T was home for two weeks as run off season was upon us, which means the snow melts, makes the water muddy and comes roaring down the mountain at higher levels than normal. We wanted something to do that was free and entertaining for the girls. Hiking is a great hobby but with two trout bums for parents, the girls are usually stuck by the stream while their mom and dad trying to entice a clever trout. They, of course can entertain themselves for hours with a rock and a stick, but have gained a real interest in geocaching. A geocache is, the recreational activity of hunting for and finding a hidden object using GPS coordinates posted on a website ( thanks google). So basically a treasure hunt. So far we have found 6, mostly containing little kid toys. We usually leave either a knitted dishcloth ( made by me) or flies (lures) or other geocache finds. Geocache 101, if you take something it must be replaced with another item of equal or higher value. Aside from the regular put and take caches, micro-caches are another common method, which generally consist of a log book to sign and date. Also traceable ones are very popular.
Our first micro cache ( size of a keychain) we found brought us to the ridge top of our favorite mountain valley. On that ridge, we pulled up and saw a herd of 4 huge male bighorn rams, with them, were two little ewes. What an amazing sight. These rams were incredible, just massive, and all muscle. As we tried really hard not to disturb them, we got out and started to look for our little treasure. Cell service was limited and we couldn't get the exact location but we had an idea of the general area we needed to look. This was the first time that we weren't lead directly to the cache via an app. Our adrenaline started pumping and the hunt was on. Girls were scavenging around all the trees and rocks. I checked the description again and saw the word magnetic, immediately looked up, saw the fence, ran over, and there she blows. A tiny little capsule that held a little book log inside, BYOP ( bring your own pen), we put our name in it and got back in the truck.
After driving maybe 5 minutes from the rams, I happened to glance up the mountain and see a female moose!!! We slammed on the brakes and just stopped and stared at each other. She was probably 80 yards grazing near some aspens. What an amazing day, we saw so much wildlife. Next stop was a vacant campground where we had lunch by the river. We fought off hungry hummingbirds and stellar jays as they are eager for campers to return and start feeding them again. FYI that's a bad thing which is also illegal and it's not cute. The animals become dependent on the handouts and won't go help themselves, sorta like your trusty democrat. In all seriousness, we are just so truly thankful for our lifestyle and days like this. We have made a lot of "sacrifices" but it is oh so satisfying.
