Walking to Paradise #1: Eight-mile Lake Traditional Geocache
Ice and Wind: The cache owner has not responded, or corrected the problems with this cache, so I must regretfully archive the listing.
Walking to Paradise #1: Eight-mile Lake
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A moderate hike, 3.2 miles to the cache at one of my favorite easy-access lakes. A NW Forest Pass is required to park at the trailhead.
The cache is a small Rubbermaid type container, overlooking Eight-mile Lake.
The day I placed it was an awesome day to be out. I was moving pretty quickly, running at times, and it took me 1 hour to get to the lake, about 40 minutes to get back down. The trail climbs about 1300 feet total, but the steepest part is within the first 1/2 mile of the trailhead. I saw perhaps 10 kinds of wildflowers, including columbines, tiger lilies, Indian paintbrush, and lupines, among others. In a few weeks there should be ripe huckleberries along the way. I could hear a thrush calling in the woods--one of my favorite sounds in the mountains--much of the way as well. The trail passes through a variety of terrains, including some of the 1994 burn, some open areas with views of Mt Colchuck, along a rushing stream, and through forest. You will pass Little Eight-mile Lake about .6 mile before you get to the "real thing".
The trail is now just over 3 miles in to the lake. An "Old timer" from around here told me about hiking up here when he was a boy, and before the forest service road was built connecting Icicle Creek Rd to this trail. Back then, the hike to this lake was really eight miles, and the fishing was great (he said!). The hike is much easier now--a good thing to remember during your stroll to the cache, and the fishing is still pretty good.
When you do this cache make sure you pick up Patudles' "Waterfall Melody" (GCPKKQ), located a few feet from the trailhead.
Cache was replaced on 7/5/09, and moved about 60 ft to a place where it won't be disturbed
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre na 8 sg gnyy gerr, va n penpx va ebpx juvpu vf haqre whavcre oehfu