This is a nice country cemetery in Riley County. In fact, so nice, that I almost became a resident here one day while searching for a geocache that was placed here. There used to be a cache placed in this cemetery at one time, but was archived for whatever reason. When placing this cache, actually found the remains of the previous container and removed it from the area.
On a very cold day way back in January 2010, when I first started playing this silly game, I came to this cemetery to search for the cache. Where the coordinates were placed, there is a bell on a pedestal. Back then there was also a small crescent shaped wall behind said bell/pedestal. Also, just beyond the present-day barb wire fence, there used to be a small copse of trees about 10'-12' wide and ran the length of that fence.
Well, the day of my visit, there was considerable snow in the area. In fact, there was so much snow that there was a significant drift around that bell/pedestal area. At a later visitation and examing the area, the snow drift, wall, and bell/pedestal had formed a nice little cave.
As I was walking through the pedestrian gate along Fairview Church Road towards the cache location and approximately 75' or so away, there suddenly appeared a MOUNTAIN LION (or COUGAR as the Kansas Game Wardens calls them from what I was told). It walked from behind that bell/pedestal area; in front of the bell/pedestal; and then entered that copse of trees. Once it was roughly in front of the bell/pedestal, it just happened to look in my direction. As I was walking, I was looking at my GPS and just happened to look up at about the same time. We BOTH seemed to lock eyes onto each other at the same moment!!
Well, I can tell you that I was really STARTLED!! Was quite certain that that mountain lion was just as startled. Swear to this day that, if a mountain lion could do a double-take looking at something and have a STARTLED look on its face, this one definitely did!!
I quickly looked at my weapons: an ink pen in one hand; vehicle keys in the other hand; and some rather harsh language. Guess who was going to lose this battle?? I probably soiled my britches (though do not really remember that part - may have a memory block).
Well, seems that that mountain lion was more interested in walking into those trees. It eventually exited at the southern end and then commenced walking on down the center of the road towards those farm buildings like it owned the area. Thankfully, it quickly decided that I was not tasty enough and left me alone. I decided to come back another day.
Once I got home, I got on the internet to view videos of mountain lions and how they walked, looked, etc.. Was pretty convinced that was what I saw that day. Next day at work, expecting to be laughed at by co-workers, told a few of them that lived in the area what I saw. They confirmed that I saw a mountain lion for they have seen them and reported them in the area to the Game Wardens. They also told me that, if you report a mountain lion sighting in the state of Kansas, to make sure you use the term COUGAR for, of course, there are NO mountains in Kansas. Otherwise the game wardens will not investigate.
Mountain lion, cougar, panther, catamount, whatever. This critter has over 30 names. Was not about to ask it what it wanted me to call it. I remember that its fur was a beautiful chocolate brown with golden eyes and a black tipped tail.
As for this cache, wanted to place something here to commemorate that momentous occasion in my goecaching career. After 6 years, the wall is no longer there; there is a new barb wire fence; and that little copse of trees no longer exists. So, IF you decide to visit and have a mountain lion encounter of your own, please write about it. Something "special" for the FTF visitor(s).
There are 2 easy routes to cemetery: 1st route would be to travel US Hwy 24 between the towns of Leonardville/Riley, KS. At the intersection with Fairview Church Road, travel east until you reach the intersection with Country Road. Cemetery will be on NW corner. 2nd route would be to travel between the towns of Randolph /Riley, KS, on US Hwy 77. Once you reach the intersection with Fairview Church Road, travel west until you reach the intersection with Country Road. Just a few yards east of the cemetery, there is a nice monument to the Grandview School.
Sorry for the essay, but once I started writing, all kinds of memories came back. Remember that this is a cemetery and please observe any/all rules/regulations that may be posted and that we all have read on other page write-ups concerning these types of locations.