bumblingbs
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Posts posted by bumblingbs
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Voting's fine, and I will take it into consideration by all means. But this was a trip that I was planning for myself months ago (ODragon and I started talking about it in October while visiting with each other in TN), and started this thread so that people could come along if they like. It's not a democracy.
I have a small window of days to decide between. However, if I don't do it on the 17th, then it looks like CacheNCarryMA has been planning for it that day, so everyone can go on that trip! Good to have choices.
Well, darlin', this might be a good time to choose a date. Yeah, if it's just you and your friends, it's not a democracy. Post it here, and you'll get opinions. Any reason not to do the 17th? I like all the geocachers out together, criss-crossing and running each other over with bikes. I like dinner, too. I like breakfast. Where is the lunch event?
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Looks like there is a breakfast contingent, a dinner contingent, a walking group, a biking group -- all a matter of getting them together in some fashion. Of course, if the walking group is walking without lights, and the biking group is coming fast....ooooh....that would be one way to get together. Don't spill the grapes, Allanon.
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Of course, this is all depending on if I can go.
At this point, I'll have to have transportation to the actual cache. I don't think that I could make a 4 mile walk again.I hate to say this, but the walk is closer to six miles than it is to four.
Everyone told me 4!
Eh, 2 - 4 - 6, it's all the same to me. I most likely cannot do it. I can't at this moment, anyhow, and June is too far away to judge. So I need to prepare for the worst.It's been a while since I was there, but I remember it as pretty much flat all the way. Heck, if you can sit in a wheelchair, or be carried like an Egyptian princess, it's do-able. You know better than to say no.
I don't do events. June 17th is my birthday. I am intrigued by the idea of participating. For sure, I'm not coming if Ambrosia doesn't.
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Criminal and I did the return trip through the tunnel without light. Talk about fun ... that was some serious kind of dark!
I went a few years ago with Belleterre. Part way through, she turned off her flashlight. I AM a Bumbling B, and I was scared, but I held onto the back of her shirt, padded along after her, and it was, indeed, a cool walk. Yes. if you can, lights off.
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Done.
But my eight year old wants to race the >90 to the cache. Please log one in the <12 category.
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I recently had a micro that went missing. A good cache finder had two DNF's on it - the first because it was dark and they decided it wasn't the safest place for a night hunt, the second just a frustrating search. So, I disabled the cache. In comes a DNF - "Yes, we searched for this cache a month ago, and thought it was gone."
Well, if you'd told me that a month ago, I would have checked it out. It might have saved another cacher 60 miles of driving to get to it twice, and an hour or more of fruitless searching.
Don't be afraid to look stupid, I do it all the time.
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For just sightseeing - we took my Mom on the Argosy cruise through the Ballard Locks for her 80th birthday and really enjoyed it. It's not cheap, but it was a fun splurge. Helps if your kids are 12 and under, quite a price difference.
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I'm no kayaker, but the currents under the Deception Pass bridge look FIERCE.
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Dang! It's just been archived.
Sorry; I briefly considered offering to be the local maintainer, or adopting this cache, but it had more problems than just two waypoints missing. It also had a waypoint that needed to be moved, a final that needed a different container and also be moved, and a waypoint that needed to have the camo re-done. It would have been as much work as starting from scratch, yet it wouldn't be a new cache for those 'round
here who had already logged it.
I know it won't fix your DNF, but I'll hide some new caches for you. I think I DNF'd Walk in the Woods twice, myself.
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Their Homepage gives a good idea of the facilities as well as photos. The camping fees will be a little higher than what's shown to reflect the increased 2007 rates as well as insurance coverage for the event.
Cool aerial photo of the fairgrounds, by the way. On the right hand side of the infield, do you see the line drawing of the backpacker with the walking stick? Drawn by ancient Port Townsendites to attract UFO's, or geocachers or something.
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Welcome!
Port Townsend IS kinda nice.
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Things that are not at all funny when they are happening can be really funny when you look back at them. I made a phone call to the police to report that my carport was missing, and asked them to keep an eye out for it. I believe the policewoman actually snorted.
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From personal experience, it's not much fun in a sleeping bag with a cold, unresponsive body (and you can hold all you comments about wives/husbands/spouse/significant others) - but it does work wonders for rewarming a hypothermic person (as I found out in 1973 in a spring blizzard at 6800 feet on the windward side of White Chuck Mtn). Although it is better not to get to that point in first place.
Other books: Backpacking One Step at a Time by Harvey Manning; Making Camp by Backpacker Magazine; Be Expert with Map and Compass by ?? (can't find my copy right now); and Don't Die on the Mountain by Dan Allen. On a related subject: Mountaineering First Aid by The Mountaineers - lots of good stuff for when accidents happen in the 'backcountry' (it has a good summery of the 10 essensials). And of course there is always the "bible" of back country travel: Freedom of the Hills by The Mountaineers.
Hmm, an hour and a half is pretty short to really teach much (a lot depends on size/make up of group) - you could cover one subject fairly well, or introduce a number of subjects briefly.
You're right. An hour and a half is hardly enough time to teach 10 year olds beginning survival skills. I'll pencil you in for one hour and 35 minutes. We have a small but serviceable guest room. It's clean. Or could be. In theory.
