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
No comments:
Post a Comment