for was Elk in the Forest (GC8Z8P0).  It was hidden along a side trail and the mosquitos were out looking for lunch.  I had to pull my hood from my sweatshirt over my head to keep them from buzzing around my ears or biting me.  I found the ammo box hidden with a bunch of logs on top to keep it from view of muggles.  I signed our names and put it back as I found it.

We continued down the trail, many ups and downs, lots of tree cover, crossed two bridges and saw a lot of ponds.  We came to a fork in the trail one pointing us to a spur and one pointing towards the Mima Falls Day Use Area.  We proceeded to the falls.  We get there and noticed there is one picnic table and two ladies sitting on top of it gabbing.  They really didn't need to be sitting on the picnic table keeping others from being able to use it.  Mom and I walked down to the falls hoping that they ladies would be gone when we came back up.  We took a bunch of photos of the falls.  They probably would have been fuller but we've had such dry weather this summer barely any water was coming down it.  

I attempted to find, Mima Falls from DNR (GC88QTB) but I could not locate it.  I searched all over the place twice.  I finally gave up and would try for it another time when I know it's actually here or has been found by a reputable cacher(s).  We sat on top of the horse steps and ate our sandwiches because the two ladies were still sitting on top of the picnic table chatting.  Whatever.

After we were done eating, we started back.  I saw there was one more cache nearby and it was along the spur.  I asked Mom if she wanted to get one more cache and she said sure.  We did not account for the elevation gain and the switch backs.  It looked like we were only going to have to walk maybe a quarter of a mile soon turned into more than a half a mile hike.  

Whew.  We finally arrived at Cougars in the Forest (GC8Z8N1).  It too, was an ammo can hidden near a stump.  I got our names on that logbook, took a picture and we were off back to the Escape.

We got back to the main trail from the spur and chatted as we walked along.  It is always a lot quicker on the way back.  We passed a few people on the way back.  We got to the parking lot, I took off my shoes and socks and put my flip flops on.  We watched some lady freak out about losing her car keys but she did eventually found them.  We called Dad to see if he would meet us at Sunbirds so he could get some new pairs of shoes so he could go hiking with us.  He eventually gave in and would meet us there in about an hour.  

We drove the long way there to allow him some time to get to Centralia.  Mom and I stopped by a previous DNF, Mad Cow Palace (GC5VJXD) and it was a quick find this time because it was actually there.  

We got to Sunbirds and walked around until Dad got there.  Then we spent a while trying on shoes and did manage to find a pair he liked.  We paid for our stuff and then Mom and I went to Walmart for a few things.  Mom wanted Papa Pete's for dinner so we called in our order, went to the Dollar Tree and then picked up our pizza order.  We ate our pizza and stopped by the post office in Rainier to drop off some letters.  

I took Mom home, ate some ice cream, came home, fed the cats, unloaded the Escape, showered, did some laundry, ate popcorn, logged caches and worked on my blog.  Ben was on a 24-hour shift so I talked to him before I went to bed.  Until the next adventure!  

Next Adventure:  Woodard Bay, Waterfront Boardwalk, Watershed Park and Taco Time

Tenino Pioneer Days and Our First Game Night Since Covid Started

Last year, we didn't get to do anything because of the Covid pandemic.  All of our vacations, concerts, geocaching events, fairs, rodeos, parties, etc., were all canceled or postponed.  That summer was pretty boring especially the first part of the summer when our outdoor hikes, parks, lakes, rivers, playgrounds, walking trails were all closed.  In hindsight, it was a mistake because we are still doing this even a year and a half later.  This year some of the stuff mentioned were still going to happen that included Tenino Pioneer Days.  I haven't been to Tenino days in a few years so I thought it might be fun to go to the parade and watch Ben with their fire department demonstration.

Ben got up around 8ish, got ready and headed into Tenino for Oregon Trail Days, he and his fire department were going to be in the parade and do a demonstration in the park.

