In Search of Geocaching's Beginning

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With the Labor Day holiday behind us, we are hoping there will be fewer people out camping making our travels a bit easier. I guess that remains to be seen. Our next direction is back north. Our goal is to visit the spot where geocaching began. On May 3, 2000 the first "stash" was hidden about 25 miles southeast of Portland. Unfortunately, that cache is no longer active, but there is a plaque there with a geocache nearby and it is sort of the "holy land" for serious geocachers. That location is a bit further than we like to travel in a day so we pick a spot partway there. Springfield Oregon is close to Eugene and there is an Elks Lodge we hope to stay at. The other reasons for picking that area are twofold. First, there is a Newmar dealer not too far away and we are hoping they might have one of the new models that Newmar is just introducing. Honest we just want to look! The second reason is there is a highly regarded solar installation firm that we would like to discuss options for our rig.

There are Elks Lodges in both Springfield and Eugene, but the former will be more convenient for us. The problem is that they only have 4 RV spots. Since they don't accept reservations, we give them a call when we are about 40 minutes out. We are told they do have one spot left, but 3 other people had already called today inquiring about the same thing. When we pull in about 45 minutes later, we find that one spot is still open! The sites here are on the side of the lodge with rigs parked at about a 45 degree angle to the building. Of course the remaining spot is in between two other rigs. It wasn't too bad getting into the spot, but we did discover we were unable to open one of our bedroom slides without hitting our neighbor's slide. Oh well it will work. Two of our neighbors were there because where they had been was under wildfire evacuation orders and this is where they landed for a few days.

We call and make an appointment to meet with somebody at AM Solar the next morning.  The place is close enough we could almost have walked there. We had a good discussion with Ray and ended up leaning more towards upgrading our battery bank from flooded lead acid to lithium. This seemed to be a better first step than going with solar panels. Then in the future we could add on solar panels if we wanted to. Lithium batteries are not cheap but they have some real benefits over what we have. They weigh about half what our current batteries weigh and have a more forgiving charging and discharge profile. Ray agrees to get us a quote in a couple days. Jump forward a couple days. The quote came in at nearly $13 grand with over $7 grand in labor. Needless to say, I don't think this will be the path we take to get a better battery system.

After the morning meeting, we headed to the nearby REI to continue our bike shopping. They had one of the models I have been considering and it's price was reduced from when I looked at one a couple weeks ago. The saleswomen came out to help us and she said that some of the bikes had just gotten another reduction but she hadn't had a chance to make new price tags. She checks the one I'm looking at and it was down an additional $200. So now the bike is looking much better. We look around for a bike for Chris and they have an older model that looks good and is the right size for her. It too has a price drop and is now nearly half of the original price. We get both ready for a test drive which includes helmets and a safety vest. We haven't seen much rain in the last six months - maybe a few days here or there. Wouldn't you know, it has started to sprinkle as we take the bikes out for a test drive. Fortunately there is a linear park a block away that is underneath Interstate 105. It provides us with enough opportunity to try them out and we decide to go with them.

Found Outside the REI Store

So now we get back to the lodge with our two new bikes and our two old bikes. Something has to happen since we cannot travel with all four. A call to Chris' brother in Oklahoma give us the outcome of one bike. We will clean it up a bit, and send it to him. We find a nearby bike shop that actually has a bike box they haven't cut apart yet, we head there and pick it up plus some of the packing materials they have on hand. Chris discovered a web site called shipbikes.com that uses FedEx as their shipper, but gets much better pricing that we could get on our own. We package the bike up and weigh it and armed with that info, she is able to pay for shipping and print our the shipping ticket. A quick drive to FedEx and the bike is on its way.

The other bike could just be donated but it was a good bike nearly 30 years ago and I have kept it in good condition. So Chris offers to try selling it on Craigslist. I think she misses the hundreds of Craigslist sales we made when we were downsizing. We clean it up, take some pictures and place the ad hoping for the best. Well let's just say the phone didn't ring off the hook. Even after our price reduction on the second day, we had no nibbles. Maybe our area code being from western NY kept people from calling? Rather than bringing it along and trying again at our next destination, we just say goodbye and drop it off at a donation center.

