Neither snow nor soggy caches.....

It's that time again.  Spring.  Which, in Debbie world, means geocaching season is upon us!  Today is June 2nd, 2009.  Now when you think of June, you think sunshine, warmth and maybe a day at the park.  You know.  Kids just getting out of school for summer break.  Summer vacation plans in the works.  Nope.  Not today.  It's cold. Windy.  And if you live in the Palouse Region of the Northwest 

A blustery spring day

you know that wind stings and BITES!  And it's not bad enough we have dang cold wind, but this weekend we have that white stuff as well!  SNOW?  What the heck.  All I wanted was a day with my girls to get the caching season underway.  Did we cancel or reschedule?  Absolutely not!  Nope, we made a date to cache and by gosh we are gonna cache.  Besides, last fall, I bought my first pair of waterproof Keens just for a day like today.  I'm gonna try them out for sure! We planned out a few, and we start with the one at the bottom of Steptoe Butte.  Whitman County has a couple Buttes, and of the two, this one is the most unique I think.  Just a big mound with a spiral road that winds up around it. (Thought I had a pic handy, but can't find it).  And from the top?  Oh man.  You can see forever.  So, we park at the bottom in the designated area, and realize you have to have a Discover Pass to enjoy the Butte.  Yep, It's a State  Park.  Well, that is also not going to dissuade us, so we get the wallet out.  Put the money in the envelope, put the envelope in the box and hope we did it right and there's no

Untangling myself again

no ticket waiting for us at the car when we return.  Looking at our GPS gadget, we have to cross a downed barbwire fence and head up the hillside.  It's obvious at this point tat no one has come looking for this cache since the snow fall, there are no footprints at all.  Lots of deer tracks though.  We start navigating through the weeds and soon I'm all caught up in thorns and stickers.  The more I got my jeans untangled, the dang things would snag my gloves.  Sheesh, the troubles we go through just to find a Tupperware in the wild!  I get myself unstuck and catch up while Cassie and Darci have gotten us pointed in the right direction. We know we're getting close and soon we see a pond.  Sure enough!  We spy the cache.  All snug as a bug under a tree.    As soon as we scooped it up, we knew there were issues.  You could feel the water sloshing around  in there.  I've read this is  when

A soggy one...

 you open your geo-bag, and pull out your trusty repair kit baggie.  In it you've got replacement logs, baby wipes, little ziplock baggies, and other TOTT.  And I also read that it's a good idea to mention all of this when you log your find on the website too, which lets the cache owner know that there may be a problem with the container.  Maybe a crack in the lid or something, that's keeping it from being watertight.  I make a mental note to do that! We dump out the swag (more on this in another post), dry the container, add a new log and then see if anything is salvageable to do some trading.  For me, that's the second best part.  The first, of course, is finding it.  Honing your Spidey sense  to find something that has set out in the snow all winter! We finish up, replace the cache and I grab a quick picture of my girls by the pond. We are off to find another!  We head up the 

My caching buddies for the day

spiral road to the top of the Butte, because there are two up there!  A traditional cache AND an earth cache.  Once up at the top, we make quick work of the traditional, there isn't a buffer up here for the wind, and it's COLD!  We read the informational signs to answer the questions for the earth cache, so we can log it later.  Done!  For our reward, we stand and gaze in awe at the Palouse.  Like I said before, you can see forever from up here.  And even though our nice pleasant spring day caching, turned into an overcast, cold, windy and drizzly day, it was amazing! We found both that we set out to find and we learned about the Butte by doing the earth cache. We also learned that not all caches are snug as a bug all winter.  Some need a little help when you find them. We may have left it nice and dry and warm, but we were not as fortunate.  We had trudged through snow, soggy meadow, and wet high weeds.  I think my jeans were wet up past the knees.  Was I cold and wet?  Yes.  Was I miserable?  Maybe a little.  But was I absolutely giddy?  YES!  Nothing beats a day caching.  It doesn't matter what the weather's like.  Or, if you read my Blair Witch post, weather it's daytime or nighttime!  Well, ok, that was a little scary, lol. But mostly, when you're in the moment, it's all sunshine and happiness!

The view from the top.  Breathtaking for sure!