I got up shortly after and got ready.  I called Mom and Dad to see what they were doing and they said they were getting ready to go to the parade.  I told them if they wait a few minutes I can drive out there and we can take one car into Tenino.  They said okay.

I grabbed all of my stuff and headed out there.  We made sure to bring our chairs.  We got into Tenino and tried finding parking.  We ended up on the north side of town.  We grabbed our chairs and walked the block to the main road.  As we walked we ran into Bob, Bev and Danny.  We found a place on the south side of the main road near the Collision Center.

The parade was longer than I thought but Yelm didn't have their parade this year so some of them were in the Tenino parade.  There were probably about 50 entries all together.  We also go more candy than expected as well.

After the parade, we went to put our chairs back (Ben found us in the crowd and told me he was getting ready to go to the park) and walked to the fire station to use the restroom.  I texted Ben saying we were on our way and hoped that he was still at the station so he could escort us into the building.  On our way to the station, I saw Kathy, a lady I used to work with in the mail room. She said hi and then met up with her family and friends in the park.  When we got to the department, I called Ben to let him know we were there so he could escort us.  We went through the bay and into the building to use the restroom.  Ben said they had to go to the park now to set up their demonstration.

We walked to the park, after using the restroom, and saw Will, Shari's dad, was getting the candy cannon ready.  Mom and I stayed to watch while Dad went wandering around.  After the candy cannon, Mom and I did some wandering around the park.  

We saw the gems and mineral area, the "food court" and the demonstration areas.  You could learn how to make a candle or mine for coal.  We looped back around and settled next to the extrication demonstration the fire department was going to do for the public at 1:00.

They had it roped off to keep the public safe, had tarps laid down, safety equipment set up, etc.  It was a black car that the cops seized and it was full of bullet holes and full of garbage.  They started off with a introduction with the mega phone of what they were going to do and how they were going to do it.  I knew I could only stay until about 1:30-1:40ish.  They popped the car tires, stuck wedges underneath it and the tires so it didn't roll and started getting rid of the windshield and back window.  They worked on cutting the doors away from the car, then went through the trunk, cut the air bags and eventually the top of the car to rescue an "invisible" person stuck in the car.  

It approached 1:30 and we had to go if I was going to take my parents back into Rainier and make it to my house to get the food ready for Nicole and Del's party in Tumwater.

We walked back to the Escape and it took forever to turn left onto Hwy 507 to go towards Rainier.  It was ridiculous.  Then the line of cars drove slow all the way to Military Road.  I was glad to get away from them once they turned off the road.  I dropped Mom and Dad off and went back into Lacey.  I got all the fruit rinsed off, the apples cut, the strawberries cut, the grapes neatly trimmed, I mixed up the fruit dip which consisted of vanilla Greek yogurt and honey and placed everything in easy to go containers.  I brought Grammie's glass food tray to put them on.  I brought some leftover crackers and a bag of chips.  I made sure to bring the beer and cider we were going to taste.

I got everything into the Escape and headed into Tenino.  Ben was going to meet me there when he was done with the demonstration.  I get to their house, this was the first time I've been over here since I helped them move last August.  I was the first person there and I was about 10 minutes late.  Haha.  She gave me the tour of what their place looks like with stuff put away.  I brought my cooler in and started taking stuff out and setting it on the platter so when people got here it was ready to snack on. 

 

I had no idea who was all coming.  It was mostly Nicole's family and me, Ben, Lindsay and Justin.  I haven't seen her brother in a while and just met his girlfriend.  Barb and her husband Darren were also there.  I had forgotten that Nicole's brother Garrett and Celeste used to date so that's why Celeste wasn't invited.  Lindsay and Justin came a little bit later and we could definitely tell Lindsay was having a baby.  She kinda told us over the party post on Facebook.  We went downstairs and sat in the lawn chairs in the back yard.  We opened up a variety of beers and ciders to taste.

