There's More Than One Way To Bring Home Gold From Idaho's Yankee Fork

We spent this past weekend camping on the Yankee Fork with Camp N' Cache 7.  Camp N' Cache is an annual geocaching event put together by the Idaho Geocachers Organization.  It was our first time attending such an event, but we had wanted to go camping in this area because of the rich history it has with the mining towns of Custer and Bonanza nearby.  So when this event posted and it was right where we were planning to go we decided to give it a try.

Of course the first item of business when we got there was to set up camp.

Then like so many fools of the past, the next thing I did was went searching for the mother load.  But after twenty minutes and one pan my back was aching and I thought to myself, "There has got to be a better way to bring home some gold from the Yankee Fork."

So back at camp we roasted hot dogs and s'mores (notice one's face and the other's shirt.  What better brain food for contemplating a better way to bring home some Yankee Fork gold. 

Now the idea of Camp N' Cache is a bunch of Geocachers all camped out together, they spend Friday and Saturday logging as many caches as possible.  Each cache counts towards IGO Bucks (play money).  The more difficult the cache the more IGO Bucks you get.  The IGO Bucks are then used in an auction Saturday Night.  Each participant donates an item to said auction.

Having arrived Thursday afternoon, we set out Friday Morning to begin our quest for Caches.

The first cache we went after was Honeymoon Cabin Cache, located up a long road with many switchbacks near this old mine shack that someone has maintained and kept furnished for people to visit with a guest book inside to sign.

After posing for a couple of shots at Honeymoon Cabin we were on our way for more caches.

For two days we ran around the Yankee Fork and Salmon River area logging as many caches as possible, stopping only momentarily for other forms of recreation.  I am not exagerating to say that we worked our tails off in the name of fun for this event.

Even this rock shelter was used only temporarily to seek shelter from the rain as we took the mile (round trip) hike to log tow caches at Little Redfish Lake.

On that hike not only did we log two caches (disregard the little spot of yellow in the lower right corner of the photo, I would not want to give away any caches).

(Sawtooth Range & Little Redfish Lake)

But we also partook of breath taking scenic views.

(Joseph over the Rail at Sunbeam Dam)

On several occasions, in search of caches, we went beyond the limits of where man should.

At last all of our hard work finally payed off.  Saturday afternoon we turned in our paperwork for our team consisting of Critter Gitter (myself) and Bunkins (Michelle) and of course Joseph who has yet to have an official geocaching name.  The points were tallied up and we earned a whopping 1,980 IGO Bucks to use in that nights auction.  At the potluck that night we had the opportunity to browse through the donated items.  As I seen one particular item I thought to myself, "Could it be true, Maybe I really can take home some Yankee Fork Gold."  After I seen it I knew what we had worked so hard all weekend for.  As most auctions o they save the best for the very last and I must say as kids were collecting all there's and there parents accumulated IGO Bucks to bid 7,000 bucks for a big bottle of bubbles, my hopes of getting what I wanted was waning.  But still, much to the despair of my son, I held tight to our phony money till the item I wanted.  and in when it came up I opened the bidding.

I might mention that the man who made the item I wanted was sitting next to me and before I bid on it I asked it there was any way of getting another one and he informed me that this was in fact a one of a kind item.  My only hope was that the earlier items had gone for such outrageous prices that everyone else was out of bucks by now.  But as the price climbed closer and closer to my 1,980 limit my hopes began to fade until my final bid of 1,800.  "Do I hear 1,900?"  "Do I hear 1,850"  SOLD FOR 1,800!!!

So there it is!  The Camp N' Cache 7 event Coin Design by River Cacher, just one of our many new friends.  Two coins were minted.  A bronze one which was given to the camp host who put forth so much work to make this event happen and this 24K gold coin which was donated to the event auction.  So that is how we wound up bringing home a small golden treasure from our little adventure on the Yankee Fork.  However the memories we brought home and the many new friends we made are far more valuable and we are looking forward to hopefully working Camp N' Cache 8 into our schedule next year.

Introduction

Some years back, when I was about twelve years old, my Remington 572 was my constant companion.  The property around my family's farm had ground squirrels, an occasional rock chuck, and other other species of vermin.  It became my job to annihilate these unwanted pests.  At some point during that era of my life I picked up the title of Critter Gitter.  I'm not sure who came up with it.  I suspect my father deserves the credit.  Regardless of where it came from, the name has stuck around for twenty years or more and is now more than a simple nick-name of the boy who used two chase four legged critters around the fields.  Today it is the name I use on public forums and websites to identify myself and now on this blog as well.  Once in a while the adventures you'll read about on this blog with follow suit with the historical roots of it's name.   However, more often than not, these adventures will not include the molesting of fury little creatures, just good clean fun with family and friends.