Dupont Geocaching

I was so pissed I couldn't go on my trip to Ecuador and Peru because of God Damn Covid so Ben and I headed into Dupont for some caching.  We haven't been there in a while and a lot of new ones published within the last year or so along a neighborhood nature trail.  I looked at the caching map and picked a chunk of them to write down on a list.  

After breakfast, we dressed warmly and headed out to Dupont.  The first one I had on the list was Nisqually Prairie (GC83JNC) but stopped for Stop Monkeying Around (in a tiny tin cache) (GC202Y7) so Ben could find it.  I found it back in 2011 when I was starting out.  I had him find it while I stood there watching him.  I really don't remember it being in that spot when he found it.  

We got back in the Escape and headed to Nisqually Prairie.  It was at the end of an unfinished road.  We parked and saw the sign that talked about Mount Rainier, the prairie and the City of Dupont.  The cache was a magnetic key holder on the back of the sign. We signed our names and put it back where we found it.

The next one was Brought To You From India (GC852G6) and it was one of the caches from Ohjoy's series.  I took some time a few months ago and solved them all.  This was located inside a small wooded area called Andre Park.  I remember coming here years ago with mom to grab a cache that used to be here.  The coords jumped around a lot but with the hint we finally made the grab.

We walked back to the Escape and drove it about a half a mile down the road to the next one, Polka Dot Rock 2 (GC5ENDF).  We parked nearby and walked across the street.  The rock wall ones are very deceiving because it could take you a few minutes or it could take you a long time.  Rock wall caches aren't my favorite hides but this one was fairly easy to pinpoint.  We signed our names, traded toys and hid it back exactly where we found it.

We drove the Escape back to where we came from and found a parking spot near the trail head.  There were six on this trail I had written down to grab.  I figured since it was a nice day we should enjoy it with a walk.

We started up the trail.  It was a well manicured dirt trail that meandered through the neighborhood and the best part was that it contained geocaches.  The first one along the trail was called  The Green Box (GC81Z85) and it was hidden next to a broken Cedar tree.  I let Ben find it.  He pulled it out, we opened it, signed the log and placed it back in its hiding spot.  We checked the phone to see what the next one was.  We trudged on.

We walked past a few people who were out walking their dogs on this dry, sunny spring day.  The Waterproof Box (GC82Q90) was our next target.  When we got to the cache site there were a lot of root balls to check.  I even saw a discarded dog kennel that has been out in the forest for a while.  We finally managed to find the root ball in question.  The coords were off a little.  We got our names on it and put it back.

A Nice Place to Sit (GC8CEYW) was a little further up the trail and the difficulty level was pretty high which meant that it was hard to find most likely.  I was hoping we found it quickly when we got there.  We saw the stump and started looking.  I found it immediately and have no idea why this is rated a 4.5/2.  We scribbled our names on it and put it back where we found it.

We walked down the short embankment and onto the main trail and headed to Xmas Tree Cache (GC8H69C) and without looking at the hint I assumed it was going to be hanging somehow off the tree.  When we got there I was proven wrong.  It was under the tree but the container was pretty cool.  We looked through the swag in the container, signed the log and placed it back under the tree.

The next one, which is one of the older ones in the area (published in 2011), I have no idea why I haven't found this one with all the trips I've taken over the years to Dupont.  I'm not sure why we didn't look for A Cistern or Not (GC30Z6M).  Maybe because we didn't have a lot of time to hike out here?  I don't know.  Anyway, we continued down the trail and saw the huge tower up a head.

We went down and small hill and I noticed the cement structures up a head.  We must be getting close.

I followed the instructions on the cache page because according to the logs there might be two containers here, a lock n lock and a metal container.  The coords were all over the place so I spent some time and read the logs.  Most cachers were having a hard time finding it.  

We looked and looked and looked.  I found a picture someone had posted years ago and oriented myself with it.  We were near the concrete drainage ditch and we could not find it.  I gave it another few minutes and as our luck would have it I finally found the darn thing.  Holy cow!  We had to have been there for at least a half hour looking for it.  I was so glad to find this thing because I didn't want to come back.  We put it back where we found it and maybe the next cacher will be able to find it?  We will see.  