It turned out with all the work on the old bikes, our four nights in Springfield flew by. Probably just as well. The Newmar dealer hadn't gotten in the model we wanted to see in person so that plan fell apart. And really there wasn't much else we wanted to see and do in the area. On the Sunday morning we are planning on leaving, the Elks Lodge is having a classic car show in the parking lot. Fortunately we get packed up and hitch up the Jeep before the parking lot got too crowded with owners and lookers. Our next stop is Barton Park in the little town of Boring Oregon.

We have a little time to kill before check in so we stop at a rest stop along Interstate 5 for lunch and a geocache. While Chris makes lunch, I head out for the cache. It is actually on the southbound side rest stop, but there is an underpass so I can walk to the other side without issue. With over 10000 finds, you might think that my experience at geocaching would translate into some level of intelligence when going for a cache. Maybe at least read the difficulty and terrain ratings if not the description. But no, I went for it with little forethought. I was initially on a bit of a path and less than 0..2 miles away. But then the path turned the wrong way and didn't appear to be making  another turn that would help. So I plunge into the brush in my shorts and t-shirt.

Had Chris come along, she would have been my sanity check and convinced us to turn back, but being the stubborn guy I am, I continue on. As the thorns from the brambles start to cut into my legs, it is slow (and painful) going. The last 300 feet probably took 10 minutes but by then I wasn't willing to turn back. A text from Chris telling me lunch was ready and asking where I was, forced me to try to go a bit faster. I finally get near ground zero and eventually spot the ammo can partway up a tree. Now I have the choice to try to back track they way I came which I know is bad but can be done, or try to head back a different way. I pick the later and it might have been marginally better but not by much. When I finally step out of the brush, my legs and arms are all cut up and I'm a bit sweaty which stings all the cuts. When I get back to the rig, I immediately hop into the shower to try to clean up a bit. Thank goodness we bring our home along with us. It can come in handy for times like this.

We arrive at Barton Park and it is apparent we have hit the slow season. As I try to navigate the extremely narrow opening at the entrance shack, the attendant says "You must be here for site 81." Yep, that would be us. The dump station is on the way out and is much too tight of a turn to make, so we pull into the campgrounds, disconnect the car, turn around, go to the dump station, can't make the turn into the park, so we have to exit, turn around and come back thru. At least I know I can squeeze thru without hitting a mirror if I go slowly.

We had booked this place a week or so ago since it was close to the geocache we wanted to do and looked pretty nice. We also tend to put a little thought into which site to reserve when that is an option. In this case, site 81 faces northeast. With a motorhome, keeping the front windshield pointing north or east can go a long ways in keeping the afternoon sun from baking us. Plus from the aerial, this site must have been a handicap site early on because the pad was a bit wider but apparently they decided to put the several handicap sites closer to the restrooms at the other end of the loop. We are only here for a week so the holding tanks would be fine but we really need to do laundry so we decide to use the shower facilities at the campground in order to do several loads of laundry while we are here.

Our first full day here, we decide to go for the "Original Stash Plaque" since that is what brought us here. There are a fair number of other geocaches that have been placed in the general area of this plaque. That gives people even more incentive to come for this one. In the back of my mind, I had formulated a vision of what I expected the place to look like. Well the actual spot didn't at all match my preconceived vision. I had envisioned it to be back in the woods like so many of the other "old" geocaches we have found. And yes, a simple look at the map would show the thing is basically at the side of some seldom traveled back country road where you can pull over and walk 50 feet to find it but I wanted a half mile hike in the woods. Fortunately some of the other caches nearby offer that walk in the woods. The owner of the adjacent private woodlot has many trails and has permitted geocachers to place and find caches in his woods.

We Found the Plaque Where Geocaching Started

Since this expedition didn't take us nearly as long as we had planned, we needed to come up with something else to do for the rest of this pleasant day. A quick look at the map shows that Milo McIver State Park is very close by. There are a couple geocaches there and a fish hatchery. After having the picnic lunch we brought along. We head to the hatchery. There wasn't much going on. It was open, but we saw no other visitors or employees for that matter.. There are three large holding ponds of which only one was in use. It contained what must be tens of thousands fingerling salmon. At any point, there were several of the little guys jumping out of the water. At the three large pipes where water is pouring in, the fish seemed to be trying to jump into the flow and head up the pipe. I guess that urge to go upstream starts at a young age. The numerous sea gull sitting on the side of the pond have likely found this to be the primo spot to find fish!

