geocaching Archives - ETB Travel Photography

A Day in Waikiki, Hawaii

Well, I was right, 3:30 am rolled around and so did I. I was certainly a bit restless for the next two hours. I finally got up at 5:30 and went down to the coffee shop just before 6. It wasn’t open…hmmm. Then I remembered I needed to geocache! I’ve cached in every state but Hawaii and Alaska. According to my app, there was one hidden less than a quarter of a mile away from my hotel, Waikiki Marina Resort at the Ilikai and across from Fort DeRussy Park. This is one way to spend the wee hours of the morning during a one day layover in Waikiki!

TAKE A LOOK!

The Rockies: Hiking Up Chief Mountain

February 17, 2013

So Kelley, a girl I’ve met a few times through a Texas friend, organized a group to hike Chief Mountain this weekend. We were all grateful for her research, as it takes some work to pull a hike together. I took a quick glance at a post on the web about Chief Mountain, located northwest of Evergreen, just so I knew what I was getting myself into, and the person claimed she took all her flat lander friends here because the hike was so easy. I feel sorry for her flat lander friends! It was short, only two miles round trip, but the beginning elevation is 10,670 feet and the summit clears 11,700. Gaining 1,000 feet in one mile at that altitude is anything from flat and easy, especially when you’re 41 years old and following a bunch of guys in their late 20’s!! I was certainly feeling my age as I was resting with a few other girls and they were climbing nearby trees, boulders, or running through the snow. We went too fast for me to break out my good camera, but the iPhone can snap some good shots once in a while!

we had a poacher in the girls’ photo

The trailhead is across the street from mile marker 18 on Squaw Pass Road, marked by a stake. It isn’t very noticeable. The trail winds up through the trees where it eventually crosses above the timberline offering magnificent views of the surrounding snow capped mountains. At times, we faced brutal winter winds which blew Kelley’s hat right off her head! We looked forward to each turn that put the wind at our backs!! To my surprise we found a Bureau of Reclamation Benchmark at the summit. I looked it up on geochacing.com to see if I could log it, but it was not recorded…seemed odd! We gobbled a few snacks at the top, but it was quite chilly, so we turned for a quick walk down with our poles and traction devices. My Yaktrax were still broken from the day before, as we started our hike before REI opened at 10, but I’ll be ready for next weekend! ETB

Fallbrook, California

Well, after an 8 month hiatus from blogging, I am back! I almost don’t remember how to do this, despite positing every day for a year!

I just recently took a weekend trip to Fallbrook, California to celebrate my dad’s cousin’s 60 1/2 surprise birthday. Many of my dad’s cousins, who I met for the first time on my trip around the USA, came for Bill’s birthday as well, so it was like a family reunion! We enjoyed a nice dinner outside in Bill and Pam’s backyard with beautiful weather. Continue reading “Fallbrook, California” →

Day 238 – Nebraska Heartland

Day 238 – Nebraska Heartland, August 11, 2011

This morning we left Grand Island and headed northwest up
Highway 2 in gusting winds through corn fields and farmland to Broken Bow, so
named for a broken Indian bow found nearby.
The winds are so strong in this area that trees are planted along the
highways as windbreaks. The Broken Bow
area came to be known as the Sod House Frontier, as when settlers first moved to
the nearly treeless area, they built their homes, corals, pig pens, churches
and school out of sod. Today the town is
small and modernized, relatively speaking.
We stopped near the courthouse to snatch a cache…Nebraska checked off
the list!

Continuing along Highway 2 as geese flew in a V-shape form
overhead and trains chugged by, we entered the sand hills region. The immense system of dunes that spans for at
least 200 miles along the highway was created when sands of ancient sea were
carried here by wind. The dunes are
blanketed in flourishing grasses whose root systems have kept the dunes in
place. If I were a cow living solely on
grass, this is the place I’d want to be.
The view was quite serene.

A 90,000 acre area, Nebraska National Forest, is situated on
the south side of the highway within the dune region. Approximately one fourth of it comprises hand-planted
trees. In the late 1800’s, Dr. Charles
Bessey was convinced that the region was once forested and could be again. After years of building his case and
gathering support, he wrote to President Roosevelt stating the government must
take steps to provide for the production of timber for America’s future as
eastern forests had been harvested or burned by 1902. Roosevelt established the Dismal River Forest
Preserve, which is now the Nebraska National Forest. We visited the Scott Fire Lookout, named for
the forest’s first supervisor, Charles Scott.
The tower is not only home to a nice view, but also to a cache! We walked along a hilltop trail watching for
rattlesnakes and sticker burr bushes and admiring the wildflowers.

After visiting the forest, we continued west past miles of
dunes and eventually turned south toward Ogallala. Just about the only sign of life were cows
grazing on the hills or drinking from a water trough beneath a windmill.

