Cache Report: Story of a Power Trail

Being new to the game, Mo and I are still working on our preferences. Some things are already becoming obvious -- Mo likes Swag and I like Signature Items. Planning for our Saturday excursion thus included making our own swag/sig items to take with us this weekend. Above is our "deluxe" version with wood tag and zipper pull. We also did the versions below: a simple laminated card and a simple laminated ribbon bookmark style.

I planned the excursion, as is our method. Since this was supposed to be the last weekend of Planetary Pursuit, I thought perhaps a small power trail along an actual hiking trail I didn't previously realize existed would be nice. As an added benefit, the weather looked iffy for Saturday, and this trail was a 15 minute drive from home so no big deal if we had to call it quits early.

Trip Report 

The trail was a former rail bed, so nice clear hiking. It edged Riverside State Park. There are 12 active caches at .1 mile intervals along the trail. Once the trail goes into the park, there were four more caches, unrelated to the power trail, we could finish with.

The weather was awful all day long. Windy and intermittent downpours. Our daypacks are waterproof and we both have rain gear, so we were determined to try. At 2:30, our agreed upon departure time, a breeze from the west pushed out the clouds -- thank you, Pacific winds! We headed to the trail with partly sunny skies above us and in good spirits.

Cache #1: Our first stop was at a Travel Bug hotel near the trail. It was an old converted hen house with two large waterproof containers inside, really cool! It sat at the end of the CO's driveway, so it was a simple park and grab/drop. I sent the little pig from last week off on his journey. This TB hotel is near the airport and the highway, so who knows where he will end up next!

Cache #2: We arrived at the trail head and geared up. I never would have found this trail if not for the power trail, so good job there! This first cache was .1 miles from the trail head. We found the cache, a small container, under some rocks. Logged it and continued on.

Cache #3-#12: The next 10 caches were almost all .1 miles apart. Containers ranged from PB jars and small containers, to decon containers. Hides tended to be under rocks or in trees, so they all sort of ran together. While fun, it was also a bit boring after a bit. I will say, I am glad that all the containers were large enough for some swag -- I had read that many power trails are nothing but nanos and micros. I did score three new sig items out of the caches, and Mo found a bit of swag she wanted to trade for. We used our "deluxe" sig item when we took something, and just dropped off a bookmark or card if we didn't.

Cache #13: This cache wasn't part of the power trail. It was a lidless container in a ziplock, but the contents were in good condition since the CO had just replaced (?!) it. The view was the star of this cache -- from the perch on the rock we could see the entire Spokane river valley through the state park, along with all the cool geologic features from the ice ages floods. In fact, it was so lovely we stopped here on our way back to the car to eat our dinner!

Cache #14:  We found an abandoned cache, me thinks. A large rusted out tin in a tattered ziplock, stuck haphazardly under a rock. Someone had recently marked it as their 10,000 find and left a celebratory banner inside! That was the coolest thing about this cache ;)

Cache #15: The next cache was well maintained, yay! We were a bit challenged by it. The clue lead us to look in the tree at GZ, but Mo finally found it hiding well concealed at the base of the tree! The cache itself was a standard small Lock n' Lock, but the view was nice and the tree was gorgeous!

Cache #16: The last cache of the day was a bit further into the park. We were under a canopy of pines and everything was covered in moss and lichen -- very lush. The rock cliff wall on one side of the trail was exceptionally pretty with green growing things. In fact, the hint let us know that the cache would be concealed on a ledge of the rock wall. Either the trees or the cliff interfered with the GPS, so GZ was a bit hard to pin down. We pushed through the brush a few times to check out ledges, but none revealed a cache. Just as we were about to give up, I spotted a likely ledge 20 feet down the trail. Bingo!

Wrap-Up

The hike back out was straight forward, with just our brief stop for dinner. The likely pub I had planned on stopping at was way too packed -- there wasn't even any parking! We drove a bit further to a favorite brewery, but there was a two hour wait! On a whim, we headed back to Poole's. No where near today's caching site nor our home, but the taps and the nibbles were good (plus being at a distance from home limits me to only one brew, so it's better for my waist line).

Fortunately, no ticks this week. As we sat down at the pub, though, the wind picked up. Then, flashes appeared in the southern sky - lightening! One of the kids texted that marble-size hail was hammering the house. He was concerned we were still on the trail and caught in it, so was relieved to hear our adventure was over.

Crazy how the clouds only parted long enough for us to cache!