diff --git a/bin/update_sops.sh b/bin/update_sops.sh
index 1beaf65..cf91834 100755
--- a/bin/update_sops.sh
+++ b/bin/update_sops.sh
@@ -103,8 +103,11 @@ function fn_sops_locate_config_in_git_repo(){
   search_dir="${start_dir}"
   contender="${search_dir}/.sops.yaml"
   # base case - located the file OR stopping condition - at top of repo
-  if [[ -e "${contender}" ]] || [[ "${search_dir}" == "${stop_dir}" ]]; then
-    >&2 echo "# BASE CASE"
+  if [[ -e "${contender}" ]]; then
+    >&2 echo "# BASE CASE: found ${contender}"
+    echo "${contender}"
+  elif [[ "${search_dir}" == "${stop_dir}" ]]; then
+    >&2 echo "# STOPPING CONDITION: no sops config found, suggesting: ${contender}"
     echo "${contender}"
   else
     >&2 echo "# walk up one dir..."