TRY Rails to Trails Winter Stroll

I got up, ate some food and did some chores around the house and decided I wanted to go get a few caches on the trail.  I talked mom into going with me just for some company.  She really didn't care about finding them...more that someone was with me while I was out finding them.

It was a cold December afternoon so we bundled up.  I grabbed my backpack with all of my trading trinkets, GPS, notes, magnets, etc.  You never know what you'll need or what you'll encounter.  I put 5 caches on the GPS.  I figured that was plenty for the day.   I was trying to get to 100 caches before December 31st.  I had 12 days to get about 50 of them.  I had to go out every day and get at least 4 of them.  Game on!

We jumped into the car and drove out towards Tenino.  The first one was called T.R.Y it.  You'll Like it! (GCPNAR), which basically stands for the Tenino Rainier Yelm trail.  There was a pull out off of the 507.  We fit the car inside the spot and walked the short distance to the cache.  It was hidden amongst a bunch of small tree trunks.

We got back inside the car and blasted the heat.

The next one was off of Military Road.  We parked in the small lot off of the road and made our way to In Basalt's Shadow (GC1M4MZ).  The GPS took us to the opposite side of where we actually found it.  It was a nice view of Hwy 507 down below.  When we found the cache, it was so wet, we couldn't sign our names.  I even dumped water out of the container.

We walked back to the car and drove back towards Rainier to find the next one, McIntosh Lake (GCPMVC).  This is a very busy spot during fishing season.  You will always find a bunch of cars and trucks parked in the pull outs.  We found the closest pull out, parked the car and carefully made our way down.  The hill was very compromised, one wrong step and you could slide down the hill and hurt yourself.  We got to the trail and followed the GPS to where the cache was suppose to be.  We found it within a few minutes.

We walked further east on the trail to Trails to Rails 1 (GC1M4MJ) and found a micro hanging off some rail road ties that someone had nailed into a tree.  It didn't take us long to find it.  We walked back to our car up the muddy hill and found the nearest driveway to get to Cajun Tree (GC1KZR7) without having to walk really far.  It was getting colder by the minute.

We had a tough time looking for it.  Back and forth on the trail we looked from side to side, under and over, up and down...nothing.  Then I saw this tree.  It had broken and fallen towards the trail.  For some reason I was compelled to look under the trunk and there it was!

We walked back to the car and went home to get warm.  I had gone with Grandma a few days ago to Gerrit's Greens to pick out our Christmas tree.  When we got home we decorated the tree and wrapped a few presents to stick underneath.

Next Adventure:  TBA

My First GPS, a Garmin Rhino 110

I desperately needed a GPS.  Writing the information down on pieces of lined notebook paper was getting old.  Plus there are sometimes I couldn't find the caches based on the hint and what other cachers wrote in the logs alone.  I had to make my time finding caches count.  I couldn't spend anymore hours looking for just one. 

I had some extra money for my birthday so I started looking for a GPS on eBay.   I couldn't get one of the good ones just yet so I settled on a bright yellow Garmin Rhino 110.  It was less than $150 and a great starting point. 

I received my GPS in the mail on November 10th but didn't get the mail until the 11th.  I immediately learned how to use it and finding caches was way more easier and quicker.  However, the maps were very hard to see and you really couldn't put a query on it because I didn't have the cords or the software and I was okay with that.  I was learning.  Instead, I had to manually input the coords into the GPS, it still was tedious but it was quicker and more efficient than the way I was doing it...without a GPS altogether.

I found 50 without a GPS and managed to double my total of finds within 2 months of getting a GPS.

I went out for the first time to grab a cache out on Rainier Road, The Elusive 80 Acres (GCRBBH) by Frisbee'r.  I parked at the given coords but never felt like I wasn't on Fort Lewis property.  I tried to hurry just so I wouldn't get into trouble.  It was my first time navigating with the new GPS so it took me longer than it should have.  When I did get to within 30 feet of the cache I knew I was in the right area based off of the hint.

I was so stoked!  I actually found a cache with a GPS!  This is awesome!  This is the start to more great adventures to be had.  Who knows what's going to happen, the people I will meet and the places I will go.  I can't wait!

Next Adventure:  TBA

New Camera: FUJIFILM FinePix S1800

I've needed a good camera for years.  These small compact ones just won't do.  I've gone through three of them since I got a digital camera was about 8 years ago when first attended college.  Mom wanted to see all the fun stuff I was doing...this was pre-Facebook.

I got up late, ate lunch and took care of the chickens.

I went to the district office and applied for the middle school basketball job.  Then I went to Yelm post office.

Mom got off work and we went to Lowe's for some rental supplies, Shopko, Top Foods and Safeway.

While at Shopko they were having really some good deals in the technology area of the store.  I went over and looked at the different cameras.  The one that stood out was the FUJIFILM FinePix S1800 and it was only $160.00.  It was originally $260.00.  I thought about it for a few minutes and went out and purchased it.  I now owned a pretty awesome camera.  I also bought a SD memory card.   I took it home and immediately started taking pictures with it.

It's taken some really good pictures.  Now I need a tripod.

Next Adventure:  TBA