What a great spot harley_cache_2, GC1668R is. I was out scouting for cache locations and I entered this grid to the GPS and searched on it when I got home and found this one.

I came out here first by myself and my dog. I went over the top of the hill and down the cliff. I did not have any trouble getting down but my mastiff had a little. I had to give her a little help on getting down but she did well.

We went up the other side of the valley and found it. Then me and the geo mutt went down the rest of the trail. We saw a few caves. About the time we came to the end of the trail, a lone eagle started flying. I sat and watched it for a while. I saw two more eagles circling over head as I was leaving.

I was about 100 meters from it when it took flight. I didn't see it until it started flying. It went across the lake and dipped it's feet like it was going for lunch. It either missed or just wanted a talon bath. That was one of the closest encounters I have had with an eagle.

Then I went to get my family. My kids had their friends spent the night so we had a full house. The Cache Commander (Jeep Commander) was full to the brim.

When I finally got back with family and friends in tow, the eagle was still in it's roost. It never flew. It struck a few poses. I suppose it was waiting for lunch to return to the surface.

Of course on the way back we had to stop in all the caves and walk the valley. Then we walked the second set of caves. Going for one of the caves, we inadvertantly joined the Decatur, Arkansas Polar Bear Club or we may have started it. Several of the kids fell in crossing the creek going to a cave.

They walked through part of the creek first to walk up a large piece of shale but was boulder sized. It was also at a very steep angle. One by one the kids slipped on this shale and splash.

Of course I was smart enough to avoid all of that. After all I have negotiated much steeper angles wearing 1/3 or more of my body weight. I took some of the larger rocks and made a couple of stepping stones. I made it across the creek and my feet were dry. My soles however had moisture on them. My climbing experience and pride took a lump.

The rock appeared like it would grip quiet well. It may have had the soles of my boots been dry. So as you may guess, I went into the drink along with everyone else. The water was not nearly as cold as I was expecting. I jumped out before I was completely soaked. The kids who like to walk creeks in the summer did so again today. Their argument was hey I'm wet any way.

So after we got done exploring, I broke out the repelling gear and taught the kids and friends how to repell. They did very well for the first time out. I nearly took them on a decent size repell but decided to wait until they had a few more baby repells under their belts.

As we were repelling another eagle flew over our position. Then it was time to leave. It appeared the car keys were missing. I let one of the kids use them. I put them back in my pocket or so I thought. They hanged on the GPS lanyard and I never felt them in my pocket. We were searching through the leaves for my keys. Later one of the other kids saw them hanging out of my pocket. So all is well that ends well.

Then we capped it off with a trip to Mickey D's for ice cream cones. Not a bad days adventure for New Years Day.