Way To Bee

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FIVE

Last night I had three unexpected guests spend the night. My brother and his daughter stayed over and one of my kid's friends also enjoyed our floor for the night. In the morning we had to feed these people. So I sent my brother off to the store to get some waffles and I went on my hike.

I didn't have much time so I decided to hike up a hill that I did a few months ago that has a cross on the top. We had some windy nights and now the cross is gone and I wanted to see if I could find where it went.

There's a bit of a trail heading up the canyon and I try to follow it. Although I do a lot of my hikes on loose, steep, crumbly rock, I prefer to follow a trail when possible. At least on this terrain. Unfortunately, the trail doesn't go very far and disappears.

I get about half way up the hill and spot a trail on the side of the hill. I make my way over to it. Slowly and cautiously, of course. Can you see it?

I get to the saddle and find a pretty good trail. Like many of the other trails in the area someone put a lot of work into this.

There is a nice view from up here.

There is also a nice view going up. I head up the trail a ways but have to turn around before I get to the top. I'll have to come again when I don't have waffles waiting.

The trail down is very well defined at least at this point. I really want to see where the trail starts so next time it'll be easier and safer to get to the top.

There is even a little fire pit that someone created. I didn't bring any firewood but it would have come in handy a bit later.

I come to this section in the trail and wonder if it's some sort of bed. It may be a directional monument because the way I take from here is obviously wrong.

It is very steep, very loose and if I make a misstep I will fall about thirty feet. I also run into a big problem. As I put my hand back on rock to support myself I disturb a swarm of bees and they start attacking me. I am trying to maintain my balance while at the same time trying not to fall and to swat bees. Since falling would be far worse than a few bee stings I move slowly and deliberately. I get past the point of immediate danger and start to move faster. Once I am clear of the bees, I stop to assess the damage. I have five stings. One on my ankle, two on my back, one on my neck and one on my ear.

That last one is the only one that hurts.

Cache Me If You Can

DAY NINETY ONE

Hiking every day brings several rewards . There's the joy of just being outdoors, the thrill of discovering a new place, the pleasure of strenuous physical challenge and the excitement of setting a goal and meeting it. One of the greatest rewards, however, is meeting new people. On Monday, when I did the Lykken Trail hike, I met a couple of gals from Canada. They were heading up the trail to find a geocache and leave a little stuffed beaver in it.

For those unfamiliar with geocaching, it is like a high tech scavenger hunt using GPS to find locations and the internet to share where those locations are. People bring little trinkets and toys to leave in the geocache and take a toy or trinket with them.

After meeting these Canadian ladies, I got curious about where there might be some of these caches in my neighborhood. I was quite surprised to discover there are TONS of them. So I picked one, printed up the directions and went hunting. Nikolas loves an adventure, so he came along.

I don't have a regular hiking GPS (I've never seen the need) so I used the one from the car.

One of the waypoints on this trip are these water tanks. I'm on the right track.

I came upon this very rare Desert Hat Bush in full bloom. The hat was actually my size but I'm sure someone will be back for it. Besides, I'm looking for another treasure.

I get to my next waypoint, this Bighorn Sheep sign and am surprised to discover the cache is not up this trail, as I'd originally thought.

It's behind us, up this hill.

There it is, hidden under a big pile of rocks. It was really pretty easy to find even though I've hiked by it a thousand times.

Nikolas digs it out of the rocks. Let's see what's inside!

There's not a lot of treasure here. Some trading cards, a few coasters, some toys and pens. Nik asks if he can throw the "Hello Kitty" off the mountain but I tell him no although I kinda wish he would.

We decided to leave something someone can actually use. Someone with an iPod, that is.

Nik takes a little rock shaped superball

And let's the whole world know how cool finding treasure is.

We pack everything back up and put it back the way it was. A treasure for someone else to find.

On the hike back, we see these bees just starting to build a hive. Nik asks if he can throw a rock at it but I tell him no although......

We also spot this hummingbird just kicking back enjoying the afternoon.

You never know where you're going to find a treasure, or if you are, but the fun is in looking for it and discovering treasures and pleasures you never imagined.

Oh, to my friends and family who read my FaceBook post and think I sprained my ankle and will be changing my blog to Hobbling Every Day: Happy April Fool's Day.

For more info on geocaching and where to find geocaches in your area, go to: geocaching.com