GeoRoo
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Posts posted by GeoRoo
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I'm GeoRoo and I log all my DNF's.....Many of my most memorable caches started out as a DNF. Long live the DNFer.....hmmmmm, that sounds dirty for some reason.....
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With that cleared up, we now return you to your regularly scheduled program!.....
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All this controversy on this cache has me wanting to do it before GG pulls it for all the hassle. The puzzle aspect of the cache is very good and the cache page done very well. It took me awhile to figure it out and it's a very clever idea. I better hurry on this one!......
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Here's a link to the cabin rental. Table Mtn A-frame I was camping along the ridge and out walking when I discovered the road in. It's about 1/4 off the main road back in the trees. There are some fantastic camping spots along the road that have some incredible views not too far from the cabin.
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I think I really like this place. Nobody has mentioned "facilities", though. Is it suitable for a family-style campout?
The only "facilities" are a Forrest Service vault toilet......outhouse. It's a nice one. The concrete simulated wood framed kind that the FS is placing in many outdoor sites. Other than that it's a primitive area where you can pretty much camp and do what ever you like. As far as a "family style camp-out" I guess it depends on what type of camping you like. The nearest McD's and malls are in Ellensburg about 20 miles away, so the city life is not readily available without a decent drive. If you enjoy mountain scenery to die for, miles and miles of open alpine meadows, many miles of easy hiking trails, lots of wildlife, no campers 20 ft. away then this is an excellent area. I usually see at least one herd of elk and many deer when I camp there. The wildflowers would be done, but mid June-mid July is incredible. The only walk to cache is Lion Rock from the top, but there are dozens in E-Burg and several in the small mining town of Liberty about 5 miles away. More up and down 97 and to the east. I wanted to place several up there this Fall, but didn't make it over, so they will have to wait till next Spring. Just a thought, there is a Forrest Service cabin for rent about 3 miles NW of the top of Table Mtn. It's a large A-frame with a huge deck and sits way back in the woods at about 6,000 ft. Unfortunately it doesn't have a good view from the cabin, but nearby camping spots along the ridge have incredible views. That might be a option for the less than camping inclined and the ones that don't want to rough it. It rents for about $40 a night and sleeps I think 10. There are some fantastic camping spots within walking distance of the cabin, so that area might be worth a look.
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I had also thought of going on Got Coin because I have a M10 coin now and enjoyed the bloated head cache so much. I had previously fround Got Coin and I did log it, but felt like I had done it the "backdoor" way. I didn't have the cords, so I found it by using the clue and cache despcription. In the purist sense I guess you could say I circumvented the intent of the cache, but then we all have our own individual view on how to play the game. Who am I to dictate how others play. With me it's getting out and enjoying the experience and being outdoors. The cache is secondary. I'll remember that day for a long time as I did several other caches nearby on a beautiful sunny spring day. The view was great, so I sat in the warm sun at a peacefull place. It looks like everyone had a fun time on that hike, so isn't that the true intent of the cache and what makes geocaching so much fun.
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This thread came at a very good time with lots of good info. I have a laptop on order and have been wondering about Wi-Fi. Wardriving looks like a fun spinoff of geocaching. Are there any Wi-Fi geocaches out there? You could "find" the cache and log it at the same time.......
I suppose it would have to be rated a 5 for use of specialized equipment. Do the libraries stay up 24/7 or just durring open hours? -
The Lion Rock site does have a free campground right before the last hill to the top on the left. Trying to think of the name....there are 4-6 tables with firepits and a large communal firepit and sitting area. There is water and a spring, but I'm not sure if it's good drinking water in August. The FS installed a new fancy vault toilet across the road last year, so there is a nice one now. The best camping spots IMO are about 1/4 mile up the road on top with 100 mile views. There's a huge meadow nearby that has a island of trees in the middle that offers beautiful camping too. This is the popular spot for the horse groups and star parties. I did a search and see they are having the big star party the first weekend in August. Their permit only allows a max of 700, so if we don't go over that we should be fine.....
Here's a link that shows a aerial shot of the meadow camping. Star Party I've camped up there several times after the star party and was amazed at how little damage they do to the meadow and how well they clean up. Other than that busy week all the area sees little camping pressure. -
I'd vote for anything on the east side, Leavenworth-Wenatchee area. The area by Lion Rock at 6,000 ft on Table Mnt has unlimited camping areas, incredible scenery, miles of hiking trails, several caches nearby with dozens more towards Mission Ridge or Ellensburg. Paved road almost to the top, so no problem for RV's. They have a star party up there usually in July with 1,000 plus people, so that 4-5 day period would want to be avoided, but August would be fine. Weather is usually excellent in August and at 6,000 ft much cooler than the lower areas of E.WA. Much more primitive than staying in a park, but it's free and you won't find a better drive to camping area with those kind of views anywhere in the state that I know of.