We walked to the end of the trail where it crossed the road to another neighborhood because there was one up here called Mr. Rogers Neighborhood (GC1VRW6) and Ben didn't have it yet.  I grabbed this one back in 2011 on a Dupont run.  I'm still not sure why we didn't grab the other one when we were here then.  I had Ben find the cache since I've already found it.  I don't remember it being where he found it though.  It may have been moved over the years.

We walked the trail back to the Escape and passed some people walking, jogging and walking more dogs.  We were getting cold as it was getting later on in the afternoon.  We drove home and did a couple chores, made dinner, logged our caches and I worked on my blog as we watched some TV.  Ben had to go to work the next day and I had the entire week off because I was suppose to be in Peru but because of God Damn Covid, I had to stay home.

Next Adventures:  My Forced Staycation

We Almost Made it to Peru

I was so excited for this trip because we were finally going to Machu Picchu and I was going to be gone from work for 16 days.  It took a lot of will power and patience to save up vacation leave for this.  I made sure everything was on my calendar, I told my coworkers all the information they needed up to the point I was gone and when I would be back in the office.  I needed a vacation so bad it was literally eating at me.  Almost like when you're a kid and you can't wait for Christmas to come.

Machu Picchu has been on my bucket list for a long time so being able to go was a huge deal.  We were suppose to go last year but plans got messed up.

(Not my photo but I wished it was.)

Since January, I've been painstakingly collecting the gear I would need for our upcoming Ecuador and Peru trip.  I got a small back pack for when we went to Machu Picchu, I bought a couple of pairs of dental scrub pants so I would be more comfortable, I bought snacks, tuna, crackers, breakfast bars, I bought new underwear and made sure it was all visible when I started to pack my suitcase.  

As we got closer to March and everyday after, my hopes dwindled every day as we approached our leave date because of the Covid pandemic.  We had already got the email from Khealynn stating that the Love Project in Ecuador was canceled due to the Covid outbreak.  Mom and I decided that we were still going to go to Peru until we can't.  We were super disappointed we weren't able to go to Ecuador this year.  We were really looking forward to it.

On the day of our trip, I got up around 9:30, took a shower and then washed laundry.  I had a couple more things I wanted to have with me on my trip that were in the hamper.  I ate some Corn Pops, got the recycle ready and drove out to Rainier to dump it off at the recycle.  I had gotten off of Spurgeon Creek Road and noticed a light dusting of snow.  As I got closer into Rainier, there had to be at least a few inches on the ground and the trees.  Rainier is definitely at a higher elevation than Lacey is because we had none.

I drove home and folded my clothes and set aside the ones I was taking with me.  I little while later I went over to Doug and Jenn's house to feed their cat because they were able to travel to Vegas before they stopped travel due to Covid.  They were suppose to be home Sunday evening.  The last time I went over there and fed their cat and made sure I had a copy of their key just to make it easy.  I get over there and made sure Freya had water and some food.  I sat there for a few minutes and gave her some pets.  They took Charlie, their dog, over to one of their friends house so I didn't have to worry about him.

I came home and started packing my stuff into my suitcase.  It took a little while because I had to make sure I had everything and it all fit.  It would have been different if we were also going to Ecuador as well...I would have had to fit more clothes into it.  Meanwhile, I had Ben go pick us up some sandwiches for "linner" because I didn't feel like making anything.  I did my final checks on everything and made sure I had my money, passport, ID's and was able to open up the tickets on the app from the phone.

Around 5:30, we loaded up the suitcase and back pack into the Escape and drove out to Rainier to pick up mom and her luggage.  When we got there, Mom was actually ready to go with all of her stuff ready.  Ben took her suitcase to the Escape while I made sure she had all of her money, passport, ID's and phone.  Off we go to SeaTac with our fingers crossed.  At this point, the Covid pandemic has freaked out everyone and no one knew what was going on.  I wasn't freaked out as long as you kept your distance, wore a mask and washed your hands.  The only thing that was giving me anxiety was not being able to go to Peru after we paid for everything.

