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I’ve been lax logging benchmarks of late. Having driven by this umpteen-hundred times during my lifetime, I finally stopped and took the damn photograph instead of saying, “I’ll get it another time.” Frankly, I didn’t even do that. Ken was banging a U-y after being distracted by a park ranger on a flatbed being hauled up 206 North. We had wanted to turn down Railroad Avenue. As he circuled the rec area entrance he said I should take the photograph. Door-to-door service was pretty nice.

This is the marker on 206 South at the entrance of the Atsion Recreation Area.

Today Fritz joined me for the first time. He was so excited! “Woods!” He was a ball full of energy as we piled out of the Jeep. We immediately ran into a guy and his dog who had been camping since Monday.

Then we headed off. Five minutes later, the big wimp came running to me arms raised indicating he had enough and wanted me to carry him. Then he proceeded to fall asleep in the car. We ended up taking a long and interesting drive through the Pines instead.

So much for the traditional hike, but at least I did spend time with my boy. Of course, due to his rest, he was a ball of energy all day long at the feast.

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This was the last cache of the day for us. We didn’t make it to Friendship, but we had a blast.

We pulled over and spotted a little trail to head in. We got to the area, past the “motorcycle trail”. We call that a fire break. Anyhow, it took a moment to zero in. Most of the day was like this. By the time I looped around and found this, Ken was nowhere to be seen. Hmmmm . . .

I logged in. It’s an interesting cache. I usually do not agree with securing a cache in this fashion, but something about this one appealed to me for some reason. Anyhow, I got everything back, took my photographs, and returned to the last place I saw Ken. That is what my mommy always taught me when you get split up. Not only was he not there, I could not see or hear him.

As I prepared for today, I stumbled across my old 2-way radios. I have not used these in years. Anyhow, I charged them. There was only a red light. I looked up the manual online. It appears, and I vaguely recall this, that the light never goes green. The red just indicates the power to the charger is on. So, I had placed those in the caching bag for today. Of course, I did not give Ken one. So that was dead weight I carried all day. Rather, I pulled out the cell phone and called him. He wondered why I wasn’t near him and I the same. We eventually met up. It seems he typed a wrong number.

Anyhow, light was beginning to be scarce and I had been away from the family all day. It was time to scoot back across the forest to pick up my vehicle.

Our annual bopping trip after Christmas was once again a blast!

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Yet another DNF for us today. No biggy as we thoroughly enjoyed the location. It’s beautiful here.

We pulled up next to a blue pick-up with a big dent in the driver’s side. We never saw him. I presume a hunter, but am not certain.

With two DNF logs on this one, it was easy to decide this one was missing. Perhaps it’s there. It doesn’t really matter. We enjoyed the view and the little trail. Saw some nice flora about.

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The day was beginning to come to an end. We were almost at Friendship, but it began to look like we weren’t going to make it. Nevertheless, we headed here and pulled over. Ken and I both had similar things to say; namely, how many times have we driven by here and yet had never seen these ruins. Odd.

The cache description had some good history of the area. After checking out the cellar holes and such, we turned to finding the cache. Nothing jumped out. After a bit I looked at the hint. That made me think of three things, one of which turned out to be correct. A few minutes later we found the cache.

Once I found it I recalled some other caches hidden by Team Gremlin that were similar in style. We returned to the ruins and poked around a few more minutes before heading off.

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After finding OH rats we moved back up here. We went the wrong way at the intersection so banged a U-y. As we did we saw a someone moving toward us with a GPS in his hand. We rolled down the window and asked if he was caching. Indeed. After introductions, we drove bike&ski to the cache area.

I am seriously out of practice with this kind of caching. He explained how he had been here already today and once previously and could not find the cache. I understand as it was yet another sofiecat cache. We piled out of the Durango and all headed to the same spot. With backs turned I did a move reminiscent of Rewards and found the cache. Without thinking I announced I had found the cache. I should have re-hidden it gracefully and walked away. Not doing so spoiled the fun. Sorry.

Anyhow, we signed in and chatted a bit. bike&ski wanted to hike back out. Good for him.

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As we turned into the familiar area, Ken was on the cell. The intersection needed directions, but he didn’t get them. Y’see, driving while on the phone is dangerous. We followed the turn all the way through, which was fine as this cache was down this way.

We pulled over and began the search. It was then that I realized this micro in the woods was yet another sofiecat cache. I think Ken was surprised that I was so willing to walk away from cache sites today. Yes, I have changed since I first began.

Anyhow, we began our search. A minute or two later I spotted something and turned to investigate it just as Ken said, “Look at that.” Sure enough, there it was. After signing the log, we left.

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Yet another of sofiecat’s caches that we DNFd today. I only had the last five logs in the GPS. I need to correct that, but that’s all I had with me. The logs sure indicated that this was a toughie. And it was for us. Perhaps we just suck at this. That’s probably it.

Anyhow, we poked, we prodded, we came up empty.

This is an interesting area. How many hills are there in Wharton? Not many, but this is one.

I am not certain I’ve ever been here. I’ve been on both sides of here, but I am not certain I ever drove all the way from High Crossing to Carranza along the tracks. It seems odd, but I cannot recall having done so. Nonetheless, I navigated us down this way. Along the route we took note of the hill. Not knowing the name of the cache, the arrow pointed straight, we decided to turn to check out the hill regardless. Rocky caught up and we poured out.

Our search was fruitless.

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