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I did a virtual some years back that if you've not done, you should:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ad-e3da2e9b8df3
That looks like a good one EGH. I'll have to put that on my list. I took a look at the topo to see if I've been up there and I haven't. I've been on top of Mt Pugh and much of Sloan, so I bet that would be an excellent one.
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Micros will never be banned there are far too many out there for that to happen. I love micros when I can find them. Hate them when I can't....
I'd much rather find a box with some size though. I've tried to stay away from hiding micros, but I've slipped a few in the past several months. All easy drive by ones. It is all about numbers otherwise nobody would care about logging there finds. Sometimes you need those easy ones to balance out the hard ones. The virtual caches I did in Calif. were some of the most enjoyable I've done, so it's great there are so many choices. Has anyone looked into Letterboxing? I ran across that the other night and see that there are Letterboxes in many of the places I've found geocaches. Letterboxing predates geocaching by several years and it's basically the same thing, but without the GPS. I'm curious are there any geocaches out there that say don't use your GPSr? I know I've found plenty that didn't require one. Are there cachers out there with some big numbers that don't use a GPSr? -
I get the same server error everytime I try and log the WA Geocoin I found from EGH's cache. I suppose you could buy TB tags and send them out that way. They will be trackable on Geocaching.com, but then you are out more $$$$. I think that might be the way I go, so they aren't lost and forgotten.
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I think I'll put that emergency stick of dynamite back in my truck.
You can bet I was thinking along that route. Sorry for the long post, but hopefully it will make you think twice about driving through those many gates out there in the Markworth Forrest and other areas. Most of the ones I've seen have numerous signs posted, so if you get stuck then it's your own fault. I wonder if that is even legal locking a gate without at least a sign posted considering how large that area is?
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I was out Friday afternoon to place several new caches near Monroe. The northern section of the Markworth Forrest is void of any caches and a area that I know well. The road I would go in has a gate, but the dozen times I've been in there or by that gate this year it's always been open. There are NO signs that say it's subject to closure, not a No Vehicle Access, or keep out or ANYTHING sign. Not thinking much of it, I drove up the road about 6-7 miles and found a great spot for a cache. Great view to the east and west and 1500 ft. above the Sky River. On the way up the road about 2pm I passed a guy in a Chevy 4x4 truck, I had to pull off the road to let him by and I waved at him. I placed the new view cache and a micro at a very peacefull pretty lake. I'm on my way home about 4pm and the gate is LOCKED!.....Ok, check the gate maybe he left it closed but not locked. Nope.....the $%&. Friday late afternoon on a holiday weekend. Ok think. There is a Cingular cell tower about 1/4 mile up the road, so maybe I can get a Cingular person to let me out. I don't have a cell phone, but I did have my FRS radio. Knowing that they don't transmit too far I race back up the road to get some elevation. There is logging going on way up the mountain, so I thought there might be a watchman. Up up I go, into snow and went as far as I trusted my car before I got stuck. Walked another 1-2 miles up the road looking for a watchman. Nothing. I passed 3-4 loaders and a D-5 cat. dadgum!.....back down to a clear shot to the valley and called for help on my FRS radio. Guy in Monroe comes right back and turns out he lives right down the road from me. Tells me a combination that will work on the DNR locks. Back down the road I race and no combo lock!....Ok, back up the mountain I go it's already dark now and snowing hard. I get a guy in Sultan and I ask him to call the Sheriff. He gets the dispatcher and it takes me 15 mins to get my location figured out. I took a waypoint at the gate and give them my cords. but they can't figure that out???? I have the cell site ID, so they ask for that and then know where I am. So the Sheriff dept. doesn't use GPS's?????? I told them it would take me about 20 mins to get back to the gate, so down the mountain I go. I sit at the gate for about 30 mins and a Sheriff pulls up. First thing he says is....."Sorry, but you are SOL" They called the Forrest Service, DNR and everyone they could think of and no one has a key. The Cingular people wouldn't help unless it was an emergency!.....I could not belive they have no access in this area. So what happens if someone is hurt or needs help, he tells me that's why they have helocopters. Oh brother!....I had my mtn bike in my car and wasn't