We got onto I-5 and it really didn't take us long to get there.  We pulled into the the departures in front of Jet Blue around 7ish.  We said our goodbyes and Ben said to be safe and wear the masks on the airplane.  He drove off towards home.  We wheeled our luggage into the airport and found the line that we needed to be in.  I have never seen the airport empty before.  It was eerie.  We saw that the Jet Blue line didn't open until 7:30 so we waited in line with all of our stuff.  We chatted with a few people who were on our flight to JFK in New York.  They asked us where we were going and we told them Guayaquil, Ecuador and then connecting to Lima, Peru.  Then we had a discussion about Machu Picchu and how excited we were to go.

Once the line opened up, we had trouble printing off our bag tags for some reason so we told the guy at the ticket desk.  He said sometimes that happens and that he would help us.  While he got all of our stuff situated, we talked about pies because it was pie day.  We finally got our bags checked in and he printed us our boarding passes.  We thanked him and continued to security.  There wasn't anyone waiting in security which was also eerie.  Security is usually packed.  This was the quickest I've ever gone through security.  It literally took us like five minutes.

We grabbed our stuff and checked the board to see where we had to go and because we were international we had to take the train to the S concourse.  When we got there, we walked around, got water in my Nalgene and use the restroom before we sat at our gate.  

Literally before we were to board our plane to JFK in New York, Khealynn, from the Love Project, messaged Mom on Instagram stating that Ecuador was going to close its borders on Sunday at midnight to foreigners due to Covid.  That means if we did go down there, we would be stuck in Ecuador and never make it to Peru.  Then we weren't sure if we would be able to leave Ecuador and be stuck down there for who knows how long.

Mom tried to get a hold of Adam (he is our Peru contact) while I tried to find out more information from Khealynn.  She said that Peru (she has an aunt who lives there) will also probably follow suit but at that point most places are closed to Asian and European travelers.  This sucks so much!  I was so disappointed at this whole situation!  Mom and I quickly discussed our options and we didn't want to be stuck in a foreign country for an undetermined amount of time so we just decided not to go.  I was so crushed.

We quickly talked to the airline and told them our situation.  They got our bags off, gave us credits to use our tickets some other time (within the next two years) and we thanked them for the inconvenience we caused but they understood our predicament.  They gave us instructions on where we could get our bags.  We thanked them again.  Mom and I got back on the train and went to the main concourse and grabbed our bags from the oversized luggage near carousel 8 and made some phone calls.

We couldn't get refunded for our hotel in Guayaquil so we ate that $26, luckily we booked it through hotels.com and that was mom's free night so we used it to book it.  The $26 we paid were for the hotel fees.  I figured out how to cancel our international data plans we had on both of our phones and now we just had to work with Adam to see if we can get anything back from our tour or reschedule it for another time because this was out of our control.  We called Dad, Doug, Trish, Grandma and Amy to let them know what happened and I called Ben to turn around and come get us.  He said he was in Lakewood when he got my phone call.  He turned around and told us he would get there as soon as he could.  I told him we were going to be by the Jet Blue area.

He arrived around 10:30 and we packed the stuff in the back of the Escape and got back onto I-5 to head home disappointed.  Mom wanted some French fries so we stopped at the McDonald's near the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila.  We stopped and ordered two cheeseburger Happy Meals, a side of fries, a vanilla milkshake and I bought everyone apple pies because it was pie day.  We all essentially ate our feelings because we didn't get to go on our trip we were so excited for.

We got back on I-5 and got off at Mounts Road.  There were a few geocaches that published a while back and I save them for a time we went through here at night when this road was less busy.  We picked up Nisqually Overlook (GC8C958) and Nisqually River Fishing (GC8C94J).  The overlook on a nice day you would be able to see the Olympic Mountains from this point.  It took me a little bit with a flashlight to find the cache hidden amongst the rocks.  The river fishing one was in the guardrail about 100 feet from the Nisqually River.

When we got to Nisqually, near the Red Wind casino, Ben pulled over at the gas station to fill up.  However, he only filled it up halfway which I didn't get why he just didn't fill it up.  We drove into Rainier and dropped mom off and then headed home ourselves.  Once we got home, I unpacked my stuff in utter disappointment.  This virus is such a wasted of time.  It has taken so much away from us so far, money, experiences, sports, it is just awful and was totally preventable.  I hope it goes away soon because it is disrupting our lives.

