-
thoses caches there are very nice group caches. wildcat mtn is about my
most favorite cache ever.
At 08:17 PM 2/6/2004, BottomFeeder wrote:
- H. H'billy,
I think you just might have taken the only pics of the frozen Mina Sauk Falls that are likely to be seen this year. I was so intrigued by your pics, I thought I'd try the adventure for myself today. An adventure that can only be entitled 'Dumb City Boy'.
Loaded a bunch of Ironton area caches into GPXSonar, charged up the GPS, loaded TaumSauk area maps into the pda (with caches as 'Markers'), checked out the weather forecast, packed up the camera gear, and headed south from STL.
The drive all the way down to and thru Ironton was fine. Turned on to CC and even it was clear. Proceeded up CC to the fork where you bear right to head into TS Mtn S.P. CC is cleared if you stay on it and bear left at the fork and head up by the Lookout Tower. The road into the park looks like it hasn't seen a plow since winter started. And it looks like they got 4-5" of snow Wed nite and Thur when we were only getting an inch here in STL. But it looks like several sets of tire tracks are heading up the road into the park, so how bad can it be? (Uh-oh...does ya see what's coming? :) )
I stop at the fork and look down the road into the park.......and look again...and again. Do I...or don't I? Decision time. Two voices in my head telling me 2 different things....... - Voice #1, the calm sensible one telling me..."Don't do it. You'll be s-o-r-r-y!" - Voice #2, the macho 'Dumb City Boy' one telling me..."Oh c'mon...ya just drove a hundred miles to get here. Ya gonna let a little snow stop ya now? You know you won't get another shot at this."
Keeping in mind that I'm not driving an SUV.....am in a sporty little front wheel drive thing, guess which one of the two voices won out? You got it....'DCB'. I turn down the road into the park.....mistake #1. But the going isn't *too* bad as long as I keep moving, if somewhat slowly. As I approach the sign announcing entrance into the park, I see a fairly steep hill (given the conditions) ahead of me and get cold feet (figuratively speaking, of course :) ). And stop right in front of the sign.
Again faced with 2 choices...try and continue up the hill til I can find a 'safe' area to turn around. "But what if I can't get up the hill and start sliding back down? Who knows what I'll slide back down into." Not a very appealing choice.
But don't worry, there's a worse choice. And I'm in full DCB mode now, and choose to try and turn around right where I'm at. Mistake #2! Though the road is *mostly* flat where I'm sitting, and the shoulder has only a fairly gentle slope to it, there's still the matter of 4-5" of snow sitting on top of the pre-existing ice. Needless to say, the end result is not pretty...I wind up with my front bumper almost kissing the 'Welcome to TS Mtn S.P.' sign. And though I come close to getting out of the jam on my own, 'close is no cigar'...as the saying goes.
Anyway, to make a short story long.....I finally hike back up to CC, and down it quite a way til I'm able to flag down one of the locals, and with his help and a phone call to the local towing service, eventually I get out.
So, as I sit here now all warm and toasty, I appreciate your pics even more. Outstanding job of getting them!
I don't know how many of the list members have done the caches in this area, but there's certainly enough in the vicinity to make a good group cache........when it's warmer and drier. :)
-= Russ =- (aka BottomFeeder, aka Dirty Bartholomew Vane, and now....aka 'Dumb City Boy')
-----Original Message----- From: geocaching-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:geocaching-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Greg Ponder Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 06:40 To: geocaching@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [GeoStL] Re: Mina Sauk
The hike is around 3 miles round trip. The trailhead is not at the tower any more. It starts at the highest point parking.
The gravel roads in the area were all ready for sled riding (I posted a picture of the road into my newest cache GCHM37...blatant plug). Although large portions of the trail and all of the rocks at the base of the falls were ice-covered, I thought the reward very much outweighed the risk. I think I'm disappointed in the pictures because I didn't seem to capture the awesome scene...but reducing great views to 5x7 makes capturing the moment difficult even with the best equipment. What I really needed on this trip was a wide angle.
I'm guessing that a combination of wet and cold weather will cause Mina Sauk to freeze fairly often. I've also been told that Rocky Falls can freeze in times of extreme cold, but that would take a long, bitter cold stretch. I talked to a Rocky Falls local, and he had never seen it frozen and doubted if the moving water would freeze...but Mina Sauk shows it very well can.
Greg Ponder...The Hairy Hillbilly
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