The cat will join you in the sleeping bag.
What day did you say?
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I've just hidden a cache, that honestly isn't too spectacular, and I will never claim it as one of my best.
It has better stuff in it than most, but I don't think that is what geocachers are looking for. If it takes a $50 gift card to get someone to visit your cache, we are all in a sorry state.
Take people to a spot you love. A local spot, that not everyone from out of town is going to know about. Show them the sunrise, or sunset, or the rippling water in a pond. Don't think you have to be material to attract anyone.
And, yep, find some caches before you hide some. Otherwise, you're just whistling in the dark. Or less.
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Thanks, also for the suggested readings. DH and I had a grand time recounting our various close scrapes. and I have to agree that the mental outlook plays a good part in it. I can remember one time when I was ready to give up, and my husband saved my life with one well chosen word that brought me back to survival consciousness. And another time when he actually apologized to me for killing me and set off down the wrong path in a raging storm. That time, I just wasn't having any of it. I don't know, that may have been beginning hypothermia for him; I didn't have it. So, I'd say a ~partner~ is a good first line of defense.
The offer is still open, though, I'll hide a cache in honor of anyone willing to come teach kids for an hour and a half.
)And by the way, hypothermia does have some good points. You understand that blankets won't warm you if your own body is not radiating heat. Best thing to do? Get naked in a sleeping bag with a warm person. Cool! I mean, warm!
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I always carry at least one Tea Candle in my hiking gear.
I'm waiting for the punch-line. What do you intend to do with the candle, and have you ever actually tried to do it?
Anyway, there’s a parallel thread over here where we are discussing just that. Everybody has ideas and theories about what they would do if they ever had faced that situation, so far we’ve gotten very little hands-on experience. I mean, your car/truck/SUV has a spare tire squirreled away somewhere, do you know how to get it out? The main difference is that in the woods you can’t call AAA to come help you.
That’s what we were trying to accomplish, some hands-on real world experience. I thought it was an afternoon well spent.
Yeah, I can get my spare tire out. (I'm talking about the one in my car, don't look at my belly) Can I light it on fire, and if so, would it be toxic? Uhhh.....
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That's too bad. I was going to suggest a new washing machine as a prize, as mine has started spitting oil all over the floor.
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Visiting? Heck, I mis-read it and thought you were moving here. Not sure, but it's possible that PCake's Mt Walker cache is clear. It's a good lung buster with views, down toward Quilcene. There's a road up to the top, but it's closed in the off-season, and you have to do it properly, by hiking.
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Runhills, I've got to say ~ I love your quote.I always carry at least one Tea Candle in my hiking gear.
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I'm sorry to repeat, but I ask again, is there a manual that I could follow to learn this stuff and thereby be able to teach it to kids? Boy Scout handbook? What? I've done some long distance hiking (6 months on the A.T.) and learned a few things through experience, but I'm still mostly hopeless. Well, I'm real familiar with lightening, bears and snakes. I just pretty much did everything else wrong and lived to tell about it. OK, I did bears wrong, too, but they didn't notice.
I understand the importance, but I have trouble getting those pressed fireplace logs to light in my fireplace. Start me somewhere, please, so that I can learn for myself and share with the kids.
Thanks.
There are books out there that teach the theory. That's where a lot of our perceptions have come from. Actual practice though really brings home what can and can't be done. That's why we went out to do this. Currently we can't share what we don't know but we can share what didn't work really well.
Gathering tender along the way is a good start, but your pockets in these kinds of conditions aren't going to work really well to hold enough of what you need. I think I'm going to include into my daypack and little army diddy I have that can sling over my shoulder and act as a tender gathering bag.
You say there are books out there. What book. What book would be a good place to start. Not just for lighting fires, but for outdoor skills in general. At a beginning level. Of course, if we were to read it, learn it, we'd then practice. Just start me from space #1.
Thanks~
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I'm sorry to repeat, but I ask again, is there a manual that I could follow to learn this stuff and thereby be able to teach it to kids? Boy Scout handbook? What? I've done some long distance hiking (6 months on the A.T.) and learned a few things through experience, but I'm still mostly hopeless. Well, I'm real familiar with lightening, bears and snakes. I just pretty much did everything else wrong and lived to tell about it. OK, I did bears wrong, too, but they didn't notice.
I understand the importance, but I have trouble getting those pressed fireplace logs to light in my fireplace. Start me somewhere, please, so that I can learn for myself and share with the kids.
Thanks.
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Off Topic a bit, but grateful for suggestions.
I'm coordinating a homeschool program, and would like to incorporate some outdoor and survival skills. The kids range in age from 7-14. Does anyone have suggestions as to how to design a program, or what resources to use? I'm still alive, so I must be doing ~something~ right, but I am most certainly unqualified to teach anybody on this subject. Can teach anything, though, if I do the prep work and learn it well myself.
Failing that, do any of you want to come to Port Townsend and teach the kids for a couple of hours? I AM pretty good at sliding work onto others, and my group would hide a cache in advance in your honor.
Thanks in advance....
I have a small window of days to decide between. 
At this point, I'll have to have transportation to the actual cache. I don't think that I could make a 4 mile walk again.
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APE Cache this summer
in Northwest
Posted · Edited by bumblingbs