Eff you Covid! (middle fingers)

Next Adventure:  Dupont Caching

Cache Maintenance on Hwy 507 and Picking Up Two New Ones

I've been really needing to check on my caches.  Every day that I got onto my computer I had an email or a message from someone asking if such and such geocache was there or the if the codes to my series where there because the codes were missing, etc.  Ben was on a 24 hour shift at the fire station so I thought it would be a good day to do it since it was also nice.  I asked mom if she wanted to go for a ride and she said sure.

I've had this series going since 2012 and I've had to fix a few of them off and on over the years.  A few I had to archive, find a new spot that wasn't compromised and publish the new ones.  Up until recently I just didn't have a whole lot of time to go out and take most of the day to fix them.  We were either dealing with jobs, money, transportation, roommates, moving, working on other projects, the weather and other unforeseen things we had to deal with.  Fixing geocaches were just low on the priority list.

I got up, ate some food and headed out to Rainier to go pick mom up.  I made sure I had all of my cache replacing gear with me.  The day before I had used Erika's label maker to make the codes for the 507 series containers so they will look a little nicer and would probably stay longer.  We will see.

I got to their house and asked her if she was ready.  She said she was getting her shoes on.  I made fun of her, you knew I was coming over and you had plenty of time...why aren't you ready?  I was busy!  Was her answer.  

I thought we should start in Spanaway and work our way west to Centralia.  She said whatever, this is your thing.  We drove into Yelm the back way and headed to Spanaway.  Along the way we talked about work, the possibility of not being able to go on our trip because of Covid running wild through the rest of the world and being disappointed and other random things that came up as we talked.  

We got to the park n ride in Spanaway, where 507 merges onto Pacific Hwy or Hwy 7.  Hwy 7 stretches all the way from I-5 to Morton near Hwy 12 and I've been up and down it many times.  Anyway, we pulled into the park n ride and found a spot to park that was somewhat close to where I hid the cache, The 507 Series:  Spanaway, Wash. (GC3V7QF).  I got out and walked over to the tree I hid it in.  I took me a few seconds to find it because people don't put caches back where they are suppose to go.  I grabbed it and brought it back to the Escape to do my maintenance on it.  I replaced the log, the baggie and added the new code to it.  I had mom write down on the small legal pad what I did to all of them.  I put it back in the tree but replaced it to be lower in the tree.  I had mom add that to my notes to make sure to change the hint when I update the cache page.

We got back onto 507 and drove back towards Roy.  When I originally placed Roy, I had a hard time finding a place to hide one because there weren't many places along the highway without getting too close to the one that was already here.  We had to honor the 528 feet between caches or it wouldn't get published.  I parked in the convenience store parking lot and went to go get the cache, The 507 Series:  Roy, Wash. (GC3AMVP) in front of the car dealership.  I had hidden it under a rock and the last cacher couldn't find it so they thought it was gone.  The cache was still there and it was pretty beat up since the last time I saw it but the container was still intact. I brought it back with me to the Escape and I replaced the log, the baggie and added a new code label to it.  I walked back to the rock and placed it back.  It was now ready to be found again.

We got back on the road and drove into McKenna.  Over the years my McKenna cache has had some issues.  It's been replaced several times by various cachers.  When I placed it back in 2012 it was a recycled pill bottle that I had spray painted with camo green.  One time I checked on it to make sure it was there it was a plastic Oreo container that looked like an Oreo and then after that, the containers disappeared at some point.  We got there and parked in the lot.  The spot I originally hid it was severely overgrown.  I had to find a new place to hide The 507 Series:  McKenna, Wash. (GC8MCGV) so I hid a pill bottle (with a fresh log, baggie and code) near the parking lot in one of the holes with a rock strategically placed to conceal it.  

I told mom what I did so she could write it on our pad.  I gave her the coordinates and the hint because we have to enable it as a new cache since it was archived.  

There were two new caches, one in Yelm and one in Rainier I wanted to do.  The first one was a multi cache in Yelm called Yelm Mural (GC8JXV8) and it was in the middle of town at the four way intersection on the side of the old theater building.  I had to get information off the mural and information off the plaque near the extension school across the street.  I wrote it all down and walked back to the Escape.  