SPIDERS ... and a D5T2

 It's my birthday weekend, and I want to go South.  As always, I love two things.  Geocaching and being with my family, so I made some calls and invited who ever wanted to tag along.  DDCA and Clairum both were up for a road trip and some caching along the way.  I did some research and found a cache that would get me my souvenir in the "Let's Get Extreme" category in the "Geocaching Road Trip '15" challenge that I was currently trying to complete.  Now, when I read the description, I took note of two things.  First, we would need a TOTT (tool of the trade).  And second, so many of the previous logs mentioned the spiders.  SO many spiders.  Ok, so I was prepared for some spiders.  What I wasn't prepared for was .. well, I'll get to that in a second.  We get to Lewiston, go to the cemetery and say hello. Do a little house keeping, you know, sweep off the leaves, clean up the sod edges, cry a little.  Then we are off to find this cache that I've scoped out.  It's up the river from Clarkston Washington, and it's a D5T2.  In muggle lingo, that means that the difficulty is a 5 (the hardest) and the terrain is a 2.  Ok, doable for sure. The difficulty, we figured that part out pretty quickly.

can you see it?

The cache was a micro, and we spied it on the top of this I beam.  If you look closely, you can see a fake magnetic bolt sitting on top.  Now how in the heck are we gonna get up there to get that thing?  Ah, we have a shovel in the car, used for the housekeeping at the cemetery....yay! About this time, we all start looking around, and I am being completely honest when I tell you that there was NOWHERE that didn't have a spider in a web!!  The biggest spiders I have EVER seen.  And I've seen some spiders.  It's like a train wreck, you can't look away, and you just keep looking for more! I think by this time the kids are back in the car, safe and sound.  Us three gals are just creeped, because you know every spider has 8 eyes, and that's a lot of eyes on you!  Jim gets the shovel, and he manages to knock the cache off of the beam, and we scoop it up.  We do double duty, sign the log and make sure no spiders are crawling on our shoes.  I'm still thinking about those previous logs, and how they 

TOTT

could have maybe been a little more forthcoming about the reality of these spiders.  Maybe some capital letters!  Or more exclamation marks?  Or maybe a subtle hint. Like JUST DON'T GO!  Something.  Because I was not prepared even a little.  So, we get the micro down, we sign the log, we toss it back up.  And, since there is another cache close by , we may as well try and grab it.  We find the trail, kinda.  Walking through these dry weeds that look like sagebrush almost.  And all of them have these black spots in them.  So as we are searching, I feel something on my arm, and at the same time, realize that all the black spots in these bushes are more spiders!  And one was on me?  Maybe? Yep, that second cache we were looking for, who knows if it was there or not because now  we're done.  Once we're back to the car, we do a clothing search, make sure there are no stow-a-ways hitching a ride back to Washington 

Got it!!!

with us.  I mean, that could make a person drive right off the road.  I'm gonna add a couple pictures of said spiders here, but literally, they won't due the monsters justice.  I'm tellin' ya.  One thing that still blows my mind, I did not know that different species would cohabitate like that.  Don't the big species eat the little species?  Heck, I don't know. And how can they just grow so big anyways? What I do know, is that the word Arachnid has taken on a whole new meaning for me. 

all cohabitating together!

I'm Pretty sure that spider that sat down beside Miss Muffet was nothing compared to the creatures living down along the river in Idaho, and the caches down there are gonna be just a fleeting thought as I look elsewhere.  My brave is not big enough to go back to look for more.  As much as I am not a cold weather girl anymore, it does serve it's purpose!
 

Look at this big guy on a piece of rebar

And on another note ... at the beginning of this post, I mentioned that this cache was a D5T2.  I have to say that I think it should have been categorized as a D5T5.  I know, now, that a T5 terrain doesn't have to be a hike up a steep mountain.  Or a dangerous cliff that you have to shimmy out on while hanging on tight.  It can be simple flat terrain along the river in Idaho.  With an equipment shed that houses equipment so important that it is guarded by an army.  Even flat ground can be treacherous when you are sidestepping and hopping all around to avoid anything that has eight legs, while trying to grab the prize!  I do love an adventure, but from now on, I'll trust the previous logs whenever they mention spiders.  Or any other critter with more than 2 legs.

spiders-0 koko-geo-1

 I did secure my souvenir and log my first D5.  I'm pretty proud of that!

