What'd ya do over the Fourth and weekend ?

“Friday evening I met some area geocachers at a "cache and conversation" event in Rochester for brews and pizza. I found I am not nearly as addicted as most. One couple had their vehicle set up as a loggable travel bug (which I didn't even see and obviously didn't log!) LOL!

Saturday, I met up with two newfound caching friends to place a cache and then find the popular, tough Lair cache in a bluffside cave at the Reno Recreation Area of the Richard J. Dorer Forest, on the Mississippi near the Iowa border.

Sunday I covered an area fastpitch softball tourney before heading to Wabasha to canoe in the sloughs and backwaters of the Mississippi with Dry Foot. Kind of scummy waters at times and we even got hung up on mud! Once we got in something of a channel, with some water movement, it was good fun. I'd always heard of canoe trails in sloughs. It's something similar to the wilds of Everglades (obviously not exactly like that, hahaha), finding your way and getting away from it all.

And perfect, since I hardly had to paddle while enjoying fresh cheese curds from across the river in Wisconsin, along with Coronas. PERFECT!! lol

Then we went to Red Wing and hiked Barn Bluff, which has a lot of trails and is very scenic. Saw rock climbers there.

Monday evening I went caching in Decorah... and came up with a "no find." AAACK!

Tuesday -- the Fourth -- I slept very late and did nada. Had to relax after the week and a half trip to South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, from which I returned last Thursday.

Almost every moment had been filled with activity or long drives, with searching for Indian rock art and logging it the first week. And each night, after that, I went out and cached -- including a trip to northwest Nebraska! I also hiked and camped in the Bighorn Mountains and spent over a day at Little Bighorn Battlefield and related activities. Also saw the and hiked the Badlands and Wounded Knee on the way out.

Then, coming back, Devil's Tower, and the Minuteman Missile National Monument, a new unit of the National Park Service near the Badlands.

Trip report and photos to come! Was good to just relax on the Fourth.”

“Sounds good Lizs. We just got a Gps and are looking forward to geocaching. We used it this weekend to figure out milage on kayaking days. Here's some of our pictures, etc:
http://thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/22621,1.php”

“I'll be in big trouble if I post what I did. ;-)”

“I worked, and worked and worked

13 hours double time :)

twignut and myself worked at the animal shelter taking care of ALL the animals by ourselves.
I am soo sore this morning :(”

“Read my TR!!”

“See, I work at a paper. This is where you get to do the little plug for your trip report elsewhere. LOL! ;-P You know, you should provide a link!”

“OK, smarta$$!! Here ya go:

http://www.thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/44594,-1.php

hee hee hee....”

“Nothing at all but be lazy and read a few books. It was too hot to hike :-(”

“Read my TR.
Lizs, that sounds incredibly cool.”

“ha went to sand island in bethlehem, pa and watched the cities awesome fireworks display....you know its good when babies are screaming and dogs are frantic! haha my rotweiller thought she could take on the lot of them!”

“Managed to get in 2 early morning hikes before the 90° heat came on...mowed the grass at 9 a.m. Sunday to beat the heat.

Did I mention it was hot as H E double L...”

“My wife and I sat around the house relaxing all day with the son and his gf, they they went back to college and us old folks just vegged- out. It rained all day.”

““ha went to sand island in bethlehem, pa and watched the cities awesome fireworks display....you know its good when babies are screaming and dogs are frantic! haha my rotweiller thought she could take on the lot of them!”
Taboo

I don't do fireworks anymore...same ole, same ole...”

“hiked pictured rocks with Lorax and the rest of the holiday with Sunshine. Good times”

“I mostly stayed close to the homestead here, did some CAD work, and piddled on the yard, gardens and house improvement projects.”

“Popup camped at the beach for 8 days, ending on Monday. Can't beat the 10X better view than if we had a condo, at 1/4 the price.

Spent Tuesday with some friends most of the day, eating crabs, drinking, and finally setting off our own fireworks display.”

“I flew home.
Toss a bunch of crap out I don't want to move.
Finished off one side of a fieldstone border/wall/edge around the koi pond.
Dropped two trees (still have to pull the stumps)
Pressurewashed the other half the house.
Got my hair cut.
Played with my daughter.
Spent time with Treebait.
Took my daughter swimming.
Flew back to Charlotte.”

“piddled on the yard, gardens and house improvement projects.”
lonesurveyor


You're really into organic fertilizers, huh?”

“Pool party for two days over the weekend.

Tuesday, we went tubing.

Wednesday, I took my brother and family down the tail of the dragon, through Bryson City, Cherokee, New Found Gap, Elkmont and back to Townsend.”

“I backpacked Mt Ralston trail above Desolation Wilderness. One of these days I want to learn the definition of the word "moderation", my legs are still sore from that climb!
http://community.webshots.com/user/CABackpacker”