I worked on the coords with mom and came up with a final set.  I knew it was going to be on the other side of town near Walmart.  We backtracked and found a place to park near the large evergreen trees on Walmart Avenue.  I thought it would be a quick find but it wasn't.  I couldn't get a pinpoint on the cache and it could have been anywhere at this point.  I texted Bev and she told me approximately where it was.  I checked the trees.  Every branch.  I hate these ones.  After looking for more than fifteen minutes I finally found the stupid thing.  It was a purple bison tube with black electrical tape around it hung underneath the evergreen limb.  Bahhhhh!

We drove back through Yelm and followed 507 towards Rainier.  At the time there wasn't a good spot to hide the Yelm one in town so I ended up hiding it along the trail.  We parked in the neighborhood just off the trail, I got out with my maintenance bag and checked out The 507 Series:  Yelm, Wash. (GC3AMVW) and it indeed was cracked and letting in water so I replaced the container, the log and code.  I dropped in one of the trackables I had with me for the next cacher.  I put it back in its hidey hole, put rocks in front of it and walked back to the Escape.

Since the final cache of the series, The 507 Series Final (GC3AMWB) was next along the trail, I decided I should probably check that one out as well.  I parked just off the trail in the pullout off of Manke Road.  I grabbed my bag just in case I needed to fix anything.  I take the small, almost hidden, trail off of the main trail and up and over the slight berm.  Of course, I haven't been here in quite some time so it looks a little different than the last time with all the brush growing and whatnot.  I found the large boulder I hid it next to and it hadn't been disturbed since September.  I didn't have to do anything to it so I put it back and walked back to the Escape.

We drove into Rainier and found the newest cache in Wilkowski Park called Wilkowski Cache (GC8KVDD).  We parked in the gravel lot and I walked in to grab it.  I almost walked by the stump it was hidden in.  I signed the log and put it back.  Bev got a FTF on this one a few days ago when it published.

I drove down the road and parked in the gravel lot behind Rainier Market.  The 507 Series:  Rainier, Wash. (GC3AMVX) was near a tree right off the trail.  I saw the container was broken so I replaced it into a fake rock.  I changed out the log, the baggie and added the code to it. I found some rocks for it to blend in with to kinda divert passersby.  As I walked back, I decided to add a new cache to where Gopher BBQ used to be.  I called it Rainier Trail Cache.  I got a container, a log and a baggie ready and found a good place to hide it.

We got back onto Hwy 507 and drove west towards Tenino.  I parked off one of the side roads near the mile sign.  It has grown up a lot and the brush needs to be trimmed.  I walked up to it not expecting to find a fake rock because I didn't leave that type of container here.  I was glad there was a container here.  I took it to the Escape, wiped out the moisture, added a new log, baggie and a code.  I took The 507 Series:  Tenino (GC3AMVY) back and placed it under the sign to where it looked like it blended in.

We took the back road past the park and took Crowder Road out to Bucoda to check on The 507 Series:  Bucoda (GC3AMW0).  This one hasn't been found in almost a year.  I parked at the pull out and ran across the highway.  I was not expecting to find a container here.  I haven't been here since I placed it back in 2012.  Sure enough, no sign of a container anywhere.  The original place I had it was compromised so I stuck a new container, log, baggie and code in the crotch of the tree.  It should stay safe there. 

We headed down to the end of Hwy 507.  The 507 Series:  Centralia (GC8M6XJ) I've had trouble with over the years.  I originally had it in the parking lot of a hotel and it went missing a lot.  I got tired of fixing it so I put off replacing it for a while.  I found a new spot near a church off of Alder Road.  There was a corner with plenty of parking near some large rocks.  I took coordinates, got the container, the log, baggie and code ready and hid it to where it wouldn't be too hard to find.

We drove back towards Rainier and I dropped mom off at home.  I thanked her for going with me and helping take notes.  I went home, added trackables to my TB hotel in my yard and spent the rest of the afternoon updating cache pages, creating the new ones and hoping they would publish as soon as possible because I knew people were waiting to finish the series.

Next Adventure:  We Almost Made it to Peru