Wake up blog...we went to California

Ok, it's time to wake up and add some content to this space.We went to the San Francisco area over the break and did some really cool things. We hit all the regular tourist spots, ate well, and did some things most people would never ever do. I'll document the trip in the order of the days we visited. Check back and enjoy the experience.

In search of old spooky tooth!

For the past couple of weeks we have been dealing with a dangling modifier. Well lets just say this dangler has modified our lives. D-Superfly has been constantly poking, wiggling, and poking at his top front tooth. As of last night he was able to spin it around so it could sit sideways in its regular spot. Frankly that was just creepy! But something was different this morning. Old spooky tooth was missing. After a few minutes of searching we found the former dangler between the sheets of D-Superfly's bed. He was so happy and thankfully we are too.
***Friday update - #2 came out tonight. Two in one week. :)

Powerline Vista

Well it took a gathering of forces to tackle the new Mountainfolk406 hide. George1assembled what he called the Ultimate Assault Team to tackle Powerline Vista. I must say this was not the most enjoyable hike up a hill that I have taken. Mostly because a trail was not to be found except for all the upturned rocks was saw. This was the result of some bear foraging for grubs or something yummy. After a brisk hike to the top we were ready to make the final approach to the cache. But how to do that...that was the question of the week. We thought we knew what to expect but we were not correct. That sneaky Mountainfolk (Mr.) did it to us again. A few uf us had to study the directions so we could do this caching thing correctly. Thankfully we were overly prepared and found just the right gear to get the container and log the hide. Moe2 had some issues (audio clip1) with the climbing harness but I think he'll be ok after the swelling goes down. After a bit of time and a significant amount of teamwork we were able to complete this mission. (audio clip2) We gathered up all of our gear and headed for the parking area. Everyone agreed that that Mountainfolk had created a truly challenging cache. George1 and Redtail Forester commented on how awful it would be if Mountainfolk and HolyCowboys ever teamed up to make a cache together. Thankfully a Mountain Cowboy cache will never happen. Or has it? :)

....Skyline Drive Virginia

After leaving Seneca Rocks we headed east via the back roads to the south end of Skyland Drive. We had driven the northern end before so this visit completed the rest of the drive. We were heading to the Skyland Resort for the evening. Enough tents and sleeping bags...tonight we would stay in a real bed. The area was simple beautiful. More vistas and much wildlife was all around us. We wondered around a bit stopping at the different overlooks. No real hiking was done today. Yesterdays adventures in WV had caught up with us. Today we blended in with the tourists. A little shopping was done then it was time to go find diner at the lodge. On the way to the we were surprised to find a jeep with a special reminder of one of our college buddies. That was "MINT." After a good laugh we continued on our way. Michelle was happy because she was able to pick a vegetarian shepherds pie for her entree while I had turkey and mashed potatoes. Afterward we buzzed down to another lodge to check out the different gift shops and had desert while watching the sun go down. Tomorrow we would try another hike before heading back to DC to pick up D-Superfly.
The next morning we awoke to a light drizzle. Not enough to dampen our spirits. We had a great breakfast of pancakes and blackberry syrup. Today's trek would be a short but rigorous hike up to the "On Top of Bearfence Mountain" earth cache. This was a pure rock scramble from the get go but not to bad. Upon arrival at the top we were presented with a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. I think we could see for 20-30 miles. After the hike it was time to get back to the real world. We headed off Skyline Drive in the direction of DC.

