I left my house around 10:30 but a truck had cut me all the way off right in downtown Shelton and I had to follow it for miles. I was stuck behind a slow moving truck all the way to Belfair. I tried not to let it upset me. I arrived at the trail head sometime after 11:00 am and I immediately began my hike. My first goal was to reach a terracache.
I walked almost straight up through a clear cut from the parking lot and did not follow any trails but I did walk on a logging road for the last .10 of a mile.
I was surprised at how far down the hill the cache was and was a little worried about scrambling around on the wet rocks while all alone. I took off my pack left it on the ground when my GSP said I was 20 feet away.
The terracache was nice and dry and up in a tree. It was up rather high in a tree, at first I wondered how I was going to climb the tree to get it but then I saw the little black rope. There are no fallen trees in the area.
The Cache did not really want to come down even after I untied the knot. I had to tug on it a few times before gravity started working. I put the cache back up as high as it was and secured it well. I did not take or leave anything.
After I left the terracache and retrieved my backpack I went on to the Olympic Panorama Geocache by Super 88. It was too cloudy to see the view from either cache.
After getting that cache I walked back down the logging road past the terra cache and then found a trail. I followed the trail in an Easterly direction and expected to come out near the bats in the belfry geocache but very rudely and abruptly that trail turned into a clear cut. Trees had all been fallen across the trail and it was impossible for me to proceed.
It took me a while to decide what to do, going on was out of the question. The road GM6 was just 2 tenths of a mile below me but I did not want to do that much bushwhacking and I could hear a creek running down there. Turning around was not an attractive option because the extra mileage would ruin my chances of going after the Lost Creek Geocache and the rescue terracache.
I had no choice but to turn around though. I found a trail running down the hill 1/2 mile after I turned around and I followed it almost all the way down to the parking lot. Once at the bottom I changed course and went to the bridge across Gold Creek that is near the Gold Creek trailhead.
There were three women on horses blocking the trail and they had no intention of moving. They were also only 20 feet from stage one of the Lost Valley Geocache (not to be confused with the lost creek geocache). I
realized the horsewomen were going to be there for a while and they were ignoring me so I decided to return the favor and ignore them while looking for stage one.
I found stage one and entered the Coordinates into my GPS then proceeded past the horse women who were still blocking the trail. I had to walk off the trail and way too close to one of the horses (potentially) kicking feet. I was pretty annoyed with the horsewomen and when one of them said to me "we were wondering what you were doing"
I answered "I bet you are" and kept right on going, this really miffed the horsewomen.
One of them yelled "That was a question" and the others yelled other stuff to try to get my attention but I just kept on going. They were outraged that little ole pedestrian me did not answer their royal demands. I figured it was really none of their business and if they did not have the time to move over so I could pass by I certainly did not have the time to stop and explain geocaching to them.
The next way point was a mile down the trail so off I went but I could not find it. My GPS was pointing me to a swamp and I was not about to walk in a swamp. My GPS also said I was only 2 miles from the rescue terracache and the lost creek cache so I decided to at least start walking towards them to see if they really were only 2 miles away.
At this point it was 3pm and I had not stopped to eat lunch yet. I walked until my GPS said that caches were .20 of a mile away but I did not believe my GPS and I was started to get too hungry to think correctly so I stopped and ate a power bar while pondering my map. I was not sure if the road I was on was going to swing far enough to the right and was afraid that I might have to go bushwhacking. I was tired and I had already walked over seven miles and the sun was going to set in two hours and I was 3 miles from the trailhead.
I decided to turn back and my GPS told me I would be back at the trail head by about 4:00, the sun was going to set at 4:59. I went ahead and stopped to cook my lunch and drink my tea right next to the pretty little beaver damn on the GM-6 road.
I gulped down my tea and carried my lunch with me while it continued to simmer in it's homemade insulated container. As I passed the bridge where way point one of the Lost Valley cache was I checked it to be sure that the horsewomen had not disturbed it. They had not touched it, I was not surprised as they would have had to of climbed down off their high horses to reach it.
I got back to the trailhead at 4:30 and sat to eat my lunch but it was cold so I got some fuel out of my car and cooked it some more on a bench beside the trail map sign.
Lunch was dehydrated fried rice with dehydrated veggies and king boletes. My lunch tasted really good. I had hiked 10.6 miles on only two power bars a cup of tea and some hard candy.
My cell phone did not work at the trailhead and I needed to let my husband know I was done as it was getting dark and he might start to worry.
I left the trail head about 5:15 and I drove in to Belfair where my cell phone works and was able to call my husband from there to let him know I was done. Before I left Belfair I used a Starbucks coupon at the Starbucks drive-through and got a free large mocha with a shot of peppermint.
Traffic was heavy on the way back home, I was caught up in commuter hour. I got home at about 6:15. I did not have as much trouble getting up out of my car as I thought I would have after such a hike. I must be getting into better shape.
My husband was standing in the driveway waiting for me. While I was out the cat had scratched our 2 year old and he had to take her to the doctor. she is going to be find. Amazingly the house was clean! Normally the house is a disaster area when I get home from hiking and I have all kinds of house work to do. I guess all my threats to divorce him are starting to have an effect.
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