Leakage from a Cluttered Mind

Yesterday we took a lengthy expedition to the north of Reno in search of a couple of geocaches. We had the latitude-longitude coordinates, and we even knew from reconnaissance of satellite photos that the caches were located on mountain tops. But we didn’t know what dirt road to use to get to the cache. We got to within a mile of the cache while on a paved road and then started exploring. One promising dirt road was signed “No motor vehicles allowed.” Another promising turn off was being used by a local county sheriff vehicle. Finally we settled on a road that switch-backed up a steep hill side. Unfortunately, the combo of my driving skills and my vehicle didn’t get us very far on that rutted, rocky road.

So we walked. Tough climbing. Long walk. Nice views from the ridgetop, and lots of fun exploring all the old mining shafts and pits. Once we got to the rocky peak where the cache was located we searched for a long time for the cache’s hiding spot, with eventual success. The return was easier, but just as long, and our 5 mile hike turned out to be much longer than anticipated.

Life’s like that sometimes, isn’t it? We know the goal, but don’t know the path, and after we finally get there, it took a long longer and was harder than we originally anticipated. One of the keys, I think, is to enjoy the journey by exploring all the little details along the way.

The second cache we hunted was out near Pyramid Lake, and we never did find the right road. The dirt track we chose was, interestingly enough, called Appian Way on our maps. We drove as far as this abandoned mine shack before deciding we needed to abandon the hunt because we were running out of time. Turns out the cache wasn’t close to Appian Way anyway.

I wonder how many memories were made in this place? The tailings indicate there was quite a bit of mining done here, and there is an abandoned shaft that disappears into the hillside. We’re still making more family memories here in Lake Tahoe. This morning as I was drinking my coffee and the house was quiet, Audree (the youngest) quietly appeared with a big hug and then sat beside me looking at the pictures in one of her library books.