Treasure caching

Peter and I drove about 50 miles east of Fort Collins past the town of Ault to Highway 390 for the start of our geocaching adventure.  Our plan for the day was to meander along the Pawnee National Grasslands power trail and head north toward the town of Grover, CO picking up many caches.   Caches are hidden about a half mile apart.

 Our normal process is  to consult the GPS, count down the feet to ground zero, stop the car with both of us getting out to look for the hidden treasure. But  the constant repetition due to the relative closeness made this too time consuming.  So I took over the driving chores and  Peter hopped out each time I stopped.  He located the cache, signed the log and hopped back into the car. This worked out better.  We stayed on the dusty dirt  roads traveled only by  us and the occasional oil rig truck , cattle trailer or pick up truck.  The road followed the edge of the Pawnee National Grassland.  We saw windmills with water troughs, oil wells surrounded by cattle, prancing pronghorn antelope, grazing sheep, and cottonwood trees along an occasional stream crossing.  We are thinking that this would be a good place to come back to for pictures in the spring time.

 We discovered and signed over 120 caches for the day.  Our little blue Prius was coated with dust.  Our floor mats were plush with gravel and stones.  Exhausted and tired of the confines of our little car we head north to Wyoming (almost to the border by this time) and stop for a bite to eat at the local truck stop in Cheyenne.  All told, we set a personal record for number of caches in a day.

Upon reflection, the farmers, ranchers and settlers of this austere grassland must have been hardy, dedicated, self reliant folks.  They must have felt comfortable with themselves and have been highly motivated to endure the demands of this national  historic treasure.