*August 30, 2015*

Blair Witch? (how it all got started)

It's September, 2010, and we are camping at Priest Lake with Cassie, Matt, some of their friends, and his dad and step-mom.  We have just hiked the short hill to see Hunt Falls, and after all of the oooo's and ahhhh's, Cassie nonchalantly says to me "Hey Debbie, there's a geocache right over there."  Huh?  A what?  "A geocache."  I had no idea what that even was, and said as much.  She just smiled and said "Go look in that bush by that log."  Ok. So I pull this thing out, I had no idea what an ammo can even was, I had no idea how to open it, and what to do with it AFTER I open it.  Matt opens it up and .... whaaaaat is all this stuff?  Cass explained, you trade items.  Take something, leave something. And then you sign the log.  How in the heck do you sign the log?  It's a LOG!  She explained no, the paper log.  Duh.  And all I had to trade was a couple of mints in my pocket!  (Yes, I have since been schooled about leaving edibles in caches).  I was hooked, and wondered aloud if there may be more close by.  Cassie just looked over at her FIL and made sure his laptop was back at camp with service.  We 

my first geocache!!!!

headed back to camp and did a search.  There are SO many!  Ok, so we found a few to find, but we have no equipment.  How did we survive back in 2010???  We have a notebook and a pen.   Nothing to do but write down the coordinates, every clue, the hint, and anything in previous logs that may help us.  Our list consisted of about 8 caches.  We are off!  Found one in a log pile.  found our first fake rock at the base of a tree.  Found a couple along the road.  Pesky Priest River bugs had us in the woods just going in circles, so we had to return to camp and grab that cell phone so we had a compass.  Amy finally found it in the trees!  And the container was so cool!!!  Then we have just one more.  It's 

pesky bugs

a little bit of a drive, and it's getting to be dusk.  To go or not to go?  That was the question.  We went.  We have a little guy with us, but we think we can find it (because we're getting so good at this), and be back before dark. We park, start walking down a trail into the woods.  Let me tell ya, it was a lot darker in the woods than out on the road.  We have our trusty flashlights and a lantern, but I think they are making the surrounding area look even more creepy if you want the truth.  It's not much farther, so we trek on.  The clues are saying to not let this one "stump" us.  Ok, it's a stump.  And we see one, off a little to the right way up ahead.  Yay, we found it!   "Wait, shine your light over here, I see something......" and we all stop breathing.  What in the realm of all evil is that thing?  It's a cage?  Chicken wire formed  around an iron arc about 4 feet long, and about 2 1/2 feet high? With what's left of a critter, and we can't tell what type of critter at all, but it was a critter,

Right out of the Blair Witch Project!!

hanging from the middle?  And skulls laying around on the ground too!  I am thinking two things at this minute. Well, ok, three.  First, I want to run.  Second, we have a little with us, and can he keep up?  Third, are we brave enough to go to the stump, collect the log and then run, hanging on to the little so he doesn't get left behind?  We huddle, and even though Cassie says she just wants to go home, go home right now, we quickly make our way to the stump, snag out the ammo can, rifle through the swag, do our trading, and then skirting WAY around the scary cage thingy, we run.  Who had the little?  Shamelessly, I have no clue. More than likely his momma?  I wish I could say it was me? And maybe I  

quick pic before we ran!

did help keep track of him?  In my heart, I helped, but I really have no recollection of anything till we got to the road.  I actually think it was a group effort to carry him while running through the woods.  In pitch black.  With just scary flashlight beams that were weaving everywhere as our only light source.  Trying not to get caught by whatever scary thing that may choose that very minute to come back and check on his scary cage thing.  Who leaves things like out in the woods to scare of bunch of girls who are just wanting to find a cache?  I mean, jeez!  We were done caching for the night, for sure.  BUT!  We found the cache!  Despite being scared half out of our wits.  That was "A Soldier Meadow View".  My geocache number seven.  It has since been archived.  Whether the scary cage thingy had anything to do with that, I don't really know.  What I DO know is that weekend was the beginning.  It was all about laughing, meeting new friends, finding treasures, and being scared so silly that you can't wait to do it again!  