We played a round of croquet and it was the most challenging game of croquet I ever played.  Their back yard isn't the greatest so there were lots of lumps, divots and the hill impossible to avoid.  I think everyone's ball went down the hill.  Nicole played half the game and then went to go make burgers and hotdogs on the grill.  The game took a little while but we all eventually prevailed!  I think I got 4th place after leading the pack at one point but then I hit that blasted hill.  Nicole said the food was done and so we all went upstairs to grab a plate of food.

Ben finally arrived in his motorcycle, grabbed some food and sat with us in the yard.  He asked me if Lindsay was pregnant and I said yes she is.  As a group we talked about that for a bit.  We asked Lindsay some questions about names, when it was due, what they thought it was, etc. We continued tasting various beers and ciders and then we played Heads Up for a while.  It did start to get dark so we brought the party into the house and continued for about another hour or so.  We helped Nicole pack up stuff, thanked her for inviting us over and had the hope that we would have another game night or paint night soon.  

We all headed home but I had to check on my friend's dogs before I went home.  Ben zipped down the road on his motorcycle.  We hung out for a bit putting stuff away and then got ready for bed.  Our new fridge was coming the next day and we were heading to Ben's Mom's house for a BBQ on her new DECK!

Next Adventure: Hiking the Mima Falls Trail

More Kayaking on Lake St. Clair

Ben had a day off and it was suppose to be nice and we had nothing planned so I suggested to Ben if he wanted to do more kayaking and he said yeah, sounds like fun.  We chose to do Lake St Clair again because it was close, there were still a bunch of caches left to go get and we invited Josh, Heather and Lilly over for dinner later.

I got up around 9:30 and got ready for the day.  I ended up cleaning the bathroom just because we were having people over and it needed to be spiffed up especially if we were going to have company over later.  I went to Costco the day before with Mom and I still had to put some of the stuff away including our blueberry muffins we get every once and a while.

Ben got up and ate some cereal and I had one of the blueberry muffins for breakfast.  Ben tried to meet up with a guy on OfferUp for a speaker Ben was selling but he flaked out on us so Ben blocked him.  It was a guy from the Rochester area and we were trying to get him to meet us in Rainier after we got rid of the recycle and filled up water jugs at my parent's house.

We loaded up the recycle into the Escape and headed into Rainier.  We drove by the school just to see if the guy did manage to read the message Ben sent about the speaker but he did not the both times we drove by.  We drove back home, put the kayaks on the Escape, got ready, packed up snacks, towels, our shoes and off we went.  I had no idea how long it was going to take to do the caches I had on my list for today.

Joy (Ohjoy!) had a group of people on Friday check up on her caches since they wanted to come out to Lake St Clair.  She gave them an assortment of containers, logbooks and baggies.  Some of the caches were changed out, fixed or replaced entirely and the others they said were in pretty good shape.  It's just no one wanted to come out this way, paddle out to the coordinates and find nothing so no one found these in a while.  I don't blame them.  This is why I haven't been out to do paddle caches for years.  I didn't want to come up without a find.

We got to the public boat launch and it was busy!  No parking spots available.  We drove down into a truck and trailer spot just to take the kayaks off the Escape...I wasn't going to be a douche and take a spot for a truck and trailer.  I helped Ben take them towards the lake.  We grabbed the stuff we would need, sprayed Ben down with sunscreen and I told him I would try to find a spot above along the road.  I found a spot in the shade, parked as far off the road as I could, locked up and met Ben down by the boat launch.

We shoved off and told Ben we were heading to the northwest part of the lake this time.  I told Ben we were going to go underneath the trestle and pointed to where we were going because you can see the trestle over the lake from the boat launch.  I told him the first cache, Procrastination I - Leading to Memories (GC78DEA) was by the trestle.  I wasn't sure how it was hidden since it was missing and replaced by some of Joy's friends on Friday.  We will be the first people to find it after its replacement.  We paddled up as close as we could and Ben got out of his kayak because the water was very low.  He reached up and grabbed it.  He signed our names and put it back.  He got back into his kayak and we had to wait for some boats before we could pass under the trestle. 

