[admiral]

Today is the final day for riding. We will be packing up and departing tomorrow, no more riding after today. It's going to be a long as we are going to find Hornet Reservoir and the geo cache their and to Cuddy Point lookout and geo cache. The plan is to travel a loop to Hornet Reservoir/cache, come back to the cabin for a rest, and then on to Cuddy Point later in the day.



****Note: To end the suspense of the flat trailer tires, here is the dilemma and solution. Upon arrival at Buck Park Cabin we discovered 2 flat tires on the trailer. The trailer is a tandum axle with 4 tires total. We only have 1 spare. I have major concerns of getting flats on the way out. So here's what I did. I put the spare on the right side giving two good tires on that side. I only load the TW on the trailer to reduce weight. Wife and girls ride the ATV's down to the paved road (15 miles) while I drive the truck w/trailer/TW with 3 good tires.



I left the flat on to help the good tire on the left side. (Wife didn't want to drive the truck & trailer with all of the rocks and tight turns to come). We departed and I drove real slow watching and nursing the tires the whole way. My wife was the spotter for obsticles and moved some deadfall out of the way and guided me around some very tight corners where there was logs and branches that couldn't be moved.



Well, we made it without any further flat tires. At the paved road, we loaded the ATV's on the right side of the trailer (2 good tire side), and I then took off the flat from the left, leaving me to drive about 100 miles to the nearest tire store. Made it to the tire shop and bought 2 new tires, one for the missing tire and a new spare. Done deal, and my father-in-law will be pleased we fixed the trailer before we returned it to him. Because of my actions, I will be allowed to borrow it again.



****As I said in the beginning, I will stick to our plans from now on. (i.e. dropping the trailer off half-way up the mountain. Don't take undue risks to people or equipment)!

Now on to the report.



Departed camp bright and early around 11:00a.m. (remember we ate supper at 10 last night and the girls didn't want to get up). Then traveled on Rush Creek Ridge (my naming) down around to the main forest service road we came in on, ate lunch, and then to Hornet Reservoir and the cache.



Departure, Rush Lake/Devil's Inkwell, the ridge and lunch photo's. We saw two big bucks, but I didn't have the camera ready. Did after that, but no more wildlife sitings. Figures!

Continued

 

[admiral]

After lunch, on to Hornet Reservoir.



As I was in the lead and as the group leader/navigator, (yikes)! When I noticed there appeared to be a short cut from one part of the same rd to another part. Because my wife is a little rebellious, I thought there might be a chance she would see this and take it. So, I stopped at the end of the shortcut, stepped up on a stump, got the camera ready and waited to see if she would.

And she did!!!

Been riding about 2 hours, and finally, Hornet Reservoir. Saw some fish jumping too!

Girls driving through the spillway.

As hard as we tried, we couldn't find the cache, which was located near the lower Hornet Reservoir (no pic's of lower reservoir). I have found about 15 geo cache's, and this is the only one I haven't been able to locate.

So we departed and headed back to camp for some rest before heading to Cuddy Point.

Having fun splashing through the puddle's on the way back to camp!

Continued on Cuddy Point 1

 

[admiral]

Cuddy Point 1. After Hornet Reservoir and getting some rest back at camp, we headed out for our final destination for our camp trip, Cuddy Viewpoint, Cuddy Point Lookout and Cache.



So, we have been riding in tree's for the whole trip and about a mile from camp heading to Cuddy, I rode over a rise and came upon this. One of the guys on his post of a trip with his dad talked about seeing formations that reminded them of moon rocks. Here too, if it were not for the sun being out, I would have thought I was driving on the moon's lunar surface.

After the moon driving detour , we made our way to Cuddy Viewpoint for some Hell's Canyon (No Business Canyon) viewing.

Looks like snow, but it's not. Sun and haze playing tricks with our eyesight.



Dead guy memorial at Cuddy Viewpoint. Can't read or remember exactly what it said, said something about no going into the grave quietly, but sliding into the grave saying something like "holy shit, what a ride". Or words to that affect! Don't know if you can see it, but there are a couple of shotgun shells (unused) placed by the plaque. Guy must have spent a lot of time in the area hunting when he was alive. We thought the words on the plaque were fitting for the life the guy must have lived!

Departing the viewpoint heading for the lookout area. About a mile to go before we have to get off and walk to the lookout and cache.

Oh, I forgot. Battery went dead and had to start push starting the TW!

End of the riding portion to the lookout and cache. Gotta hike from here on out. About a mile round trip...with old person hating hills!

Continued on Cuddy Point 2

 

[admiral]

Cuddy Point 2. Off the TW, ATV's and the hike starts.

Gorgie getting some snow on the canyon rim. It was much steeper in this area than what the pictures show.

Here is a trail dropping off our ridge down to the ridge in view and beyond. Supposedly it's ok to drive on the trail with a motorcycle, but I ain't gonna every try it !



More views on the way to the lookout and cache.

Finally made it to the old lookout site. The lookout cabin and platform are long gone, but this rock pile marks the spot.

Now we shall look for the cache!



Continued on Cuddy Point 3

 

[admiral]

Cuddy Point 3. Cuddy Point lookout and Buck Park Cabin tie-in history. According to a history note we found in the cabin, the ranger stationed at the cabin had a single telephone line from the cabin to the town of Council, which was strung through the tree's and some telephone poles. I didn't see any telephone poles on our way to Hornet Reservoir, but my wife thinks she saw a couple.

Anyway, as the story goes, when a thunderstorm would roll through the area, the ranger would ride out (on horseback) to the lookout to spot any fires. If he saw any fires, he would ride back to the cabin and call the forest service down in Council. Interesting how they had to report fires back in the day.



Success, we found the cache. This made our success rate of finding 2 out of 3 cache's for the trip. This was a small cache hidden the year before, I think in August of 2009. We were the first to find it. It had a log, geocaching key chain and geocaching coin. We took the coin to place at a future cache we visit and though not an edicate requirement, we left a necklace. I was going to leave a knife, but it wouldn't fit in the jar! Ironically, a geocaching couple found this cache and the summers grave cache about 3 days after we were here.

Now we have to head back to the TW and ATV's. As you will notice, the girls are in much better hiking shape than me and the wife!

This one is zoomed in. We could barely see them with the naked eye!

We made it back to camp, earlier than yesterday, ate supper and went to bed. We packed up the next morning, headed to the tire store (you know the deal) and finally home.



As with all trips, they all have a sad ending...we have to leave. I think this picture sums it up for all of us!

Had a good trip and I hope ya'll enjoyed viewing the Buck Park Cabin Camp and Ride Adventure.



The End.