Viking success and hiking failure
Jul. 13th, 2005 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
triadruidHaving found my portable GPS unit with the help of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
featherynscale the other day, I wanted to go out last night and track down some more geocaches. My other thirds really weren't up for it though, so I took the dog on my own trek, to a different location than I'd originally intended.
covered in spiderwebs (apparently they don't get as much use as the more open southern trails). Eventually the direction arrow started telling me that the site was ~300 ft due east of me, which unfortunately mean down an overgrown hill and across the river. I looked at the dog, he looked at me, and we decided to keep going north and find an easier place to ford the river.
Somewhere about 250 feet further on, we found a spot to ford the river and get to the other side. We were in a tree-lined valley at this point, which meant the GPS was getting kind of scattershot. After several minutes of criss-crossing the supposed site, we found it, in a different location, in a different container. Oops. Kinda damp container, and I had nothing to put in, so I signed the logbook and we set out for home.
Did I forget to mention that we started this trek about 8:30pm? By now it's starting to get rather dusky in the valley, so we continued down the trails on the eastern side of the river, looking for the usual spot that we ford to our usual climbing trail. Unfortunately from this side, you're also on a small wooded cliff overlooking the river for most of the trip, so trying to find the spot I wanted from an unfamiliar angle wasn't working. The dog and I eventually came upon *a* crossing, but the western slope was impassable, and by now we were farther south of where we wanted to be on that side, either. So we tried to traverse north along the riverbank, which is unfortunately mostly either a) rocks, or b) muddy hillside. Half an hour or more later, we're almost as far north on this side as when we crossed before, but the riverbank is becoming more impassable by the minute, and the sky is darkening dramatically, and there's still been no visible way up to the woods on this side. So I look at the dog, and he looks at me, and we go, "This sucks." Back south we go for a while, involving at least one serious dunk in the river up to my waist (the GPS unit is, thankfully, highly water resistant). The dog is tired of this game now and I am No Longer His Favorite, but we have to get home before dawn; someone will be upset. The dog can't climb most of these hills directly, though...
Anyway, eventually we had scrabbled and splashed and nearly twisted our ankles enough to find a spot that looked more scalable. The dog wasn't sure about this, and kept trying to go back down to the riverbank, but eventually we both got up the hill and back onto our original northern trail...muddy, wet, exhausted, and thirsty. And dark. Trooped home, tossed the clothes in the wash, and soakedmy head in a hot bath for a time until I felt better about the experience.
featherynscale the other day, I wanted to go out last night and track down some more geocaches. My other thirds really weren't up for it though, so I took the dog on my own trek, to a different location than I'd originally intended.covered in spiderwebs (apparently they don't get as much use as the more open southern trails). Eventually the direction arrow started telling me that the site was ~300 ft due east of me, which unfortunately mean down an overgrown hill and across the river. I looked at the dog, he looked at me, and we decided to keep going north and find an easier place to ford the river.
Somewhere about 250 feet further on, we found a spot to ford the river and get to the other side. We were in a tree-lined valley at this point, which meant the GPS was getting kind of scattershot. After several minutes of criss-crossing the supposed site, we found it, in a different location, in a different container. Oops. Kinda damp container, and I had nothing to put in, so I signed the logbook and we set out for home.
Did I forget to mention that we started this trek about 8:30pm? By now it's starting to get rather dusky in the valley, so we continued down the trails on the eastern side of the river, looking for the usual spot that we ford to our usual climbing trail. Unfortunately from this side, you're also on a small wooded cliff overlooking the river for most of the trip, so trying to find the spot I wanted from an unfamiliar angle wasn't working. The dog and I eventually came upon *a* crossing, but the western slope was impassable, and by now we were farther south of where we wanted to be on that side, either. So we tried to traverse north along the riverbank, which is unfortunately mostly either a) rocks, or b) muddy hillside. Half an hour or more later, we're almost as far north on this side as when we crossed before, but the riverbank is becoming more impassable by the minute, and the sky is darkening dramatically, and there's still been no visible way up to the woods on this side. So I look at the dog, and he looks at me, and we go, "This sucks." Back south we go for a while, involving at least one serious dunk in the river up to my waist (the GPS unit is, thankfully, highly water resistant). The dog is tired of this game now and I am No Longer His Favorite, but we have to get home before dawn; someone will be upset. The dog can't climb most of these hills directly, though...
Anyway, eventually we had scrabbled and splashed and nearly twisted our ankles enough to find a spot that looked more scalable. The dog wasn't sure about this, and kept trying to go back down to the riverbank, but eventually we both got up the hill and back onto our original northern trail...muddy, wet, exhausted, and thirsty. And dark. Trooped home, tossed the clothes in the wash, and soaked
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-14 02:01 pm (UTC)Is the dog still mad at you?
no subject
Date: 2005-07-14 04:27 pm (UTC)Two hours later, I was still thinking that, just with a ? at the end...
no subject
Date: 2005-07-14 02:03 pm (UTC)BTW U did have your other two thirds check for tics, did U not?
re: ticks
Date: 2005-07-14 04:28 pm (UTC)Re: re: ticks
Date: 2005-07-14 05:10 pm (UTC)Re: re: ticks
Date: 2005-07-14 05:32 pm (UTC)Re: re: ticks
Date: 2005-07-14 07:02 pm (UTC)" Why no miss Feather, what ever do you mean?
off-topic
Date: 2005-07-14 07:28 pm (UTC)Re: off-topic
Date: 2005-07-14 07:55 pm (UTC)Miss Feather comes from that old southern & rural tradition I explained to the red headed one after she came home one day Asking why the staff at her inner-city nursing home called her "Miss Nola" instead of just Nola
I explained the tradition and that it was a distinction If she chose to have them just call her Nola they would of course but the MIss was an honor and actually meant acceptance for her as a Crone and a boss
I have to admit it freaked me a bit one day here recently as the red head and I were out doing yard work in the front lawn and one of the yunger adults in the town walked by with his daughter and gave greeting with "Hi Mr. Terry Miss Nola"
Re: off-topic
Date: 2005-07-14 08:15 pm (UTC)Re: off-topic
Date: 2005-07-14 11:58 pm (UTC)That would be correct
Date: 2005-07-14 09:12 pm (UTC)Being from the south, I know some Miss Ladies, and despite my perpetually unmarried status, I find it very funny that I might be one, especially with the name 'Feather'.
Miss Ladies are so, er, genteel.