 
 
 

 

Straight out of a Stephen King novel...

The view from the top

 When I was a little girl, we would periodically go visit my Grandparents in Lewiston, Idaho.  That meant that we had to drive down the Old Spiral Highway.  My brother and I would always tell mom and dad to please wake us at the top of the hill.  Pretty important that we got to see the view, because we had people waiting for us at the bottom.  Some important people.  If you've even been, you know it's a picturesque highway with great views and some great hairpin curves.  One of them, I remember, had a pull out with a picnic table all tucked back in under the trees.  And it seemed every time we drove by, there was a family there.  Sitting at the picnic table, having lunch. I always wanted it to be my family that was there.  Just once.  I don't think I ever even said it out loud.  I just always wanted it to be us.  It never was.  Fast forward to 2013.  The new highway has replaced the Old Grade, therefore it doesn't get nearly the traffic it used to.  Heck, I hadn't been down it in years!  So, Jim and I had plans to go down for the weekend, and being the geocacher that I am, I found some caches on the Old Grade.  One of them was in that hairpin curve! 

Hey, I think that's a grave!

I batted my eyes, asked please and he said YES!  I was going to be able to sit at that picnic table, I was pretty excited!  As we pull up to the pull out, I notice 2 things.  First and foremost, it was still very pretty!  Second, time changes everything.  The picnic table had long since been removed or rotted away, and even though there was a table there, I wouldn't be sitting at it lol.   Oh well.  Not long into my search, I find a mound of fresh earth.  I stopped and said to Jim, "We should probably just go.  I think I found a grave."  Before we can process my words, A guy on a motorcycle stops and walks into the grassy area. Now remember from a previous post, I called Jim a muggle?  well, in true muggle fashion, he just asks "Hey are 

someone's fur baby

you geocaching?"  Yep, no stealth there at all lol.  Biker dude says "No, this place is known as the local cemetery, and I thought my cat might like it here with all the flowers and birds."  WHAT??  Pet Cemetery??  I DID find  grave!  For a large dog!  With that, biker dude seems a little embarrassed, tosses something into the grass and makes his departure.  Now we look around and see little pet markers.  A lot of them actually.  I don't know how we missed them!  Well, I did have tunnel vision, I really wanted to find that cache.  We look around a little, read some of the markers and realize that even though this isn't my special picnic place anymore, it's a different kind of special place.  A beautiful place that we got to experience.  At this point I'm done searching for the cache.   But, as I start to walk away, I stop and say to Jim, "I wonder what he threw in the grass?"  Jim just nonchalantly says, "I think it was his cat."  Huh?  Wait, WHAT?"

Yes, this is a biodegradable cat ball

 Is that a thing?  A cat ball?  Is it weird that I need to see for myself?  I look in the general area of where biker dude tossed whatever he tossed, and lo and behold, I come up with a ball.  A biodegradable cat ball. I had no idea that you could do that? Mind blown!  As I gently replace said cat ball (I couldn't in good conscience toss it), I can't help but feel bad.  I mean, had we not been here, he could have said goodbye to his cat in the way he wanted.  I feel like we ruined that for him.  As we drive off, I happen to look at my phone, and guess what?  The cache is in the next hairpin curve, just below the pet cemetery one!  We stop and I quickly make the find! All in all I think I found 4 on the old Grade.  And finding them served not only to up my numbers, but also keep my mind off of the fact that we were reaching the bottom.  You see, Time has changed more than my special picnic spot.  There is no one waiting at the bottom for me anymore.  Well, not quite true.  They have just  changed residency.  Now instead of them giving me hugs, I make the trip yearly to give them flowers.  Keeping myself preoccupied while driving down that hill was half of the reason I searched out those caches. It's still pretty hard. I'm thinking my muggle knew that,  and that's why I got the Yes to take the scenic route to the bottom.  That would be why I keep him around, even if he doesn't geocache😉

 

OMG! Seriously? Where is it?

 3 little letters.  They can frustrate a geocacher to no end.  You can be having a great day.  Stacking up those smileys faster than you can get from cache to cache.  And then, just when your day is about over, it happens.  The dreaded "DNF"!