In Ogallala, I decided to take in the nightly performance of
the Crystal Palace Revue, named for a naughty 1875 dance hall. Eight high school students perform a gunfight
outside the saloon prior to the beginning of an hour and a half performance of
singing, dancing, and joke telling on stage in the bar. The show; cute, fun, goofy, comical and very
interactive with the crowd, runs all summer until the kids go back to school and has been in production for over forty years.

I grabbed a bite to eat at the bar before the show where I
met Jerry. He once lived in Bedford,
Texas and now lives in Kansas. He works
for a seismology company and is in Nebraska briefing the farmers about the
procedures that will take place on their land in order to look for gas and oil
in accordance with the leases they signed.
Somehow we got to talking about the weather…oh because the bartender
Stacy asked if it was going to rain…and he said a guy traveling through had to
pull off at his hotel because his windshield got smashed by golf ball sized
hail. I’m glad I missed that storm. I hope I stay out of them!

Ogallala is on Mountain Time. I read a road sign that informed me of this,
but my phone never changed, so I ended up being an hour early to the show. Of course, I didn’t figure that out until I
sat around a while which was annoying until I noticed the Cowboy game was
on! I thought well this was a good $10
spent. If the show is boring, I’ll watch
the game on mute. They turned the
football off and the show was entertaining enough anyway! ETB

Day 217 – Wisconsin North Woods

Day 217 – Wisconsin North Woods, Thursday, July 21, 2011

I forgot to mention one of the greatest parts to my
Minnesota morning yesterday, despite the rain…the coffee shop I found, Java
Moose Espresso, sold just the muffin tops…no stumps. Any Seinfeld fan has to appreciate that! Anyway, on to my next morning, I boiled some
water for coffee and instant oatmeal at the Amnicon Falls State Park
campgrounds in Wisconsin. Amnicon means
“Where Fish Spawn” and the Amnicon River is an important spawning river for
fish from Lake Superior.

In the heart of the park, the river separates into two
streams which plunge over basalt and sandstone creating at least three
waterfalls and depending on the flow it sometimes fills another channel
creating a fourth falls. I would have
never known the fourth falls, aptly named “Now and Then Falls” was sometimes
dry…the water was flowing today.

Bridges led Petey and me across the streams to a middle
island where we found a cache. We also
completed an earth cache that required us to follow the marked trail to several
locations and record pertinent information.
It was the first time that I ran into fellow cachers. Two folks were standing on one of the bridges
taking an elevation reading with their GPS (one of the requirements), so I
inquired, “Are you caching?” “Yes”, they
responded and later pointed me in the direction of the final task I needed to
complete it.

One of the bridges that spans the river at Lower Falls is
known as Covered Horton Bridge.
Originally it wasn’t covered and was a highway bridge that crossed the
river not far from the park. It was
moved to the present location in 1930.
The bridge is historically significant due to its age and
construction. In 1897 and 1898, Charles
Horton obtained several patents for designs that made bridges strong, lighter,
and more durable. In addition, the
design allowed workers to assemble the structures without expensive machinery,
tools, and labor. His method required
using arched beams secured with hooks and clips rather than rivets and bolts
and the bridge is known as a bow-string.

On my way toward Brule River State Forest, I passed by a
roadside historical marker that caught my attention. It was a windmill built in 1904 by a Finnish
immigrant, Jacob Davidson. Davidson, who
had not been a miller in Finland, took four years to construct the windmill
whose unique design was based on the shape of a coffee pot Davidson owned. He and his three sons used local materials
for the grindstones and structural wood.
The wings generate about 25 horsepower and turn at 15 rpm which produces
a mill stone speed of 135 rpm. Each mill
stone weighs 3,500 pounds. In added
bonus for making the brief stop was finding a nearby cache!

I moved on to Brule River State Forest where I drove four
miles to the headwaters of Bois Brule, one of the most renowned trout streams
east of the Mississippi. I didn’t go
there to fish, but just to see where the river and Lake Superior meet. It was such a beautiful place. A light breeze kept away most of the annoying
insects as I sat at a picnic table in the shade looking out on Lake Superior
and its sandy beach. The color of the
water changed from salmon along the coast to countless shades of blue as it
continued in the distance. I took
advantage of the cool weather to blog a bit as it has been so hot in VANilla, I
have been less than enthusiastic about turning on a computer that generates
more heat. Petey and I enjoyed a nice
office as we watched kids swim in the lake.
I thought to myself, I can’t imagine that water is very warm and took
Petey with me down to the beach to dab a toe in the lapping waves. Confirmed…ankle deep was the best I could do!

