One hundred and four geocaches while Camping in Castle Rock, Wa.

Team DONnJAN took a trip to the Castle Rock, Washington. The first half of the week was a fun filled geocamping trip with the second half saved for our annual family camping trip. We stayed at the Seaquest State Park not far from Mt. St, Helens. The area is gorgeous and there is a wide assortment of geocaches, many being Earthcaches, to choose from. We camped in this vacinity for eight wonderful days.  During our stay, we traveled down to visit a few caches in Oregon, too
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We saw many truly imaginative and fun hides. Several made us say. "Wow, look at that." I wish I could comment on each, but there were truly too many. My very favorite ones offer something interesting or historic to see. I love a cache worth exploring.

One geocache we especially enjoyed was, 'The Graveyard of the Dead.'  This is an earthcache that gives a brief history lesson about the Columbia River Bar.

The columbia Bar.

The reason it's one of our favorite geocaches is because the coordinates led us to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.  Lighthouses are always a treat for us and if there is a cache, it's even better.

The beautiful and majestic lighthouse.

The 53 ft. lighthouse was completed in 1856.

The view below the light house is absolutely breathtaking.

High above the Pacific.

Not far from the lighthouse is another earthcache called, 'Big Betsy.'   This cache is located at the remnants of old Fort Canby, a military reservation at Cape Disappointment built in 1863 to protect the mouth of the Columbia River.   Big Betsy is the nickname for Fort Canby' largest muzzle loading cannon.

There are signs within the buildings explaining their purpose and history.

You can walk through all the rooms and halls.  It's cool.

The cache I have probably talked about the most to family or friends is called, 'Bores on the River.'  This cache is located by The Borst Home in Borst Park.  This is definately a favorite.  I love these old homesteads.

In 1854 Joseph Borst married sixteen-year-old Mary Adeline Roundtree.  Joseph and Mary started their lives together in Joseph's small cabin.  In 1855, war broke out with some local indians. Many families, including the Borsts, moved to nearby Fort Hennes. After the war, the Borsts returned to their land and lived in a blockhouse that had been built during the war

The Borst Mansion was built in the early 1860s by Joseph Borst.  It took two years to complete construction. He built this house for his beloved Mary.

The house still has all the original furnishings.

When Mr.Borst built the house and barn, he said they were so well built they would last for 80 years. 120 years later, the beautiful house still stands strong.  Sadly, the barn is no longer there.  It was damaged in the 1962 windstorm which struck the Pacific Northwest.

This little graveyard isn't far from the house.

A sad little place.

Another fun geocache was the 'Jackson House Estate,'

Another old homestead.  I love 'em.

 

This old house was built by John R. Jackson when he married Matilda Koontz. in 1848.

This luxurious home had cedar floors and glass windows.

The Jacksons ran the local post office, grocery store, tavern, courthouse.and later the northwest's most popular inn.

An old spinning wheel.

Another really interesting place is big, beautiful Beacon Rock.

 

Beacon Rock is the 848 foot tall core of a shallow volcano possibly as old as six million years. It's dark basalt is frozen in columns after its final eruption.  The rock was named by Lewis & Clark in 1905.  We were led here, and got a wonderful history lesson, by an earthcache by the name of 'The Navel of the World.'   This is truly a fun cache to do and a fun place to explore.

There are several signs at the base of Beacon Rock that tell its history...

as well as, how it was born.  It's fascinating.

Here is my husband, Don, posing for our earthcache log.

Me by Beacon Rock.

This is a great area to cache in.  There is alot to see with alot of interesting history to learn.  The area is gorgeous.  Waterfalls, lakes and grenn, green trees.  We're going back soon because there is so much more I want to see.