CACHE KRAWLER
Observer
First off I want to mention that I am a procrastinator which is why it has taken me almost a year to post this trip report on here. I wrote it up and posted it to my FB page months ago, but am just now getting around to posting it here since I am currently on leave from the military for the next two weeks and still find myself getting up at way too early in the morning.
As much as I aspire to be a professional photographer, I am not as my pictures will show you nor am I a professional writer, as my words will show you. I am however an aspiring backcountry adventurer with big dreams and shallow pockets...for the time being.
This trip was the Rutherford men ~800 mile roundtrip from Hoodoo Ski Resort exit off of OR 126 to the California border all on backroads. The pics start from leaving my house in Yelm, WA the day before the trip start date. On day three of the trip my father and brother had to leave due to prior engagements. My son and I continued and finished the trip on our own 2 1/2 days later in Dorris, CA. The entire trip took ~6 days to complete.
I purchased the Route 3 map from Leonard at OOHVA.org, and quickly went to work on verifying that the coords were correct. I had read several trip reports from users of the maps saying that the coords were off at several waypoints and I wasn't about to spend several hours staring at maps in the dust and heat guessing whether we were or were not in the right place. As much fun as I have getting lost, I did not want that to happen on this trip as time was essential since I was on leave from the military and my Father and Brother had prior engagements that they needed to get to on time. The hours of checking the coords and correcting the incorrect ones paid off and the trip went off with zero navigational incidents.
Now on to the trip...

Winlock, WA, site of the World's Largest Egg. Our first stop of the trip was to grab a geocache, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=5c1286bd-6e9b-4483-a2e6-2de69674cee5. I was surprised at how small the egg was for being the World's Largest. I may have found my world record to break, hmmm.....

My son Colby riding the rooster. This link here explains the origins of the egg and the town that claims it's fame.
http://youtu.be/LFM2CoM9uD4

Our second stop of the trip was in Castle Rock, WA to grab my 2,000th cache find, Aloha TB Hotel, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=cf73621a-bfe2-467a-ad6c-00b8d11e2c2a. The timing was perfect and the fact that my son was with me made the milestone cache find that much better

Our second stop of the trip was in Castle Rock, WA to grab my 2,000th cache find, Aloha TB Hotel, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=cf73621a-bfe2-467a-ad6c-00b8d11e2c2a. The timing was perfect and the fact that my son was with me made the milestone cache find that much better

A close-up shot of the exterior of the Aloha TB Hotel. A bit of urban camouflauge.

The interior of the TB Hotel. The cache owner has put alot of time into this one which is one of the reasons that it has almost a thousand finds.

This here is the first jail built in Castle Rock, WA. Built in 1907 it is a one cell jail. We were grabbing a geocache here as well, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=3ddeeadf-36aa-4f27-95a2-2abfc5056a73.

This jail was a neat piece of local history and I was glad that I made the trip to see it.

The Jeep and the Jail. My Jeep is a 2011 and at the time of this pic and the trip my Jeep is roughly 3 weeks old. Like a cheap date, it had a very quick break in period.

My Jeep next to a small dredging bucket. I probably could have driven my Jeep into it if I had removed my fender flares and mirrors. This bucket was located right next to the old jail.
This is the last of the picture for day one. My son and I ended up at my home where I grew up in Mohawk, OR for the night and were off first thing in the morning. More to come......
As much as I aspire to be a professional photographer, I am not as my pictures will show you nor am I a professional writer, as my words will show you. I am however an aspiring backcountry adventurer with big dreams and shallow pockets...for the time being.
This trip was the Rutherford men ~800 mile roundtrip from Hoodoo Ski Resort exit off of OR 126 to the California border all on backroads. The pics start from leaving my house in Yelm, WA the day before the trip start date. On day three of the trip my father and brother had to leave due to prior engagements. My son and I continued and finished the trip on our own 2 1/2 days later in Dorris, CA. The entire trip took ~6 days to complete.
I purchased the Route 3 map from Leonard at OOHVA.org, and quickly went to work on verifying that the coords were correct. I had read several trip reports from users of the maps saying that the coords were off at several waypoints and I wasn't about to spend several hours staring at maps in the dust and heat guessing whether we were or were not in the right place. As much fun as I have getting lost, I did not want that to happen on this trip as time was essential since I was on leave from the military and my Father and Brother had prior engagements that they needed to get to on time. The hours of checking the coords and correcting the incorrect ones paid off and the trip went off with zero navigational incidents.
Now on to the trip...

Winlock, WA, site of the World's Largest Egg. Our first stop of the trip was to grab a geocache, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=5c1286bd-6e9b-4483-a2e6-2de69674cee5. I was surprised at how small the egg was for being the World's Largest. I may have found my world record to break, hmmm.....

My son Colby riding the rooster. This link here explains the origins of the egg and the town that claims it's fame.
http://youtu.be/LFM2CoM9uD4

Our second stop of the trip was in Castle Rock, WA to grab my 2,000th cache find, Aloha TB Hotel, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=cf73621a-bfe2-467a-ad6c-00b8d11e2c2a. The timing was perfect and the fact that my son was with me made the milestone cache find that much better

Our second stop of the trip was in Castle Rock, WA to grab my 2,000th cache find, Aloha TB Hotel, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=cf73621a-bfe2-467a-ad6c-00b8d11e2c2a. The timing was perfect and the fact that my son was with me made the milestone cache find that much better

A close-up shot of the exterior of the Aloha TB Hotel. A bit of urban camouflauge.

The interior of the TB Hotel. The cache owner has put alot of time into this one which is one of the reasons that it has almost a thousand finds.

This here is the first jail built in Castle Rock, WA. Built in 1907 it is a one cell jail. We were grabbing a geocache here as well, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=3ddeeadf-36aa-4f27-95a2-2abfc5056a73.

This jail was a neat piece of local history and I was glad that I made the trip to see it.

The Jeep and the Jail. My Jeep is a 2011 and at the time of this pic and the trip my Jeep is roughly 3 weeks old. Like a cheap date, it had a very quick break in period.

My Jeep next to a small dredging bucket. I probably could have driven my Jeep into it if I had removed my fender flares and mirrors. This bucket was located right next to the old jail.
This is the last of the picture for day one. My son and I ended up at my home where I grew up in Mohawk, OR for the night and were off first thing in the morning. More to come......
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