In honor of Clemmie's 13th birthday, the Ski Boy, Gunner, and I placed a geocache entitled Oh My Darlin' Clementine (thanks to Scott for the name) up at Arctic Valley. Arctic Valley is Clemmie's all time favorite hiking place in the whole wide world. But, since Clemmie has the attained the ripe old age of 13, she's moved into hiker emeritus status. So, we had to place the cache without Clem in actual attendence.
Because Clem absolutely despises rain in combination with wind and cold, today was good day for the Birthday Dog to tend the home fires. The temperature at the Arctic Valley parking lot was a brisk 48 degrees, the wind was howling and the rain was coming down. Perhaps not the best possible day for a hike. But we had to place the cache today - Clem's birthday. So we had to go no matter how miserable the conditions.
We made our way almost all the way up the saddle before we made a sharp turn to the left, hiked up through the steep tundra to the base of rocky outcropping that just happened to have a little spruce clinging to it. It was my thought that the spruce just might create the perfect little hiding place - fortunately, the spruce came through for us - there was an ammo box sized nook right at the base of the tree. This was a very good thing, by the time we made it to the spruce, we were totally soaked, tired, and cold - definitely not in the mood to continue hunting.
We didn't linger: We placed the cache, got the coordinates, took a few pictures and skedaddled. By this point, Peter and I were in the midst of intense hot chocolate with peppemint schnapps fantasies. We were cold and ready to be back at the car. Even Gunner was shivering!!!
Here are several pics from our little trip:
Clem (showing off her incisors) and the cache!
The Ski Boy and Gunner. Note the wispy fog in the background. It looks like the moors of Scottland.
Me pointing the way to the cache. Note my very soaked carharts.
10:15:01 PM 
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