Our day started out perfectly.  First off, we don't get together as a group very often, so that made this day even more special. We were at River Front Park, the sun was out, and we had our list.  Most of the caches were in the park itself, but there were a few downtown we wanted to grab as well.  So the virtual ones are easy.  Read the description, answer the questions and log the cache. The traditional ones are more fun, and even though we like the larger ones with swag, that didn't make this small one any less exciting for this little guy.  He was so excited when he looked under the bench and says "Is this it?"  Well, yes.  Yes it is!  Quickly sign the log and be on our way to the next one.  After finding all the ones in the park, we head downtown.  That's when we see it.  This bench.  On a busy street, muggles everywhere.   Now if you

This bench hid that micro well!

 look at this bench,   the cache name is dead on.  "Sweet   Pipes".  It's almost completely made of   pipes!  So our Spidey Sense tells us,   maybe magnetic? I remember it was a   micro, so a small one.  We get started,     but are in stealth mode.  So many   people,  they are everywhere.   Nonchalantly looking over, under, around   and then under again, the whole time   acting like we aren't looking for anything   at all!  It's hard!  After a while, we take   another look at the cache description and clue again.  As we reread a few of the logs again, we see a tidbit that we had missed.  A previous logger says he got a hint from the garage attendant across the street.  "Someone, quick, go get us that hint"!  Yeah. No. Today isn't his day to work.  Ok, now we're determined, and we start getting a little more aggressive with our searching.  Now is when we start getting the strange looks.  You know, those sideways glances. At this point we don't care.  A 

we literally looked everywhere

couple of us are actually laying on the sidewalk to look under this thing again.  Man, we have tugged on every bolt, screw and nut.  Can't find anything that will move, let alone come off.  We find a lot of other cool stuff though.  Chewed gum and a few Cigarette butts.  I think we checked out every square inch of this stupid bench.  And nothing. I can't stand giving up.  To this day, I hate to quit because I know it's there.  And if I just spend a couple more minutes, I can find it.  Anyone else feel like that? It's so frustrating.  By this time, we had had so many people actually walk AROUND us, that I'm sure they thought we were completely insane.  For one, who lays on public sidewalks?  And can you imagine in today times?  Touching every inch of this bench?  Did we even carry hand sanitizer with us back then?  I don't think we did! We spent over an hour looking for this silly micro before we gave up and vowed to return another day.  I can't even tell you how many times I looked back as we all trudged  away.  Like a bunch of little kids who got tot the candy store five minutes after closing.   

Perfect day!

 

Sadly life happened and we never made it back to that bench.  But it haunts me to this day.  And I 'm not the only one either.  When I told Misty to tell Even he'd be in my next blog post, she said "You doing that bench?" And Cassie is the one who remembered the garage attendant giving the clue!  So, even though it was a dreaded DNF and we never found it, we have a great memory! One that will always remind us that sometimes, even though perseverance does not ALWAYS pay off, it's all about getting together to just have a great day!

*August 18, 2013*

"Seven Magic Mountains" - Have you been?

just chillin' and copiloting!

                              Copilot

That's me.  On road trips, Jim always drives, so I get to navigate.  Which means I get to read my book (or in this case be in charge of the audiobook), write in my travel journal, enjoy my snacks and just hang out.  I will occasionally  check for a cache or two along our route, but that's rare.  In this empty nest, I'm the cacher. More about my muggle later.  We are headed to Las Vegas for a week, and decided to drive.  I did find a couple caches on the way down, because we all know there's one at almost every rest area.  And I found a few more on the strip during our stay as well.  One night, before we left, I was just scrolling on facebook, and somehow I saw a blurb called "Stonehenge in the Desert - Geocache of the week" (I'll post the link down below).  There was a photo of these piles of boulders, all painted in neon bright colors!  It was the coolest thing!  You could see how big they were in comparison to the people standing around them.  My radar was instantly up! There was a link, so I clicked on it and read the article.  These seven totems of huge boulders each reach up to 35 ft. high!  And I had to see them!  They were stunning, but the reason for the article was to showcase a geocache hidden there.  WHAT?  That's all I needed to know, and I quickly clicked the link to read about it.  These seven totems of huge boulders each reach about 35 feet high! They were stunning and I HAD to see them! But the real reason for the article was to showcase a geocache that was there  WHAT?!  How I just stumbled upon this just a couple weeks before we left I have no idea.  Sometimes the geocaching Gods just smile down upon you.  So, this quickly went into my itinerary, in bold print!  I couldn't wait.  The drive down was uneventful, just a relaxing road trip.  I think we went there on our second day?  The drive wasn't long, they're only about 20 minutes south of Vegas.  And it was a beautiful day to get off the strip.  I was starting to get overwhelmed.  So many dang people!