We got through and passed many houses with people enjoying their day on the lake.  There were a lot of boats in this area because this was the main part of the lake and jet boats were allowed to be out here at full capacity so we had to be careful with the wakes they produced.  We tried staying away from them and close-ish to the shoreline.  We had our sights set on Eeyore's Mini-Jasmer Challenge - a Paddling Cache (GC3TBQM) which was northwest of where we were currently.  I had to make sure I qualified for this cache before I came out here to grab it.  This cache was also checked up on last Friday so we knew it was here.  We paddled around because we didn't quite understand the hint.  Ben checked over by the tied down log with rope on it and he said nothing was here when he looked.  So we checked the giant downed tree limb, which has been here in for a while because it was sun-bleached.  We checked there feverishly.  I even got out of my kayak to check the shoreline near the tree branch.  Nothing.  There were so many boats circling the lake that caused many wakes and when I was on the shoreline holding my kayak a bunch of water got inside of it.  My butt's gonna be wet and soggy now.  Lame.  I got back in and paddled out of the tree branch and over to where Ben was searching.  This cache has got to be here.  It was replaced on Friday, three days ago.  I went over there and looked amongst the rope and found it.  I told Ben, you're really bad at looking.  He said, I didn't see it.  I said back to him, did you actually use your hands to feel or move the ropes?  He said, no.  I replied with, oh...well, there you go, we could have been done with this like ten minutes ago.  We signed our names and moved onto the next one.

The next cache, 100 Earthcaches Challenge - a Paddling Cache (GC4NEFJ) was to the northwest of us around the next finger of the lake.  We paddled along the shoreline and saw the Madrona trees poking out of the bank hanging over the lake.  This area was familiar to me.  I knew Bob and I have been here doing a multicache many years ago.  We floated past them to see if we could see something hanging from the branches that I could have Ben sign.  We didn't see anything so we moved onto the cache we paddled over here for.

We kayaked past a few guys coming out of the swampy lake area.  Ben thought they were geocachers but they weren't.  They were just exploring the lake and haven't been out to this part before.  We continued around and a lot of the land around it was raw land.  No houses, no nothing.  There weren't any no trespassing signs either so we thought this was just lake shoreline.  As we got closer, there was no place to get out of your kayak without getting knee-deep muddy.  I found a place near some logs, parked the kayak and got out with my paddle.  I used the logs as a bridge so I didn't have to step in the mud.  

I got onto the solid ground and my GPS was leading me astray up the hill.  Then I heard some dogs come down and they started barking at me.  I told them to go home and waved my oar at them.  They kept their distance.  I thought this can't be the right way to the cache and went back down towards the shoreline and walked along there until the GPS started going down  I saw the maple tree indicated in the hint.  The dogs came back and barked at me some more.  I found the cache, quickly wrote our names on it, put it back and got the heck out of there.  The dogs went away.

I got back in the kayak and had a hard time getting away from the logs and debris in the lake.  Ben had to come pull some of the stuff away so I could get out.  I was ready to get out of there before the owner of the dogs came down and threatened us with a gun or something.  We got out of there finally and paddled back to the finger part of the lake.  The owner walked down with his dogs to his dock and stood there watching us.  Ben said something to him about his dogs and he said something back like, you're on their land.  I told Ben he should have kept his mouth shut.  The guy had the audacity to take our picture with his cell phone.  There weren't any no trespassing signs or beware of dog signs so the guy had no case if he pursued anything.

We got back to the main part of the lake and there were still a bunch of boats circling the area with inner tubes attached.  I looked at the time and we didn't have a ton of time to get the other ones just south of here so we went to go get the one in the other section of lake near the boat launch and to fix the one I've already gotten but Ben didn't have since I had the replacement cache with me.