Seneca Rocks

Ok, it's way past due but here is an update on out trip (1st week of Aug.) to Seneca Rocks and Skyline Drive.
We decided on a trip to someplace neither Michelle or I had ever been to. We had herd allot of good things about Seneca Rocks in West Virginia so we did some investigation on the area and chose the area for a number of reasons. The natural surrounding area may have been the number one reason. The rocks themselves were really something to look at. They kind of creep up on you because the mountains or close to both sides of the road. Then it opens up and you're presented with this outstanding backdrop. We found our campsite at Seneca Shadows campground. When we arrived it looked like a war zone everywhere. Wet tent, sleeping bags, and clothes were hanging all over the place. The camp host said they had gotten a few inches of rain the last day or so. We chose to delay our unpacking since it was so wet. This gave us time to travel down to the WV highpoint (4863 feet) at Spruce Knob. The drive up to the top was really nice. the road seemed to go on forever but finally opened up. The vegetation was totally different on top. The red spruce trees only had limbs pointing westward due to the harsh winds and winters. We hiked around on top for a couple of hours. This gave us time to find a caches. West Virginia - High Point Earth Cache provided us a good bit of information about the area, specifically why the vegetation is the way it is. One of the side trails near the observation tower gave us our first look at the landscape. Rolling hills as far as the eye could see. During our cache travels on top of the mountain we ran into UFF298, a caching couple from the Maryland area. We chit chatted for a few minutes then each headed in opposite directions towards caches we each still needed to locate on top of the mountain. This small hike was a test run for my ankle. Since I hurt my foot a few weeks back this was the test for the hike we planned for the next day. Fortunatly every thing worked out....no pain for the elevation gain. After our jaunt up to the highpoint we headed back down into the valley for some diner and to set up our camp site. The campground had indeed dried up a bit since our arrival although the area was still a bit damp. Getting a fire started was a bit more problematic than I expected but we did have it burning long enough for Michelle to make some super smores before we turned in.
We awoke early the next morning to a wonderful clear day. Our energy level was pretty high due to a good nights sleep. We had a quick breakfast and packed out lunch for the days events. We had chosen a rather strenuous hike a few miles up the valley. Out goal was to reach the Chimney Top Cache. I think the following podcasts will sum up our adventure in a different way. Clip 1 We actually started our climb from the other side but you can see in the pic where we needed to get to. We laced up our boots grabbed the hiking sticks and proceeded up the hill. The climb turned out to be quite strenuous possibly more than Michelle had envisioned. She was a trooper and continued on up the hill muttering a few choice words about me under her breath. Clip 2 We chose to stop for lunch close to the top since the path change significantly. To this point the path meandered back and forth up the mountain at a pretty good angle. The final 500 feet were quite different. No meandering at all ....the path to a sharp right turn strait up to the sumit. Our hiking poles and sticks were useless at this point since we needed our hands to grab onto things to pull ourselves up the path. Finally, the path opened up to a clearing. At this point it was a small rock scramble to the overlook. Clip 3 I can't say enough about the view from the top. I was able to get to the overlook first, Michelle was just a minute behind me. She did mention something to the fact..."there better be a good view or you're in real trouble." There was and as soon as she came through the trees I was in her good graces again. We rested for several minutes before I scrambled around the rocks to find the cache container. Oh ya, one could easily forget about caching when sitting on top. One could forget just about anything while sitting up here. We took a few pictures then headed back down. My foot held up to the climb but the treck down the hill was a bit more challenging. The angle was different and I was pretty tired so it was slow going all the way down. Back to the campsite we went to get cleaned up. Then it was off to town to Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen. Our rewards for the days adventure.
The day was not over for we still had a few hours of day light left. We chose to drive up to Dolly Sods Natural area. We chose a nice easy walk near a bog and the Dolly Sods Wildrness Earth Cache. The setting sun provided a wonderful backdrop and some nice light for pictures. It was quite the day...exhausted we turned in early. We would rest up for our drive to Skyline Drive in Virginia the next day.

Simply twisted! - Oh %&*!@

Man life sucks! But at least I can blog about it! No caching, letterboxing or hiking in the woods for anywhere from 1-6 weeks. Last week I stepped in a hole, rolled my foot tearing the ligaments inside. Oh what a lovely popping sound they made. This all happened as I was walking into Central Parklet. Man that place is dangerous. I don't suggest going there unless you are the adventurous type ready to risk life and limb. You can see a slight depression in the ground in the provided picture but it really does not show the hole or uneven ground to well. It's really disguised by the grass and weeds. So what am I supposed to do beside blog (whine) about my foot. Well I got a good Mob book called "The Ice Man - Confessions of a Contract Killer", the remote, and portable phone next to the lazyboy. If I am not reading or watching TV I am wasting time on a new Web 2.0 technology called PMOG-Passively Multiplayer Online Game. One good thing from all this is I have had plenty of time to research and plan out some clever puzzle caches. Man someone else has to feel my pain and what better way than channeling my agony into caches. I'm kidding but it sounded good.

FTF = FEAR

Well I finally saw what I have thankfully never seen on the trail. Yes a big ol' rattle snake. You would think that as much time as I put on the trail I would have seen one before but no. I was driving along in Rothrock SF (can't tell you where exactly) looking for a good place to put another cache when I spotted this nasty along side of the road. At first I thought it was a stick because it was all stretched out. I quickly pulled over to get a closer look. Mind you a closer look for me was about 40 feet away. Close enough for me because I don't like snakes. Sure enough this bugger was alive. It never coiled up in a defensive position and rattled, but it just moseyed across the road. Way creepy! I hope I don't see one for another 40 some years!

I continued on so the spot I hope to have a cache approved in Rothrock. Last time I was here I noticed that the area was pretty trashed up. Seems nothing had changed. I found a few plastic bags near an abandoned fire ring and proceeded to collect 40-50 bottle and cans. Bot that was a fun thing to carry out. Next time I go back I will bring larger and better bags to fill up. In addition I will disassemble the fire ring in the hopes that the area is not used for camping or partying again. Hopefully the pictures I took will help get my cache approved.