Small Fry Pond

Look Closely - Small Fry Mid-Stream

Below the large ponds, were several holding tanks for adult salmon. There were quite a number of ones that looked like they would make a nice dinner! Just below the holding tanks, all the water being let into the upper holding ponds, flows out and down a stream into the woods. A fish ladder leads into a fish trap, where salmon returning from the wild end up. Many of the returning ones are then used as breeding stock for the next generation at the hatchery.

Salmon Dinner Anyone?

At the other end of this park is a nice looking disc golf course. Of course we have removed our discs from the Jeep when taking the boxed bicycle to FedEx so we can't try it out. But we do hike the roughly 2 mile Maple Ridge trail. It is a nice hike, and being a Monday, there are hardly any others out using the trail. All in all, it turned out to be a nice day.

In looking for a place to try out our new mountain bikes, we discover Powell Butte Nature Park. It is a 600+ acre park east of Portland with miles of hiking and biking trails. It is an extinct (we hope) volcano that now happens to be the main water source for Portland. Not that the water comes from here, but is stored in two 50 million gallon underground reservoirs. The park turns out to have some really nice trails and for the most part is not so crowded to make biking a challenge.

View from Powell Butte

With one successful bike ride done, we decide to go out the next day and do a section of the Cazadero trail - a rail trail that goes right past the entrance to Barton Park. There are a series of 20 geocaches placed along several miles of the trail near the park. It is quite difficult to get into a cycling rhythm when we need to stop every tenth mile or so. Sections of the trail has fairly loose gravel that can make the ride challenging. We end up doing 11 miles out and back and find 17 of the 20 caches.

Earlier in the month, a cousin of mine from Ohio was vacationing in northern Oregon while we we in southern Oregon. We didn't get a chance to meet up, but she did post pictures from a hike that might be one we should try.  Now that we are back in the area, we plan to do the 6 mile hike to Mirror Lake and Tom Dick and Harry Mountain. This brings us back to the exact location where we had mechanical problems with the motorhome while heading over the Cascades for the eclipse. As we approach the parking area for the hike off of US Route 26, we can tell it is full. In fact, somebody is sitting in a car hoping a hiker will get back and free up a spot. We continue up to Mt Hood Ski Bowl parking - right where we diagnosed our problem a few weeks ago. Parking up here adds another mile each way, but it beats just waiting. At least the state realizes this is a very popular hike and has plans to create a new parking area near where we parked and modify the trail to head there instead. Maybe next time we are in the area it will be completed.

Route to Mirror Lake & Tom Dick and Harry Mountain

This hike is a nice one. The trail is in pretty good shape and even though there were lots of cars, we don't feel too crowded on the trail. There are a few geocaches to entertain us along the way. One was near two women resting on the trail, as we passed, we told them what we were up to so they wouldn't grow suspicious. We were just signing in as they walked by so we explained geocaching to them. Maybe they will investigate it since they obviously enjoy hiking and geocaching is a great companion activity for hiking. It was a nice day for a hike but admittedly the smoke from the nearby fires have messed with the distance views yet again. At least the air we are breathing doesn't seem to be too smokey.

After a brief stop at Mirror Lake about halfway up, we continue on the trail up to the overlook of Tom Dick and Harry Mountain. The trail ends at a very rocky overlook area with about half a dozen others enjoying the limited views. One woman had even brought her very young baby up with her. We enjoyed the sandwiches we had brought along while trying to keep the very persistent chipmunks from just climbing in our laps to take a bite for themselves.

Mirror Lake

Mt Hood Shrouded in Clouds

There was one last geocache up here but it was 500 feet or so further from the overlook. There was no obvious trail in that direction and walking on the rocks was precarious at best. We managed to get past the rocky part and found a deer trail that led us right over to the cache. As we came back up to the overlook, a new group of people looked at us and wondered where we were coming from. If they only knew about geocaching. The return trip was more of less uneventful except for near the beginning. Two guys were having a pretty loud conversation behind us and it seemed like we were going to get to enjoy the whole thing. It didn't take long before I gave up and stopped to "tie my boots" in order for them to pass. Once they were out of earshot, we enjoyed our hike back down. We stopped at Mirror Lake again where another chipmunk came a begging. It was a nice hike. I'll be curious if any other of our cousins will make it out for this hike?