We paddled towards Happy Father's Day (GC7R080) where I had Ben reach for it because the pipe poking out of the water was too tall for me to reach it.  He signed our names, put it back and there is where we decided to have our snack for a few minutes while we drifted.

I told Ben there was one more, There are Things I Can't Resist (GC4G0BZ) we had to go find.  I found this one a few years ago when I came out here by myself one afternoon.  Ben was the first one to sign the replacement log.  We paddled out to the north of the lake near one of the other fingers or coves.  There was really only one place it could be with the stump sticking out of the lake.  We got closer and start inspecting it to make sure the previous container was indeed missing.  It was missing so we got our the replacement, had Ben sign his name and the date and we found a good place on the stump to re-hide it.  We tied it to the top so it wasn't submerged in the lake and covered it with bark pieces.  We called it good and made our way back to the boat launch.

We got back to the boat launch and it was still super busy.  We pulled the kayaks out of the water and set them on the grassy area.  I went to go get the Escape and parked it out of the way so we could load them back up.  I dumped so much water out of the bottom of my kayak.  I was basically soggy from the waist down when I got out of the kayak.  So glad we brought towels to sit on.  We got them strapped back on and secured.  

We got in and I realized it was July 11th.  I asked Ben if he wanted to go to 7-Eleven for a free slurpee.  He said yes!  

We got gas at the Arco nearby, cleaned off my windshield because it was bothering Ben and Dad because it was so dirty.  We got home, unloaded the kayaks, rinsed them off and let them dry off in the front yard.

We went inside and started getting dinner ready before the Pablo's got there.  I did have to run to the store really quick to get more chips and a tomato.  We had chicken burgers, short ribs (Pablo's brought those) the rest of the hotdogs, beans, salads (Pablo's brought) corn on the cob and a couple different desserts (Pablo's brought.)  The food was delicious.  Josh accidently broke Ben's chair when we were sitting in the back yard.  They went into the house to iron on Ben's Bastard patch on his vest.  We ate dessert and chatted for a bit in the yard...you know enjoying the nice warm evening.  They had to go home because Heather had to work the next day.

Ben and I hung the kayaks back up on the rafters, cleaned up the kitchen, got ourselves cleaned up, logged caches, worked on blog, got ready for the upcoming work week and eventually got ready for bed.

Next Adventure:  Tenino Pioneer Days and Our First Game Night Since Covid Started

Kayaking on McIntosh Lake and Two Caches

We've had a pretty nice summer and lots of sunshine.  I wanted to go kayaking as much as we could this summer and I told Ben that we were going to go again at the end of the week.  This time we were going to go to McIntosh Lake, between Rainier and Tenino.  There were two caches that have been taunting me for the past few years and I wanted to go get them.  Ben said that sounded like a fun outing after work.  So we planned on going Friday evening.

I had been talking to Joy (Ohjoy!) through the messenger on Geocaching.com over the past week or so because she knew I was interested in doing more paddle caching around the area.  A few of her paddle caches haven't been found in a while or were missing according to some of the logs.  I held off on getting  a couple of them until I knew they were replaced.  I didn't want to waste my time going out to a spot only to find nothing or evidence of where the container use to be.  She said if I was going to a few of these places that she could get some stuff ready for me, new logs, containers, baggies, and drop it off at my house.  We arranged a day and time and she showed up one evening after I was off of work and gave me a baggy full of replacement pieces for caches.  She even helped me with one of her puzzles I was having a hard time trying to solve.  I thanked her and she thanked me.

I logged off at 4 and got our towels, water shoes and other random little things together while I waited for Ben to come home.  He got off work later than anticipated so I got our strap downs out and laid them out so they would be easy to access.  When Ben did get home, he got out of his work clothes and into a tank top and shorts.  We used the restroom one more time, fed the kitties and then went out to the garage to take the kayaks off of the rafters and put them on top of the Escape.  We made sure we had everything and headed out to Tenino.  

