Beaver Pond

Day 87: I took an extended lunch in order to walk beyond the Park's back gate and out to Skate Creek Road today, slipping and sliding on ice in some places and slogging in mud in others, glad of an occasion when I could visit the Beaver Pond in wintry conditions. I've spent many a happy summer hour here, tormenting a modest population of native cutthroat trout in between untangling my backcast from the branches of the alders, but never before when snow blanketed its setting. I knew it had to be beautiful; it is a gem in June, its colors changing like a tanzanite, reflecting the greens of grass and tree at one angle and an azure sky from another. In the hues of winter's palette, it could be no less, but winter posed a problem for access. Skate Creek Road, which goes only from Ashford to Packwood, cannot justify a budget for plowing (or, for that matter, general maintenance), and is closed when the snow flies. The Park road is a spur angling off it, and on the wrong side of a locked gate. Access, therefore, is by foot, and from the Administration Building at Longmire, it is a little over two and a half miles to the pond. In deeper snow, that distance would be too much to tackle on a lunch break. Today, however, was slow. I finished my assignments early and was granted leave to be away from my desk longer than usual. Thus I wound up here, sharing a new season with an old friend. Just a wink of blue sky appears as a reflection of past summers, an acknowledgement of our history together.

Caching Partners

Day 314: After helping me by transporting a couch, a dresser and five wooden chairs from my fishing buddy's daughter's home to mine, my caching partner Dan and I took off for the woods, GPS receivers in hand. After a delightful foray into the subalpine reaches for a hide which had only one prior finder in two years, we descended to the hidden waterfall I visited just a few weeks ago. I felt Dan needed to experience some of the frustration I felt as I poked and probed until I finally located a small tube with a paper log sheet inside, waiting for my signature. Not wishing to be unduly cruel, I gave him a little information to tighten his seach: "You're within ten feet of the cache. It's not at ground level and it's below head-height," and then stepped back to watch him repeatedly put his hand in the hole where the prize lay hidden without discovering it. "You were warm a minute ago. Now you're cold. Nope, getting colder." Again, his hand went in the hole. Finally, I began to wonder if I had misremembered. While he was searching elsewhere, I put my hand inside and poked around in the dirt and mud. Yep, it was there. I gave him a little more encouragement and at last, his fingers felt the smooth sides of the container in the goo. Luckily, the waterfall was nearby for a quick rinse.

After making this find, we went on to Packwood where a purportedly simple cache eluded us. With two pairs of eyes searching, a 1.5 star micro failed to come to light in 20 minutes of intense survey over seemingly bare ground. Win some, lose some...and in caching, sometimes the most difficult hides fall more easily than those rated at "beginner" level. Three for me today, and eight or nine for Dan, who was covering new ground.

Cache Success

Day 295: Although I don't do a lot of geocaching these days other than when I'm out in the kayak, I do like to keep up on the few which get hidden on my own turf. Last week, I attempted to find the dreaded "micro in the woods" twice at this lovely hidden waterfall, but had no success on either day. Today, with a better hint from the out-of-towner who hid the cache, I achieved my goal. As you can tell, the weather was substantially cooler than a week ago, and slightly damp. Crawling around on wet moss and slip-sliding on slick rocks is all part of the game. No dip in the plunge pool today, but I'll be back!

Cool Niche

Day 289: One of the most enjoyable things about geocaching done properly is that it oftentimes takes you to beautiful or significant spots you might otherwise have missed. Pursuit of a cache led me to this "Hidden Waterfall" only a few hundred feet off Skate Creek Road, set in a forested niche and not visible to drivers or cyclists. Never mind that I took the hard way in and discovered a social trail only as I left the site, never mind that I failed to find the proverbial and dreaded "micro in the woods" because it had most likely washed away during the unnamed creek's higher winter flow rate. The hour I spent here was nevertheless a refreshing respite from the heat, plus it got me out of the house. If I'd only thought to bring a towel, I'd have had a quick, icy dunk. Next time! I have to come back for that cache, anyway.