437. Pawhuska, Osage County (OK31)

Perched at the highest point in town, this is obviously the most important building in the area. This courthouse, a bit small as it might be, looks like it’s about to step down off this hill and regulate if you don’t straighten up and fly right.

The very idea of forcing people to climb those steps in and of itself is a power move, the courthouse asserting its dominance over you and everyone else. It’s not really that bad, though. There’s a parking lot behind the building that is on the level with it so you can easily get in and out that way, but once upon a time these stairs stood between you and access to authority and I get the feeling that you were glad to have them lest authority decide to authorize on you.

The cache was a pill bottle in a crack in a tree. It took a bit longer than expected to find it because there is a far more obvious place for it to be, and it turned out it wasn’t there. IT was in the second most obvious place. The real takeaway from all this though is that all this cold was doing a number on my skin and my hands had gotten ashy as all get out! And, of course, the Internet connection was terrible around here so I had to pull out my trust map book to get directions to…