about to leave that, so I'd ride the 15 or so miles home in the pouring rain!......I wasn't a happy camper leaving my car parked there till monday. I drove back up the road to a pull off and was about to get my bike out and up the road I see 2 lights coming. Hmmm, who the heck is that? I get out and ask who are you. Guy and his daughter on mtn bikes in the pouring rain? HUH?.....ok, nice to see you. Do you know anyone with a key? Guy says....Yes, we are going to visit a friend up the road by the lake and he has a key. WAHOO!....Ok, what can I do for you? I load their bike in my car and he throws the other one off the side. They pile in the front of my Honda and off we go. Their friends are off a side road about 3 miles up the road. We find the sideroad and it's all overgrown nasty alders and blackberry bushes. My car is so trashed from geocaching that I don't care. We crash up the road about 1/2 mile to a clearing and tent. What did I get myself in to? It's all dark, so we get out. Homeless people?.....I think so. We wake up a guy about 50 and a younger woman. He has a key is all I care about and he turns out to be a nice guy. We swap some fishing lies and info. He drives down and lets me out. After 5 hrs I'm free!!!! I pulled the geocache I placed up on the mountain. I don't want anyone to go through what I had to. It would be about a 12 mile R/T walk or bike ride to the cache from the gate. I did place a micro at Lake 16 that I left. It would be a 5 mile R/T hike/bike if I decide to activate that one. What do you think? I now know someone with a key to all the gates in the Markworth Forrest, so if someone gets locked in I could be of some help!.......
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It's easy to get caught up in the mega pixel game. More is not always better. You'll need to determine what your needs are with the camera. Price, size and intended use will narrow the choice down some. Read the reviews. Steves Digicam is an excellent site as is Digital Photograpy Review Olympus is always rated among the top cameras in both compact point and shoot through SLR type cameras. I'm on my 4th Olympus camera and get compliments on the quality of my photos all the time. My current 1.5 year old SLR type camera is the Olympus C-5050. Aurguably the most versatile digital camera to hit the market in the past 3 years. As Jeremy mentioned and others, Sony and other makers have propriatory batteries and cards. Read the reviews and opinions. My 5050 takes AA batteries, has card slots that will take 3 different type of storage cards. I have a 128 mb XD card and a secondary 256 mb CF card. Both cards are in the camera and can be easlily switched back and forth. This allows about 300 plus photos in high quality. The 5050 will handle a micro drive that could allow gigabyte storage and I see CF cards are up to 8 gb. Smaller cards are a bit more hassle to haul around, but something will go wrong eventually, so I like to minimize the losses if that should happen. I've taken over 20,000 pics with my 5050 and can say it's been bullet proof and as close to the perfect camera for all of my needs. I've used the Oly 400 and it's a excellent point and shoot pocket camera. I would suggest staying with one of the major players in digital cameras. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji and Pentax. Kodak has lagged some in the digital market, but have some new cameras that look excellent. The digital market is relatively new and like computers is rapidly advancing ever upward. Many buy what they think is the most fancy, up to date, best camera out there and then 6 months later another newer, fancier, better one comes out. I've been bitten by the update bug several times, but my 5050 won't be replaced any time soon. There are many excellent deals on used cameras on E-Bay, but you'll have to do your homework before hand. Check out the dig cam websites and go from there. Good luck.
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I did EGH's new Cherry Lake Falls cache yesterday and what a great hike and cache. I'm going to be sore for days I think. That was definately one that will be on my top 5 list for a long time. I tried to log the WA Geocoin that I grabbed and I keep getting a runtime server error on the WSGA site. Has anyone logged a coin yet? The coin is activated.
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Did you ever fish Drunken Charlie...I've heard some big trout are in there. Any size to the fish in cherry?
I've fished Drunken Charlie, but nothing to brag about in size. About 12 inches was the max size. Same with Cherry Lake. Lots of small 6-10 inchers. It's been about 30 years since I've been into Cherry Lake, so that may have changed. I spent all my summers at Cedar Ponds through my teen years and there are some excellent creek, ponds and lakes all through that area that see very little fishing activety. Many of the roads are gated now, so a mountain bike is a good option to get around. It's great so many new caches are being placed around there. I have a few good spots in mind, so keep a watch for those.
