The hike was not planned to take so long. I knew it was going to be around 3-4 miles on some goat paths inside the 7 tubs park. What I did NOT know, was that we were going to get lost after we found the third one. And when I say lost, I mean LOST. No paths. No roads. Pure bushwhacking through the thick woods.
The fine folks in charge here at the radio station allowed us to leave work at 2pm, and my intern and I had nothing planned for the remainder of the afternoon. I suggested we go and find some QUICK caches. She wanted to do a trek through the woods to find some. OK. No prob. I found three inside the tubs last week, let's go find the other 3. So, off we went.
The first cache was really cool. There was a cave (actually, an old mine entrance that caved in), and the temperature in there was beautiful. It was cold! We were sweating our brains out, and when we got there, the ice cold air was welcome. It was neat.
Then off to the next one. We found that one pretty quick, but the log was soaked, so we couldn't sign it.
Then we got to the third one. Wow, it only took us about an hour and a half to find these. We shouldn't have much trouble getting back to the truck. BOY WAS I WRONG.
We decided to just follow the old mining trail back. We hoped it would take us out at one of the main paths. Nope. It ended. Just stopped. So off we went into the woods. For what seemed like forever. Up hills, down huge hills, through thick brush, NOT FUN. Poor Rose (intern) wore shorts and her legs got all scratched up. Luckily she didn't bleed too much.
Finally, after about what seemed like 92 hours and 74 miles, we heard the water flowing, so we treked down a huge hill and followed the stream back. And made it to the parking area. Thank God. I was getting nervous. We figured it was around 7-9 miles we hiked, and let me tell you, an out-of-shape 40 year old's body doesn't do too well for those kind of hikes. So I really ache today. I wonder how Rose feels.
On a different note, Simon now gets his baths in the BIG TUB!! And he LOVES it!
Oh well, going to try and cut my grass today, do some weed whacking, and maybe take a bike ride. Or maybe just pass out on the couch. Who knows.
Gratitude for the day: Was lost, but found our way out. Not dehydrated too much. Got tons of exercise (for a month).
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