Caching in Virtue Flats - 6/30/2011

Today, my Dad and I decided to hunt a few caches in the Virtue Flats OHV that is located a few miles to the east of Baker City, OR. I can't stop in Baker City without having breakfast at the Baker Truck Corral. I always enjoy their corned beef hash and eggs and today was no exception.

After breakfast, we headed over to the Baker Interpretive Center to hunt Rest Stop on the Oregon Trail by DocDTA (GC2W8BE) . This cache was not too far from the parking lot area, but required hiking down a windy trail called the "Ascent Trail". Since my Dad doesn't care for hiking, I made the hike alone.

[ Exhibit near the parking area ]

[ Nice scenery along the Ascent Trail ]

[ A covered wagon awaits at the end of the trail ]

The entire length of the trail is only 0.8 miles, and there is an old covered wagon to visit for those who make the entire hike. Unfortunately, I only had time to hunt the cache, and since my Dad was waiting for me at the top of the hill. I made it a quick hunt. The Baker Interpretive Center is a cool place to visit. I've been inside the museum once, many years ago, and hunted a cache on the grounds two years ago.

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I cached in Virtue Flats last year around this same time, so I knew what to expect in terms of terrain. It was at least twenty degrees cooler than the last time I was here. That made a big difference in this desert-like terrain. I didn't have a good map of the area, so I didn't know how close to the main road any of these caches would be. We found a parking area near Broken Valve Stem by rebel502 (GC2FG1B) and I hiked along an ATV trail about a third of a mile to that cache. After that, we drove the main road through the area and would stop as close as we could get to a cache. I would then drink some Gatorade, then set off for the cache. Most were within 1/3 of a mile from the road, and all involved some hill-climbing.

[ It seems to go on forever... ]

[ My dad prefers to wait by the main road ]

[ This would be so much fun on an ATV! ]

I ended up finding 3 of the 4 caches that are available, including An eagles nest view of the Eagle Caps by pete-n-repete (GC1BPQX) and Above the boulders by rebel502 (GC2TYF9). I didn't get the fourth cache in the area, mainly because of the hiking distance. Next time, I am in the area, I'll try to bring an ATV along.

[ more to come including my hunt for the Sawtooth Ridge volcano cache ]