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Al and I are thrilled that you have found your way to our blog. We hope you enjoy reading our journal and viewing our photographs of the natural wonder of our United States of America. Let's hit the road together!
Homer, Alaska

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Geocaching Fun, and a Face Plant

The past couple of weeks we've been staying close to camp, since our journey over to the Black Canyon and Ouray. We've recenently started geocaching, mainly due to the enthusiastic discussions with our fellow workamper Sandi. Most of you who RV know about geocaching already, but for those who don't, you can learn all about it here. As Sandi's husband Joe explains it, you use a handheld GPS worth a few hundred dollars, using technology worth billions of dollars (satellites) to "find stuff" :-). It's a modern day treasure hunt. The neat thing about it is that you go places looking for these caches that you may never have discovered otherwise.

So on one of our days off the past week, we picked one that was close by, and decided to go find it. It sounded nice, at the top of a waterfall, and would be a nice walk to take the pups on as well. We had planned on leaving early, but were also making breakfast that morning for the other workampers...omelets in a bag. We were going to make them for our "breakfast for dinner" potluck, but had some technical issues at the time. Being that we had three dozen eggs, we offered to make breakfast Sunday morning instead :-). So we got off to a little later start than we had hoped...after all, it is August in the mountains, and the afternoon rains almost always come through on the mountain. Anyway, we loaded up the water bottles, got our co-ordinates for the cache, and set off on Brown's Creek Trail to the waterfall.


The first mile was ALL uphill...lots of huffing and puffing, but great views of the valley behind us

We walked through trees...

and meadows....

and over logs crossing streams...the dogs had a definite advantage here!

and finally made it to Brown's Creek Waterfalls. It was really pretty, but I had read our directions wrong, and instead of being a 3 mile round trip hike, it was 3 miles one way. 

The cache co-ordinates were indicating that the cache was to our right, up the huge pile of boulders....I was not confident enough to climb up the pile, and with a 3 mile hike facing me for the return trip, did not want to walk further to find a route around. But we did see some nice waterfalls!

It was a very rocky hike back down the mountain, and we needed to go slow and careful to not twist an ankle!

A dip in Brown's Creeks at the end was refreshing for the pups!

The next day we wanted to go out again, but after six miles my body rebelled about doing another hike! So we picked a scenic drive, from the town of Como over the Boreas Pass to Breckenridge. It was a beautiful day, one of the monthly residents, Mike and Gigi, had recommended it, so we packed up the pups, maps, some geocache co-ordinates, and off we went again.
My research had told me to stop at Mountain Man Gallery for a roadmap guide to the pass, with numbered markers to guide us through the history of the pass. Unfortunately, the owner, also the postmaster, after she finished loading mail into the old-fashioned metal boxes in the back of the gallery, told me the markers were all taken down, so the guide was useless and she didn't print it anymore. Well, alrighty then!

Como has several interesting buildings, this train roundhouse is one. The historical societies raise money to slowly restore these buildings.

Up the road we went, looking for our first geocache...Roberts Cabin



Found it!

On the road again for the next one...

Al spotted this one!

Our last cache required more searching...

Beautiful view!

Even Chelsea joined in the climb

and another find :-).

That was our last cache for the day. We headed onward up to the summit....
Another Continental Divide Pass sign for my collection :-).


Several buildings were restored by historical societies, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sign :-).


We continued down the pass and into the ski town Breckenridge..looking for some lunch before heading back to Chalk Creek. We found a puppy-friendly spot at The Whale's Tale, also known as the gathering spot for the "After the Catch: season six" episode of "Deadliest Catch" series. Lunch was tasty, and we strolled around town for awhile...

A cute store with beautiful gardens

Casey was quite concerned about this!

Cupcakes, anyone??

So, we had a very nice couple of days off, and got started on a new hobby, geocaching. But lest anyone thinks that only good things happen around here, :-), I do have to admit that I had a bit of a fall yesterday :-(. It was totally my fault, and was on the flattest, easiest trail around that we walk on. We had gone out after working the morning shift, and took the dogs with us. After finding a few caches, we decided to take them for a quick walk on River Walk, in town, before going to dinner. I saw some cool ducks on the river, and I was paying attention to my phone, trying to ID the ducks, rather than what was going on around me. Well, Chelsea, whose leash I was holding, decided she had to go see another dog coming our way, and took off. I was completely caught off guard, and ended up getting dragged down, doing a face plant into the gravel path. Long story short, I am now sporting a very fashionable 10 stitches on my chin. And no, there are no pictures :-). Just goes to show you, it only takes seconds of inattention to lead to an accident. Otherwise, we're all fine, and its a minor bump in the road. Onto the next adventure!


16 comments:

  1. Looks like your hunt took you past some beautiful scenery!

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  2. Sorry to hear about your face plant. : ( Hope we can meet up with you again sometime.

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  3. Ouch!! I was expecting to read you had some gravel burns not stitches--double ouch!!

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  4. Glad you enjoyed geocaching. We love it, not so much because we find stuff, but as you said, you go to and see things you may not otherwise see. Some of our favorite caches are virtual caches...they take you to a view or an educational sign and there is no actual container to be found.

    Sorry about your chin slide;o(( Been there, done that just a week ago and scratched up my new camera!! But we do learn the most from our mistakes;o)) I know I will pay closer attention!!

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  5. Geocaching is a blast!

    I would have expected the face plant in the tough terrain. Just goes to show it's always when we let our guard down just a wee bit! I am always the klutz...It is never a question of IF I get hurt.... but how bad! I always carry a first aid kit!! Heal up quickly and stay safe!.

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  6. Don't forget! Saturday Aug 18th is Nat'l Geocache Day... be sure to find one then to get your souvenir.

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  7. Just think of the scar as a character mark. Dogs can be dangerous. Geocaching can certainly take you to some cool places.
    Syl

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  8. Great blog. I am very far behind on catching up on where and what everyone is doing! Geocatching is also on our list of new adventures! The fall...I can so see how that can happen so quickly! Hope to catch up in Florida this winter!

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  9. Geocaching is fun but why oh why do we never seem to have the time to do it?! Sorry about your face plant!

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  10. I sure was wishing you'd show what was in the geocache. Guess you want us all to go out there and find them for ourselves. :-) What GPS do you use for it? We've done it with Nancy and Bill but haven't on our own although I keep saying I'm going to.

    So sorry to hear you got dragged down. Falls happen to everyone but that's a lot of stitches. No scar I hope.
    The memory is probably more than enough to keep you from forgetting. You don't need to be reminded every time you look in the mirror.

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  11. Ouch! Sorry about the fall. It happens to all of us. I just keep saying "it could have been worse" :) Hope you heal quickly.

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  12. Wow hope you feel better soon . Dogs can pull and definetely cause injury .

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  13. Ouch! Geocaching is fun . . . especially when you are able to find the cache!

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  14. Sorry about your fall! Enjoying your travels and pictures. Beautiful country!

    Bruce and Laura

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  15. Oh no! I know all too well how it only takes a split second for an accident to occur. Glad it wasn't any worse and hope you heal quickly.

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