This weekends outing was in conjunction with a good amount of geocaching. We wanted to head out and there was a geocache event in the town of Connell Washington on Saturday. It was in the general area we were looking to go and would work with our camping plans.
For Friday night we wanted to camp at a campground west of Connell at Scooteney campground. I had found out that the campground was closed until the following weekend. Bummer. So instead we stayed at an RV park in town, Coyote Run RV Park. The rates were very reasonable and the location worked for us. Upon arrival, the camp host was very welcoming and insured we had no issues hooking up the utilities. Water, power, sewer and even cable TV for $40.70 a night for a back in site. Pretty good. Sites were level and spacious enough, especially for an RV park. While it was not the camping spot we wanted, it turned out just fine.
After parking and setting up we went for a walk in town. There were a few geocaches along a trail nearby that we wanted to go find. Along the trail there are a few big flower sculptures. They can be seen from the highway as you pass by but this was the first time we took the walk and looked at them up close. After our walk and finding the caches we stopped by a restaurant on our walk back to have dinner. While we were the only guests there, the workers were friendly and the food was good.
The town also has a bunch of other sculptures along the main road through town. After our dinner we stopped at one of them to get a picture and answer a question on a virtual kind of geocache. Some geocaches there is not an actual container to look for. The one we stopped at is called a Lab Cache. You have to be in the immediate proximity of the set coordinates to open a question on the app. With the correct answer, you get credit for the find.
We got back to our camper and sat outside for a little while before a light rain chased us inside. We had a good nights sleep.
The next morning we would leave the RV park and go find more geocaches. Most of them were those lab type of caches. They were fun to find and took us mostly to other sculptures in town. Once we found all of them it was time to go to a nearby coffee hose where a small geocache event was. A geocache event is a gathering of geocachers that must last for at least a 1/2 hour. Some last much longer but his one was a short gathering. Some stayed past the 1/2 hour. Cachers gather, sign an attended logbook and talk about geocaches and whatever else. We met some cachers we have never met before and chatted with others we knew.
After the event and after filling up with more fuel for the truck, we set out to make our way to where we would camp for the night. Of course the route included finding more geocaches. We found several before we decided we found enough for the day and it was time to find a camp spot. We would be near Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake River.
Another type of geocache is called an Earthcache. For that kind of cache there is not a container to look for. It is about geology of the spot. You learn and answer questions about what you see that is geology related. After observing the spot you send in your answers to the cache owner to get credit for your find. They are an interesting kind of cache and many point out things you never noticed or knew about. Along this drive there were 2 earthcaches to find.
We would soon call it a day on finding caches and would drive by several as we looked for a spot to camp at. Behind the dam there are official camp spots, complete with a pit bathroom, boat launch and fire rings and even a small shelter. There is another a bit farther down the river that is a park like setting. We opted for neither of those and wanted to find a spot along the river to boondock at. There were a few to choose from. We drove down the road then turned around and came back to one we really liked. We found our home for the night, right on the Snake River. The road is not really a main road type of thing. While paved it has very little traffic. This area is a bit of an out of the way kind of place.
Soon we got set up and it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of the day and night. We love these kind of spots. We have everything we need and we were very happy to be there.
Sunday morning greeted us with a nice sunrise. We would eventually make our breakfast and start our day. Once we left our camp spot we would do more geocaching, finding caches we drove by the day before and go after more on a different route home.
Before we left we did what we always do, a trash sweep. Sadly, this is something really needing to be done because others do not seem to care as much. We picked up 2 big bags worth of trash from the area. We also got the firepit cleaned out and reorganized as the rock ring was in shambles. There simply is no excuse for people to leave camp spots in the way so many do. So many times, thoughts come to mind of me dumping the trash on their front yards, returning their lost treasures for them to enjoy at home. But no, we pick it up and took the trash away. Just down the road at one of the official camp spots the Core of Engineers had trash cans out to use and we dumped the trash there. We also grabbed several more trash bags that they have out for everyone to take and use. That was good since we used up the trash bags we had.
Now, time for more enjoyable things, geocaching and sight seeing. There would be plenty of that.
After finding several caches we moved along towards home. We would make a couple more stops to geocache before calling it a day though. One stop was at another earthcache pointing out some sand dunes. Those small dunes are pretty cool but you can only observe them from a distance as the are on private property.
We then made our way to Washtucna Washington. There is a pretty cool roadside attraction there and of course there was another cache to find there. It is simply an old bus that people paint their art and their thoughts on. The bus has been around since the1970s but in 2017 it was moved 8 miles to its current resting place. The town owns the bus and has kept it there for people to enjoy. I found this write up on it that has a good amount of history written for it. https://lovehardtraveloften.com/united-states/thatnwbus/
After our stop there we moved along towards home, stopping in Ralston to make lunch. Soon enough we arrived back home, got the truck and camper parked. In a couple weeks we will be back out for another weekend trip. This was a fun trip as well…they all are in one form or another. If you want to learn more about Geocaching here is a link to the website. http://www.geocaching.com
The TC Life 