Can you believe these things????

As we're driving, just enjoying the scenery and talking about Joshua Trees and how they remind me of my dad, I caught a glimpse of something bright.  Holy Smokes! Is that a mirage?  You can see them from the highway and they are beautiful!  We take the turn off, and find the parking area, which is just a patch of desert really, with informational signage (and not even very much of that).  The walking path leads right up to the totems, and it's just the coolest thing.  I could have looked at them for hours, but there was another task at hand.  Turn on my trusty caching App and see which direction I am supposed to go.  And I'm off!  It was quite a jaunt, as you can see by how small the totems

At "Ground Zero"

 are behind me (even my muggle seemed to enjoy the   walk and the find), but so worth it to be able to find   the cache.  There's nothing more exciting to me than   signing a log to prove that, yes indeed, Koko-geo was   here! Oh!  And did you notice, my geo-buddy is   always with me in spirit.  Once the log was  signed   and the cache was put back where I found it, we   head  back to the totems to stand in awe for a little   while longer. You just can't look at them enough.   Ok,  back to our condo and the hustle and bustle of   the  strip. I have to say, I did not enjoy Vegas this go   'round. We came once before, years ago, and it was   awesome.  This time, not so much.  For one, we don't   gamble really. And I'm not a fan of all the people   shoving things at you, touching you, asking you over and over to check out the timeshare.  And, way to much stimulation.  I was near an anxiety attack every time we walked the strip. I told Jim, I need a coaster, a magnet and a shot glass because I am NOT coming back, and we left a day early.  Seriously, just give me a beach someplace.  And, yes!  I have found  a cache on a beach.  But that's another adventure! So, the 

Leaving my geo-footprint

moral to the story..... you just never know when a blurb on facebook will lead you to a fantastic adventure and a great memory.  And, the fact that we were already scheduled to leave for Vegas? That really didn't make a difference, because those of you that know me? You know I would have put that mission in motion the very next day.  I was going to see those totems and I WAS going to grab that smiley! My muggle really does love me😊.  

So, if you haven't been, and are going to Vegas anytime soon?  It's really worth the trip, whether you grab the cache or not.  

https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2018/07/stonehenge-in-the-desert-geocache-of-the-week/

*November 2018

Not really hot chocolate 

Retrieving "Herbie"

                                                                  We had a mission.  