View Along the Way

Mount Hood

Mount Hood with Mirror Lake in Foreground

We had been doing lots of hiking or biking so we decided to mix it up a bit and do pure touristy things. We drove into Portland and went to Washington Park. It's a big place with several gardens, some monuments and museums as well as the zoo. Parking isn't free, but $6.50 got us an all day spot near the Japanese Garden. We stood in a pretty long line to pay to get in. I guess many other people decided to take advantage of the nice day. After checking out one of the buildings and all it's artwork, we proceeded into the garden area.

Crane Sculptures

Pagoda

Our timing was perfect, a docent informed us he was just starting a tour and asked if we wanted to join in. Sure, why not. It turned out to be a fairly large group of about 25 people. It wasn't always easy to be close enough to hear all his stories about the place, but we caught enough of it to be quite entertaining. He turned out to a wealth of information not just about the gardens but Japanese culture as well. He clearly wasn't Japanese but that didn't seem to hinder his enthusiasm for the topic. The only downside to doing the tour is not being able to take my time to take pictures or read signs. So after the hour was over, we did a little more exploring on our own.

Pond

Waterfall with Triangle Rock (Crane) and Flat Rock (Turtle)

Nobody on the Bridge

By now it was lunchtime and we hadn't brought anything along. There were no places to eat, or food trucks nearby. There is a free shuttle that runs a loop around the park. So we hop on the next one after figuring out where the stop was, and head to the zoo. The hope was the zoo would have some sort of dining choices. Sure enough, as we entered the zoo, we found a cafe with reasonable food and had lunch as we looked at the zoo's map to plan our visit.

This zoo actually has a couple physical geocaches located within its confines. The two we did each have a combination lock to keep other visitors from getting in, but armed with the combinations, we had no real problem. It was too crowded to wait for complete anonymity when opening the caches but surprisingly the other people didn't seem to even notice.

Hungry Hungry Hippo

The Race is On

Heading to Next Feeding Station

The zoo was nice. Not super big, but plenty to see and do. The lions were likely fed shortly before we arrived there. They were up and quite active. Many were licking the ground, possibly where the food had been tossed earlier. The bats were in the process of being fed. They get all sorts of fruits hanging from hooks on the ceiling of their cage. There was a lot of activity as they would fly around and then hang upside down while eating.

Look at My Tongue

Staring Contest

Bat Feeding Time

I Have a Long Neck

We still had a little bit of energy and daylight remaining so we jumped on the shuttle and went back up to see the rose garden. Being mid-September, we were quite surprised by how many roses were in bloom. We strolled up and down the aisles taking in the sight and smells. Since we weren't sure how bad traffic would be back to the campgrounds, we headed out before sunset and made reasonably good time back.

We had one more full day to spend in the area and Chris had stumbled onto a Hopkins Demonstration Forest during her investigation of what else to do. This place is a privately owned 140 acre parcel of land where the owners have dedicated many decades to practicing various forms of woodlot management techniques. They have miles of trails and it is open to the public. There also happen to be about a dozen geocaches placed there, so we had added incentive other than just a walk in the woods.  Along the trails, there are signs explaining when each plot was planted and subsequently thinned. They even have some pretty elaborate displays with all sorts of info regarding the practices, goals and results. As former woodlot owners, we found the info quite interesting. Obviously these owners put much more work into woodlot management that we did.

Detailed Signs

Forgot our Throwing Axes

We actually did fairly well with the geocaches. There was one multi cache that hadn't been found in almost a year. It took us a great amount of effort, but we made the find. Another one of the caches was a puzzle cache that didn't provide the actual coordinates for the container. In order to find it, we needed to find six other caches in the series along the trails. Each cache provided one digit needed to produce the final coordinates. Our problem was we couldn't find 2 of those six caches. With only 4 of the numbers, we made some educated guesses what the other digits would need to be in order to stay on the property. And then with some luck we found a trail that went past one of the guesses and Chris managed to find the container. We enjoyed the hours we spent wandering on this beautiful property.