After a few hours just chilling out, we continued east
through Port Wing and ended up in a resort town called Bayfield. Somewhere along the way, a porcupine crossed
VANilla’s path (or at least I think that is what it was), but by the time I
stopped and got the camera up to my eye, it had slinked into the grass. I found a campground about a mile away and
then returned to the quaint, tourist town for a local dinner. I went with broiled whitefish which comes
with beer cheese soup. The cheese soup,
more like a cup of melted Velveeta, was topped with popcorn. I got about two or three spoonfuls down with
the help of an ice cold local beer on tap.
The waitress warned me it was cheesy…WHEW! I also very well knew I was taking a risk by
ordering fish because if it remotely tastes like fish smells, I have a hard time with it.

Oh well, the good news was Petey got to join me on the patio
where several people showered him with attention, and I met a nice couple, Nick
and Nikki from Madison who were up for a weekend vacation. Nikki is a 4^th grade school
teacher and Nick owns a concrete business.
Their first child is due in January.
Nikki ordered nachos that ended up being topped with an olive
tapenade…definitely not Texas style.
What I was most shocked to hear was how everyone in Wisconsin can’t
stand Brett Favre…WOW…never thought I’d hear that. I only know two others aside from myself who
have never been fond of him. They tell
me that the Jets girl wasn’t close to the first woman. Ok, so I’m not here to badmouth football
stars, but I just had to mention that I am no longer alone.

Petey and I left the restaurant as the sky turned violet
over the harbor and headed back to the campgrounds for the evening. ETB

Day 212 – North Dakota Sampler (Part 2)

Day 212 – North Dakota Sampler, July 16, 2011

I failed to mention some interesting sights yesterday, the
first being during long waits due to road construction. As we were all waiting for the flagger to
wave us on, it was mostly truckers and me, I was debating rolling down
VANilla’s window and turning off the engine.
As I glanced toward the driver side mirror, I noticed a trucker,
probably mid forties, brown hair, sunglasses, periwinkle blue T-shirt and jean
shorts step out of his cab, sidle into the space between his cab and trailer
and assume the position necessary to relieve himself. As he is looking from side to side, I thought
surely this isn’t the case, but as he turned back toward his cab while zipping
his fly my suspicion was confirmed! Not
too much further up the road, as I entered the town of Alexander, I was greeted
with a billboard listing the Ten Commandments.
Anyway, it was an interesting day.

I’ve survived another night of hellacious
thunderstorms. Lightning flashed in the
sky like a strobe light in a dance club.
Some of the tent campers moved into their cars while the storm
passed. Upon leaving the campground, I
turned east and continued past countless hay fields, rolling hills, and
farmland to Garrison. It wasn’t a
numbered stop in the book, but New Town, the “major” city (it’s all relative)
on the Indian Reservation seemed uneventful and frankly it was too hot to spend
much time hiking across prairielands on the sunny, somewhat humid day.

Garrison calls itself the Walleye capital of the North and
displays a 26-foot fish statue named Wally at the town park. Not far from the town park is another park
that geocaching led me to. I found a
container hidden under an old city horse trough.

After visiting Garrison, I took a short drive through Audubon
National Wildlife Refuge until the road closure in the park required me to turn
around. I got a quick glance of a
grouse, but it hopped into the bushes, but I think the animals were like me…not
too active.

We moved on the Knife River Indian Villages. The earth lodge people of the Knife River
were known as the Hidatsa and are believed to have arrived around the
1300. The tribe remained in the area for
more than 500 years. The tribe survived
by farming land, hunting bison, and trading materials. Lewis and Clark encountered the Indian village
during the winter of 1804 and they eventually hired Charbonneau, a
French-Canadian trader as an interpreter.
Along with Charbonneau came his wife, Sakakawea, a Shoshone who was
invaluable to expedition’s western travels.

Petey and I walked along the 1.5 mile path past the
undulating green field which was basically the remains of the earth lodge
village. The area looked more like a
perfect golf course fairway. The heat
index was so high, that at the end of our short walk Petey, panting heavily,
decided he just couldn’t make it to VANilla across the parking lot and plopped
down under the shade of a tree to rest.

Indian Village was a final touring spot before coming to a
rest in Bismarck. ETB

Day 127 – Red Rock Country Part 3

Day 127 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Dead Horse Ranch State Park

Today Petey and I spent the morning geocaching in Dead Horse Ranch State Park. We found five of six caches placed around the park. Most of them were near the lagoons which was definitely the most picturesque part of the park. The caches ranged in size from micros to medium sized containers. We found a film canister, a magnetic key holder, two hard, plastic latchable containers the size of a pound of sugar, and a large vitamin bottle that was well camoed. They were hidden under rocks, in trees, and attached to benches.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 11 – Scenic Southeastern Ohio

Day 11 of a Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

As I drove through Southeastern Ohio last night, I now understand why the campground was so hard to find at Hocking Hills State Park. As opposed to having a main entrance to the park with all the attractions inside it, the park is separated into six areas which are named for the attraction. Consequently, Cedar Falls had its own area as did Ash Cave and the other attractions.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!