Cave entrance

Becky, Ken and myself.  Drive almost 4 hours to a geocache, grab my trackable out of it, and then turn around and come back home.    Ok, let me back up.  I got a notification that one of my trackables was in a geocache called "Black Angus: A Cool Cow Caching Cave", just below Leavenworth.  Seriously? A CAVE! Why not under a bridge?  Or hanging from a tree?  To be clear, a trackable  is  an item that is registered to you that hops from cache to cache.  More about that later, just know that I wanted this one back! He's traveled over 50,400 miles.  Since he is this close, I have to nab him.  So, yesterday we head out at about 10:30 am.  We are in good spirits and excited about this adventure.  In my head, I was still thinking about the cave issue.  But, I figured I had a good 3 hours before I had to deal with the whole under ground thing.  We didn't cache on the way over, which was kinda hard for me.  Because you know we passed a ton of them. We did however take a couple side adventures.  We found a small lake and RV park to maybe camp at next summer.  And we had lunch at a really cute little park in Waterville.  We also got to pop in and tour the Liberty Orchards Applets and Cotlets Factory in Cashmere.  So THAT was pretty cool.  Ok, so we get to the cache site at about 4:30.  Collect all of our gear (headlamps, gloves, rope... because it is a cave after all), and find the trail.  I have to say that it was a good thing Becky and Ken were with me, because in my head, it was over on my OTHER right!   Thanks to the cache description and logs, we had a few clues about this cache.  OK, one, yeah it's in a cave.  Two, the first waypoint is a granite wall, called the Roto Wall.  A popular rock climbing wall that on any given day will have a dozen or so climbers.  Not on this day.  It was bare.  Beautiful, but bare.  Three, there will be a crack in the granite wall, called a window.  From inside, you can see out?  Ok, that might be kinda cool.  And fourth, when you find the opening you have to drop down in.  OH!  And you have about 18 inches of space to shimmy in, and you have to go in about 50 feet. The only tool that will do you any good is a flashlight.  Even the best GPS won't read under solid granite (so the cache owner says).   Feel free to enter the wide eyed emoji here!😳  I mean, I've seen The Descent!  And The Descent2! Things live under the ground!  Scary things.  As we follow the path along the perimeter of the roto wall (I still think we are going the wrong way), I hear "There's the Window!"  Now I'm excited!  Because there was always the chance we wouldn't find the cave, and I wouldn't even have to "drop down in".  I'm gonna add right here that this place is Beautiful!  Maple leaves that are bigger than my head!   So pretty with all the fall colors and the grey of the granite.  A little farther on and Ken says he thinks he found the opening.  Yep.  He sure did!  Now I'm committed.  And determined to get this trackable.  SO, nothing to do but drop down in.  Oh, did I forget to mention that the cache description also said that if you have any of the obvious phobias,  this probably isn't the cache for you.  Let's see.  Arachnophobia.  Claustrophobia.  Seismophobia.  Nyctophobia.   And one I had to look up ... Musophobia or Murophobia.  What's that one you ask?  Rats!  Fear of RATS!  Deep breath, as I drop down in.  We have to shimmy sideways because of the whole 18 inch factor.  As we all form a line and start to make our way in, we pass the window and yes, you can actually see out.  There!  I see the cache.  At this point it wouldn't matter if I saw 2 rats!  I pass the container to Ken, because when I dropped down in, I hit record on my phone.  If I died, I wanted my family to know I died doing what I loved.  I do need practice tho, because I recorded alot of granite cave wall lol.  But I see a youtube production in my future because our dialog is awesome!  As Ken opens the container, I'm still hoping my guy is in there.  I mean anyone could have already came and grabbed all 4 trackables and just not logged there visit.  But, nope!  He's in there with his 3 travel buddies.  Now we are all high fiving, laughing and yelling, because, well, mission complete!  We sign the log, and start our shimmy out.  When we get to the window, I stop and have Becky head on out so I can see her out the window.  So now it's just me talking to myself into the camera.  Once she is outside, it's pretty clear just how deep we are, because that crack in the granite is thicker than I thought.  OK, it's time for me to head out as well, but this is where I forget about the 18 inch thing.  I just turn sideways to walk out.  My only panic moment of this whole ordeal is right now, when I am wedged in because apparently my hips are wider than 18 inches!!  I can tell you that a little adrenaline will unstuck a person pretty quickly !It took me no time to shimmy out at that point. I'm out!  I only saw 1 spider and zero rats.  We take some more photos and pick up some of those huge leaves  to document that we were actually there, and decide a celebratory beer is called for.  As we make our way down, we hear it. A group of people making there way along the bottom of the roto wall.  Are they looking for the cache?  Maybe.  Would they have found it and taken my guy?  Maybe.  Would he have ended up closer to me?  Maybe.  Or would he have vanished like many other trackables?  Maybe.  Our timing was perfect!  On to Leavenworth for that beer and some dinner.  And then the long drive home. I think I got home at about 12:10 am.  This is why I geocache.  The places it takes me.  The things I get to do.  And today I got to see how big my brave was.  Never did I ever think that, at 62,  I would drop down into a crack in the earth and shimmy back in 50 feet to grab a silly donkey toy, while hoping I didn't see a rat!

about 40 feet in... Eyes!  I told you things live underground!!!

We killed it!!

"Herbie"

Today, my brave was pretty damn big, and I feel empowered. And blessed to have friends that will just stop what they are doing and say hell yeah, let's go!  I truly am a lucky girl......