20 May 2011 Portland to Seattle

We liked Portland and decided to stop and walk around the city before making our return to the Portland area. Like so many towns the nice buildings and architecture don't photograph well during the busy daytime streets and with the crowding of new buildings.

The Pod sculpture from 2002 is a fun piece that pivots around in the base.

Mill End Park is officially the smallest municipal park in the world. It's a bit strange to see a park sign for the small planting in the median of the road, but its all in good fun (and a geocache)

After leaving Oregon, we made a stop at Pearson Airfield to stamp our NPS passport and visit the park area. Besides its US military history, Pearson Field is the spot where the Chkalov Flight landed in the US. What, you've never heard of the Chkalov Flight (neither had I)? Starting in Moscow, it was the first plane to make a non-stop flight over the North Pole in 1937.

It does take forever to actually get to any of the big mountains. Mount Saint Helens was a place we both wanted to explore. We knew it still had snow at a low elevation and knew we didn't have enough time to get really close so we agreed to get as near as possible, We started at the Mount Saint Helens Visitor Center and got the best view we would see of the peak. The boardwalk through Silver Lake gave some great views of the mountain and some super wildflowers.

We drove the road toward the mountain as long as possible before we had to turn toward our stopping point for the evening. We stopped at one now closed park which was closed after the eruption and hunted a couple of caches along a road that was heavily damaged during the eruptions and closed afterward. At the last cache along the road, Ali spied calypso orchids. We had never seen this showy orchid before so this was quite a treat.

19 May 2011 Portland

Today was day two of our hunt for the Triad. The Original Stash is the place where it all began for a dedicated geocacher. For us, it was the weakest leg of the Triad. The plaque and cache is a true park and grab. The road to the cache is lined with park and grabs. Still, it was the location of the first.

Our plans after the original stash were to hunt the two oldest caches in Oregon (two oldies from 2000). They are located on National Forest Land but require access through private logging lands. When we arrived at the gate marking the private land, there were clear markings that the road was closed. The gate was open, but the sign said the gate could be closed at any time. The sign on the gate had a phone number for the office which we called. The office phone was a recorded message stating the road was now open, but only for foot travel. With over eight miles of driving ahead to the first cache, there was no way we could pull off an unplanned twenty mile hike so we sadly turned back and re-grouped.

Ali suggested we hunt a few caches at Salmon River. We drove over to the parking area and hit the trail. Ali's suggestion was perfect. The trail along the Salmon River was a nice mix of waterside and woods. We had a great view of Mt. Hood, found some super caches, and enjoyed spotting a number of interesting wildflowers.

Our evening was spent with friends in downtown Portland. We got a quick walk around town and enjoyed a great seafood dinner. After dinner we grabbed a cache and made our way to Powell's Bookstore. This place is amazing. We are always looking for the next book to read so the thought of over 1,000,000 titles was like brain candy. We spent about an hour roaming the aisles. I hoped for another state's American Guide series, but had no luck.