I had been waiting to return to Strawberry Mountain since my previous trip just over one year before. That year we were stopped from approaching the cache at the top of the mountain by snow cover. This year, I would be starting a month later during a summer that was warmer than the previous one.
My Mom and I met up with my Aunt at a parking lot in Island City in order to carpool to our destination. Even though we left early, it was a long drive to Prairie City, so I hadn't planned to hunt caches along the drive. Once in the area, however we decided to get a few caches that were placed a few weeks before, but had not been logged.
Our first stop was WHERE IS THE FISH by BAD DOGS (GC3PD9C). It was located on the far side of a roadside park with a fishing lake and picnic facilities (and mosquitoes). The coords were good and the container was big enough for me to easily find. We walked around the lake and tried out the restroom facilities before moving on.
The second find of the morning was crescent by BAD DOGS (GC3PD97) at another roadside area just a little ways up the road from the last. It was near a neat little waterfall that somehow I was the only one of our party to notice.
Our last find before our long hike was WHERE'S THE SNOW by BAD DOGS (GC3PD9) located in a snowmobile park that doesn't get visitors during the summer. Three quick finds that were also FTFs made for a great start to the day. Shortly after this point, we turned onto a gravel road for the remainder of the drive. This kept us at a low speed and allowed those of us who weren't driving an opportunity to look around at the beauty of the wilderness.
We arrived at the parking area around 10:30 am, joining two other vehicles that had parked there. Roads End Trail had once upon a time allowed vehicles to drive further up the mountainside. I'm not sure how much closing the road here added to our trip, but we sure felt it coming back.
[ Parking area for our hike ]
1 comment:
Post a Comment