Bushwhacking on a Muddy Day February 2, 2003 Excursions to: Maple Valley & Ravensdale, in the south part of King County

Maple Valley Woods This one ended up being a bit of a slog. The first part of the trail was wide and easy to follow, but filled with puddles and running water (we've had a lot of rain the past few weeks).
It was kind of creepy in these woods -- lots of moss and tangled branches everywhere.
Here's a close-up of some moss -- about 4 inches in length.
We ended up having to turn off the main trail and take a barely visible path. There were times when the path was so covered with ferns or dropped branches that we weren't sure where to go.   Aurie constantly led the way...over logs, through the huge ferns, and under branches (like the ones Jeff is ducking below here).
Cindy finally found the cache, hidden in a spot where 5 trees were growing together.   Note the wet seat of her pants (from crawling over the big logs)!
Here's the cache, stowed away between the tree trunks, beneath soggy leaves.
We took this photo to show what Cindy calls "baby ferns." We're not sure if it's a type of moss or an actual fern, but they're very tiny -- you can see them toward the bottom of the photo (the big fern above is for comparison). We found them all over, carpeting the woods.
Ravensdale Park The next cache took us to a recreation park in the town of Ravensdale. The park itself was nicely manicured, but we had to go off to the side through weeds and fallen logs.
Cindy grabs the cache from its hiding place.

 

Photos & Information Uploaded: 2/5/03