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EGH, that's a great area to explore. I hiked into Cherry Lake when I was a teen and camped out overnight. Remember it was a nasty bushwack and hot as hell. We didn't have a tent and the mosquitoes were so bad that we hardly slept. There are some nice native cutts in there. I was going to place a cache at Drunken Charlie a few weeks ago that is nearby. I have some new raingear I'd like to try out, maybe I'll head up that way tomorrow and relive an old nightmare....I mean memory!...
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Thanks so much for the help. I wasn't sure what the central valley area covered. Jessica will be excited to see her TB get moving. Hopefully it's still there.
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Are there any geocachers in the Livermore area that could help me out? My daughters The Dog TB was dropped off at Buzzards Roost at Del Valle Lake in June and has been stuck there. The cache is a easy walk from the parking lot and in a beautiful park, so I'm surprised it's had so few finds. This is my daughters first TB and she keeps asking about it. Any help to get it moving would be greatly appreciated.
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Now why anyone would keep a Jeep TB????......It's not like they are rare, so why hang on to it. Just a bit off subject, but I noticed that M10bike changed his coin site from first series to second series. He left out the part about keeping the coin for keeps. Why is that? Maybe I'm new enough on here to have missed that, but if it's trackable on geocaching.com then it should be moved on eventually. I'm sure he spent a good deal of money on those coins and would get much more satisfaction seeing them moved. If I'm wrong Moun10bike please jump in and correct me. The coins I've seen passed on are in special places and have kept with the spirit and intent that I see. EGH, I can understand your sentement, but really do you ever do anything with those coins? After reading NBJ Poppa's post on how he about killed himself trying for a M10 coin didn't you want to try and figure out someway to place a coin in his path without him knowing? I know I sure did. I see another post going that suggests passing one around so you could log it. This to me is like opening my xmas presents and then rewraping them. I suppose it's just a game and doesn't mean much to most, but I like to maintain a level of integrity. Is that wrong?
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I think it's sad that the trackable items are kept and not moved on. I know how coveted the M10 coin is, but it's just a coin!.....What good is it going to do sitting in my geo pack? I wonder what the people do with them?.....Do they set them by their bed and admire them every night?......
No, I bet most are logged and forgotten. The one I found last month is going to be passed on. I've almost dropped it in several caches lately. Once I pass it on then that means I'm in the race to find the next one. Yeah!... That's what it's all about. Keep it and pass it on. Make someone else happy. I pull out the little zip lock bag of coins and cool stuff every month or so when I clean out the junk in my geopack and think, why am I keeping this stuff? I think part of being a geocacher is the packrat gene we all carry. My early New Years resolution is to get this stuff moving....yeah right! -
Wow, you've been a caching machine this week. You were at 66 last weekend. If you are looking for a memorable mountain series you can't beat the ones near Skykomish. Tonga View is a easy one for #98. Bit up the road from here you'll have a nice hike to Conga on Tonga and then up top to Mt. Sawyer Summit View Cache I did this one for my #300 on a sunny day and you can't beat the view. The snow level has been so high all week that I doubt there is much snow up there now. I can't believe nobody has done those 2 since I was there in Sept. The 3 Monte Cristo caches I did the other day would be a excellent choice too!.....so many good ones out there that it's hard to choose. If you want a good one in your backyard and IMO much harder terrain wise than the festering head EGH's Secret Spot #1is a nasty one. Hope you find a great one.
Here's a link that shows a aerial shot of the meadow camping. 
I'd much rather find a box with some size though. I've tried to stay away from hiding micros, but I've slipped a few in the past several months. All easy drive by ones. It is all about numbers otherwise nobody would care about logging there finds. Sometimes you need those easy ones to balance out the hard ones. The virtual caches I did in Calif. were some of the most enjoyable I've done, so it's great there are so many choices. Has anyone looked into Letterboxing? I ran across that the other night and see that there are Letterboxes in many of the places I've found geocaches. Letterboxing predates geocaching by several years and it's basically the same thing, but without the GPS. I'm curious are there any geocaches out there that say don't use your GPSr? I know I've found plenty that didn't require one. Are there cachers out there with some big numbers that don't use a GPSr?
Caching In Killarney Park (federal Way)
in Northwest
Posted
That really sucks you lost your car JD. I worry everytime I go out somewhere in the woods geocaching. I locked my keys in the car several weeks ago and AAA was able to get in in about 15 seconds without damaging anything. Anyone that wants in it only takes a second. I hope you get your car back.