Outdoor Weekend

 By Allan Olson

It was another awesome weekend to be outdoors – especially for doing yard work, hunting or geocaching. While we didn’t break any records geocaching this weekend, we certainly enjoyed a visit to two nearby new locations.

After doing some yard work on Saturday morning, I made the kids clean their rooms and then I took a nice afternoon nap. Then it was time to go find a geocache. This cache was named Girl Scout Grub; it was located on the grounds of a former girl scout camp between Pennington and Cass Lake, or to be more precise, between Cass Lake and Schram Lake. 

We had driven a mile off the main road and were starting to wonder how much farther we could drive when the end became apparent. We arrived at a location that must be used on a fairly regular basis; there were at least two separate fire areas – someone had stacked stones into circles to create fire rings, and there was a nice clearing for swimming. The water was shallow and warm, but we were here to find a geocache, not to go swimming. The cache was a 600-foot walk through the woods, and it said some bushwhacking was required, and it was not considered “child-friendly.” For the most part, I have come to disregard that warning when geocaching with my children or nieces and nephews. After a hike through the woods, through the brush, over a couple of downed trees and up a steep hill, we found ourselves near where the cache was supposed to be located. A few minutes later we had the cache in hand and headed back to the truck. I informed my crew that we were not going to use the GPS to find our way back – we just need to keep the lakes on the opposite side from where they were when we went in, and it should be easy to get back. I was right, and we made it back.

Then I let the kids take their boots off and roll up their pants and get their feet wet. Of course, they got more than their feet wet, but it was a short drive home, and I left the air conditioning off.

After we got home, being the mean parents that we are, we made the kids clean up another area of the house that they had trashed, while we did some cleaning ourselves. That evening, I was looking at some other caches with the kids when someone needed help on a geocache I had found (usually it’s me calling someone for help, so it was nice to be on the opposite end). Soon it was the best time of the day – bed time – I think all the day’s fresh air wore me out. I read a few pages of my book and zonked out in short order.

Bring on Sunday – a day of rest. I don’t know that I did much of that. I tried knocking down some really tall grass behind my garage with the mower, but I kept getting hung up, so I quit before I ended up with a repair bill.

Soon it was time to venture out for our geocache of the day. This was to another one close by that I didn’t know existed. I had some trouble finding the parking coordinates, and after consultation with the cache owner and her brother, I soon got to the right location. It was a half-mile walk (one way) to this cache located near the Mississippi River. The walk was on a grass covered trail, wide enough for a vehicle – except a large gate at the entrance and rocks to the side discouraged any vehicle traffic – so we hoofed it. Once we got to the area, we noticed two shelters for sleeping or eating, and a nice area to pitch a few tents. The kids examined the shelters and then we moved on to find the cache, which was still a couple of hundred yards in the woods. We were still a ways off from the cache when I was pretty certain I had zeroed in on where it must be – so I sent Nikolai in the opposite direction. Unfortunately for Alivia, she took the bait and followed him. Marcus and Abigail decided they would follow me, and Marcus found the cache. When we got back to the clearing, the kids played for a bit and I took some pictures; then it was time for the hike back.

In all, it was productive, yet laid-back weekend, with perfect weather for doing anything outdoors. You gotta love this time of year in Minnesota.

Please be safe on the lakes – wear your life jacket, keep the kids safe, and remember to take a picture to preserve a lifetime of memories. Also please watch out for the buses that are transporting our children. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! For more of my columns visit: http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com.