Cache Report: Lazy Lake Days

We made an end-of-week change to our adventure plans on Saturday. Temps were predicted to be in the 70s and overcast, so we decided to try out a trail near a lake we had never been to. We were rewarded with a little used county park about an hour from town. The trail culminated on the shores of the lake, which was all sorts of lovely!

Trip Report

There are 22 caches in the area, including both a multi-cache and a mystery. There was no way we would do them all on this journey, so we decided to wing it.

Cache #1: The first cache was in the parking lot, overlooking the entrance sign. We knew it would be a creative container from the description, so we checked out the trees at ground zero for anything awry. This little birdie wasn't blinking, so we knew we had the cache!

Cache #2: After a brief pause to figure out the multicache coordinates off the sign at the entrance, we headed down the trail to our second cache. This was a lesson in frustration right from the start. Even with DEET, the mosquitoes were hell. Then, the GPS was indicating that GZ was about 20 feet off the trail through heavy brush. After tromping around for 20 minutes, we were ready to give up. As we headed back up the culvert to the trail, Mo noticed a log with an interesting crack in it right next to the trail. Yep, it folded open to reveal the cache! Neat container, frustrating geobounce!

Cache #3: This next cache ended up being almost twice as stressful when it came to bushwacking! Part of it was our fault, we misread the waypoint for leaving the trail simply because some recent deadfall threw us off. This meant we took the scenic route! We were rewarded with the beautiful views of a creek and wildflowers in bloom. The cache was a well-tended birdhouse, the perfect place for me to drop off a TB I had picked up a couple of weeks ago, as well as swap sig items.

Cache #4: Caches became a bit easier to access after #3! This nice hide was a quick find but well camouflaged in a hollow log. The last finder had actually been the park ranger, which was kind of cool!

Cache #5: Right up the trail from #4 was a GeoTour cache. Another quick and easy find that was impossible to miss under it's odd wood cover. Even remembered to get the code word! This was a kid-friendly cache filled with little toys.

Cache #6: This cache was just off trail in a huge stump. Peeking in, I saw a gnome statue and knew I had the find. Unfortunately, carpenter ants had moved into the stump and they started to swarm. I jumped back to the trail to sign the log, but made Mo put the whole thing back in place!

Cache #7: This was the dinner time cache. We made a quick find in a stump of a cache by one of our favorite hiders. We weren't disappointed and a sig swag trade was made. We then climbed to the top of a rock outcropping to enjoy the view of the lake while we had our picnic dinner.

Cache #8: I misread the map and started us on the wrong trail for our loop back, but we quickly fixed it. Unfortunately, this meant a steep hike uphill for half a mile. Not too bad, but the humidity was bothersome. We were rewarded at the top by gorgeous views of mountains and lake valley, as well as a nice big ammo can with plenty of sig items to choose from!

Cache #9: Another cache by the favorite CO. We had a lot of bounce due to tree cover, so it was another return to the trail and think like a cache moment. I spotted a likely tree, made my way through the brush, and was rewarded with a D-Con can hanging from a branch. Unfortunately, the last finder in the fall hadn't sealed the can, and the Rite in the Rain log was moldy and wet. Drained it out and rescued a sig item (undamaged plastic token!), then put in a log in a baggie with one of our waterproof sig items as trade. Notified the CO of the issue, as well.

Cache #10: Another off trail adventure! Some deadfall over the winter had obscured the game trails that originally lead to this cache. Tree cover was also an issue and the CO didn't leave a useful hint. We had traveled too far through brush and over log to give up, though -- especially since this was a larger ammo can hide! A previous finder mentioned beer can in the area, so when I saw some I figured we were near GZ. Yep -- rewarded with a swag-filled cache. It was hard to choose a sig item for trade! Did some CITO as well to remove the garbage in the area.

Wrap Up

The day started off sort of frustrating, but a nice trail and the beauty of woods and water in the spring quickly turned things around. We only found about half the caches in the area, so we will definitely head back to this area at some point!

We are also getting close to finishing our first GeoTour! We only need 7 more, and then we qualify for the coin and a bonus cache :)