I had to think of the quickest way to McIntosh Lake and decided to drive down Yelm Highway to Spurgeon Creek Road, Rainier Road to Military Road.  There wasn't a lot of traffic we had to follow on Rainier Road which was nice.  You always manage to get stuck behind a Prius or a horse trailer going at least ten miles under the speed limit.  As we got closer to the public boat launch, I couldn't remember exactly where it was because there wasn't a sign indicating where to turn.  Most public boat launches have a sign.  So we drove past it and I had to turn around.  We drove down the hill towards the water and noticed there were some people here enjoying some fishing with their family.

We pulled over to the side and unloaded the kayaks.  Ben stayed with them while I went to park the Escape.  I forgot to change out my shoes before I parked so I had to take my flip flips with me.  Ben completely forgot to change his shoes and he just went with it.  I was a bit chilly so I wore my sweatshirt and ended up shedding it once I got too warm.  We got into the kayaks and started paddling towards the small island.  I have never actually been on McIntosh Lake and I've lived in this area pretty much my entire life.  I guess I really never needed to.  My Dad has fished this lake before.  We noticed that this lake had lots of weeds and snails everywhere.  I knew this lake was shallow because it used to be a log mill.  I am not sure if there are any rivers or streams running in or out of the lake or if this is a stagnant lake filled by runoff or ground water.  I just know I would never swim in this lake.  Ew. 

We did paddle past a few people out on their kayaks, paddle boards and one guy in his tiny fishing boat scouting for fish.  We passed the houses on the north side of the lake and some people waved and some people engaged in a short "nice night isn't it" conversations.  Indeed, it was a beautiful, calm, warm night on the lake.  I checked my caching app and I couldn't tell which side of the island it was on so we would have to just see.  I didn't want to get out of the kayak on the wrong side. 

We ended up circling around the entire tiny island mostly just to see.  Ben commented on all of the algae-like substance that was getting on his paddle.  I told him those were frog eggs.  He made an ew face and we continued on with finding a place to disembark so we could grab this cache.  I looked at a couple pictures just to see where people got out of their vessels.  I found a great spot, got out, pulled the kayak partially on land (just so it didn't float away) and found the piece of tree the ammo can was attached to. 

I changed out the logbook to Celebrating 10 Years of Geocaching Adventures (GC4RCXJ) as I was instructed to do so, signed our names on the new book, took a few pictures and put it back.  I got back in the kayak and shoved off to the next cache, further past the island towards the east end of the lake.  

Yellow Lily Pad (GC887N0) was hidden in a log that had breached the surface of the lake.  I knew it was going to be the log as we approached the cache location.  It's pretty much where it could only be since there was nothing else around.  I paddled around the back and saw a hole in the end of it.  I grabbed onto the log so I could steady myself and pulled out the camo taped tube.  I signed out names, got a picture and put it back.  

My paddle ran away and had to hand paddle to go get it back.  Ben laughed at me.  On the way back we spotted some eagles soaring across the lake.  We were really hoping they would catch a fish in front of us but one never did.  It did sit up in the tree and watch us for a while.  We got back to the to the boat launch so we could load up the kayaks and head home.

Before we left, I had Ben grab the cache at the boat launch.  I had to come here twice to get it because it was either missing or broken so I couldn't get it out of it's hiding spot.  Lake McIntosh CITO Bonus (GC89R6X) was still right where it was suppose to be and this time no one was parked nearby to make it weird.  Ben pulled the bison tube out of the hidey hole, signed his name and put it back.

We were both getting hungry however it was getting late so we decided to just get a take and bake pizza from Walmart.  Ben unloaded the kayaks while I got the pizza ready and going in the oven.  I went out and helped him hang them back up in the garage.  We watched Bad Teacher as we ate pizza.  We hung out, I worked on my blog a little bit, watched some American Dad, ate some ice cream and then got ready for bed.  Ben had to go work a shift at the South Sound Races tomorrow and I was meeting up with Fitzy for a bit.

Next Adventure:  More Kayaking on Lake St Clair