May 29/2010 |
Geocache Activity 666 |
FIND 608 |
IDENTIFICATION
Difficulty 1.5; Terrain 2; size regular; Creator: JemandtheHolograms and Spoonan Date First Hidden: 8/12/2006 Date Last Found: 5/28/2010 Description Park at the Portal Lake rest stop. If you are coming from Alberta it is immediately after the B.C. sign on your right. If you are coming from B.C. it is immediatley after the A.B. sign on your left. This a nice place to stop and have a picnic. There are several tables including some with holders for a small BBQ. There are plenty of trout in the lake so bring your fishing pole. Follow the Portal Lake trail. The loop takes about 20 minutes. The cache is a regular size tupperware container. As you may have realized from the name of the cache, the theme is Winnie the Pooh. Please keep to the theme. The original contents are: Tigger Pez Dispenser, Tigger Pen, 9 small figurines of Pooh and his friends, logbook and pencil.
Hint Look for the open space.
Comments
PLANNING
The weather has, and is, cold with a possibility of rain, making most outdoor activities uncomfortable. There was one cache left on the Yellowhead highway that I had yet to find although I had looked for it last year (it was later determined to be missing). This seemed like a good time to go for just the one cache.
OUTCOME
I had the information in my GPS unit so it was an easy matter to hop in the truck and drive the 25 km to the parking area for this cache. I then decided to try climbing the rocky cliff behind the parking area - not a good idea. I scrambled up the slope but when I was on the top I realized that I couldn't get to the cache area because of a cliff dropoff so I had to scamble back down to the original path and continue on as I had last year. This time the actual search when I arrived in the area only took a couple of minutes. This was the first time in my life that I carried a can of bear spray, and a bear bell, with me. I am becoming more safety conscious as I mature. The bell is to let the bear know where you are so he doesn't have to search for you.
Here is my posting to the geocaching.com website:
Many thanks for maintaining this cache. I tried for it last year but it was missing at the time. Glad to see it back in operation as it is a lovely hike to the cache area. TNLNSL. Here are a few photos.
The first four are at the cache:
open area near the end of the trail
turning around after I enter the open area
close-up of bottom of rock formation
container beside can of bear sprayThe remainder are of the trip to the cache:
rock formation near parking area
trail beside the lake
rocks along side trail
near the far end of the lake
more rocks beside trail
looking down on the lakeI am now 1/1 for today. There is only one cache left to find in the Jasper area, and that is at the top of Whistlers mountain, which is totally snow covered at the moment.
